Chapter 292: The Delayed Space Station Victory Settlement
On the second day after returning to New Hope Space Station, Lu Yuan got into Anya's car and arrived at a relatively undeveloped area within the port district.
Similar to other ring-shaped districts of the space station, this area had a U-shaped cross-section. In the middle were three parallel streets, with 'outdoor' street blocks separated by them. Underground were essential facilities such as the subway, storage spaces, and life support systems, while the sides featured wall structures with numerous indoor spaces.
Through the car window, Lu Yuan saw that there were few shops lining the streets here; most were simple, low-quality apartments.
They were crowded, old, and the per capita living area was estimated to be less than 10 square meters, essentially high-rise pigeonholes.
“I plan to lease this section, which is 1500 meters long in total, to Cangyuan Future Technology for a symbolic price of 1 credit per year,” Anya said, sitting in the back seat with Lu Yuan.
The total circumference of the port district was 11 kilometers, so 1500 meters was one-eighth of its length. The space she was lending out was equivalent to two percent of the total volume of the space station's six major ring-shaped districts.
“Furthermore, starting today, all official employees of Cangyuan will be granted New Hope citizenship and can establish businesses in this area, excluding, of course, illegal ones.”
“Thank you, this is exactly what we hoped for. However, this area looks a bit desolate.”
Lu Yuan spoke frankly.
“Currently, it’s not prosperous enough,” Anya said. “But this means there’s great development potential. Within a month, I guarantee that all residents here will move out, freeing up the space for you to utilize as you wish.”
“Where will the residents move to?”
Out of curiosity, Lu Yuan asked, “Previously, the 37 council members collectively owned over 600,000 vacant apartments, and most of them were mid-range improved apartments within the space station’s side wall structures.” Anya replied.
“Now, with the permanent departure of the council, it’s time to provide these residences to those who truly need them.”
“In a place like New Hope, which lacks living space, private individuals were allowed to hoard a large number of homes?”
Lu Yuan indicated that this situation was, how should he put it, unreasonable but expected. “Initially, it was prohibited. But over the past 100 years, the council gradually amended the laws, and even legislated to prohibit further development of the space station’s ring districts and the construction of new cheap apartments. This series of policies was all designed to keep housing prices high, in order to profit from them.”
Anya smiled helplessly.
“When you elect a group of profit-driven merchants as council members, this situation is destined to be unavoidable. The council members are both cooperative and competitive, naturally inclined to exploit the people and strengthen their financial power to prevent being crushed and devoured by their peers. So much internal economic potential was thus consumed by internal friction.”
It was clear that even though the council members had been physically eliminated, Anya’s resentment had not completely dissipated.
New Hope Space Station could have been more prosperous and more at ease in its competition with Paradise Island.
“But if all these homes were provided to citizens for free, the relatively wealthy class who previously owned extra properties probably wouldn’t be happy, would they?”
Lu Yuan reminded her.
This would obviously cause housing prices within the space station to plummet and would not be supported by the middle class and above.
“No matter how much they object, I won’t change my mind,” Anya said coldly.
She knew who constituted the majority of the populace and who formed the future political base.
“Of course, I’m not as overbearing as the legends say. I’ll give the citizens a little incentive, a little push, to make them understand that, many times, you have to lose something to gain something.”
She looked at Lu Yuan with a meaningful smile, one hand naturally resting on his knee.
Alright, alright—
In Lu Yuan’s view, Anya’s intention was clear.
This one-eighth of the port district was not given to him for free.
Cangyuan needed to leverage its cultural advantages to invest in and develop this desolate area, transforming it into a popular entertainment and leisure destination within the space station, thereby increasing the happiness of New Hope citizens and Anya’s governing prestige.
Of course, it could also simultaneously increase the acceptance of Cangyuan, the second-largest new shareholder, among all citizens.
It had to be said, Anya was a rather formidable woman.
She always managed to propose suggestions that made both parties comfortable and genuinely achieved a win-win situation.
This included her desire for Cangyuan to act as a ‘muscle’ to counterbalance the council and Apollo.
Although she initially severely misjudged Cangyuan’s strength, mistakenly believing Cangyuan to be a ‘pawn’ rather than a ‘player,’ she later, by promptly correcting her stance and adjusting her negotiation strategy, gradually lowered her position and still successfully achieved her goal.
And the results were much better than initially planned.
“Okay, no problem.”
Lu Yuan agreed to the proposal.
He had originally only wanted a few dozen interconnected storefronts to develop a ‘Cangyuan Food Street.’
Now, he directly received an entire district that could be used to develop ‘Cangyuan City,’ creating a continuous stream of wealth while vigorously exporting culture to attract more immigrants to Li Star.
How could that not be wonderful?
“Excellent, then we can go to the next stop!” Anya was very happy and naturally took Lu Yuan’s arm.
“Although I know you may not live here permanently, please allow me to offer this gift as a token of my gratitude!”
The bulletproof sedan entered a lift, heading towards the space elevator ruins at the space station’s central axis, and then, from there, entered the beautiful upper district.
This ring-shaped district had a circumference of 8 kilometers, and because it was only for a very small number of high-ranking citizens, the population density was quite low.
As far as the eye could see, most of the view was occupied by undulating artificial terrain and green vegetation, with villas dotted throughout, high and low, arranged in an orderly fashion.
Above was a giant curved screen displaying blue skies and white clouds, while on either side were realistic holographic images of forests and waterfalls.
Walking through it, Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel a bit dazed.
This was the first time since his transmigration that he had seen a landscape similar to Earth’s, and the feeling of home immediately resurfaced.
Even though they were all fake.
The car finally drove into a beautiful luxurious estate, which occupied an entire section of the space station 400 meters long and 300 meters wide.
Or, to describe it another way, it occupied a full 18-degree central angle within the upper district’s circular space.
Because of this, looking from one side of the main villa lawn to the other, one could clearly perceive that the grass was actually an arc, with the other end slightly Warp.
In a space station, this kind of height difference was the ultimate way to show off “my home is huge.”
“This used to be the Speaker’s private residence. Please don’t mind it. I know it must be much, much lower in standard than the residences of your Cangyuan Executive Officers.”
Anya led Lu Yuan into the luxurious living room, which was as large as a basketball court.
Outside a massive floor-to-ceiling window was a meticulously maintained private garden, which even featured a lake view.
Sitting here, with a gas fireplace lit, one would barely realize they were inside a space station after the apocalypse.
The building’s interior boasted as many as eight bedrooms of different styles, all luxurious suites with top-tier configurations. Additionally, there were various entertainment facilities whose area exceeded the total of all bedrooms combined, including a library, salon, gallery, indoor pool, wine cellar…
“You really think highly of me,” Lu Yuan thought.
The widest suite he had ever lived in before was the industrial ship captain's quarters, just over 200 square meters, only a little more than half of this living room. As for his previous life...
Heh heh, perhaps it was better not to dwell on past hardships.
“Anyway, the reason I called you here is because there’s some sensitive intelligence that needs to be provided to Cangyuan in a timely manner.”
In the opulent and empty living room, Anya sat on the sofa and spoke to Lu Yuan.
“Firstly, there are indeed some signs of backlash from Galan. Prime Minister Nadi has recently started reappearing in Star Alliance media. He knows that the Free Trade Alliance has received a batch of new escort armaments from you, but he doesn’t seem very afraid, stating that what they received were inferior goods rushed out by Cangyuan and are nothing to fear.”
Ha!
Are they trying to take advantage of the public’s short memory?
Two months ago, they seemed to have been blown to smithereens by these “inferior goods.”
“Is Galan’s confidence overflowing because they’ve acquired new toys again?”
Based on Lu Yuan’s understanding of Prime Minister Nadi, such a blustering but inwardly weak fellow, once he knew his true capabilities, should not actively seek death again.
“You’re right. My intelligence sources on Paradise Island indicate that they have decided to lease them a special-grade ship at a high price, which is expected to be delivered soon.”
Anya turned on the television in the living room, which played a video.
It was yesterday’s news from Paradise Island, which had just been transmitted to New Hope and other important Star Alliance strongholds via the FTL communication network.
“I personally guarantee that none of the armaments sold by Cangyuan are more advanced than those of Paradise Island.”
The local crime magnate, Arrogance, told the reporter interviewing him.
“But both Galan and Apollo’s warships, which they bought from you, have been sunk by Cangyuan before,” the reporter said.
Arrogance chuckled, his gaze at the reporter carrying a hint of menace.
“That’s what I need to add. First, I reiterate, Paradise Island’s warships have no issues with quality or combat power; they are far more advanced than Cangyuan’s equivalent products.”
“Galan and Apollo lost their battles because their crews were garbage. Especially the Jialan, they are an inferior race, filled with inherent genetic flaws, resulting in an average IQ of only 85, making them very foolish, regardless of their citizen level.”
“Coupled with a lack of rigorous training, they simply cannot handle complex fleet battles.”
“But now the situation is different! In addition to leasing new warships to the Jialan, we will also lease them elite crew teams, and we will provide paid training services, which will completely unlock the true power of Paradise Island warships.”
Arrogance turned and looked at the audience on the other side of the camera.
“If anyone thinks I’m bluffing, feel free to come and test the Galan fleet!”
Anya turned off the television.
“Clearly, he’s enticing the merchant fleet to actively attack Galan; he must have some trump cards up his sleeve.”
Hmm...
Lu Yuan looked at the Apocalypse Queen.
“So what kind of trump card do you think it might be?”