Genius of the Rules-Style System

Chapter 1011: Chapter 504: The Code of the Gods_3

This was just an ordinary project.

Applications involving large-scale projects required careful scrutiny, and sometimes he even had to personally visit the site to see and hear for himself before deciding whether to approve it.

"Difficult indeed!"

"Everything is difficult, and leadership is no easy role," said Liu Zecheng with a shake of his head. What frustrated him the most was that, coming from a scientific research background, many people in the Department of Science and Technology viewed him as all-knowing, but in reality, he wasn’t much stronger than anyone else.

"Director Liu! Director Liu!"

The voice of his assistant calling from outside made Liu Zecheng’s mood a bit better. His assistant always called him ’Director,’ making him feel as though he really was one.

Although the difference in rank wasn’t too significant, whether he might be promoted one step higher in this lifetime was genuinely uncertain.

Liu Zecheng shook his head and waved his hand, calling out, "Come in!"

He then frowned and scolded, "Didn’t I say not to disturb me in the morning?"

"My apologies, Director, but there’s a situation," the assistant reported. "It’s Academician Zhao’s application, a large project that no one else can decide on."

"A large project, how large?"

Liu Zecheng said indifferently, "Since it’s a project applied for by Academician Zhao, if the funding doesn’t exceed ten million, just approve it directly."

"It exceeds..."

"It exceeds? By how much?" Liu Zecheng remained unconcerned, thinking that ’several tens of millions’ was a trivial amount because Zhao Yi was applying.

"Initially, two hundred million."

"What?"

"Initially, two hundred million in funding. The project application states that there will be additional funding requests later on, with the total budget potentially exceeding one billion."

"Pfft!"

Liu Zecheng spat out a mouthful of tea, exclaiming, "How much did you say? One billion?"

"Yes."

The assistant nodded affirmatively.

Liu Zecheng gave a bitter smirk, realizing that a project requiring such enormous funding was beyond his authority to decide upon.

Indeed, the Department was the funder of projects, supporting research beneficial to the development of science and technology. However, it wasn’t a ’tycoon.’ Each year’s project funding had to be nationally allocated, meaning the scientific research budget was limited.

Outside businesses may claim they invest many billions in development every year, appearing insignificant. Still, they focus solely on fixed-area research, while the Department was responsible for much more, easily accounting for over one hundred billion. Their support was for projects beneficial to national scientific development and needing subsidies, not commercial research; the subsidized project funds were ’irrecoverable costs,’ with each project being a ’pure expense.’ ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

Major projects with funding exceeding one hundred million could almost be considered national projects, requiring appeals to the highest authorities, meaning decisions were made by top leaders.

After hearing his assistant’s report, Liu Zecheng no longer felt like continuing his tea. He hurriedly followed to take a look at the project application.

Then, like everyone else...

He was stunned!

"What is written in this application? They’ve discovered the divine code to deciphering space?"

"They need to research the divine code, to construct large devices..."

"Antigravity devices?"

"Photon research?"

"What is all this about!"

Liu Zecheng’s eyes were filled with confusion. He felt as though he wasn’t reading a project proposal but a ’secret manual’ on how to become a deity.

Finally, he sighed and decided to make a trip to Yanhua University to have a face-to-face talk with Zhao Yi and see what the situation was.