Upon learning that Abe Space Agency was about to reach a 10 billion US Dollar space cooperation deal with China, NACA was broken, and so was the Russia Space Agency.

Abe had always been known as a super wealthy oil magnate, and their wealth was like leeks on steroids: you could reap it over and over again.

The launch section of the ISS International Space Station was managed by America and Russia, and over time it was opened up to all nations except China.

Abe was naturally among those nations, paying quite a sum to have their astronauts trained in Russia, then taking a tour around the ISS Space Station.

Any scientific research purposes were non-existent, and Abe was well aware they didn’t have the wherewithal for it.

But even oil tycoons have their pride, and having someone from Abe floating 300 kilometers above Earth’s surface was indeed something to boost their national pride.

However, things didn’t go as hoped. Since 1998, when the "Dawn" multi-purpose cargo block entered space as the first component, it marked the formal beginning of the collaboration between 16 countries.

Since then, more and more countries have joined, bringing with them numerous scientific projects, with personnel needing to frequently travel back and forth.

And as time passed, the early segments of the ISS began to show signs of aging, leaking, and gradually were unable to support scientific missions or even aid people, existing merely as structural parts of the station.

Maintaining the space station, conducting scientific research, and managing launch and docking operations was already quite troublesome in a multi-national coordination, so Abe sending up some astronauts with no significant professional skills was not welcome.

Putting it bluntly, they felt like suckers for paying money and still needing to charm their way in, so Abe also started to feel it was a self-inflicted embarrassment.

So Lin Ju beckoned, and bundles of US Dollars were handed over.

Of course, another reason for this was that New Yuan’s quote was genuinely low, which made Abe feel like even if they failed, the loss wouldn’t be too great.

Although Lin Ju had already outlined numerous restrictions in the contract in advance: for example, the spacecraft could only be in Abe during the mission and needed to be strictly guarded, and it had to be returned to New Yuan for maintenance when not on a mission;

The space station modules had little genuine scientific function and were essentially space rooms, which is why they could offer to launch them for 500 million US Dollars each. Otherwise, just the scientific equipment alone might exceed 500 million; after all, the modules designed by New Yuan even had private bedrooms and bathrooms, a luxury no other nation would dare to waste in the precious space of a spacecraft;

Even Abe University had restrictions when launching satellites at a discount, such as weight limitations, and so on.

But it was precisely because of these terms that the Crown Prince and the old King felt that this was real business and not just being played for fools.

So, when Aleth looked back at NACA and the Russia Space Agency, they were cold and even ignored them.

NACA, denied entry, was impotently furious. If it was just New Yuan, they could have pulled some dirty tricks, but with China’s National Space Administration personally entering the fray, they could only helplessly give up.

The end result was a former NACA official proclaiming that private spaceflight was high-risk and technologically unreliable and urged all cooperating parties to be vigilant to avoid being duped, insisting that professional matters should still be entrusted to responsible, established space agencies and so on.

But that was all they could do, as NACA was indeed busy with the ISS Space Station, Mars, deep space exploration of Jupiter, and the Artemis program to return to the Moon, among others; they genuinely didn’t have the capacity to spare any attention for Abe.

Yet, it was indeed frustrating to lose a potential backup without cause.

Meanwhile, Ma was extremely excited, sending out a series of tweets one after another.

Lin Ju had sheared a 10 billion US Dollar sheep, something Ma’s Sky Fork had never managed to land in all its years of operation.

And he had rockets too - the Falcon 9 and the Heavy Falcon were both stronger than New Yuan’s current operational rockets - so why wasn’t anyone throwing a cool ten billion at him?

Regardless of what investors and the board thought, Ma directly and capriciously tweeted:

SpaceX congratulates XAP on its collaborative achievements and sees this as a remarkable step forward for private spaceflight, lavishing it with a good deal of business praise.

Only then did he equivocate saying, "I, Ma Yilong, am not any less capable than Lin Ju. Sky Fork is far superior to New Yuan’s tractor factory (after the netizens learned about Lin Ju’s rise to fortune, they referred to New Yuan Aeronautics as a tractor factory). Whatever he can do, we can do too."

Although SpaceX doesn’t have a space shuttle, we have the Starship, right? What’s the big deal about just going to space? Starship can land on the Moon and Mars!

It’s the same with the space station. If the Dragon Spaceship can be designed and built, what’s so hard about making a space station? Sky Fork can not only build space stations, but also space hotels. We can even create a special cabin for a restaurant if you want.

Sky Fork can also set up launch bases outside of America Mainland. And unlike New Yuan’s stingy limitations, you can place it wherever you want, and once you pay, Sky Fork will sell you anything!

Ma was truly desperate. New Yuan was progressing at a visibly rapid rate, seemingly poised to overtake and having secured such substantial financial support.

Even if 8 billion US Dollars is less than what was projected to be needed, Ma, thinking in his typically American way, found it perfectly normal.

What do you do if a project’s budget is too high and might not get approved?

A: Streamline the project structure, carefully analyze the market, and reduce costs as much as possible while fulfilling requirements, then submit for review.

B: Report a ridiculously low budget to get the project approved, and then keep asking the investors to put in more money later on. If they don’t, the project stalls, ensuring that the total budget far exceeds the initial projection. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Obviously, Ma immediately concluded that Lin Ju had also learned this distinctive Plan B strategy while studying in America.

So the next day, Lin Ju saw Sky Fork’s announcement of the "9.9 billion US Dollar ’Fulfill Your Space Power Dream’ Deluxe Package," which included a "Future Spaceship Base," "Heavy Falcon + Dragon Spaceship (6-person reusable)," "Super-Large Fifth-Generation Space Station," "5 Dollar Satellite Launch Voucher," and other projects, all to be arranged and clarified within three years.

And you know what, Ma’s PPT and simulation animations really could be considered world-class, with NACA and New Yuan not even close to catching up. Just by looking at the promotional materials, one couldn’t help but be moved.

If all it really took was 9.9 billion US Dollars to buy these Sky Fork packages, it would indeed be quite a prestigious deal, hardly inferior to New Yuan.

But is it really just 9.9 billion US Dollars, and can it really be done within three years as Ma says?

Lin Ju strongly doubted this.

"Hey, by God above, my dear brother Lin, why are you all alone here?"

Crown Prince Hamand, holding a can of Qingdao beer, walked up to Lin Ju, guzzled half of it, then stealthily looked around to make sure no one was watching before relaxing.

"Your Highness, Crown Prince, SpaceX has also just released new information—they will also be selling spacecraft and space stations to others."

Lin Ju didn’t hide anything because he had already signed a tripartite cooperation agreement before the party started, with 4.75 billion US Dollars already resting in the designated offshore account, and the deal was non-refundable in the event of a change of mind.

After looking at the content on his phone, Crown Prince Hamand nodded slightly:

"It looks very decent, and although it’s not a space shuttle, we would have indeed been quite tempted by it before. The content is rich.

But don’t worry, Lin, I’m studying seriously with Deng now, I have a flying license, and I plan to personally pilot a spacecraft and land at Abe. There will be countless girls cheering for me!"