53: Ten billion investment in place! Lucy, I want to see the aircraft carrier

Chapter 53: Ten Billion Investment in Place! Lucy, I want to see an aircraft carrier!

Banquet hall.

Delicious dishes were laid out before the three, but no one chose to pick up their chopsticks.

“Cooperating with Da Xia for research and development? I think I’ll pass.”

Abdul didn’t even hesitate before resolutely refusing: “With all due respect, given our current capabilities in Saudi Arabia, the path of research and development is not the direction we want to take.”

One of the reasons for this is that Saudi Arabia is rich; their oil reserves are the second largest in the world, and all of it is the highest quality oil, the kind where you can dig a hole anywhere and oil will gush out. Natural gas, gold, silver, and other mineral resources also rank among the top in the world.

They only need to dig up some things from underground to get a large amount of money, so why would they need to do research and development to earn hard-earned money?

Secondly, Saudi Arabia is not suitable for scientific research and development. Not to mention whether they have the capability, but 95% of the country’s land area is desert. There aren’t many places that can be developed, so where would you build factories? Where would you build cities?

Moreover, although Saudi Arabia has money, it’s only because its size is too small and its finances are entirely controlled by the royal family that it appears wealthy. Last year, the country’s total GDP was only over 400 billion usd, which is significantly lower than that of Da Xia’s southern provinces.

Therefore, their current focus is basically on tourism, derivative industries, financial investment, and other sectors, preparing for the day when oil resources are depleted.

Scientific research and development? Whoever wants to do it can go ahead; Saudi Arabia just needs to buy, buy, buy.

“Mr. Abdul, I think you’ve misunderstood.”

Zhang Yuli wasn’t in a hurry and smiled: “The cooperative development project is not what you imagine. You can understand it as a commercial project; we are looking for angel investors.”

Who said this project had to be a scientific research cooperation? Can’t Da Xia discuss commercial cooperation with Saudi Arabia?

“Commercial project cooperation? What kind of cooperation?” Abdul’s eyes showed suspicion.

Every previous cooperation with Da Xia either involved selling weapon equipment or coaxing them into investing in the research and development of military equipment and high-tech projects.

“Mr. Abdul, we have come with great sincerity.”

Zheng Lixing knew it was his turn to act and immediately began to chime in: “The project we want to cooperate with you on this time is called Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, and it has extremely great utility in the commercial sector.”

“Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle? What is its use?” Abdul frowned.

Currently, all Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle markets are military, for example, the Skylark Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which played a huge role on the Afghanistan battlefield a few years ago, was mainly used for reconnaissance work.

He had never heard of any commercial applications for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

Zheng Lixing explained: “This model is only a few tens of centimeters in size, but it has a real-time remote sensing transmission capability of several kilometers, a flight altitude of one to two thousand meters, and a battery life of about half an hour. The civilian market can use it to photograph various scenic spots and explore places that were previously inaccessible.”

“At the same time, Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle can also be equipped with various tools to perform multiple functions in combination, such as adding a clip to remotely drop items in a designated area, which can greatly improve the efficiency of many production and manufacturing processes.”

“Hiss... remote delivery to a designated area several kilometers away?” Abdul trembled.

The first thing he thought of was not how well this thing could develop in the commercial field, but rather, if this thing were used for reconnaissance and air strikes on the Middle East battlefield, wouldn't it be an invincible existence?

“Most importantly, its production cost may only be a few hundred.” Zheng Lixing’s lips curved into an imperceptible smile.

If this rich man wasn’t interested after all that, then he could only apply for temporary funding from above.

“A few hundred usd?”

“No, it’s a production cost of a few hundred RMB.” Zhang Yuli smiled.

Abdul was somewhat moved: “Then how much money needs to be invested?”

“We in Saudi Arabia don’t need to engage in any research and development cooperation; as long as Da Xia guarantees that once this equipment is developed, it will be sold to us at the lowest price.”

Saudi Arabia has no interest in research and development cooperation, but they can never have enough of this kind of weapon equipment.

What’s more, this thing is so cheap. Abdul said he wanted a million or so to play around with.

“Ten billion RMB, Mr. Abdul.” Zhang Yuli held up a finger: “In the future, the Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle we produce will be sold to you at the lowest price, and you will receive 10% of the net profit.”

Abdul shook his head: “No, we can lend Da Xia ten billion interest-free, no profit sharing needed.”

“The condition remains that this Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle must be sold to us at the lowest price, and Saudi Arabia will have priority purchasing rights for subsequent development models.”

He wasn't worried that Da Xia would be like those people on Wall Street, manipulating the books to turn net profits into losses to steal that 10% profit share. Rather, there was no need for it. Ten billion RMB is only a little over a billion usd, which for Saudi Arabia is just the money from selling oil for a day or two, not even as much as they spent on a few Dongfeng missiles back then.

Instead, lending this money to Da Xia as an interest-free loan not only satisfies their own needs but also avoids getting involved in this complex situation, and Da Xia will owe them a favor.

Ultimately, Saudi Arabia has always seen itself as a pawn that follows orders, not a player who dares to overturn the chessboard.

After another half an hour of discussion.

“Director Zhang, Academician Zheng, I am very optimistic about this cooperation project.” Abdul stood up, extended his hand, and said, “I will go back and report to the royal family, and I believe it will be approved very soon.”

“Then we await your good news.”

Zhang Yuli and Zheng Lixing shook his hand and watched him leave the banquet hall.

It wasn’t until Abdul’s back disappeared from view.

Zhang Yuli finally sighed deeply: “Saudi Arabia is basically settled. Next, we need to negotiate with Persia…”

“This won’t be easy; the grudges between these two countries have accumulated for many years.”

This is not just about cooperation on Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, but the entire Middle East and even the global situation requires both to sit down and shake hands.

These two countries haven’t just started having friction in recent years; it’s been a problem from ancient times to the present.

Although both are in the Middle East, one is Persian and the other is Arab, and they both follow two different sects of Islam. Resolving their conflicts would be much harder than melting a thousand-year-old iceberg.

“Old Zhang, you are thinking too far ahead. Let’s take it one step at a time.”

Zheng Lixing, however, had no such concerns: “When two parties face the same enemy, even sworn enemies can cooperate.”

People have been fighting for hundreds of years; how could Da Xia reconcile them with just a few words?

Rushing things can easily lead to mistakes. Only by waiting for changes in the situation can they seize the opportunity to achieve a unified cooperation, put aside their prejudices, and seek the greatest interests for the entire Middle East.

However, the handshake between Persia and Saudi Arabia is probably the last thing countries like Eagleland and Europe want to see.

“You make a good point.” Zhang Yuli nodded, then glanced at the dishes on the table: “These dishes haven’t been eaten yet; it would be a shame to leave them here. Let the waiter pack them up later.”

They hadn't really touched their chopsticks, so if they could avoid waste, they would.

“Then let’s have a couple of drinks tonight.” Zheng Lixing said happily, having not only solved the most urgent research and development funding for the H-20 but also laid the groundwork for the future reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Persia. Today was truly a great harvest.

On the other side.

At the LLNL Laboratory, on a wooded path leading to the main laboratory building.

Two people were walking side by side, chatting. Of course, their pace could only be described as shuffling, not walking.

After all, if you’re at work, you have to slack off. If you don’t slack off, why even work? If you dare not slack off today, wouldn’t you dare to work 996 tomorrow? Lu Ze said he dared not even imagine what they would dare to do the day after!

Lu Ze suddenly remembered something: “Oh, by the way, Lucy, I have something for you.”

After saying that, he pulled out a long object from his backpack: “The ‘Magic Wand’ you always wanted. It took a lot of effort to find it.”

Although he didn't put in much effort himself, that brother Kui Sangti must have gone through a lot of trouble to get it.

“Hey, it really looks like the one in the video. Do we even sell this kind of thing here in Eagleland?” Lucy’s eyes lit up.

She had only mentioned it casually before, and Lu Ze actually helped her find it.

Although Lucy certainly knew there was no such thing as a 'Little Magic Fairy', who isn't a little girl at heart!? Maybe there really is one?

“Lu Ze, thank you so much! I’ll treat you to a big meal today.” Lucy felt that this gratitude had to be expressed with the highest-class big meal.

“Don’t rush, I have one more thing for you, I hope you like it.” Lu Ze, a bit embarrassed, pulled out another long, thick cylindrical object.

Looking at the object Lu Ze was holding, Lucy, with her extensive experience, immediately recognized what it was: “A flashlight?”

“That’s right, it’s a solar-powered flashlight…”

Lu Ze was a bit hesitant to speak: “But it needs to be aimed at a light source for ten seconds to light up for one second.”

“What if there’s no light source?” Lucy tilted her head and asked.

“Then it absolutely won’t light up.”

After Lu Ze finished speaking, he originally expected Lucy to look confused, but instead, he saw her frowning deeply.

“This doesn’t seem quite right… Aim it at a light source for ten seconds, and it lights up for one second? That’s impossible…”

Lucy seemed to be deep in thought: “Is its energy conversion efficiency really that high? The photosynthetic efficiency of plants for sunlight is only 1-5%, and photovoltaic power generation is only around twenty to thirty. It only requires a light source?”

What counts as a light source? Is only sunlight considered light? Moonlight? In essence, isn't a light source just a visible electromagnetic wave?

Moreover, if this flashlight has no requirements for the light source, wouldn't it directly become a perpetual motion machine? Inputting a smaller energy light source to get a larger energy output, even a perpetual motion machine isn't as powerful as it is.

“Hiss…” Lu Ze gasped, it really seemed to be the case.

With such high energy conversion efficiency, could it really be achieved by a blue item?

Thinking of this, he picked up the flashlight and pressed the switch, but saw no reaction.

It wasn't until it was directly exposed to the sun for over a minute that the flashlight showed a faint amount of power, emitting an extremely weak flash before dimming.

‘It actually needs to be charged?!’ Lu Ze cursed inwardly.

‘So a solar flashlight means it’s charged by solar energy?’

Even if you’ve already charged it, you still need to aim it at a light source for ten seconds to use it for one second. It’s simply useless; you don’t deserve to be compared to that genius inventor, Da Vinci.

Sure enough, what kind of heaven-defying black technology could a blue item be? He was purely overthinking it.

“Alright… it seems it’s just a toy.” Lu Ze smiled sheepishly and handed over the flashlight.

“I actually quite like this kind of toy; the inventor is very creative.” Lucy took it, her eyes lighting up.

Suddenly, she seemed to remember something: “Oh, by the way, Lu Ze, Navy Open Day is in two days. Are we going to see that destroyer?”

Time passed without them realizing it; today was already Thursday.

“Lucy, I want to see an aircraft carrier!” Lu Ze said with a serious expression.

What destroyer? He was going straight for an aircraft carrier!

(First update, next chapter should be around 6 PM. Please give monthly and recommendation tickets!)