105: I'm talking about military technology.

With the broadcast of the visit news, Interstellar Peace Corporation's various benefits and treatments made it instantly the most attractive company on the entire Blue Star, with top talents from various countries scrambling to become official employees of Interstellar Peace Corporation.

However, the company's requirements for employees' Chinese proficiency and knowledge became an extremely high threshold, which also caused the craze to join Interstellar Peace Corporation to slowly recede.

The entire Blue Star also gradually accepted the drastic changes under the intense information bombardment. After all, for most people, they just had a more colorful life than before. As for who provided it, they didn't care too much.

...

In Florida, on a private yacht three kilometers off the coastline, Lockheed Martin CEO James Teklite was having an encrypted call with the Governor of Lone Star State via satellite phone. The yacht gently rocked with the waves, and moonlight cast dappled shadows on the deck.

"Greg, the situation is worse than we imagined," Teklite's fingers clenched the satellite phone tightly, his knuckles white, "Energy and Pharmaceutical Group just announced its withdrawal from the AIC Alliance."

From the other end of the line came the suppressed roar of Lone Star State Governor Greg Abbott: "These treacherous bastards! How many benefits did they take from us?"

Teklite looked at the brilliant lights of Miami in the distance, his voice low: "Trump gave them 'conditions' they couldn't refuse. The problem now is, our capital chain..."

"Listen, James," Abbott suddenly lowered his voice, "The Texas National Guard just received a batch of 'special equipment' in an underground warehouse in El Paso. When can your technical team arrive?"

A glint flashed in Teklite's eyes: "Tomorrow morning. But we need more..."

"Don't worry about the funding," Abbott interrupted him, "The Alamo Consortium has already prepared 5 billion US dollars in cash, deposited in the Cayman Islands..."

The call suddenly cut off. Teklite vigilantly looked up, finding the yacht's communication system displayed "signal interfered." Almost simultaneously, his personal assistant rushed into the cabin in a panic: "Sir! The Coast Guard is approaching!"

Teklite quickly walked to the porthole. Three speedboats were cutting through the dark sea, rushing towards them. The blinding beams of searchlights swept across the yacht deck, illuminating his face to a pale white.

"Initiate emergency protocol," Teklite calmly ordered, simultaneously pulling a miniature hard drive from his suit's inner pocket and biting it to pieces. A bitter chemical taste spread in his mouth—this was the final insurance, ensuring the hard drive data was completely destroyed.

Federal Central District, Roman Palace Situation Room.

Trump stood triumphantly in front of a giant electronic screen, which displayed real-time updated financial market data. After the popularity of Interstellar Peace Corporation subsided, he could finally begin his manipulation of the financial market.

After he issued several executive orders in a row, the stock prices of the Energy and Pharmaceutical Group finally began to rebound, while the military industry sector was a dismal green.

"Look at these numbers, gentlemen!" Trump waved the brief in his hand, "The market value of the military industrial group has evaporated by 120 billion!"

Minister of Finance Steven Mnuchin cautiously reminded: "Mr. President, are we pushing too hard? These military industrial giants..."

"Pushing too hard?" Trump suddenly turned around, a dangerous glint in his eyes, "When they wanted to sideline the government, why didn't they think they were pushing too hard?"

Just then, National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien hurried in: "Mr. President, we just received news. The CEOs of Lockheed, Boeing, and United Technologies have all disappeared simultaneously."

Trump's smile froze on his face: "What?"

"What's worse..." O'Brien handed over an encrypted document, "Our satellites have detected abnormal movements in the armories of five military bases in Lone Star State."

Trump snatched the document, quickly scanned it, and then slammed it onto the table: "These traitors! Immediately freeze all their bank accounts!"

"We've tried, Mr. President," Minister of Defense William Barr's expression was grave, "Their funds... all transferred to a new entity called 'Militech'."

Florida, an abandoned military base on the outskirts of Tampa.

Twelve black helicopters landed on the overgrown runway. Teklite was the first to jump off the helicopter, his custom suit already replaced with a black combat uniform. Greg Hayes, CEO of Raytheon, who had been waiting there, quickly stepped forward to meet him.

"Is everything arranged?" Teklite looked around, noticing that many fully armed mercenaries had suddenly appeared in the base.

Hayes nodded and handed over a tablet: "Look at this."

The screen displayed a company registration document: "Militech Co., Ltd.", registered in: Lone Star State. The shareholder column prominently listed the names of all major military industrial giants.

"We have integrated all resources," Hayes's voice trembled slightly with excitement, "Lockheed's aerospace technology, Zeus Technology's missile systems, United Technologies' armored vehicles... and this."

He tapped the screen, and the display switched to real-time monitoring of an underground factory. Hundreds of Engineers were assembling rows of humanoid combat robots, their appearance clearly drawing inspiration from Titan's Warrior design.

"Our 'Guardian' series," Hayes proudly introduced, "Although the performance is only 30% of the Warrior, and they don't have flight or those outrageous weapons, they are more than enough to deal with the grunts up north."

Teklite frowned: "How will the energy problem be solved?"

"We found new partners," a familiar voice came from behind. Teklite turned and saw Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman emerge from the shadows.

"You?" Teklite's eyes widened in disbelief, "You weren't..."

"Standing on Golden Serpent Street?" Stephen Schwarzman gave a cunning smile, "That was just a smokescreen. In fact, we've been secretly acquiring renewable energy companies in Texas."

He clapped his hands, and two assistants pushed an object covered with a black cloth. When the black cloth was lifted, everyone gasped. It was a model of a miniature nuclear fission reactor.

"Titan, no, is this the nuclear power technology that Interstellar Peace Corporation first announced?" Hayes asked in surprise.

"More or less," Stephen Schwarzman smiled mysteriously, "We have our own... special channels."

Federal Central District, Roman Palace Oval Office.

Trump was in a rage: "What do you mean 'untraceable'? Can they just disappear into thin air?"

Director Christopher Wray wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Mr. President, their funds were transferred layer by layer through Songkhla's financial center and shell companies, and eventually all flowed to a newly registered company in Lone Star State..."

"Militech," Trump gnashed his teeth as he uttered the name, "Immediately declare them an illegal organization! Freeze all assets!"

Minister of Defense Mark Esper interjected worriedly: "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Mr. President. According to the special bill just signed by the Governor of Lone Star State, 'Militech' is designated as a 'critical defense contractor' and enjoys state-level immunity."

"What?!" Trump's roar made the windows hum, "That old geezer dares to..."

"There's worse news." Gina Haspel handed over an intelligence briefing. "We've received reliable intelligence that Militech has reached a secret agreement with the Lone Star State National Guard, gaining access to military equipment."

Trump slumped into the presidential chair, his expression shifting. Suddenly, he looked up, a dangerous glint in his eyes: "Get me Woods from ExxonMobil."

When the call connected, Trump's voice was unusually calm: "Darren, I recall you saying the new drilling platform could increase production by 15%?"

Woods' confused reply came from the other end of the line: "Yes, Mr. President, but..."

"I want you to announce tomorrow that you will provide a 'special energy subsidy' to Lone Star." Trump's lips curved into a cold sneer. "Enough to cut off power to all of Miami."

Lone Star State, Militech Headquarters Command Center.

Teklite stood before a massive tactical screen, watching the red areas representing the company's sphere of influence constantly expand on the map. Hayes rushed in: "Just received word, ExxonMobil is cutting off our energy supply!"

"As expected." Teklite sneered, turning to the Technical Director. "Activate the backup plan."

The Technical Director quickly operated the control console, and the screen switched to a view of the underground base. Dozens of miniature nuclear reactors began to start up.

"Our miniature reactors can sustain us for three months," the Technical Director reported, "enough time for the new energy pipeline in Texas to be completed."

Stephen Schwarzman walked in from a side door, a victorious smile on his face: "I just finalized an agreement with the Alamo Consortium; they're willing to inject another 20 billion."

Teklite nodded, then turned to the holographic communication device: "Connect me to the Governor of Lone Star State."

When Abbot's image appeared, Teklite said directly: "Greg, it's time to bring up the Lone Star Republic proposal again."

Inside a private laboratory on Pierpoint Space Station, Chen Hao floated in zero gravity, a holographic projection before him displaying a running prototype of a jump engine. Countless blue energy beams flowed within the ring-shaped device, sparkling like a galaxy.

"Master, you really should see this." Bronya's virtual image suddenly appeared beside the control console, her silver-grey twin tails gently swaying in the zero-gravity environment. She snapped her fingers, bringing up a real-time monitoring feed.

Chen Hao gently pushed off the cabin wall, gracefully drifting towards the control console. When he saw the content on the screen, he was utterly dumbfounded: "Militech? No, are they crazy? 2077 came out years ago, do they really not know anything? Wait... it seems that game isn't even here yet..."

Bronya spread her small hands, looking helpless, "Uh, although I don't know what Master is talking about, it's pretty reasonable for a bunch of capitalists selling military hardware not to care about games, right?"

"By the way, Master, Master, what's this 2077 you just mentioned? Bronya's database doesn't have anything like that?"

"Nothing, nothing, just that my brain's a bit muddled from all the experiments lately. It's a good time to rest."

Chen Hao slapped his forehead, thinking, what is all this nonsense? Militech is here, so does that mean Arasaka, Kang Tao, Zetatech Optics, and all those are also... Wait! It's not impossible, is it?

He'd discuss it with Xiao Jixiang later to see if they could stir up some fun.

Setting aside the inspiration for a moment, Chen Hao turned his attention back to the footage Bronya had displayed.

In the footage, a massive underground factory was operating at full speed. Hundreds of humanoid combat robots moved along assembly lines; their appearance, though crude, clearly drew inspiration from the Warrior's design philosophy. Even more striking was the giant logo in the center of the factory—a red five-pointed star enclosing the word "Militech."

"According to our intelligence network," Bronya's fingers rapidly tapped on a virtual keyboard, "this company has integrated 90% of the core assets of the Nova United States' seven major military-industrial groups and has also secured official support from the Lone Star State."

Chen Hao's interest was piqued: "Interesting, they're trying to copy and paste." He reached out and magnified the image, carefully observing the robots' joint structures. "How's their energy system?"

"That's where it gets interesting." Bronya brought up a set of data charts. "They seem to have acquired some blueprints of our early power cell technology and equipment from the Zhulong Nuclear Power Plant, but..." She suddenly paused, a sly smile playing on her lips. "They made a cute mistake."

The screen switched to an underground power station, where several Engineers were frantically working around a reactor emitting an eerie blue light.

"They installed the neutron reflector layer backward," Chen Hao couldn't help but laugh aloud, "although it's not unusable."

"The power output is only 30% of the design, and the fuel rods need to be replaced every seven days," Bronya added, "but they seem to have found a workaround."

The monitoring footage switched to the Lone Star State border, where a convoy of military trucks was transporting cylindrical containers.

"Uranium enrichment plant?" Chen Hao narrowed his eyes. "Interesting. It seems they plan to compensate for quality with quantity."

Bronya nodded: "This is more troublesome." She brought up an encrypted communication record. "The Governor of Texas is lobbying other southern states to join their 'Energy Independence Plan.'"

Chen Hao floated towards the observation window, looking down at the blue Earth below. After a moment of silence, he suddenly asked: "What's Trump's reaction?"

"Quite dramatic." Bronya played a segment of internal surveillance from the Roman Palace. In the footage, Trump was roaring into the phone: "...I don't care what method you use! Immediately freeze their accounts in all banks..." Suddenly, the President's voice cut off, and he stared at a newly received document in his hand, his face turning pale.

"What did they get?" Chen Hao asked curiously.

"This." Bronya displayed a document marked "Top Secret"—Militech had secretly gained control of 47% of the National Guard equipment maintenance contracts within the Nova United States.

Chen Hao couldn't help but laugh: "That's equivalent to gaining control over half of the Nova United States' military power."

"Not only that." Bronya brought up several more satellite images. "They've established three 'R&D centers' in Florida, Lone Star, and South Carolina, which are actually their 'Guardian' production lines and warehouses."

"How interesting. They're trying to replicate Titan's operations in the Nova United States." Chen Hao pondered for a moment, a smile playing on his lips. "Ya Ya, contact Silver Wolf. I have two tasks for you two."

"Yes~ Master, please tell me~" Bronya stood at attention and saluted, though it didn't look serious at all.

"Help them out on the network side. I'm really looking forward to seeing if this 'Militech' can become what I remember it to be."

"Okay~ Eh, what was Master's impression like?"

"Don't worry about it. Children shouldn't concern themselves with adult matters."

"Ah (⊙o⊙)?"