Chapter 877: Chapter 871: Destroyer
Chen Yu’s refusal was both within the Female Supre Leader’s expectations and a source of deep disappointnt, as she believed this was the most compelling Freemason offer to sway Chen Yu.
But just as Chen Yu had stated, the Freemasons had tried countless tis throughout history—so much so that they almost sacrificed the German Freemasonry entirely—only to face repeated failure, proving the arduous nature of this path.
Even if this thod was correct, the Freemasons internally had already abandoned the idea of further attempts.
Bringing this up now for negotiation rely served to test whether divine enthronent could entice a Demigod, and whether a Demigod might reap unique benefits from such an endeavor.
After all, every attempt the Freemasons had made throughout history—whether for Emperor Napoleon, Frederick the Great, Empress Catherine the Great, or even that German maniac “Little Mustache”—they were all just ordinary individuals. Despite gaining enormous faith through divine enthronent thods and enhancing themselves with it, none had ever stepped into the realm of Demigods.
Now that Chen Yu had declined, the Female Supre Leader naturally planned to drop the matter, but deciding what terms to offer next posed a dilemma.
Chen Yu had proposed two bottles of life essence, valued at a total of four billion US dollars—a sum unattainable for an average person, effectively a lifeti’s unimaginable fortune. For a sovereign state, it was an amount that even small nations would struggle to muster, exhausting their entire national resources.
If such a sum were entrusted to an individual, they could, based solely on those four billion US dollars, join the world’s top 0.1% of ultra-wealthy elite.
Even for major nations, such a sum represented exceedingly substantial funds, sufficient to construct an entire aircraft carrier fleet.
Consider this: when the United States built four Kitty Hawk-rank carriers back in the day, it only spent ten billion US dollars altogether.
Although factors like inflation must be considered, even today, four billion US dollars can buy you a sixty-thousand-ton heavy aircraft carrier alongside auxiliary vessels. If you opt for twenty-thousand-ton light aircraft carriers, you might acquire multiple fleets from it. Bear in mind, Thailand only spent four billion US dollars to build its aircraft carrier in total.
If Chen Yu sought cash, even with the Freemasons’ imnse reserves, it would be nearly impossible to imdiately gather such a staggering amount of liquid assets.
However, if various assets were to be used for valuation, it would beco comparatively easier to calculate.
For instance, if the Skull and Bones were to modernize two WWII-era aircraft carriers for Chen Yu, including comprehensive updates and pairing combat aircraft as well, even with internally priced self-produced materials—rather than those gouging prices charged to the US military—four billion US dollars would be a manageable valuation.
As for the Female Supre Leader’s previous suggestion of assisting Chen Yu with divine enthronent, that would be even easier to evaluate. The intangible assets involved—Freemasonry’s networks, resources, relationships, authority—would constitute the bulk, and assigning any precise financial figure to such contributions was nearly impossible.
While the Female Supre Leader wrestled with indecision, Chen Yu unexpectedly spoke: “The Skull and Bones’ effort to retrofit two WWII-era carriers is sothing the Freemasons surely must know about. I’ve heard your organization wields substantial influence in the military-industrial sector. Could you do the sa thing?”
“That’s certainly no problem. Although our Freemason-owned shipyards primarily produce destroyers, the most advanced Zumwalt-class destroyers of the US military are manufactured by shipyards under our control. In terms of technical expertise, we are no less capable than Skull and Bones. Whether it’s aircraft carriers or battleships, both can absolutely be retrofitted,” the Female Supre Leader responded after hearing Chen Yu circle back to the subject of warship modification. Although she was reluctant to use such terms for exchange, she still emphasized her organization’s superior technological capabilities.
“Zumwalt-class? That thing is all flash and no substance.” Chen Yu shook his head faintly, unimpressed by the Zumwalt-class but intrigued by the Freemasons’ technological prowess. “I own four WWII-era Forr Japanese Navy destroyers. I’d like you to perform modernized upgrades on these four warships.”
Chen Yu was, of course, referring to the four petite vessels in his 6th Destroyer Squadron. While their strength hadn’t yet reached Demigod-level, these lovable little ships were deeply cherished by Chen Yu.
Moreover, destroyers differed from carriers, cruisers, and battleships of larger scales—they were more compact, more agile, and served as the backbone of modern navies, tasked with multifaceted critical operations.
Yet, modernizing WWII-era destroyers proved no easy feat. The bigger issue lay in the small size of those old destroyers.
The destroyers built by various nations during WWII ca in a plethora of designs, but overall, their maximum displacent generally stayed under three thousand tons—commonly ranging between one to two thousand tons. Even France’s largest WWII destroyer, the Fantasque-class, had a full-load displacent of just 3,400 tons.
The largest WWII-era Japanese battleship, Yamato, by comparison, had a single main gun turret weighing 1,500 tons alone.
Currently, modern destroyers are categorized by function as either anti-submarine and anti-ship variants or regional air defense roles. China’s Type 055 and the US Zumwalt-class belong to categories exceeding ten thousand tons in displacent—more than ten tis larger than WWII destroyers.
Thus, modernizing WWII-era destroyers might prove less laborious if they were entirely dismantled and constructed anew.
However, Chen Yu’s idea of modification clearly extended beyond rely the warships—it included summoning Demigods utilizing those vessels.
Although intelligence suggested Chen Yu commanded only seven Demigods, all unrelated to destroyers, there was no rule precluding him from summoning other beings through warships under his ownership.
The “Five Great Hooligans” sought only to prevent him from summoning Demigods, and they had no jurisdiction over Chen Yu using this summoning technique for legendary entities.
Therefore, after so deliberation, the Female Supre Leader ultimately agreed: “Regarding WWII-era vessel retrofits, the entire hull may need dismantling and reconstruction. Would that be acceptable?”
“Given the limited craftsmanship of WWII-era hull construction, upgrading the hull sounds fine,” Chen Yu remarked, fully grasping her implied aning yet remaining unperturbed as he readily consented.
Ship-girls are conceptual entities, their existence tied fundantally to the warship’s essence rather than the physical hull.
Although the physical hull and ship-girls do share an interwoven bond, any upgrades to the hull would rely translate into enhancents to their equipnt or outward transformations, without causing adverse effects.
Thus, Chen Yu had no concerns regarding the Female Supre Leader’s suggestion of dismantling and reconstructing the hull impacting the ship-girls negatively.
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