Chapter 404: The Solar System State through Cheng Ping's Eyes_1

Cheng Ping thought he had fallen into the hands of the Solar System State and might spend the rest of his life in prison.

He had met with Jiang Yu a few times and knew that Jiang Yu could sometimes be petty, and was a man who never let a grievance go unavenged.

When Cheng Ping served as the rotating chair of the PDC, he had caused Jiang Yu a lot of trouble; now that the Solar System State wanted someone, it was definitely the Wallfacer who intended to settle scores with him.

Even if Jiang Yu spared Cheng Ping, the highest executive officers of Earth, Moon, and Mars of the Solar System State would not let him off, since over the years, Cheng Ping had only made adversaries of them.

Many of the items Cheng Ping borrowed from the Solar System State he treated as if they were aid, skimping on rent when possible and haggling over maintenance funds.

As for the debts to the Solar System State, he had deferred them to thirty years in the future, to the point where Cheng Ping figured with so much debt, he didn't have to worry anymore.

Otherwise, the PDC would not have been able to develop so many industries on near-Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars in just a few years!

Cheng Ping thought that everyone in the Solar System State must hate him so much that their teeth itched.

On the way to Jupiter City, Cheng Ping was prepared for humiliation.

Even at this moment, he had not given up hope; he had heard the story of King Goujian of Yue when he was a child, and knew that as long as one lived, anything was possible.

When Cheng Ping disembarked the spaceship at Jupiter City, a young man with black hair and blue eyes, a somewhat mixed-race face, was already waiting at the dock:

"Hello, Mr. Cheng, I'm Sean Zachary, an intern at the Wallfacer Office. You can call me Sean.

"For the next while, I will be taking you on a tour of the Solar System State."

Cheng Ping was taken aback, "A tour?" He thought he had heard wrong.

"Yes, a tour."

Cheng Ping opened his mouth, wasn't he here as a prisoner at the bar?

It took him a second or two before he asked, "What places can I visit?"

Sean smiled and said, "The Wallfacer has instructed that, aside from the top-secret projects of the Solar System State, you can visit any other place."

Without much thought, Cheng Ping blurted out, "I want to see the most advanced nuclear engine production workshops of the Solar System State!"

"No problem, right this way."

It took another second or two for Cheng Ping to hurriedly catch up with Sean's pace. Previously, Cheng Ping had tried everything to buy, or even steal and forcibly take, the most advanced nuclear engine technology of the Solar System State.

But ultimately, none of his actions succeeded, and he could only buy the expensive finished products from the Solar System State.

Now his request had been so easily agreed to?

Cheng Ping was somewhat incredulous, and then he thought that perhaps he would never return to the PDC.

If Jiang Yu planned to show him such confidential things, he surely didn't intend to let him go back.

In the midst of his sigh, Cheng Ping was suddenly surprised again—Humanity's and the Solar System State's most advanced nuclear engines were apparently not the highest level of classified technology in the Solar System State!

At that moment, Cheng Ping's emotions were like a roller coaster, up and down, filled with a mix of feelings.

In the end, he could only lament that the PDC had wasted too many opportunities for development over the last half-century!

Lost in his thoughts, Cheng Ping followed Sean to an airlock door situated at one side of the dock.

As Sean began to open the door, Cheng Ping paid it no mind, assuming it led to another dock.

But when the airlock opened, Cheng Ping was shocked to find the pitch-black space outside and Jupiter, the size of a washbasin!

Cheng Ping broke out in a cold sweat, preparing himself to be sucked into the icy void of space and instantly frozen solid.

At that moment, he even thought that this was the execution Jiang Yu had prepared for him!

"Mr. Cheng, Mr. Cheng!" Seeing Cheng Ping shaking and pale, Sean called out to him with concern, "Are you alright?"

Cheng Ping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and asked, pointing to the space outside, "Is that, is that a backdrop?"

"No, that's space," Sean smiled. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you, this is the first dock in the Solar System exposed to space.

"Of course, 'exposed in space' is just a gimmick, or you could say an adjective; beyond the dock, a force field isolates the cold and oxygen-less environment of space."

"This way, the cumbersome process of ships entering an airlock is eliminated, greatly saving time for takeoff and docking of ships."

Cheng Ping swallowed saliva: "How come I've never heard of it?"

As he spoke, he followed Sean outside. The air was a bit cool, but not cold.

The vast and flat expanse of Space City, like a huge open area, now had markings for docking ships on the flat areas, though not many ships were parked outside, and those that were, were small ones.

Sean led the way with a smile, "You have been suspended for over two months."

Cheng Ping looked out at the vastness of space and exclaimed, "Just over two months and Jupiter City has undergone such great changes?"

This was definitely an invention that could shock the human world, yet the young man in front of him didn't seem to make much of it.

It made Cheng Ping think that this was probably a show of strength.

Sean took Cheng Ping onto a small spacecraft, heading towards an industrial city on the periphery of the Jupiter Civilization Circle.

On board the spacecraft, Cheng Ping talked a lot with Sean, mainly about the daily lives of the people in the Solar System State.

He was an excellent official and could judge from these everyday details that the lives of the people in the Solar System State were getting better and better.

The PDC had always mocked the Solar System State for its advanced technology, while its citizens had a generally lower standard of living compared to those of the PDC.

Now, it seemed that the previous standard of living was only behind because the Solar System State was channeling all its energy into military preparedness.

Now that the war was over, the standard of living of the people was starting to rise steadily.

When they reached the industrial city, Sean was shocked by the mechanical structure and advanced level of the entire city. He was certain that even in the heyday of the PDC, there had been no industrial city as advanced and concentrated as this.

And within the Jupiter Civilization Circle alone, the Solar System State had five such industrial cities!

Back in Jupiter City, Cheng Ping requested to see the tax and finance reports, statements, and other such documents of the Solar System State.

Through these documents, Cheng Ping saw the investments of the Solar System State in military, technology, and civilian life.

Apart from some classified military projects, Cheng Ping could infer from the investments of the Governing Council in technology and civilian life alone just how incredibly powerful the Solar System State had grown.

Previously, someone had said in front of Cheng Ping that the PDC still had room to exist because the Solar System State considered the PDC a burden and thus neglected it.

Cheng Ping had always scoffed at this notion, believing that it was because the Solar System State itself was too burdened and incapable of absorbing the PDC.

Now, it appeared that the Solar System State truly viewed the PDC as a burden, almost as if it was leaving it to fend for itself.

If the Solar System State even exerted one-fifth of its effort to confront the PDC, the PDC would already be without a place to be buried.

Today, the Solar System State is investing a great deal of its wealth in improving the lives of its people and striving to provide jobs for new immigrants, truly too preoccupied to bother with the PDC.

After spending several days in the sea of tax and financial statements, Cheng Ping made a request to Sean, "I want to meet with Wallfacer Jiang Yu!"

Sean touched base with the Wallfacer Office, "That's possible, but not until tomorrow; the Wallfacer is preparing for an important meeting right now."

"I request to attend this meeting."

Sean was taken aback, "Please wait a moment."

He went outside again to contact his superiors, and it took more than half a minute before he came back through the door.

Cheng Ping was already screaming inside: Reject me, please! Such a presumptuous request, please just reject me!

It was incredibly frustrating for him; in the PDC he could hardly move, yet in the Solar System State, his passage was unimpeded.

Sean smiled, "The Wallfacer has agreed, but you may only observe.

"The meeting starts in just over twenty minutes. The attendees won't wait for you, so you'll have to join in the middle of it."

Cheng Ping forced a smile, "Why?"