Chapter 568

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Chen Guoliang made the Knowledge Solvent into trial devices of various sizes and distributed them to officers preparing to poach talent.

Such a miraculous item immediately sparked a craze in Xijing.

A tiny bottle of solvent lets you master a weapon or instrument; a barrel's worth, and even piloting a helicopter is no problem, while learning theoretical knowledge becomes as if aided by a god. People speculated that if there were a sufficient quantity of Knowledge Solvent, learning foreign languages would become incredibly simple.

This news spread wider and wider, until people came to ask Chen Guoliang for Knowledge Solvent. Some intended to use it themselves, while others asked on behalf of family — children facing imminent exams, young people self-studying, all had a massive need for memory.

Chen Guoliang refused no one; for every trial device given, his secretary would notify the recipient: "In two weeks we will interview Naval Staff Officers to go work on the West Continent; once they pass successfully, all will receive a large allocation of Knowledge Solvent."

As for what exactly the nature of a West Continent Naval Staff Officer was, or what kind of interview it entailed, people could not find out.

Chen Yi returned to Jiangning as usual, sending the Magic Subway that ran once a week or every ten days to the West Continent, stayed there for a week, then returned to Jiangning again, arriving in Xijing just in time.

At this moment, Chen Guoliang's interviews were just beginning.

The first day's invitees were all active-duty military personnel, so it was done in the form of a picnic. Chen Yi's great-aunt personally took charge, booking a clubhouse in Dongjiao, arranging a circle of lounge chairs around the lake, preparing snacks and cold dishes on the lawn, and setting up a cinema and other entertainment facilities in a nearby viewing tower; the core idea was to disperse the flow of people as much as possible.

After all, this kind of interview could not be like actors auditioning, calling people in one by one.

To the outside world, this was just a large gathering among good friends and acquaintances. Chen Guoliang and Chen Yi first studied everyone's resumes, then sought out each person in the fishing area, barbecue area, cold dish area, or boredom area, conversed with them, and made decisions.

Whether to outsiders or insiders, this kind of interview carried a strong obfuscation; certain guys wanting to make a fuss were thoroughly disappointed.

The first day ended with the two of them selecting 57 people.

The next day, at a gathering of civilian military officers, they picked another 70 from over 200 people.

The third day was another active-duty military gathering, the fourth day turned into Xijing and northern enterprise cadres... Chen Yi and Chen Guoliang frequently shuttled between venues, and the expected recruitment number quietly increased from 500 to 1000.

Why not?

The West Continent was like a monster with an ever-increasing appetite; the quantity of supplies it needed grew geometrically, forever requiring integration, classification, analysis, and reprocessing... So-called quantitative change leading to qualitative change — when supply quantities reached the ten-thousand-ton level, hundred-thousand-ton, million-ton, even ten-million-ton levels, the complexity of things would become unimaginable.

In the end, by the time Chen Guoliang left his post, he took away 800 active-duty officers and 1200 Xijing people. The massive team of 2000 required 10 large planes to transport, accompanied by family and friends, the scene lively like a banquet.

Chen Guoliang and Chen Yi both boarded a civil aviation plane, and after settling in, both stretched lazily in unison.

Chen Yi chuckled and said: "These past few days have truly been exhausting."

Chen Ye across from him turned his head and smiled: "I've been worried and fearful the whole time, afraid something would go wrong; now it's good, a smooth return to Jiangning — Jiangning is still the best."

"Willing to come out from the Ministry/Commission?" Chen Yi joked.

Chen Guoliang kept a straight face and said to his son: "With not a bit of analytical ability, we're just normally allocating personnel — what is there to be frightened about?"

Chen Yi held back his laughter and didn't make a sound.

They really weren't normal personnel allocation.

Chen Ye hung his head aggrievedly and took the scolding; being a third-generation official isn't easy either — besides having to curry favor with the first-generation official grandfather, one often has to endure the bullying of the second-generation official father. Heavens have mercy, the worst animal in the world is the second-generation; only after experiencing the second-generation's influence can third-generation organisms become a bit more normal.

Chen Guoliang, pursuing the status of a strict father, didn't care about these things; he scolded when scolding was due, spoke when speaking was due; tired, he stretched out a hand and said "Pour water," and Chen Ye scurried off to do it — the flight attendant couldn't stop him even if she wanted to.

Taking advantage of this time, Chen Yi quietly went to the rear cabin.

Business class and economy class were also full; the former was slightly better, with a few empty seats left. Chen Yi found a familiar-looking person and sat next to him, listening to them chat wildly.

Seeing their future boss, half the people in business class got excited, joining in whether they had something to say or not.

Chen Ye took a long time to crawl out from the front cabin, joining the conversation with a weary air, occasionally craning his neck to check if his dad had fallen asleep — making Chen Yi want to laugh non-stop.

Chen Guoliang was older and couldn't hold out long; halfway through he fell asleep.

Only then did Chen Ye pull Chen Yi to the front and say softly: "I couldn't say this outside; I heard some people are researching those Knowledge Solvent trial devices — do you know?"

"I know."

"Aren't you worried?"

"If I were worried I wouldn't have issued the trial devices." Chen Yi laughed it off: "They can't research it out."

The Knowledge Solvent previously only circulated within the Chen Family and the Martial Arts Hall core; the Xijing upper class only knew roughly about it, and whether they believed it was uncertain. Now that trial devices exist, it's inevitable some will attempt to imitate.

However, Source Energy and Shenjia are both high-end knowledge beyond modern humanity's grasp; the West Continent and Saint Qiao Kingdom learned how to use them, but Earth cannot even confirm their existence — wanting to research anything out of them is truly too difficult.

It's a bit like Stone Age people researching special steel materials — completely unable to find a clue is the normal state.

Seeing Chen Yi so certain, Chen Ye didn't press further, and turned to talk of romance and moonlight.

Chen Guoliang happened to stir awake from his haze; he didn't hear them discussing "Knowledge Solvent research," but instead heard a pile of women's gossip, and instantly flew into a rage, glaring with tiger eyes: "Chen Ye, you go reflect behind closed doors for me."

"On this plane, where do I go reflect behind closed doors?" Chen Ye said with a bitter face.

This question couldn't stump Chen Guoliang; he pointed a finger and said: "Go to the toilet."

Chen Ye deeply regretted his question, turning back three steps for every one forward as he crawled into the toilet, and spent the second half of the journey amid the flight attendants' various astonished looks.

Until they met the next day, Chen Ye sighed and said: "This is my first time on a plane where a flight attendant didn't slip me a note."

Chen Yi couldn't help but smile, but Jin Douna beside him glared at him.

After presiding over the Rhombus Conference Hall, the Korean beauty also had quite the air of a superior, forming a sharp contrast with her age and appearance, making Chen Ye lose his composure for a moment.

The hired Colonel Naval Staff Officer accompanied Channel Efficiency Officer Li Renchao, familiar with all kinds of data.

Li Renchao claimed his goal of increasing channel efficiency by 100% annually had been reached, but in big data there was still a lack. Especially after transport means shifted from train cars to ships, the total volume could never break past the 100,000-ton scale.

This can't be blamed on Li Renchao; such a massive scale of transport volume, even the military has few people who've done it — just drafting plans doesn't count as logistics work.

Even so, Li Renchao himself was quite embarrassed; facing a large influx of new officers joining, his attitude became very humble.

The next supply transport was still carried out by Li Renchao's channel team, with officers watching on the side to learn.

When a tanker fully loaded with 50,000 tons, dragged by 15 Divine Art Knights, slowly slid into the Magic Channel, everyone held their breath and watched intently, as if some religious force were at work.

China still doesn't have transport machinery capable of dragging 5,000 tons of cargo on land — even if you smear the ground with grease it won't work.

"Unbelievable!" The Colonel Naval Staff Officer looked at Chen Yi with the same eyes as looking at Ultraman.

Of course, some officers might look at him like a little monster, and that was unavoidable.

"A 50,000-ton ship takes 38 minutes; if loading and unloading for 24 hours, wouldn't that require 1 million tons of supplies? I remember you said the channel has no limit on supplies?" The Colonel quietly noted the numbers and calculated a rough answer.

Li Renchao explained unwillingly: "Only today did we use a 50,000-ton oil tanker; our usual bulk carriers and container ships are around 10,000 tons. Cost reasons."

"Cost?"

"The ships sent over usually aren't brought back."

"Why?"

"This... the West Continent also needs ships."

"That can only be called investment." An official from an enterprise immediately chimed in.

Li Renchao, sweating on his forehead, argued: "The loading and unloading speed on the West Continent side is very slow, and the width of the canal is also limited..."

"So the main bottleneck is loading speed? Are these Strongmen not useful?"

"They can pinch a container between two fingers, but they certainly won't handle it gently."

"It seems efficiency still needs to be increased in the procurement stage." The Colonel drew on paper, calculating mentally.

Chen Yi didn't care about their dispute; only at 22:30 that evening did he send the Magic Subway to the West Continent.

During the return stage, the officers still observed.

When they returned to Jiangning again, the Colonel Naval Staff Officer acted as Deputy and began to join the management.

The channel capacity, which had been motionless for a long time, increased rapidly.

The weekly transport volume of 80,000 to 100,000 tons quickly rose to 120,000 tons, then 150,000 tons and 180,000 tons.

By the time Shuangtong Bank officially opened, the average weekly usage had risen to 250,000 tons.

250,000 tons meant a monthly transport volume of 1 million tons, equivalent to one-sixtieth of Jiangning Port's monthly throughput.

Jiangning Port was a major port supplying supplies to the whole country; for the West Continent's current needs, 1 million tons was already a very large number.

Moreover, the number continued to rise.

September, the day of school opening again; for the second time in a row, the Magic Subway was loaded with 300,000 tons of supplies.

When it started moving, Chen Yi sensitively noticed something different on the car window.

The car window scenery, once colorful like primitive cave paintings, at some point had pictures of ships carrying containers, just like the scene inside the car at this moment.

"Third stage opening."

The third section of the subway partition window finally lit up.

... (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)