by <unknown>
Chen Chen had also thought about buying land ownership directly. However, Namibia's land had complications left over from the past and was thus particularly sensitive to the issue of foreign ownership. Therefore, if one wished to buy the land, one might need to spend more than ten times the current amount.
At ten times the price, Chen Chen would have enough to lease the land for 400 years. By then, who could say if this country was still here?
"Mr. Chen, what do you want me to say?"
In a luxurious mansion in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, an old black man with white hair said impassively, "Someone as knowledgeable as you should already understand Namibia's history. Our country was forged in a trial of blood and fire. Because of this, our country still has many unresolved difficulties including the issue of land."
As he said this, this old man who looked just like Morgan Freeman wore a mournful expression. "Our country is an agricultural country with approximately 69 million hectares of arable land, but nearly half of the land is controlled by that group of white people. At the moment, 240,000 of our citizens have no land. They have to rely on government relief to survive below the poverty line."
"I can only tell you how sorry I am to hear that, Minister Mazura."
Chen Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. If he had not known the truth, he might just have been deceived by this old man's superb acting skills.
The old man said that 240,000 people were living below the poverty line. Chen Chen felt that the real number was three times that. Furthermore, even if these people were given enough land, they must be willing to sow the crops…
Chen Chen did not wish to harp on this issue, so he said, "Still, Minister, please be rest assured. What I want to lease is non-agricultural land. And my goal isn't to develop pastures or farms but to build an Eco Science City."
"Eco Science City?" The old man was stunned.
"That's right. You should already know that I have a research center on that piece of land."
Chen Chen explained, "However, I later discovered that a research center alone isn't enough. I want to build a complete industrial system from research to experimentation, to application and service."
"This…" The old man was dumbstruck.
"Minister Mazura, can you imagine?"
Chen Chen spread out his hands and described, "I'll build dozens of sanatoriums on this land. These sanatoriums would be located on the shores of the beautiful Atlantic. The endless sea stretched out in front while thousands of miles of golden sand dunes lay behind. This magnificent sight of sand meeting the sea is unique in this world.
"At night, there's the vast starry sky, which shall make customers realize the true meaning of tranquility and health."
"But…" the old man said helplessly, "but we're not Switzerland. There's no medical environment here."
"That was before."
Chen Chen said matter-of-factly, "But after I build this Eco Science City, everything will change. The cutting-edge medical technology developed from the research center will be put into clinical trials, then into application and service areas, as quickly as possible.
"I'll equip the sanatoriums here with the most authoritative expert physicians from internal medicine in gastroenterology to cardiology and neurology. They'll also be equipped with the most advanced testing equipment. Everything one would need, covered from head to toe.
"Moreover, in terms of diet and daily lifestyle, I'll also have experienced nutritionists and nurses, and even fitness consultants and coaches. I can customize any high-end services to meet the customer's every need...
"This will become the most complete and developed medical system in the world."
Upon hearing all this, the old man fell silent.
"Minister Mazura, I hear that you're going to run for vice president of the SWAPO Party?"
Chen Chen took out a card, placed it on the table, and pushed it to the old man. "This is my personal donation to Minister Mazura's campaign funds. I hope that with the help of this political donation, you'll be successful."
"… I understand."
The old man was silent for a long time before he seemed to have made up his mind and nodded. "But I hope you'll be mentally prepared, Mr. Chen. I can't guarantee that I can pull it off for you."
"It's alright. I definitely won't let you fight the battle alone in Parliament," Chen Chen said pointedly.
The old man's pupils shrank, following which he stared at Chen Chen and began laughing softly.
Immediately, Chen Chen started to laugh as well. Their laughter grew louder and louder until they both burst out guffawing at the same time.
…
"Minister Mazura, there's no need to send me off."
A few minutes later, Chen Chen walked out the gates of the luxurious mansion while constantly turning around to wave behind him. "The time I spend with you is always pleasant and brief. There's so much I can learn from you."
"Likewise. You're an outstanding young man."
The old man stood at the door and said ruefully, "In the future, your achievements are sure to surpass mine. I look forward to that day."
Chen Chen nodded in gratitude, then got into the car whose door Chen Chen had opened.
The car started out slowly and drove toward the main road.
When the window had closed, blocking the view from outside the car, Chen Chen's smile died on his lips.
"Boss, you seem to be in a good mood." Cheng Cao glanced at the rearview mirror and observed softly.
"When you can achieve your goal at the lowest possible cost, of course, you'll feel good."
Chen Chen sighed, then suddenly asked, "By the way, I've already visited three houses. How's Wenhuan doing?"
"He's just reported that he has also persuaded three members of parliament. They've agreed to be on our side at the next session," Cheng Cao replied.
"Good. As long as we've convinced four or five of them, our application is basically foolproof."
Chen Chen nodded and looked out the window.
What Chen Chen wanted to replicate was Switzerland's famous sanatorium industry —
Using its own high-end medical service environment, combined with the local natural ecology, Switzerland had opened hundreds of sanatoriums in the Alps.
These sanatoriums were all known for their cutting-edge medical technology along with a large number of therapists and advanced medical treatment as well as a beautiful treatment environment. The combination of these three factors resulted in a steady stream of wealthy people from Europe and all over the world.
It was like a money making pit.
What Chen Chen wanted to do was imitate this Swiss method.
After all, he had the world's most advanced anti-aging technology here. If he built an Eco Science City here, why would he not surpass Switzerland with his technical advantage?
Besides, through word-of-mouth marketing, he could always attract celebrities and politicians from various countries. Then, he could select more candidates to be absorbed into God's Forbidden Zone.
This was what Chen Chen had planned.
Chapter 113: Settlement Agreement |
Under Chen Chen's operation, even with a large number of opposing forces, he was still able to amass more supporters. The National Assembly of Namibia had passed Chen Chen's land lease agreement without any further complications.
However, to appease the Ministry of Environment Protection, the assembly had raised the matter of increasing the cost of the lease. Chen Chen was also held responsible for the construction and resettlement costs of the local villagers that were to be relocated.
Naturally, Chen Chen did not oppose that.
In the end, Chen Chen had obtained the rights to 50,000 hectares of land for 40 years for a grand sum of 350 million U.S. dollars.
50,000 hectares translated to 500 square kilometers of land. It was roughly the area of a square land spanning 22.4 kilometers on each side. There was only one village located in this plot of l
and designated to Chen Chen.
This was the Gorob Village which they previously had a conflict with.
After Chen Chen's recent establishment of the Black Security Service B.S.S., the daily training schedule was met with constant complaints from the local guards. This was coupled with Qian Wenhuan's implicitly instructing the mercenaries to give the local guards a hard time.
For example, some of the mercenaries who liked gambling would forcibly drag the local guards into their gambling activities. They started by giving them a taste of victory before raising the stakes drastically.
In terms of scheming abilities and cunningness, how were these mercenaries supposed to rival these mercenaries who were surrounded by death day in and out? It only took a few days for them to accumulate a mountain worth of debt on top of losing all of their assets.
As for the ones who had objected to partaking in gambling, the mercenaries had them serve them as waiters. Any objections were met with rounds of beating.
In the world of mercenaries, the strong reigned supreme. What all these local guards did was eat, sleep, and laze about throughout the day. Even without Qian Wenhuan's suggestions, these mercenaries were not going to allow these natives to assume the same position as them.
Within a week of the two groups merging, a particular incident happened where a local guard was sick of being toyed with and decided he was going to stab the mercenaries harassing him. It ended with him being the one who was killed instead.
This particular incident had catalyzed the conflict between the local guards and the mercenaries.
The entirety of Gorob Village decided they were going to make a statement and came out in force to cause trouble. This time around, Chen Chen did not hold back anymore. He immediately had all of the staff from Gorob Village fired. He also had the mercenaries put on bomb suits and employed the usage of explosive weapons to suppress the villagers.
Due to the extreme forces used by the mercenaries during the operation, two more lives were taken in the process.
The government of the city of Walvis Bay stepped in when it saw that things were slowly getting out of hand. In the end, Chen Chen compensated Gorob Village with a payment of 300,000 Namibian dollars.
These events had occurred two months ago.
Over this period, the villagers of Gorob never stopped their plots and schemes. They occasionally had their members sneak into the vicinity of the research center and destroy the solar panels several kilometers away from the center.
Even if they had never managed to inflict major damage, they continued to stick around like flies and pester them endlessly.
There was very little Chen Chen could do about their pestering. Even the photovoltaic power generation equipment only numbered in the thousands, they were spread across several square kilometers of land. Thirty men alone were not going to be able to defend them all.
Chen Chen decided that he was going to get rid of this village for good.
The site of Gorob Village was included in the vast plot of land Chen Chen had purchased.
Gorob Village had a unique geographical advantage as it was set up by the coastline. Not only did they have access to a vast amount of nautical resources, several old houses in the village also doubled as a tourism attraction for them to generate income.
This meant that it was very unlikely for the villagers to comply with relocation.
This was not a problem Chen Chen had to concern himself with as the officials would deal with it themselves. All Chen Chen had to do was construct a residence for the villagers in a newly designated site.
During the construction of the new residence area, Chen Chen decided to cut corners wherever he could. Within a month, hundreds of standard modern concrete bungalows were constructed in the new resettlement site.
Despite cutting costs, they still proved to be less of an eyesore than the iron-clad houses that looked like they were built in the slums.
The problems continued even after the houses were constructed. It turned out that the officials had greatly underestimated the spirit of the Gorob villagers as the police forces they had dispatched were chased out with sticks and batons each time. There was no progress to be seen even one month after the settlement was made official.
After exhausting their options, they came back to the research center to ask for help.
As the head of the research center in charge of external affairs, Qian Wenhuan immediately went to Chen Chen's office after hearing the requests of the officials.
"Boss?"
The fifth office building in the research center. Qian Wenhuan knocked on the door with a sign that read "Chairman Office".
"It's unlocked, come in."
Qian Wenhuan pushed the door open after receiving permission. He was greeted with the sight of Chen Chen sitting on the chair with its back facing the door. He seemed to be admiring the view outside.
"Boss, the people in charge of the relocation and resettlement spoke to me. They say they want to enlist the help of our B.S.S. department." Qian Wenhuan began.
"I assume that this is about Gorob Village."
Chen Chen spoke softly, "No need to dispatch the B.S.S. department. Head over to the resource department and get ten full coverage chemical suits and a bottle of ethyl mercaptan. Get ten bulldozers as well."
"Ethyl mercaptan?" Qian Wenhuan was unsure about Chen Chen's intentions.
"Just pass the message to the resource department."
Chen Chen made a waving gesture with his hands. "Have the ones in charge of the operation put on the suits, that includes the bulldozer operators. Have someone spray diluted ethyl mercaptan in the village and proceed with bulldozing the entire village after the villagers evacuate it."
"..."
Qian Wenhuan began to understand what the bottle of ethyl mercaptan was for.
"Understood." Qian Wenhuan promptly assured Chen Chen with a nod. He allowed himself to mourn for the villagers of Gorob before he turned around and left the office.
Chen Chen slowly turned the chair around after Qian Wenhuan's departure. It appeared that he was not admiring the sight outside the window. There was a printed map in his hands.
The map appeared to be drawn by hand before it was digitized and printed out. There were countless scribbled notes written in English sprayed across the map.
The map was far from any ordinary map. It looked more like a picture for reference which was drawn by a poor painter. The map showed the location of Gorob Village which was five kilometers away.
The text on the map described a cliff by the sea located in the area. At approximately the level of ten meters below sea meter, there was a cave that was only wide enough to fit a child no more than ten.
Upon swimming more than ten meters into the cave, there should be an exit located right above.
Due to the exit being leveled right above sea level, it was not filled with seawater.
The exit led to a small cave in rocky terrain.
This was not all there was to it. At the end of the cave was yet another long and narrow tunnel. The tunnel was incredibly long and it would take almost an hour-long walk to reach the other end.
The tunnel led to a natural cave several hundred meters underground. It was almost the size of a football field!
This map was discovered by Little X while investigating the Gorob Village. It was found in a folder inside the computer of a person who had left the village decades ago…
Chapter 114: Finding the Mysterious Cavern |
Hanamal was born in a small village called Gorob Village located near Walvis Bay.
For as long as he could remember, he never felt like he could fit in with his brothers and sisters.
He was an extremely curious child who constantly hounded his parents with all manners of questions. He would ask them how day and night came to be, why the winds howled during a storm, what was on the other side of the sea, and countless other questions.
Hanamal's parents were constantly pestered wi
th numerous questions ringing in their heads to the point they became fed up with it.
When Hanamal grew older, he began to understand that not even his parents knew the answers to these questions…
Now and then, there would be large groups of people carrying large pouches and bags appearing at their village to sightsee. These people had different skin colors. Instead of a palm black texture, theirs was a strange light color. They also spoke a language he could not understand.
Some of them had pale blue eyes while others had the same black eyes Hanamal had.
Hanamal was mystified by the people who came from the outside world. However, the village elders did not allow children to approach these people. Whenever outsiders came to the village, Hanamal could only observe them from afar.
When Hanamal was around 10 years old, he overheard a conversation between the elders and the outsiders.
Their conversation was conducted via a man with a profession known as "translator".
Hanamal came to know of this profession known as a translator because the people in the village would always say: Learn another language and you can be the translator in the village to get easy Namibian dollars daily.
Namibian dollar was extremely useful to have.
One day, the translator brought in a group of outsiders. As usual, he took them to the most knowledgeable elder.
"Nasara, these are guests from Mainland China, they're greeting you."
Nasara was the name of the elder.
"From Mainland China again? Where exactly is Mainland China, how far away is it?" the elder seemed amused.
"Even with the giant winged bird, it took them around fifteen hours to get here!"
"Oh, farther than Angola even?"
"Yes, farther than Angola!"
"Farther than Cameroon?"
"Farther than Cameroon!"
Cameroon was the farthest place that Hanamal and the villagers knew of.
Shortly after that, Hanamal saw the elder ask a follow-up question, "How about children. How many children do these outsiders have?"
"They say they don't have children!"