Chapter 402: Dijiang’s First Voyage. Pursuing Exotic Beasts
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Edited by Aelryinth
It was no wonder the Hua Xia Airline contacted Huang Juyun. It seemed they knew the Huang family and Zhang Che had earned a fortune in the arena deathmatch, and had naturally treated them as a customer with the highest buying potential.
Truthfully speaking, it wasn’t like there wasn’t anyone else in all of Hua Xia who could afford such an expensive sky shuttle.
Although a hundred million or two was an astronomical sum, the first-rate large clans would be able to fork it out given some time to raise the funds.
However, that much money would be able to fully equip a powerful high-tier beastmaster team if it was spent on purchasing beast cards. Who would be willing to spend it so casually on a big toy like this?
To a certain degree, the private sky shuttle really was truly just a big toy.
Although it was fast, and had a guarantee for safety, the market price was a little too shocking. Almost no one could bear to spend such a huge sum.
Indeed, it was almost too much, because Zhang Che was a little moved after hearing Engineer Li’s introduction.
Coincidentally, he had a huge sum of purple crystal points, and he didn’t need to spend on other areas.
If he bought the sky shuttle, he would be saving a lot of time on his travels, while being a.s.sured of his safety. Zhang Che wanted to raise his strength in the shortest time possible, so it really seemed to be a very decent tool to have.
“Um, Engineer Li.” Although Zhang Che was tempted, he didn’t show any signs of it on his face. He looked at Engineer Li, ‘frightened’, and asked, “Based on what you said, wouldn’t the sky shuttle’s price be very intimidating?”
“How can you only focus on its price?” Engineer Li said with widened eyes, “Such a perfect private sky shuttle is superior to all the other planes you see in every aspect. An oceanic amount of rare materials were invested into it. The price of only two hundred and thirty-three million, three hundred thousand purple crystal points is really the best offer you could get!”
-Ugh, 233.3 million…- Zhang Che couldn’t find the strength to curse…
“Engineer Li, isn’t this too expensive? From your introduction, this sky shuttle’s cost seems to be only around a hundred fifty million. You trying to earn so much from us in one go is a little too much!” Huang Juyun furrowed his brow.
Hua Xia Airlines was considered an old acquaintance of the Huang family. They were the ones who informed Huang Juyun of this good news, but he didn’t expect the sky shuttle’s selling price to be so expensive.
That much money could buy a few mid-tier epic-quality beast cards! Who would be willing to spend it here unjustly?
“Hey, how can it be too much?” Engineer Li’s eyes widened once more. He said agitatedly, “A hundred and fifty million is only the material cost! Other than that, what about the workmans.h.i.+p? Research and development costs? And a bunch of other costs! All that together is over two hundred and thirty million!”
After saying so much in one breath, he paused for a moment, then continued, “Look, us selling something with a cost price of two hundred thirty million purple crystal points to you at two hundred thirty-three million, three hundred thousand isn’t too much, right? We’re only earning a few million purple crystal points; it’s not even enough to pay the workers’ wages!”
Huang Juyun furrowed his brow deeply, wanting to forego the deal.
In the end, Zhang Che suddenly opened his mouth and offered, “A hundred sixty-eight million and I’ll buy it.”
Engineer Li’s eyeb.a.l.l.s nearly popped out from their sockets. He walked a few steps up to Zhang Che with a look that suggested he wanted to eat him alive, the veins on his forehead twitching, and said, “A hundred sixty-eight million, are you here to waste our time? You think you can buy such a good private sky shuttle with that sum? I’ll tell you, this was made with the newest technology. It can reach a maximum speed of twenty-four thousand five hundred kilometers per hour within the atmosphere, and over thirty thousand kilometers per hour in outer s.p.a.ce!
“Also, the sky shuttle uses an energy mineral originating from the beast world as fuel. A kilogram of the mineral can sustain fifty thousand kilometers of flight at economic cruising speed!
“Moreover, the sky shuttle uses the latest artificial intelligence system. A person is enough to operate it, without having to hire a crew. It’s so convenient that it’s unimaginable!
“Furthermore, this sky shuttle is equipped with a smart detection system. It can detect whatever problems the plane might have and notify the authorities… But don’t worry, I can a.s.sure you that you wouldn’t need it for flights within five million kilometers distance, unless you receive external attacks.
“Think about it. Do you reckon a sky shuttle with such a safe, highly functional, and avant-garde design combined into one, can be bought with a hundred million-plus purple crystal points?”
Zhang Che was nearly convinced by Engineer Li.
-Right, this thing is covered in merits from head to toe! It seems like I’m the one losing out if I don’t buy it!
-Wait, that’s not right! Isn’t this guy an engineer?
-Why do I feel like he’s more of an excellent sales person? I was nearly tricked by him!-
Zhang Che cleared his mind, not getting himself influenced. He stuck out two fingers and said, “Two hundred million. Not any higher!”
Engineer Li immediately showed an expression that suggested he was humiliated. He shook his head, ready to walk outside. Just as he took his first step, he couldn’t help but sigh, saying, “Kid, let’s be sincere about this. Two hundred thirty million purple crystal points. I can make the decision to sell it to you if you want. Otherwise, we can only contact other potential customers. I believe someone out there can appreciate its merits.”
-Hmm, this old man is actually threatening me!-
Zhang Che knew that he was a little too inexperienced. Engineer Li had probably taken notice of his interest in the sky shuttle, and thus dared to offer such a ridiculous price.
Even so, Zhang Che truly couldn’t be bothered with haggling.
He offered once more, “Two hundred twenty million. If not, forget it. Also, I have two conditions.”
Engineer Li’s eyes lit up a little. Afterwards, he shook his head slightly and sighed, “This young man… you’re not prompt at all… Forget it, why did I have to find you pleasing to the eye? Speak about your conditions. If it’s too much, I don’t have to worry about not being able to sell this sky shuttle to the others, either.”
“First, I want you to give us a hundred kilograms of energy minerals!”
Engineer Li’s eyelids twitched. He groaned and shook his head, saying, “A hundred kilograms is too much. There’s too little of this energy mineral, and refining costs are too high. Fifty kilograms. I can’t give any more than that!”
Fifty kilograms was not bad. He could fly for two million five hundred thousand kilometers at cruising speed.
So, Zhang Che nodded. “Fine. Fifty kilograms, then. Second, I hope to install five high-efficiency laser emitters on the plane. At the very least, they need to be able to heavily injure high-tier epic-quality exotic beasts at short distances. Don’t tell me you don’t have it; since you can even find the energy minerals, I don’t believe you haven’t done research on the relevant laser weapons.”
“You must be joking! Since when is there such a powerful laser weapon?” Engineer Li’s eyes nearly popped out. -How did this kid know about that?-
However, he quickly realized in the next moment that this kid was actually trying to bait information out of him!
On second thoughts, giving it to him was fine. At present, the laser weapon technology wasn’t mature enough. The energy dispersion was too great, and could only be a threat at close distances. If the distance was too great, the power would plummet by a huge margin. Its practicality wasn’t high.
Seeing Zhang Che looking at him with a grin, Engineer Li pondered for a while with creased brow, then finally said, “Only two at most. You still have to apply for a permit from the military…” Well, the Huang family was from the military. He could probably skip this procedure…”This type of laser has a very high energy consumption. This sky shuttle’s energy conversion system can’t support that many.
“Also, energy weapons of this level will exhaust about a kilogram of energy mineral per shot. I’m afraid you can’t afford to use it.”
Zhang Che was speechless after hearing what Engineer Li said. One shot would consume a kilogram of energy mineral? This wasn’t taking a shot, that was simply burning money!
“Alright, just two is fine!” Zhang Che nodded. He wasn’t planning to rely on the sky shuttle to hunt exotic beasts, because killing exotic beasts on Mercury with technological weapons wouldn’t leave a corpse behind, anyway. Unless he was in a dangerous situation, he wouldn’t use the laser weapons.
A single shot of the laser would cost him ten thousand purple crystal points! No matter how many purple crystal points he had, he couldn’t spend them like that!
——
The two soon came to an agreement. Zhang Che paid Hua Xia Airlines ten million purple crystal points as a deposit. Afterwards, he’d get his private flight in two days or so.
During those two days, Hua Xia Airlines had to work with military engineers to install the two laser units onto the plane.
Although the original design of the sky shuttle had a weapons system, it wasn’t the latest laser tech, so some areas needed to be modified. Being able to fix it in two days was already pretty good.
Even though he had to spend two hundred twenty million purple crystal points, Zhang Che still had over a hundred million purple crystal points lying around in his account. This guy was simply oozing wealth.
This was money he won from a bet, after all. Zhang Che really didn’t feel the ache spending it. Compared to safety and efficiency, what did money count for? He was confident he’d earn it all back within a year!
Huang Juyun didn’t have an opinion on this, either. After all, the money didn’t belong to the Huang family. Zhang Che was only his prospective son-in-law. Huang Juyun really had no grounds to stop Zhang Che from spending his own money.
Moreover, that bit of money didn’t count for anything compared to Zhang Che’s safety!
——-
Two days later, on the 14th October, Year 36 of the New Age…
Zhang Che came to Hua Xia Airlines once more. After settling the outstanding bill, the sky shuttle, named Dijiang, officially belonged to him! (TLN: Dijiang means Emperor River.)
Like Engineer Li had said, Dijiang-hao’s operation was indeed very smart. During his day and a half of training, Zhang Che gained a complete grasp of the functions. Although he hadn’t reach an expert’s level, there would be no problem for him to handle ordinary takeoffs, landings, and even attacks!
—
“Let’s take a flight, then!”
Over the past few days, Huang Juyun’s men had checked through most of the information in the beast worlds within Hua Xia’s borders, and had marked down more than twenty places suitable for Zhang Che to grind experience.
Now that Dijiang-hao’s modifications were done, he could take off directly from here and head to the nearest beast world to kill monsters and level up! (TLN: The ‘hao’ in Dijiang-hao is like a suffix, used similarly for rockets, s.h.i.+ps.)
Feeling incredibly excited, Zhang Che sat in Dijiang-hao’s cabin, operating the sky shuttle to glide out of the warehouse through the smart system. Afterwards, the plane’s vertical takeoff system began to work.
After only a minute, Dijiang-hao lifted off from the ground, and more engines were put to work. The plane accelerated from a hundred meters up in the air and quickly soared into the sky.
While giving the intelligent system a new order, Zhang Che looked down through the latest nano gla.s.s material. He realized the outline of the whole of Bei Du was about to enter his sight.
” Si… this acceleration is really astonis.h.i.+ng! It’s not inferior to those traditional rockets!” Zhang Che sighed in admiration. When the sky shuttle was about ten thousand meters above ground, he chose to go to Cang Long City, about four thousand kilometers south of Bei Du, and set it as the destination on the smart system.
In about ten minutes or so, he’d reach Cang Long City!
Even the latest fighter jets would need over an hour to travel four thousand kilometers! It went to show how frighteningly fast Dijiang-hao was!
Of course, Dijiang-hao being able to reach such astonis.h.i.+ng speed was highly related to the use of precious minerals. Ordinary fuel wouldn’t be able to support such fast flight.
“Warning! Warning! Unknown lifeforms detected tailing Dijiang-hao!”
“Warning! Warning! Unknown lifeforms detected tailing Dijiang-hao!”
Unexpectedly, after flying for less than three minutes, Dijiang-hao’s alarm system issued a sharp warning.
On the screen in front, two black dots were rapidly closing in from tens of kilometers behind Dijiang-hao. Judging from their speed, they weren’t any slower than Dijiang-hao!
“What the heck, I struck the jackpot!” Zhang Che’s eyes rolled so far back he couldn’t see anything.
-Do I have to be this lucky? The first flight on Dijiang-hao and I encountered such powerful exotic beasts, and it wasn’t even far from Bei Du City!-
Zhang Che really wanted to roar to the skies, “Who else has such ‘good’ luck other than me!?”
For the two exotic beasts to be chasing Dijiang-hao at cruising speed, they must be flying at least twenty thousand kilometers per hour!
Either they were exotic beasts that were especially gifted with speed, or they were at least divine-quality!
The latter didn’t seem very possible, because there were many cities within a few thousand kilometers radius. If such a powerful exotic beast was around, there would have been a huge commotion about them long ago.
Even if it was only an exotic beast with a talent for speed, they had to be at least mid-tier epic-quality beasts to achieve such terrifying speeds, right?
Well, didn’t Engineer Li say that Dijiang-hao’s defenses could withstand the attacks from mid-tier epic-quality exotic beasts?
In that case, Zhang Che was at least in an unbeatable position. If he truly couldn’t defend against them in the end, it would be fine flying into outer s.p.a.ce to escape.
Moreover, this wasn’t an ordinary commercial sky shuttle! Zhang Che had requested that the airline company install two high efficiency lasers! To exotic beasts without any elemental defense barriers, this type of pure energy weapon was simply their natural counter!
-Should I try to see if I can shoot down those two exotic beasts?- Zhang Che decided to almost instantly!