Chapter 39: Little Cherry Blossom is Getting Desperate
To begin with, no nation across the entire Blue Star currently possesses the capability to mine resources on neighboring planets. Reaching the Moon is already the absolute limit; bringing back even a tiny pinch of soil from the lunar surface is exceptionally difficult, and stable resource extraction is completely out of the question.
To achieve stable mining conditions, one must at least possess spacecraft capable of traveling back and forth between planets, as well as tools or personnel capable of conducting surface mining operations!
Setting aside the latter for a moment, being able to freely transport personnel back and forth between planets is essentially no different from interstellar travel in science fiction blockbusters, and the difficulty is unimaginably high.
Consider the former: tools capable of conducting surface mining would have to be robots. And they cannot be mere ordinary robots; they must possess a certain degree of intelligence. This leads right back into the realm of artificial intelligence technology.
Therefore, what seems like a simple sentence and a promotion standard is actually not easy at all when it comes to advancing from a Level 1 civilization to a Level 2 civilization. Simply building a spacecraft capable of stable interstellar round trips is something no nation can achieve right now, because there is simply not enough energy and propulsion to support it.
The prerequisite for achieving this step is solving the energy problem, and solving the energy problem leads right back to controllable nuclear fusion technology. Thus, it is evident that the foundation for transitioning from a Level 1 technological civilization to a Level 2 technological civilization must at least involve the complete mastery of controllable nuclear fusion technology.
"No wonder the system's exchange suggestion list put controllable nuclear fusion technology as the second item right after lithography machines. It really is about building the foundation step by step," Lin Yang muttered to himself.
He had been slightly puzzled earlier as to why such advanced technology was offered right from the start. Now it made some sense; this was paving the way for the advancement to a Level 2 civilization. Without the system's exchanges, relying solely on the current technological development level of Blue Star, mastering controllable nuclear fusion technology would remain impossible even a hundred years from now.
The elevation of a technological civilization is indeed not that simple!
Immediately afterward, Lin Yang stopped dwelling on this aspect. Elevating a technological civilization was still a bit too far off. Planetary resource extraction was also a matter for the future.
The primary task right now was to establish military deterrence and put controllable nuclear fusion technology into application first.
He searched for the intercontinental ballistic missile exchange. The intercontinental ballistic missiles in the system mall were divided into three tiers.
The first tier matched the current standard of intercontinental ballistic missiles on Blue Star, featuring a range of about eight thousand kilometers and a terminal speed of Mach 25.
The second tier was formidable, doubling both the range and the speed directly, with a terminal speed reaching around Mach 100!
As for the third tier—rather than calling it an intercontinental ballistic missile, Lin Yang felt it was more appropriate to call it an interstellar missile. Its range was a full one hundred thousand kilometers, and its speed could reach a staggering Mach 1,000!
What does Mach 1,000 even mean? It is faster than lightning! Lin Yang found it hard to imagine what it would be like for an object to fly at Mach 1,000! Forget about Mach 1,000; even the second tier's Mach 100 was already difficult to visualize concretely!
Because this meant that launching a second-tier intercontinental ballistic missile from his home country to the Beautiful Country would take only a little over five minutes!
As for closer nations like Sakura... Well, it basically meant that by the time they realized such an intercontinental ballistic missile was being launched at them, they would be melting away in the very next second. They would only have time to glance up at the sky before the explosion occurred.
"Reaching almost any spot on the globe in five minutes is more than enough!" Lin Yang locked in the exchange for the second-tier intercontinental ballistic missile.
Of course, it wasn't impossible to exchange for the third tier; it was just that, given Blue Star's current technological level, the number of national treasures required for the third tier was simply too high—it required two thousand national treasure points. Meanwhile, the second tier only cost two hundred points! The cost-effectiveness was obvious at a glance.
"Still, even if it only costs two hundred points, I can't afford it right now. It looks like I'll have to make a run through Sakura Country and scour for some cultural relics."
After deciding on the second-tier intercontinental ballistic missile, Lin Yang glanced at his pitiful ten national treasure points and let out a helpless sigh. Who knew how long it would take the Grand Academy of Sciences to successfully manufacture a 0.1-nanometer lithography machine, and waiting indefinitely was not a good strategy.
National treasure points were in desperately short supply! Rather than passively waiting, it was better to take the initiative!
Back in the day, Sakura did plenty of evil across the lands of Shangxia, and the cultural relics they looted must be substantial—at least far exceeding the few found in the city of Dongdu! Now, it was time to bring all the cultural relics belonging to Shangxia back home!
No sooner said than done! After casually eating breakfast, Lin Yang bought a ticket and set off.
With the false identity meticulously forged by the system, he didn't need to worry about being discovered at all.
As Lin Yang swung into action, the cultural relic collectors within Sakura Country welcomed a terrifying nightmare!
Wherever Lin Yang went, he could precisely and thoroughly take away all cultural relics originally belonging to Shangxia, whether they were kept in museums or hidden in private residences. They simply could not escape the system's detection!
Of course, this process wasn't entirely smooth sailing. The security at the estates of certain super-rich individuals was astonishingly strict. In such cases, he had to pay an extra fee for the system to provide secondary camouflage.
On two occasions in broad daylight, he even stumbled upon some unmentionable scenes. Regarding this, Lin Yang could only sigh that the fellows in Sakura really knew how to play! They truly lived up to their nation's erotic reputation.
In particular, he once stumbled upon an affair. Guided by the principle of criticism, Lin Yang snapped some evidence and posted it on a local forum, essentially helping the cuckolded husband claim the moral high ground. This could be considered doing a good deed every day. As for what kind of chaos would erupt in that household afterward and whether it would cause massive trouble, what business was that of his?
As Lin Yang gradually made his presence known across various parts of Sakura, news of local cultural relic thefts began to dominate the trending lists of every social media platform in Sakura!
At first, no one paid much attention. However, in just two days, over fifty wealthy relic collectors and museums had been hit, and the number of stolen ancient Shangxia cultural relics exceeded a thousand pieces!
Such a dense wave of thefts could no longer be covered up, and it instantly surged to the top of international news headlines!
This made the people of Sakura unable to sit still any longer. With Shangxia cultural relics being stolen one after another across multiple locations—and only Shangxia cultural relics disappearing inexplicably—the modus operandi was an exact replica of the previous disappearances in Dongdu, immediately plunging the people of Sakura into a state of anxiety.
Back in Shangxia, netizens were jubilant! This method was far too familiar!
"That legendary master has made a move again! He's definitely planning to bring back every single one of our cultural relics currently stranded in Sakura without leaving a single one behind!"
"A god! Truly a god!"
Netizens discussed animatedly, filled with adoration.
Even more thrilling was that, as the cultural relics vanished in Sakura, the Shangxia Cultural Relics Bureau successively issued announcements declaring the receipt of overseas cultural relic donations from an anonymous individual! The number of donated relics was nearly identical to the number of missing relics within Sakura's borders!
This left the official authorities of Sakura completely unable to remain calm! They immediately held a press conference demanding an explanation from Shangxia!
"This is clearly a premeditated and organized operation! We demand that the Shangxia authorities provide a reasonable explanation!" The people of Sakura were desperate!