Building Titanium Alloy Armor!

"What it means literally..."

Bai Yang smiled as he spoke, thinking, Does Xiong Da have muscles where his brains should be? Can't he even understand plain speech?

Xiong Da scratched his head. Though he didn't understand why Bai Yang was asking, he answered anyway. "The workshop, the land, the equipment, and everything else—it all came to about fifty million yuan, give or take."

Bai Yang's expression stiffened. Forget it. He'd better talk about something else.

He'd thought it was just a metalworking plant. The place didn't seem to have much business, and he had money in his pocket, so he'd figured he might as well buy it and have some fun. But fifty million was out of the question for now. He couldn't afford it even if he sold everything he owned.

Industry really did burn through money. Bai Yang was seeing that firsthand. But Xiong Da didn't look like he had fifty million yuan to his name...

"So, what would it cost to make a set of metal armor for someone with your build?"

Xiong Da thought, He really wants one of those things? Then he looked at Bai Yang and said, "That depends on what material you want. Ordinary steel isn't expensive. Including labor, I could make you a set for fifty thousand yuan. How does that sound?"

"Fifty thousand?"

Bai Yang's eyes widened. That was expensive! He could buy a minivan for that much.

"Actually, we could go a little lower. Don't rush, Boss Bai. Let me work it out for you. The materials aren't expensive, but the processing is a hassle. If you want chain mail, I'd have to cut soft steel into links and join them together. The overlapping rings would let the armor absorb more than half the force of a heavy blow, but it's a complicated process. If you want plate armor, I'd need to make a mold. It would save time and effort, but I can't use the mold just once and not even recoup the cost..." Xiong Da explained.

Well, he knew his stuff. Bai Yang hadn't realized there were so many details to it. He cautiously said, "What if—just hypothetically—I wanted plate armor, but made from, uh, what was it called? Oh, titanium alloy. Right, titanium alloy. How much would a set cost if you made it from that?"

Xiong Da's eyes widened. What? Titanium alloy armor? What was Bai Yang planning to do with that? Sure, it'd be impressive, but it was completely useless in this day and age.

But the customer was king. Xiong Da thought it over and said, "Titanium alloy is hard to work with, and it's expensive. Titanium alloy sheets currently go for around four hundred yuan per kilogram. For a suit of armor in my size, you'd need at least fifty kilograms..."

"Only twenty thousand yuan? That's so cheap?" Bai Yang interrupted in surprise.

Four hundred yuan per kilogram times fifty kilograms came to twenty thousand yuan...

Xiong Da was speechless. "Boss, that's not how you do the math. Everyone knows titanium alloy makes great products. They use it in aerospace, after all. But do you know that just the processing costs more than ten times the price of the material? Making plate armor is relatively simple. I could make a mold and press it into shape. But if you wanted complicated parts made from titanium alloy, the processing alone could cost dozens, even hundreds of times more than the material itself!"

All right, Bai Yang had no idea how any of that worked. He waved impatiently. "Just tell me how much a suit of titanium alloy plate armor would cost."

"At least three hundred thousand yuan a set. I can't go any lower," Xiong Da quoted.

Bai Yang held up five fingers. "Fifty thousand a set..."

Who haggled like that?

"Boss, you should go find someone else. Honestly, nobody can do it for that price. And I guarantee that if you go to another processing plant, they'd have to think twice even at five hundred thousand a set. I can do it for three hundred thousand because, as you can see, I have no business. It'll give me something to do." Xiong Da shook his head.

"Wait, hear me out. When I said fifty thousand a set, I didn't mean I only wanted one. I want you to make me a hundred suits!" Bai Yang said with a smile.

There were only about a hundred big guys in the village at most. A hundred suits would be enough!

Xiong Da's eyes went wide. He swallowed, but still shook his head. "No. Fifty thousand is too little. The lowest I can go is a hundred and fifty thousand. If you want it any cheaper, find someone else. You'll get your money's worth at that price. I guarantee you'll be satisfied with both the performance and appearance!"

Bai Yang turned and walked away. Surely he could find someone to take a five-million-yuan order?

"Hey... Boss, wait! Let's talk it over. Let's talk it over. A hundred thousand... eighty thousand... All right, I'll do it!"

What a fickle bastard. Bai Yang turned back. "Then it's settled. How long will it take?"

"Heh, Boss, plate armor is easy to make. I just need to prepare molds for the different parts, then press them into shape. I can finish in three to five days. But, uh, Boss, could you pay a deposit and cover the material costs first?" Xiong Da asked, looking embarrassed.

"What's your account number? I'll transfer a million as a deposit. Remember, I want to see the goods in three days. Any problems?" Bai Yang asked, pulling out his phone with an air of someone who didn't care about money.

"No problem. Leave it to me!" Xiong Da thumped his chest.

Bai Yang transferred the money and left. They hadn't even signed a contract. There was no point—if the other party broke the agreement, was he supposed to sue? Give him a break. What would he say if people asked why he'd ordered a hundred suits of titanium alloy armor? He might end up in jail himself.

He wasn't worried about the other party backing out, either. This place was great: out in the middle of nowhere, without another soul around. If Xiong Da dared to go back on his word, Bai Yang could bring over a bunch of wild men to beat him until he acted like a grandson!

He could bring all kinds of other things over. There was no reason he couldn't bring people, too, right? He hadn't tried it yet, but if he was pushed far enough, Bai Yang could do anything!

A hundred suits of titanium alloy armor for five million yuan. Bai Yang still felt he was getting ripped off. The materials weren't expensive; even two or three tons of titanium alloy would only cost a few hundred thousand yuan at most. Once Xiong Da had made the molds, making the armor couldn't be that hard. That was the efficiency of industry. But Bai Yang didn't know how to do it himself, so he had to let someone else make money off him.

Still, his money might as well have fallen from the sky. If he had to take a small loss, so be it. As long as the goods were good, he didn't care.

Just wait. With the way Xiong Da looks, that crappy factory will never get any business. Sooner or later, it'll be mine, Bai Yang muttered through gritted teeth as he left.

But imagining a bunch of wild men dressed in titanium alloy armor made him giddy. Once they were outfitted, he could take them to explore the world beyond the village, couldn't he?

Could you picture it? A bunch of guys pointing and shouting, "Who's next?" What an awesome sight!

At the thought, Bai Yang stopped his motorcycle, pulled out his phone, and called Xiong Da. When the call connected, he said, "Boss Xiong, I'm adding another million. Make me a hundred titanium alloy blades, straight-backed and two meters long. Any problems?"

What problems could there be? With the materials on hand, making simple blades would be easy. Xiong Da agreed without a second thought...

A hundred wild men wearing titanium alloy armor and carrying titanium alloy blades—now that was a Steel Torrent! Bai Yang figured they'd be able to roam the jungle without fear.

At the entrance to the Giant Bear Metal Processing Plant, Xiong Da hung up and threw his head back with a roar. Damn, he could finally get to work! He sent a group text to more than ten people. Four words: "Come back. We've got work!"

Then Xiong Da thought for a moment and made a call. When it connected, he said, "Brother Lang, I just got a six-million-yuan order. I'll make at least three million in net profit! What's Fox's number? Actually, just tell him to get me a few tons of titanium alloy. I want to cut costs as much as possible. Hurry—I have to deliver in three days. All right, I'm off to make the molds..."

At a military surplus store in the city, Old Wolf hung up and muttered to himself, looking dazed, "My commission..."

Old Wolf was on the verge of tears. Even a ten or twenty percent commission would've been worth hundreds of thousands!

After settling the deal, Bai Yang hurried back to the villa district. As soon as he reached the villa he was renting, he saw a white-haired old man with a ruddy complexion standing nearby, staring at him with a smile.

"Hey, aren't you that scammer who pretends to get hit by cars? What are you doing at my door?" Bai Yang asked, pointing at him.

The old man's face darkened. He wanted nothing more than to beat Bai Yang to a pulp.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked at Bai Yang with a smile. "Young man, we meet again."

"Hey, move aside. You're blocking my way. And let me make this clear: if you fall down, I'm not paying you. There's a security camera."

Bai Yang pointed at the camera.

The old man's face turned black as the bottom of a pot. You're the scammer! Your whole family are scammers...