Chapter 40

Walking out of the hospital, Gaoyang hailed a taxi and headed straight for the airport.

Halfway there, Gaoyang, who was feeling extremely hungry, stopped at a noodle stand and quickly got out of the car to walk into the small eatery.

It was almost two o'clock in the morning, and the owner of the noodle stand said he only had buckwheat noodles left. Desperately hungry, Gaoyang had no other requests; he just wanted something to eat.

The owner quickly fished the cooked buckwheat noodles out of the pot, placed them on a bamboo steamer, rinsed them with cold water, and served them to Gaoyang in a bowl.

"Is this it?" Gaoyang asked, speechless. Although he was extremely hungry, this seemed too simple! It was just like a plain spring noodle, without even scallions or salt. How could he eat this?

The owner soon brought over a small dish of seasonings, including mustard, scallions, dried fish powder, and sesame oil. Gaoyang poured everything into the bowl, mixed it hastily, and started eating in large bites. "Mm!" The noodles, made without any other flour, were chewy and refreshing, with an extremely fresh and delicious taste. Gaoyang finished half a bowl in one go and gave the owner a thumbs up, saying, "Great."

"Are you a tourist, sir?" At this hour, Gaoyang was the only customer, and the owner sat beside him, smiling and chatting a bit.

After finishing the bowl of noodles, the unbearable hunger finally subsided. Gaoyang paid, said goodbye to the owner, and hailed another taxi to continue his journey to the airport.

There was a reason why Gaoyang had been staying in the African mining area for the past six months. An important matter was about to yield results.

Tak Bungura Ali was a young man from a Punu tribe village near Gaoyang's mine. He had been working at Gaoyang's mine for a long time. Six months ago, Gaoyang's company gave all the workers in the mining area a malaria vaccine injection. Ali, of course, received the vaccine, but he didn't know that the vaccine he received was different from the others!

Moreover, while the other villagers only received one injection and then had no further issues, Ali had to be taken to the medical room for a full check-up every month!

However, Ali didn't feel any discomfort. Instead, he felt that his body was full of strength! He was in great shape! Any injuries he sustained while mining healed quickly!

Ali had been injected with a gene repair fluid that Gaoyang had obtained from the Origin for 7,700 energy points!

According to the Origin, this drug was used for natural human officers in its timeline. In that timeline, the physical attributes of natural humans were far inferior to those of bio-warriors, so this drug was developed to greatly enhance the physical attributes of natural humans.

Gaoyang wasn't interested in enhancing physical attributes; what he valued was the drug's ability to significantly extend the lifespan of natural humans! This was an irresistible temptation for Gaoyang, not just for himself but also for his parents, relatives, and loved ones. The importance of this drug to Gaoyang surpassed even that of the Asian warship!

However, unlike other things, this drug, which directly affected the human body, was something he wouldn't dare to use on his parents even if the Origin swore it was safe!

Thus, after careful selection, Mr. Ali was chosen as the test subject. During the six-month observation period, all of Ali's data indicated that the drug was effective and had no issues.

Upon returning to the mining villa, Gaoyang breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the final report of Mr. Ali's physical examination. He had finally completed an important task.

In a great mood, Gaoyang went to Libreville to visit his parents in Bern. Before boarding the plane, he went to the port to load the crude oil from 1925 onto a second-hand 74,000 DWT Panamax oil tanker named Pulao.

As modern industrial goods purchased by Gaoyang gradually arrived, he began to increase the amount of crude oil he bought from Mobil in 1925. Now, two tankers were not enough to transport the oil, so Gaoyang had already ordered four 318,000 DWT energy-saving and environmentally friendly VLCCs from China Shipbuilding Trade Company and Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., each costing $87 million!

Gaoyang requested an expedited construction schedule, for which he paid an additional $100 million in construction costs! The $800 million ship purchase contract made domestic shipbuilding companies very happy. They had planned a grand press conference to publicize it, but Gaoyang required that the buyer's information not be disclosed, or the contract would be void! Those who had planned to publicize their achievements were thoroughly disappointed.

Gaoyang's parents in Bern received his call and prepared a sumptuous dinner for him. Although Gaoyang called his parents almost every day, the distance was considerable, and he hadn't seen them for a long time due to his busy schedule. Most importantly, since he started university, the family had rarely gathered together.

Around 7:40 PM, Gaoyang arrived at his family's villa, and it was already dark. The gate opened, and the security guard skillfully drove the car into the parking lot. Gaoyang, carrying gifts he had bought in Africa, walked towards the living room.

"Son." His parents had already heard the commotion and came out of the living room to greet him. "Dad, Mom." Gaoyang happily hugged his parents and handed the gifts to the new butler, a genuine British gentleman.

Baron Geoffrey Stock was 61 years old and had served as the butler of Windsor Castle for Queen Elizabeth II for 20 years. He was granted a baronage and his own estate upon retirement.

After firing the previous butler, Gaoyang invited him through an intermediary. Initially, Baron Stock politely declined, as he was old and found it embarrassing to work for an Asian nouveau riche.

However, after Gaoyang offered him an annual salary of £6 million, the baron finally agreed. After all, in this era, there were few things that money couldn't solve.

Since Baron Stock's arrival, the villa had been well-organized, and Gaoyang's parents were very happy living there. Gaoyang was satisfied with his work, and the butler's rich experience greatly reduced the possibility of malicious individuals infiltrating.

Entering the living room, Gaoyang put his belongings and coat on the sofa. "Mom, you made so much delicious food." Gaoyang smiled as he looked at the dishes on the table. "Sit down and eat, they're all your favorite dishes," his mother said with a smile.

There were no unnecessary formalities during the family meal, and the atmosphere was very pleasant. Just as they were chatting happily, his mother suddenly said, "I really want a grandson."

"Uh!" Gaoyang's chopsticks paused as he was about to pick up an egg, his expression hesitant as if facing a difficult problem.

"What's wrong? You're not young anymore, haven't you thought about getting married?" his mother asked with a smile.

Gaoyang turned to his father for help, but his father seemed to have heard nothing, slightly lowering his head and eating from his bowl.

"You, you're almost thirty, how can you not get married?" his mother said with a hint of reproach.

"Mom, I'm in the prime of my career, I'm really busy. How can I have time to date?" Gaoyang said helplessly. "Without time to build a relationship, how can there be feelings? Without feelings, how can there be marriage? This is a lifetime commitment."

"That's true. What if you marry someone who's only after your money?" his father finally spoke up.

"Time? Didn't they say on TV that time is like toothpaste, you can always squeeze some out. Now that we're so rich, I never imagined such a life before! Are you still busy? How much more money do you want to make? As long as it's enough, that's fine. I don't care, but you must bring a girlfriend home for the New Year!" his mother put down her chopsticks, puffed up, and said, "A real girlfriend, not an actress you pay to fool me." She then got up and left the living room, leaving the two men staring at each other.

"Cough, I'm done eating." His father put down his bowl and left with a relaxed expression, leaving behind the light remark, "You need to hurry up." Gaoyang was left to his own troubles.

After staying for two days, Gaoyang bid farewell to his parents and flew to the capital. SC Trade's business was growing, and its reputation in the industry was gradually rising. The rented office building was no longer sufficient. Coincidentally, the landlord demanded a rent increase, so Gaoyang decided to buy a newly built office building in the CBD of the capital. The building was 260 meters tall, with 57 floors above ground and 6 floors underground, covering a total area of 165,000 square meters.

Since many floors had already been rented out before completion, Gaoyang had to pay over $30 million in breach of contract fees for the overall purchase. The total cost of the building was nearly $800 million! Not only did he use up all the gold stored in the central bank, but he also had to transfer over $100 million from his private account in Switzerland to complete the transaction.

Although it cost a lot of money, Gaoyang didn't mind at all. He had an entire timeline's worth of resources to spend!

In the 1925 timeline, Mobil sent Gaoyang over 1 million barrels of light crude oil every month!

The people at Mobil were very puzzled. Although there was a 100,000-ton oil storage base and a refinery in Wuhu, the shipping volume calculations showed that it couldn't hold all the oil! They wanted to investigate Gaoyang's secret, but every time the oil tanker arrived at the port and the oil was transferred to the storage area, everything seemed normal. No one who secretly investigated ever returned, so the matter was dropped. After all, Gaoyang had never shortchanged them a single cent!

Mobil also received Gaoyang's latest request to build a super oil storage base with 28 tanks, each with a capacity of 27,000 cubic meters, for a total storage capacity of nearly 700,000 tons in Lisheng Beach, Zhenjiang!

This massive project greatly stimulated Mobil, and they specially ordered 12 giant oil tankers with a capacity of over 26,000 tons each from Newport News Shipbuilding, the largest shipyard in the United States! Mobil no longer cared where the already paid-for oil went.