340: Chapter 339 Speculation

Upon seeing the funding request Han Xiaoxin sent late at night, he didn't say a word, simply waving his hand to transfer another billion.

He had the money now, so he could afford to be willful.

As long as he could buy more time, Wang Shuo felt that spending two or three billion was perfectly acceptable.

However, the result of all this was that someone on the other side of the ocean had started slamming the table and cursing, almost ready to grab a staff and cast a powerful curse on Wang Shuo.

The list of required equipment had already been sent to Chen Zhongxuan. Due to the exorbitant size of the order and the extremely high specifications, Chen Zhongxuan made an unprecedented video call to Wang Shuo at midnight.

"Wang Shuo."

Chen Zhongxuan didn't even bother with his usual form of address.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am." Wang Shuo nodded calmly.

"This is equipment worth billions. Where on earth are you getting that kind of money?"

Chen Zhongxuan looked skeptical on the screen.

In his mind, although Wang Shuo had money, he also carried significant debt. Even though zero egg had helped him conserve a considerable amount of cash flow, he was still far from having billions, let alone being able to drop over a billion all at once to order equipment.

"That is my business."

Chen Zhongxuan frowned. "Wang Shuo, this isn't some small-time order like before. Once the contract is signed, you'll be legally liable if you can't pay the deposit! If you're joking, I can pretend you never said anything."

"When have I ever joked with you?"

Wang Shuo looked at Chen Zhongxuan and smiled faintly. "Uncle Chen, just tell me: are you going to take this order or not?"

Chen Zhongxuan looked at Wang Shuo's calm expression and hesitated slightly. After a moment of thought, he nodded heavily. "I'll take it!"

He added, "However, for an order this large, I'm afraid my factory alone won't be able to handle it. I'll need to bring in other partners."

The Zhongzhi Pengcheng Company factory wasn't large to begin with, and it was already packed to the brim with orders following the release of the Mark I System. Even so, he had to clear up production capacity to give Wang Shuo a VIP channel, temporarily squeezing his order into the production schedule.

Under these circumstances, asking him to take on such a massive processing order alone was like a snake trying to swallow an elephant; he feared he would be choked to death by it.

"That's fine." Wang Shuo nodded. He had only shown the order to Chen Zhongxuan out of courtesy; he hadn't actually intended for him to take the whole thing on alone. If he had, there was no telling when the equipment would actually be delivered.

"Uncle Chen, please contact the other authorized manufacturers of the Mark I System. You can divide this order and allocate a portion to them. How you split it is up to you, but I have one requirement: regardless of the order volume, at least thirty percent must be delivered within half a month."

"You always rush your orders, kid." Chen Zhongxuan gave a bitter laugh.

Ever since he started taking orders from Wang Shuo, it had always been a three-day or one-week turnaround. Now, to top it off, he was being asked to deliver such complex finished machines in just fifteen days.

He was lucky this was in China; anywhere else, Wang Shuo would be lucky if he didn't get kicked out the door.

God is God, but even God shouldn't make things impossible for people.

"I'll do my best," Chen Zhongxuan said. "However, it would be better if you handled placing the orders with the other manufacturers yourselves. It wouldn't look right if I did it."

Wang Shuo shook his head. "I don't have the time, and everyone else in the company is busy with their own tasks. You can handle this small matter for me, Uncle Chen."

Chen Zhongxuan was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Then I'll accept this favor."

It was indeed a significant favor.

Only those who frequently handle business would understand the status of someone holding an order worth hundreds of millions in the eyes of a manufacturer; it was a status comparable to a deity, a position where one's every request was met.

To put it bluntly, just by possessing the authority to allocate this order, Chen Zhongxuan could significantly boost his standing with the major Chinese factories, and it might even propel the development of Zhongzhi Pengcheng to the next level.

Chen Zhongxuan sighed with emotion. When he first had dinner with Wang Shuo, he had simply viewed him as a green college student who had some technical skills and had gotten lucky; even when signing the contract, it had been more out of kindness than calculation.

He never imagined that in just a few months, Frontier Technology—which had seemed like a joke—would become an important partner for his company, and that Wang Shuo would become someone he needed to prioritize on his contact list; he couldn't be valued too highly.

He still hadn't repaid the favor for the design of the Mark I System and for helping the Chen Group out of its predicament, and today, he had just incurred an even larger debt.

How was he supposed to repay this?

Maybe... he should let Chen Xin suffer a little?

After hanging up the video call, Chen Zhongxuan sat in silent contemplation.

Wang Shuo didn't have such worries. After hanging up, he compiled the remaining work into a table, ready to hand it to Liu Yemei for execution at eight in the morning.

In fifteen days, everything would be settled.

Just then, a message was pushed to Wang Shuo's phone by zero egg.

It was a message from Professor Zeng.

"Wang Shuo, come to the school tomorrow morning. Someone wants to see you."

Wang Shuo frowned slightly. He felt like asking who it was, but in the end, he only replied with a single sentence.

"Understood, Professor Zeng."

Since he had to meet someone, he couldn't stay up all night reviewing materials.

He closed the design software he had opened, lay down on the sofa, and slowly closed his eyes.

In his mind, a fine stream of data was transmitting steadily. Wang Shuo seemed to have arrived in that mysterious space once again, but having experienced it many times now, he was no longer surprised.

The Brain Domain space was as barren as ever—there was nothing there. The only source of light was the bright, diamond-shaped crystal at the center of his mind.

Wang Shuo watched quietly. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind—a thought he had never had before.

What exactly was the Brain Domain?

A few more thoughts flashed by.

Why could he only enter it after upgrading his Brain Domain?

Why could he see the actual core while inside the Brain Domain?

Did the Brain Domain actually exist within his brain?

If it did, what part of his brain did it correspond to?

Countless thoughts flashed by, eventually coalescing into one profound realization.

What exactly is a soul?

Why could it be modulated?

Did it actually have a physical form?

Wang Shuo looked at the pitch-black scene before him. He had some ideas, but he always felt that he couldn't quite grasp the key to it all.

The technology of the Humanoid Race was highly advanced—so advanced that Wang Shuo couldn't even fully comprehend it yet.

But for some reason, every time he thought of that dark The Figure and the high-tech suit it wore, he had a very strange feeling.

It seemed as if The Figure before him wasn't a living being, but rather a machine.

"Perhaps it's because it lost its emotions during the soul modulation process," Wang Shuo muttered to himself.

He then looked up at the core, which was still glowing, and turned to vanish from the spot.

In the dark space, the light remained, eternal and unchanging.