Chapter 1037:
A “Traitor” From Far Away
In the lounge outside the air show, Xia Shiyu stuffed the business cards into a drawer before letting out a long sigh of relief.
“I still don’t understand. If we can produce ourselves, why do we give other people our order?”
Jiang Chen smiled and did not answer.
From the position of CEO, Xia Shiyu naturally wished for fewer competitors, but it was not something he wished to see. His identity was not just the shareholder of Future Group, but he also held many other positions.
Whether Future Group or Celestial Trade all became leading giants with millions of employees worldwide, directly or indirectly providing jobs for tens of millions of people, all depended on him.
To some extent, the Icarus effect already became evident on Future Group and Celestial Trade. That is, when the company was large enough and forms a monopoly in the market, the company’s innovation would naturally be suppressed. The more conservative option would be to replace innovation and it would become the first consideration in managers’ decision-making process.
If Future Group and Celestial Trade only absorbed technology from the apocalypse like a sponge, in the short term, there would be no problem as they could easily form a monopoly. But what would happen after the monopoly?
With only the technology of the apocalypse, there would be no chance of winning against the invasion of Harmony. Without competition, there would never be innovation. Jiang Chen dared to assert that if he did not open the space elevator to the international community and encouraged the development of other private aerospace companies, it would not be an exaggeration that Celestial Trade would use the same Seagull for the next century.
Sometimes giving others some breathing room was also for his own benefit.
“The space elevator has been built for so long yet I have rarely used it.” Jiang Chen smiled and changed the topic as he gazed at the blue planet outside the window.
From this angle, the Earth’s pristine white clouds resembled an eggshell, under the distant sunlight, it reflected a faint glow. If the people on Celestial City didn’t constantly stare in this direction, they would even have the illusion that Earth was just a mural on their windows.
“It is also my first time being up here.” Xia Shiyu pressed her face against the window. Her eyes gazing at the Earth glowed with fascination. She whispered softly, “Did you know? When I was young, I dreamed of being an astronaut.”
“It’s normal. I wanted to be a scientist when I was a child.” Jiang Chen smiled. “It turns out that the dreams of a child were not reliable after all. Let’s not mention being a scientist, I gave most of the stuff I learned from university back to the professors already.”
“But you became the boss of scientists.” Xia Shiyu joked.
“And you also become the CEO of astronauts?” Jiang Chen laughed.
Just then, he received a call.
When he opened the holographic screen and heard the voice from the other side, he couldn’t stop smiling.
“I see.” After a simple reply, Jiang Chen hung up the phone, used his fingers to slash the holographic screen into digital fragments, then sat up from the chair. He then told Xia Shiyu, who was standing next to him, “I need to head out for a moment.”
“Is there something wrong at the air show?” Xia Shiyu asked.
“No, it’s just some work.” Jiang Chen smiled.
…
Affected by the policy and the deterioration of bilateral relations between Xin and the EU, only a few companies from the EU member states participated in this expo. However, policies were never absolute. Xin’s counter-sanction against European companies were mostly aimed at the financial and commodity sectors. There were still many European companies that used the UK to partner with Celestial Trade.
For example, an aerospace company from Brussels, Belgium, participated in the first Celestial Trade Aerospace Science and Technology Expo, and also brought some very interesting information.
“Is the information reliable?”
Walking quickly in the hallway, Jiang Chen confirmed again.
Tightly following Jiang Chen, Ayesha nodded.
“Monica has verified the company in Belgium. Its main business is the production of high-precision gyroscopes and infrared Earth sensors. It is one of SpaceX’s overseas suppliers and was registered in 1995. Its chairman, Alec Bruly, is a supporter of the Belgian opposition party. He opposed Belgian ruling party’s political stance on the EU integration decision. He is demanding re-election…”
“It’s just that it is not passed by the parliament?”
“Exactly.” Ayesha nodded.
“Interesting.”
An intrigued smile formed on Jiang Chen’s face. He stopped at a door near the end of the corridor, walked into the door, and entered the room.
When they saw Jiang Chen, the two Europeans sitting on the sofa immediately stood up. The middle-aged man with red hair stepped forward and extended his right hand.
“Hello, Mr. Jiang Chen, please allow me to introduce myself first. Alec Bruly. This is…”
“Steven Radneck is my name,” said the thin-looking man. Looking at Jiang Chen in excitement, he incoherently said, “Listen, you must stop him, the devil will ruin Europe! No, he will ruin the world.”
Jiang Chen and Ayesha looked at each other, and Alec quickly pulled him aside and gave him a wink.
“Calm down, man-”
“I am a researcher from the Golden Apple Project.” Once again interrupting Alec’s words, Steven calmly confessed.
Alec stopped, Ayesha’s expression did not change, and Jiang Chen examined him a few more times.
Although he admired his courage, after hearing his identity, Jiang Chen was still slightly disappointed, but he did not show it on his face. Instead, he whispered, “We don’t care about the Golden Apple.”
Steven sneered.
“That’s because you don’t know what experiments they are doing.”
“Oh?” Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.
However, Steven did not immediately continue, but subconsciously looked at his old friend Alec who stood next to him.
After hesitating for a moment, he began. “Sorry, my friend, I can’t drag you into this… You know, you are different from me. Hearing these things may put you in danger…”
“One hour later I have meeting with a representative of the Russian Aerospace Industry Group.”
Alec immediately understood his friend’s intention and left the office.
There were only three people left in the office.
Jiang Chen invited him to take a seat.
“Please feel free to sit.”
“Thank you…” Steven courteously waited for Jiang Chen and Ayesha to sit down before sitting across from the two.
Jiang Chen clicked on the holographic screen of the watch. Soon a robot dressed as a maid walked into the room and poured coffee for the three of them.
Through the rising white mist, Jiang Chen looked at Steven, who was uneasy, and began the conversation.
“Mr. Steven, no matter whether your intelligence is valuable to us or not, we will provide you with political asylum. Xin and EU member states have no extradition treaty. The Freemasonry also can’t reach their hands into my backyard. You can be assured about this.”
“So now, can you talk about what exciting news you know?”