CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER 266 REACHING A COOPERATION AGREEMENT

Chen Xin’s ability, of course, has no range restriction. As long as he wants, he can upgrade anything.

For the system, as long as there are survival points and a physical reference, nothing is a problem; there are no restrictions.

Chen Xin can even regard the entire Flame Country or even the entire Blue Star as a whole and proceed to upgrade it, as long as he has enough survival points.

Of course, Chen Xin doesn’t have that many survival points. He would have to scour all the shelters in Flame Country to achieve that; otherwise, it’s mere fantasy.

If he ever reached that point, choosing between the Cosmic Emperor and the Death Star Fortress would be a tough decision for Chen Xin.

Luckily, Chen Xin doesn’t need to consider these things now, nor does he need to make choices. What he needs to consider now is whether to accept the country’s proposal for cooperation.

Upon learning that Chen Xin’s ability is unrestricted, the researchers’ eyes widened like bronze bells, almost glowing with excitement.

A limitless ability to improve anything, even if he cannot provide any scientific technology, as long as he can provide products, plenty of research institutions and researchers in Flame Country could reverse engineer his products.

So after confirming Chen Xin’s ability had no range limitation, the researchers’ first proposed cooperation plan was naturally to let Chen Xin stay in the Three Towns. The country would offer him the best treatment and establish a brand-new research institution around him. Chen Xin only needed to modify what the country needed according to demands.

But such treatment, akin to being kept in captivity, was obviously unacceptable for Chen Xin.

If Chen Xin truly had a so-called acquired savant syndrome, this treatment might not be unacceptable. After all, enjoying special national treatment in such an apocalypse is something most people dream of.

However, unfortunately for Chen Xin, his ability is based on survival points and the system.

Receiving special treatment from the state would undoubtedly make Chen Xin’s life very comfortable, and his parents would be well taken care of, but it would also mean losing a degree of freedom.

Given the importance of involving national strategic planning, Chen Xin might not even be able to use the restroom without guards posted at the door.

Under such circumstances, it would be much harder for Chen Xin to earn survival points than it is now.

By that time, manually improving something to improve his living conditions for survival points would no longer work. The only means to earn survival points would be through the promotion of the reverse-engineered products by the state, thus impacting others’ living conditions and letting Chen Xin earn survival points.

This is evidently unacceptable to Chen Xin.

Chen Xin’s refusal did not surprise the researchers. In fact, when a country truly takes someone seriously, various psychologists and behaviorists analyze it thoroughly, making Chen Xin’s decisions not difficult to predict.

As long as people are not mentally unstable, behavior is logical, and once the logic behind the thinking is understood and analyzed, predicting his choices isn’t difficult at all.

Therefore, from the start, the project group at the Space Launch Center, especially set up for Chen Xin, had prepared multiple cooperation plans; the proposal just presented was merely the most ideal option for the country.

Chen Xin’s refusal was also anticipated in the project group’s contingency plans, so the researchers smoothly proposed the second cooperation plan.

Chen Xin would collaborate with the country in his personal capacity, and the country would assign tasks to him in the form of project commissions. Chen Xin would improve specific items for the country, and the country would pay him based on the results of the improvements.

This cooperation model suited Chen Xin’s wishes quite well; the only thing to consider was the payment, which was an easily solvable issue.

After all, with one of the most powerful countries on Blue Star, no matter how astronomical the conditions might be for an individual, they are trivial for the state.

Moreover, Chen Xin wasn’t particularly concerned with this; gaining survival points from upgrades was his primary focus. The compensation paid by the country for an improvement project was just an added bonus for Chen Xin.

While not dismissible, it wasn’t something he valued highly.

After discussing and affirming a general payment model, Chen Xin reached an agreement with the country for cooperation.

After the agreement, the researchers eagerly took him to the exhibition room Chen Xin had visited before, where the communication device was still displayed.

Clearly, after Chen Xin’s last visit, the researchers had reverse engineered the communication device and quickly absorbed the technology to enhance their own equipment.

The equipment in front of Chen Xin was obviously upgraded.

"Is this the equipment I improved last time?" Chen Xin inquired of the researchers.

"Yes, this is the product we adjusted based on the equipment you helped improve last time, Mr. Chen Xin. The performance has greatly improved compared to the previous generation product. Thanks to the technology you used, we can now extend the base station coverage range to a radius of sixty kilometers," the researchers enthusiastically introduced their results to Chen Xin.

Based on the last equipment Chen Xin improved for them, after reverse engineering, although they couldn’t increase the signal coverage by 30% like Chen Xin did, they still achieved significant performance improvement.

Building large fixed base stations is sufficient to restore communications between two cities not far apart.

This was the original development goal of the equipment, and it seemed that the objective had now been achieved.

This also explained why the researchers had tested the communication equipment; they needed to determine the maximum communication range supported, then set up permanent base stations in cities across the country accordingly to rebuild the communication network.

Clearly, some researchers had a penchant for shortcuts, hoping Chen Xin would improve it further so they could continue reverse engineering.

This did not mean that the researchers lost their research spirit; they simply wanted to find the correct answers directly, thereby working backward to understand the solving process, reducing time spent on exploration and finding the thinking process for solutions.

After giving it some thought, Chen Xin nodded and agreed to their request.

Following the upgrade requirements provided by the system, he had the researchers prepare the materials. Chen Xin was eager to see how many survival points he could earn once the equipment was deployed, and the national communication network was restored.