Chapter 62 - Stepping into the Sea of Stars
“That’s right. Choose every component of your ship seriously. See with your two eyes as your spacecraft gets fitted piece by piece,” said Phantom earnestly.
Xia Fei leaned back in the lounge chair and pulled out a cigarette. He took several drags. “Building my warship by hand—what an excellent idea. Which spaceship manufacturing company are we heading?”
“What are we going to a spaceship manufacturing company for?” Phantom casually dismissed. “All spaceships have their service lifespans, and they will all be dumped on a warship graveyard once their use is exhausted. We’re going to find out where Endaro Star Region’s warship graveyard is and build a functional spaceship from there.”
Xia Fei blinked his eyes, an incredulous expression etched on his face. “People will throw an entire spaceship just like that? Won’t that be too much waste? Why not recycle and refit it?”
Phantom chuckled. “Do you think it’s so easy to dismantle a warship which weighs over hundreds and thousands of tons? Just the cost of dismantling a spaceship alone easily surpasses the value of the ship itself. The parts with some value still will be pulled apart to be sold separately to those small companies around the graveyard, leaving them to collect and reuse those, but the hardly valuable parts are considered scraps.”
Xia Fei pondered on this for a while. “So that means we will only be buying second-hand goods from those warship graveyards?”
Phantom shook his head and solemnly explained, “The most important aspect is that this motley pack of small factories can give you the chance to get hands-on experience with building your own spacecraft. You won’t get such treatment if you go to the four major warship manufacturers. Knowledge is what’s most important to you right now; if you must know, there are plenty of people who pilot spaceships their whole lives but aren’t even able to assemble one after seeing them with their two eyes.”
“Besides, the warship graveyards often buy from the army or purchase top-grade spaceships abandoned by prominent figures. Spaceships made from second-hand parts of such quality sources will be far more outstanding than the average newly-crafted spaceship. In fact, they will even let you fashion a vessel according to your wishes so that it can look however you want it to. You’ll be able to supervise the entire assembly process and guarantee that it will be top quality as well.
“The development model you’re proposing here is very similar to what the Japanese did after World War II—utilizing low-cost labor to seize control of the market, then waiting until the necessary funds have been gathered to initiate the second and even third industrial upgrade, and establishing a powerful industry in the process.”
“This is best suited for the Earth Federation at its current stage of development. I do believe establishing such a company will not only bring in considerable profits but also greatly accelerate Earth’s progress itself. Still, based on your drafted proposal, we’ll need a large-scale investment to get started. How much do you intend to invest?”
Charlie truly lived up to his name as a finance genius, able to comprehend Xia Fei’s intention just by going through the document once.
“A hundred million star coins,” softly answered Xia Fei as he lifted a finger.
The three men nearly fell off their chairs from the shock they got. A hundred million star coins were equivalent to a trillion Federal dollars. Such an astronomical sum would even cause someone who was used to seeing such large figures like Andre to feel their hearts leap out of their chests.
“Do you really intend to invest a hundred million star coins?!” asked Andre, buzzing in his excitement.
“That’s right.” Xia Fei nodded.
Upon recalling that Xia Fei had once spent ten million on a flower, the three were no longer that shocked to hear him say that he would invest a hundred million star coins just to set up this holding company.
Andre laughed bitterly. “I originally intended to use my family funds to participate in this project of yours, but it seems that this plate you’ve got is simply too big, and the Rothchilds presently don’t have the power to do so.”
Xia Fei did not share this sentiment. “I’ll need your help in managing this company of mine, so you and Wulong will hold ten percent of the stocks.”
Andre immediately shook his head. “What sort of joke are you pulling? That’s an a-hundred-million-star-coin project you’re talking about; ten percent of that will come at about ten million star coins.”
Xia Fei lit a cigarette, looking all serious. “I’m not kidding. I only plan to invest, so you guys have to manage it for me. Trust me; ten percent of the shares isn’t overkill.”
Andre remained skeptical. “I’ve got plenty of friends in the investment bank, and they are all experts with rich experience in the field. If you lack a manager, I can introduce you to some talents that I know.”
Xia Fei laughed. “I definitely won’t entrust my back to someone I don’t know.”
“That, you don’t have to worry about. They are all professionals, so their character isn’t in question,” insisted Andre.
Xia Fei shook his head. “I don’t see it your way. I can only trust those who have gone through a life-and-death experience with me. In our search for Atlantis, that dangerous expedition that we embarked on together is the only reason why I’m willing to trust you guys. No matter how much you praise those men’s character before me, I’m sorry, but I won’t have any confidence in their capabilities.”
There were two levels of consideration why Xia Fei was so adamant about Andre and Wulong being his co-shareholders. While he indeed trusted these two, it was also because he had gotten plenty of benefits from that search for Atlantis, so this was a disguised compensation for them.
Andrew nodded his head slightly. “If you have that much faith in me, then you can just leave this matter to us; we won’t let you down.”
….
Four days later, Xia Fei sold all the spoils he had collected during the assessment for a total of 1.864 billion star coins.
Handing over a hundred million star coins to Andre as the startup funds for the holding company, Xia Fei proceeded to board a flight, which brought him out into the vast sea of stars all by himself.