Chapter 258: Hawaii and Special Taxes
Several days later, in the s.p.a.ce just beyond Earth’s...o...b..t, Vampire circled that blue planet as Chen Dong, Xia Fei, and Moon Song came to the viewing port and looked down.
“This here is my home planet, Earth. How is it? Isn’t it prettier than either of you imagined?” Xia Fei was hugging himself as he excitedly addressed them.
Moon Song pouted. “It’s nothing special. I can see a patch of grey from s.p.a.ce, which goes to show that your home planet is already polluted. Fortunately, the degree of pollution isn’t severe and can still be remedied.”
Xia Fei nodded. “I’ve already considered this issue two years ago, and so far, my Quantum Holdings has constructed nineteen large-scale controlled nuclear fission power plants. At present, over 90% of Earth’s electrical consumption depends on non-polluted water as raw material, while upgrades and redesigning of the other pollutants are in progress as we speak. It won’t be long before Earth is completely free of pollution.”
From the very start, Xia Fei and Andre had already drawn plans for four super powerplants to provide electricity planetwide, but upon consideration of the issues that came up with transporting said electricity, that figure changed into twenty-one large power plants, which could power Earth in sectors. At the moment, they had completed nineteen of them, with the last two beginning production in one and three month’s time respectively. When that time came, Earth would be completely free from fossil fuel dependency for power, and the cost of electricity for all citizens would be cheaper by two-thirds its current cost, not to mention the fact that pollution would no longer be an issue for anyone.
Quantum Holdings was presently the largest trust enterprise, controlling 13.15 percent of the economy’s output all across the planet. The top companies of old, such as Mobil, IBM, and other industrial giants, were now all under Quantum Holdings, growing stronger alongside Xia Fei’s company as their share prices increased daily.
“Does that not mean that you’re the richest businessman on Earth now and the strongest warrior as well?” Moon Song curiously asked.
Xia Fei somewhat embarra.s.sedly scratched his head. “That is indeed the case.”
Moon Song burst into laughter. “Your planet’s so poor. Quantum Holdings is barely worth over ten billion star coins, yet it’s actually the number-one enterprise here. It would at most be a mid-size company where I came from.”
The Pan-Human Alliance was vast, and the population within its borders was immeasurable. A company of Quantum Holdings’ level was indeed hardly worth mentioning. Avril’s family company, Starlink Corporation, for example, was probably earning a profit of over ten billion star coins every minute, so what little money Xia Fei had would hardly even catch the eye of any of the upper cla.s.s in the Alliance.
Chen Dong was the eldest son of the sovereign in the Empire of Frost, so the concept of money hardly even registered to him. Xia Fei was not too certain about Moon Song’s background, but seeing how she spent what money she had like flowing water was probably an indication that she was hardly a common lady. Both had seen the intergalactic society at large, so they were hardly interested in Quantum Holdings.
“Okay. Quickly bring us to have a tour of your home. I’m hardly interested in anything else.” Moon Song changed the topic with a chipper att.i.tude.
Xia Fei replied, “Okay. I’ll bring you to the library in Hawaii that old man Qin Mang is repairing. The fruits and the sea there are really nice.”
Chen Dong called, “Of course, we have to visit your home first before we head to other places and sightsee on Earth now that we’re here. We’ve got plenty of time, anyway.”
Moon Song nodded her head in agreement, intent on having a look at Xia Fei’s home.
Xia Fei knitted his eyebrows, perplexed. “My home? I don’t have a home.”
Now, it was Moon Song’s turn to be confused as she curiously asked, “You don’t have a home? Then, where do you live?”
“Andre’s mansion, the hotel, on my s.h.i.+p,” Xia Fei answered. “Actually, this s.h.i.+p ought to be called my home if you wanna get technical about it since I’ve spent the longest onboard out of anywhere else.”
Chen Dong nodded, expressing his agreement. Actually, he did not really care about the concept of home, either. It was no more than a place he could go back to whenever he wanted, and most of the time, he would lead a life outside similar to Xia Fei’s.
Moon Song was a woman. Though she was a bit crazy, her womanly instinct still meant she cared more about having a home.
“This is why people like you and Chen Dong, inattentive and heartless cads that you are, will never find a wife. You clearly have the money yet don’t know how to buy a house and start a family. All you know is running around, wandering the universe at large. Any lady who ends up falling for you will surely have been struck with eight generations of bad luck.” Moon Song scoffed.
Chen Dong helplessly shrugged. “What have I got to do with this?”
Moon Song got even angrier hearing that. “What do you mean you’ve nothing to do with it? You and Xia Fei are both madmen, doing anything that comes to your mind the moment your brain gets heated. Guys like you will never be able to find yourselves wives.”
Xia Fei suddenly thought of Avril. He did not care about other women, but Avril still supported his lifestyle, and that was enough. He smirked with amus.e.m.e.nt as he muttered softly, “That’s not necessarily the case. Maybe there’s a lady out there who likes it.”
Moon Song’s face turned ashen as she asked in a grave voice, “Are you referring to Avril? Could the two of you have…”
Xia Fei could sense a hint of jealousy in Moon Song’s voice, so he very deftly changed the topic and no longer talked about personal issues.
…
The beaches of Hawaii, on some nameless island.
Andre had bought this island with the company’s name, so it was considered as one of the a.s.sets under Xia Fei’s name. However, this was not Xia Fei’s home. In his heart and mind, only that dilapidated one-bedroom apartment in the suburbs of Beijing, as well as Vampire, could be called his home. This was actually the first time he had been on this island.
The environment here on this island was very nice—a beach with fine, soft, white sand. The original owner loved baroque-inspired architecture, so there were three large baroque-style villas built here, each with its pool and all sorts of luxurious facilities.
Plenty of plantain and coconut trees naturally grew on this island, dotting the place with lush greenery. Aside from the pier made of red cedar, with two, top-cla.s.s yachts of Italian-make that were moored, one creamy colored, while the other in pure white.
…
In the beginning, Xia Fei was not very comfortable living in too luxurious the surroundings, but he had already adapted to this aspect, now able to live contentedly and leisurely no matter the environment, be it luxurious or spartan-like.
A row of deck chairs were arranged by the beach where Xia Fei, Moon Song, Chen Dong, and Qin Mang were lazing in the sun. Due to Chen Dong being an ice ability user, he could form many average-size ice around them, which acted as a natural air-conditioner unit, throwing ice cubes to anyone’s drink with a flick of his hand when needed.
Moon Song was dressed in such a way that flaunted her perfect figure, a pair of large sungla.s.ses on her face as she constantly gave instructions to Chen Dong to service her, one moment asking to bring her some grapefruit juice, the next asking to eat ice cream.
Chen Dong had already accepted the ‘yes’ philosophy Xia Fei had told him, so he was saying yes to everything, constantly running left and right like a nanny. Qin Mang was shocked to see Chen Dong like this, while Xia Fei was somewhat regretting changing Chen Dong. He had originally intended to get his peer to interact more with life, but he never would have thought that his obstinacy made it so that he could not even be flexible, turning into a Mister Nice Guy.
“That’s Chen Dong? The very same one from the Empire of Frost?” Qin Mang turned to ask Xia Fei curiously.
“Yes, that’s Chen Dong from the internal division,” Xia Fei nodded.
“The same Chen Dong who fought with you for twenty-one days years back, earning him the t.i.tle of Crazy Chen?” Qin Mang asked again.
Xia Fei was chuckling as he reaffirmed, “Old man, your eyes don’t deceive you. That’s indeed him.”
“Oh.” Qin Mang nodded as he wondered aloud, “How did he turn into this?”
Xia Fei was momentarily speechless. This was not a question he could easily answer. Actually, all he had done was tell Chen Dong a very simple theory, and it was only his innate obstinacy that turned him into what he was today.
He had not expected Qin Mang to join Moon Song in exploiting Chen Dong’s change, however, for that old man began giving out orders to Chen Dong that his servants would originally be the ones doing. Chen Dong did not have any objections to this, providing service to everyone with such pa.s.sion and in a gentlemanly manner.
An amphibious pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p came flying across the sky and parked itself by the pier. Xia Fei knew that it was Andre, so he said goodbye to Qin Mang and the others to leave for the pier and receive his friend.
Andre came off the s.h.i.+p wearing a sunhat as his hand sheltered his eyes. “Though Hawaii’s nice, the weather is just too hot. An old man like me can’t stand the temperature here.”
Xia Fei greeted him. “If there’s anything, you could’ve just called. Was there a need to come here in person? Heck, it’d be even faster if I made the trip to you, instead.”
Andre answered seriously, “You’ve finally found time to take a break, so just rest easy on this island. I’m still more than able to make a simple trip out here like this.”
“The research laboratory that you wanted for Harris has already been completed somewhere in Alaska. I couldn’t think of another place remote enough aside from there. Anyway, the buildings are all ready-made—We are done once the two rooms get cleared to house all the equipment for experimentation that you need to be installed,” Andre reported.
Xia Fei nodded. “Okay, I’ll head over there tomorrow morning. I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on the company while I shut myself in.”
Andre confidently replied, “You can rest easy. Ever since Porter joined the company, my work has become a lot easier. Not only is his technical knowledge impeccable, he’s quite adept at management, too. If you find a suitable chance, you ought to let him take over as the CEO. I’m getting weaker and weaker by the day, so I’m afraid that I won’t be able to help you for much longer.”
Xia Fei was very moved. Andre was in his eighties, yet the elderly man was still running around for the company. Xia Fei had secretly noted all the credit he had to his name. After all, he was not like the ancient freaks Porter or Qin Mang, possessing a superhuman physique and strength, with a lifespan lasting for hundreds of years.
Xia Fei had once gifted him a bottle of gene optimization fluid in hopes that he would be able to open his seventh brain region and gain a special ability, thus extending his lifespan. Unfortunately, Andre did not manage to do so after drinking it, so he was no different from the average old man that he was from the start.
The two of them strolled toward the villa. Andre drank a gla.s.s of water to quench his thirst before he spoke to Xia Fei again, this time with furrowed brows. “There’s something I wish to understand from you. The Earth Federation may be imposing a special tax on our company. This is what a friend from the House of Lords told me. Apparently, the draft for this has already been prepared.”
Xia Fei asked, “Special tax? Just toward our company?”
Andre nodded. “Indeed. Just for Quantum Holdings, and the tax rate isn’t low.”