Chapter 149 The Mysterious Stone Slate

Chen Fan returned to the side of the dock after the phone conversation ended. Once there, he used the tip of his foot to nudge Wang Bing, who was squatting on the floor, playing with some ants.

“Go and find a team of renovators to renovate the whole dock, and change the signboard while you are at it.” Chen Fan pointed with high spirits at the shipyard’s perimeter walls, which had some red bricks exposed on them.

“Do you also want to make take out some advertisements at the television station?” Wang Bing asked, as he stood up. “Nowadays, everything is about advertising. As long as you are willing to fork out more money, customers’ orders are guaranteed to keep on coming. I can foresee that we will be building spaceships after a few years of building seaships.”

“Go away! I am not expecting to earn money from this!” Chen Fan cruelly interrupted Wang Bing’s endless blabbering. With a dark smile, he said, “I hope to see a whole new shipyard after two days. Otherwise… Hmph!”

The gentle breeze of autumn wind lifted Wu Ruoyu’s smooth and silky golden hair, as she was sitting on a bench under a willow tree. She held onto her bank card, as if it was her marriage certificate, while staring at the main gate of Chen Fan’s house. Her head was filled with many thoughts.

She had Chen Fan’s phone number, but for unknown reasons, she would rather sit and wait mindlessly on the bench by the lakeside than phone that hooligan! Looking at the time, she saw that it was already noon.

“Could it be that he is not coming back for lunch?” Wu Ruoyu murmured to herself. As she was prepared to leave, Yun Meng, who came home riding a bike, happened to enter her line of sight.

Wu Ruoyu stood up, then waved at Yun Meng with a smile. “Where is Chen Fan? Why is he not coming back with you?”

“He told me that he will be back soon. Why? What happened? Is there something that you need him for, big sister?” Yun Meng had a sweet and tender voice, one akin to a skylark.

“Nothing much. Please pass this card to him when he reaches home, and inform him that the password is 888888!” Wu Ruoyu smiled, as she carassed Yun Meng’s head.

Yun Meng was shorter than Wu Ruoyu by half a head. Wu Ruoyu might have guessed some of Yun Meng’s misfortunes, but never in her wildest dreams could she have guessed that Yun Meng had been adopted by Chen Fan in order to be his backup wife! Wu Ruoyu was still thinking that Yun Meng was just an adopted little sister of Chen Fan’s!

“He will be coming back soon. Isn’t it more appropriate for you to pass it to him personally?” Although Yun Meng had not been widely exposed to society yet, that did not mean that she was stupid! In fact, she had managed to recognize the words “Bank of Construction and Development” on the bank card, so she understood that bank cards with passwords meant that there must a money balance on it. Yun Meng had always avoided any matters related to money, as she was afraid of any accidents that might occur due to her own carelessness!

Yun Meng had just finished speaking, when a black BMW sounded its horn, pulling over in front of them from the corner of the road.

“Big Brother Chen Fan! Big Sister Ruoyu was just saying that she has something for you!”

“What is it?” Chen Fan scratched his head, puzzled at the thought of Ruoyu giving him gifts.

Maybe it is a love letter?

“This is something that my uncle wanted me to hand over to you. The password is 888888, and there is ten million on it!” Wu Ruoyu handed him the card, despite being very reluctant to do so. However, in the process, she explicitly expressed negative facial expressions towards Chen Fan!

“Wow!” Standing at the side, little Yun Meng’s mouth made an “O” shape, and her eyelashes blinked rapidly, wondering at the large number of ten million.

“So this is it…Hehe, you are making me embarrassed.” Chen Fan awkwardly touched the back of his head with his left hand, but stretched out far with his right hand to take the card.

Chen Fan gleefully kept the bank card in his pocket after Ruoyu left. It was a great help to have it, since he didn’t have much money left on his person.

Not long after having lunch, Zhang Xueyang called to notify him that the 10 tons of titanium alloy plates had been delivered. He also requested that Chen Fan quickly go over to receive it.

The moment Chen Fan walked past the shipyard’s main gate, he saw a green Cummins cargo truck that was parked at the center of the courtyard. Everyone, including the yard’s crew, which consisted of more than 20 persons in total, were already unloading the goods. Those 12 silver-colored titanium alloy plates were unbearable to watch, as the sunlight shining on them was nearly blinding.

“How is it all?” Zhang Xueyang touched the stubble on his chin and said, “Exactly 10 tons of titanium alloy, which costs exactly 5 million Renminbi, all present and accounted for.”

“Don’t worry, I will pay you the exact amount.” Chen Fan knocked on the silver metallic surface with his fingers, saying, “What is your account number again? I forgot!”

“The same goes for me, as well.” After Zhang Xueyang gleefully told him a bunch of numbers, he posed a nonsensical question to Chen Fan. “Brother Chen, where is my combat war machine?”

“Combat war machine?” Chen Fan couldn’t make heads or tails of what he had said, so he asked, “Since when did I owe you a war machine?”

“Remember what you said on the phone the other day?” said Zhang Xueyang, his face filled with indignation. “You told me that you would give me a combat war machine when I invited you to my birthday party, which falls on the 15th of this month. Today is already the 14th.”

“Why are you organizing a birthday party, like a girl, when you are such a big man?” Chen Fan actually did remember about the party after being reminded, but he could never get Zhang Xueyang what he had promised.

“What do you know?” Zhang Xueyang rolled his eyes, then raised his eyebrows as he slowly said, “The birthday party is just an excuse. The real motive for my hosting the shindig is to be able to openly invite beautiful girls to join the party!”

“Forget about it, man. Don’t you already have a girlfriend? And yet, you are still thinking about all of that nonsense?”

“Girlfriend?” Zhang Xueyang gave a smirk. “Well, I actually have two girlfriends, but it’s been causing me too many headaches lately! I have been trying to think of ways to avoid them meeting each other at the party.”

“Ho.” Chen Fan felt depressed, listening to Zhang Xueyang’s babbling about his “headaches.” Since the metal plates had now been unloaded completely, he said, “Then you better get going to deal with your headaches now!”

“You better not forget about tomorrow’s party. I don’t mind about the present, since you won’t be getting any cake, even if you attend. I don’t want to get my face painted as a birthday prank, either!”

After sending off Zhang Xueyang, Chen Fan coughed loudly a few times, in an attempt to gather the workers’ attentions.

“Boss!”

“Boss!”

All 23 workers now had their eyes on him.

“Ahem.” Chen Fan pointed at the pile of titanium alloy and said, “I am giving everyone an order. I need everyone to use those raw metal materials to build a submarine. Of course, what I am asking for is not a real submarine that can dive, float, or navigate in the sea, but just a submarine model that is roughly 20 meters long and 5 meters in diameter.”

“Boss, wouldn’t it be a waste to build the outer shell with titanium alloy? After all, 500 grams of this thing already costs over 20 Renminbi!” A middle-aged dark-skinned man in his forties, known as Jiang Shui, asked.

He was the worker with the most experience in this shipyard, who also happened to possess the best craftsmanship. When he was about 13 or 14, he had started repairing wooden boats by the seaside.

When the country’s economic condition had gotten better, he started to repair and build metal ships. Although he did not have any official certificates, and his highest education qualification was only at the primary school level, his skill for building ships was on par with those professionals with the highest level of qualifications and skills.

“Old Jiang, why are you so concerned about it, especially when it’s not your own money?” A man standing beside him laughed.

“Can’t I give our boss some advice? I never said that I would not build it.” Jiang Shui touched his nose. “I will follow the boss’s instructions, even if he is determined to use gold to build a submarine.”

“Alright, listen up!” Chen Fan waved his hands. “I want a streamlined submarine to be built, with its doors tightly sealed, just like a real submarine. If I find any part of the submarine that I am unsatisfied with, I will be deducting the cost to replace it from your salary.”

“Old Jiang, come over here for a while. You will be in charge of monitoring the work process and supervising any technical issues.” Chen Fan waved his hands at Jiang Shui.

When he walked closer, Chen Fan took out a big piece of white paper and spread it on a titanium alloy plate. Pointing at the submarine blueprint, Chen Fan said, “Install a spiral propeller at the back of the submarine, too. As for the internal structure, just follow my designs. I want not only want lighting equipment, but also a large central air conditioner, a freshwater storing cabin, a compressed air tube cabin and several other things.”

“Boss, then how about the submarine’s electricity generating system? If we are installing a diesel fuel generator, it would exhaust the air inside the submarine rapidly!”

Jiang Shui looked at the blueprint, feeling puzzled. Could it be that this young boss is an adventurous person, who was planning to simply float freely around the world?

“Just use a bundle of series of connected large batteries for the electricity generating system. Oh, and install a power socket for every cabin as well.”

“No problem boss. It will probably take up to three days to complete the outer shell, whereas the inner structure should take around five or six days.”

These requests were quite simple for Jiang Shui. In fact, this would be easier than building some small fishing boats. The only troublesome matters would be the bundle of series of connected large batteries and the time spent on decorating the submarine.

Chen Fan nodded his head. “I want you to use the best materials for the interior decorations. And, ah yes, go ahead and place goat fur carpets in there, while you are at it.”

“Don’t you worry boss. I guarantee that I will make it look just like a royal palace,” Jiang Shui said with a smile.

“Then you better start work immediately. I want it to to be done as soon as possible.”

Chen Fan did not know anything about building submarines, nor did he intend to participate in the process at all. So, he went back home with his car after giving a few more instructions to the workers.

Chen Fan himself was living comfortably amid luxurious facilities, but the electric eel’s dwelling place was a little unbearable in comparison. It was still dwelling in the large cave that had been dug out from the place filled with stones.

By this time, the electric eel had grown to measure nearly 80 meters long and five meters wide, with its four limbs spanning three meters in length, its claws measuring two meters, and its body filled with black scales. By merely releasing over 5,000 watts of voltage, the scales shone with blue electric sparks that looked extremely pretty in the dark.

Placing his thoughts onto the electric eel, Chen Fan first simulated the pituitary gland for half an hour, as usual, before continuing to dig the 400 meters deep hole in order to train its body.

The land of the sea area was made out of fairly solid soil layers. So, initially, it was a slow excavation process for the electric eel. However, ever since it had shed its skin and gained enormous strength, with the help of a long spear to utilize for digging, the speed of the process had increased significantly.

Excluding the time that it took to remove the soil from the 400 meters deep hole, it was estimated to be able to excavate roughly 10 meters per hour on average. However, five percent of the time was still spent on transporting the soil.

The hole had a diameter of 20 meters. Now, the electric eel had started digging towards the sides, instead of downward, aiming to expand the inner bottom space of this now 400 meters deep hole to 200 meters wide, before continuing to dig downwards.

Only then, would there be enough space for the electric eel to live within it. Since this hole was in the sea, unlike on land, there wouldn’t be a concern of it caving in, due to the buoyancy force of the seawater.

Every time the electric eel used the titanium alloy long spear as a digging tool, it was possible to extract about seven to eight tons of soil, all with a single, aggressive stab! Even so, to dig an enormous cave in the middle of the deep sea surface, especially one full of reef, was an enormously time-consuming task. Luckily, Chen Fan had a lot of free time to commit to this project.

Rumble!

Suddenly, the whole area slightly trembled, when the electric eel struck the hole wall with its long spear. The titanium alloy long spear itself even kept vibrating non-stop.

The long spear happened to strike upon a large rock. As this cave was being excavated in the center of the reefs, it was not surprising that it had encountered a large rock. In fact, there were already prior incidents, where the electric eel had dug out a few rocks.

However, this rock was unexpectedly big. It took the electric eel nearly 1,000 hours to lift the rock out from the soil with its long spear.

The shape of the rock was very structured, as if it had been polished by men before. It was two meters thick, five meters wide, and seven meters tall. It had a flat lower surface and a slightly sharp top end, almost like the shape of a shield from ancient times.

“Eh? This is…”

Just when Chen Fan was about to control the electric eel to throw the huge rock away, one side of the rock caught his attention. The electric eel then overturned the rock with its two strong claws in order to take a better look at it. To his surprise, he saw that there were lines, with a rich combination of abstract and postmodern art styles, that were carved on the back of the rock. The lines were roughly the size of a child’s arms, each one clearly embedded on the surface of the rock.

“Is this the work of men or a natural formation?” Chen Fan scratched his ears for a long time, afraid of making rash conclusions.

These lines were full of vicissitudes, a rock painting style that is similar to that of ancient times. However, ancient rock paintings always had motifs of humans, animals, weapons and the like, thus making them very easy to understand, despite their being abstract.

Take Burqin Country, Xinjiang, for example: those heritage workers, who had observed close to 200 ancient paintings, usually found pictures of men and horses on rock paintings. There was nothing else represented that could make them confused.

As for the world’s earliest rock painting, which was created roughly 10,000 years ago and was found by a French archeologist in the north of Syria, that was mysterious as well. It showed a carving depicting either a man or monkey procreating!

Although this rock painting had clear lines, those lines were arranged in an non-orderly manner, just like tens of strands of fur that were wound up together. Its disorganization alone caused Chen Fan to not be able to make heads or tails of it.

Fortunately, the long spear had struck on the other side of the stone just now, so the lines were not ruined. Chen Fan placed the large rock beside the cave. Regardless of whether it was man-made or a natural formation, he would place the rock in the cave as his electric eel’s first treasure, once the excavation was complete.

After safely placing the rock to the side, the electric eel continued working with its long spear.

The next day, around 1 p.m..

Chen Fan received a call from Wang Bing, asking him to go to a large room known as the luxury crane, which was located on the fifth floor of the Stars of the Ocean Entertainment Club, where young girls were apparently waiting for his arrival. Although Chen Fan was not interested in the birthday party, he had to force himself to accept Zhang Xueyang’s invitation, as his friend had persistently invited him so many times.

However, don’t even think about birthday gifts!

The thought of a man giving presents to another man felt weird, so Chen Fan decided against bringing one. When Chen Fan had parked his car and walked in through the club’s golden rotational door, a young hostess wearing a fiery red sleeveless cheongsam walked up to him immediately.

“Good day mister, are you here to book a private room?”

“Where is the room known as the luxurious crane?” Chen Fan replied to this beautiful girl. He smiled, but thought to himself, Aren’t you afraid of falling sick, only wearing so little in December?

“Please follow me!” the hostess passionately welcomed Chen Fan, leading him towards the side of the lift.

Chen Fan was brought to the door of a private room, where he saw four girls, who dressed seductively and standing by the decorated corridor. Based on the their similar clothing, it was not hard for Chen Fan to guess that they would be the group of girls who were going to accompany them in singing later.

“Mister, please enter!” The hostess sweetly gave a bow, before opening the door of the private room. However, before she could gesture to invite Chen Fan in, she quickly covered her ears.

Someone unknown was singing Vitas’ opera song number two. However, the part “Woo ah…” that should have been sung in falsetto, ended up sounded more like a vicious male duck’s voice. With its powerful penetration force, the sound instantly caught everyone in the room by surprise, causing them to grimace and wince in pain!

Chen Fan immediately could guess who was the devil singing in the room.There was no one else who would hold on to the microphone like he was holding on for dear life besides Zhang Xueyang! He also was the only one who would be shameless enough to sing with such an unbearable voice!

“Please enter.” After the part with the high pitch ended, the hostess rubbed her ears and let out a relieved breath.

Chen Fan had no choice but to walk in unwillingly. Passing through a corridor that was attached to a separate toilet, Chen Fan walked into the grand hall. He could see Zhang Xueyang, who was sitting among a group of boys and girls, singing without restraint like a wolf howling.

It was evident that this group of people were youngsters from a rich family, judging from how well dressed they were. Despite that, Chen Fan still did not have the slightest feeling of inferiority, because his nine-digit amount of US Dollars in the Swiss International Bank could make him felt good about himself, even after meeting Obama!

There were six girls and five boys sitting respectively on both sides of the couch, with Zhang Xueyang at the edge. It seemed like there were no couples among them. The thing that most shocked Chen Fan about the group, was the fact that he knew three out of the six girls!

Wu Ruoyu, Xia Qingqing, Ma Ruoxi…

As for the girl sitting beside Zhang Xueyang, seeing how close they were, Chen Fan assumed that she must be his girlfriend. So, maybe there was one couple…

“Brother Chen, you finally arrived!” With his sharp eyes, Zhang Xueyang spotted Chen Fan standing at the side of the pathway. Upon seeing him, he quickly placed the microphone down, while giggling, in order to invite Chen Fan to sit down and join them.

By then, everyone else also had noticed Chen Fan’s presence. There was not much of a reaction from the other youngsters, but the three girls that Chen Fan already knew each had a big change in their expression, especially Wu Ruoyu.

“Yep, I am here.” Chen Fan was feeling quite regretful for coming now. If Zhang Xueyang was allowed to continue singing for the rest of the evening, will I survive it?

Looking around for about two seconds, Chen Fan decided to walk to the side of the couch at the far east in order to sit beside Wu Ruoyu. He chose this because he didn’t know any boys there except Zhang Xueyang, who was sitting beside his girlfriend. Chen Fan did not want to interrupt the couple.

Seeing him approach, Wu Ruoyu let out a heavy breath through her nose!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep