Kang De Might Profit, but the State Definitely Wouldn't Lose Out

Senior Colonel Tian received a satisfactory answer.

Or, to put it another way, exceeding expectations.

Kang De not only answered every question correctly, but also got full marks on both bonus questions.

This negotiation and alliance, destined to have a far-reaching impact, will completely change the ecology of superhumans both domestically and even worldwide. Originally, Senior Colonel Tian was not qualified to represent the country in signing this secret alliance, but for various reasons, he still acted as the representative and made the proposal to Kang De.

Thus, it was recorded in history.

When an individual's fate is placed within the course of history, he or she can be remembered by posterity and by history.

Therefore, Senior Colonel Tian felt very honored.

Once the most important things were settled, the next step was a relaxed time for discussion.

First, it was the comrades from the Rocket Force.

The questions they raised were all very interesting.

"Comrade Kang De."

The comrades from the Rocket Force were two colonels from the General Staff Department and the Research Institute.

As a branch of the military tasked with deterring other countries from using nuclear weapons against China, carrying out nuclear counterattacks, and conducting precision strikes with conventional missiles, the questions raised by officers from the Rocket Force were quite meaningful. They took out encrypted military notebooks containing images of the Moyani Battle and the grand scene of the deployment of the Light Shield missile.

The colonel from the staff said sincerely, "In terms of nuclear strategy, the primary mission of the Rocket Force is defense, not offense. We have no interest in proactively dropping thermonuclear weapons on others, and we certainly don't want to be attacked by others' nuclear weapons. We would like to consult you on the prediction, interception, and defense of nuclear attacks."

He pointed to the screen. "Could such a shield withstand a nuclear attack?"

Oh, this.

I honestly had no idea.

To outsiders, Moyani's Holy Vault appears as a sacred Shelter erected by Kang De himself, radiating light that illuminates heaven and earth, its holy brilliance dazzling—how sacred it is!

What they didn't know was that behind the world's strongest superhuman's grand display of power was a Transformers frantically digging and laying out sacred artifacts in the humid and hot underground of Moyani.

As for whether the magical barriers of another world can withstand nuclear attacks...

He felt very uncertain.

Just as Kang De was about to deny it, a thought suddenly struck him—he remembered something.

"Well..." The Fire Thief gave an awkward smile and spread his hands, saying, "I've never been hit by a nuclear bomb, how would I know if I could withstand it? I can't very well go and try it."

Both colonels burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"That's true, we were being presumptuous."

"Fine."

"Let's put nuclear weapons aside for now." The colonel in the staff exchanged a glance with his comrade. "The Rocket Force also undertakes the precision strike and defense missions against conventional missiles—can this energy shield withstand missiles?"

Kang De smiled knowingly, "Of course."

The colonel at the research institute blurted out, "And what about the defensive strength?"

After he finished speaking, he chuckled and slapped his forehead, "I forgot again. How was I supposed to know?"

Kang De smiled and said, "We can give it a try."

The colonel from the staff office's eyes lit up. "Really? Is that possible?"

That expression seemed to say—I've never hit such a perfect target in my entire life.

"Of course you can, but the question is, what's the point of testing this?"

Kang De rested his elbows on the table, crossed his hands, and placed them to his mouth, his expression becoming meaningful. "Ultimately, the shield is something I set up. When I have to block missiles, I'll hold them for as long as I can. If I don't need to withstand missiles head-on, I can just run. Why bother testing the upper limit of defense?"

The two colonels exchanged another glance. "Comrade Kang De, what do you mean?"

Kang De said quietly, "I have a bold proposal and idea that I can try—namely, to make the shield work independently of me, that is, a shield generator whose power is proportional to its volume."

"It can be worn on the body, placed on a Mengshi assault vehicle, on a Type 59 modified tank, on a Dongfeng log truck, on the Type 003 aircraft carrier, or even at an airport..."

He looked at the two People's Liberation Army officers. "Are you interested?"

Their eyes went from astonishment to disbelief, and then to fervor.

The two Rocket Force colonels hesitated for a moment, while the staff officer went to a corner to make a phone call. He observed carefully for a long time, waited a while, answered another phone call, and then reluctantly ran out.

They dragged two army comrades in.

Upon hearing Kang De's suggestion, the army comrades nearly jumped up.

His face screamed "GKD" (Good Will Die).

"What is its operating principle? What is its energy source? Is it easy to produce? What is the production process and its difficulty? How exactly is it done? What are its defense mechanisms? What kinds of attacks can it defend against?"

The comrades at the Army Research Institute practically hung on Kang De. The top scientist, who had made extremely high achievements and contributions in the relevant field, became the most curious student, asking this and that, and all sorts of questions.

Kang De said helplessly, "This superpower is different from science. I'm currently at the stage of knowing what it is but not why it is—besides, what insights and gains has the country made in researching superhuman abilities?"

The other leading figures from various research institutes who were subsequently called in also shook their heads helplessly.

"This is a new phenomenon that overturns the existing scientific system. Our physicists are frowning all day long, completely clueless. They have joked that this is not just a dark cloud floating over the edifice of physics—it's like a meteorite has crashed into the edifice of physics."

"Understanding the root cause is as difficult as building a physics edifice from scratch—just laying the foundation requires defining many new units and constants that are unheard of and unseen before."

The researchers began to complain.

Kang De was like an illiterate in the presence of these scientific luminaries; he had no interest in listening to scientists describe the appalling changes in parameters and the destruction of common sense when superpowers were activated.

He simply picked up the teacup in front of him.

Everyone who was talking fell silent and looked at Kang De's actions.

Kang De suddenly turned to Qin Mengjin: "This teacup isn't an antique, is it?"

Qin Mengjin was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and cried at the same time, "It shouldn't be..."

Kang De shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be... Never mind, it still looks quite expensive, it would be a waste to smash it."

Several soldiers shouted in unison, "Smash it! Smash it! We'll pay!"

Let alone not being an antique, if the shield generator described by Kang De could really become a standard-issue, widely used military technology, then even if Kang De smashed all the national treasures and antiques in the Forbidden City, the elders wouldn't even bat an eye.

The past and history are important, but compared to the future, they are nothing.

Even the most glorious history is still history, but a strong future can create a glorious history.

Kang De laughed and said, "No need."

He put the teacup back in its place, then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a small Phase Gate spun and opened above Kang De's right hand, and an ordinary-looking stone fell into his hand.

"A stone in the suburbs of Moyani."

Kang De laughed and flicked away the dirt and dust clinging to it, "Look, it's still warm."

Effortless and effortless.

The crowd was speechless for a moment, their expressions complex, their eyes filled with envy, and even a sense of relief.

Such a powerful superhuman was ultimately China.

However...

What the audience perceived as spatial teleportation.

--Kang De, with his immense power, superimposed the Diaoyutai Guesthouse with a spatial point in Moyani, and easily captured a stone in West Africa, half a world away.

Real-world teleportation.

-- He snapped his fingers, a purely habitual spellcasting action and a show-off, and casually flicked a tiny speck of dust into the air, causing the spatial beacon attached to it to open Phase Door. At the same time, Horus, who was waiting near the White Mist World of Moyani, casually picked up a stone from the ground and threw it out of the Phase Door.

Kang De glanced at the audience, whose expressions of shock were barely concealed, and smiled proudly to himself.

When it comes to showing off, all the extraordinary individuals in the world combined couldn't beat him.

He held the stone, then raised his left hand. The Divine Ring of Stellar Authority shone brightly, and everyone saw Kang De gather sunlight at his fingertips, sketching and drawing luminous runes that solidified and imprinted themselves on the ordinary stone. The faint glow of the characters flickered and shifted.

Then Kang De pushed the stone to the other side and gestured with his hand.

The void opened the Phase Gate, and another mace fell out.

He handed the hammer to the colonel opposite him. "Smash it."

As a soldier, he was naturally decisive and capable. Without hesitation or shirking responsibility, he raised his hand and struck down with the hammer. With a bang, a tangible wave of light appeared on the surface of the stone, and the hammerhead seemed to have struck metal, almost slipping out of his hand.

The colonel hesitated for a moment, then was about to smash it again when the scientists erupted in uproar, rushing forward, pinning him down, taking the hammer away, and even punching him a few times. They then pushed the bewildered soldier aside.

Then, as if admiring a stunningly beautiful woman, they circled the broken rock, looking at it from all angles.

The most senior scientist, over sixty years old, took a small hammer and gently tapped the stone. The surface shimmered with a holy light and made a clanging sound.

He looked up at Kang De: "This... this string of words and that energy are the key?"

Kang De nodded. "Hmm."

"Can it be engraved on any solid?"

"Right?"

"Even Kevlar bulletproof fiber and protective steel plates?"

"Of course, the effect might even be better."

What do you mean?

"The strength of an object itself determines how much energy it can withstand, and the amount of energy it can withstand determines the strength of its defenses... It's that simple."

Kang De wanted to take the stone, but gave up under the pitiful gaze of the scientists, who treated it like a precious chick. The fact that these top national researchers were "naive and treated a broken stone like a treasure" did not make him feel ashamed or mocking; on the contrary, it made him even more respectful.

These people are the backbone of the Republic.

He then took two more stones, one brittle enough that an ordinary person could crush with their bare hands, and the other much harder, and infused them with the same holy light of the sun to construct defensive runes.

I struck with the same force.

He flicked his finger, like flicking someone's forehead, striking the stone with a loud thud. The force far surpassed that of the colonel swinging a hammer. After three strikes, the brittle stone shattered, its light scattering like stardust, the force dissipating completely, while the harder stone withstood six strikes.

The scientists looked at the two broken stones with a pained expression.

Kang De sighed inwardly, then said to the oldest gentleman, whose hair was already completely white, "Uncle, don't worry about it. We have as many of these things as we want."

The other person was taken aback at first, then laughed, "Okay, okay..."

He laughed for a moment, then sighed, "Sigh, I've been stingy my whole life, I'm terrified of being poor..."

"Good days are here, we can live a little more lavishly now," Kang De said softly. "In short, as you can see, objects enhanced by runes are extremely resilient to attacks. The increase in strength is related to the object itself. I don't understand science, but in my opinion, this strength equals the object's inherent strength multiplied by the amplification coefficient. In other words, the greater the object's inherent strength, the stronger its load-bearing capacity..."

"We understand," the old scientist said slowly. "Special steel is far more durable than sheet metal, isn't that right?"

"Yes, that must be true, but special steels should also be divided into many categories, with different proportions and compositions. There must be an optimal solution among them. Just as Edison tested more than a thousand materials to find the right filament when he improved the light bulb, we must also have such an optimal solution."

Kang De said, "It would be neither efficient nor feasible for me to test them all myself, but given the nation's organizational capacity and resource allocation, and with scientific planning, this task should be quite easy to accomplish."

"That's no problem at all. We can go back and submit the application and organize the experiment."

This kind of thing doesn't need a decision from above—no one would refuse it.

The old gentleman said, "Then, if I may be so bold as to ask again, Comrade Kang De, we initially discussed an energy shield, but this seems to be at best some kind of energy armor..."

Kang De smiled slightly, "No, this is just part of some kind of runic incantation."

Everyone was slightly taken aback.

"This rune I wrote on the stone, along with fourteen different ones, can form a complete defensive spell."

"Thirty-five more defensive talismans of this scale could be combined to form an even more powerful and indestructible defensive artifact."

"This magical artifact, at least the size of a car, together with five other magical artifacts of completely different systems, can form an energy shield generation field that can be made large or small."

Kang De calmly stated, "This is a new form of energy utilization, comparable to our integrated circuits or even semiconductors—the knowledge system it contains is unique and boundless, no less complex than the intricate classifications of our modern science... I have only touched upon a small part of it."

"What I just showed you is only one basic category—besides that, there are many other applications involving fire, water, earth, air, and so on."

The hall fell silent; people listened, stunned and speechless for a long time.

Senior Colonel Tian had originally planned to return to the sea to report for duty, but he came back instead. After a moment of silence, he stepped forward, looked at Kang De, and said in a deep voice, "What do you want us to do?"

Kang De calmly replied, "This heritage and power are unique to me, but I live in modern society and have received a modern education. I know where the true strength of our Civilization lies."

"With my own strength, it might take me several months to make one shield generator. With my own strength, it might take me a year to engrave the Wind God Rune on all our J-20s. With my own strength, I can never finish engraving the Energy-Gathering Armor on all our tanks in my lifetime, let alone the bulletproof vests for millions of soldiers. I can't even handle a thousand of them."

He looked at everyone present and said, "In the past, there was a legend of an eighth-level fitter in our country, but times have changed. Even an eighth-level fitter can't expect to manually grind a single 14nm wafer. But lithography production lines can produce 5nm wafers as quickly and in large quantities as spraying excrement. Therefore, we need the power of science and industry."

The old scientist gazed at the mysterious and exquisite radiant runes on the stone in his hand.

He murmured, "Can these runes be imitated using carving instruments or by hand?"

"Theoretically possible, but very difficult," Kang De replied. "I've tried, but the inscription of runes requires a spiritual imprint, and machine inscription, due to its precision limitations, struggles to achieve that perfect spiritual effect—perhaps because I purchased a civilian engraving machine. Perhaps better results could be obtained through continuous adjustments, experiments, and improvements by the nation's highest level of craftsmanship and industrial capabilities."

"Then the crucial question..." Senior Colonel Tian looked at Kang De, "This shouldn't be like our ancient legends, where you can just draw a spell on a yellow talisman with blood and it will have magic power. Besides the inscription, it also needs energy, just like an integrated circuit needs electricity to operate. So, where does the electricity come from?"

Kang De replied calmly, "At this stage, it can only be obtained from me. The country can try artificial synthesis or other methods to obtain it in subsequent research. I don't mind."

Senior Colonel Tian looked conflicted and sighed, "We don't want to be held hostage in a place like this."

"But there's nothing we can do about it," Kang De laughed. "If you're really worried, then sign an exclusive agreement with AWSL Company. You can buy more each year, and then bury a strategic reserve deep under the Bohai Bay that will last for decades. I don't mind."

"I think we'll still have to reluctantly agree to this proposal..."

Senior Colonel Tian shook his head and said, "I will report to the sea—so, what do you want?"

Kang De countered, "Can't I simply dedicate this technology to the nation without expecting anything in return?"

Seeing the other person's strange expression, Kang De laughed and held up a finger, "I'll provide the technology, I'll provide the energy, the state will organize the manpower and resources, conduct research and development, and then build factories and put them into production."

"I contributed my technology as equity and also provided crucial raw materials; these are fundamental and important contributions. It's not unreasonable for me to own 51% of the factory."

"--Don't rush. Nominally, it belongs to AWSL Company. The factory will definitely be built in China, with the land selected by the government, the personnel assigned by the government, and the operations run by the government. The government can send heavy troops to guard it. I don't even need to be there. In short, I won't participate in management; I'll just collect my dividends and count the money."

"The products produced are purchased with government funding, just like a military enterprise. I receive dividends according to my shareholding ratio. Besides that, I can freely use a portion of the products produced, whether it's reinforced steel plates or enchanted weapons. Don't worry, it won't exceed one-tenth. If the scale increases, I won't even need one percent—I'll just use it to arm my own security guards."

After listening for a while, Senior Colonel Tian finally understood Kang De's intention.

He asked, puzzled, "You only care about making money?"

Kang De proudly declared, "Wow, look at me, I neither want to rule the world nor do bad things. What else could I want besides a little fame and a sense of accomplishment? Can't I just be the world's richest man?"

That sounds quite reasonable.

Senior Colonel Tian still felt that something was wrong—it was merely an instinctive intuition.

Oh, right.

Kang De held up one finger. "After this cooperation, I think the state should update its list of items for sale to me. Perhaps some of the better things can be sold to me now?"

"Besides, the production staff, workers, and security personnel at AWSL's plastics factories are nominally my employees. I have the right to send my employees to the Africa headquarters for training, or to assign talented individuals from the China branch to operate, plan, and act globally for my... oh no, for the interests of the headquarters. That's reasonable, isn't it?"

Senior Colonel Tian then realized what was happening.

This is to get the state to provide him with talent and even train his private army...

No, that's not quite right. Kang De could attack whomever he wanted, and he didn't need our "demobilized soldiers" to do it for him. The reason he did it was probably for the vanity and face of the young people. After all, the sense of accomplishment from doing it yourself is definitely different from ordering subordinates to do it...

Senior Colonel Tian thought about it and felt that this was a sure thing.

If AWSL Company were entirely comprised of "veterans" and "former government employees who resigned to start their own businesses" from China, then Kang De might have made a profit, but the country would definitely not lose out.

As for the factory control he wanted, it was just a nominal title. He could have it anyway, since he had promised the state to take actual control and not interfere. As for dividends, that was a trivial matter. The money was all printed by the state. No matter how much personal wealth Kang De had, it was just numbers lying on the books. Even if he became the world's richest man, it wouldn't matter. Young man, let's play.

He made up his mind and then smiled.

"I need to ask for instructions," Senior Colonel Tian said. "It should be fine."

"Alright, to avoid trying to do too much at once, I'll start by providing the most basic Psionic Rune."

Kang De said seriously, "Although I am not a professional, I understand that throughout history, armies have relied on nothing more than spears and shields. The Holy Radiance Protection Rune is the shield, so let's add a spear."

He smiled at everyone present and said, "Shall we improve the propellant, or strengthen the warhead?"

The genuinely patriotic successor smiled sincerely, highlighting his contribution to the country.

Of course, it is indeed a contribution to the country. Nowadays, materials science is severely restricting the development of science and technology and industry. Breakthroughs in enchanting will bring new opportunities and changes. With the help of Magic Power, not only will military capabilities be leaped, but it can also be used in important fields such as aerospace and scientific research.

Therefore, the state will definitely make a fortune, and I, Kang De, will make even more.

The nation has invested manpower, resources, and money to develop a complete automated enchanting production line. Once the nation builds one such line, I will replicate ten or twenty more in the other world. For every ton of enchanted steel or powerful enchanted weapon the nation produces, I will exploit it dozens of times in the other world for free. When the Star Palace returns, everyone in the Mortal World will be equipped with the Holy Radiance Armor and a Blazing Sun Vulcan Cannon, and we will overwhelm these idiots from the sky.

I'm a fucking genius.

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PS1: Update, the number of sensitive word triggers has been increasing recently...