Chapter 54

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"Boss, how much is this automatic marking buoy?" The more he looked at it, the more he liked it, so Jifeng decided to buy some to mark his own sea area first, to avoid future disputes with neighboring countries.

A middle-aged man, who looked to be in his forties, walked out from behind a pile of warship models. Seeing Jifeng standing in front of the automatic marking buoy model, he smiled and said, "Young man, this is military-grade, so it's a bit more expensive, 180 dragon coins each. However, there's a civilian version that only costs 50 dragon coins."

Jifeng shook his head. What use would he have for the civilian version? There was also a civilian version on display, but the description clearly showed it was far inferior to the military version, especially the automatic alarm feature that Jifeng liked.

"How much for the technology?" Almost all products in the market could be purchased along with their manufacturing technology, provided you had the necessary foundation. For something like an automatic buoy, the basic technology wasn't too complex, so it was possible to manufacture it after buying the technology. However, for something like a nuclear power box, Jifeng didn't even bother thinking about the manufacturing technology, as he wouldn't be able to implement it even if given the technology, so buying the finished product was the most practical option.

"If you buy more than a hundred, I can give you the manufacturing technology for free." The boss smiled in a somewhat simple manner, but his pricing was absolutely ruthless.

Just a hundred automatic buoys could be exchanged for 90 World War II-era aircraft carriers.

Jifeng almost always used World War II aircraft carriers to gauge the cost of anything he bought. After all, he had a rough idea of the cost of an aircraft carrier, which made him realize how expensive this small item was.

After calculating his remaining dragon coins, Jifeng found he still had a large amount available. "150 each, I'll take a hundred including the manufacturing technology. If you agree, I'll buy it; if not, I won't."

The boss chuckled and shook his head. "Young man, the profit margin isn't that high. The lowest I can go is 170, and I can't go any lower. At most, I can give you a cargo ship to use directly in the sea. I really can't offer any more discounts on the price."

Since Jifeng had nothing else to do, he started haggling with the boss. In the end, he bought a hundred for 16,500 dragon coins, and the boss gave him the complete manufacturing technology. After some persistent negotiation, the boss also gave Jifeng a 10,000-ton bulk carrier and ten civilian automatic fish lures.

Holding a one-time space bag, Jifeng hummed a tune as he returned to the hotel. Looking at the new cargo ship in the space bag, he felt as happy as a little fox who had stolen a chicken. The new bulk carrier itself wasn't worth much, but once disassembled, it would reveal technology at least 30 years ahead of its time. If he ever started a shipyard, mastering the technology of this cargo ship would make him a world-renowned shipbuilder.

After dinner, Jifeng, eager to get started, drove out of the hotel. He arrived at an uninhabited road in the south, parked the car in the Shenlong space, and teleported a few miles out to sea. Tearing open the space bag, a huge cargo ship appeared beneath his feet.

Landing lightly on the cargo ship, Jifeng smiled as he touched the metallic, spherical automatic marking buoys, feeling quite pleased. With this, no one would dare to intrude on his sea area.

Jifeng took a tour of the cargo ship. Despite the darkness, it didn't hinder his vision. The hundred automatic marking buoys were neatly arranged in two rows on the deck. Each metal sphere, weighing several hundred kilograms, could not only mark the water area but also had an automatic warning function to alert all passing ships that they were entering or leaving the Jeju Island sea area.

While the automatic marking buoys were great, Jifeng actually liked the gifts more. After a tour, he went to the bridge. Although the buoys were excellent, they still needed to be placed. Jifeng took out his phone, opened the map, and placed it on the bridge platform, then pressed the start button of the cargo ship.

This cargo ship was truly amazing, at least in Jifeng's opinion. The entire ship could be navigated by one person, and operating it was as simple and convenient as driving a car.

However, when Jifeng actually started the cargo ship, he realized it was very different from a car. The steering wheel could rotate 360 degrees to complete turns and other operations, and the power output could be fully automated. It took Jifeng over an hour to get used to it before he could smoothly drive the cargo ship away from the previous water area.

For someone who had never driven a ship before, being able to drive it normally was already quite good. Wiping the non-existent sweat from his forehead, Jifeng couldn't help but smile bitterly. He wasn't a genius; even with such an intelligent cargo ship, he almost turned it into a bumper car.

Checking the damage to the cargo ship, it was fortunate that there were no large underwater reefs nearby, or he would have been in trouble. Even though he could control metal, a 10,000-ton cargo ship was beyond his current capabilities at the second level of the Body Strengthening Technique. After a few close calls with two reefs, the cargo ship's bottom was scratched but not seriously damaged.

Jifeng first drove the cargo ship to the eastern naval base and called Xu Qiang, asking him to send over a new platoon of soldiers. By the time they arrived, it was already midnight.

"Jifeng, where did you get this stuff?" Xu Qiang personally boarded the cargo ship on a fast boat. Seeing the deck filled with automatic buoys, he patted the metal sphere in surprise.

Jifeng handed the driving task to Captain Song and relaxed. As the cargo ship continued east, he smiled and said, "Uncle, I saw how hard you and the soldiers work on patrols, so I ordered these from a friend. They are automatic buoys with radar and sonar warning functions. The monitoring system will arrive in a few days. Once you receive it, you won't need to patrol the sea in boats anymore. You can monitor the entire sea area from the base, and you'll know immediately if any ship enters our 30-nautical-mile zone."

Xu Qiang's eyes lit up, almost drooling. "Oh? The latest American equipment? That doesn't make sense. If it were American, they wouldn't have it themselves. Did someone trick you?"

Black lines appeared on Jifeng's forehead. He said with a wry smile, "I won't tell you where I ordered them from, but you should know that these are the most advanced automatic buoys in the world. Just place them every 50 nautical miles along the boundary with Japan."

Hearing Jifeng's simple explanation, Xu Qiang became curious. Just throwing them in, wouldn't they drift away with the current? Shouldn't they be anchored to the seabed? Others use buoys to mark shipping lanes or for ocean measurements, but his future son-in-law was using them to mark his sea area, which was quite unique.

Jifeng took out a laptop, the automatic supervision and control system for the buoys. After activating all the buoys on the laptop, the cargo ship arrived at the boundary with Japan.

But when Xu Qiang saw Jifeng about to place the buoys, he became anxious. He ordered the soldiers to continue east for several more nautical miles before stopping. "Jifeng, don't get me wrong, but even though your sea area looks large, you shouldn't be so generous as to give it to Japan. This area was previously controlled by South Korea and will be our sea area. There's no reason to let Japan benefit."

Black lines appeared on Jifeng's forehead again. His agreement clearly stated the easternmost sea area. Moving east by several more nautical miles could lead to future disputes, which Jifeng didn't want. It was just a sea area, not that large, and there was no need to be so particular.

However, seeing Xu Qiang's firm attitude, Jifeng decided to keep quiet. "Fine, do as you wish."

Shaking his head and sighing, Jifeng took the laptop to a buoy and pressed the only button. A small green dot appeared on the control screen. He waved, and several soldiers pushed the buoy into the sea.

With a loud splash, several meters of seawater splashed up, and ripples spread out. In the blink of an eye, the automatic buoy sank into the sea, out of sight.

Xu Qiang, however, leaned in to look at the laptop, which displayed real-time information collected by the buoy.

The screen showed the buoy's depth, distance from the seabed, water temperature, current speed, and other basic information. After pressing a few more buttons, Jifeng activated the buoy's radar, sonar, and alarm functions.

Clicking on the radar icon, all ship information within 50 nautical miles appeared on the screen, each represented by a small green dot, proving there were no military ships in the monitoring range.

The clear information stunned Xu Qiang. He pointed at Jifeng's laptop and asked, "Will the future monitoring system be like this?"

Jifeng nodded slightly and said, "It will be similar, but the custom system is more advanced. This one is simpler and is only used for activation and cannot monitor all the buoys."

Xu Qiang rubbed his chin, looking at the laptop with glowing eyes. Even this basic version had already shown him the charm of advanced technology. South Korea didn't have anything like this, and he wondered where his mysterious future son-in-law had gotten it from.