Chapter 1564: There Is a Story

When the Simon family came to Australia, they first accompanied the two elderly people for a few days, and then went to Tasmania for a few days of leisure. They also went to Tasmania for a few days to look at their own property and returned from Ta Island. The time has entered mid-January.

Melbourne.

It's Thursday, January 13th.

After returning from Tower Island, he was not in a hurry to return to Los Angeles, but continued to start some work here.

I just went to the set of Justice League yesterday. After the new year, the current project has been fully restarted. It is expected that the filming will be completely completed in May. Counting the post-production period, it will happen that the first film will be launched at the end of the year.

Johnston Holdings headquarters in central Melbourne today.

In the next few days, there are many things planned to be discussed.

For example, today, the topic is a railway project to be put into operation in Angola.

The civil war in Angola has not yet completely ended, and the border area with Congo is not peaceful. However, the power of Angolan President Dos Santos has gradually stabilized. Even if it is not stable, the Westeros system will keep him stable. After all, this is a prerequisite .

Counting the foreshadowing of the past few years, the next step is a more in-depth layout.

If you want to continuously transport all kinds of resources in Angola from the inland area, the country's infrastructure such as roads and railways left over from the colonial era is far from enough.

Speaking of this, Simon will inevitably think about a certain issue again in the near future.

Why do Western countries not attach importance to the development of Africa?

Some previous arguments, such as always asking Africa to be a cheap raw material supply base, are actually correct, but not entirely correct.

Africa is developed.

During the colonial era, Western countries also invested heavily in Africa.

Take Angola as an example. At its peak in the 1970s, Angola was a major coffee-producing country, and its annual coffee output once reached more than 200,000 tons. Then, various countries in Africa went on their own, and widespread civil war broke out, and the result was to destroy everything that had ever been.

A few years ago, before the Westeros system opened up large-scale coffee plantations in Angola, the annual coffee production in Angola had been reduced to less than 5,000 tons.

The same is true of other industries after decades of war.

Similarly, many other countries in Africa have had a similar experience. The war destroyed everything, plus the West cut off the general assets of Africa, and now, poor, backward, and nothing.

At the same time, in the timeline of recent years, under the background of African wars, it is naturally impossible for Western capital to enter Africa at will, so it has found a better direction.

Like Latin America.

Latin America also prospered in the 1970s and 1980s, and then basically fell on the threshold of the middle-income trap of developed countries.

As for the process, it is probably similar to what South Korea has just experienced. South Korea’s per capita annual income reached 10,000 US dollars, and then encountered a financial turmoil, which triggered an economic crisis. Coupled with the lack of complete sovereignty, the country’s economy was quickly infiltrated by Western capital.

In addition to Latin America, there is Asia.

The four little dragons and four little tigers in Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia are all the result of continuous input and support of western capital, including China at present.

Until now in 2000.

Capital is ruthless and profit-seeking, and will not deliberately target anyone unless you can give it benefits.

Therefore, the collapse of Africa in the past few decades was mainly caused by internal problems in Africa. Of course, no one can deny that there is a game between big countries, and small countries are reduced to pawns. In short, compared with Asia, Latin America, and even Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Africa is really not a very good place to invest.

The reason is simple. If you invest 10 million in Asia, you can steadily increase its value by 15% a year. If you invest 10 million in Africa, it may be overwhelmed by a war in the blink of an eye. How do you choose capital?

Without investment, there can be no development.

And then after 2000.

In the past, Africa has gradually stabilized after 2000, and its economy has developed to a certain extent, but the development is not obvious.

The reason is also very simple.

Just China in Asia directly supports the growth engine of the entire world economy. Global capital is flocking to China and its surrounding areas. Or is it because of the rate of return, who would invest indiscriminately in Africa?

Um.

Not right either.

In fact, there are, or China.

However, no one can deny that China's investment has little intention of making money, but a greater tendency to make money. Because it is to make money, it can't make money, and it is impossible to work too hard after all. The result is that the African economy only has a little soup on the periphery of China, the super engine.

Until Simon was reborn.

In the future, can Africa afford it?

Many people answer no.

However, since Africa used to have the potential to produce more than 200,000 tons of coffee in Angola, there is no reason why Africa will grow as long as there is sufficient investment, reasonable planning, and a stable development environment after decades of technological advancement. Can't develop at all.

What's more, isn't there a South Africa in Africa?

Of course, Simon also knows that the prosperity of various industries in Africa was mainly dominated by white people during the colonial period.

Like the planned Angola railway.

Simon's plan this time is to directly hand over the construction to a Chinese construction company, the Westeros system will be responsible for the investment, and the future ownership will belong to Westeros

The Los Angeles system is shared with the Angolan government, but the control is here.

At the same time, to drive the development of mining and agriculture in the corresponding areas, the Westeros system should also take the lead as much as possible.

The Angolan government and people share the dividends honestly.

Simon doesn't mind neo-colonialism, if he had to use one word.

In addition to infrastructure in Africa, Simon is also discussing a new core mining production system with Australia.

For example, one of them, rare earth.

With the continuous expansion of detection technology, it is not difficult for countries to find that there is no shortage of rare earth mines around the world. Just like now, the team under Johnston Holdings has discovered rare earth mines in the headquarters area of ​​Angola.

The key is production.

One of the most important reasons why China controlled the production of rare earth mines was not a technical issue, but an environmental issue. Many rare earth metals even produce a large amount of radioactive waste in the production process. Such environmental costs are difficult for Western countries to bear.

Simon wants to create a rare earth production system controlled by the Westeros system. Mineral deposits are not a problem, but production is the key.

However, the goal is also readily available.

Ukraine.

There is not much room for bargaining in Ukraine now, and there will be even less in the future.

Simon's plan is to invest in the construction of a special rare earth factory in Ukraine, and then provide raw materials from Africa, Australia and even Latin America, and transport them to Ukraine for production.

After all, the output value of the rare earth industry is not large, so the key lies in other things.

Like steel.

At this point, Simon has no plan to compete with China for productivity for the time being, and mainly invests in China in order to share more dividends in industrial development.

However, in other aspects, such as copper and aluminum, and even resources such as lithium, sodium, and cobalt involved in the new energy plan in the future, the Westeros system must strengthen its own layout.

One of the aluminum complexes in Russia is already under construction.

Still the same sentence, only by mastering enough resources can we have enough right to speak and even control the world in the future.

At the end of the day's work, I drove home with Anthony.

Agreed in advance to have dinner together at the Johnston family mansion on the banks of the Yarra in the evening.

The two brothers continued to talk along the way. The car left the urban area, came to the northern suburbs, entered the family mansion, and stopped in front of the main villa.

As soon as Simon got out of the car, he saw a small person standing on the lawn on the east side of the main villa, looking up at the setting sun that was about to set in the west.

Of course Anthony also noticed, walked over with a smile, and asked, "What is Syl doing?"

Simon shook his head, motioned Anthony to enter the villa, and walked over by himself, nodded to the maid who was guarding the side, picked up his daughter directly, looked towards the west together, and asked jokingly: "Baby, what are you looking at, I miss my mother star?"

Compared with Simon, the family now thinks that a certain little girl is more like an alien.

Hence Simon's joke.

The little girl was suddenly picked up by her father, knowing that she couldn't break free from the embrace of this adult human male, she could only slightly twist her body, found a more comfortable position, and continued to look at the sky.

Of course, I also heard what my father said.

However, she didn't bother to answer such a boring human joke, just like she hated those adult humans treating her like human cubs the most.

So annoying.

After being silent for a while, the little girl saw that her father was still in a daze with her, thinking that if her mother, who had no blood relationship with her, knew that she was ignoring the person next to her, she would inevitably have to talk about it again, so she said: "Dad, do you miss me?" ?"

Simon shook his head solemnly: "Of course not, our home planet has been destroyed in a huge interstellar war, so, baby, feel at ease and be an earthling."

More silly jokes.

But, the little girl felt that she still had to smile cooperatingly, so she hooked a perfect smile of a human cub, but added in a strange way: "Dad, I mean, do you miss the future?"

Simon's eyes narrowed sharply, and he turned his head to look at it. Just because of his gesture, the girl's personal maid had tactfully avoided it, and could not hear the conversation between the father and daughter.

Withdrawing his gaze, Simon relaxed a little, and looked at his precious daughter with great interest. After a while, he finally said: "Baby, you can't tell others about this kind of thing, understand?"

Seattle nodded.

Simon added: "Mom can't say it either."

Seattle nodded again.

Father is so annoying, she is not a child. Based on the IQ and knowledge reserves of ordinary humans, she should be several hundred years old.

However, I was curious again: "Dad, how did you get here?"

Seeing that the little girl had a serious tone, Simon didn't even show much curiosity. He just asked a question, thought about it, and shook his head honestly: "Dad doesn't know either, so this universe is very magical."

The little girl asked again: "How much future does Dad have?"

Simon also continued to be calm: "Probably, twenty years later, Dad will rely on you, baby, can you predict the further future?"

The little girl seemed to think seriously for half a second, then shook her head: "It's very boring."

"So, what are you interested in?"

The little girl thought about it again,

Said: "Human beings are too fragile to do anything."

"Then you just gave up?"

The little girl tilted her head slightly again: "Mom wants to live for a long time, I think it's okay."

"Oh, Mom will be very happy if she hears it," Simon leaned forward and kissed his daughter's face, "But you have to speed up, otherwise, um, you know."

"Not in a hurry," the little girl avoided her father's kiss, but she couldn't dodge, so she could only bear it. After all, this human male is her biggest support in this world, and she has a blood relationship that humans care about, so she again Then said: "Ten years, no problem."

"Then it's an agreement," Simon raised his hand and gave birth to a little finger: "Pull the hook."

The little girl looked at the sun in the west again.

boring humans.

Could it be that the pursuit of eternal life is just to do so many boring things?

Seeing that the baby girl ignored him, Simon was of course not angry. He continued to watch the sunset with him, and asked, "Baby, what are you looking at?"

"Dad, you won't understand."

Simon: ""

So he persisted weakly: "Tell me, because I don't understand, I have to ask."

"I perceive the chemical reaction that occurs after the sunlight spectrum comes into contact with human skin."

"Well, this father can understand, it will produce melanin."

The little girl then looked down at someone, thought for a while, and decided that it was better to keep silent, lest this boring human adult male continue to ask questions.

The father and daughter felt the good fortune of the world again in such a quiet way, until it was dusk, and Janet came to find her in person.

Seeing how close the father and daughter seemed to be, Janet was still very jealous. They walked to the villa together, holding the man's arm and asking, "What are you talking about?"

The little girl naturally wouldn't answer.

Simon smiled and said, "About the home planet."

Janet got it very accurately this time: "Are you planning to go back to your home planet together?"

"Of course not. The home planet of Syl and I have been destroyed in a huge interstellar war, and we can never go back."

Janet stuck to the arm of a man she was holding: "Oh, so pitiful. Tell me about the war, why did it happen?"

"For resources."

"Well, this setting is too perfunctory. You can all fight an interstellar war. The universe is so big, and there is still a lack of resources?"

"You don't know this, there are actually countless civilizations in the universe, and human beings, on the scale of universe civilizations, are like a small bacterial tribe on a leaf in distant Africa. Human beings are too small , will feel that the resources are sufficient, but in fact they are not.”

Janet was surprised: "This time it became a colony, not even ants, but last time it was an ant."

"Was it the ants last time?"

Janet nodded: "Yeah."

"That means the measurement scale used last time is relatively small. I'm talking about an infinite universe."

Speaking of having entered the villa, they came to a living room. There were already other people here. After hearing Simon's words, Sylvia, the eldest girl of Anthony's family, smiled and asked, "What infinite universe?"

Simon hugged his precious daughter and sat down on the sofa. Seeing everyone looking over, he was still serious: "I'm discussing my home planet with Jenny."

Everyone got the same get and laughed.

Sylvia, who has a very lively personality, asked: "Then, what about the infinite universe?"

Simon said: "The universe we know is just one of the infinite universes, just like a cell. Outside the cell, there are countless cells, that is, countless universes. My mother star is in another universe. .”

Sylvia smiled and said, "Then, why did you come to Earth?"

"Because the home planet is destroyed," Simon once again showed a reminiscing expression: "A huge interstellar war."

Janet rolled her eyes.

Change the lines.

Sylvia became even more interested, so she rushed over, snatched the little girl and put it on her lap. Obviously, everyone felt that if there were aliens in this family, Simon could only be counted as half of them at most, and she should be totally right. It was Seattle: "Uncle Simon, go on."

"Continue to what?"

"A huge interstellar war," Sylvia said, "is it like Lucas's Star Wars?"

Simon shook his head, and grabbed Janet's small hand, which was boringly protruding, and put it in his big hand: "The limit of your human imagination is Star Wars. The war on my home planet is a war that uses the laws of physics as weapons."

"What are the laws of physics?"

"For example," Simon slightly raised his hand to indicate to the surroundings: "Our world is three-dimensional. One of the weapons of physical rules, the dimensionality reduction strike, is to destroy a planet, or even a galaxy, or even a single universe in human cognition. , directly become two-dimensional through the weapon of physical rules, so that the three creatures will be annihilated."

Sylvia was just making fun of it. Hearing what Simon said, she couldn't help but fantasize about a certain scene, and couldn't help but slightly opened her eyes: "How is this possible?"

Simon looked at his precious daughter who was snatched into her arms by Sylvia: "Syl, is this possible?"

The little girl obviously heard what her father said just now, and she asked herself again when she heard it, she tilted her head slightly, this time she thought for a second, then shook her head: "I can't do it for the time being."

Sylvia laughed and pressed her chin on the little girl's head: "Baby Sylvia, what a coincidence, I can't do it either."

After laughing for a while, Sylvia looked at Simon again, eager to try: "Uncle Simon, this is a very good idea, why don't we make it into a movie, how about it?"

Simon was a little surprised when he heard this, but he quickly nodded, "Okay."

Sylvia was impatient, and immediately continued: "Then, what's the name, no, no, there must be a story around this idea."