Starting from the Planetary Governor

He had promised to bring the Phoenix Battle Group a high-quality, advanced genetic workshop capable of conducting genetic implant surgeries.

The price Wang Jiarong quoted for this set of equipment was 500,000 tax currency.

According to her, this thing wasn't expensive; some powerful war troops used the same thing. The success rate of the genetic seed implantation surgery mainly depended on the recipient's own qualifications and, secondly, on the level of genetic science of the person performing the surgery.

Ordinary battle groups would have a position known as 'Pharmacist,' responsible for this task, including collecting genetic seeds from comrades on the battlefield and creating new soldiers to provide fresh blood for the battle group.

Currently, the Phoenix Battle Group did not have this position, but it was said that old Priest Rizzo had been a pharmacist before; they just hoped his skills weren't rusty now.

Additionally, a set of Terminator Power Armor was needed; this was also something Gu Hang had promised to Matins.

The quoted price for this set of Terminator Power Armor was 800,000 tax currency.

Looking at these prices, Gu Hang could only say that stuff related to the Starfighter was damn expensive.

Gu Hang had estimated the value of his troops.

Currently, he had three types of division and brigade formations under his command: the composite division, the motorized infantry division, and the garrison division.

The most expensive military force was the mechanized composite brigade like the 1st Extinguishing Wind Brigade and the 13th Brigade, whose total production cost, including equipment and manpower, was about 200,000 tax currency.

The production cost of a motorized infantry division was only half of that, worth 100,000 tax currency.

The garrison division was only worth 75,000.

One Interstellar Warrior's Terminator Power Armor was worth the total production cost of four composite divisions or eight motorized infantry divisions, including manpower and equipment!

It was outrageous!

According to Wang Jiarong, she hadn't made much money on the batch she sold to Gu Hang, basically selling it to him for the same price she acquired it.

In this regard, Gu Hang believed her—he had asked Yelisia and received a similar answer.

Either of these two women could potentially deceive him, but no matter how good their relationship was when they cooperated for mutual benefit, there was a natural conflict between them regarding securing Gu Hang. Given the chance, neither would pass up the opportunity to one-up the other.

With the prices not being an issue, Gu Hang began to doubt the cost-effectiveness of this stuff.

An old Terminator warrior killing off eight divisions?

Gu Hang didn't believe it.

Pile them up and he would overwhelm them; no matter how thick the Terminator Armor was, it was still individual armor. If a 155mm artillery shell couldn't open a can, firing a hundred or a thousand shots, the armored vehicle's machine guns barraging, bomb-carrying machine guns shooting vigorously... sheer firepower could smash the can open.

It just meant more people would die.

However, he quickly realized this wasn't the right way to calculate it.

Having elite individual soldiers and pitting them against a formal army in head-on combat was the sign of a commander with a screw loose.

But at certain critical strategic points, in places where the enemy couldn't deploy heavy firepower, for special combat missions—in short, where large-scale military forces couldn't reach—these super soldiers could demonstrate a value higher than an entire army.

But regardless, the total of 900,000 tax currency was a commitment Gu Hang had made to the Phoenix, and he intended to keep his promise.

After all, with Matins equipped with the Terminator, he would be working for him; rounding off, it was practically like buying it for himself.

The genetic seed implant equipment was the same principle.

Beyond that, Gu Hang also bought twenty sets of unpainted, brand-new Interstellar Warrior Powered Armor.

They were the seventh generation of tactical power armor, known as 'Sky Eagle Type,' the most common, widely used, and... cheapest powered armor, with the breathing grates on the helmet as the most characteristic feature.

But they were still worth 40,000 tax currency per set.

A total of 20 sets of tactical power armor cost Gu Hang another 800,000 tax currency.

This made him sigh, "Now I understand why a Starfighter Battle Group would need an entire planet as a home, to supply them with resources. A slightly poor planet really couldn't afford it."

Wang Jiarong scoffed, "This is just the beginning; your current investment in the battle group hasn't even touched on the more expensive levels yet."

She was right.

A standard battle group not only needed power armor and superhuman warriors but also various vehicles and equipment unique to Starfighters, required a large auxiliary army, and even a fleet.

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Especially at the fleet stage, that's truly a money pit with no bottom.

But fortunately, Gu Hang currently doesn't need to worry about such things, and he might never have to allocate a fleet to the Phoenix Battle Group, as that does not align with his interests.

All he had to do was to meet the current needs of the Phoenix. He could certainly afford to sustain the four living warriors.

Of the 20 sets of tactical power armor Gu Hang had purchased, he only planned to give five sets to Matins. The reason he gave was that these were gifts for the two other warriors apart from Matins and Rizzo, who had special armors, to replace their battle-worn, tattered old power armors.

The old armors that were replaced were supposed to be given to Gu Hang to offset the cost.

Of course, Gu Hang actually kept them for himself.

The other three armors were gifts for the three incoming Starfighters, the new recruits.

As for the remaining 15 sets, Gu Hang planned to keep them for himself for the time being.

If the Phoenix needed more in the future, then some from these fifteen could be allocated to them.

It was also possible that Gu Hang would later try to exchange for genetic seeds to create new Starfighters, in which case these suits of armor would come in handy.

Rage Owl Star was still a long way from being able to manufacture Interstellar Warrior Powered Armor, and Gu Hang didn't even know at what level the technology for manufacturing powered armor appeared in the technology tree interface.

Certainly, it was neither basic nor advanced.

If he wanted to acquire it, he guessed it was still far off in the future.

For now, the only way for him to get power armor was through interstellar trade.

So, he shouldn't miss this opportunity.

After the Beautiful Lady left, he didn't know when the next sizable merchant convoy would arrive.

Besides these power armors, Gu Hang also bought some other items that Rage Owl Star was unlikely to be able to produce in the near future.

Such as thermal melt weapons, powered weapons, and so on.

He planned to give part of these items to the Phoenix Battle Group and intercept a portion for himself.

In any case, the four warriors of the Phoenix Battle Group had indeed undergone quite an upgrade. Not only did the group leader Matins receive a Terminator Power Armor, their weaponry had also been upgraded.

If they faced another heavily armored orc boss or a Green Skin Overlord, at the very least, they now had some means to deal with them, and wouldn't be as devastated in battle.

These weapons and equipment cost Gu Hang an additional 400,000 Tax Currency. The most expensive among them was a 'Blade of Honor' type powered sword, valued at 200,000 Tax Currency, which Gu Hang gave to Matins, replacing his nearly worn-out chainsaw sword.

By that calculation, after extorting 3.5 million from Blackbird Heavy Industries, 2.5 million was gone in an instant.

There was 1 million Tax Currency left, and Gu Hang didn't save any of it.

He purchased quite a few miscellaneous items, including soilless farm technology, water purification technology, high-quality food crops...

These technologies and equipment would help Gu Hang establish five large soilless farms, similar in technology to what the Western Desert People on Rage Owl Star used from the pre-war era.

With these five large farms, plus the synthetic starch production line that Wu Jiarong had already mastered, the self-sufficiency rate of grains for the alliance could increase significantly.

Not much need to be said about the water purification equipment and technology, as the water on Rage Owl Star wasn't particularly clean. Any improvement was welcome. Whether it's wastewater treatment and reuse or seawater desalination, this set of equipment could handle it.

Beyond that, a production line for exoskeletons was introduced.

This too was quite costly. Gu Hang estimated that it could be considered advanced technology, or maybe among the best of the basic technologies.

However, this exoskeleton was far from a real power armor; it was not difficult to achieve, and upon introducing a production line, they could be mass-produced, facilitating Wu Jiarong's subsequent reverse engineering. Once mastered, he could even expand the production line on his own.

And thus, the last 1 million Tax Currency was spent.

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The exoskeleton is similar in design to what's seen in the movie Edge of Tomorrow, and a picture will be provided later.

Additionally, a sentence about the farm was deleted – are the four characters for 'collective farm' really that sensitive? If it must be deleted, why not leave the latter half about the grain self-sufficiency rate...

It has been added back now.

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