Chapter 25

“To the outside world, you have never shown your face at all—it’s always been me.”

“For you to officially get involved, Blue Origin must take the lead: they should fund a joint research project with the Stony Brook campus of New York University, similar to NASA-funded programs, and then you can use that as an excuse to regularly visit Blue Origin’s offices.”

“Effectively, from the start to the end of the project, publicly you have no connection to me—your relationship with Blue Origin is limited solely to the Blue Origin–Stony Brook campus joint R&D initiative, designed to circumvent ITAR Section 126.1 and EAR Section 744.”

Lin Ran listened, lost in thought.

“There’s still a problem with the whole plan: how do we ensure Blue Origin won’t sell us out?”

This was Lin Ran’s greatest fear—if they were handed back to China, he could be locked up for years, even decades, leaving him utterly blind and hopeless.

In prison, he would never dare activate the Door to vanish.

“Don’t worry about that—Blue Origin could never sell you out.”

“I’ve compiled all the publicly available information recently. As you said, NASA has indeed considered subcontracting its lunar return program to private companies.”

“Some NASA officials and even the Vice President have begun hinting at this in private settings. For instance, back in 2014, NASA once tried to award the lunar return contract to Boeing.”

“Given the bitter rivalry between Bezos and Musk, Bezos himself would be especially eager to gain an upper hand in aerospace.”

“If Blue Origin can snatch NASA’s contract away from SpaceX, it won’t just be a massive commercial success—it will also boost Amazon’s future potential and signify a direct defeat of Musk.”

“And they will spare no effort to keep your identity secret.”

“Once NASA awards the contract to Blue Origin, would they willingly admit they had help from a Chinese national? Would they reopen audits and re-bid the contract?”

“They will never expose you.”

“Still, there remain many risks.”

“First, you must convince Blue Origin. This isn’t a traditional transaction where I hold powerful patents and can shop them around to find a suitable buyer.”

“You have only one target: Blue Origin. From start to finish, you can only negotiate with them. If they refuse, and you go to someone else—like Orbital Space—they’ll sell you out.”

“So from the very beginning, you must present evidence so compelling it can directly persuade Bezos.”

“I’ll help you arrange it. With the Fabian Society’s emblem, I can reach a Democratic senator who can arrange a private fifteen-minute meeting between you and Bezos at his presidential fundraising dinner.”

“I checked the date of the fundraising dinner—it’s three months away. That means you have three months to prepare, one month longer than the two you originally estimated.”

“Is the timeline feasible?”

Lin Ran felt deeply grateful. If anyone else told him he could return to the Moon, he’d never believe it—but Li Xiaoman was actually preparing as if he truly could persuade Bezos.

“Xiaoman, if this requires exhausting your connections, let’s forget it,” Lin Ran said, looking at Li Xiaoman’s delicate profile, his voice dry.

Having spent nearly half a year in 1960, he understood the influence of the Frankfurt School. Now, sixty years had passed since 1960—its influence had multiplied many times over, becoming a deeply rooted tree in America.

Behind it, the Jewish conglomerates were among the real controllers of America.

Even though Li Junnan was merely a historical footnote, the connections he left behind could still secure a fifteen-minute one-on-one meeting with the world’s richest man—but such resources were finite, and consumable.

The Li family wasn’t a prestigious clan; once this resource was used up, it was gone.

It could have been saved for you to land a top law firm or a premier job in finance after graduation.

Although Lin Ran had absolute confidence that becoming a true heavyweight across both timelines would be effortless, what truly moved him was this unconditional trust.

He had made an absurd request, yet she was preparing as if he truly possessed the ability.

While he was striving in 1960, she hadn’t been idle.

Getting access to a Democratic senator was already difficult; arranging it precisely for three months from now was even harder.

“Randolph, this is a high-stakes gamble—but the cost is far smaller than you think,” Li Xiaoman clearly understood what Lin Ran was thinking.

She continued: “Yes, I’m spending connections I’ve built up over time; it will be much harder to ask for favors in the future.”

“But connections are meant to be used. Even if you fail this time, when I become a renowned lawyer later, I can rebuild them.”

“In America, connections are constantly consumed and rebuilt—they’re not a one-time consumable.”

“You don’t need to feel burdened by guilt.”

“If you truly persuade Bezos, it won’t be me spending my connections—it’ll deepen them, and next time I can ask him for something even harder.”

“So the only stake I’m putting on the table is a trivial amount of goodwill.”

“The key is whether you can persuade Bezos in one go.”

Lin Ran nodded silently: “Alright, don’t worry—I will convince Bezos.”

Li Xiaoman said: “And finally, there’s one last thing I need to warn you about.”

“Earlier, you said you want to replicate the Apollo lunar landing. From today’s perspective, Apollo was just an accident—its success rate may have been only thirty to forty percent, yet America succeeded.”

“That’s perfect. Have you considered this: if you help Blue Origin achieve a lunar return, will the White House still have incentive to push the project? Will Blue Origin, beyond gaining fame, secure major contracts from NASA? Will they be able to carve out a slice of the congressional budget?”

“Clearly not. So you must use Apollo as an excuse to send robots back to the Moon—and ideally, fail a few times. For example: ten launches, six successes, four failures.”

“When you succeed, the lunar module should carry robots, not humans—perfect for advertising Bezos’s robotics company.”

After listening, Lin Ran asked:

“I have another question: Blue Origin has had many past collaborations with NASA. As a Chinese national, can I really join through their joint research project with Stony Brook?”

“Even if this project isn’t related to sensitive fields.”

“Also, if I join, might someone notice the link between me and Blue Origin’s lunar return project—and trigger unnecessary trouble?”