Chapter 246: Manipulation

Chapter 246 – Manipulation

After leading the crowd to the castle’s second-floor conference hall, Chen Yu sat in the seat of honor and raised his hand, “Everyone, please sit.”

Chen Yu had labeled every seat with a small national flag, so the various countries’ representatives only needed to find their corresponding seats.

The ones that sat closest to Chen Yu were America’s and China’s representative.

Seeing this, everyone present couldn’t help but wonder if the seating arrangement expressed Chen Yu’s tendency and attitude toward the various nations.

In reality, Chen Yu didn’t put too much thought into the matter at all. He merely sorted the seats based on his opinion of each country’s national power.

After waiting for the representatives to be seated, Chen Yu straightened his mask and went straight to the point. “I’m on a tight schedule, so I’ll skip with the opening remarks. Everyone, please look at these documents.”

After saying so, Chen Yu distributed the stack of documents on the table to everyone.

Upon receiving the documents, the representatives quickly glanced at them, and excitement instantly surfaced on their faces.

“As stated in the document, I plan to build a large island beneath the floating city. The island will cover an area of 820 square kilometers, of which 60% will consist of greenery, 20% will consist of the Transdimensional Academy’s land, and 5% will consist of the land used for ports and airports. As for the remaining 15%, it will be reserved for the various governments to establish offices, commercial areas, tourist spots, and residential areas.”

Pausing slightly, Chen Yu gave everyone half a minute to digest his words. He then continued, “The island will permanently remain as a neutral zone. It will not participate in or ask about any international affairs. Likewise, no international affairs can interfere with the island. The island’s territorial sea will extend up to 20 nautical miles away from it. Flying across the island without permission is also prohibited.”

“This…”

The representatives turned to look at each other. The assistants standing behind them also started having hushed discussions among themselves.

However, despite seeing these actions, Chen Yu’s tone remained unchanging as he continued, “The Academy will independently handle the island’s construction. The various governments will fund the island’s facilities, infrastructure, management, and operation. You will also have to bear the professors’ salaries, experimental expenses, student’s accommodation, and other Academy expenses. In return, you will receive income corresponding to the capital you have contributed. The income includes basic commercial income, intangible income, scientific and technological achievements released by the Academy, and industrial output income.”

After waiting for Chen Yu to finish speaking, the Japanese representative acted decisively and raised his hand, “We are willing to bear all construction and operating costs!”

Seeing this, America’s representative sent a cold stare at Japan’s representative. And after a moment of silence, he said, “America should pay for it.”

“Russia is also willing to bear all the expenses.”

“We should appropriately distribute the costs to the various countries. A hegemonic monopoly is not desirable.”

“France is willing to pay twice the capital.”

“We’ll double that!”

“??”

“Quiet. Everyone, be quiet,” Chen Yu said as he scanned the audience. He had long since expected the various nations to react with such “enthusiasm.” After clearing his throat, he returned everyone’s attention to himself and said, “For the sake of human civilization’s technological development, no one country should monopolize the island.

“Hence, after careful consideration, I’ve decided to use the ‘silent auction’ method to decide the distribution. Everyone will write down the amount they are willing to contribute to the island’s construction on a piece of paper, and you will receive income from the island according to this contribution. You are not allowed to communicate or negotiate with other countries’ officials during this process. However, you can contact your superiors. You only have five minutes to make a decision. With this, we can ensure fairness to the greatest extent.”

Are you sure this is to ensure fairness?!

The representatives secretly cursed in their hearts.

Due to all parties’ competitiveness, to ensure they acquired the maximum profit, everyone would definitely “raise” their bid as much as possible. However, this would most likely lead to an overbid, and they might end up paying 100 billion for something that only cost 10 billion.

Moreover, Chen Yu had only given them five minutes to make a decision. It would be difficult for the various governments to conduct secret negotiations and reach a mutual agreement within such a short period.

“This person…”

China’s representative squeezed his thumb irritably. He found this situation to be challenging to deal with.

Chen Yu’s ploy was both immature and straightforward. However, due to the resources and power he held, they couldn’t go against him even after seeing through his crude scheme…

“Well, then. You only have five minutes. Please contact your superiors and request for authorization as soon as possible.”

After saying so, Chen Yu stood up and summoned Hermione to take charge of the conference. He then leisurely walked out of the room, entered the classroom next door, and sat on the podium while watching the floating clouds outside…

Five minutes later, Chen Yu returned to the conference hall and sat in his seat. He then scanned his audience before saying, “Five minutes have passed. I believe everyone should’ve already conducted your respective researchers with so much time. Now, time to start bidding.”

Snap!

Along with a snap of Chen Yu’s fingers, a piece of paper made out of nanoworms appeared before each of the various representatives.

After a moment of hesitation, the various representatives took out their pens and wrote down the largest amount they were authorized to use with complex expressions on their faces.

After the representatives wrote their bids, the papers automatically flew to Chen Yu.

Picking up the 45 quotes, Chen Yu quickly flipped through them. Immediately, a smile that stretched from ear to ear appeared underneath his mask.

You’ll never know how fat a sheep is until you slaughter it…

…

At this point, he had both the necessary workforce and funds to enact his plan.

Now, all he was missing was the 820-square-kilometer island.

However, the island-building ship had already arrived beneath the floating castle. All he needed to do was to draw up a blueprint and wait for the island-building ship to construct the island.

The “Sword Island” he constructed a few months ago only had 40 square kilometers. Moreover, the island was even constructed in shallow waters.

Meanwhile, even the Pacific Ocean’s equatorial region’s shallowest point reached over 1,000 meters below sea level. Hence, the construction project’s progress would take much more time than before.

Also, due to the large size of the required cofferdam, drawing water out of the cofferdam would easily cause the structure to collapse due to the horizontal forces from the surrounding seawater. Hence, Chen Yu had no choice but to go with the more stable water-filling method. This would undoubtedly reduce construction speed once more.

According to Dimwit, the island-building ship’s artificial intelligence, it would take nearly 25 days for the island’s construction to be completed. After taking into account the time the various governments would need to deliver the necessary resources and further decorate the island, it would already be mid-to-early 2021 by the time the island was ready for operation.

After sending off the representatives who were hovering between joy and sadness, Chen Yu ordered Hermione to open an airport on Hogwarts’ railway to facilitate the transportation of goods and personnel. Afterward, seeing as it was still early, he made his way to the library and started working on a secret project…

Boom!

After shutting the doors to the library, Chen Yu entered a private study with Hermione and the nine Auror mages. He then sat before the study table that had a mountain of books piled atop it.

These books contained scientific knowledge available from 2021 to 2100. He intended to hand these books to the various professors.

Meanwhile, what Chen Yu planned to do was to censor the names on these books!

Formula names, annotations, scientific research stories, etc. He would censor anything that had a person’s name on it.

Reaching out, he grabbed a book titled Interesting Illustration of Integration of Mechatronics Features. He then turned to the book’s first page and carefully read it.

According to the illustrations, the integration of electromechanical characteristics was a revolutionary breakthrough for the electromechanical industry, and this achievement was made in 2022.

The person responsible for this breakthrough was named Bai Jicheng.

Meanwhile, inside the Transdimensional Academy, only one electromechanical professor had permission to borrow this book.

As luck would have it, this person was also named Bai Jicheng.

Forcibly suppressing the dreadful sensation welling up within his heart, Chen Yu picked up a pen with his trembling right hand and censored off Bai Jicheng’s name from the book…