Chapter 48: Resource Exchange

In a conference room in the capital of Jugu.

“Two days ago, the one hundred million tons of iron ore we ordered from Qingye arrived, but it was mixed with thirty million jin of ordinary sand and stones,” said Ying Yibin, who was responsible for import trade, frowning. “Our person in charge went to confront them, but they refused to admit it, claiming there were no issues during the handover and that we swapped it ourselves.”

“Again with this.” Someone couldn’t help but throw the materials in their hand onto the table. “Last month’s batch of rare metals was the same. After they delivered it, they claimed a few thousand jin had evaporated, and they wanted us to cover the loss.”

“We can’t cooperate with Qingye anymore; they have no integrity,” someone said angrily. “They’ve become even more arrogant after their growth these past two years.”

“And it’s obvious that they’ve been targeting us in the last two months,” the top leader slowly spoke. “By the way, how’s the progress on the three technologies we’ve been researching?”

When the topic shifted to this, everyone’s spirits lifted, and the head of the research institute quickly handed out progress reports to the leaders.

As he handed them out, he couldn’t suppress his excitement and explained, “Two of the technologies are also with Qingye, and we assigned them to different teams. Since they already have examples from Qingye, the progress is smooth. We’ve already started applying these two new technologies to prepare new internal combustion engine production lines and improve existing military weapons.”

“The other technology, which Qingye doesn’t have, involves the uniform combination of different metals at the microscopic level to change the properties of the metal. However, many of the metals in the examples they provided are ones we haven’t encountered before, so progress has been slow. We’ve been experimenting with the metals we already have, wasting a lot of material, but we’ve now developed a new alloy with significantly improved hardness and toughness.”

“Our next goal is…”

The discussion in the conference room was getting heated when someone knocked on the door and whispered something into the ear of the foreign minister, Qiu Ji.

Qiu Ji’s eyes lit up, and he immediately went to whisper to the top leader.

Everyone saw Qiu Ji’s expression and instinctively lowered their voices.

After all, Qiu Ji was mainly in charge of those two aliens, and anyone in the room who was sharp knew that if Qiu Ji was involved and it caught the attention of the top leader, it must be related to those two aliens.

As expected, they guessed correctly.

After hearing Qiu Ji’s whisper, the top leader smiled, and when he saw everyone’s expectant gazes, he didn’t keep them in suspense. “The two gentlemen have finally come out. They want to take a look at the materials we have and see if there’s anything they’re interested in exchanging.”

Everyone immediately became excited. “Are we getting new technology again?” The three technologies from three months ago had greatly changed the country of Jugu, and they had long been looking forward to the next one.

“This time, it must be technology related to people’s livelihoods! I’ve heard their medical technology is very advanced, so we should ask for that to improve our people’s lives!”

“Our top priority right now is military strength. We should continue to pursue technologies that can enhance our military power to defend our country!”

“I think transportation is also crucial. Why don’t we focus on improving our transportation speed first?”

“Communication is even more important. They already have an interstellar network, while we don’t even have mobile devices that allow remote communication. People’s livelihoods should come first in this area!”

“None of that! We need space-related technology!”

The conference room immediately became noisy.

“Enough, they might not even be interested in our materials.” The top leader smiled, bringing everyone’s debate to a halt, then turned to the head of the research institute, You Jun. “You Jun, take them to your place first. You’re the one with the most complete materials prepared.”

“Everyone else, send the material lists from the labs to them. Look through your own areas and see if there’s anything missing from the list. If so, take some samples and send them to the Sixth Military District. We’ll invite the two gentlemen to visit again in three days.”

The leader glanced at everyone below and added with a smile, “Our country needs development in every aspect. If we can exchange two or more technologies this time, the country will choose two, and the remaining technologies will be ranked by the contribution of the materials you provide to the two gentlemen. The one who contributes the most can choose the technology they want.”

“Great idea!” “Let’s do it! I’ll contact the provinces to send the mineral samples right away!” “Why should you contact them? I’m sure I can do it!” “Let’s see who’s more capable!”

At this point, the struggle had little to do with Shi Can and the others.

From the moment Shi Can expressed interest in examining the materials, he started the countdown. Two hours later, he was pushing Xi Ming’s wheelchair to a key laboratory.

“These are some of our metal materials, and we have others. In three days, we’ll collect them at the Sixth Military District, and we’ll need you to visit again,” said the head of the research institute, You Jun, accompanying Shi Can as he introduced the displayed metal materials.

Xi Ming’s eyes scanned each one.

These past few days, Shi Can had been treating Xi Ming’s injuries. After each session, there was a recovery period. The two would discuss whether they could fix the mecha during this time.

Xi Ming carefully studied the extent of the mecha’s damage. Though it had been blown apart into several pieces, the primary materials were still intact. Repairing it would definitely require new materials, but because the main materials were available, the new materials needed might not be as expensive as originally thought.

Shi Can breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that they wouldn’t be able to find the advanced materials needed to repair the mecha on this planet.

As Shi Can pushed Xi Ming slowly, he noticed that whenever Xi Ming lingered on a material for too long, he would stop and wait.

“Ming Ge, do you think we can use any of these?” Shi Can quietly asked.

“There are a few, but the quality isn’t great. Let’s continue looking and decide after we’ve seen everything,” Xi Ming replied. He calculated that the chances of using the materials they’d found so far to repair the mecha were slim.

After identifying the basic materials, Xi Ming still needed to combine and upgrade the materials to enhance their quality.

When they had finished looking around the entire lab, everyone’s eyes were quietly on Shi Can and Xi Ming.

Xi Ming didn’t delay and immediately listed the materials he was interested in. “Number 56, 103, 125… 549, these twenty-three materials. Give me ten jin of each, and I’ll need a metal materials lab for experimentation. I’ll provide you with a specific list of how much of each material I need in half a month. All costs will be paid with new technology.”

“Great!” You Jun’s eyes squinted with joy. He didn’t mind Xi Ming’s high demands and was eager for him to “make more demands.” After all, “all costs will be paid with new technology.”

The lab for Xi Ming’s experiments was quickly set up. Several researchers responsible for metal materials came to ask what equipment he needed and whether he required assistants.

Many were eager to observe how the “alien” conducted experiments, hoping to learn a thing or two.

“Can you show me what these devices do?” Since Xi Ming’s current wheelchair wasn’t automatic, Shi Can had to act as his “voice assistant” and push him to the places he wanted to go.

“These are for metal cutting. This one is…” The others eagerly introduced the equipment to Xi Ming, detailing the pros and cons of each when he showed interest.

Xi Ming pointed out the equipment he needed. “I need assistants who can operate these devices and follow my instructions once we’re in the lab.”

You Jun was so excited he even used honorifics. “How many do you need?”

“Five or six,” Xi Ming replied. As soon as he finished speaking, five or six gray-haired experts rushed forward. Others who wanted to volunteer were pushed back.

You Jun’s eye twitched. These six were the heads of their respective projects, and if they went to assist Xi Ming, their own research would be delayed.

But seeing the fervor in their eyes, it was hard to turn them away.

In the end, You Jun compromised. It was fine if progress was delayed, but the opportunity to assist the alien was rare.

However, not everyone could join at once. They needed to rotate.

“Old Wen, you can’t all slack off,” You Jun quickly added, “You’ll split into three teams. Two of you will help, while the remaining four will assist the young talents in each lab, giving them a chance to improve.”

During the experiments, they could privately share any knowledge they learned, but not in front of Xi Ming.

But no one needed to be reminded. Everyone eagerly seized the opportunity.

Xi Ming, satisfied with the arrangement, knew that if all six assistants were involved, they might fumble with the tasks due to their age.

Xi Ming’s goal was to create new, high-quality metals from basic metals through various methods, using a new technology he had given to Jugu, along with many other techniques.

Due to his physical limitations, he couldn’t do the work himself, so he directed his assistants. At first, they were polite to the two leaders, but as the work became more intense and faster-paced, no one remembered to be polite. They just worked as hard as they could.

Even Shi Can learned a bit and helped.

Due to Xi Ming’s physical condition, he could only work for four to six hours a day before needing to return for treatment.

Everyone else was able to pause their work and review what they had learned, exchange insights, and teach those who hadn’t been involved in the experiments.

After more than twenty days, Xi Ming finally produced six new materials using the various materials provided by Jugu.

Two of these were upgraded using new methods, three were new alloys created by fusing different materials together at the microscopic level, and the final one was a simple new material discovered from a byproduct of a metal.

The reason the last one was considered a new material was because Jugu had never discovered it before. It was a metal byproduct found as tiny, crystalline powders in soil near the metal.

Xi Ming used his refining method to extract the material, naming it Cloud Crystal, which had decent quality.

After preparing the materials and refining methods, Xi Ming presented the list of new technologies to Jugu’s leaders, leaving them breathless and glued to the list.

They wanted every single technology listed!

Unfortunately, they could only choose four, but this was a generous offer.

After much deliberation, they selected one in each of the fields of basic education, weapon improvement, communications technology, and healthcare.

“Quick, get Wu Hongyuan to see if the materials are enough and urge them if necessary. We have plenty of materials! Don’t hold back!”

This was all for the enhancement of national power!