Chapter 436: Chapter 214: Underground Gold Vault Chapter 436: Chapter 214: Underground Gold Vault The Drone swiftly submerged underwater and in a very short time had moved far enough from Guam. Only after reaching a sufficient distance from the US Military Base on Guam did the Drone stop advancing and then remained motionless at a depth of 600 meters below the sea surface. It was at this point that the Drone completely rid itself of the threat from the US Forces in Guam.
Only then did Yan Fei relax his tensed muscles, as his operation that night had finally been completed successfully. He never anticipated that his task would proceed so smoothly, rendering all the contingency plans he had secretly devised meaningless. However, this was the outcome he had most hoped for, after all, he didn't want every mission to be fraught with unexpected events that could leave him hanging by a thread.
With his mind at ease, Yan Fei began to inspect the changes that had occurred after the Drone's Upgrade. After Yan Fei had chosen the B-2 Stealth Strategic Bomber as the template for the Drone Upgrade and performed an on-site scan of the B-2 Stealth Strategic Bomber in the hangar of the US Air Force Base, the images of the other four stealth bombers disappeared from the Upgrade Template, leaving only the B-2 design.
After the selection and scanning of the Drone Upgrade Template were completed, the Drone Upgrade button still appeared grey and unclickable, but next to the upgrade button, a bright red question mark now displayed new text explanations:
The Raw Materials required for this upgrade: Gold: 1000 tons; Special Alloy: 10000 tons; Bio-materials: 10000 tons.
Special Items: 3 pieces. (Already acquired)
After completing all the pre-tasks, this was the last step of the Drone Upgrade. It was also the required amount of Raw Materials for the Drone Upgrade. As long as these Raw Material requirements were met, the Drone could be upgraded again.
However, when Yan Fei looked at this final upgrade condition, he felt somewhat bewildered. Although he had anticipated that the Drone's upgrade would be extremely challenging, he did not expect the last upgrade condition to be so exacting. Not only did it require Special Items, but also Bio-materials and Special Alloys, and most importantly, a thousand tons of gold.
Until now, Yan Fei had not understood the relationship between the Drone's upgrade and the Raw Materials. The Special Alloy was one thing, but gold was just a precious metal. How could such a high-tech item as the Drone need so much gold to upgrade? Could it be that this gold was to be paid as compensation to someone, and then he would receive the upgraded Drone? Furthermore, the appearance of Bio-materials in this Drone Upgrade suggested that perhaps the Drone would take on the characteristics of an organic being post-upgrade?
Despite his internal complaints, Yan Fei meticulously examined the situation of these Raw Materials. The specific data for the Special Alloy had already been precisely listed. Yan Fei immediately searched the Database of the Auxiliary Brain, which contained data downloaded from the Internet. With the efficient search capabilities of the Auxiliary Brain, he quickly found that this type of Special Alloy was already for sale domestically within China, and not just one company could produce it, ensuring that there would be no issues with the supply. However, the price for this specific metal was somewhat high, with each ton costing more than fifty thousand. But Yan Fei, potentially China's future richest man, could afford it. Buying all 10000 tons of Special Alloy would only cost him 500 million RMB.
As for the Bio-materials, it was very straightforward. Any plant could be considered a Bio-material. The world was not lacking in plants, after all. Yan Fei just needed to spend a little money to collect a variety of trees, and once he had amassed ten thousand tons, the Bio-material requirement would be satisfied.
Whether it was Special Alloy or Bio-materials, neither posed a problem for Yan Fei. As long as he was willing to spend money and wait a while, he could easily gather all that was needed. Among the Upgrade Materials, the most difficult to obtain was that thousand tons of gold. Currently, the domestic price of gold in China was over 300 RMB per gram, with one ton of gold valued at around 300 million RMB, and a thousand tons of gold could cost as much as 300 billion RMB, or over 40 billion US Dollars.
Yan Fei had once robbed Oogawa Bank in Japan of several dozen tons of gold. After using some for a previous Drone Upgrade, he still had about twenty tons left, securely stored in the Universal Space. However, these remaining gold reserves were a drop in the bucket compared to the needed thousand tons and were completely inadequate. Yan Fei had previously made a fortune in Europe by cleaning out the Assassin Sect's assets, and with the 10 billion US Dollars in betting funds offered by the South Korean Taekwondo Alliance, he had already amassed over 20 billion US Dollars. Yet even with such funds, it was still less than half of what was needed to purchase the gold.
In today's world of economic instability, gold, being a solid currency, has become increasingly precious with gold holders reluctant to sell. Thus, even if Yan Fei had enough money to purchase gold around the world, it is doubtful that anyone would be willing to sell it to him. If word of his gold-purchasing efforts were to leak, the price he would have to pay to acquire a thousand tons of gold could far exceed 40 billion US Dollars. Therefore, the thousand tons of gold seemed a very harsh demand for Yan Fei, one that he could not meet with his current wealth.