Chapter 1501
Chapter 1501 - 1497: The Reward of Loyalty
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"In just two months, when the Eastern Country decided to enter the fray, the entire Water World changed."
In terms of international politics and military, the Eastern Country is an exception among the Earth’s powerhouses, unlike those countries that are all talk and no action, they generally act without boasting.
"We don’t need publicity, at least, not before we succeed."
In some ways, this is determined by their system because in many Western countries like Huaqi, they practice electoral politics, they need achievements and reputation to exchange for votes, thus many critical strategic decisions appear ludicrous and shortsighted in retrospect... The reversal of policies by successors is too common, even many successors spend more than half of their term just to overturn the greatest historical accomplishments of their predecessors.
Here, we are not discussing the pros and cons of political systems, but rather the obvious advantages of a relatively stable regime and development strategy in terms of long-term development and planning.
The development of the Nirvana Era has further amplified this reality, the Western countries, when developing a world, usually involve major corporations rushing in, followed by private individuals and small teams, in a model of free competition, full-scale market slaughter.
Sounds good? When food sells at exorbitant prices and basic medications are charged by the microgram, no matter how much the small and medium teams earn, they are essentially working for the big sharks for free.
In the end, it is still the winner takes all, "healthy competition fosters development" without supervision, ninety-nine percent will evolve into "monopolists devouring everything," one or a few large groups becoming the beneficiaries of eighty to ninety percent of the profits.
And that is just a part of it, the most fatal aspect being infrastructure, diplomacy, communication with local residents, and exploration of local resources—jobs that don’t show short-term results are either not done at all or are only perfunctorily dealt with.
Even for sufficient profit, some large corporations even directly incite local native conflicts, plunging them into vendettas to gain more resources, slaves, and land.
"Although their reputation is terrible...those natives aren’t likely to leave their worlds, so a little negativity doesn’t really bother them."
From the perspective of the Eastern Country’s development decision-makers, this approach appears too shortsighted.
Rather than extorting primitive society villages, the Eastern Country expects more long-term and valuable "trade channels"... Those short-term exploitations of colonies are doomed to backlash as the colonies grow and the colonial powers turn into enemies.
In order to suppress their resistance, it is necessary to stifle their growth, and ultimately, the profits from squeezing primitive societies and feudal societies become increasingly minimal.
The Eastern Country hopes for more valuable "allies," or "joint ventures," rather than powerless and hopeless slaves... Pure materials and resources from other worlds do not hold much value.
Technology, deep-processed goods, especially the Extraordinary "rules" and "World’s Reason," and the "high-level combat power" that can be nurtured in other worlds are more valuable.
The times are different now, simply exploiting materials and population might not even cover the cost of transportation...
"... low-level arms, food, and daily necessities, they are really planning to operate for the long term."
The official control of these isn’t to do anything specific, but to prevent some people from losing their sanity and causing chaos.
Today’s new world is a real "great game," with formidable foreign invasions and local warlords carving out their territories, the nominal "government" can only command its legitimate line.
In such an environment, since the Eastern Country’s officials have decided to invest heavily, they will not entrust their lifeline to churches or local governments.
And Lu Ping’an is probably the one who understands the practices of the Eastern Country best... In a way, this is an advantage brought about by the vision across two eras, more so, it is because Lu Ping’an and his Rebirth Business Group are emerging forces with light loads and not so much revenue pressure, they wouldn’t bump heads with the higher-ups for mere profits.
"Bro, you guys are quite ruthless... Aren’t you afraid of getting beaten up?"
Some big shots within Lin Nu’s Church, like a large ship that’s hard to turn, it’s unrealistic to expect them to give up their shares.
Lu Ping’an didn’t try to persuade, involving astronomical interests, persuading them would only offend them.
At this moment, Lu Ping’an also felt the difficulties of the Eastern Country, just a slight touch on the interests would cause internal turmoil, this other facet of the Proper God Church’s big shots who entirely cover their own costs and don’t take salaries, is that they always prioritize their interests first.
Lu Ping’an didn’t try to intervene...
"These troublesome matters, let the official people be busy with them."
Lu Ping’an did file a minor report, urging the personnel on the other side to be cautious... He was quite rational, and although nominally a high-level official in Lin Nu’s Church, his essence was always that of an Extraordinary from the Eastern Country’s government.
What seemed like foolish loyalty damaging his own interests was actually a long-term vision; for the official ways of the Eastern Country, Lu, who had already demonstrated strategic value, just needed to continue being "loyal" to obtain everything.
"....It really does mean a lot."
And Lu Ping’an’s "report" and "loyalty" received a response within a couple of days.
A military order for Underwater Lamp Grass was sent over, along with a professional team comprising several Decree-level Gardeners and a dozen Curse-level Gardeners, who would help Lu Ping’an execute his plan.
The former represented long-term benefits, and the latter was a gift that Lu Ping’an couldn’t refuse.
"So, it’s professors from Wanjing University and Jingyan Academy...."
There are some things and resources that only the government can provide.
Lu Ping’an was progressing rapidly, but there were still some deficiencies in his main path; despite the transferred professors and teaching assistants not being notable in strength and rank, they were nationally renowned experts and scholars in their own academic fields.
They were similar to Professor Wen from the earlier days, first being botanists and then becoming Extraordinary Gardeners; their academic build-up and research methods far exceeded their levels.
And what Lu Ping’an needed most was this "knowledge" and the "research methods" to acquire the knowledge.
"....Wanjing’s academic institutions are also very willing to cooperate with you....."
Seeing the "experts" behaving so friendly and even somewhat humble, Lu Ping’an felt somewhat enlightened.
Unwittingly, he seemed to have become a truly immense entity... even within the power sphere of the entire Eastern Country, Lu Ping’an could be considered a "high-level power."
Lu Ping’an did not refuse nor did he adopt a superior attitude... on the contrary, he took on the posture of a disciple and even brought up his somewhat famous papers.
In the field of Magic Plants research, Lu Ping’an might not have sufficient accumulation, but he certainly wasn’t short of results... his rapid cultivation of Magic Plants and module configurations were like an accelerator cheat in R&D.
But now, what Lu needed most was someone to guide him on how to use this "cheat," so that he could quickly obtain the results he desired.
The Eastern Country’s government not only sent gifts and attitudes but also hoped to see Lu Ping’an’s "results" soon.
Lamp Trees, Lamp Flowers, and signal tower networks had become a part of the world’s infrastructure; likewise, its weapons pool was also part of an official large-scale order.
"The first project team, primarily focused on the underwater lamp series, even with the blessing (ability has limits) of seeing underwater, we still need a significant amount of underwater lighting...."
Following the discussions, the research group got straight to work.
Underwater lamps were important in this world... but in the Divine Grace-limited otherworldly Water World, they were strategic equipment akin to the Life system.
In the grand strategy’s counteroffensive, proper logistical equipment had to be prepared; likely, these Underwater Lamp Flowers needed to not only be usable in this world but also meet Multi-universe standards, requiring extensive efficacy testing.
"The second project group, the research target is heating; we need a portable ’hand warmer,’ as the low temperatures in deep water can be deadly...."
Before the commencement of hostilities, logistics and R&D took precedence; after accepting the Letter of Invitation, Lu Ping’an further integrated into the Eastern Country’s military-industrial system.
And assigning him this national-level major project also meant that Eastern Country saw him as one of their own, destined to be a long-term large-scale order for state military-industrial work.
Even if it was just making lamps, this represented astronomical profits, let alone the potential of Lamp Flowers.
Of course, Lu Ping’an wasn’t so honest; now that he had a group of powerful R&D personnel at his disposal, he naturally handed over some evolutionary pathways obstacles that had stumped him as well.
"The fifth project team, the research focus is ’Oak Chess Piece’..."
— End of Chapter 1501 —