Deep Space Wandering Fleet

Chapter 203: Chapter 203: Entrepreneurial Craze (Combined 5000 words!)

Chapter 203: Chapter 203: Entrepreneurial Craze (Combined 5000 words!)

Xu Jie and Wang Junpeng racked their brains, pondering ways to make a fortune.

This society mostly comprised young people, not supporting idlers, and if they were to starve to death on the streets, they would simply be spat upon without any sympathy from anyone.

“…Traveled 20 light years, if we were to starve to death, that would be ridiculous! We’d be worse than a disgrace…”

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Currently, the best option was to work in a large state-owned enterprise, where the salary was high and the benefits were good.

However, the two of them had rather poor skills; after playing around for a few years, they had almost forgotten all their professional knowledge.

Even if there were job vacancies, companies wouldn’t necessarily want them. People hired were not there to retire but to work; without sufficient knowledge, they would only hold the team back.

The next option was to further their education at a university!

Deep Space University and Star University had restarted their enrollment plans for masters and doctoral students, responsible for training even higher-end talents.

While studying, there would be numerous opportunities for practical social experience, as well as a certain amount of living subsidies; anyway, they wouldn’t starve to death.

But, of course, going back to school required passing exams, and they weren’t likely to qualify with their current levels.

“Don’t go back to school, after having played for so many years, who needs more school, it’s annoying!” Xu Jie muttered to himself.

“Then there’s only one last option left, start our own business!”

“Start a business? Start what?”

Newspapers, games, social networks, comics, movies, and the like all have professional teams. There’s even a millennia of cultural heritage from Earth, accumulated over many years of video games, comics, movies, novels, and all kinds of miscellaneous entertainments—enough to keep people occupied for a lifetime of gaming, a lifetime of movies!

Even if they knew some programming, they were only cannon fodder level, certainly not capable of creating games better than those on Earth.

“It won’t work, we can’t compete with others under these circumstances,” Wang Junpeng pondered for a long time and sighed.

“Maybe go into finance, Bitcoin?” Xu Jie had a sudden wild idea, “Set up a computer to issue currency, how about that?”

“Issue your big head ghost, is that thing any use? You must be stuffed from overeating, who would speculate on this… and it would be a waste of electricity…”

While the two were frowning in worry, suddenly, the big screen in the square lit up, starting to play the day’s news broadcast. Whenever this happened, Central Square in Zone A would be packed with people, all watching the news broadcast together.

Citizens of the new civilization had relatively high social engagement and information flow was updated quickly; without watching the news, one would have no idea what changes were happening in the whole society.

An attractive female anchor was announcing today’s news on the screen: the first news item was that the first commercial bank had been formally established to promote economic growth, especially in terms of favorable conditions for entrepreneurial loans, with current interest rates close to zero, of course, limited to entrepreneurship.

A large social project “Genetic Matching” had received a substantial loan and was starting official operations.

The second news, the spaceship was about to reach its final destination, ready to start the first phase of the geological survey!

At the sound of this news, cheers erupted from the playground.

Xu Jie and Wang Junpeng looked even more troubled, some had received loans and started businesses, and others were proudly about to work on the surface of the planet, but what were they supposed to do?

They still didn’t have jobs!

Satellite 1, a terrestrial planet, smaller than Mercury yet bigger than the Moon, had a certain magnetic field on its surface, meaning its core hadn’t completely cooled off and could still potentially experience geological disasters.

Of course, according to current observations, the chances of a global volcanic eruption are very low.

“…Ladies and gentlemen, the main objective of this scientific expedition is to select a location rich in mineral resources, with few geological disasters, and close enough to the Space Elevator to serve as the primary development base… Our scientists have launched a satellite, and now we have Professor Xie from Deep Space University, a geologist, to give us an introduction…”

After the news broadcast ended, everyone around began to get excited, holding forth about how to develop the industry in the first phase, how to smelt iron, make glass, and so on.

Some people were saying it’s definitely impossible to make chips directly. There had to be a gradual climb, a progressive process; a great leap forward was impossible. Even with advanced lithography machines, it wouldn’t work.

Others were even saying that for the time being, they wouldn’t focus their main efforts on high-end chips. With such a small population, priority had to be given to developing more critical survival industries…

There was all sorts of bluffing and nonsense, making it seem as though they were experts at the research institute.

However, after listening to these conversations, Wang Junpeng suddenly had a flash of inspiration that struck his mind like a bolt of lightning, piercing through his brain!

Make money!

A way to make money!

Wang Junpeng jumped up from his seat, his face flushed as he said, “The new civilization currently isn’t lacking in technology; what’s missing is experience, time, and population.”

“It’s impossible for us to get every industry off the ground in a short time.”

“Right, so what? Everyone knows that the legacy of Earth Civilization can feed us for a good long while.”

Xu Jie said irritably, “The first issues to resolve are definitely medical, environmental, and food-related survival problems. According to government plans, we should use the best biological technologies to extend our lifespans. Although it’s a bit annoying, I also think it’s more important than developing the mobile phone manufacturing industry… Who doesn’t want to live for three hundred years?”

It was as if Wang Junpeng hadn’t heard what he was saying, prattling on to himself, even unconsciously lowering his voice, “Everyone is talking about chips, chips, but even if we knew how to make them, reaching the cutting edge is too complicated. It requires a tremendous amount of manpower and material resources; the industry chain is just too long.”

“Look!” Wang Junpeng took out his cellphone, “This is a smartphone produced on Earth, which after three thousand years of trials, most are no longer usable.”

This phone was the once extremely popular “Huawei 888” space phone, designed by Huawei Company specifically for life in space. Some of its performance had been reduced, but in exchange, it had great stability and was durable enough to crack walnuts.

But after a journey through the stars, it had completely broken down. According to Wang Junpeng’s research, its battery had died, but the core CPU hadn’t been damaged and was still barely usable.

He then opened another cellphone, a black and white screen like a pager, a product of the new civilization with only the most basic communication functions. It could send text messages, make phone calls, check email, and that was about it.

In terms of quality, the consumer electronics currently produced couldn’t hold a candle to those brought from Earth.

“And in the next ten, twenty, thirty years, we might not be able to catch up. What we’re aiming for now is functionality, addressing basic needs, not chasing perfection.”

“Could we… perhaps make use of waste? Haha, we absolutely can!”

His voice grew louder yet he tried to suppress it, not wanting the people around to hear.

This rush of adrenaline turned his face red like a balloon, as if it would burst if pricked with a needle.

Xu Jie looked at him in astonishment, “Dude, recycling waste? You’re not thinking about picking up discarded industrial trash, are you? I’m not about to collect scrap metal! And even if we picked up the trash, we can’t process it… We have neither the technology nor the equipment!”

“Pick up trash?!” Wang Junpeng laughed mysteriously, “I’m talking about recycling old cellphones! You don’t understand waste utilization… We can’t make cellphones, but can’t we assemble one?”

Xu Jie was shocked. His mouth hung open for a long time before snapping shut. Then, realizing the potential, a surge of elation began to fill him.

Yes, this plan… was feasible!

Quickly, Wang Junpeng and Xu Jie reported their startup plan to the bank, hoping to borrow some funds based on their personal credit.

The newly opened bank was highly efficient. They had just submitted their report in the morning, and by the afternoon, the money had been credited to their account.

At once, the two of them began their “old cellphone recycling” and “trade-in your old for new” reign as scrap kings.

It actually sounded simple: take three broken cellphones, disassemble them, and use the good parts to reassemble, perhaps managing to put together two working ones. Wouldn’t that make money?

As for how to assemble… well, that was easy. As tech enthusiasts, unless the models were particularly bizarre, there shouldn’t be any problem.

With a credit loan of 100,000 in their pockets, Wang Junpeng and Xu Jie walked nervously across the square.

They rented a temporary stall, put up a sign, and then, with great determination, started calling out loudly, “We buy old cellphones, old computers, tablets… Top prices paid for your old electronics!”

This sort of hawking really did attract the attention of passersby.

“How much would you recycle this phone for?”

It was a Huawei P999, a very popular space phone on Earth at the time, but it was no longer possible to power it on.

Wang Junpeng examined it, turning it over and over, then clenched his teeth and said, “It looks well-maintained, 1000 bucks!”

“That’s only half a month’s salary… Forget it, I won’t sell it.” The person shook his head, preferring to keep it as a memento.

“Hey, buddy, don’t go, 1200, I can’t offer more!” Wang Junpeng hurriedly called out.

“…” The guy hesitated a bit.

“1300, take it or leave it. I’m bleeding out here!”

“Deal!”

Just like that, after the first transaction was completed, the second and third ones came quickly… The 100,000-yuan loan was spent like water, and in half a day’s time, over a hundred electronic devices were collected.

The two of them returned home with a huge pile of junk, utterly thrilled.

But if the startup failed, it would be disastrous. 100,000 yuan was not a small sum, and the money from the bank was the government’s money. Nobody dared to default on their debts. In such a small society, even if you wanted to dodge your debts, there would be nowhere to hide.

“Don’t be a broken chip, don’t be a broken chip, don’t be a broken chip!”

A broken chip would be beyond their ability to repair. If only the battery or other parts were broken, it might be salvageable… especially the batteries, whose technological requirements were actually not that high. Humans were able to produce some these days.

Like praying to the gods, Wang Junpeng repeated this several times in his heart, and then picked up the screwdriver to begin the inspection and assembling process.

The two almost spent the whole night with red eyes, and finally, at three o’clock in the morning, Wang Junpeng couldn’t resist sleepiness anymore and dozed off.

When he woke up, he found his good friend Xu Jie sitting on a stool, eating instant noodles and weeping bitterly.

“It’s over, Old Peng, it’s over. I could only assemble 21 phones… And only 21 of them can be powered on.”

“…We need to sell each one for 5000 to break even, there’s no way we can sell them, everything is over! Wuuu…”

Wang Junpeng’s heart turned cold, that was a loss of seventy to eighty thousand yuan – no joke!

He tried to calm himself down.

He looked at the various parts on the table, which were already sorted out by model.

“The main problem is that there are too many types of machines, and their parts are not interchangeable… Damn…”

At that moment, Wang Junpeng truly hated the mobile phone manufacturers on Earth. They created so many models that it made it impossible for them to assemble them all.

“Don’t rush, we might not lose money yet, check how many parts are completely broken.”

“Not that many. Usually, on a phone, only one or two parts are broken.” Xu Jie answered, “Mainly concentrated on the battery, RAM, and ROM… and also some issues with capacitors and ribbon cables, which I can’t possibly fix…”

“You rest for a bit… I’m going to go out and see how much money we can get back.”

Walking down the corridor toward Central Square, he kept thinking: “For phones that can be powered on again, three thousand is probably the psychological bottom line for people, impossible to sell for five thousand, so…”

“Got it, those parts we can’t use are still our assets!”

This time, Wang Junpeng stopped collecting old phones because there was indeed no money in the account, and instead started the “old phone repair” service.

A row of phones that could be powered on quickly became the best advertisement, but when they heard the steep price, people hesitated. After all, they were just assembled goods with no guarantee, how could they be sold so expensive?

The first customer to open for business turned out to be Zhang Yuan… Minister Zhang!

“How much to fix a phone?” Zhang Yuan was passing by and remembered that today was his wedding anniversary… Buying a little gift for Lin Xuanyuan didn’t seem like a bad idea.

“What… eight hundred? Eight hundred to fix a phone?” Hearing the amount the other party quoted, a vein throbbed on Zhang Yuan’s forehead.

With eight hundred, one could buy so much food. As the first customer, surely they couldn’t just fleece me!

Wang Junpeng nervously explained, even though the customer was a minister, they couldn’t suffer a loss with a fire sale, “The repair cost is 500, I really can’t go any lower. The parts needed for this phone are not ones we can manufacture. We have to harvest them from other phones; as we use one, we lose one!”

“I really can’t go any lower than this, or we would be operating at a loss!”

“Ah, alright then. Just make sure you do it quickly.”

Zhang Yuan reluctantly handed over five hundred, watching the other person swiftly assemble the phone, the bag of parts likely all salvaged from old recycled phones.

“We would never have thought of this…”

He pondered in his mind. There really was wisdom in the common people. It was clearly not appropriate for the government to handle these trifling matters. However, this style of individual entrepreneurship could indeed unleash some hidden productivity and stimulate job creation…

After tinkering for half an hour, the broken phone was actually fixed, and the screen lit up once more.

“Thanks!”

Seeing that Zhang Yuan left very satisfied, the crowd of onlookers around them began to stir.

Although there was no warranty on the assembled phone, compared to old clunkers, it still far surpassed them in superiority.

The quality of life improvement a smartphone could provide was just enormously excessive—playing games, watching movies, listening to music, anything goes!

All of a sudden, Wang Junpeng was surrounded by a throng of people. Even if it was a little more expensive, as long as it could be fixed… there was no way it wouldn’t be a hit!

“We’re rich, we’re rich!”

…

Even though he spent five hundred, Zhang Yuan’s mood was still quite good. As soon as he returned home and presented the gift, he immediately received a sweet kiss.

The pleasant music and excellent photographic capabilities delighted her as if she was a little girl again.

“Oh, I remember now, it was those ‘trade-in’ guys, tsk tsk, this damn good idea made them rich just like that.” Lin Xuanyuan held onto it fondly, and couldn’t help but comment, “But seeing them power up again, it really… makes me so nostalgic.”

Their salaries were just around two or three thousand a month.

“How much to fix a phone? It seems very expensive…”

“Five hundred… it’s not expensive!”

Lin Xuanyuan jumped up from her spot, exclaiming softly, “Ah, 500… that’s totally wasteful! Don’t buy these things again. It’s not a big deal to live without a phone.”

Zhang Yuan smiled, picked her up, and said, “Isn’t the money we earn meant to be spent? As long as it brings happiness, there’s no need to be frugal!”

His gaze turned towards the window. A new civilization was blooming, old institutions revived—such money-making opportunities were still plentiful.

These young people were able to get credit loans so easily mainly because the government wanted to establish some examples. To show more people the job opportunities and chances to strike it rich… Everyone aspired to a better life, and with role models in place, the public’s entrepreneurial spirits had been fully aroused.

Even those who hadn’t found work knew that society was brimming with wealth. With services or other diverse industries, as long as one used their brains and hands, they could fill the gaps the government never thought of and improve people’s quality of life.

Of course, a new civilization is a new civilization, and indeed, the first one to venture would be rewarded. However, such simple work would soon see competitors and imitators arise; it was impossible to maintain a complete monopoly in the end. Everything would still have to be determined by technology.

He quickly put this small matter out of his mind. What came next was even more important… The first planetary exploration project was about to begin!