Chương 230: CHAPTER 230 - Minesweeper? Count me in!
In the guest hall of Kiramman Manor.
Li Lin and Cassandra, freed from their battle armor, sat on the left-side sofa near the entrance, with Caitlyn standing behind. Tobias perched on a single-seater sofa nearby.
Kai'Sa, utterly clueless about inter-familial business collaborations and struggling with the common tongue, decided to skip and attend her own martial arts class.
Yabus sat alone across from them, lounging with one leg crossed over the other, one hand resting on the sofa's back, and the other twirling his mustache.
Behind him, representatives from other families either took seats or remained standing, their faces reflecting varied expressions.
After Li Lin's briefing, they grasped the specifics of Dawnlight's function.
The idea of long-term material storage, coupled with its intelligent portability, intrigued them.
Though its utility in the Twin Cities was limited, the attendees were no ordinary families; each had extensive commercial ties worldwide.
Of course, with Demacia banning official trade and imposing strict commercial conditions, the number of traders venturing there was scant.
While Li Lin only described Dawnlight for storing daily necessities, without mentioning its ammunition reserves, the representatives from major families already drew that connection.
Moreover, some highly valuable goods could be temporarily housed inside.
Even though a single unit's storage was modest, for them, Dawnlight only required an auxiliary chip, was inexpensive to produce in bulk, thus ensuring ample storage.
After all, in this world, apart from Li Lin, powerful mages, demigods, or humans blessed by celestial beings, no one else could fly.
Moreover, this technology was inconsequential to Li Lin, as he had only signed a contract for the original Dawnlight design, with plans to upgrade and add new features later.
For instance, once the artificial satellite was successfully launched, he intended to emulate Iron Man by equipping Dawnlight on the satellite, thus providing rapid support during crises via orbital projection.
They quickly agreed on the investment and construction of the Dawnlight production line.
As for the design of the aerial war machine, despite Yabus and other family representatives' persuasion and enticements, Li Lin remained adamant, refusing to collaborate on this technology.
Among the upper-class families in the Upper City, only Kiramman held patents for energy firearms and melee weapons, and they had not yet entered into any collaborative agreements with other families.
The Polbok, Shoola, and Kavald families, primarily engaged in military industries, coveted these patents but could do little.
The only ones left with the technology to manufacture energy weapons were Li Lin, Viktor, and Heimerdinger.
Viktor, having obtained Li Lin's power crystal and witnessed the terrifying power of his originally intended "Mjolnir," now wielded it as his exclusive weapon. He intended to further refine and research, focusing on designs for acceleration gates and electronic halos, with no plans for mass production.
Such tools were more suited for use as weapons, rather than for miners.
Viktor, on the other hand, cared little for wealth, focusing instead on developing mechanical devices that could benefit society. He had long ceased research on his previous "Death Ray" mechanical arm, and his current focus was on the development of special steam-powered robots.
Heimerdinger was even more exclusive, with his technology barely sold to major families for commercial use.
Even though some of his mechanical facilities held patents, they were only available for research by academy professors and his own students, with dangerous devices usable only in his presence.
In short, every family desired to develop energy weapons, but Li Lin was the only one left with the capability.
However, he had no intention of selling the Storm robot technology, much to the disappointment of the others.
Nevertheless, Cassandra was quite satisfied with Li Lin's decision, not wanting him to engage in the construction and production of war machines with other families.
After discussing investment and collaboration matters, Yabus rose and tidied his attire, "Alright, even if it's just 'Dawnlight,' I consider this visit worthwhile."
"In the coming days, I'll send people to finalize contracts with you, and the aid resources from other families should also be in place by then."
"Now that we've reached an agreement, I won't linger any longer..."
"Why the rush?" Li Lin grinned, halting Yabus and the other family representatives who were about to leave.
"Hmm?" Yabus, with his foot halfway up, paused and raised an eyebrow, looking at Li Lin, "Are you thinking of collaborating on Storm again?"
"What's with the obsession with Storm?" Li Lin shook his head, "I have other projects in mind, just as promising as Storm."
Suddenly intrigued, Yabus sat back down, "Tell me about them."
Yabus was left dumbfounded by Li Lin's words, and so were the representatives of the other families behind him.
Each word made sense on its own, but when put together, they were utterly perplexed.
After a pause, Yabus cleared his throat and asked, "Ahem... I understand 'mobile phone,' a trend that's taken the city by storm in just a few months, and the others..."
His implication was clear, as he reclined comfortably, crossing his legs and patiently awaited Li Lin's explanation.
Li Lin glanced sideways at Cassandra, who showed no reaction.
She was well aware of these technologies, as Li Lin had mentioned them before.
Since the Kiramman family couldn't swallow all of these projects at once, they would eventually have to come to a cooperative agreement; it was just a matter of time.
Li Lin now had the upper hand and the timing for proposing these projects was just right.
"Mobile phone... as the name suggests, it's a portable telephone that doesn't need a telephone line."
"What? It doesn't need a telephone line? How is that even possible? Is it done with magic...?" A representative from a relatively small family, in comparison to the Kiramman family, exclaimed in astonishment.
"You fool, don't the wireless radios used by elite enforcers not require a telephone line? Those were also invented by Mr. Li Lin!" A middle-aged woman from the Kavald family immediately retorted, having recognized Li Lin's firm hand after the recent incident with the Joysen family. She didn't dare to probe further and instead, sought to assist him in speaking, hoping he wouldn't hold her previous words against her.
Li Lin gave a faint smile at the flattering Kavald and proceeded to explain these projects to Yabus.
The mobile phone didn't need much explanation, being similar to a wireless radio. The focus was on the signal base station, whose principle was relatively simple.
Even though a considerable portion of the family representatives were not craftsmen, they still had some understanding in this area, so there weren't many questions.
Li Lin then emphasized computers and the internet.
The "AI" concept proposed by Heimerdinger in recent months was still just an idea, and he hadn't begun research yet, so it hadn't been widely publicized.
Li Lin had developed a computer, essentially an electronic calculator for high-speed computation, capable of numerical and logical calculations, as well as memory storage.
Combined with the "artificial intelligence self-evolution logic" technology, its computing power would reach terrifying levels.
The internet, on the other hand, was a vast network composed of several nodes and the links connecting them.
These theoretical concepts were too profound and obscure for these "inexperienced" family representatives to understand; they simply couldn't grasp it.
To make it easier for them to understand, Li Lin brought them to his workshop and opened two bulky computers, preparing to give them a casual demonstration.
"Well... let's start with something simple."
After some thought, he smirked slightly, clicked on a pattern of a round ball covered with spikes, then called Yabus over.
"This is a electronic game I programmed myself, called Minesweeper, which is essentially a recreational feature of the computer."
"An electronic game... Minesweeper? But how can such a large mechanical device be used for entertainment?"
Yabus raised an eyebrow, staring at the computer screen with an expression of curiosity and wonder.
"It's played like this..."
Li Lin quickly explained to him how to play Minesweeper and set it to the simplest mode.
To Li Lin's surprise, even though Yabus had just started using a computer and playing electronic games, he only lost a few rounds before quickly getting the hang of it.
In less than 10 minutes, he was already challenging the highest difficulty level of Li Lin's current creation.
He's picking it up even faster than I did when I first started using a computer as a kid. He truly lives up to being the most outstanding genius investor of the Ferros family...
Li Lin couldn't help but praise him inwardly.
Meanwhile, the representatives of the other families, as well as Caitlyn, Cassandra, and Tobias, were all extremely intrigued, watching Yabus's actions intently.
Before long, with the small yellow face wearing sunglasses at the top center of the screen, he successfully completed the highest difficulty level.
"Whew— it's simple, but it's quite addictive!"
Yabus stood up with a hearty laugh, patting Li Lin's shoulder. "You truly are a genius! I'm investing in this project, Li Lin!"
(End of this chapter)
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