After he got off the boat at Coro Island, Jiang Chen didn’t stop for a moment.
He told Carter to drive the boat back to his mansion before he took a plane to Melbourne, Australia.
It was already two in the afternoon when he checked in at the hotel near the airport.
Without any food in his body yet, he managed to find a Han restaurant to take care of his lunch before he started his schedule for the day.
Based on the directions given by his phone map, he quickly arrived at the building of a military company called “Mammoth.”
Robert recommended this company to Jiang Chen since they were one of the internationally-renowned military base construction companies. They built military outposts in Iraq for the UN peacekeeping force before, and they also did business with Robert in the arms deal.
After he explained his intentions to the gorgeous reception lady at the front desk, the boss of the company personally came down to greet Jiang Chen.
The boss of the company was an Australian man with a big beard named Thomas; he had served in the Australian special forces.
Robert already communicated with him beforehand, so after briefly asking about Jiang Chen’s requirements for the military base, he eagerly brought out ten-something construction plans. The decrease in international conflicts resulted in his company not receiving any projects of this size for a long time. It was apparent why he was so eager.
After two days of negotiation, the two parties finally settled on a construction plan.
The total contract was worth four hundred million USD. The construction would include four deepwater docks, a radar station, weather observation equipment, a runway, an artillery base and missile silo; it would be constructed similarly to the layout on Wake Island.
Of course, because of the restrictions in arms sales, the construction didn’t include a missile launch device or high caliber artillery. Without the permission of the Australian government, Thomas wouldn’t have the guts to sell those.
But Jiang Chen didn’t want those things either.
Regardless of how reliable the missiles were in the 21st century, they wouldn’t be stronger than the Disaster-32 Cruise Missile. Regardless of how powerful the artillery was, would it be more decimating than a Type-50 electromagnetic pulse cannon? Although he had yet to control the technology for the previous weapon and the latter was only limited to vehicle type, Jiang Chen firmly believeD that with his continual exploration in the apocalypse, these unbelievable technologies would be his one day.
Thomas also sold Jiang Chen four UH-60 Black Eagle helicopters with a unit price of four million USD. Included in the price tag was the training for eight helicopter pilots.
With the four Black Eagles, the mobility of the military base on New Moon Island would increase substantially. With the transportation ability of the four helicopters, the soldiers of the Celestial Trade Company could quickly parachute onto any of the nine islands to respond to unexpected situations.
Before he upgraded the technology, Black Eagle would be the ideal transition flight vehicle.
…
By his third day in Australia, the military base contract had been settled. Mammoth sent professionals to survey New Moon Island. Based on what Thomas said, if all projects were executed smoothly, the base would be completed by July.
After he finished this task, Jiang Chen didn’t return right away.
The next morning, Jiang Chen woke up early and headed to the rural area north of Melbourne.
The Victoria province located at the Southeastern end of Australia was renowned as the “province of the garden.” Because it was by the ocean, the climate was warm and wet, so the province possessed the best vegetation and the most fertile grassland in all of Australia. Victoria, therefore, was the biggest producer of dairy products and farm products in the country.
As the car left the city center, the air became a lot fresher.
Jiang Chen stopped in front of a farm just before he managed to catch the farm owner who just got off his truck.
“You are?”
“Jiang Chen.” Jiang Chen introduced himself.
The farmer owner with a rather big beer belly wiped the sweat off his face with a towel.
“Jiang Chen? Han ?… Why do I feel like I heard this name before? Mhmm, you can call me Luke. I’m the owner of the farm. Are you here to buy fresh milk?”
“Fresh milk?’ Jiang Chen was puzzled.
“Mhmm? Are you not?” The farm owner looked at Jiang Chen in surprise as he wrapped the towel around his thick neck. “Are you not a ” purchaser 1 “? With your age, you must be an international student from Melbourne.”
Luke used Han when he used the word purchaser.
Jiang Chen facepalmed. Future International was now a Fortune 500 company. As the president, it would be impossible for him to be a purchaser.
“Ahem, you made a mistake. I’m here to discuss a big deal.”
Luke looked at him skeptically.
Just as they spoke, a van stopped in front of the farm.
A girl in a cap got out of the car. When Luke saw who it was, he seemed to know the reason why she came as he retreated to the farm right away.
“Hello,” The girl was rather lively as she warmly greeted Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen smiled and asked her casually, “Are you an international student in Melbourne?”
The girl was rather talkative as she said brightly, “Mhmm, I’m studying business administration – I’m in my third year now. What about you?”
“I’m not a student; I finished studying two years ago.”
“Are you not an international student? Are you an immigrant then?” the girl asked as she blinked her eyes.
Although it wasn’t wrong for her to say this, Jiang Chen wasn’t an Australian immigrant but a Xin immigrant.
“Mhmm.”
“Eh? Where are you from then?”
“Hucheng.”
“I see. I’m from Shangjing. Are you in the powder milk purchaser business?”
“Why would you think I’m a purchaser?” Jiang Chen said with a speechless expression.
The girl looked at Jiang Chen, confused. Then she seemed to understand something as she kindly recommended something to Jiang Chen.
“If you are taking some for your family, it’s better to purchase it from the superstore. Although the products from the farm are drinkable, the packaging is inconvenient and not hygienic.”
“What about you?” Jiang Chen looked at her, puzzled.
“I’m not buying for my family.” The girl rolled her eyes at Jiang Chen. “I’m a purchaser and I mostly sell on Wechat and Taobao… Also, I recently opened a purchaser store on Little White; I can pay my tuition now.”
As she said this, a proud smile appeared on the girl’s face. Compared with poor students studying abroad who made their parents sell their houses or students coming from rich families, there weren’t a lot of international students who could be as independent as her. She didn’t have a sugar daddy nor did she burden her family.
But she couldn’t imagine that the designer of Little White was standing in front of her and casually having a conversation with her.
“Purchaser store… Uh, do the purchaser stores not purchase from the supermarket?” Jiang Chen faintly recollected the ads in his memory were written that way.
“Are you a fool or what?” The girl rolled her eyes at Jiang Chen. “Have you never purchased powdered milk from Walmart before? Han customers are only permitted to purchase two at a time and they’re also more expensive. The online store I own with a friend sells at least twenty-something a day -how could we purchase that from the supermarket? We buy directly from the farm and purchase the expensive empty containers from the recycling plant-”
Then she seemed to have realized something and immediately stopped talking.
Coincidentally, Luke walked over to them while carrying a big bag. The girl’s eyes lit up and she immediately walked up to him.
The Australian helped the girl load the powdered milk onto the van and accepted her stack of bills.
“See you.” The girl smiled sweetly at Jiang Chen before she waved goodbye.
Jiang Chen waved back and said goodbye to the girl he didn’t know.
A courteous girl.
But he felt the sweet smile was fake.
“Okay, buddy, what’s your big deal?” Luke wiped off his sweat as he asked Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen didn’t respond as he asked an irrelevant question, “Is that powdered milk safe?”
Luke was completely lost. He looked at Jiang Chen with a puzzled face before he nodded.
“Of course it’s safe; my farm passed all health inspections from the very start. Although that batch was off-label supplies that I asked my friend’s powdered milk factory to produce, the quality is undoubtedly safe.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Chen sighed with a tone of defeat.
“As long as it’s safe. Of course, I’m not here to buy powdered milk, I’m just a bit curious… Whatever, let’s talk business…”