Chapter 272: The Composure of Strategic Planning

Shanghai, bathed in night, shimmered with lights, like a galaxy fallen to earth.
On the banks of the Huangpu River, in the VIP room of Fang Huan Investment, the atmosphere was heavy.
Elon Musk, the Silicon Valley Iron Man, the tech visionary who had just arrived from California on a private jet, traversing twelve time zones, now showed a hint of anxiety in his eyes.
He had been waiting for fifteen minutes.
For someone accustomed to planning his time in minutes, those fifteen minutes felt like an eternity.
With each extra second, the risk of Tesla's production line shutting down increased in his mind; that damned battery shortage hung over his head like a Damocles' sword.
Finally, the VIP room door opened silently.
A tall, handsome young man walked in, a confident smile on his face, his eyes as calm as a deep pool, revealing no emotion.
It was Su Hao.
“Mr. Musk, I apologize for keeping you waiting.” Su Hao’s tone was relaxed, as if he were meeting a long-lost friend.
“I just finished a meeting, which took a bit of time.”
Musk immediately stood up, his face beaming with a warm smile, as if the anxious person from moments before was not him at all.
“Oh, Mr. Su, you’re too kind! I should be thanking you for taking the time out of your busy schedule.”
The two sat down on the sofa, and an assistant served them tea.
Su Hao broke the silence first, looking at Musk as if they were just having a casual chat:
“I heard about the battery issue. Oh dear, it was quite unexpected.
I’ll put in a word and get the battery-related flight path back up and running as soon as possible.”
Musk’s hand, holding the teacup, trembled almost imperceptibly.
Here it comes, the main event is finally here.
"You mean, all of this wasn't intentional?"
"Of course," Su Hao said sincerely, even with a hint of innocence.
"Why would I bother with Tesla? Wouldn't it be better if we just kept to ourselves and made money together?"
"..."
Musk's expression was a kaleidoscope of emotions.
Looking at Su Hao's flawlessly sincere face, he felt a million thoughts racing through his mind.
You only call it an accident after I've flown all this way?
Clearly, there's more to it than meets the eye.
Musk took a deep breath and steered the conversation towards the point of interest Su Hao had revealed.
"Chairman Su, I heard you're very interested in the Starlink project?"
"That's right." Su Hao nodded, looking at the influential tech giant.
"Starlink is a great project; I personally have high hopes for it. So, I'd like to hear your thoughts as the founder."
Actually, he was only a dabbler, with a superficial understanding of Starlink's technical aspects.
Since he didn't know how to articulate it, he let the other party speak first.
Musk was taken aback. He had expected Su Hao to make exorbitant demands, but instead, the other party was adopting a humble, eager-to-learn attitude.
Unable to gauge Su Hao's intentions, he could only follow along.
"Starlink's vision is to provide seamless satellite internet globally..."
Musk began his grand narrative, from the technological vision to the business model.
Su Hao listened intently, because he didn't understand much of this stuff.
"...Of course, the ideal is often far from reality."
After painting a rosy picture, Musk abruptly shifted the conversation, unconsciously recounting the immense difficulties the project faced. This was both a statement of fact and a negotiation tactic, implying to Su Hao that the project wasn't as rosy as it seemed.
"The biggest technical bottleneck lies in traffic processing."
Musk subconsciously began his technical explanation, his voice carrying the persistence and frustration of an engineer.
"Even if we covered the entire Earth's sky with satellites, if all users crowded into densely populated areas to access the internet, the instantaneous surge in traffic would absolutely cause massive network congestion.
To solve this problem, technological breakthroughs are necessary, especially... intelligent traffic control, which is of paramount importance..."
Su Hao listened with rapt attention, pretending he understood everything.
Su Hao suddenly stopped.
Like a programmer accidentally typing a keyword in code, instantly triggering a series of hidden macros.
The moment he uttered the word "intelligent," a thought struck him like lightning!
He had been wondering all along why Su Hao had wanted to buy Close AI in the first place.
He abruptly looked up, staring intently at Su Hao's still calm face, a look of sudden realization followed by utter horror crossing his own.
"So that's how it is!" he exclaimed.
"Huh?" Su Hao looked at him innocently.
"'Close AI'!! Musk's voice trembled.
"Your massive acquisition of 'Close AI' shares wasn't because you believed in artificial intelligence! It was for this! For 'Starlink'!"
Su Hao was completely bewildered: Huh? Is that so?
But in Musk's eyes, silence meant acquiescence! It was the calm composure of someone in control!
"I understand... I understand everything!"
Musk's mind raced, connecting all the clues himself.
"You figured long ago that the core technological bottleneck of Starlink wasn't the terminals, but the AI ​​algorithm!
So you planned ahead and acquired Close AI!"
"Then, you calculated that my privately held company would never easily relinquish its core technology.
So, you triggered the YCC crisis in Japan, simultaneously cutting off our Tesla battery supply, using a real crisis to force us to hand over the Starlink project!"
"Chairman Su, I'm really curious," Musk looked at Su Hao, his eyes filled with awe, "where exactly did you begin this whole scheme?"
Su Hao blinked, stunned.
However, thanks to this genius with his boundless imagination, he finally understood that the projects he'd stumbled upon by chance were actually so closely interconnected!
Seeing Su Hao remain silent, Musk continued:
"I've carefully studied how Chairman Su precisely 'beheaded' that tyrant Carlos Ghosn of 'Muddy'.
What money can't solve, we crush with strength..."
"Simple and brutal, but in this dog-eat-dog world, it has to be admitted that it's the most effective method."
"I think you might have misunderstood something," Su Hao quickly said.
"Carlos Ghosn got what he deserved; he broke the law, it has nothing to do with me."
"Yes, yes, he dug his own grave." Musk had a knowing look on his face.
"But, just at this crucial juncture when you launched the acquisition, this bombshell just happened to explode...
Of course, it's pure coincidence, I understand."
Well, this misunderstanding was now firmly welded to Musk's forehead.
Su Hao opened his mouth, but ultimately decided to remain silent.
He realized that no matter how he explained, it would likely just sound like a "Versailles"-style sophistry to the other party.
Besides… it seemed this beautiful misunderstanding was propelling the negotiations forward at breakneck speed.
What was the point of explaining?!
The stiffness on Musk's face had vanished without a trace, replaced by a sense of relief.
"I can't speak for other things, but today I've learned something important." He looked at Su Hao solemnly,
"As long as you hold onto this coattails and maintain a friendly relationship, you'll definitely not suffer any losses!"
As he spoke, he extended his hand to Su Hao again.
"Thank you for reminding me, 'AI' technology, combined with the 'Starlink' network, this is the true future!
Mr. Su, what are your cooperation requests? I'm willing to cooperate!
For someone as important as you to be so interested in my little project, it seems destined for success, haha!"
Before this, Su Hao's intuition always told him that every time he "saw" Musk's face, it would be a chaotic, frenzied vortex.
However, the moment their hands clasped.
"...!"
It was as if a crucial juncture in the future had been abruptly reversed.
That face, filled with chaos and madness, actually... returned to normal?!
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Su, can I ask you a question?"
Musk crept closer, his voice as low as if conducting a clandestine transaction.
"Um... Bitcoin, what's your outlook now?"
"Oh? You hold a lot of Bitcoin?" Su Hao asked with interest.
"No, no, no, it wasn't me, it was some of my friends playing around."
Musk quickly waved his hand, his face clearly showing his embarrassment, as if saying, "Yes, it was me."
"But with the recent stock market crash, my friends are all acting like they've lost their fathers."