Chapter 497: Two Good News
Translator: _Min_Editor: Caron_
"Arrange a time. Try to set the schedule around mid-November. By then, hmm… I'll visit Hua with the Xin president as a member of the outstanding businessmen.
As for the Xin president visiting Hua, he just said it nonchalantly. If he told Zhang Yapin, he would immediately prepare for a friendly visit. With the currently friendly relationship between Hua and Xin, the always-nice Hua had no reason to reject, especially if the outcome of a visit would be mutually beneficial to both parties.
"Does Xin have this arrangement?" Xia Shiyu asked with skepticism.
"Of course. Because I'm an outstanding businessman, I received some information beforehand." Jiang Chen made up a random excuse.
"Okay, I'll reply." Xia Shiyu nodded.
"Is there anything else?"
"Of course. I have two pieces of good news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Xia Shiyu giggled.
"Two pieces of good news? Of course I want to listen to the better news last." Jiang Chen was intrigued.
Even Xia Shiyu, who didn't like to laugh, was joking - the good news must be fantastic.
"It's about the virtual reality experience store - all 1.44 million virtual reality helmets have entered the market. The players were highly attracted by the virtual reality experience project and created a net profit of 500 million USD. Almost all our partner internet cafés requested additional Phantoms."
With the unit price at 1500 USD and sales of 1.44 million, a profit of 1000 USD was equivalent to 1.44 billion in profit. And the virtual reality experience project created a profit of 500 million in just one month's time.
Of course, the reason they could make so much money was because of the magical experience offered by the helmet and people's curiosity. Even now, a lot of people still waited in line to experience the virtual reality helmet. But after some time, once the Phantom was officially released, the virtual reality experience hype would gradually cool off.
And the majority of Future Technology's revenue wouldn't be from the one-time gain of selling the helmet nor from the virtual reality experience project but the actual operations of virtual reality…
"What's the second piece of good news?" Jiang Chen laughed.
"You don't sound shocked?"
"I can imagine how crazy people can get for immersive virtual reality technology."
Xia Shiyu smiled as she listened to Jiang Chen's confidence and continued.
"The second good news is that the 2 million Phantom helmets we released for pre-order have all been sold out with a net profit of 1 billion USD. All the pre-ordered helmets were sold out within one minute. A lot of users left comments on our forum hoping we could increase the number of units available for preorder."
"Sold out in one minute? It looks like the market is hungry enough." Jiang Chen smiled.
"Everything is just waiting for the final push. How's the production rate of the helmet?" Xia Shiyu asked.
"20 million units of Phantom helmets should've been completed; I'll add a few more finished production lines in a bit and the goal to produce 20 million helmets will be exceeded," Jiang Chen said proudly.
Jiang Chen was obviously very assured with Xia Shiyu handling the operations and marketing. He only asked a few things about the operation of the company before hanging up.
He stuffed his phone into his pocket before leaving his bedroom to go to the garage.
It was October 20th and the 80 days of training were completed. Based on the agreement between Jiang Chen and Ayesha, he would personally pick her up once training ended.
To be honest, Jiang Chen missed her quite dearly after so long.
…
The vessel that carried supplies to the island didn't bring any supplies this time. Its mission was to bring back the trainees on the island.
Right now, the 110 agents were standing on the beach waiting for their last examination. Watching the outline of the vessel on the horizon, everyone had genuine excitement on their faces.
The training was finally over and the rookie agents managed to make it out alive. Because of this, they completed the transformation from a rookie to a qualified agent and warrior.
Ayesha not only taught them how to disguise themselves and collect information, but she also taught them everything she knew about combat including sniping, calling airstrikes and even individual combat, which were all part of their daily training requirements. The virtual training and live ammunition training were conducted simultaneously to engrave this information deep down into their bones like instincts.
80 days ago, they were just a bunch of girls, but now, 110 fully trained agents stood there. With the assistance of carbon Nano bulletproof vests, genetic vaccines, Ghost Sniper Rifles, Type-11 Pistols, heat sensor grenades, digitalized contacts and injected chips, the combat abilities of any one of them could compare to a fully equipped, six-man special force team.
Once Fallout Shelter 027 could produce optical camouflage and Gauss Rifles, their combat abilities could easily steamroll an entire squadron.
When he arrived on the island, Jiang Chen resisted the urge to kiss Ayesha. He stood in front of the 110 agents in formation. In front of their reserved but determined eyes, he was pleased.
He paused and spoke in a loud voice.
"Congratulations, you all passed the test. I see 110 agents and 110 warriors here. I'm happy."
"In 80 days' time, I trust Ayesha already taught you what you need to know and what you should know." Jiang Chen smiled at Ayesha then looked back at the 110 agents. "I will only emphasize two words here: loyalty and bravery. I won't waste time on anything else."
"Your work in the future will not be easier than your experience the past 80 days. Or rather, the difficult training you went through is nothing compared to what you will face in the future. Your work may be staying in Xin to conduct 'safe' counterintelligence work, or you could be sent all over the world to execute the most dangerous missions and even take on the elites from the CIB or KGB. But I promise you will be able to easily take them on. And as your boss, I will make all of you believe that your effort is well worth it."
Jiang Chen signaled the row of soldiers by the side and they opened the ten briefcases filled with cash.
Glancing at the green paper bills, even the strongest-willed agents held their breath. Each briefcase contained at least one million in cash and there were ten of them.
On the entire beach, the only people who were unaffected by the scene was Jiang Chen, who didn't lack money, and Ayesha, who wasn't interested in money. Even the six female assistant trainers gulped at this sight.
Jiang Chen was pleased to see the expressions on the agents' faces.
"The money is all yours. You can spend it however you want."
"Everyone is rewarded with 100 thousand USD and 10 days of vacation. This is not your pay - it is just a small bonus to you for passing the training."
"At the same time, I want you to know that you're serving the richest man on the planet. So I hope you won't be foolish enough to be bought by some paper bills. You won't be let down materially. But to match that, I want you to feel a sense of purpose and belonging.
"Ghost Agents, this is your name."
"I want all of you to be proud of this name. Our enemies will fear this name."