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1122 Taking a step back is the real hell

At noon the next day, Jiang Chen met Elon Musk, who had traveled across the globe, in the conference room of Future Building. The nearly 50-year-old Silicon Valley legend still looked sharp and there wasn’t any sign of time on him.

“Please feel free to sit.” Jiang Chen looked at Elon Musk walking into the conference room as he pointed to the chair and smiled.

“Thank you.” Elon nodded politely, sat down and looked at Jiang Chen.

Just as Jiang Chen was looking at him, he was also examining Jiang Chen.

He had long heard about the young man who started from scratch in his twenties and established a technological empire that spanned across the globe in less than five years. Today, at first sight, he indeed looked extraordinary.

Involved in industries from the Internet to new energy, and new materials to aerospace, his tentacles spanned almost all aspects of production and life. Anything that could be imagined was turned into reality by the works of Future Group.

To this day, Elon Musk never understood how Jiang Chen’s brain functioned. In a country where a great person was least likely to be born, such an enchanting individual was born.

“This visit from Mr. Musk today must not just be to chat, right?” Jiang Chen smiled, leaned back in the chair, and crossed his fingers in front of his knees. “You and I are both extremely busy, so why don’t we get straight to the point.”

Elon Musk stared at Jiang Chen for half a minute and finally sighed.

“Before I came in, I was thinking about how to convince you.”

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? You’re not thinking about it now?”

Elon Musk shook his head and went on, “But when I saw you, I know it is practically impossible to convince you.”

“Can I hear the reason?” Jiang Chen laughed.

“Because we’re the same type of person.” Elon Musk looked at Jiang Chen and said seriously, “If we’re certain about something, we won’t change easily.”

Elon Musk’s words made Jiang Chen think.

However, the thinking only lasted for less than ten seconds. Jiang Chen spread his hands and said with ease, “You’re right. If you’re here about the Earth Fleet project, I can tell you clearly that you can go back now.”

When Musk heard that Jiang Chen practically gave SpaceX the death sentence, he couldn’t help but feel bitter.

“Can’t you give Silicon Valley companies a chance to compete fairly? We have a technological advantage over aerospace companies in other countries, and we will never lose to Russia and Hua companies in cost and quality. The Earth Fleet is the future of mankind. It isn’t fair to risk the future of the planet just because of some diplomatic frictions—”

“Just because?” Jiang Chen chuckled and interrupted Elon Musk. “The UA fleet is in Guam, right at the doorstep of Xin. Is that ‘just because’?”

Jiang Chen looked at Elon Musk, who couldn’t refute, then his finger gently tapped the table and he emotionlessly said, “In my opinion, as long as the funds are in place, there’s no permanent advantage. You obtained your technological advantage today because of the space race in the Cold War era, so you received a large budget.”

“We have fifty years or even a century to prepare for this war. In this time scale, the advantages at the starting point are completely negligible.”

“Not to mention, in my opinion, your technical advantage is nothing.”

Nothing…

Jiang Chen’s understatement just denied the achievements of NASA’s half-century of work and negated SpaceX’s position as the second-best organization.

Although Elon Musk was unwilling, he looked at Jiang Chen and not a word could come out. There was only a bitter smile on his face.

He could blame the fact that the space elevator was built in the western Pacific or he could blame Celestial Trade for grabbing the throats of the world’s space companies. With the existence of this large gap, even the technological capabilities of the second-place organization to the one-hundredth place couldn’t match Celestial Trade’s capabilities.

Elon Musk shook his head and stood up.

Since there was no purpose in discussing this, there was no need for him to waste time there.

While SpaceX and a group of Silicon Valley companies were excluded from the Earth Fleet, Celestial Trade still gave them an opportunity to survive. At least the asteroid mining project could still be profitable, and the companies could still receive contracts for outsourcing projects... However, they wouldn’t be able to access the trillion-dollar market.

Stimulated by trillions of New Xin dollars, even a moron could learn and advance. As Jiang Chen said, in the next few decades, the technological gap would only widen between members and non-members of the Earth Defense Alliance, unless the Capitol had the determination of the Cold War era to invest in aerospace.

But is this possible?

The gap between UA and Xin is separated by a 36,000-kilometre space elevator.

Perhaps there’s no way of negotiating an agreement in the first place...

Just as Elon Musk got up and was about to leave, Jiang Chen suddenly spoke.

“Of course, there’s always room for negotiation.”

Jiang Chen’s understatement, like a bomb, was thrown into Elon Musk’s heart which had already sunk to the bottom. He turned sharply and looked at Jiang Chen at the conference table.

However, after he witnessed Jiang Chen’s half-smiling expression, his pumping heart quickly calmed.

He knew that the “so-called room for negotiation” was subject to conditions.

The expression on his face changed several times, and he asked Jiang Chen: “What do you mean?”

“There are many UA citizens starting businesses in Xin,” Jiang Chen said with a smile. “There’s an old saying: people go to high places and the water flows down. Since SpaceX can’t find a way out in Silicon Valley, why not consider Penglai and Celestial City?”

Elon Musk paused, and he had a peculiar expression.

He originally thought Jiang Chen would demand unreasonable conditions; he didn’t expect Jiang Chen to start headhunting?

“Mr. Jiang is kidding, right?” Elon Musk said, disguising his emotions. “Do you think that a company like us can leave at will? Also, you should be worried about the imminent issue.”

“The imminent issue?” Jiang Chen laughed and spread his hands. “I don’t know what the problem is? Can Mr. Musk enlighten me?”

“The aircraft carrier is at your door. Isn’t that a problem?” Elon Musk stared at Jiang Chen right in the eyes. He couldn’t tell if Jiang Chen was arrogant or confident, as he tried to figure out the reason for the fearlessness in his pupils. “In fact, if you take a step back, we can all live.”

The silence lasted for a long time before Jiang Chen suddenly laughed.

“When did Silicon Valley start to lobby?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Knowing that his final attempt at persuasion failed, Elon Musk shook his head and stopped wasting time. He pushed open the door and left the room.

Jiang Chen, who didn’t look at the departing Elon Musk, opened the holographic screen on his watch. He swiped on his calendar and seemingly muttered to himself, “It’s almost time to start.”

Take a step back?

Taking a step back is the real hell.