67: Accumulate times!

Chapter 67: Accumulate Uses!

The Maintenance Center has new weapon equipment in storage again? And this time, Lucy specifically emphasized it.

There's a 'good thing' in there, how could that not make people curious?

"Lucy, what is this mysterious good thing?"

Lu Ze leaned close to her and whispered in her ear, "Do you know any inside information? Spill a little!"

He held two blueberry tarts to Lucy's mouth, as if tempting her.

"Delicious..." Lucy swallowed them whole, her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel's stuffed with food. "Specifically... I'm not quite sure. I just heard the Maintenance Center's supervisor talking about it when I passed by earlier."

"It will officially arrive at our LLNL Laboratory in two weeks. They say it will be a mysterious 'big guy.'"

After speaking, Lucy picked up the latte on the table and took a big gulp. The two tarts once again vanished without a trace.

She only knew the arrival time of this 'mysterious' item. As for what it actually was? Probably no one at the Maintenance Center knew.

This time, the order came directly from the Eagle Sauce Department of Defense, simply instructing the LLNL Laboratory to be prepared in two weeks.

"It won't arrive for two weeks?" Lu Ze frowned and began to ponder.

In that case, it would be a bit difficult to handle.

The copy count refreshes once a week, but if he used his count next week, what if the mysterious item that arrives then turns out to be two 'good things'?

And what if, like the B-2 Bomber before, it only stays at the Maintenance Center for a few days?

Should he choose to give up on one of them? This clearly didn't align with Lu Ze's usual style; he always liked to 'have it all!'

'If there are no high-value tech items next week, then I'll save up my copy count.'

'Let's see what the 'mysterious surprise' in two weeks will be.' Lu Ze thought to himself.

Anyway, he hadn't found any targets worth copying recently. Neither the Navy nor the Air Force's open days would be holding any events soon.

As for the high-end industrial equipment he copied this week, like the ultra-high precision machine tools, Da Xia probably wouldn't be able to fully grasp them anytime soon. And those things wouldn't run away from the D-level Area, so there was no need to rush.

It might be better to save one copy count next week and see if he should just copy them all at once in two weeks.

'There are still five copies left until the purple lottery unlocks, so there's even less need to rush.'

Thinking of this.

Lu Ze showed a slight smile to Lucy, who was still groggy beside him. "Let's go, I still have ingredients in my dorm. I'll make you some Chinese food."

Looking at her, she probably wouldn't last until dinner time.

"Okay, let's go quickly." Lucy immediately revived upon hearing this.

The Chinese food Lu Ze made was much more authentic than the Chinese restaurants in Livermore, currently ranking among her top three favorite foods.

A few days passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was Sunday.

There was still one day left until the new copy count refreshed next week.

And in this week's work, Lu Ze and Lucy continued their regular schedule of working from nine to five and slacking off until seven, accomplishing the feat of working eight hours a day and slacking off for seven and a half hours.

At this moment.

In the early morning, the square in Livermore welcomed the Chaoyang.

Sitting on a bench in front of the fountain, two young men from the lower class, one black and one white, were engrossed in reading several books.

"Buller, how much have you read already?" Parker, the white Fat Man, twisted his sore neck.

Why hadn't he known before that reading was such a tiring thing?

"I've almost finished three-quarters." The thinner black man, Buller, said in a muffled voice without lifting his head.

"Damn it." Parker cursed, "These phrases are too difficult to understand. I haven't even finished one-fifth."

For someone who hadn't even finished community college, English words like 'people's war' written on it were truly obscure and difficult to comprehend.

After all, the words he usually used were simple English for everyday conversations, and he would never come across such specialized vocabulary.

Parker even needed a translation dictionary to understand what was being said.

Despite this, he still grumbled and opened a book with a red hammer and sickle printed on the cover.

Don't misunderstand, they hadn't fallen in love with reading.

It was purely for the one thousand usd reward. After all, in 2009, the average monthly salary in Eagle Sauce was less than three thousand usd according to statistics.

People like Parker and Buller, from the lower strata, were even further outside the mainstream; it would be good if the two of them could earn two thousand usd combined each month.

After all, how much money do you earn for running errands or helping people move?

They didn't dare and weren't willing to do more dangerous things like drug dealing, extortion, or zero-dollar shopping.

Just as the white Fat Man Parker said: they were good, law-ababiding citizens from the lower class with principles and a bottom line. Things they shouldn't do, they absolutely wouldn't do.

Even living at the very bottom of Eagle Sauce society, the two of them still retained their precious conscience.

Now, just by using their free time to read these books and answer the questions of that 'strange middle-aged white uncle,' they could get a thousand usd reward. Why not?

However, after reading for another ten minutes or so.

Parker put down the book and said with a puzzled expression, "Buller, are we being played?"

"Even if we read and memorize these books, that person won't come back to find us, making us waste so much time for nothing?"

The more he thought about it, the more something felt off.

Several days had passed, why hadn't he come to find them yet?

Could this just be a boring pastime for the rich to amuse themselves with the lower class? Just like a core concept mentioned in the book, never believe a single lie from a Capitalist; deceiving ordinary people is their specialty.

Spending only two hundred usd, yet being able to toy with them for a while, is this really what despicable Capitalist are like?

"He gains nothing by deceiving us."

Buller, however, was indifferent, calmly turning to the next page: "Besides, it's good for us to read more books."

He didn't think that 'middle-aged white uncle' was a liar. What kind of prank makes you work hard to read several books? Isn't that crazy?

Moreover, many concepts in the book confirmed his long-held beliefs.

Perhaps it was because they read too few books that their understanding of the world was insufficient.

"Buller, you're right, we absolutely cannot give up." Parker picked up the book again and buried himself in it.

Anyway, he had no work now. For that one thousand usd, he would fight for it!

On the other side.

In Yanjing, within the Xia Academy of Sciences.

In what was originally a calm and harmonious atmosphere.

Zheng Lixing suddenly stood up, pointing at a newspaper and continuing to scold, "How dare Xiao Riben report such things in their news?"

"Our J-20 project died in the womb? How come I don't know about this?"

"Failure in industrial upgrading and transformation will lead to decline? Can they, Riben, predict the future?"

He was absolutely furious, his face red with anger.

Zheng Lixing had thought that the previous news report saying, 'Da Xia lacks Riben's technology, and research will take another twenty years,' was already ridiculous enough.

But he didn't expect that.

In the past few days, under his careful observation, media outlets like Riben's Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun reported increasingly outrageous news every day.

Today they said, 'Da Xia's J-20 research failed, its performance is probably inferior to Eagle Sauce's F-15.'

Tomorrow they would say, 'Da Xia attempted to 'copy' Riben's carbon fiber composite material technology, but made no progress after ten years of exploration, and its research capability is worrying.'

Those various sarcastic headlines made his teeth itch with anger every time he saw them.

"I told you before not to read those reports. Why do you always make yourself uncomfortable every day?"

Zhang Yuli, sitting beside him, shook his head and calmly drank his tea. "Why don't you come and play a few games of chess with me? I'll 'give you a knight' this time, alright?"

He had witnessed the true colors of those Xiao Riben people countless times during his years as the president of the Xia Academy of Sciences.

In his eyes, these remarks were like 'farts,' having no value other than baseless insults.

Few people in the entire Xia Academy of Sciences would even look at these reports. It was only Zheng Lixing, this stubborn old man who liked to take things seriously, who would point at these news articles and curse every day.

"Aren't I angry?" Zheng Lixing sat down and calmed himself. "Tell me, when will our carbon fiber composite materials and ultra-precision machine tools be developed?"

"Didn't you say last time that there would be news soon?"

He was only good at academic research; that didn't mean he wouldn't get angry when faced with anything.

With foreign media from Riben and Eagle Sauce provoking them every day, it would be strange if his straightforward personality could tolerate it.

This was even considered restrained. If it were Zheng Lixing in his younger days, he could have been said to be capable of physically fighting Xiao Riben and verbally denouncing the White Eagle.

Hearing this.

Zhang Yuli finally reacted: "So, you old man, you're hinting that I should urge them to speed up their research progress?"

He had been wondering why Zheng Lixing was losing his temper in his office every day, and it turned out this was what he was hinting at.

He immediately laughed and scolded, "How can research be rushed? Didn't you yourself get stuck on a critical step for half a year without any progress back then?"

Even with a complete set of technical data, who could know when the actual finished product would be developed?

In scientific research, even if you put in 99.9% effort, it might not be as important as that last 0.01% of luck.

How many people were just one step away from success, only to have their research results preempted by latecomers? This was truly the most ruthless thing.

Seeing his old secrets about to be exposed, Zheng Lixing immediately denied it: "Nonsense, when did I ever fail to complete a task according to the superior's scheduled time?"

Just as the two were bantering.

The wired phone on the office desk rang.

"It's me." Zhang Yuli immediately picked up the phone and replied.

A moment later.

He hung up the phone, his face filled with surprise, stunned in place for a while, unable to react.

"Old Zhang, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Zheng Lixing leaned over and asked.

What kind of call would elicit such a reaction?

Was it about the 'Mysterious Organization'? Or had some major event occurred in Da Xia?

A glimmer of light appeared in Zhang Yuli's eyes, and a smile surfaced on his face: "You no longer need to endure those boring reports. This round, it's our turn to strike back."

"Good news has come from the carbon fiber composite material project. A technological breakthrough in mass production has been achieved, and T800 strength grade carbon fiber composite materials can soon enter the mass production stage."

"Good, good, good!" Zheng Lixing uttered several 'good's in a row. This finally relieved a burden on his mind.

"Notify Da Xia Shenying Composite Material." Zhang Yuli picked up the phone and gave instructions: "Proceed with production work at the fastest speed."

As he spoke, his tone was filled with a sense of triumph.

Shenying Composite Material is Da Xia's directly affiliated enterprise in the field of composite materials; entrusting them with production is the most reliable option.

It should be known that not only was Zheng Lixing seething with anger, but even Zhang Yuli, the president of the Xia Academy of Sciences, was far from as calm as he appeared when facing Riben's provocations.

Da Xia's J-20 will never be built without Riben's carbon fiber?

He wanted to see, in the face of Da Xia's surging carbon fiber materials.

Could they once again make Riben cry for their parents and kneel in surrender?

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