Chapter 119: When Interests Are at Stake, Anything Is Possible

P.S. I am pulling out all the stops so I can release a massive update when the novel is featured this weekend. I will post ten chapters on Sunday, so I hope everyone will continue to support me. I will also add a few extra chapters on Saturday as a warm-up!

Knock, knock, knock...

“Come in!”

The sergeant pushed open the door, walked inside, and saluted. “Reporting, General. Mr. Zhu has arrived!”

“Oh? Send him in.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Mr. Zhu, the General wants you to go in.”

“Thank you.”

“No need. It is my duty.”

With that, the sergeant saluted again and turned to leave.

Zhu Lan shook his head, picked up his bag, and walked inside.

As soon as he entered, Xu Dezheng rose to his feet.

“Zhu Lan, a few days have passed, and here we are meeting again.”

“Elder Xu, I am troubling you today. I hope I have not interrupted your work.”

“Enough. You are quite the smooth talker. Little Luo has complained about you several times already!”

Zhu Lan gave an awkward smile.

“Have a seat.”

Xu Dezheng pointed to the sofa opposite him.

Zhu Lan nodded and sat down without ceremony.

Xu Dezheng also came over and sat on the sofa beside him.

“Go ahead and tell me what you need.”

Zhu Lan had originally intended to look for Luo Guoqiang, but after giving the matter some thought, he realized that Luo probably could not help him. Moreover, considering what was involved, Luo certainly could not make the decision himself. He would have to report it upward, and that process would waste who knew how much time.

Zhu Lan therefore decided to go directly to someone with the authority to decide. Xu Dezheng was unquestionably capable of making that decision. As long as he agreed, no one else would dare oppose it.

General Xu was the highest-ranking leader in the military apart from the nation’s top leader. In terms of military authority, he stood at the very top. Zhu Lan had no chance of meeting the top leader, but arranging a meeting with Xu Dezheng was not difficult.

When Xu Dezheng had left the Azure Base after the incident involving Fantasy Technology, he had given Zhu Lan his phone number and told him to call directly if necessary.

And so Zhu Lan had made that call.

“I want to make a movie, and I need some personnel and equipment. You are probably the only person who can approve this.”

“A movie?”

Xu Dezheng frowned. He had expected Zhu Lan to come with some important matter, but he had never imagined that it would be about making a film. He could not help giving a helpless smile.

“Elder Xu, I know this is only a minor matter and should not trouble you. But I am afraid you are the only one who can make the decision.”

“Oh?”

“Elder Xu, look over my screenplay first. Then we can talk.”

Zhu Lan took out the screenplay for the first installment of *Space Revolution* and handed it to Xu Dezheng.

His bag had already been searched several times, and Zhu Lan himself had been scanned repeatedly using all kinds of equipment. Xu Dezheng was a general of the Chinese military, and even this building was guarded with extraordinary strictness.

If Zhu Lan had not called Xu Dezheng personally, merely applying to see him would have required waiting many days. But after Zhu Lan made the call, Xu Dezheng issued an order to the people below him. Thus, the moment Zhu Lan arrived, someone received him and brought him directly to the Ministry of National Defense.

Xu Dezheng frowned. He did not want to read the screenplay, but judging from Zhu Lan’s character, the young man would never come here simply to fool him. Since he had claimed that only Xu Dezheng could make the decision, Xu already had a vague sense that something was wrong.

Sure enough, the more he read, the deeper his frown became.

When he finished, Xu Dezheng gently set the screenplay down and looked up at Zhu Lan.

“Do you know what this represents?”

Zhu Lan naturally understood what he meant.

Much of the material in the first installment of *Space Revolution* touched upon the very core of the Chinese military. If anyone else had presented such a screenplay, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that he could be convicted of treason based on the script alone.

The screenplay was simply too audacious.

“Elder Xu, of course I know. That is precisely why I came to you. In all of China, apart from you, I am afraid only a few leaders at the very top could make a decision on this matter. I cannot meet them, so I had no choice but to come to you.”

Xu Dezheng nodded. Zhu Lan’s screenplay had indeed crossed the military’s bottom line, but Zhu Lan’s situation was different, so Xu did not become angry.

“Since you know that, you should also know this is impossible. The military will never agree to lend out such equipment and personnel. You understand that perfectly. Since you came here anyway, you must have sufficient confidence.”

“As expected of you, Elder Xu.”

Zhu Lan did not mind that Xu Dezheng had seen through his intentions. He took a second screenplay from his bag.

“This is the continuation—the screenplay for the second film. It is not finished yet, but it contains something that will tempt you.”

“Oh? Something that will tempt me?”

Zhu Lan nodded, indicating that Xu should read it first.

Xu Dezheng picked it up suspiciously. After reading the second screenplay, his brow furrowed once more.

He put it down and looked at Zhu Lan.

“You are very bold.”

Zhu Lan smiled. “Elder Xu, what do you think? Are you tempted?”

Xu Dezheng did not conceal the truth and nodded.

“I am. But what will you use to guarantee it?”

“Elder Xu, you know that America’s system means the government is often influenced by certain powerful interests.”

Xu Dezheng looked at Zhu Lan, beginning to understand what he meant.

“The primary agency rights for the Gene Optimization Fluid.”

Xu Dezheng froze, then gave a bitter laugh.

“You…”

What the primary agency rights for the Gene Optimization Fluid represented was naturally clear to Xu Dezheng.

He had read Zhu Lan’s files, as well as those concerning Fantasy Technology, more than once. In fact, he had probably read them ten times over.

He knew that the seven companies holding secondary agency rights were already making enormous profits. Countless people were watching the far more lucrative primary agency rights.

According to Xu Dezheng’s intelligence, several powerful figures within the country, especially in the capital, were extremely eager to obtain them. They had originally intended to use their authority to pressure Zhu Lan into handing over the agency rights, but the military had already thrown its support behind Fantasy Technology. How could it permit those people to act recklessly?

Because of this, Xu Dezheng had warned many people in numerous central-government meetings not to set their sights on Fantasy Technology.

But the temptation of the primary agency rights could not be dispelled by a single warning.

Investment firms had already conducted their evaluations. Based on the current rate at which the secondary agents were earning money—even if their profits were cut in half—the primary agent could earn at least one hundred billion dollars within five years.

Among the current secondary agents, the most profitable was the Fujiyama Group’s American agency. It had already earned more than a billion dollars in profit. That figure was calculated after deducting agency fees and the cost of the Gene Optimization Fluid itself. In other words, the Fujiyama Group had already secured two-point-three billion dollars in revenue from the American market.

It was an astonishing figure—and those were merely the profits from two months. The company was earning more than a billion dollars each month.

No one could remain unmoved by such profits.

If the secondary agents were already earning so much, what about the primary agent?

At the very least, its monthly income could reach three to four billion dollars. Even if the actual figure were lower, it would still be around three billion dollars a month, or more than thirty billion dollars a year.

No one could remain unmoved by such enormous profits.

America was a nation driven by interests. The president was merely an agent elevated by the financial conglomerates behind him. Even the printing of American currency was not truly controlled by the government, but by those conglomerates.

As long as the profit was sufficient, nothing was impossible. Many people in America understood this perfectly.

If Zhu Lan exchanged the primary agency rights for assistance from the American fleet in filming his movie, he could be certain that many people would help him accomplish it.

Cooperate with China and reveal America’s secrets?

Please. The so-called Chinese threat was merely an excuse the government gave the public so it would not have to reduce military spending and could continue its global military deployments without hindrance.

After the Second World War, America and the Soviet Union were the greatest victors. Britain could also be considered one of the winners, but the wave of independence that swept through the world’s colonies after the war left it helpless. In addition, the war had consumed too much of Britain’s national strength, leaving it without enough troops to suppress all those rebellions.

At that point, Britain asked America to intervene.

Britain had no army to spare, but America did.

The Americans were not helping Britain out of pure goodwill, however. They actually hoped to see the British Empire, on which the sun never set, disappear completely.

Their policy succeeded. Britain withdrew from its position as the world’s hegemon, and America took its place.

After becoming the global hegemon, America had only one true enemy: the Soviet Union and its communist regime.

Through containment and economic pressure, combined with the space race, America ultimately crushed the Soviet Union.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, America suddenly found itself without an enemy.

Then it turned its attention to China.

China replaced the Soviet Union as America’s primary rival.

That was merely what the outside world knew. Many people were aware of the true situation.

America needed markets. And which market was the most profitable?

The arms market.

To open that market, America stirred up wars everywhere. That way, weapons manufacturers would never have to stop production, and they could continue making money.

Who cared how many people died?

Three billion dollars in annual profit in exchange for having the elite American naval fleet cooperate with the Chinese navy to make a movie—was that really difficult?

For many people, it would be difficult only because they did not possess enough leverage to move America’s financial conglomerates.

If the reward was large enough, nothing was impossible. Not even having the American naval fleet participate. With sufficient profit, even America’s most advanced stealth strategic bomber could be sent to China to shoot a film.

In the face of adequate利益, there was nothing that could not be done. If one offered those conglomerates an entire planet, they could even sell America itself. There was nothing they could not accomplish—only profits that were or were not sufficient.

The benefits Zhu Lan had offered were more than sufficient.

Xu Dezheng understood this perfectly. The moment Zhu Lan mentioned the primary agency rights for the Gene Optimization Fluid, Xu realized that the situation described in the second screenplay had a genuine chance of becoming reality.

Even if only one-third of it could be achieved, Xu Dezheng would still be deeply tempted. And the enticement Zhu Lan had offered made it highly likely that the plan could succeed.

Understanding the situation was one thing. Agreeing to the military loan required for the first screenplay was another.

The first installment of *Space Revolution* clearly specified the military forces and equipment needed for filming. Much of it consisted of China’s most advanced equipment, including some systems that had not yet officially entered service.

To be continued.