From Wage Slave to Tycoon

"Take a look and see if any of these catch your eye. They’re the country’s top semiconductor research experts from various universities, and all their backgrounds are spotless."

Xiao Chen handed the file to Su Chen, adding a reminder, "This information is for your eyes only."

"I get it," Su Chen said with a smile, taking the file.

The file wasn’t very thick—it contained about twenty résumés.

Flipping through it, Su Chen noticed something interesting: all of these people were from the "G7 Alliance"—the well-known "Seven Sons of National Defense" universities.

After looking them all over, only two résumés caught Su Chen’s eye. It wasn’t that his standards were impossibly high; it was because only these two individuals had practical, hands-on experience. The others were all specialists in theory.

"Let’s go with these two. Should I have them come to me, or should I go visit them?" Su Chen asked, handing the two résumés he’d chosen back to Xiao Chen.

"You’ve got a good eye, kid. You immediately picked out two of the top experts in the semiconductor field. They’ve led numerous national-level projects, though that’s not written here, of course." Xiao Chen didn’t go into detail, as many things were covered by confidentiality agreements.

Then, his tone shifted, and Xiao Chen said with some awkwardness, "I’m afraid you’ll have to go see these two in person. Whether you can win them over will depend entirely on you."

Su Chen understood what Xiao Chen meant. Some people couldn’t be swayed by money alone. They were more dedicated to scientific research, hoping to develop more advanced technology so the country wouldn’t be at the mercy of others in certain fields.

"Fine. I’ll go talk to them myself after the New Year. In the meantime, can you give Elder Xiao a little push? We need to get the factory site finalized, or we’ll face a lot of delays after the holiday."

"Don’t worry, it’s already been arranged!" Xiao Chen said with a proud look.

Su Chen was dumbfounded. ’This morning, didn’t Elder Xiao say he needed to look into it carefully? How is it all settled by noon? Is he messing with me?’

Just as Su Chen was trying to make sense of it, Xiao Chen handed him another file. This one was considerably thicker than the last.

"Come on, Brother Cheen, can’t you just give me everything at once? Are you trying to make me look like a fool?" Despite his complaining words, his hands moved without the slightest hesitation, reaching out to take the file.

"Zheng Island Industrial Park Transfer Agreement?" A flicker of astonishment crossed Su Chen’s eyes as he looked at the document. He never imagined he would be given an entire industrial park.

"AHEM. In recent years, government policy has shifted to emphasize environmental protection. As a result, many large chemical companies are no longer allowed to build plants near cities. This park was originally built specifically for heavy industry, but it was shut down due to policy changes not long after it was completed."

"There are already five thirteen-story office buildings constructed, and the park covers an area of ten square kilometers. That should be enough to meet your needs, right?"

"Ten square kilometers?" Su Chen was stunned. He hadn’t expected the industrial park to be so massive.

’An industrial park this big must have a hefty transfer fee. The government can’t possibly be giving it away for free,’ he thought. He flipped the document to the page with the transfer amount and was surprised to see it wasn’t much at all—less than twenty million.

A wry smile appeared on Su Chen’s face. "For this price, I’m afraid the local authorities will want me dead."

Ten square kilometers... even just selling the land would be worth far more than twenty million. That amount barely covered the initial investment and the construction costs for those office buildings.

By that calculation, the land was basically being given to him for free.

Xiao Chen understood Su Chen’s concern. As the saying goes, the man on the ground has more power than a distant official. If someone local decided to cause trouble for him, it would definitely delay his plans.

"Don’t worry, there won’t be any trouble. In fact, they’ll help you solve any problems that come up. However, you need to provide at least one thousand jobs by the end of this year." This was a tight deadline, considering Su Chen had just taken over and simply building the factory would take a significant amount of time.

What Xiao Chen didn’t expect was that, for Su Chen, creating a thousand jobs was incredibly simple. After all, with hundreds of civilian technologies at his disposal, all he needed was to find the right people to quickly establish a large-scale factory complex.

Forget a thousand—give Su Chen enough time, and even ten thousand or thirty thousand jobs would be a breeze.

After carefully reading through the transfer agreement one more time, Su Chen confidently signed his name.

"Brother Cheen, you’re the one who said it. If any problems come up, I’m coming straight to you," Su Chen teased, handing the signed agreement back to Xiao Chen.

"Don’t worry. Elder Xiao gave his personal word. Any problem you have, I’m required to solve it for you!" With Su Chen’s matter seemingly settled, Xiao Chen seemed to relax considerably.

Hearing this, an idea sparked in Su Chen’s mind. He smiled and said, "Now that you mention it, there is actually something I need your help with."

"Uh..." Xiao Chen was taken aback. ’How is he asking for my help right after I said that?’

"Go on, what is it?"

"I want to start a security company to handle the safety of all my corporate assets in the future. I was hoping you could help me find some military veterans." This wasn’t a sudden whim for Su Chen. Once the industrial park was up and running, his research labs would begin operations.

Since they would be dealing with classified research, security would be a top priority. Hiring guards from the general public would inevitably lead to problems.