"How was your time in Los Santos?"
"It was okay. I'm going to go back to Wanghai tomorrow."
"Is filming complete already?
Coro Island was as sunny as ever today. Leaning against a beach chair, Jiang Chen was sluggishly talking to Liu Yao on the other side of the globe. Ayesha, who was wearing a bikini, brought a cold drink for him and leaned over to kiss him on the forehead then ran to the beach.
"It's long been completed; it was just a two-minute performance, and I ended up dying." Liu Yao stuck out her tongue and groaned.
For a minor character, two minutes of screen time was quite enough. Of course, she didn't have any dissatisfaction, but she was just used to ranting to Jiang Chen over the phone.
"Will you see the movie at my place?" Jiang Chen smirked.
Liu Yao's face instantly turned red.
His smirk reminded her that the last time she went to Xin, he was watching her movie while doing some strange things.
Her eyebrows raised. Liu Yao provocatively teased him:
"Oh? Do you only last two minutes?"
"If you forgot, why don't you try to find out?"
"Pervert!"
Hanging onto his phone with a smile, Jiang Chen began to enjoy the summer.
The cloud in the distance was like a boat, drifting along the blue sky. The sea breeze with a hint of coconut swept by his face and took away the heat from his body. Jiang Chen couldn't help but close his eyes and take a nap on this perfect day.
…
The next day, Jiang Chen went to Dr. Amos's lab and observed the experimental results of the "spiritual bridging." However, the experiment unfortunately seemed to have encountered a bottleneck. Although the last-generation chip solved the issue of overheating, it seemed to have a heavy load on the brain.
Being connected for half an hour consecutively could cause the user to fall into a coma and interrupt the connection. Amos was doing some debugging.
However, even then, his research results were astonishing.
It was the only piece of technology from the modern world surpassing the 22nd century that Jiang Chen had seen. As for how far Amos could go in this field, Jiang Chen wasn't able to foresee the limit.
As he left Dr. Amos's lab, a call from Xia Shiyu came in. She said Walmart's CEO had requested a meeting with him.
"Walmart? Is there a problem with nutrient supply? Why didn't he seek out Tao Ming?" Jiang Chen asked with confusion.
"Not about nutrient supply, it's about VRstore..."
After listening to the explanation from Xia Shiyu, Jiang Chen slapped his head and realized.
With Future Group increasing their influence, aside from the initial negotiations with the major e-commerce companies, Jiang Chen had delegated the entire project to Future Technology's project team. Ning Huajian, who took over Xia Shiyu's role, was very competent in his position and the people who were chosen for the project team were all elites of the company. In the end, their results didn't disappoint Jiang Chen. Therefore, Jiang Chen didn't question the details too much.
"Where's he now?" Jiang Chen asked.
"In Future Building."
"Is he already there? Let him go to my office and wait for me."
"Okay."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Chen took the elevator and went straight to the floor where his office was located. At the door of the president's office, he met the representative of Walmart who came to negotiate, CEO Macmillan.
Upon seeing Jiang Chen, Macmillan greeted him enthusiastically.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Jiang Chen. Please forgive me for my uninvited presence."
"Haha, not at all. Future Group welcomes your arrival. Mr. Macmillan...Standing in the doorway isn't the gentlemanly way of hospitality. Please, come inside."
After McMillan was invited into the office, the two sat on the sofa, and the office assistant dressed in business professional attire skillfully made two cups of coffee for them.
"Get Ning Huajian to come here."
"Yes."
The assistant nodded with a smile, listened to Jiang Chen's instructions, and left the office.
Since mid-2017, the headquarters of Future Group subsidiaries had all moved to Xin, including Future Technology from Hong Kong. Although the Chief Executive tried to convince him to stay, Jiang Chen still executed this decision.
As for the reason, it was very simple. This move would save Future Group billions of dollars in tax revenue each year. Future Technology's operations in Hua would be carried out through a subsidiary and would no longer be directly managed by the company. There were many benefits to the localization of management and wouldn't be repeated here.
While waiting for Ning Huajian's arrival, Jiang Chen looked at Macmillan and asked with a smile,
"Mr. Macmillan, I heard you're here because of the VRstore?"
"Yes. About this point, I've already filled in the visit application," Macmillan said comically.
Soon, the office door was pushed open again, and Ning Huajian came in.
"Boss, were you looking for me?"
"This gentleman is looking for you, Walmart's CEO. Please sit down." Jiang Chen gestured toward the sofa and introduced Ning Huajian to Macmillan.
After listening to Jiang Chen's introduction, Ning Huajia immediately understood Macmillan's intentions and smiled at McMillan.
"Future Technology, and even more so, VRstore, welcomes every partner to join us. If Walmart is willing to join our family, I certainly welcome you with open arms."
However, Ning Huajian's tone suddenly changed.
"However, it's a pity that VRstore's operations team has a limited ability to scan products. Establishing VR images isn't an easy task. For now, we can only scan 100,000 items per month."
Ning Huajian didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was obvious.
Every month, 100,000 items were permitted to enter VRstore. It simply wasn't enough for seven e-commerce giants. When Walmart was asked, they didn't join. Now that cooperation agreements had been signed with the other e-commerce companies, why didn't Walmart do this earlier?
"Can't the scanning speed be increased?" Macmillan asked anxiously.
"The number of 100,000 will definitely increase gradually, but as you know, we must give priority to the needs of our partners," said Ning Huajian.
Macmillan was silent for a moment as he adjusted his thought process.
"I know our proposal may make it very difficult for you, but we promise we won't let you do it for free."
"At the 2018 Annual Global Merchandise Exhibition, Walmart will be the organizer of the exhibition. If you can help us scan 300,000 items onto VRstore within the next two months, we'll invite you to assist the organizer."
After a pause, Macmillan looked at Ning Huajian and looked at Jiang Chen again.
"...to host a Global Merchandise Exhibition based on the VR platform with the world watching."