Chapter 528: Bullet Time?
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
Jiang Chen transferred the other nine “invisible suits” to Ayesha and let her equip nine of the most reliable Ghost Agents on field duty. With this equipment, the combat and survival abilities of the agents would increase by another level.
After having lunch with Ayesha, Jiang Chen once again returned to New Moon Island and set up six new Phantom Helmet production lines in the factory. After three months of continuous production, the workers were now more skillful. Not only did the product quality rate increase by 50%, but their production speed also doubled.
The basic salary Jiang Chen provided them was 5000 USD. With each team working as a functional unit, after they hit the day’s production targets, they would receive a bonus for every additional helmet they produced.
With the incentive of money, all the workers worked meticulously during their shifts. There were over 50 million Phantom units currently in storage. With the addition of the six production lines, the monthly production rate of the helmet could reach 20 million units.
The 20 million helmet target set before the official release had been long been met. When the helmet was officially released in the latter half of December, they would easily have a supply of over 70 million units.
The manager in charge of production was called Liu Songrong. While the engineering robots installed the new production lines under the watch of Celestial Trade soldiers, he cheerfully reported to Jiang Chen on his work.
Manager Liu was quite an interesting person as he was one of the rare university graduates in Xin who studied abroad. Five years ago, he studied human resources at the University of Auckland and could be considered an alumnus to the current president, Zhang Yapin. After graduation, he inherited his father’s sugarcane field but soon lost the land after the three-party agreement with the Wang family, Johnny, and President Edward; he went from being a landlord to a fisherman overnight.
After President Zhang Yapin was sworn in, Celestial Trade entered Xin. Liu Songrong took the opportunity to sell his fishing boat and signed up for the force.
Of course, he clearly wasn’t meant to be a soldier and was thus sent to logistical services. Based on his excellent work performance, great relationship-building skills, adherence to moral codes, ability to keep his mouth shut, and meticulous work, he was able to climb to where he was now as the manager at the Phantom Helmet plant.
When Jiang Chen asked him questions regarding security, Liu Songrong laughed and pumped his chest.
“Boss, don’t worry – there has never been a security incident in my time here. During the change of shifts while entering the plant, everyone must go through security with me personally responsible for it. They won’t take even a single screw out of the plant. Any person suspected of sneaking products out will be sent to the security department. Once confirmed, they would be dismissed immediately.”
“The security department is just a post with Celestial Trade’s soldiers stationed there. The workers sent to the security department won’t receive any inhumane treatment; they will just be injected with the truth-telling liquid by the nurse. Once they are confirmed as business spies, they will be courteously sent out of New Moon Island. Not only would they end their high paying job, but their employee housing would be confiscated.”
“Based on the severity of the situation, Celestial Trade reserves the right to sue and prosecute them.
“After December, the Danish DHL’s vessel will transport the helmets stored here. I need you to produce at least 80 million units by end of the month – can you do it?”
“I promise I’ll finish the work!” Liu Rongsong raised his chest and promised.
Considering how energetic manager Liu was, Jiang Chen patted him on the shoulder with encouragement.
“Keep up the good work; the helmet you produce in excess will your bonus!”
Liu Songrong was ecstatic as he immediately expressed his gratitude.
“Thanks, boss!”
Jiang Chen laughed and made him go back to supervising production then he took a ride along the dam to return to New Moon Island and inquired about the training with Ivan.
The 100 soldiers and 20 pilots operating the power armor were selected.
Ivan previously thought the selection process would be simple, but it took over a week and ended up requiring them to work with the new recruitment site and cooperating hospitals to conduct physical examinations for at least 4000 people before he finally managed to select the 20 pilots.
Vision, height, weight, reaction, perception, disease history, and physical coordination were simple, but the last one was confusing. Candidates who passed all previous tests must get their blood tested then a drop of “DNA screening indicator” would be mixed with the blood. Only when the indicator turned blue could the candidate be considered to pass the last physical examination item.
The weird physical examination item eliminated 95% of the candidates who otherwise qualified. Ivan previously thought Jiang Chen was making a mistake, but he ended up realizing that wasn’t the case – some people’s blood reacted to the indicators.
With Ivan leading the way, Jiang Chen met the 20 lucky people on the training grounds. Ten of them were current Celestial Trade soldiers. From their standing posture, it was easy to see their soldier training. As for the other 10 soldiers, while they were certainly fit, they must be new recruits who only joined a few days ago judging by their awkward posture.
Jiang Chen scanned the 20 pilots in front of him and saw excitement and confusion in the 20 pairs of eyes. They clearly didn’t expect the big boss of Celestial Trade would meet them personally.
Jiang Chen cleared his throat.
“First, I want to congratulate you on passing the pilot candidate selection. You will receive three months of training then become part of Celestial Trade’s air force. You already possess a salary and benefits enviable by all. I hope in your future military career, you can use your loyalty and courage to repay the generosity of our company.
“I know you must have a lot of questions in your mind. For example, why are there only runways and not a single plane in sight? What was the weird physical examination item that ended up eliminating over 1000 qualified candidates?”
“The first question is easy to answer: the planes are on another island. Once you pass the pilot training in the virtual reality training chamber, you’ll be the ones who fly the planes back.”
“The latter question is a bit harder to explain. In simple terms, after being injected with the E-Grade Genetic Vaccine provided by Celestial Trade, you’ll receive the ability to have enhanced senses.
Looking at their confusion, Jiang Chen paused for a moment then continued.
“In even simpler terms: it’s bullet time!”
When they heard Jiang Chen’s words, everyone including Ivan all look puzzled. The veteran soldiers were surprised, but their reaction was rather calm. The ten new recruits were completely dumbfounded.
Jiang Chen wasn’t surprised by their reactions at all.
The soldiers of Celestial Trade were all injected with the genetic vaccine, but there wasn’t a single person who unlocked their hidden genetic code. It was partially because Xin didn’t conduct any military operations to external forces and partially due to the advanced nature of the soldiers’ weapons. With the protection of the kinetic skeletons and carbon Nano bulletproof suits, the soldiers won’t be in any danger.
The main criterion for unlocking the hidden genetic code was to be on the brink of death to stimulate the true potential of the human body. Genetic vaccines were only a key, and twisting the key required the effort of the individual.
What was worth mentioning was that the process couldn’t be achieved through virtual reality or else Ayesha would’ve unlocked “cold-blooded” a long time ago and Jiang Chen would’ve unlocked the third level hidden genetic code.
It was rumored that the third level was the last level. But as a leader, he didn’t have any opportunities to sink enemies himself, so it would be hard for him to unlock the third level.
Of course, there were tricks to this. Quite funnily, rides in amusement parks could all achieve it. The high-speed rotation of the Ferris wheel or the rapid fall of a dive – as long as a little “transformation” occurred, it could simulate the feeling of “wandering on the edge of life and death.”
For example, creating a high speed rotating chair that could break through 10G in speed wouldn’t only train the pilot’s ability to withstand pressure, but it could also allow trainees to experience the illusion of “near death”…
An ill-intentioned smile surfaced on Jiang Chen’s face as he looked at the completely lost pilots.
They would have fun in the next three months.