"Wait... I didn't see anything!" Li Yaqi immediately covered her eyes, putting on an "I saw nothing" act.
Zhao Chen was taken aback by Li Yaqi's reaction.
"What are you doing? You already guessed my identity long ago, didn't you?"
Still covering her eyes, Li Yaqi said with some concern, "Um... did you remove your mask because you no longer want to cooperate with me..."
"Not want to cooperate with you? Why would you think that?" Zhao Chen chuckled.
Peeking through a gap between her fingers, Li Yaqi said, "Because... your public identity now is the Chu Family's grandson-in-law. With such excellent resources from the Chu Family, why would you still need to cooperate with me?"
Li Yaqi had finally thought she'd found her Money Tree, but now...
This had been the reason for her restlessness these past few days.
So this woman was worried about this matter.
"The Chu Family is the Chu Family, and you are you. You're different," Zhao Chen stated.
"I don't understand what you mean?" Li Yaqi was puzzled.
Zhao Chen continued, "You just said the Chu Family has its own foundational resources, and cooperating with them might seem like the natural course.
But some things should never be kept all in one basket."
"You and the Chu Family..." Li Yaqi was even more surprised now.
Zhao Chen said directly, "Don't concern yourself with other matters, and don't ask. I'll ask you directly: do you still want to cooperate with me or not!"
"Of course I do!" Li Yaqi nodded repeatedly.
How could she not want to?
Relying solely on the T1 Wolf Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer had already allowed her North Goose Starship Technology Group to rise. The subsequent four starship technologies were even more remarkable; although not as explosive as the T1 Wolf Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer, they were still highly sought-after products.
All of this was entirely thanks to Zhao Chen, her Money Tree.
"Good. From now on, our cooperation must be absolutely confidential.
No one besides you and me is to know, including Li Wei. He might guess some things, but you must ensure he doesn't speak about it publicly!
If you can manage this, not only can our cooperation continue,
but it can also deepen further!" Zhao Chen stared at Li Yaqi.
Hearing that their cooperation could continue, the stone in Li Yaqi's heart finally settled.
"I understand all this. I will absolutely keep this secret! Even when my father asked me where these starship technologies came from, I didn't tell him!" Li Yaqi said firmly.
"Although our affairs must remain confidential, there will inevitably be some contact. So I need you to devise a method that won't expose us while allowing us to interact!
For example, when I need certain resource materials, you can transmit them to me through this channel!" Zhao Chen said seriously.
Li Yaqi thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "There is one way! Actually, I have private dealings with an interstellar pirate fleet.
After all, those of us in interstellar trade inevitably come into contact with these gray industries."
The captain of this interstellar pirate fleet is absolutely trustworthy. If you have any needs in the future, such as raw materials and supplies, I can arrange for her interstellar pirate fleet to travel through the interstellar frontier space between star systems and reach your designated area.
Deliver the supplies to you! Completely confidential!
However, this method takes dozens of times longer than normal transportation, unless you have very advanced interstellar transport ships.
But your Fierce Dragon Star System is very close to the border, so a single trip won't take too much time."
Hearing Li Yaqi say this, Zhao Chen was very satisfied with this method.
"Perfect, I currently need a batch of interstellar transport ships. Arrange it, and I'll give you a coordinate location later. Deliver this batch of interstellar transport ships to the designated location quietly," Zhao Chen instructed.
To pick up the Dwarf Clan, interstellar transport ships were needed.
But Zhao Chen couldn't openly purchase a batch of interstellar transport ships, as that would definitely raise suspicion.
Zhao Chen couldn't let Governor Chu know that he had just sneaked out of the North Wind Star Domain right after making an agreement with him.
"Perfect, I've just completed production on a batch of the T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ships you previously provided. How many do you need?" Li Yaqi inquired.
The T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ship was one of the four starship technologies Zhao Chen had previously handed over to Li Yaqi for operation. Zhao Chen began recalling the data for this interstellar transport ship.
If a single ship were used entirely for transporting people, it could carry around one hundred thousand people.
However, he also had to consider the food required for these one hundred thousand people per trip, as well as the luggage they might bring along. After all, with families in tow, there would definitely be a lot of belongings.
A preliminary estimate put the transport capacity at fifty thousand people per ship.
For the first trip, not many Dwarf clans would likely trust him. Currently, Zhao Chen's shortage of Stellar Artisans wasn't severe, so bringing back tens of thousands of people on this first trip would be considered good.
So, let's tentatively decide on five ships.
There would also be extra space to handle special situations.
"Then arrange five T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ships for me. I'll handle the crew myself, so when delivering the ships, withdraw the crew on board.
Tell me, how much for these five T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ships? I'll transfer the money to you or deduct it from my technology licensing fees," Zhao Chen instructed.
"What are you talking about? These T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ships were manufactured using your starship technology. It's just five ships.
The construction cost is only fifty thousand Star Coins. These five ships are nothing," Li Yaqi repeatedly waved her hands, refusing Zhao Chen's request to pay.
Actually, Li Yaqi intentionally understated the cost. The construction cost was fifty thousand Star Coins, but the selling price was one million Star Coins. These five ships would be worth five million Star Coins.
Moreover, since its release to the starship market, this T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ship had been very popular, with orders backlogged for half a year.
Seeing Li Yaqi say this, Zhao Chen didn't say anything more.
"How have the sales been for the four starship technologies I gave you so far?" Zhao Chen casually asked.
Li Yaqi immediately displayed her professionalism and began explaining in detail to Zhao Chen, but Zhao Chen ignored much of the content, only remembering a few strings of numbers.
It had been three months since Li Yaqi started arranging the production lines for these four starships.
After she invested all the profits from the T1 Wolf Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer into building production lines for these four starships, mass production was achieved by the third month, and a launch event was held.
In just one month, over a hundred starships were sold directly, with orders reaching over a thousand!
Even without accounting for prepaid orders, the revenue amounted to 90 million Star Coins.
"According to our previous agreement, you take 70%, which is 63 million Star Coins. After deducting the 20 million Star Coins you advanced earlier, that leaves 43 million Star Coins.
I was actually planning to contact you in a few days to transfer this technology licensing fee to you," Li Yaqi said.
Although she only earned 20% of the profits, Li Yaqi was already quite satisfied. As production capacity gradually expanded in the future, this income would only increase.
"There's no rush for these funds. Keep them on your side for now," Zhao Chen said. With 1.5 billion Star Coins currently in hand, he wasn't particularly concerned about such a small amount.
Leaving the money with Li Yaqi would actually make it more convenient for him to handle certain matters in the future.
"You mentioned the Hurricane Consortium earlier? Did you have a conflict with them?" Zhao Chen asked with interest.
Mentioning this matter, Li Yaqi sighed helplessly. "It's because of the T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ship. In the T2 interstellar transport ship market, the Hurricane Consortium has been aggressively expanding its territory in recent years, especially in the North Wind Star Domain!
Currently, the Hurricane Consortium has already captured 30% of the T2 interstellar transport ship market in the North Wind Star Domain.
But with the introduction of our T2 Moose-class Heavy Interstellar Transport Ship, its high cost-effectiveness directly stole many of their customers.
So they started targeting us openly and covertly, such as blocking our raw material procurement, among other things."
Li Yaqi was frustrated, but given that the Hurricane Consortium was such a massive entity, even though she had built her reputation with the T1 Wolf Louse-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer, she was still far from matching their scale.
At this moment, Zhao Chen revealed a meaningful smile. "In that case, have you ever thought about retaliating against the Hurricane Consortium?"
"Retaliate?" Li Yaqi was taken aback. "How could we do that? They're a huge conglomerate. If we engage in a price war, even though we have a cost advantage, they have ample funds. We might end up being dragged down instead."
"Strike where it hurts the most—target their most important market!" Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes, like an eagle locking onto its prey. "Their T2 Hyena-class Medium Stellar Destroyer is their best-selling starship, right?
I'll send you a Technical Blueprint for a T2-class interstellar destroyer later.
We'll defeat them in the very field they excel at!"
Hurricane Consortium.
Hmph, Zhao Chen's "grudge-holding" nature couldn't be restrained any longer.
If he couldn't deal with Blue Fatty and Yellow Haozi just yet, he'd start by stabbing their money bag first!