Learning that the American Aerospace Bureau was about to strike a 10 billion US Dollar space collaboration with New Yuan Aeronautics, NACA was beside itself, and the Rusia Space Agency too.

NACA sent an overnight protest to America, "Camel, don’t you love me anymore? How did New Yuan seduce you, I can play the same tricks!

Ever since Russia fell, the Congress bigwigs in America were overjoyed, hacking away at all sorts of military and space budgets, bringing disaster to a whole host of aerospace contractors and NACA.

For 91 years, America had been unmatched internationally, looking down on everybody else as little brothers; no one in the world could beat it when all combined, brimming with overconfidence.

I’m already so awesome, why spend so much money showing off? Why not save it for wining and dining?

Space shuttles? Wasted 200 billion US Dollars for just a few of them, what’s the point? Retire them, let the kids use them as a museum;

Return to the Moon? We’ve been there decades ago, no need to do it again, especially since no one else has that capability, might as well save the taxpayer’s money;

New International Space Station? A fixer-upper is still usable, new for three years, old for three, as long as it doesn’t explode just keep using it.

Ten years of this self-destructive frenzy, and at the start of the new millennium, America noticed China starting to stand tall and felt that it needed to try harder. The big boss Bush signed off, approving NACA’s plan to return to the Moon.

However, unlike with the Apollo program, funding approvals were slow, resources were not prioritized, and progress was glacial.

Then Obama took office thinking it was too expensive and told NACA to revise, "Your budget’s too high, we can’t support it." And with the slashed budget, NACA had no choice but to revise its plans:

There was no money for new rockets, so they washed the leftover engines and boosters from the space shuttle program and cobbled together a rocket, and that’s how the SLS program was born:

Just taking the engines previously mounted on space shuttles and attaching them to a fuel tank, with boosters still on both sides, incorporating no new technology whatsoever.

But even with such ups and downs, the Congress still didn’t want to fund it, and NACA dragged its heels, investing nearly 20 billion US Dollars to date, and yet the SLS program hadn’t even made a splash. According to the targets at the start of the new century, they were supposed to land on the Moon by 2015.

Luckily, NACA adjusted in time and had already postponed the date to 2020.

Hoping for Congress to come through was futile, so NACA kept trying other means to make up the shortfall, like supporting private spaceflight to reduce launch costs through outsourcing, and making money from international collaborations.

America, the big spender with no negotiation skills, took whatever NACA said at face value. Along with Russia, they gave America a hard time and bled it dry, leaving America to take the loss in silence and still say thank you.

Who else had a space station? Who else was capable of manned spaceflight, with only three countries in the game?

China... conveniently ignored during the routine transparency report.

But after years of NACA and Russia relentlessly PUA-ing America, they had managed to secure only about 10 billion US Dollars. Then New Yuan comes along, disregarding the code of Wude, and snatches 100 billion in one go?

I can’t stand it!

The American Aerospace Bureau received simultaneous pressure from both NACA and the Russian Space Agency, but even the foolish camel was now enraged and directly responded:

"If you guys want to make money, sure, give you 100 billion. But I want a launch site, a space shuttle, and a five-module space station, in three years’ time. That shouldn’t be too hard for you, right?"

NACA was fuming. Wanting so much for 100 billion dollars, why don’t you just go to heaven? With American prices, that would barely cover the cost of building a launch site.

A five-module space station is going to cost at least 100 billion, and as for the space shuttle?

NACA researched the H1 model from New Yuan, and although they deemed its lift-off weight far less than their space shuttles, they estimated that at least 30 billion US dollars and a minimum of five years would be needed for the first flight.

So NACA’s response was that New Yuan Aerospace’s low price was unreliable, and you wouldn’t be too happy even with 50 billion, why not invest more and I’ll set up a special module for you at the International Space Station?

This fell far short of Abe’s expectations, so he turned to see what Russia had to say.

The Rusia Space Agency did dare to boast, thumping their chests and guaranteeing their ability; if worst came to worst, they could just dig up the Union’s ancestral graves and do research archaeologically.

But as for Russia’s credibility... well, everyone had seen it for themselves, it was enough just to listen; how badly India had been duped was common knowledge.

As long as you asked Russia for something, no matter how difficult, they’d first agree to it and then ask you to invest, luring you into what seemed like a bottomless pit, constantly asking for more investment; when you couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to pull out, well over budget, they’d say: You’ve already invested so much, just a little more will do it for sure.

Only when Russia had had its fill, thinking they could absolutely squeeze no more out of you, would they reluctantly spit you out as their client.

What, a product? For that little money, you want Russia to do work for you? Dream on!

By comparison, Abe had always found China quite trustworthy, and besides, the two countries had completed the only banned-level trade in the world over the past thirty years, which was also the basis for mutual trust.

Moreover, this collaboration was genuinely a good deal! 10 billion for a space powerhouse gift package, who wouldn’t be dazzled? Even the big shots do look at cost-effectiveness, right?

But NACA was relentless, and on the very day the triple alliance was signing the cooperation agreement, America held a press conference.

First, it expressed protest and condemnation over China’s approval of its enterprises to sell "spacecraft posing a security threat to space" to third countries, and claimed that the Mukala Aerospace Launch Site would severely damage the surrounding ecological environment, with stored fuel posing a risk to the diversity of marine life if leaked into the ocean.

Second, Southern Machinery Institute and New Yuan Power Company were successfully added to the blacklist, with several American companies prohibited from supplying them.

Third, NACA issued a statement: it believed that New Yuan Aerospace Power Company intentionally underquoted to disrupt the global aerospace market order, and advised partners to be vigilant against being deceived and incurring severe losses; the American Aerospace Bureau, as a responsible agency for the advancement of human exploration, had the strength and the duty to help weaker countries achieve their space dreams.

New Yuan, the Aerospace Administration, and Abe’s party had just finished the press conference and signed the agreement, raising their glasses to celebrate, when the news from America arrived.

The reactions from everyone were mixed.

Regarding the first point, everyone unanimously ignored it as pure nonsense, let them condemn all they want, one more bit of scolding didn’t make a difference.

For the second point, Lin Ju was indifferent because New Yuan had no business with America to begin with, and he had no intention of going to America anyway.

However, Southern Machinery Institute was puzzled, not knowing why they were involved, but only Zhou Rui and Zhao Xiaowen were present, with Zhao Xiaowen scratching his head: "Doesn’t this mean we can’t use MATLAB software anymore?"

Zhou Rui rolled his eyes: "As if we’ve ever used the genuine version. Besides, aren’t we probably the only second-tier college on the sanctions list? The Ministry of Education should hurry up and promote us, otherwise, it’s just embarrassing."

As for NACA’s protest against low prices disrupting the aerospace order, the big shots of China’s National Space Administration also sneered at it. America’s prices and China’s were not on the same level, it wasn’t clear whether we were too cheap or America was too expensive.

But as for Lin Ju, all he could think about was money now.

The first installment of 4.75 billion US dollars was immediately transferred into a common account managed by the three parties after the contract was signed, ready for withdrawal at any time.

Lin Ju, looking at the string of zeros in the account, let out a sigh typical of China:

"Little money... truly sweet!"