Chapter 377: Second Ultimate
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
August 20X2 Life City No. 1, Northwestern desert, Z nation, Xing Hai Hospital
Under the attention of millions, the 500,000th elderly individual had completed the life-prolonging treatment and successfully regained a youthful appearance.
At this point, the completion of the large sample size of the life-prolonging experiment was announced one year ahead of schedule.
The treatment’s effects were witnessed by many with their very own eyes. Among the 500,000 elderly with an average age of 98.7 years, 499,940 of them had their lives successfully extended. The remaining 60 had either encountered failures or had died unexpectedly.
The success rate was over 99.9%. The failure rate was slightly higher than one in 10,000. The hailed reliability of 99.99% was not false propaganda.
No one truly doubted the safety of Xing Hai Hospital’s life-prolonging technology. It was taken by most as gospel. Of course, this still couldn’t hold off those who chose to quarrel for the sake of starting trouble.
“Calculated murder! They killed off dozens of innocent elderlies!” shouted a protester.
“Xing Hai Technologies should be severely punished by law.”
“These people are genetically modified people. They are no longer normal humans.”
Xing Hai’s approach to these protests was relatively simple. Anyone who whined was “blacklisted” so that they would never be able to receive the life-prolonging treatment. Seeing their personal information on Xing Hai Technologies’”blacklist” startled the protesters. They had no idea how the company had been able to acquire their ident.i.ties. They all quieted down in a panic.
“Didn’t we just complain a little? Is it necessary for you to be so overbearing?” they asked.
“I’m just putting forward some honest advice and pointing out a few problems. Why would you blacklist me for this? Don’t you think you’re too narrow-minded?”
“I’m wrong Xing Hai Technologies, can you withdraw me from the blacklist? A great man rarely stoops to pettiness or harbors grievance for past wrongs, please just let me go this time.”
Many of those who realized that they’d been blacklisted quickly chickened out.
“Aren’t you all very proud of your mouth guns?” mocked Xing Hai Technologies. “Aren’t you glorified as the n.o.ble keyboard warriors? Please do not wimp out, you whiners can live until 150 and above just by the power of your tongue. You won’t need the life-prolonging medical service, so just keep on firing at us.”
After such a blow, the number of Xing Hai Technologies’ anti-fans on the internet significantly lessened. Their tones became much milder as they dared not casually talk bad about the company anymore.
As the large sample experiment came to a close, its superb reliability also eased peoples’ worries. A week later, on the 1st of November, Xing Hai Hospital’s life-prolonging medical service was officially opened to the public, allowing elderly people over the age of 75 to apply for registration.
Merely ten minutes after the registration channel was opened, the number of appointments had exceeded 10 million. After twelve hours, the number of people waiting for an appointment reached 80 million. After one month, the number of people in the queue exceeded 100 million. But with the number of beds in Life City No.1 that had been expanded to 300,000 sheets, on average, only 3,280 elderly people could be treated every day. It would take 30 years to complete the round.
Life City’s No. 2, 3, 4, and 5 would only become operational after three years. By then, the total number of beds would have increased to 3 million, which would suffice for the domestic demand of the treatment. In the middle of the three-year waiting period, if one wanted to experience the life-prolonging medical service ahead of time, they could toss in some extra money to take the “express train” or spend money to advance in the queue. Otherwise, even if they were over 100 years old, they could still only painstakingly wait for their turn.
Big money was rolling in for Xing Hai Technologies.
The treatment fee for each elderly person, on average, exceeded 100,000 dollars. Multiplying that by 3,280… Xing Hai Technologies would have 3.2 billion dollars entering their account every day. Not to mention, this income did not have to be taxed. After deducting all the involved costs, Xing Hai Technologies’s daily net profit would exceed 3 billion.
This profit speed had all domestic inst.i.tutions jealous. The country too discovered that they had fallen prey to Xing Hai Technologies’ scheme and was instantly overcome by annoyance. The agreement was already signed, however, and the nation had no choice but to obey the contract and acquiesce.
The elderly mortality rate dropped, and older people were continuously transformed into the labor force. The state had also been vigorously encouraging childbirth over the past few years. They introduced the “free house with a second child” policy in many places and had increased maternal subsidies, education subsidies, and support allowance. The expenses for children aged 0-18 would all be covered by the state. If a couple had more than five children, they wouldn’t even have to go to work anymore. They could support their family by solely relying on various subsidies. If poor families wanted to alter their destiny, they would just need to make more children. The traditional concept of “investing in people is better than saving money” was, to one’s surprise, completely feasible in this era.
So, a miracle happened. Birth rate rebounded, and a baby boom blasted off. The country’s total population finally showed positive growth. The Z nation took the lead in conquering problems that even developed countries couldn’t.
Under the multiple positive factors, housing prices in first and second-tier cities could no longer be held down. They began to skyrocket once again. Housing prices of 80,000, 100,000, or even 150,000 per square meter were common. In the city center of several first-tier cities, the price per square meter even pierced through the 200,000th mark.
Domestic, high-tech enterprises were immediately caught in the crossfire. Under the pressure of high housing prices, their burdens hiked, and they felt miserable. They all considered moving their companies to second and third-tier cities with lower housing costs.
“Xing Hai Technologies is very insightful. They seemed to have predicted all of this and quickly moved into the deserts. We, on the other hand, can only pay for the high prices,” said an envious corporate executive who was deeply impressed by Xing Hai Technologies’s foresight.
It was at this particular moment that Xing Hai Technologies issued an invitation out of the blue.
“We welcome all local first-tier tech companies to come over to the desert. Xing Hai Technologies’ Tech Cities No. 2, 3, and 4 will be completed soon. We welcome all of you to station your companies over here. Xing Hai Technologies will provide rent, water, electricity, etc. to you at cost price as long as you come to our Tech City. It will lighten the burden on your enterprise by at least 50%.”
The benefits seemed too good to be true!
“If you implement the ‘free city’ system, similar to what Xing Hai Technologies has done, your business burden will be sliced down significantly. Profit is the life of a company. If a company has no profit, it will be as if there’s no oxygen in the air for us. We will suffocate and die very, very soon.”
The last part was certainly true.
“High housing prices in first and second-tier cities can stifle any high-tech enterprise. Moving to Tech Cities in the desert is equivalent to having enough oxygen and development s.p.a.ce. With greater flexibility comes greater vitality. Our transportation system is highly developed. From the northwestern desert, you can get to Shanghai, more than 3,000 kilometers away, in one hour. You can reach the developed areas in the east in less than four hours by cheap electric pa.s.senger planes. Convenient transportation has lifted the hindrances caused by distance. So come over, Tech Cities in the desert is the most conducive place for your development.”
The helmsmen of many tech companies were both tempted by and hesitant to follow Xing Hai Technologies’ seductive offer.
“This might be a little…inappropriate, the higher-ups might be displeased,” said Yu Dazhui from Hua Yao.
“What will they be displeased about?” Chen Jin questioned. “Big cities are not suitable for the development of high-tech industries and are not places for our survival. Should we wait until high-tech industries hollow out and we all have to move our companies abroad just to reduce our operational costs? Do you want to walk the path that the industries in the M nation went through?”
Chen Jin gestured wildly as he spoke.
“How can you avoid the effect of the industry hollowing out? How can we, as a nation, maintain the Z’s technological compet.i.tiveness? Aside from moving to remote Desert Transformation Zones like Xing Hai Technologies, there is no other way! We are not selfish and blindly pursuing profits! This is for our survival and to ensure that the Z nation’s technology is always ahead of the world! If our painstaking efforts can not be understood and the higher-ups insist on driving us away, the ones that will ultimately regret that is them, not us.
Yu Dazhui nodded. The effect of the industry hollowing out had already shown signs of sprouting in the Z nation, but it had never drawn enough attention.
Mr. Chen’s speech dispelled his concerns.
“Okay!” he replied immediately.
Chen Jin smiled. The second ultimate he was channeling had also been unleashed.