Chapter 1618: The World Is Too Crazy

“Mars Harbor, where the Galaxy Dream begins… What? What are these people from the city hall doing?”

Gong Tianwen, who was sitting at his desk, swiped his index finger across the holographic screen in front of him and put the latest issue of Tiangong Daily into the trash can. However, the contents of the newspaper kept him thinking for a long time.

Where the Galaxy Dream begins…

For a native Martian, this sentence was quite fascinating.

This report talked about the breakthrough of faster than light technology and the completion of the first phase of the space elevator. The shipping demand on Mars was expanding day by day, and the old space facilities were no longer enough to meet the needs of people. Therefore, the city hall issued a plan regarding the new development plan for Mars Harbor.

The plan was announced by the new mayor Xiao Hong. The city hall authorities would spend 100 billion credits to build a larger spaceport in the orbit of Mars.

This port harbor would no longer only serve as a shipping transit station, but it would also serve as an orbital residence, integrating production and life.

As a Martian who loved his hometown deeply, no one was more eager for Mars to become prosperous than him.

Compared to the pleasant scenery on Earth, the environment on Mars outside Tiangong was rather harsh.

For the world inside the Tiangong dome, this was a paradise that most people on Earth who had never been to space could never imagine.

Unlike Guanghan City, which had been forgotten for half a century, this colony on Mars had been developed by generations of colonists due to the transfer of heavy industries and mining industries.

Because of the actual needs for survival, people living here were constantly improving the life-sustaining facilities of the colony to expand their living space, so every brick and tile here was the crystallization of science and technology. It was no exaggeration to say that every floor tile contained the top wisdom of the entire human civilization.

Gong Tianwen was a native Martian. Although he heard that there were vast forests, seas, and countless ancient wonders on Earth, he did not yearn for them.

As a descendant of the original colonists and as a “citizen of Mars”, he had always been extremely proud of his identity.

He was a descendant of explorers.

And his company was a spacecraft parts manufacturing plant that produced parts for explorers.

In addition to the pride of being a Martian, the Mars Harbor described in this news made him see huge business opportunities.

The only thing that made him feel a little worried was that the mayor’s style of speaking and doing things didn’t seem to be very reliable.

Can this Mars Harbor really be built within his term?

Gong Tianwen was somewhat skeptical.

As usual, after reading the morning news, he turned on the holographic intelligent office system on his desk and started to deal with today’s work with the assistance of business AI.

Just as he was about to sign a document, his AI assistant floated out of his desk.

“Sir, there is a visitor outside who wants to visit you.”

Visitor?

Who would come this early in the morning?

Gong Tianwen spoke casually.

“Let them come in.”

After the holographic image floating next to the desk disappeared, the office door opened quickly.

Not long after, a man in a suit and leather shoes walked in from outside.

“Hello, Chairman Gong, I am the manager of the Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation. Here is my business card.”

Alpha Centauri Colonial Exploration Foundation?

Gong Tianwen frowned when he heard this name, and his impression of the person in front of him suddenly changed.

The reason was simple.

In his opinion, these funds that targeted extrasolar stars were basically a large-scale Ponzi scheme. Through a beautiful land voucher card and an impractical lie, they stole credit points from the hands of ordinary people.

Of course, this was not the worst thing.

These liars who were good at deceiving people were usually grifters. They loved to talk about business and convince people to sign contracts while keeping their own bottom lines safe.

Gong Tianwen had met many people who ran similar funds, hoping to reach a “strategic cooperation” with his factory through the exchange of equity or “land”, and they even threw out the bait of helping him go public on Earth.

However, he had always sneered at these ridiculous proposals.

If someone wanted to buy his factory or the parts he produced, they could, but they would have to show him real money. As for the rest, he didn’t want to spare them a single minute of time.

“Mr. Gladstone?”

Gong Tianwen took a look at the holographic business card in his hand. He dragged it into his address book casually before casting a glance at the man in front of him. “Welcome to my company… I heard my secretary say that you have a business plan to discuss with me? Can you tell me what business is it?”

When he said this, he had already subconsciously moved his gaze to the clock in the corner of his vision.

He had made up his mind. The moment this guy showed the same intentions as those scammers, he would remove him from his office in the shortest possible time.

However, the first words that Mr. Gladstone said were beyond Gong Tianwen’s expectations.

“I want to build a ship.”

“Ship?” Staring at the man in suit and leather shoes in front of him for a moment, Gong Tianwen frowned slightly and continued, “Did you come to the wrong place? We don’t produce starships, we only produce—”

“Starship parts, right?” He took out a black memory card from his arm. The man in the suit and leather shoes then gently handed it to Gong Tianwen. “Usually, we will contact the shipyard directly, but our needs are quite special… Do you think you can make this?”

“Let me see.”

After receiving the black memory card, Gong Tianwen showed a serious look on his face as he operated the computer with his fingers.

Soon, a light blue holographic image was projected in front of him.

The moment he saw the parameters on the drawing, his eyebrows twitched fiercely, and he couldn’t help but complain, “A five-kilometer long keel… Are you planning to build an aerospace carrier?”

Although he was not a professional engineer, he had been in this industry for many years. Even if he never cooked before, he would know what a chicken looked like.

This was the first time he had ever seen a civilian-class starship with such a long keel.

Gladstone smiled slightly and continued in a soft voice, “You only need to answer whether you can make it or not. If you can, I will place an order now. If not, I will look elsewhere.”

Gong Tianwen raised his chin slightly with a proud expression on his face.

“As long as there are blueprints and materials, there is nothing we can’t make! But this is a bit large, the storage costs and labor costs are not cheap, and if you breach the contract, we can only sell it as scrap… The deposit may be more expensive. You may have to pay 50% of the total price.”

“No problem.”

To Gong Tianwen’s surprise, this man with a crooked nose didn’t even bargain.

“Where is the contract? As long as you make sure that the order can be completed within the specified time, I can pay the deposit now.”

Gong Tianwen gulped. He reached out his trembling index finger and tapped it gently on the desk.

“The contract will be ready soon… Please wait for a moment.”

After accepting the electronic contract, the foreigner briefly glanced at it. He then signed his name and paid a deposit of 5 billion credits.

It was almost as if this weren’t a business deal worth tens of billions. He acted like he was buying a pack of cigarettes from the supermarket downstairs instead.

Looking at the order worth tens of billions of credit points in his hand, Gong Tianwen felt his hands trembling. His whole body was full of disbelief.

It wasn’t until he pinched himself to confirm that it was not a dream that he snapped back to reality.

“Crazy…”

Looking at the door of the office that had been closed in front of him, he gulped, and it took him a while to suppress his heart that was beating wildly.

An order worth 10 billion credit points…

This world is crazy.