Chapter 366: Warm Up

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The product under investigation was the Xinghai Computer.

At present, the Xinghai Computer’s domestic market share was about 90%, exerting absolute market dominance.

Of course, Xing Hai Technologies was not producing entire computers. They were mainly selling CPUs. As the Qinglong, White Tiger, Susaku, Xuanwu and other CPUs had exceptional performance and were reasonably priced, they were very popular and favored among consumers.

On that account, the CPUs were dominating the market. CPUs of other brands held less than 10% of the market share. Hence, Xing Hai Technologies were suspected of monopolizing the market and were subjected to antitrust investigations.

Swiftly, investigations ended. Xing Hai Technologies was penalized: they would need to pay a one billion dollar fine. They would also have to provide the technical license of the most advanced CPU architecture to Loongson Corporation free of charge. This would increase the market competitiveness of Loongson CPUs and prevent Xinghai Computers from running the show all alone.

Yes, Loongson was still alive.

After many years of development, Loongson CPUs had occupied 5% of the domestic computer market and 30% of the foreign computer market. Their development was rather good. They could be considered to have opened up a world by themselves.

Before Xing Hai Technologies, however, they seemed a little overwhelmed They could barely amass some low-end customers courtesy of their low pricing. They did attain a rather outstanding performance in the foreign market which Xing Hai Technologies did not place much value on during the earlier phases of their development.

They are the Z nation’s AMD: this was the netizens’ evaluation of Loongson.

Loongson also had a big group of fans.

However, the position of Xinghai Computers in the market didn’t budge. Loongson’s product performance was always lagging behind by half or an entire generation, no matter how favorable their product’s price tag was. Only those who had a sentimental attachment to the company would pay the bill. Most rational people would still opt for a Xinghai Computer.

With more than 90% market share, Xinghai Computers were a hair’s breadth away from “monopolizing”. Hence, for the consumers benefit, Xing Hai Technologies had to license the most advanced CPU technology to Loongson. In addition, the government had increased its support for Loongson, giving large amounts of purchase orders to Loongson Computers.

But as the PC market was apparently sluggish and it was the VR devices that were in favor, these penalties only had a meager effect towards Xing Hai Technologies.

However, anyone with common sense could sniff out the warning hidden within.

Many advising voices sounded:

“Stop playing with fire. Just play your part earnestly.”

“First of all, a city free of charge is not at all practical. This kind of human experiment will only cause Xing Hai Technologies’s competitiveness to plummet. Your wish to legally avoid taxes could be justified, but if more than a hundred billion dollars evaporates in an instant, it will be detrimental to the development and the prosperity of first-tier cities. Taking in the whole portion for yourself and totally forsaking mutual benefit is something that nobody would allow!”

“Planting trees in the deserts would be enough. Why move the whole company and all your employees over? Everything is so convenient in prosperous Shang Hai. Why would you even consider moving to the cold and cheerless desserts? Mr. Chen, I can give you a 20% discount on my building. Could you move everyone back quickly? Please?” the housing developer said. He was an acquaintance of Chen Jin and had made the phone call in desperation.

“Better put on the breaks while you still can. Stop standing against everyone. Some institutions cannot be offended.”

Gentle criticism.

Meaningful advice.

Subtle warnings and so on.

This time, Xing Hai Technologies had disturbed the benefits of too many, thus provoking lots of dissatisfaction.

The mainstream public opinion was all hoping that Xing Hai Technologies would alter their course of action and stop straying further and further in the wrong direction.

Chen Jin nodded.

He knew that the “Tech City” erected in the desert had obviously harmed the benefits of many. It had led to a decline in GDP in many places. It had caused a myriad of high-priced houses to remain unsold. Tax revenue was also severely trimmed down.

Even if Xing Hai Technologies’s course of action was reasonable, legal and indisputable, once you damaged the benefits of others, you would be the one in the wrong. People would instantly become displeased or even turn on you. They would no longer be putting up a friendly face.

Furthermore, Xing Hai Technologies itself was not without loopholes. Aside from Xinghai Computers, Xing Hai Technologies held market dominance for a bountiful collection of core products that would generate for them an even higher revenue while having absolutely no competent rivals. If the field of those core products were also subjected to antitrust investigations, Xing Hai Technologies would be severely injured if not dead. Thus, they would have to be cautious in their actions so that they would not sacrifice the bigger benefit for the sake of such trivial amounts of cash.

However, Chen Jin was not a reckless, harebrained person. He would never commit to something that he had no confidence in. Everything he did was carefully considered, including the great migration and the free city. He had considered all the risks and their corresponding solution.

…

October 20X0.

Xing Hai Hospital, Northwest Desert Transformation Zone.

A medical experiment of grave importance had reached its final stage.

Through remote video communication, Chen Jin inquired about the latest results of the experiment. “Mr. Lee, how is the medical effect? Is it in line with the deductive results of the supercomputer?”

“It matches completely!” Medical expert Lee Khang was overseeing the experiment. “We have found 10 elderly people who are over a hundred years old on average. We have administered various courses of recovery treatments to them. All the treatments are yielding excellent effects.”

“The ‘Life 1’ agent we developed greatly extends the DNA telomeres of the human aging cell. It increases the number of the cell’s divisions by 30 instances in which each cell division is at least equivalent to a one-year life cycle. We can vaccinate people with the ‘Active 1’ which enhances cell activity. It revitalizes the body cells to that of youngsters in their twenties and thirties. There is also the ‘Antioxidant 1′ vaccine which possesses exceptional antioxidant capabilities. The effect of this concoction is spectacular. It can make your skin as tender as a baby.”

“Mr. Chen, have a look at these recent photos of these elderly and compare them to the photos taken at the beginning of the experiment. The effects are astonishing, aren’t they?”

“By the way they look, I would say they seem to be in their thirties at most.”

“Their physical age, and the functionality of their internal organs like the heart, kidneys, and liver, is roughly equivalent to that of a 50-year-old middle-aged person. It means that our life-prolonging medical techniques can make people look 70 years younger and allow their internal organs to function as they did 50 years prior to the treatment. After treatment, these elderly people can theoretically live for another 50 years.”

“If people keep opting for the life-prolonging treatment for a second or third time, the effects should still be there. But considering the weakening of internal organs and the deposition of heavy metals in the liver and spine, the effects of the treatment will definitely lessen. Overall, however, wealthy people with resources to expend will not have too much of a problem in prolonging their lifespan by 80 to 100 years.”

In short, 50 years was the base and 100 years was the crest. Xing Hai Technologies’ life-prolonging technique could extend human lifespan by 1.5 to 2 times.

Chen Jin nodded and asked again, “How about the technology’s maturity and reliability?”

“The treatment on our first 10 test subjects all ended up in success. The computed reliability is 99.99%, but we dare not assume it to be exactly as so in reality, unless we can perform the treatment on more than a million test subjects.”

But this would require approval from the relevant authorities, and using one million test subjects would inevitably encounter massive resistance. After all, humans were not lab rats, even if the reliability of life-prolonging technique was very high.

“Let’s announce it first then!” Chen Jin said after some thought, “It is not possible to promote the treatment within the short term, but the time is ripe for the preliminary warm-up phase to begin.”

Prolonging lifespan for at least 50 years! He refused to believe that those few figures out there would be able to turn a blind eye towards it.

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