Chapter 834: An Even More Interesting Partner
It was obvious that the Red Dragon Army, which was ten times stronger than it was in the previous world, could no longer tolerate the fact that strategic resources were restricted by humans.
They were determined to win the Monster War in a big way. The Red Dragon Army’s prestige in the hearts of Dragon City citizens had risen to the highest level. Before the new and larger-scale colonization war started, the problem of resources… would be completely solved in this once-in-a-lifetime “window period!”
However, such an approach was bound to break the tacit understanding and conventions that the major forces of Dragon City had maintained for decades.
Sky Pillar Corporation, Universe Corporation, and the nine mega corporations were usually highly compet.i.tive but would huddle together at critical moments. How would they view the rise of the Red Dragon Army in such a strong way?
Sensing Meng Chao’s hesitation, Shao Zhengyang said, “Don’t misunderstand. Sky Pillar Corporation and Universe Corporation will always be the Red Dragon Army’s strategic partners. Our relationship has always been good. In the future, most of the Red Dragon Army’s crystal resources will be supplied by the two organizations.
“However, unlike the Monster War, Dragon City will likely face a war that’s going to attack from all directions and march into the depths of the Other World.
“The Monster War was an internal battle. The battlefield was right in front of our home. It was quite convenient to get resources even in our hometown.
“However, if the vanguard of the Red Dragon Army goes to the depths of the Other World, thousands of kilometers away, and finds a large-scale crystal vein there, would we have to wait for the professional mining teams of Sky Pillar and Universe Corporation to catch up? Otherwise, would we have to stare at the crystal ores buried deep underground? That would certainly not work.
“In a brand-new war, the Red Dragon Army will certainly have to grasp the ability to collect, refine, and utilize all resources on its own.
“The choices of suppliers and contractors will also need to be more diversified and have more options.
“Other than the nine traditional mega corporations, we must find and support more enterprising individuals and groups who love Dragon City and are loyal to mankind. The should also be willing to contribute everything to the advancement of civilization together with the Red Dragon Army—like you and Superstar Resource.
“Such self-reliance and diversified development will be more conducive for us to achieve more and greater victories in the vast and complicated battlefield of the Other World. Don’t you agree, Meng Chao?”
Meng Chao was deep in thought.
He had to admit that the best expert of the Red Dragon Army had offered him a price that he could hardly refuse.
In fact, Superstar Resource had long wanted to get involved in the crystal mining industry.
The extraction and smelting of crystals is the crown of the spirit energy industrial system.
Only by dabbling in crystal mining, could emerging enterprises take the breathtaking leap to become mega corporations completely.
In a short span of three years, Superstar Resource had put together a gra.s.sroots team from a few harvesters, continuously developing at an insatiable rate. The industry was surprised by this miracle, though.
However, no one knew better than Meng Chao that the development of their own enterprise had reached its limit.
The key problem was the monsters.
Superstar Resource Recovery Company started off with monster harvesting. Up until now, it had integrated 30% of the middle and low-level monster harvesting in Dragon City into the production of synthetic canned food.
Monster harvesting was the most important thing in the company, which brought endless profits. Only then could it support the researchers of the original Spirit Creation Creatures to carry out frontier biotechnology exploration with an extremely long cycle of return, as well as Meng Chao’s plan for the future. In the eyes of others, it looked like all kinds of “whimsical” money-burning.
The problem was that the monsters were gone.
The Monster War ended with humans completely occupying Monster Mountain Range.
On Monster Mountain Range, all the wild monsters had either been hunted by humans or captured by humans.
The large number of monsters that were less harmful had also been blocked by the power grid and minefields of humans. Drones and fixed cameras had also been used to monitor them.
There was no longer an overwhelming monster horde that could be harvested by Superstar Resource.
Of course, there was artificial breeding of monsters, large numbers of captive breeding, genetic modification and mechanical modification… These new industries were developing rapidly.
Despite that, whether Superstar Resource could smoothly transform from a traditional monster harvesting company to a new monster production, breeding, and modification company that always occupied the leading position in the industry, was still unknown.
Outside Monster Mountain Range, there were also some monsters that were labeled as “magical beasts, ferocious beasts, cursed beasts, and synthetic beasts” in the entire Other World.
However, they were not as dense as in the monster mountains.
Even if there were large-scale monster groups living in certain places, they were often controlled by the foreign world’s civilization and were va.s.sals of the elves and barbarians.
In short, monster harvesting was a “setting sun” industry.
If Superstar Resource wanted to grow to the point where they could compete with the nine mega corporations and influence Dragon City’s future direction, it was necessary for them to find a brand-new “racetrack” and take the lead there.
This was the reason why Meng Chao spent money wantonly after the battle in the Lair and explored brand-new business opportunities in the name of the Lair’s transformation.
Since crystal mining was the crown of the spiritual energy industry, Meng Chao naturally would not let go of the opportunity to burn money in the field.
The original Spirit Creation biological gene laboratory’, which had become the internal project team of Superstar Resource, had developed a large number of giant sandworms for tunneling and mining under Dr. Takano’s leadership.
In the past few years, even when the development of the enterprise was at its most difficult, Meng Chao had gritted his teeth and continued to invest in the project in order to preserve the ‘lifeline’ of the giant Sandworms’ technology.
To this day, the performance parameters of the giant Sandworm, which was specially used for mining by Superstar Resource, were very close to the underground engineering machinery used by Sky Pillar and Universe Corporation.
One should know that the Other World was a world that was filled with spirit energy and extremely unstable material.
The spirit energy fluctuation at the atomic level could easily cause changes in the molecular structure, resulting in visible deformation of the machinery.
Especially in the depths of the mines where the spirit magnetic environment was complicated and high-energy radiation was everywhere, the failure rate of the construction machinery was frighteningly high.
The giant Sandworm, which was produced by Superstar Resource, naturally did not have such a problem because it was a purely natural and pollution-free biochemical tool.
Even if the cells were damaged by the radiation and their functions were limited, it would be very easy to inject various gene medicine to accelerate cell division and wound healing. It would be much faster and cheaper to repair the machinery than sending technicians to drill into the depths of the mines filled with radiation, it would also be much cheaper.
According to the self-estimation of Superstar Resource’s biochemical laboratory, the overall efficiency ratio of mining with giant sandworms would increase by more than 3% compared to the efficiency of traditional mining with runic machinery.
As the “crown industry” that had astronomical funds and resources flowing every minute and second, the 3% increase in overall efficiency could be said to be an earth-shaking improvement.
Meng Chao took the experimental report and went to look for Lu Siya.
If he wanted to collaborate with Sky Pillar Corporation through her, it would be best if he could become one of the major suppliers of Sky Pillar Minerals.
Lu Siya was a genius prospector who had inherited the mantle of her grandfather, Lu Zhongqi. After a.n.a.lyzing the experimental report and observing the excavation of the giant Sandworm on the spot, she could tell at a glance that what Meng Chao said was true.
She and Meng Chao had a life-and-death relationship.
Moreover, she herself had a certain percentage of shares in Superstar Resource.
She had also secretly funded several new companies with Meng Chao. If necessary, she could put this project into a new company that only belonged to the two of them.
For the ambitious “Queen Bee”, there was no reason for her to reject Meng Chao’s proposal, either in terms of reason or commercial interests.
The problem was that she and her father did not have the final say in Sky Pillar Minerals.
Although her father was the one in charge of Sky Pillar Minerals…
He was merely managing the business for the Lu family.
When it came to changing the main suppliers, not only would they have to be restricted by the other powerful members of the Lu family, but they would also have to deal with the scrutiny of the Lu family’s patriarch, Lu Zhongqi.
This was not just a matter of technological innovation and the improvement of overall efficiency.
Many suppliers were the Lu family’s staunch allies who had worked together for decades. As early as in the dark era when the survival committee had not yet been established, they had firmly stood on the Lu family’s side and made great contributions to the rise of Sky Pillar Corporation.
The Lu family returned the favor by cashing in a lot of benefits from these allies. They even supported many suppliers to ascend to the seats of the Survival Committee.
The makers and suppliers of the rune machines joined hands to form the Rune Machine a.s.sociation and erected barriers to the industry.
The interests that had been intertwined for decades could not be easily shaken by Meng Chao and Superstar Resource, which were still wet behind the ears?
In the end, Lu Siya and her father gave Meng Chao a lot of face and ordered thirty giant Sandworms for mining from Superstar Resource despite the pressure from family.
But that was all.
Even Sky Pillar Corporation could only do this, not to mention Universe Corporation.
Meng Chao had a good relationship with Shen Yupeng, the leader of the third generation of universal group and the best among the secret police of Dragon City.
But no matter how “good” it was, it was not good enough for him and Lu Siya to soak in the same medical cabin and help each other scrub their backs.
If the situation was not resolved soon, the project of giant Sandworms of Superstar Resource would come to an end.
After all, no matter how “miraculous” Meng Chao and Superstar Resource’s rise were, they were just nouveau riche without any foundation. They could not afford to continue burning money on a project that had no hope.
Besides, after b.u.mping into walls at the entrance of the crystal mining industry, Meng Chao was also resisting the idea of ‘becoming a supplier’ for Sky Pillar and Universe Corporation.
As the saying went, ‘the big shop bullies the customer’. Compared to the nine deep-rooted mega corporations, Superstar Resource Recovery Company at the moment were still very immature.
Even if their family had worked hard to become one of the main suppliers of Sky Pillar and Universe Corporation, the price and conditions offered by the other party would certainly be very harsh. They would never allow Superstar Resource to earn money easily, they would continue to develop and grow.
In fact, the other party deliberately brought in the “hotheaded” Superstar Resource just to bargain with the traditional suppliers. After the bargain was over, they would abandon Superstar Resource as if it was a common practice in the business world.
In short, the other party did not care about Superstar Resource.
Meng Chao also did not want to be at the mercy of others.
In contrast, perhaps the Red Dragon Army, seemed to be a more sincere and more interesting partner?