Chapter 873
Chapter 873 - 859: District 7
1,785 words
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9 min read
The exotic trade offers many great items, but the range accessible to each individual or group is always limited.
Probably only the central intelligence can coordinate information and resources to get a general picture of overall development.
Massive amounts of resources circulate around the world, with new technologies and knowledge being discovered every day. God knows what new things will appear next week.
Every day is a day of technological explosions—yesterday, today, tomorrow—with most products quickly becoming warehouse stock unless there is a real demand that might justify mass production.
The Commissioner by the name of Zhou is easy to deal with... at least when it comes to big clients like Lu Ping’an.
"I personally recommend this ’Blazing Blade’ series of weapons. It’s from the Green Planet. Although it’s a bit pricey, it’s worth the money," he said.
"Give me ten of them."
Lu Ping’an looked at the specs and placed an order directly.
Blazing Blade and Blazing Armor, one for offense and the other for defense, these two series of weapons had specific models numbering in the triple digits.
But in the end, it’s still the technology Lu Ping’an is familiar with... "Heat energy to kinetic energy" weapons.
What Lu Ping’an valued was an electric saw model called "Type-77 Thunder Flame Harvester"... And within this Vortex Stone series of weapons, it turned out electric saws were the majority.
The one Lu Ping’an pointed at was about one meter seventy in length and looked like a door panel.
Not only could it saw trees, it could also saw people. Equipped with bloodletting slots and electric discharge ports for melee use, it was rated as a Silver-tier weapon with combat equivalent power and base attributes.
It wasn’t just made of materials from the Green Planet, but included specialties and technologies from several other worlds... Compared to official resources and tech, Lu Ping’an’s crafting was quite rudimentary.
Although he felt mixed about the electric saw, Lu Ping’an thought it over and realized that this kind of kinetic energy weapon had a surprisingly high compatibility with the structure of an electric saw.
"Thank you for your patronage... This mecha is nice; it’s a specialty from Planet XA. We localized it with our own technology. Interested?" he asked.
Lu Ping’an made a show of making a call. When the other team members came for their purchases, he also made some procurement for the team’s weapon reserves.
Primarily, when all the members were equipped with higher-level weapons, their combat power was bound to increase significantly.
The electric saw was excellent in this regard... Just press a button to use it, the operation was simple, and the killing power was more than adequate.
Although conventional electric saws were underwhelming in real combat, the real issues lay in the output strength and the durability of the materials.
How do you kill people with insufficient RPMs? How do you demolish a house if the blade and chain aren’t strong enough? These issues were clearly addressed by the design of model number 77.
Lu Ping’an knew how terrifying the kinetic energy of the "Divine Bones" core was, and the other material from the Exotic Realm, "Mysterious Ice Steel," sounded mystical and had combat data like something out of a cultivation fantasy... Naturally, this mass-produced weapon that stacked panel strength up to Decree-level was pricey.
"Two more Thunder Flame weapons of different types as backups, but let’s pass on the Blazing Armor..."
I have money, not only can I afford it, but I can also buy a few cool-looking ones for the collection.
The only exasperating part is that these items need to be crafted by master craftsmen; they require time for custom orders and mass production.
Lu Ping’an liked the Blazing Blade series, but as for the Blazing Armor, well...
"It detonates automatically before an attack, thwarting the opponent’s piercing attack... isn’t that reactive explosion armor?"
Similar in principle to the armor used on tanks from his previous life, it’s already being hand-crafted by the craftsmen of this world.
The specs are, as always, frighteningly impressive, but imagining the armor on oneself exploding, even though they assured it won’t harm the wearer...
"This series of armor only has up to model 4, don’t scam me," Lu Ping’an said.
Lu Ping’an had figured out that many of the "product listings" here were basically experimental and prototype products. Most were only mass-produced in limited quantities for parameter testing, with mass production sort of on hold unless there was a demand for orders.
Numbering for the Thunder Flame weapons had reached the triple digits, with all kinds of Codex entries being abundant, while the armor capped at number 4, still sketched in pencil...
Lu Ping’an guessed that this path was likely abandoned when researchers encountered problems that were difficult to solve.
"...You wouldn’t be scamming people by selling here, right?" Lu Ping’an asked.
"It won’t happen, the markup is too high, ordinary people can’t afford it, it simply won’t sell... cough cough, our main focus is on internal sales, tailored specifically to our clientele, generally speaking, there shouldn’t be any problems."
Having only acquired the new technology a few months ago, Lu Ping’an didn’t expect them to truly come up with a perfect product, but upon hearing this, he somewhat relaxed about placing his order.
He communicated with his companions, and they all opted to purchase the older models.
He came to understand that the list of items presented was mostly "experimental products" facing the market, probably prototypes from some scientific academy absorbing new technologies and new materials, conveniently thrown into the market to see how they would fare.
The products might perform exceptionally, and they might have sufficient quality after the handcrafted touch of elite craftsmen with top-tier materials, but their stability had yet to be sufficiently verified.
With the advent of the New Era, it might not be long until the Special Service Team and the military would have to overhaul their equipment... Lu Ping’an wasn’t opposed to experimental products, but he didn’t plan to outfit his team with them exclusively.
In fact, Lu Ping’an’s speculation wasn’t wrong; many internal research institutes were releasing a new product every few days, with specifications far surpassing their predecessors, but due to the overwhelming variety and quantity, the military departments were hesitant to place orders.
Perhaps, there would be a more prudent internal procurement order... but Lu Ping’an wasn’t backed by the military nor directly subordinate to the central government, so naturally he had no access to such information.
In the end, Lu Ping’an and his group adopted a more conservative purchasing strategy, which gave Commissioner Zhou a bit of a headache.
He could indeed bring out top-notch military equipment for sale, which the other party would definitely buy, but he lacked the authority to do so, and these "outdated experimental products" were already pushing the limits.
The specifications were truly impressive, and the real combat effectiveness had been verified, it was just the long-term stability data that was lacking, or perhaps, there were superior options available.
But this was already the limit for "civilian" offer, and after some consideration, Commissioner Zhou gritted his teeth and decided to play his trump card.
"...Do you know about the Seventh District Project? We’re going to have an exhibition there soon; if you’re free, you might want to take a look..."
The Seventh District Project? Lu Ping’an looked bewildered. What new gadget was this?
"It’s normal that you don’t know. It was only half a month ago that the central authorities made up their minds; it probably hasn’t been communicated to the local level yet, but in fact, some areas have already started it. You can go see for yourself in the neighboring state..."
The Seventh District Project was top-secret a half a month ago, and now it’s an "open secret" that many knew about but kept mum on.
The reason is simple; it’s just like what Lu Ping’an has been noticing recently—many "local nuisances" stubbornly refuse to change, fixated on their own little patch of land, unwilling to look to the stars.
"You don’t want to look at the starry sky? Fine, we’ll bring the starry sky to you."
That is the Seventh District Project, a project as drastic as throwing caution to the wind.
"What? Setting up a special zone directly, allowing visitors from the Foreign Domain to come and go freely? Has the Official gone mad?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Ping’an felt like it was akin to a "Concession" area.
But after studying it more closely, he found it wasn’t the same... it resembled more of a "Free Port", where strict entry and exit checks weren’t necessary.
A zone delineated to proactively invite outsiders for trading and communication.
At present, outsiders can’t stay for long, and the contents of the transactions need to be audited... Everyone knows such high-cost administrative systems eventually become mere formalities. Whether it can maintain stability depends on whether the surrounding military forces are up to par.
Smuggling, illegal aliens, and the widespread distribution of contraband is almost certain to ensue.
"Has the higher-ups been driven mad?"
Lu Ping’an pondered for a moment, feeling somewhat troubled.
But perhaps, this was exactly the harsh medicine this world urgently needed.
"Still want to close your eyes? Want to return to the past? Come on, others are knocking at your door; you can’t pretend you don’t see it now."
The risk is great, but so is the potential reward... Those powerful species from the Foreign Domain have probably been waiting for such an opportunity.
This is not the same as when Explorers had previously ventured to relatively safe worlds of the Foreign Domain voluntarily; it means that the ones coming might not be fringe residents of the Multi-universe but powerful species actively exploring Star-zones in search of maximal benefits.
"At least fifty species have shown interest in our Seventh District Project, with the Eastern Country setting up twenty such Concessions in the first batch. The inaugural ceremony and the Exotic Realm product exhibition will be held concurrently. If you are interested, you could attend in person."
Yet, for Lu Ping’an and his group, what’s more important now is whether to consider attending this inauguration of the Seventh District and witness the true power of these Exotic Realm species and their cross-domain products.
— End of Chapter 873 —