149: Chapter 149 Consciousness Descends on the Battlefield! I Turned War into a Game?

Elder Zhang's hearty laughter still echoed in the tearoom.

Lu Li's "Deal" was spoken with crisp decisiveness, as if what he had just agreed upon wasn't the ownership of a city of the future, but a transaction worth only a few hundred dollars.

Su Qingxue sat to the side, silent from beginning to end, yet her heartbeat had never settled.

She looked at the man beside her, and then at the elder sitting opposite him—a man who usually only existed on the news broadcasts.

A feeling of extreme, surreal dizziness enveloped her.

Just then, the other elder, who had been silent beside Elder Zhang, spoke up.

He was slightly younger, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and possessed an elegant, scholarly air.

"Comrade Lu Li, since the project is decided, let's discuss the specifics."

"I am Zhou Zhengyi from the National Development and Reform Commission."

He looked at Lu Li, his gaze carrying a sense of scrutiny, but more so the rigor of someone facing a super-engineering project.

"We have conducted an urgent internal assessment of the smart city concept."

"This is a true money-guzzling beast."

"For the initial investment, we plan to allocate thirty billion directly from the National Special Development Fund."

"The project funding cap for a single pilot city can be approved up to one hundred billion."

One hundred billion.

This number made Su Qingxue's breathing stall for half a second.

Guanghui Technology, even after all this development, only had a total asset volume of around five hundred billion.

And that included a massive amount of fixed assets, technical patents, and brand valuation.

Yet this solid one hundred billion in cash flow was merely the initial startup capital the state was allocating to Lu Li.

"From the construction of the City Brain server clusters to the upgrade of the city-wide government security systems."

Zhou Zhengyi pushed up his glasses, his logic extremely clear.

"To the comprehensive reconstruction of transportation, energy, water, and community sectors, and even the targeted support of related industrial chains."

"This money is just the first step."

Lu Li held his empty teacup.

His slender fingers tapped lightly on the rim of the mahogany cup.

He quickly ran through the core data regarding Beining City in his mind.

A permanent population of five million, with an annual GDP of six hundred billion.

Dropping thirty billion in cash for the comprehensive renovation of a prefecture-level city was absolutely an unprecedentedly massive move.

If one were to count the various subsequent project funds, the authority to access funds at the hundred-billion level would be enough to make any provincial governor green with envy.

But the focus of Lu Li's thoughts was not on the money.

"Elder Zhou, let's not be in a rush to announce this funding publicly."

Lu Li spoke up, interrupting the other man's follow-up plans.

"If Beining is going to undergo a city-wide renovation, large-scale demolition and land requisition are unavoidable."

"Once this news leaks out."

"I'm afraid that before Guanghui Technology's construction Robots can even enter the site, Beining's housing prices will have already flown into outer space."

His tone was casual, yet he had precisely grasped the most fatal weakness of this super-engineering project.

"At that point, let alone smooth demolition."

"Those developers and professional property speculators who jump at the slightest scent of profit will definitely drive land prices to astronomical heights."

"With all sorts of demons and monsters raising prices on the spot, our subsequent technical implementation will encounter endless administrative resistance."

Zhou Zhengyi and Elder Zhang exchanged a glance.

Both elders saw a hint of unconcealed admiration in each other's eyes.

This young man not only possessed heaven-defying technical strength.

His insight into human affairs, the profit-seeking nature of capital, and the underlying logic of social operation was equally terrifyingly precise.

"You can rest assured about that."

Elder Zhang gave him an extremely firm promise.

"Starting today, the overall planning scheme for Beining City will be classified as a state top secret."

"Before you select the first pilot district and complete the initial renovation."

"The outside world won't hear even a whisper of it."

Lu Li nodded.

The most troublesome social issue was solved; the remaining technical problems were, to him, no issue at all.

Elder Zhang changed the subject.

The elder's gaze toward Lu Li now held a sharpness and intensity characteristic of a soldier.

"Little Lu, the smart city is a thirty-year grand plan that benefits the country and the people."

"But that Virtual Helmet you released today is a vital national asset capable of solving the country's urgent needs."

The elder's rough fingers tapped heavily on the tabletop twice.

"I watched your press conference from start to finish."

"I only had one initial thought at the time."

"This neural interface equipment must be immediately deployed in the military sector."

Elder Wu, who had been sitting by his side the whole time, immediately straightened his back.

Elder Zhang's voice deepened, carrying the authority of a commander on the battlefield.

"If we can use this system to build a virtual space that perfectly simulates a real battlefield."

"Accurately reproducing gravity, wind speed, terrain, climate, and even the recoil and ballistic data of various weapons."

"We could absolutely organize large army groups of hundreds of thousands to conduct non-stop, extreme live-combat simulations inside it."

"Casualties would only be a few lines of code, but the accumulated war experience would be real."

"And the cost is countless times lower than live-fire exercises."

"This is a subversive improvement to our military's modern combat capabilities."

Su Qingxue listened quietly.

She once again deeply realized the gap in perspective and scope.

She was still shocked by the massive commercial prospects and improvements to public livelihood brought by the virtual world.

Yet the highest level of the state had already seen through its terrifying value in national defense strategy at a glance.

"Of course, no problem."

Lu Li agreed without the slightest hesitation.

"I can even independently develop a set of underlying servers and an operating system specifically for the military."

"Using absolute physical isolation to ensure that no external hackers can invade this military network."

He paused for a moment.

Then, he threw out a concept far more impactful than virtual drills.

"Furthermore, the military potential of neural interface devices is by no means limited to simulation training."

"It can directly change the form of future warfare."

Lu Li looked at Elder Zhang, calmly describing a scene that would drive military experts around the world crazy.

"Through encrypted quantum communication bands."

"This equipment can directly remotely control unmanned fighter jets, all-terrain unmanned combat vehicles, and even large armed war Robots."

"Our soldiers can sit thousands of miles away in absolutely safe underground bases."

"While their consciousness can descend in real-time onto the front lines of the battlefield."

"Achieving true, zero-casualty warfare."