Chapter 21: The Bait

According to the figures reported by the balding middle-aged man, Jiang Chen immediately spoke up, “With these materials, we can produce about a thousand units of the ‘Boxer’ each year. Of course, that is assuming sufficient funding.”

“One unit costs over ten billion, so a thousand would be ten trillion?!” Li Dawei couldn’t help but widen his eyes.

“Is it not worth it to spend ten trillion in exchange for a thousand high-level War God-class fighters? Just from hunting monsters and selling their materials, the investment would be recovered.” Jiang Chen spread his hands.

The figure of ten trillion was indeed frightening, but in reality, nowhere near that much funding would actually be required.

Many expenses could be offset in other ways.

For instance, land, tax incentives, or in the future, repaying debts with monster materials.

Li Dawei nodded slightly, did some mental calculations, then looked at Jiang Chen and asked, “How big is the difference between manual piloting and remote control mode?”

“For manual piloting, you need at least an advanced martial artist, preferably a Warrior General, who has undergone special training to serve as the pilot. As for the difference…” Jiang Chen thought for a moment before replying, “If possible, it’s best to have a pilot in control. After all, remote mode is highly vulnerable to communication disruptions. If the signal is lost, the ‘Boxer’ becomes nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.”

He paused, then continued, “Even if you decide to go all out and mass-produce the ‘Boxer,’ I wouldn’t approve it just yet. In the last battle, I noticed quite a few areas that require improvement. The current ‘Boxer’ is still an immature product. For example, the energy supply issue—even the best battery can only support the ‘Boxer’ fighting at full power for ten minutes before needing to be replaced. That’s a fatal flaw in high-intensity combat.”

The battery issue had already shown itself in the previous battle in City 003, and Jiang Chen was sure Li Dawei had noticed it.

As for the other ‘issues,’ they were merely Jiang Chen’s excuses to buy some time.

He wasn’t ready to hand the ‘Boxer’ over to the military so soon.

Right now, this thing was nothing more than bait, dangling in front of Li Dawei to keep him hooked.

Hearing Jiang Chen’s words, Li Dawei’s excitement cooled considerably as he realized he had been a bit too eager.

“The energy issue is indeed difficult to resolve,” a scholar standing behind Li Dawei murmured, “Unless there’s a breakthrough in energy technology, greatly increasing the power supply without changing the battery’s size is nearly impossible with current tech.”

His voice was low, but with Jiang Chen’s physical abilities, even if someone whispered right into another’s ear at this distance, he could hear every word.

“That may be something you can’t do—not me…” Jiang Chen muttered to himself.

In the system’s blueprints, there were plenty of solutions to the energy supply problem.

Of those, a few with relatively low implementation difficulty could be accomplished by Jiang Chen in just a few months, and the cost would not be high.

However, he had no intention of revealing this for now.

“May I take it for a test drive?” Li Dawei asked.

Jiang Chen hesitated, but didn’t refuse. He nodded, “But the space here is rather limited. Once I’ve fully repaired it, I’ll deliver it to your facility for more advanced testing. Also, I need to consider how to address the issues that came up earlier.”

Li Dawei nodded in satisfaction and then continued to press with a series of questions. Only when he was thoroughly satisfied did he say, “Mr. Jiang, if you need any kind of support during the improvement process of the ‘Boxer,’ please contact me at any time.”

He paused, then added, “Furthermore, I personally suggest that your security level should be increased. If you don’t object, I’d like to assign two more high-level War Gods to ensure your safety.”

The protection was genuine, but Jiang Chen suspected Li Dawei also wanted to keep an eye on the progress of the ‘Boxer’ upgrades.

Jiang Chen didn’t mind, and agreed, “Then I’ll trouble you, Elder Li.”

—

After seeing Li Dawei and his group off, Jiang Chen returned to the workshop, frowning in thought for a while before calling out to Jarvis.

“Jarvis,” Jiang Chen asked, “how is the plan I asked you to prepare coming along?”

Jarvis immediately replied, “Master, by my calculations, unless you possess a force completely under your own control, it will be impossible to build a ‘Boxer’ unit without the knowledge of other powers. The sheer volume of rare materials and huge capital flows involved cannot escape the notice of the city’s powerful factions.”

This was indeed a nearly unavoidable issue.

With the ‘Boxer’ requiring such expensive parts, materials, and vast sums of money, the moment mass production began, the activity would be impossible to hide from those with an interest.

A single ‘Boxer’ involved capital flows in the billions, touching thousands of raw material suppliers—keeping it utterly secret was almost impossible.

Unless Jiang Chen could control everything himself, from mining and refining ores to production and assembly of the ‘Boxer,’ there was a slim chance.

But to reach that point, the cost aside, it was not something money alone could achieve.

Hearing Jarvis’s answer, Jiang Chen felt a slight twinge of disappointment, but he didn’t blame him and asked directly, “What do you suggest?”

“Master, do you wish to possess an armed force completely under your own control for self-protection?” Jarvis confirmed Jiang Chen’s intent.

Jiang Chen nodded, “The interests involved with the ‘Ripper’ are already immense, and once the ‘Boxer’ is perfected, it will be a product capable of reshaping the world order. This world is full of ambitious men—if I don’t have a force strong enough to protect myself, the future may not be mine to decide.”

The ‘Boxer’ was expensive—so costly that even the top powers would wince at the thought of mass production.

But was it worth the price?

Ask anyone on Earth and not a single person would say otherwise.

Spending just over ten billion to gain a high-level War God-class combatant—what a bargain!

And titans like the Five Nations, the Two Martial Halls, and the HR Alliance, if they went all in, had the resources to produce thousands of ‘Boxers.’

How many War God martial artists were there on Earth in total? Just over three thousand.

Any one of the eight great powers could, if they committed fully, produce over three thousand ‘Boxers’ within a year—effectively doubling the number of War God-class fighters on Earth!

What kind of impact would that have on the global balance of power?!

And how many ambitious predators would then set their sights on him?

Even for the sake of self-preservation, Jiang Chen had to have a force powerful enough in his own hands.

As soon as Jiang Chen finished, Jarvis immediately spoke, “Master, I have a proposal…”