Chapter 1624 An Old-Fashioned "Scam"?

These days, Lu Zhou basically received emails from Vera every day, and sometimes several emails a day.

Obviously, he just left home for a while, but the emails that came in every now and then always made him feel like he had traveled far away.

Well, it is actually true to say that, after all, the distance between Mars and the Earth is indeed quite far.

Especially now that the two celestial bodies have moved to a relatively far position, with a straight-line distance of nearly 300 to 400 million, even light takes about 20 minutes to travel.

But maybe it's because Lu Zhou didn't take a civil aviation flight when he came, but the Qinling of the First Fleet. He didn't spend much time on the road, so he didn't have much real feeling for this sense of distance. .

If there's anything that makes him feel a little bit on a business trip, it's probably only the customs of Mars.

By the way, the taste of local food in Tiangong City is hard to describe.

Perhaps because of the precious fresh water resources, most of the food here is very dry and very bland, and it always feels less satisfying when you eat it.

In addition, there are the sturdy folk customs and erratic enthusiasm and indifference...

Regarding this point, Lu Zhou can be said to have a deep understanding.

"That seminar, no results yet?"

"No," Lu Zhou shook his head and said while fiddling with the holographic model in his hand, "After I came here, I realized that the situation on Mars is more complicated than I imagined."

After probably guessing what complexity Lu Zhou was referring to, Wang Peng couldn't help showing a weird expression on his face.

"Even you feel complicated?"

"Yes," Lu Zhou nodded casually, "there is a serious division between the Mars academic community and the earth science community. In short, they have formed a unique ecology, and it is difficult to allow outsiders to intervene .”

Wang Peng: "Then your trip was in vain?"

Lu Zhou: "That's not true. Mayor Xue's invitation is only one of the reasons why I came to Mars. Besides, I have more important things to do."

Raising his eyebrows curiously, Wang Peng asked casually.

"What is it? Of course, I'm just curious, if it's inconvenient, forget it."

Lu Zhou, staring at the model in his hand, thought for a while and gave an ambiguous answer.

"It's not inconvenient, it's mainly related to the warp drive and Z particles."

Speaking of which, it has been more than a year since I woke up from hibernation.

I have been buried in the ground alone for more than a year, and I don't know if General Reinhardt will feel bored.

The afternoon meeting still ended in bickering.

Lu Zhou basically didn't listen much the whole time. Except for the auxiliary office system designed by Xiaoai to record the main points of the meeting, he was basically doing his own thing.

After the meeting, he originally planned to go to the restaurant to have a meal, and then go back to his room to rest.

But very coincidentally, he ran into that Professor Wu Qinglai again in the restaurant.

"Why didn't you come to the meeting just now?"

"The opinions of us earth experts are actually irrelevant. I thought you had already discovered it." With a helpless expression, Professor Wu Qinglai suddenly approached Lu Zhou with a mysterious face, and said in a low voice, "Don't say these things ...Speaking of which, have you heard of Noah's Ark?"

Noah's Ark?

Intuition told Lu Zhou that this guy probably didn't intend to discuss fairy tales with him, so he sent an inquiry to him.

"what is that?"

"You really don't know," Wu Qinglai continued with a smile on his face, in an excited tone, "It is said that the world's largest colony ship is being built! It is also the Nanmen II Outer System Colonization and Exploration Foundation for the colonization of outer systems. The first colonial ship built! The target is Proxima b at the South Gate! The reason why I didn’t come to the meeting just now was to use the hotel’s Internet to grab tickets in the room!”

Grab... Grab a ticket?

Hearing this sentence, Lu Zhou couldn't help showing a strange expression on his face.

"What ticket are you grabbing?"

"Do you need to ask? Of course it's a boat ticket!"

"...Are you interested in alien colonization?"

"How is it possible? However, although I have no intention of robbing my alien planet, I am still very interested in credit points!" Professor Wu continued with a smile on his face, "In short, With the help of Tiangong City Bank, the Nanmen Er Foundation issued 100,000 boat tickets, and raised funds through the sale of boat tickets for the construction of the colonial ship!"

Lu Zhou: "So?"

"The Second South Gate Foundation promises that holders of different grades of boat tickets will not only be able to obtain the qualifications to board the boat, but also obtain the ownership of different areas of land in the colony. You should have discovered that this kind of boat ticket has financial attributes Yes, and in fact it is the same. In less than an hour, their price has doubled. I bought 10 copies, a total of 300,000 credits. When they rise to about 1 million, I will will throw them away!"

A little worried that this guy was deceived by the scam of killing pigs, Lu Zhou couldn't help but kindly reminded him.

"It sounds like a Ponzi scheme ... something like this happened a century ago."

However, this kind reminder obviously didn't have any effect.

The excited expression on Professor Wu Qinglai's face did not change. Instead, he argued with Lu Zhou logically.

"You don't understand this. The Ponzi scheme is a paper game with no physical collateral, but this is different! According to research on the Internet, more than 1 billion people think that colonizing alien planets is a It's a cool thing, and I'm thinking about going to the new world to find opportunities for development."

Lu Zhou: "It doesn't matter what kind of questionnaire reflects people's real thoughts... How do they plan to go to Nanmen 2? At least as far as I know, Dongya Heavy Industry has not yet reached a warp speed with any private company. Licensing of technology, and probably not in the short term."

"Anyway, this is what the current capital market does," Professor Wu shrugged and continued in a confident tone, "If you still think I was cheated, I recommend you to take a look at Griffin exhibition."

Looking at Professor Wu, Lu Zhou was slightly stunned.

"Griffin exhibition?"

Why did this guy's mind suddenly jump to the art exhibition when he was talking about the colonization of alien systems?

Just when he was about to ask what was the connection between the two, Professor Wu Qinglai seemed to see through his confusion, and spoke proactively.

"That's right, John Griffin! A New Londoner from the North Sea Alliance, the most famous impressionist painter on Mars, his accomplishments in painting are unparalleled. As one of the supporters of the alien system colonization plan, He has always been advocating going to the new world to find new art, so recently he held a touring art exhibition in the major first-line colonies on Mars, and auctioned off his paintings as donations for the colony ship going to South Gate II."

Lu Zhou: "...Are you trying to say that there are many celebrities who stand for this project? Sorry, I'm not interested in his fundraising."

"But I believe you will be interested in his artwork." Looking at Lu Zhou confidently, Professor Wu Qinglai said in a firm tone, "According to the data provided by the International Astronomical Observation Center, he used impressionist painting techniques combined with With modern technical means, an epoch-making work of art has been completed. This work will be exhibited in the Central Museum of Tiangong City, and maybe it will change your preconceptions about the outer space colonization plan.”

"I have no prejudice against the outer space colonization plan itself, even... Forget it," Lu Zhou reached out to take the ticket, and said with a helpless expression, "Thank you for the ticket. If I have time, I will go to One trip."

The moment he heard this sentence, Professor Wu Qinglai immediately showed a happy expression on his face, as if he had heard some great news, he excitedly held Lu Zhou's right hand firmly.

"Please go there! Believe me, that exhibition will not disappoint you!"