Chapter 24

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Chapter 24: Envy Causes Redox

It’s been almost a year since the Earthlings arrived at Nico Star. As agreed with Cui at the beginning, they haven’t provided much direct support besides guiding them on how to fight, guerrilla tactics, and establishing a local governance structure. Mostly, they offer low-interest loans, advanced tools, hire local unemployed individuals, and pay taxes according to the basic tax rates set by the resistance army interim government. They appear like ordinary merchants from afar, contrasting sharply with the empire’s merchants who would rather have "conqueror" written on their foreheads.

However, because of this, the local people quickly became more trusting of these newcomers. With the cooperation of the local residents and government, Nico Star’s first batch of investment projects entered the profitable period. The iron ore discovered by the geological team kept expanding under ongoing transportation of construction equipment. It has now become a mine that produces 220,000 tons of raw ore per month. A large transport ship carrying 150,000 tons of ore arrives in the middle and end of each month, transporting the ore and bringing in various needed equipment and goods for trade.

Due to the slightly higher transportation costs, several large steel factories from China are preparing to build branches in Nico Star. The initial investment is 6.5 billion dollars soft, which is good news for China, lacking abundant iron ore. However, the issue with importing from Mars is that even though it is close and has higher quality ore (even sand can be used as iron ore), it is still American territory. If the steel factories are moved to Mars, there might immediately arise a group of "innocent people who love freedom and cannot bear the oppression of the poisonous government" shouting out in despair towards the Chinese steel factories and residential areas.

At the same time, large amounts of rare metals such as iridium, titanium, tungsten, and palladium were discovered on Nico’s two satellites. A rare earth refining station module directly dismantled from the moon entered the production phase a month ago. Currently, it is Nico Star’s most profitable project. With visible returns, it is foreseeable that once the country opens up channels for entry, a large amount of private capital will quickly flow into Nico Star.

With the dreamy flash card-grade construction team from China and the pervasive middlemen, Nico Star might soon step into the 1980s. Along with the entry of large enterprises, the extraction of various rare earth minerals on Nico Star and its satellites will increase. Soon, they will board a rocket into the information age. In no more than ten years, this place will become the second China. However, this is not a situation that the country is happy to see.

As trust between the two sides is still being built, showing such a greedy side so quickly may lead to endless troubles. Furthermore, the people of Nico are not prepared to adapt to such significant changes. With their physical advantages, while they may not engage in unrealistic acts of rebellion and independence, they are still likely to cause numerous instances of harmful events. A tiger-like cat person weighing 150 kilograms, with an arm strength of over 300 kilograms, going on a rampage among unarmed civilians is probably scarier than a reinforced platoon of soldiers.

However, even with normal trust and eventual integration, Nico may still engage in criminal activities. So, how to deal with these physically superior, agile, and resistant individuals? The answer is simple: If something’s existence threatens the system but also has its advantages, what to do?

The solution is to integrate them into the system. Thus, the higher-ups are preparing to experimentally recruit a group of Nico people to train as police officers to prevent potential Nico criminal activities. The research department is also developing special weapons and equipment for Nico people, such as blinding laser drones.

Currently, there are only three Chinese companies on Nico Star: Nico Fisheries Trading Company that acquires seafood, a comprehensive trading group that acquires local special agricultural products and medicinal plants, and the recently opened Security Group responsible for providing security services to the public. They mainly recruit locals to train as security guards, often a mixture of humans and Nicos, as the latter still have many flaws. Just the instinctive drowsiness at noon and in high temperatures can be deadly at times.

Double-layer anti-stab suits, bulletproof vests, stun batons, blast helmets, knee guards, gloves, thick tactical gloves, liquid-cooled cooling vests, top-grade reinforced leather military boots – all this equipment is specially made in China and airlifted over. The full set weighs nearly 45 kilograms, and only the strongest Nicos can move normally while wearing it.

After getting dressed, the security guard Nico looked like a black tower. These tall, muscular men, around 2 meters in height, appeared in the market and completely scared the imperial merchants who came to buy seafood, especially when they lifted their polymer masks to reveal a friendly big face with a standard "tiger smile".

At first, some thugs hired by the empire were skeptical, but when the good brothers from "Iron Fist Security" raised their riot shields and charged forward, the fish market suddenly calmed down. Learning that these big men were just hired guards, many imperial merchants felt safer doing business with such protective brothers around.

So, the plan of "our comrades scattered all over the world" that was initially difficult due to significant differences in appearance, fell into place smoothly. These silent, well-trained brothers, with transmitters and wireless throat microphones implanted in their necks, spread information about humans and the resistance army through the trade routes of these merchants to the entire imperial star sector.

Even some high-ranking imperial officials envied them after hearing about it. They never thought that the rural resistance forces could afford such a group of strong men. Besides, the group seemed to be operated by a fallen noble of the empire, which made them trust even more.

Eventually, during meetings where high-ranking officials discussed how to combat the resistance army, adjust taxes, and suppress the increasingly intense revolution, Nico security guards stood outside and beside the meeting room like silent knights, staring straight ahead with folded arms, not uttering a word. Their fingers frantically typed on-site and transmitted the messages through transmitters to the company’s branch base station and then to the nearest intelligence analysis station via relay satellites.

Basically, every meeting about suppressing the resistance army ended simultaneously with the resistance leaders and the suppressors. This darn battle was still unresolved! Boom!

With the establishment of the Dimensional Corridor relay transmitters later on, it evolved into a situation where any meeting convened by the empire had all three sides present. This included the Emperor’s court meetings. Until the empire disintegrated into multiple democratic federations and republics, imperial soldiers were puzzled as to what went wrong and why the other side seemed to have access to intelligence earlier than themselves. The speculation that high-ranking nobles were selling out their country spread quickly throughout the imperial army, further lowering their morale.

December 2076, Fuller Star System

After a two-month long journey, the "Diplomatic Fleet" finally arrived at the capital star system of the Nyannis people. Accompanied by a bunch of "escort" warships, the flagship and ambassador ship "Beiping" slowly entered orbit. However, the originally planned American ambassador ship "Enterprise" had to wait in the border area due to its intimidating appearance with too many scattered weapon components. Meanwhile, the unarmed drone carrier "Beiping" was allowed to enter the core area of the opponent’s capital due to its friendly appearance and safe design.

The Nyannis people are aquatic creatures who have built their city on the rocks of this ocean planet, partially submerged in water. For them, the water above is like underwater for humans. They need to wear protective suits, use powered exoskeletons with cables, and have helmets with built-in air pumps to move around. The water city mainly serves as a trading and diplomatic area.

The Nyannis people, smooth-skinned beings who can breathe air directly but are not like land creatures, show polite curiosity and a welcoming attitude towards the strangers who come to trade with them. They are interested in the small goods brought as gifts and for trading by the diplomatic delegation. The purpose of the delegation to the Nyannis people is twofold, but really it’s about diplomacy first and any conflict later.

The initial goal is to establish diplomatic relations, form trade agreements, explore the possibility of acquiring mines, invest in processing Lapis Lazuli, trade, and mining industries. The best outcome would be to exchange goods directly at lower prices. This way, they can access precious rare island elements and room-temperature superconductors and create a wealthy market for the increasingly industrialized society on Earth, maximizing benefits.

If the other party adopts protectionism, opposes human mining of Lapis Lazuli, or agrees initially but then refuses when faced with human market demands for Lapis Lazuli – well, the United States will face the consequences of protectionism, trade protectionism, support for terrorists…In short, Doraemon, please help!

Compared to the empire cities full of black smoke, waste water, and gas odors, Nyannis’ city appears cleaner and more peaceful. Judging solely by the appearance of trading with foreigners through street-facing shops, gift shops, and the quantity of goods, in terms of commercial civilization, Nyannis people are far superior to the empire, reaching a level similar to the Cold War era. Near the landing site, a member of the entourage even found something resembling an airport duty-free boutique.

However, in specific industries, especially military industries, Nyannis people are clearly weaker than the empire. Space weapons are acceptable, but those microwave cannons humans disdain are quite potent against the upright cats of the empire. Essentially, both sides are weaklings engaging within 0-20 km, the difference being which weakling is weaker comparatively. Well, Nyannis people are the weaker ones.

Entering the shell-shaped embassy-hotel prepared by the Nyannis people based on terrestrial features, the delegation members began to gather for a meeting.

"First, regarding the reserves and distribution of Lapis Lazuli, according to some astronomical books we purchased at a street-side bookstore, this area has witnessed a stellar explosion, a blue giant supernova. After destroying its own galaxy, a large amount of superheavy elements spread across more than ten galaxies with the particle wind, and some planet fragments enriched with superheavy elements crashed onto these planets. This indirectly promoted the evolution and civilization of life in the primitive oceans of its mother planet."

"So, these minerals are essentially non-renewable disposable products? Do they value them highly?" "For the locals, it seems to be indispensable, but it hasn’t reached the level of strategic importance." The accompanying expert pulled out a beautifully crafted, unidentified item.

This souvenir was bought with money given by Nyannis at the airport duty-free shop. It is carved with intricate patterns on dried branches of aquatic plants, with a seagrass fabric strap threaded through, emitting a faint scent. In the center of this pendant is a thumb-sized round stone with fine blue stripes.

"They extract something called electromagnetic steel from Lapis Lazuli, which is the key item they use to make spaceship propulsion components. Yeah, they are another race that uses electric propulsion besides those rats with their…reactor…’pots’. But using superconductive materials for this kind of…driver seems a bit wasteful."

"So, that cargo ship is actually delivering raw materials to the industrial area of the border city, because their spaceship repairs and manufacturing require a large amount of Lapis Lazuli."

"Can we directly purchase this important industrial raw material, Lapis Lazuli?"

"In theory, small purchases shouldn’t be a problem, but for large purchases, it will depend on the negotiation. However, I don’t mind doing that."

"Why?"

"Because their refining technology is limited, and the most important heavy island element for us is useless for them. It’s like how medieval Europeans couldn’t smelt wrought iron and would discard these quality iron ingots as slag. When they refine, they will separate and discard the parts containing a lot of heavy island elements as waste, keeping only the proportionately suitable parts showing superconductive properties. In other words, their method of utilization is very wasteful for us."

"So, we can just directly purchase their waste?"

"There is also the so-called barren ore, which are the scraps used for crafting these items. Although refining these might be a bit troublesome for us, if we operate on a large scale, the costs won’t increase too much."

"Oh, these jellyfish are so lucky!"

The envy and jealousy in the delegation’s tone were almost overflowing. Humans have been using a super collider worth billions for decades, but still haven’t found any rare elements, while these jellyfish can easily find them. They have so much that they can just casually throw away the parts that are too abundant to use.

In an instant, it felt like understanding the feelings of those rat-like trash collectors.

"So, shall we propose this trade request at tomorrow’s negotiation and welcome meeting?"

"Agreed."

"Oh, but how do we divide it?"

"Free market, buy freely."

"Hey! Isn’t that unfair? I think we should divide it based on…"

The jellyfish were puzzled to find the human delegation fighting in their room. No amount of persuasion helped, so in the end, they agreed that this was a special custom of the human race. They considerately set up a barrier at the entrance to remind other visitors not to disturb their cultural practices and possible religious rituals.