Chapter 83

In their view, as long as no carrier-based aircraft were deployed from above, the final say would inevitably be theirs.

As for the Ugly Country Father, that was a challenge they would need to tackle later.

For now, they would just make the purchase first.

However, upon seeing Little Japan, they added only 100 million USD.

Many tourists could no longer bear to watch, feeling it was far too shameful.

Even if the Dragon Country was acting as a shill, they had added 4 billion in one go; what was the meaning of adding just 100 million?

Did the Island Nation lack money?

Fortunately, before Little Japan could start showing off, Mao Xiong directly bid 9 billion USD.

At this stage of pricing, the rate at which bids increased slowed down considerably.

Little Japan: "9.01 billion."

Ah San: "9.05 billion!"

Dog Tycoon: "9.1 billion."

The bidding continued in this manner until the Ugly Country reached 9.8 billion USD.

The Dragon Country had not participated since their last bid, waiting until the price soared to 9.8 billion.

Wang Luchuan looked at those generals, and the generals nodded to him.

"Bid 10 billion USD!"

This price represented the Dragon Country's absolute bottom line.

Anything more would be unnecessary for the Dragon Country.

Although the Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was advanced in many aspects,

such as its electromagnetic catapults, nuclear reactor, radar systems, and so on,

the Dragon Country was confident that even without acquiring this carrier,

it would not be long before they could build their own nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at a much lower cost.

Spending over 10 billion USD to buy a carrier that could only serve as a reference was entirely unnecessary.

Seeing the Dragon Country bid again,

the wealthy Ugly Country directly posted a price of 11 billion USD.

Their bid immediately caused many nations to retreat.

Although Dog Tycoon had plenty of money and could afford to exceed this price,

they also knew that once they spent a huge sum to purchase it,

there was no guarantee they could keep the carrier in the end.

Rather than face that scenario, it was better to give up.

In reality, Dog Tycoon was not absolutely determined to acquire this carrier.

As for Little Japan, seeing the Ugly Country Father enter the fray and raise the price so drastically, they understood that the Father was determined to win.

Although somewhat regretful, Little Japan still gave up.

It was only Mao Xiong and Ah San who still wanted to struggle a bit.

Gritting their teeth, Mao Xiong shouted: "11.2 billion USD!"

Ah San, practically ready to export even the waters of the Ganges, shouted:

"11.3 billion USD."

In response, the Ugly Country immediately made another massive move,

revealing an astronomical price of "12 billion USD."

Instantly, all nations registered for this auction fell silent.

After waiting a moment and seeing no further bids, the virtual auctioneer Long Yi announced:

"12 billion USD once, 12 billion USD twice, 12 billion USD three times, sold! Congratulations to the guest from the Ugly Country on purchasing the world's strongest Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Please wait a moment for the final payment transfer... The DWS platform will be responsible for door-to-door delivery!"

At this moment, inside the conference room of the Little White House in the Ugly Country,

President Xiao Ao and the officials from the Wujiao Building all breathed a sigh of relief.

Although spending 12 billion USD to buy an aircraft carrier seemed a bit expensive,

when they thought about their own domestically built Ford-class carrier, which was not yet completed,

that ship had already cost 13 billion USD.

Thinking of it this way, spending 12 billion USD to purchase the Ford-class carrier was truly no loss.

In the future, the Ugly Country could form a dual-carrier battle group with the Ford-class, saving construction time while increasing deterrence against the world.

However, there was one point that until now, President Xiao Ao and many of his advisors could not comprehend.

How exactly did the Dragon Country build this aircraft carrier, and why were they selling it?

If this carrier was not built by the Dragon Country,

then the question arose: who else in this world was capable of building it?

Mao Xiong? If they could build it, they would not have been suppressed so severely by the Ugly Country and the West over these years.

Ah San! It was not that the Ugly Country looked down on them; it was simply that mud could never be plastered onto a wall.

Scanning the entire world, the only nation capable of building this ship was the Dragon Country.

Otherwise, it would be just as the Minister of Defense had said:

it was built by aliens.

However, compared to the alien theory, Xiao Ao chose the more reasonable explanation.

(PS: This new book needs flowers, tips, and review tickets; your support is the author's motivation!)

As for whether Longguo would take the money and not deliver the goods.

Chouguo never worried about that; otherwise, the DWS platform would surely be ruined.

If 12 billion US dollars could buy the disappearance of the DWS platform.

Not to mention congressional appropriations, those military-industrial complexes in Chouguo would pay the money immediately.

Therefore, Chouguo soon transferred the 12 billion US dollars to the account designated by DWS as required.

The result was the same; once this money entered the account, it vanished without a trace.

The CIA agents responsible for monitoring had absolutely no solution to this.

They had even grown accustomed to it.

However, they did not know.

How excited Lin Yi was upon receiving this sum.

After all, this was 12 billion US dollars; even if he could not openly bring this money into the country for use.

He could still use it to purchase raw materials abroad.

And furthermore, to update certain weapon catalogs and sub-catalog technology trees within the system.

"System, upgrade the eras for light weapons, artillery, and tanks to 2020."

"Ding... Upgrade starting!"

"Upgrading light weapons from the 40s-80s to the 90s consumes 5 million US dollars."

"Upgrading light weapons from the 90s to 2000 consumes 10 million US dollars."

"Upgrading light weapons from 2000 to 2010 consumes 20 million US dollars..."

"Upgrading light weapons from 2010 to 2020 consumes 200 million US dollars."

"Upgrading artillery from the 40s-80s to the 90s consumes 5 million US dollars."

"Upgrading artillery from the 90s to 2000 consumes 10 million US dollars."

"Upgrading artillery from 2000 to 2010 consumes 20 million US dollars..."

"Upgrading artillery from 2010 to 2020 consumes 200 million US dollars."

Each time the system's weapon catalog is upgraded, the cost doubles compared to the previous era.

But from 2010 to 2020 and beyond, it might belong to the future.