I manufacture weapons in the Middle East and am wanted globally?

Chen Zheng hung up the phone, handed it back to Khalid, spread his hands, and his face was full of "innocence".

He shook his head and sighed, "I originally wanted to be a businessman who upheld ethical standards. What a good person I was—gentle, kind, and trustworthy. But what happened? There were always buyers rushing in to hand over money, and I couldn't stop them."

That's such an infuriating thing to say!

Khalid took the phone, and his lips twitched.

"You're shameless."

Chen Zheng reached out and tugged at his own face, making his mouth crooked, and then leaned close to Khalid.

"Look at me, look at me," he pointed to his face, "you can judge the thickness of my skin yourself, it's probably... as thick as four US dollars? No more than that, and I'm a very humble person."

Chen Zheng laughed heartily, patted Khalid hard on the shoulder twice, making Khalid's shoulder slump. "You took 2% of that price increase just now. Do the math yourself, that's a thousand US dollars!"

So don't overthink it.

Chen Zheng took the cigarette out of his mouth, pointed to the tent area in the distance, and said, "Get some sleep. Starting tomorrow, we need to step up our efforts and find more clients."

"Still looking?" Khalid caught up. "Hassan's order alone is enough to keep us busy for a while."

"Not enough," Chen Zheng shook his head. "Far from enough."

"At most one month."

He held up a finger and waved it in front of Khalid. "Believe it or not, in a month at most, once those European bitches realize what's happening, their goods will be on the market."

"If Syria, like a pressure cooker, explodes, vultures from all over the world will flock here—Poles, Czechs, Romanians—how many AK-series weapons are piled up in the warehouses of those former Warsaw Pact countries?"

"The Soviet Union's greatest legacy to the world is that those damn crappy weapons could last for hundreds of years!"

"As soon as those people entered the market, the price of rifles plummeted. They offered a discount of 3000 for every 10000 purchased. How were we supposed to compete with them then? They just wrecked the market as soon as they entered."

When war breaks out in the Middle East, the first to get rich are not the local arms dealers, but the Europeans who have stockpiles of weapons.

After the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, how many weapons were released?

Later in Iraq and Afghanistan, how much of the equipment left behind by the Americans ended up in the hands of the locals?

In this line of work, the real big fish never show their faces. They swim slowly underwater, occasionally bubbling up, and those bubbles are bigger than the heads of these guys.

"So, you mean we should make as much money as we can before those people even get involved?"

Chen Zheng nodded, "Make quick money, make hot money, make that hot money. Once the Europeans' goods arrive, we'll only be left with the scraps in the rifle business."

He turned around, opened the car door, and said, "Of course, that's for later. Let's make some money first. I'm going to the factory to see how those workers are doing."

"Shall I go with you?"

"Need not."

Chen Zheng shook his head and pointed in the direction of the tent area. "Go back and rest. I have things to do for you tomorrow. I'll go back to the cave to spend the night after I'm done here."

"Okay, be careful on the road."

"It's a million times safer on this mountain than in Delaware."

Chen Zheng got into the driver's seat, started the engine, rolled down the window, and leaned out. "There are only birds and trees here, not even a ghost. The most dangerous thing is the sheep of that shepherd this morning. The sheep looked at me strangely. I felt like it wanted to butt me."

"We'll send them to India sooner or later!"

Khalid chuckled, waved his hand, and turned to walk towards the tent area.

The Corolla's taillights receded into the night, cutting through the darkness as it climbed the gravel road up the mountain.

A dozen minutes later, we reached the top of the mountain.

The vines at the cave entrance swayed gently in the night breeze, their gray-green leaves shimmering with a silvery-white light under the moonlight.

He bent down, parted the vines, took a few steps inside, and then stopped.

The entrance to the cave was blocked by a huge rock.

The rock weighed at least two tons. It was a dark gray basalt with a rough, angular surface. It was firmly wedged at the entrance of the cave, blocking the entire entrance completely, so that not even a cat could squeeze in.

Chen Zheng stood in front of the rock, hands on his hips, looking at the boulder, and a twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Then he took a deep breath and called out in a low voice toward the rocks, "It's me."

He called out again, "The boss is back!"

There was silence for about two seconds.

Then the stone started to move.

The two-ton basalt boulder was pushed outwards, its bottom grinding against the gravel ground with a dull rumble, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

The boulder rolled away, creating a gap about one meter wide, revealing the entrance to the cave behind it.

The bald man stood behind the rock, his grayish-brown skin covered in grime, his two large eyes shining like two small light bulbs in the darkness.

Its paws were still braced on the rocks. When it saw Chen Zheng, it opened its mouth and let out a muffled "coo!"

Chiang Kai-shek stood beside him, also saluting, "Gaga!"

Chen Zheng walked along the passage and turned the corner. Lights from inside the cave poured out, casting a warm yellow glow that illuminated the entire space.

The air was thick with the smell of cutting fluid, mixed with the odor of machine oil and metal dust. (The cutting fluid had a strong, overpowering smell.)

Two DMG MORI 5-axis milling machines were operating, the high-speed rotation of the spindles producing a sharper sound. The T2108 deep hole drilling machine, located at the very back of the cave, was rifling, the sound of the cutting tool moving in and out of the barrel being a deep, somewhat shrill hum.

The T2108 deep hole drilling machine has a blanking length of 350 mm to 1800 mm, and can process long gun barrels!

It was so cool!

Chen Zheng stood at the entrance of the cave, and was warmed by the heat wave.

More than a dozen machines were running at the same time, and the generators were roaring outside the cave entrance. Some of the heat was drawn away by the ventilation system, but the temperature inside the cave was still at least seven or eight degrees higher than outside, making it a bit stuffy and hard to breathe.

In just that one moment, the fur on my underwear became all sticky.

Four-Eyes stood in front of the old DMG MORI, his long ears tilted slightly forward, his amber eyes fixed on the cutting area, and his four slender fingers resting on the feed rate knob, ready to adjust at any moment.

His work clothes were soaked with sweat, the dark fabric clinging to his back.

Hearing footsteps, Four-Eyes turned his head.

"Boss," it called out, adjusting its glasses.

"How's it going?" Chen Zheng walked over. "Can you get the order sorted out within seven days?"

Four-Eyes pointed to the finished product area, "At the current processing speed, a thousand units are no problem, absolutely no problem!"

Chen Zheng followed its finger and looked over. On the floor of the finished product area, gray-black metal objects were neatly stacked. AKM receivers, barrels, bolt carriers, piston rods, gas blocks, front sight bases, rear sight bases, trigger guards, magazine catches, buttplates... Various parts were classified and stacked on wooden pallets, covered with plastic film to prevent dust and rust.

As Chen Zheng looked at the process, that sense of urgency welled up in his heart again.

In other words, my machine can only last for another week at most!

If the orders aren't picked up...

Oh no... Damn it, we're just going to have to sit around and wait for our savings to run out.

The team's salaries also need to be paid!

It takes at least tens of thousands of US dollars as a starting point; that's the anxiety of being a boss.

The Middle East has no shortage of orders!

But I can't get the orders.

Just like how there's no shortage of orders domestically, do state-owned enterprises and large companies lack orders? If all else fails, just deduct wages, or at worst, cut a production line.

Those small family workshops are the most pitiful; one shock and they're gone!

Once European goods arrive, the price of rifles will drop.

At that point, he'll have to fight a price war with European arms dealers who have 30 years' worth of stockpiles.

We can't beat them.

No matter how low his costs are, they can't be lower than those inventory items.

Those guns were produced during the Soviet era, and the material and labor costs have long been amortized. Selling one now would be pure profit.

What about him? He needs to buy steel, knives, cutting fluid, and diesel for the generator. Although the hard labor doesn't require wages, the fixed costs are still there.

So he had to find a new way out.

Chen Zheng stood to the side, frowning and deep in thought. Suddenly, as if he had just thought of something, his eyes lit up!

Then I took out my phone and opened Bilibili.

The signal was weak; the loading circle spun for several seconds before the page slowly loaded.

He typed four words into the search bar: DIY drone.

He remembered seeing this thing when he was browsing Bilibili before, and he thought it was pretty fun, like a remote-controlled airplane!

I didn't notice it at the time, but now that I think about it, if that thing dropped a bomb... isn't that just a small drone?

A whole bunch of search results popped up.

He flipped through a few pages and clicked on the video with the most views. The uploader's ID was "Electrician Wang Shifu," and the profile picture was of himself—a young man wearing blue overalls and a safety helmet, standing next to a quadcopter drone.

The video title is very long, typical of Bilibili clickbait titles: "Shocking! I actually made a drone that can fly for half an hour with a cost of less than 500 yuan!!!"

Chen Zheng clicked on it and watched it at double speed.

The content is not complicated—a quadcopter with carbon fiber tubing for the arms, an open-source Pixhawk flight controller, 2212 brushless motors, 1045 propellers, and 3S 2200mAh lithium polymer batteries.

The total cost was less than 1700 RMB.

That's less than 263 US dollars!

He exited the video and glanced at the comments section.

The top comment was from someone named "Aviation Enthusiast Xiao Wang": Master Wang is awesome! Could you make a tutorial on load capacity? I want to make one that can hold a camera.

Master Wang replied: If you want to attach a camera, you need to change the motor to a 2814, the propeller to a 12-inch one, and the battery to a 4S, which will double the cost, but it's still doable. I'll post a tutorial another day.

The second most popular comment comes from an ID called "Rural Inventor": Master Wang, could you share your PID parameters? My plane shakes a lot when it flies, and I've been adjusting it for several days.

Master Wang replied: I sent you a private message with my parameter file. Try importing it.

The third most popular comment comes from an ID called "Drone Novice": Master Wang, could you give me a checklist? I want to make one.

Master Wang replied: See the pinned comment; there's a link to the cloud drive.

Chen Zheng scrolled to the pinned comment and clicked on the cloud drive link.

After loading for a few seconds, a folder popped up containing more than a dozen files—BOM list, 3D model, PCB schematic, flight controller parameter configuration file, assembly instructions, debugging tutorial, and everything else.

"What a good person," he muttered.

"What a fucking good guy!"

But that's how Bilibili was back then; anyone could share. If you wanted to read something, you could even see professors teaching there, unlike later…

They're just selling their legs!

Chen Zheng downloaded the BOM list, opened it, and started looking at it.

The list is very detailed and divided into five categories.

Body structure: carbon fiber tube, motor base and center plate, nylon screws, shock-absorbing balls.

Power system: 2212 brushless motor, 1045 blades, Hobbywing 20A ESC.

Flight control system: APM 2.0 flight control board, GPS module, data radio, power module.

Remote control system: Tiandifei WFT06X + WFR06.

Battery: 3S 2200mAh lithium battery, B3 charger.

All in all, it really costs less than 1700 RMB, only the remote control system is a bit expensive.

If you include the tools—soldering iron, screwdriver, heat shrink tubing, cable ties, multimeter—add another hundred or so yuan.

Chen Zheng called out, "Four-Eyes!"

Four-Eyes was adjusting the parameters of the new DMG MORI, his fingers tapping on the control panel, his long ears standing straight up.

"The boss?"

Chen Zheng opened the screenshot of the BOM list and handed the screen to Si Yan.

"Take a look at this," he said.

Four-Eyes took the phone, his four slender fingers gripping the frame, his long ears tilting forward, and his amber eyes scanning the screen.

There was silence for about ten seconds.

"A quadcopter." It spoke, its voice high-pitched but slow, each word seemingly calculated by the brain before being uttered. "It's for civilian use, the flight control system is an open-source architecture, most of the structural components can be injection molded, and the power system has readily available brushless motors and ESCs."

"Can you do it?"

Four-Eyes looked up at Chen Zheng, then looked down at the list again.

"It can optimize costs."

It says, swiping its finger across the screen, "The carbon fiber tubing in this list can be replaced with injection-molded engineering plastics, reducing costs by 75% and increasing weight by less than 10 grams. If the center plate and motor mount are also injection-molded, the cost will be reduced by 80%, and the consistency will be better."

"We can make the flight control board ourselves. It's an open-source solution. We can do prototyping and add surface mount technology, keeping the cost to one-third of the list. The motors and ESCs are readily available, but we can't manufacture them ourselves, so we need to buy them from outside."

Si Yan swiped the screen again, "If we can accept a few compromises in performance, the overall cost can be controlled to about 60% of the list."

"60%?" Chen Zheng repeated.

"Even lower." Four-Eyes pushed up his glasses. "It depends on how well the structure and power system are optimized."

Chen Zheng hummed in response but didn't say anything; his mind was racing.

If the cost can be reduced to 60% of the list, that would be 1020 RMB, which is approximately 157 USD.

A drone for $157.

What the hell do you want?

It's worth noting that the mainstream device in France in 2010-2011 was Parrot AR.Drone 1.0.

Positioning: Toy-grade quadcopter, WiFi controlled by mobile phone, with 720P camera, US$434–495

DJI isn't cheap either!

What's the use? It's just a camera.

What Chen Zheng needs to do is... to bomb them directly!

His eyes flashed, but they grew brighter and brighter.

like…

This has tremendous potential!!!

"Could you take another look and see if there's any way to reduce the cost even further? Ideally, you could keep it below $30!" Chen Zheng said to the bespectacled man.

Four-Eyes' eyes widened instantly, then he handed over a wrench and leaned his head over.

"Boss, you might as well just smash me to death!"

……