Free Web NovelChapter 1420: Chapter 673 This is a real UFO!_2
Larry Ellison, who ranked third, is a magnate of a software service company.
The fourth-ranked Ma Hua is the CEO of the renowned Penguin Company. Affected by the rapid development of the domestic economy, Penguin Company garnered favor from many international speculators and was even on the verge of becoming the world’s number one Internet technology company.
Following them, there’s the well-known trio from the Walmart supermarket.
In short, due to the butterfly effect, the stock prices of the leading technology companies did not soar rapidly, which resulted in the absence of any major figures from these companies at the top of the wealth ranking.
Musk was no different. Despite controlling SpaceX and Tesla, he only ranked seventeenth.
Of course.
The wealth ranking is, after all, just a list of assets and doesn’t truly represent anything. The rankings on the list are not that significant, as some wealthy individuals ranked lower may not necessarily be less wealthy than those ahead of them.
This mainly involves the issue of asset liquidity.
If someone could have tens of billions of dollars in liquid assets, they would undoubtedly be the richest person on Earth, but Forbes’s list calculates assets, and asset liquidity is extremely difficult.
For example, take M Country’s taxation policy. Even disregarding the impact on the stock price, nearly half the taxes would have to be paid upon liquidating the shares into cash.
In other words, if a tycoon were to convert his shares into cash, they would shrink by at least fifty percent.
But that’s beside the point.
Zhao Yi, however, felt quite depressed. When the whole world was discussing Forbes, it seemed as if this topic followed him wherever he went, and every time he heard someone sighing.
"Zhao Yi, you’ve actually become the world’s richest man!"
"At our gathering a few days ago, I said you were rich, but I never imagined you were this rich!"
"We’re both researchers, both scientists, why can I only get a basic salary—"
These were Li Renzhe’s exact words.
Li Renzhe truly envied Zhao Yi, and he also quite enjoyed it. It was like what the students said back then; they thought it incredible that he knew Zhao Yi and felt it was a very prestigious thing.
Now, even more people talked about it, many students claiming he and Zhao Yi were good friends, and therefore he must be very wealthy too.
Li Renzhe cared about his reputation, so, of course, he would pretend to be, "I’m very rich, I just don’t show it."
In reality, he still lived on his salary, withdrawing a portion each month to save in a private account.
It was the same back at home.
The day Zhao Yi returned home, the first thing he heard was, "Zhao Yi! So many people talked to me about Forbes; you’ve actually become the world’s richest man!"
"No, it’s us who’ve become the world’s richest. My goodness, I’ve never imagined becoming the wife of the richest man!"
"You don’t know how envious Linlin was when she was talking about it—"
"So many people have called me, it’s really incredible!"
"I was just talking about it with my mom!"
Lin Xiaoqing had just finished speaking when she heard a shout from the doorway by Zhao Hongjuan, "The richest man has come back! Wait a bit; I’ll make something delicious for the rich son-in-law right away!"
—"!!"
Zhao Yi felt that their words were not so much congratulations, but a form of veiled sarcasm.
That evening, he also received a call from Liu Jing. His mother brought up the topic of being the richest and then switched to buying a car for his dad.
"Your dad mentioned earlier that he wanted an Unlimited Power Automobile, and I’ve been telling you about it."
"Heard just now that you became the richest man, and after thinking about it, Xiao Yi, how about we buy one too, just pay the regular price!"
"A little over a million, it’s not a big deal, right?"
Zhao Yi pulled at the corner of his mouth forcefully, his voice tinged with gloom, "Just let dad go directly to the Yixing Company’s parking area, pick any car he likes, and drive it away!"
"Don’t worry, it’s no problem."
"Or I can give you a phone number; you just call this number, ask for Xiao Zheng—"
Zhao Yi briefly explained, feeling somewhat exasperated.
——
The topic of the world’s richest person lingered for a while, and Zhao Yi did what he could by staying out of the conversation. Let others say what they would; he would just continue with his own work.
The most important task at hand was still the spacecraft project, where he served as the chief technical consultant, responsible for overseeing a multitude of data; but the most energy-consuming task was still attributed to the projects in the laboratory.
Additionally, he also needed to pay attention to the manufacturing and testing of Yixing’s small space vehicles.
Time passed in the midst of work.
Three months later, Yixing Company had big news: their experimental observation craft was complete and had passed its first internal test.
During its tests, Yixing Company’s observation craft was much faster than the spacecraft.
The first internal test entailed using the Aviation Group’s thrusters to directly transfer the observation craft into space, then allowing the craft to autonomously control itself to orbit the Earth three times, and subsequently perform an autonomous landing.
Since the testing of related components was completed upon manufacturing, proceeding with space testing wasn’t highly dangerous.
There were no astronauts on the spaceship, so there was no risk of personnel casualties.
This test was still very important; on one hand, it tested the spacecraft’s autonomous landing capabilities, and on the other hand, it was a test of stability, with the ground control system also being a vital part of the test.
Without any astronaut intervention, the observation craft could rely on an intelligent system and ground control system to smoothly complete a standard landing. The absence of any major issues during the process was tantamount to a successful test.
Zhao Yi wasn’t surprised when he received the news, for it was he who had designed the observation craft. freewebnσvel.cøm
Compared to the design of the spacecraft, the observation craft was much finer in detail, mainly because it was simpler and only involved an anti-gravity system. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
If it weren’t for the need to ascend to space, it would actually be quite similar to a large vehicle with only a few components like a power system, anti-gravity system, and control room—its complexity might not even match that of a fighter jet.
When the design is relatively simple, there won’t be many issues with manufacturing.
When manufacturing is relatively straightforward, testing won’t likely present major problems.
All these factors are interconnected.
After completing the first space test, the observation craft would undergo a series of ground checks and detailed testing. The next step would be a formal space test, where an actual space tourism group would carry out space missions with astronauts operating in the control room, the difference being that the passengers would be a large group of animals.
The first formal test of going to space was still crucial.
A key part was that the observation craft would use the propulsion devices ordered by Yixing Company to travel to space.
If the test succeeded, the propulsion devices would subsequently be installed alongside the observation craft, and then the observation craft would possess the capability to autonomously ascend to space.
This test would still take place at the Aerospace Bureau’s facility.
Because Yixing Company’s anti-gravity thrusters were manufactured in collaboration with the Aerospace Bureau.
Even though the new anti-gravity thrusters were designed by Yixing Company, the related technical standards were associated with the Aerospace Bureau, and testing there ensured safety.
This test wasn’t completely public, but many representatives from technology companies were invited to participate. The main purpose was to declare that Yixing Company was capable of manufacturing observation craft for space tourism.
Yixing Company would operate the observation craft, but since it involved only the anti-gravity system, they also considered selling it to others.
Yixing Company is a technological enterprise for space exploration, not a travel company. The focus was still on technology research and manufacturing. Having manufactured the space observation craft, the first consideration was definitely sales.
Relying solely on its own operations to cover the global ’space tourism market’ was simply unrealistic.
The day before the formal test, Zhao Yi arrived at the Aerospace Bureau and, along with the company’s technical staff, boarded the observation craft to have a look.
The observation craft’s technical parameters need not be elaborated; what’s most important is the large crew cabin positioned around the anti-gravity system.
Consequently, there was also an array of high-pressure glass windows through which one could gaze outside.
Such a structure, coupled with a disc-shaped anti-gravity device, made the observation craft look almost like a large UFO.
"A UFO, huh!"
"This is a real UFO—the control room at the center and the crew cabin around the perimeter!"
"Maybe there really are UFOs on Earth, those UFOs might be filled with hordes of aliens, coming to visit our planet."
"It’s incredible!"
Some people seeing the observation craft for the first time all expressed similar sentiments.
