Chapter 12: Baiting the Well to Fish

Tang Wen blinked, and everything that had just happened felt like an illusion.

But the scene before him had become completely unfamiliar, as if he had traveled through time.

The small hut he had been in was originally shabby and fragile, with no cement floor inside.

Yet now he was clearly in a newly built office; the flat, spacious walls were painted snow-white, and the white incandescent bulbs on the ceiling had been replaced by more powerful and exquisite chandeliers.

The dilapidated table before him had turned into a solid wooden office desk, covered with various stationery, paper, and pens; the chair beneath him was also solid wood with soft upholstery, and the patterns on the armrests appeared quite exquisite.

A window that hadn't existed before appeared on the nearby wall; through the glass, one could see the shipyard illuminated by internal streetlights, along with that towering gantry crane.

Tang Wen stood up and then was surprised to find that the light switch was actually a very old pull-cord switch, though its condition was indeed brand new.

He hurriedly pushed open the door and stepped out of the office, seeing a strange corridor; the floor and the blue paint on the walls looked somewhat old-fashioned and backward even for this era.

Looking up at the ceiling again, it was still incandescent bulbs.

Breathing air that seemed to still carry the smell of paint, Tang Wen walked down the stairs and finally saw the full view of the shipyard.

The dilapidated hut had become a three-story brick building; the position of the semi-open shed was now a mechanical processing center twice as large, behind which lay a warehouse and an independent small building of considerable area, while the adjacent spot was a dry dock stretching 100 meters long.

The ship lock at the head of the dock isolated the seawater, with a depth of about ten meters.

The architectural style of the entire shipyard resembled that of the 1950s and 1960s, interspersed with sparse greenery; the light from the incandescent streetlamps was quite good, illuminating the yard brightly.

Several forklifts and trucks were parked by the roadside, all of equally backward models.

Had it not been for the hill nearby still being there, Tang Wen would have barely recognized this as the original plot of land.

One second he was a flexible employment talent guarding a shabby small workshop; the next, he possessed a substantial shipyard.

Tang Wen guessed that the technical level of a Class 1 shipyard might only be at the 1940s or 1950s level, because the trucks he saw were almost identical to those from the World War II era, and various machines were equally retro.

Just as he was thinking, the surrounding lights suddenly dimmed all at once; streetlights went out one after another, and the lights inside the buildings rapidly faded by more than half.

【Insufficient Power】

【Consume coal, oil, or other resources to generate electricity】

【1 Coal = 5 Silver Coins, 1 Oil = 50 Silver Coins】

The sudden darkness almost scared Tang Wen to death; he hurriedly used silver coins to purchase 1 unit of coal, and only then did the surrounding lights gradually brighten again.

Through the panel, he learned that the shipyard constantly required power consumption, which varied greatly depending on its operational status; even if nothing was being done, just the necessary lighting required 10 kilowatts of power, and one kilowatt-hour consumed 350g of standard coal.

Furthermore, the system's coal and oil were based on a ton as the fundamental unit, making the price actually very high.

Oil and other resources were also converted into coal for power generation; Tang Wen then noticed that there was actually a chimney smoking by the perimeter wall, which he hadn't noticed earlier as it was hidden in the darkness.

It even came with its own power plant...

However, spending silver coins was simply too much of a loss; since the system's silver coins could be withdrawn, Tang Wen had already checked the silver price upon arriving in this era.

Currently, the international market rate meant 5 silver coins were roughly equivalent to 230 yuan, enough to buy several tons of coal, yet here in the system, it could only buy one ton; a minimum of 20 yuan in electricity costs per day was simply a terrifying loss.

It was only because currently only the lighting system was using electricity; otherwise, he would have gone bankrupt.

Thinking of this, Tang Wen felt an intense pang of heartache; just as he was pondering how to save silver coins, he suddenly heard footsteps approaching from a distance.

Looking up, he saw two burly men with fierce expressions dressed in black, with batons strapped to their waists, walking toward him with predatory intent; as they approached, subtitles appeared above their foreheads:

【Tang Shier: Factory Guard Team Member (Forklift Operator)】

【Tang Shisan: Factory Guard Team Member (Electrician)】

"Greetings, Factory Director!"

The two burly men's voices were very loud; they wore armbands reading "Factory Guard Team" on their arms, and after greeting him, they continued their patrol.

Data on the shipyard's personnel also appeared in Tang Wen's mind, containing a total of 22 employees of various types; although the number was small, all categories were complete, ranging from cooks to welders.

The building he hadn't recognized was actually the dormitory and canteen; meanwhile, maintaining the workers also required consuming silver coins and supplies.

Although the Gaijin Shipyard was a magical shipyard, it still had basic requirements for material input; eating, drinking, excreting, and raw material input all had to be managed, unless everything was solved entirely with silver coins.

Electricity, resources, food, water, wages—requirements kept surfacing one by one in his mind, and Tang Wen nearly fainted from the shock.

He had originally thought that void shipbuilding was meant for him to slack off, but it turned out he was actually supposed to be the shipyard owner?

This wasn't a game; just take electricity alone—even a small shipyard required the power bureau to specially install industrial lines; if connected to residential power, I dare say turning it on would destroy the transformers of half the town.

The various demands of the shipyard were summarized in the system, finally displaying that even maintaining minimum operation consumed 15 silver coins per day, totaling 450 silver coins a month!

If the machines were actually running, it would be even worse; electricity costs would double.

This figure made Tang Wen nearly faint from shock; he cursed the system as a shameless black merchant, saying it would have been better not to upgrade at all.

What orders could a shipyard built in Bird-Doesn't-Poop Village, a desolate place, possibly get? Moreover, there was no significant fishing demand in the surrounding area; it simply couldn't sustain the shipyard.

Sell diesel engines?

The profit margin was indeed high, but the market was also very limited, and constrained by the logistics system of this era, which was almost non-existent, making expansion extremely difficult.

Tang Wen felt he was like the Third Brother buying an aircraft carrier; he had been hooked by the system's bait of "baiting the well."

1,000 silver coins for a shipyard was indeed equivalent to a free gift, but the maintenance costs were astronomical; the bulk of the expense lay ahead.

This was not as good as the original shabby small workshop; it was much easier than after the upgrade.

After upgrading to LV1, the original new player quest popped up again; this time, research could finally begin:

【Select Class I Warship "Matsushima", Select Shipyard: Gaijin Shipyard (LV1)】

【Vessel Parameters:

Dimensions: Length 80.5 meters, Width 9.7 meters, Draft 2.5 meters, Standard Displacement 993 tons, Full Load Displacement 1,350 tons.

Weapons: One twin-mounted Type 10 Model E 120mm/45 caliber anti-aircraft gun (semi-enclosed turret) at the bow, one single-mounted Type 10 Model E 120mm/45 caliber anti-aircraft gun (semi-enclosed turret) at the stern, four twin-mounted Type 96 25mm machine cannons, three Type 92 7.7mm machine guns.

Propulsion: Two Kanpon steam turbines, 3,383 horsepower, twin-screw propulsion, speed 19.5 knots, range 2,500 nautical miles at 14 knots.】

【Required Research: 0 Experience (Data for all Class 1 ships is already in the Research Center; no research experience needed)】

【Required Manufacturing:

Direct Manufacturing: 22,500 Silver Coins per unit (Cycle 45 days)

Processing with Supplied Materials: Steel 950 tons, Oil 1.5 tons, Aluminum 100 tons, Copper 15 tons...】

6750 silver coins per unit (Zhou Qi: 27 days)】

【Please complete the introductory prerequisite quest ASAP: choose to build a Class I warship from the Technology Tree branch (100 days remaining)】