Chapter 74 (1/2)

Huang Xuan struggled to catch his breath as he returned to his room. They had abandoned all their equipment in the plane pa.s.sage. The strong energy of the buffer zone would ensure they vanished into thin air.

He quickly recovered from his emotional state. ”That tiny man who collapsed was about 5 km away from me,” Huang Xuan comforted himself.

When his guilt toward the French army had dissipated, Huang Xuan's heart started to ache for another reason. They had used up a total of USD100,000,000, including what Rolin had spent in P112. Almost all of it was exchanged for energy, which was swallowed up by the guardian. Although the majority of the money was either owed or paid in advance, Huang Xuan found it difficult to accept that his a.s.sets had reduced by an eighth in merely two days.

Rolin, on the other hand, was rejoicing. He tried to comfort Huang Xuan, ”You ought to be proud of yourself. We now have abundant energy in the buffer zone. The present P112 is probably more prosperous than it has been in the big plane age.”

”Is there really that much energy?” Huang Xuan was suspicious, ”Didn't you say that Napoleon was no big deal?”

”Just being a little deal is sufficient,” Rolin answered nonchalantly. ”We gained about 4,000 Newtons. In other words, the traveler in our plane will have to work twice as hard if he intends to use the spatial and temporal oscillation to access the plane pa.s.sage.”

”Does the traveler know?” Huang Xuan could not be bothered with what Rolin referred to as ”Newtons”. The guardian was always concerned about these useless measurements. It was more practical to focus on his personal problems.

”I cannot be sure about that,” Rolin said frankly.

”Well, is it easier to track the position of this traveler now?”

The guardian boasted of being able to keep all of Nanjing under surveillance. Huang Xuan gave a snort of contempt. This base guardian was created tens of thousands years ahead of Huang Xuan's time. Yet, he could only keep one city under surveillance - he couldn't even watch the United States of America.

Of course, the student Rolin had his own reasons. He was not only watching people in Nanjing. He was watching everything, including non-humans. Every blade of gra.s.s was under his watch. Moreover, anything and anyone that left Nanjing remained under constant surveillance. Online information was no exception. As for what Huang Xuan referred to as ”small”, Rolin's reply was, ”Currently, 300,000 kWh of energy is being consumed each hour while I'm in normal surveillance mode. If I double my surveillance area, my energy expenditure will increase by at least ten times. I might need 3,000,000 kWh, or even 30,000,000 kWh…”

Huang Xuan was clever. He immediately understood what Rolin was saying. He clearly needed money to function. But he could hardly blame Rolin. Understandably, if one were to bring an F-22 back in time by 50 years… Well, at least it would function better compared to if one were to bring it back in time by 200 years. It would at least be able to take off. Had Napoleon discovered the F-22, and even if he had been able to maintain the aircraft, how much would he have had to spend to build a standard runway? Imagine bringing the F-22 back in time by 10,000 years. One could probably have made use of something more convenient and practical, such as a pig slaughter line. Then again, would there have been pigs to slaughter? If the aircraft were to break down, there would have been no way to repair it. Even if one brought the whole of Nanjing City back in time by 10,000 years when there were only a handful of humans walking the earth, the survival of the city would have depended on the expiry date of the products.

Rolin's present circ.u.mstances were much better. After all, the technology had improved. It was capable of producing more than a couple of precision instruments which consumed an infinite amount of energy. Rolin was completely durable. Moreover, bases were made to function in various planes. However, Rolin - who often boasted of being advanced in technology - was able to produce technology that could be used 100,000 years before he was created. ”Why don't we look around in a time period that's closer to ours?”

Sighing, Huang Xuan collapsed on the bed. ”Rolin, contact Charles for me. I want to discuss how we should continue to provide energy for you.”

”Okay.” Rolin immediately dialed Charles' number for him.

While waiting for Charles to pick up, Huang Xuan asked, ”How much energy do you have left?”

”Approximately 30,000,000 kWh.”

”How much more to your next upgrade?” Huang Xuan realized it would be useful if the base upgraded. At least he would be able to bring more things with him and stay for longer periods of time. Additionally, it seemed that the higher the base's level, the less energy was needed to carry items while traveling. He did not confirm this with Rolin though. It was merely a gut feeling.

”Advancing bases have information storage systems equivalent to level 21 bases. More information is needed to upgrade once more.”