diymy Chapter 71 The Pledge of Allegiance: Using a Dog as a Tether
Chapter 71 The Pledge of Allegiance: Using a Dog as a Tether
Yung Kee Restaurant, Causeway Bay.
It must be said that the organization is very efficient. In the morning, they gave the other half of the codebook to Lan Gang, and in the evening, Hu Zhiming and Chen Daniu sat down opposite each other.
Chen Guanjiang wiped the pictures off the "Mandarin Duck Secret Manual" with tea, suppressing a laugh as he said, "This disappearing ink is interesting, but it's not worth 500 million Hong Kong dollars at all."
"How could it not be worth it?"
Hu Zhiming immediately retorted, "Do you even know how much money this technology makes each month? Would I sell it to you if you hadn't threatened me with evidence?"
"No matter how advanced the technology is, it becomes worthless once it's cracked!"
"Who can crack this? Not even the police!"
"Don't make promises you can't keep, or you'll easily be proven wrong."
Chen Guanjiang spread out the "Mandarin Duck Secret Manual," opened a bottle of developing solution, and continuously rinsed it. The pictures on the "disappearing ink" disappeared instantly upon contact with water.
Before Hu Zhiming could open his mouth to mock him, Chen Guanjiang opened another bottle of zinc cadmium sulfur fluorescent powder, sprinkled it on the disappeared part, and waited for more than ten seconds for the disappeared picture to gradually reappear.
"How...how could this happen?"
Chen Daniu's eyes widened in disbelief that his proud technology had been cracked so easily.
"Isn't that strange?"
Chen Guanjiang wiped his hands and smiled, "I don't know the specifics, but I understand the basic principles. It's nothing more than acid-base reactions and oxidation-reduction. By trying both, we can get the answer..."
The Chinese have a long history of playing with wordless secret books!
Using the strong acid in lemon juice to make "invisible ink," heating it with fire accelerates the carbonization of the organic acid, quickly revealing the lettering. Flour or alum can also achieve similar effects.
The story of Zuo Ci presenting the Heavenly Book in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and Song Jiang receiving the Heavenly Book in "Water Margin" are both examples of this "disappearing ink" technique.
Chen Guanjiang didn't understand "disappearing ink," but as a seasoned professional with advanced knowledge of optics and imaging, he was able to easily crack it after a few attempts.
Chen Guanjiang continued to attack the victim's conscience, saying, "I'm not a chemist. Cold light development can only reduce the material to 50% at most, which is enough for a conviction."
"We should be able to restore more than 65% of the image using film. It won't be long before the police can crack the formula and restore it to at least 80% through chemical methods."
Hu Zhiming hoped his brother-in-law would refute him, but seeing his dejected appearance, he gritted his teeth and insisted, "Even if it's cracked, this technology is still valuable."
"You jerk!"
Chen Guanjiang looked at him disdainfully and said, "This technology is not the disappearing ink that the police station mentioned, nor is it the overnight ink or any kind of weird ink that you're talking about."
"Although it is true that it was invented by our nation, the international patent for 'Writing Eliminator Liquid' was already registered by the island nation in 68. You can check the patent number yourselves."
Although the earliest patent law appeared in the 15th century, it was not given enough attention by the world. The United States was able to complete the industrialization process by completely replicating Europe.
The rich get rich first, and the poor get rich later!
Only after the United States physically attacked those who infringed on its patents in order to protect its own interests did the international community gradually begin to pay attention to and protect so-called invention patents.
Sadly, even now, the Chinese people have not realized the importance of patents, let alone effectively utilized the large number of patent registrations.
As a result, this technology, which originated in Hong Kong in the 50s, was registered as a patent by the island nation.
Even if the actual inventor deeply develops and applies it to business, it is still just engaging in illegal business.
"You've already cracked all the technology, so why did you still want to acquire Wing King Tong?" Hu Zhiming asked with a dejected look, like a defeated rooster.
The technology has been registered in the island nation, and the equipment is a Roland flatbed computer from Germany in the 40s.
If a printing license is the only valuable asset to Chen Guanjiang, why is it necessary to acquire Wing King Tong?
Chen Guanjiang, too lazy to explain further, slowly pushed the transfer contract forward and said, "Sign it!"
Looking at the "500,000 Hong Kong dollars" on the contract, Hu Zhiming felt his heart bleeding, but he could only obediently sign it and watch Tang Yufei take away the contract and the printing license of Yongjingtang.
After all, Wing King Tong was already under the watchful eye of the police and could no longer print "The Secret Manual of Love" to make money for the gang. Now that the technology had been cracked, they no longer had the leverage to negotiate terms.
"The reason we acquired Yung King Tong is because of you."
Chen Guanjiang continued, "You don't realize the true value of this technology, but I know its commercial application prospects, making you HK$100 million wouldn't be a problem."
"So many?"
"Really?"
Upon hearing that they could earn HK$100 million, Hu Zhiming and Chen Daniu's hearts pounded, and even Tang Yufei, who was standing next to them, was startled.
Chen Guanjiang didn't explain whether it was true or false, he just looked at them with a half-smile.
The so-called "disappearing ink," also known as "reversible color-changing ink," is a complete waste of resources when used for printing love magazines. If the "painters" found out, they would surely blow them up.
Of course, color-changing ink technology is still in its early stages and not yet widespread, but its commercial applications extend far beyond just printing counterfeit US dollars.
That's why Chen Guanjiang valued it so much, willing to use Peng Lilai's core and crucial evidence of the codebook, and even risk getting involved in the quagmire of Lan Gang, just to get Chen Daniu.
"Mr. Chen...Mr. Chen!"
Chen Daniu stammered, "If I can really earn 100 million Hong Kong dollars, my life is yours."
Earning HK$100 million is a drop in the ocean for color-changing inks. To say that it represents a market size of hundreds of billions of US dollars would be even less believable.
"Welcome, my tech guru!"
Chen Guanjiang stood up, patted Chen Daniu on the shoulder, and changed the subject, saying, "However, if you want me to believe that you are truly willing to entrust your life to me, you still need to offer a pledge of loyalty..."
It wasn't until Chen Guanjiang turned his head towards Hu Zhiming that Chen Daniu finally understood what the so-called "pledge of allegiance" meant.
Hu Zhiming was startled and said uneasily, "What are you going to do? If you dare touch my 14K, I won't let you get away with it!"
"Oh!"
Chen Guanjiang didn't even glance at him, and instead advised Chen Daniu, "Go to the police station and report the Hu family, then I'll trust you and help you make money."
"If you don't report it, I'll go and take you and the Hu family to the police station. I don't believe you'll be clean!"
Although Hu Baoquan is an uncle of the "De" generation in the 14k knight-errant, he has long been marginalized.
In August of this year, Chen Zhongying, the "actual leader" of the 14k "dual-leader system," fled after his scheme failed.
"White-haired Old Man" Beard Yung, together with "Tiger of Tsim Sha Tsui" Liu An, launched an attack on "Nominal Leader" Li Sheng.
Both sides are vying to become the actual leader, which requires a lot of financial support. Now they dare not sell laundry detergent anymore, and they both regard Hu Baoquan's Yongjingtang as a cash cow, and they are about to shake this cash cow to its breaking point.
The extensive printing of romance magazines led to them being targeted by the police and rendered worthless, as both sides were too busy fighting to pay attention to them.
The Hu family was abandoned but didn't even realize it, and they still had the audacity to demand HK$500 million, which is absolutely ridiculous.
Of course, even waste can be reused. Chen Daniu, panting heavily, made a choice between his own safety and his in-laws…