wuxianovels18 Chapter 87 : Chapter 87
Chapter 87 : Chapter 87
Chapter 87: I Have an Objection
Seeing that the old professor had actually lost his composure so badly, the other professors immediately realized the seriousness of the matter.
Since everyone had been reading the materials from top to bottom, and the Pearl Military District was ranked relatively low, its submission had been near the bottom.
This old professor alone had mixed up the documents and was reading them at random.
For a moment, everyone dug out the revised version of the Falling Leaf Saber Art submitted by the Pearl Military District.
Even the several middle-aged officers in uniform began flipping through it curiously.
Some of the other cultivation arts were only twenty or thirty thousand words long.
Some had even been revised to fifty or sixty thousand words.
As the professors read, they were also validating and studying the contents in their minds.
That was why it took so much time and effort.
But this Falling Leaf Saber Art was only a little over ten thousand words long.
And it almost completely overturned the previous Falling Leaf Saber Art’s long-winded and tortuous method of comprehension.
It was easy to understand, concise, and directly to the point.
“This... how is this possible!?”
“Is this still the Falling Leaf Saber Art??”
Someone burst into loud laughter.
“Perfect! Perfect!!”
“If this saber art is comprehended, would it really be any worse than the Cultivation Art Stone version?”
Someone’s voice had already begun to tremble.
“This cultivation art is stronger than the previous Falling Leaf Saber Art from the very foundation!”
“This saber art incorporates an excellent movement method and a far more efficient way of using True Qi!”
“It is faster, more agile, and more lethal than the Falling Leaf Saber Art comprehended from the previous Cultivation Art Stone!”
“Even if someone with poor comprehension were to learn it, its strength would still be at least...”
“Eighty percent greater than the previous Paper-Format Cultivation Art!”
Whoosh!
The several middle-aged officers in uniform all shot to their feet at once.
Each of them stared with bulging eyes.
“Professor Wu, what did you just say?? You mean it’s eighty percent stronger than before??”
The other professors all began voicing their agreement.
“Roughly that, yes. If anything, more, not less!”
“This is completely different from earlier optimizations. I’ve studied cultivation arts my entire life, and I’ve never seen an angle this fresh!”
The one speaking was a centenarian old professor.
He truly had spent his whole life studying cultivation arts.
Unfortunately, he had studied too many of them, and too many different kinds.
At most, he could say he had researched the Falling Leaf Saber Art on and off for several years, perhaps a decade or so.
And in terms of comprehension, he could not compare to Li Mu’s Heavenly Immortal Art at all.
Every cultivation art comprehended through Li Mu’s Heavenly Immortal Art was equivalent to the Heavenly Immortal Art spending a targeted hundred years comprehending that one cultivation art.
Even something he casually wrote down as a paper-format cultivation art could benefit these old men enormously.
If Li Mu were to personally condense a Cultivation Art Stone for them to comprehend, it would probably overturn their entire worldview on the spot...
“And this cultivation art was absolutely written by a single person! There is no way it could be the result of many people working on it together!”
“That’s right. That much is obvious!”
“The Pearl Military District has definitely produced a peerless genius!”
“A genius? Those two words probably aren’t enough for the one who wrote this cultivation art...”
One of the uniformed middle-aged men turned to his adjutant and ordered, “Go. Immediately find fifty blade-type soldiers who have never practiced the Falling Leaf Art!”
“No! Find two hundred! Conduct deep testing!!”
The more individuals there were in the test group, the more precise the measurement of the cultivation art’s strength would naturally be.
And the longer the test lasted, the more deeply the cultivation art’s true power could be revealed.
That one test lasted several days.
Ironhand City.
Pearl Military District.
A full three days had already passed since the bidding began.
The first and second rounds had already ended.
That evening, the final round of bidding was being held in the base conference room of the Pearl Military District.
At that moment, the base conference room was filled with leaders from various military-industry departments.
As they all looked expectantly toward the open doorway, the four top leaders of the military district entered one after another, accompanied by Commissioner Lu from the research institute and the two professors.
The leaders from the military-industry departments immediately rose in greeting.
Only after Liang Huajun raised a hand and said, “Sit,”
did everyone take their seats again.
Although this was a bidding meeting, the four team members who had directly participated in the Mother Crystal mission were also allowed to observe from the side.
Li Mu, Wang Yinhuan, and Zhang Kang were all seated in an inconspicuous place at the edge.
As for Jiang Linlin, she had not come, for reasons unknown.
Commander-in-Chief Liang Huajun opened with a few remarks, then ordered the meeting to begin.
The leaders were present this time to observe and to deliver the final judgment.
The actual procedure would still be carried out by the leaders from the military-industry departments.
As soon as Liang Huajun gave the signal, one of the military-industry leaders stepped out of the room. A moment later, he returned.
Behind him were two groups of people.
Each group had four or five people, standing separately to either side, each holding documents in their arms.
At that moment, Zhao Han, the minister of the Military Industry Department, cleared his throat.
“Greetings, leaders. Greetings, distinguished entrepreneurs.”
“Today is the final round of bidding for the joint construction of a military-industrial enterprise under our Living Crystal Mother Crystal development project.”
“A total of thirty-six enterprises applied to participate in the development project!”
“After layers of rigorous screening, these two enterprises have emerged above the rest!”
“They are the Ye Group and Dongcheng Group.”
“I ask both enterprises to present one hundred and twenty thousand percent of your sincerity and professionalism in fighting for the development rights to the Mother Crystal.”
“Next, we will first invite the Ye Group...”
Before Zhao Han could finish, Wang Longcheng raised a hand and interrupted him.
Everyone was taken aback and turned to look at Wang Longcheng, only to hear him ask calmly,
“Minister Zhao, I’d like to ask something. Were you personally involved in the enterprise screening process from beginning to end?”
Zhao Han was stunned by the question and instinctively glanced at Zhang Qing.
He was one of Zhang Qing’s people, and the final result of this bidding meeting had also come from Zhang Qing’s instructions.
Zhang Qing’s gaze was extremely calm. He seemed not to care at all, merely watching Zhao Han indifferently.
Zhao Han shivered. He had no idea what Wang Longcheng was trying to do.
But screening the enterprises was part of his responsibility, so he could only brace himself and answer, “Ah... yes, Deputy Commanding Officer Wang.”
Wang Longcheng shifted his tone and said with a laugh, “Haha, then I’m relieved. The professors from the research institute are all here this time, so we absolutely mustn’t be careless.”
Zhao Han hurriedly forced a smile.
But inwardly, he was cursing Wang Longcheng to death.
Damn it, you nearly scared me to death. If you old fox want to make your presence felt in front of the research institute, why drag me into it?
He could only turn again and signal for President Ye to begin.
The Ye Group’s representative was none other than President Ye, the same man who had tried to drag Zhang Chaoyang into his camp outside the bidding meeting that day.
Today, President Ye was dressed in a polished, proper manner. He stepped forward and first flashed a confident smile.
And when he looked toward Zhang Qing, his smile became especially radiant.
Meanwhile, Zhang Qing was covertly watching Wang Longcheng from the corner of his eye.
He kept feeling that Wang Longcheng’s sudden question just now had not been casual at all.
A faint unease had begun stirring in his heart.
“Good evening, esteemed military leaders and honored officials!”
“Our Ye Group has prepared a military-industrial enterprise proposal for the Mother Crystal development project with the utmost sincerity. Allow me now to present it to all of you...”
As he spoke, the several staff members behind him opened the projection screen and displayed their electronic materials behind him as well.
Any enterprise hoping to cooperate with the military district had to be evaluated from every possible angle.
Enterprise scale, capital, technical team, number and variety of technologies, market reputation, management philosophy, and so on.
In the end, even sales profits and promotion strategies had to be taken into account.
The Ye Group had been a dominant force for many years.
It also had a background and experience in contract military-supply manufacturing.
Its strength naturally could not be underestimated. As the presentation went on, the various leaders nodded repeatedly.
Only after nearly a full hour did President Ye finish his presentation with a smile.
He bowed to the assembled leaders and stepped aside.
But the excitement in his eyes could no longer be concealed.
When Zhang Qing had first given him instructions, he had assumed it would be another contract manufacturing deal.
He had never imagined that this time it would be the joint construction of a military-industrial-grade enterprise. If they secured that, there would no longer be a single rival left in all of Ironhand City.
As for the Dongcheng Group standing off to the side, it had been arranged by Zhang Qing as cannon fodder.
Zhang Qing knew that the research institute would be involved in the final stage of the bidding this time. Even he would find it difficult to completely manipulate the result.
But he needed to secure the development rights to this Mother Crystal too badly. It was a powerful bargaining chip in his attempt to launch a bid for the Commander-in-Chief’s position.
So this time, he had taken a great risk, exerting heavy pressure to exclude the other enterprises.
He had allowed only the Ye Group and a mid-to-upper-tier group to enter the final round.
If only the Ye Group remained, the research institute might be displeased.
But if it became a choice between two candidates instead of one, then the research institute would not be able to nitpick so much.
As long as the Ye Group produced its proposal, and Dongcheng Group followed with one weaker than the Ye Group’s, then the matter would be settled.
And indeed, Dongcheng Group then took the floor as well and displayed its fullest effort and strength.
But in the end, it still could not compare with the Ye Group, leaving the several leaders from the research institute entirely unmoved.
President Ye’s smile was impossible to suppress.
After tonight, the Ye family would truly rise to absolute prominence.
Zhao Han and the others put on a show of discussing things for a while. Then they stepped forward into the center of the room and said to the military district leaders, “Leaders, after comparing the two just now, we believe the Ye Group is more suitable for the important task of jointly constructing this military-industrial-grade enterprise.”
“Do any of the leaders have further instructions?”
Liang Huajun looked directly at Zhang Qing.
“Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang, why don’t you give us your thoughts first?”
Liang Huajun was a man who kept himself scrupulously clean. Not only did he himself have no entanglements with family enterprises,
he also forbade his relatives and friends from using his name to engage in crooked dealings.
He knew a little about the relationship between Zhang Qing and the Ye family as well, but without concrete evidence, Liang Huajun truly had no way to interfere.
So by calling on him by name at this meeting, there was a trace of mockery in it as well.
“The Military Industry Department is more professional in these matters. As an outsider, I’d better refrain from giving an opinion.”
“What do Commissioner Lu and the two professors think?”
After speaking, Zhang Qing turned toward the people from the research institute.
But just then, a leisurely voice suddenly sounded from beside him.
It was Wang Longcheng.
“I, however, do have some opinions about this result.”