338: Just spend money and it's done

In the project office of Honeycomb Experimental City, Anderson faced the resource demand list displayed on the holographic screen, his brow slightly furrowed.

The words "life milk: 5 million tons needed" on the list were particularly striking.

He turned to Xia Er, a hint of uncertainty in his tone: "Isn't this quantity a bit too exaggerated? Can the Construction Materials Logistics Department approve it?"

Xia Er shrugged easily: "Brother, don't forget the priority of our project."

"'Unlimited resource supply'—that's not just for show. However, it's true that the company's current inventory probably doesn't have that much."

At this moment, Dr. Li Shan interjected: "I've contacted the Construction Materials Logistics Department. They said they would immediately initiate the procurement process, but such a large quantity needs to be shipped directly from the Trisolaris System, which might take some time."

"Will it be troublesome?"

"No," Li Shan waved his hand at Anderson, "All small problems."

"It's just a matter of spending money."

As they expected, the Construction Materials Logistics Department immediately convened an emergency meeting after receiving the demand request.

Minutes earlier, in the Construction Materials Logistics Department's office area, the afternoon sun streamed through the large floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the neatly arranged workstations.

Department head Zhang Tao was holding a coffee, leisurely inspecting his subordinates' work. This department, responsible for managing all of the company's production and logistics functions, had always been known for its efficiency, handling material allocation for thousands of projects across three star systems.

"Supervisor, Honeycomb Experimental City has another new order," the young dispatcher Xiao Li looked up, a helpless smile on his face, "This time, what they want is a bit, uh... difficult to get."

"What's so difficult to get? Is there anything in this world that we can't acquire? As long as it's not contraband, we even have live dinosaurs." Zhang Tao sipped his coffee, completely unconcerned.

"It's not that the item itself is difficult to get, it's just that the quantity is a bit..." Xiao Li felt his mouth twitching.

"Hmm, a problem with the quantity? Let me see what this is about?" Zhang Tao walked closer to the workstation and looked at the demand list on the holographic screen. When he saw the words "life milk: 5 million tons," the coffee he had just drunk almost sprayed out.

"Five million tons?!" Zhang Tao wiped his mouth, "Are those people from Xia Er drinking life milk like water? Or are they using it to bathe? We only approved five hundred tons for them last week; how many days has it been?"

Sister Wang from the next workstation leaned over, pushing up her glasses: "Is it that project on Prison Star? I heard from my sister that the big shots in their department have been a bit eccentric lately, doing collaborative experiments in the lab and on Prison Star every day."

"Indeed," Xiao Li pulled up the project file, "Although this project was specially approved by Amber King, with 'unlimited resource supply,' the quantity requested this time is too exaggerated. Our total inventory is only four hundred and fifty thousand tons."

Zhang Tao rubbed his temples and turned to the department secretary: "Xiao Chen, notify all team leaders to gather in the meeting room in ten minutes. Also, call the Traditional Projects Department and tell them there's a 'big business' coming."

"Sigh, another big expenditure."

Ten minutes later, the meeting room was filled with key members of the Construction Materials Logistics Department. When Zhang Tao projected the demand list onto the central screen, a collective gasp of cold air immediately rose from below.

"Boss, is there an extra zero in this number?" Zhao Debao, the head of the resource allocation team, said jokingly, "Five million tons of life milk, that's enough to drown the entire Honeycomb Experimental City, isn't it?"

Sun Li from the warehouse management team frowned: "Nothing else is a problem, but there's a tricky issue: logistics supply from the Trisolaris System has been very tight recently. The Nova People are undertaking large-scale construction, so it might be difficult to get enough transport capacity for a while."

"Oh, that's not a problem," Zhu Tianyi from the logistics team interrupted apologetically, "A newly launched God-Crossing class freighter has just been assigned to us. With a capacity of eight million cubic meters, it's enough to handle it in one trip."

"Alright, so the transportation problem is solved." Zhang Tao tapped the table, "Then the remaining issue is the source of goods."

"Liu Wei's team from the Traditional Projects Department is already on their way; let them handle this part of the problem."

Just as he spoke, the meeting room door was pushed open, and Liu Wei, the business team leader of the Traditional Projects Department, walked in briskly with two assistants.

"Old Zhang, you're not being fair! You ask me to put out fires but don't arrange a spaceship; you're treating tonight!" Liu Wei said as he naturally pulled out a chair and sat down, "Also, five million tons? Do you think you're buying cabbage at the wet market?"

"Did you take the wrong shopping list for the company cafeteria, kid?"

"Stop joking," Zhang Tao waved his hand, "It's not that little."

"Alright, stop messing around, what's the actual situation?"

Zhang Tao smiled wryly and pushed a cup of tea to Liu Wei: "No choice, it's a list from those big shots in the Technology Research and Development Department. You know the rules, special projects get priority supply."

"This is also a project specially approved by the chairman, what can I do? I could only call you over."

"But this is too outrageous!" Xiao Yang, Liu Wei's assistant, couldn't help but interject, "Last week we just finalized a fifty-thousand-ton contract with Erwin's people, and the faces of their elders turned green. If we go for five million tons again this time, they wouldn't have that much in stock even if we squeezed them dry."

A ripple of light laughter spread through the meeting room.

Old Wang from the procurement team teased: "Xiao Yang, you need to be more confident. Remember last time when you went to Barnard I to procure Seven-Luminaries Ore? The local natives initially said no, but in the end, didn't you manage to squeeze out ten tons of stock from them?"

"How can that be the same?" Xiao Yang rolled his eyes, "I could squeeze it out because they really did have it; they just wanted to keep it to get more benefits from the Eastern Federation."

"This time, where would the Trisolarans get stock for me to squeeze?"

Liu Wei waved his hand to stop his assistants' bickering and said seriously: "Seriously, this order is indeed tricky. I suggest we proceed in two steps."

"On one hand, contact the Trisolaran conservatives to see how much stock they can spare. On the other hand, we probably need to talk to the Nova People."

"In any case, it's just a matter of money in the end; it's not a big deal."

"Nova People? That splinter group, right?" Zhang Tao mused, "I heard they're quite short on funds lately, so maybe it's an opportunity."

"Exactly," Liu Wei nodded and turned to his assistant: "Xiao Yang, immediately contact our liaison with the Nova People and tell him we have a 'win-win' business to discuss. Remember, don't mention the specific quantity yet; just sound them out."

"Understood!" Xiao Yang excitedly took notes, "Should I send over the product catalog too? Their eyes went wide last time they saw our medical pods."

"Not so fast," Liu Wei shook his head, "We'll slowly bait them when we meet to discuss. Kane is a very shrewd person; revealing all our cards at once would make it harder to negotiate."

"Honestly, if it weren't for his unnaturally large eyes, I would really think that guy was an old hand who rolled out of some factory in our country."

"He's more human than us, it's incredible."

At this, the atmosphere in the meeting room lightened. After complaining a bit about the Nova People, everyone began to discuss every detail of the transaction plan.

"Oh, right," Zhang Tao suddenly remembered something, "We need to get back to Honeycomb Experimental City. Xiao Li, send a message to Xia Er's team saying the request has been received and we'll expedite it."

"Uh, no specific details?" Xiao Li asked.

"We just came up with the plan; we don't even know the outcome yet, so where am I supposed to get them details?" Director Zhang stared at his somewhat dull subordinate with wide eyes.

"But, according to regulations, we are supposed to give them..."

"Then just say, 'supply guaranteed, but allocation will take some time.' Then send them all the existing stock first, to prevent those scientists from sending emails like they're hounding us for our lives every day."