Abdullah finally arrived at the topic most concerning him: rejuvenation. His heart tightened, and he asked, "I wonder what the treatment cost is for this rejuvenation surgery?"

Liu Hui smiled and held up one finger.

Abdullah guessed, "One million?" Though he didn't truly believe that amount.

Liu Hui began to shake his head.

Abdullah tentatively raised the figure, "Ten million?"

Liu Hui continued to shake his head, saying, "Still very far off!"

Abdullah was startled and asked, "Could it be ten billion?"

Liu Hui chuckled, "Not that high!"

"Then just how much is it?" Abdullah pressed.

Liu Hui smiled, "One hundred million US dollars."

Abdullah breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "It doesn't sound all that expensive!"

Liu Hui then added, "What I mean is, one hundred million US dollars buys you one year of youth."

Abdullah was aghast, "What? One hundred million dollars for just one year of youth?"

Liu Hui smiled, "That’s right, you heard correctly—one hundred million dollars allows one year of aging to be reversed. Let me give you the inside scoop: Old Superman spent sixty-three hundred million dollars here to reverse his age by sixty-three years, and Old Master He spent sixty hundred million dollars to reverse his age by sixty years. You must remember, this rejuvenation surgery can only be performed once in a person's lifetime, so if you miss the first opportunity, there won't be a second chance."

In truth, the treatment fees for Old Superman and Old Master He were discounted by 20% by Liu Hui, so they hadn't actually spent that much. However, Abdullah would never get wind of these specific figures, so Liu Hui wasn't worried about being exposed. Furthermore, this was a seller's market; the buyer had no room to haggle.

Upon hearing that the rejuvenation surgery was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Abdullah immediately began calculating. One hundred million dollars for one year of youth might seem exorbitant to others, but for him, it was acceptable. In the end, he reasoned clearly: no matter how much wealth one accumulates, if one is no longer around, it all goes to others. In comparison, his own life was paramount. Moreover, this massive treatment fee wouldn't cripple him financially. So, he said, "Mr. Liu Hui, is there any danger associated with this surgery?"

Liu Hui shook his head, "Our surgery has a 100% safety record, and the time required is short—the entire process is completed in just twelve hours."

Abdullah stated, "In that case, I would like to reverse my age by seventy years. Is that possible?"

Liu Hui laughed, "Naturally. As long as you have enough money, you could even wish to be returned to infancy. However, that would mean skipping at least a decade or more of enjoyable life."

Hearing Liu Hui say this, Abdullah burst out laughing, and a look passed between the two men that only men could truly understand.

Liu Hui concluded his discussion with Abdullah. Satisfied with the answers, Abdullah naturally returned to his quarters to organize the funding for the treatment and gather personnel for negotiations with Starry Sky Group. Meanwhile, Liu Hui proceeded to the Starry Sky Scientific Research Institute and sought out Chen Changsheng.

"Boss, weren't you supposed to be entertaining that king? Why are you here?" Chen Changsheng teased.

"Heh heh, that king has already left. I came to see you to confirm something," Liu Hui replied with a smile.

"What is it you wish to know, Boss?" Chen Changsheng asked curiously.

"You mentioned last time that our seawater desalination technology is mature and ready for practical application, correct?" Liu Hui inquired.

Chen Changsheng laughed, "Yes, Boss, I did mention that. We finalized the research on this seawater desalination technology quite some time ago. Since our 'Starry Sky City' will primarily operate on the sea, that future marine metropolis requires a vast amount of fresh water. Therefore, the first project our Academy of Sciences tackled was this desalination technology."

Liu Hui asked, "Is this seawater desalination technology difficult?"

Chen Changsheng chuckled, "Boss, actually, the technology itself is quite simple. The method we are currently using is the most basic form: Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF). This technique utilizes a significant amount of energy to heat seawater, which is then successively evaporated in multiple flash chambers where the pressure gradually decreases, allowing the resulting steam to be condensed into fresh water. We have already manufactured large-scale equipment for this."

Liu Hui was overjoyed and asked, "But I heard people say seawater desalination technology is extremely difficult. Surely you encountered obstacles during your research?"

Chen Changsheng smiled, "Boss, boil it down, and desalination is just the process of turning seawater into pure water through massive energy consumption. The biggest hurdles were increasing the single-unit water production capacity, lowering the power consumption per unit, and improving heat transfer efficiency. However, once you provided those miraculous formations and those high-grade energy stones, those problems ceased to be problems."

Liu Hui asked, "Are you saying that because of the formations, the desalination equipment can boost production and efficiency, and with the use of high-grade energy stones, we no longer worry about the unit power consumption?"

Chen Changsheng nodded, "Precisely. Not to mention the sheer astronomical amount of electrical energy contained within the many high-grade energy stones you supplied. Just the fourteen Divine-level energy stones in our lab can provide fourteen hundred million kilowatt-hours of electricity daily. Using that power for desalination would produce an unimaginable amount of fresh water. So, in terms of energy, we are not lacking at all, and we don't care about consumption."

Liu Hui paused to consider, then asked, "If we calculate based on production cost, what is our cost to produce one cubic meter of fresh water?"

Chen Changsheng thought for a moment and replied, "That's actually hard to calculate precisely. Our desalination equipment is exceptionally robust and durable, designed to last over a century, so the depreciation cost is minimal. The only factors to consider are electricity consumption and personnel wages. Calculated this way, the production cost per cubic meter should not exceed 0.3 RMB! In fact, while desalinating seawater, we can simultaneously extract vast quantities of minerals and precious metals from it. If we factor that in, our desalination won't just cover costs; it will be highly profitable."

Liu Hui said, "Are you saying that while desalinating water, you can also separate the minerals and precious metals from the seawater?"

Chen Changsheng confirmed, "Yes, we have succeeded in separating these minerals and precious metals individually. Boss, why do you ask?"

Liu Hui was inwardly delighted and laughed, "This is wonderful! I completely overlooked the desalination aspect before; fortunately, the arrival of that old Saudi king reminded me. I initially intended to do a good deed—to improve the increasingly desolate global environment and reduce potential harassment from extreme environmental groups—but I never expected to stumble upon such a lucrative venture here."

Chen Changsheng scratched his head in confusion, "When we researched this desalination technology, we treated it purely as a research topic. We only aimed to make it perfect, so we expended a little extra energy to separate the minerals and precious metals from the seawater, never considering that the Boss would place such importance on them."

Liu Hui beamed, "Dean Chen, I must thank you all! Although I'm not an expert in technology, I am well aware that seawater contains many minerals and precious metals. Even though the concentration in the water is low, the sheer volume of the ocean is immense—think of how many minerals and precious metals are contained in the entire sea! Now consider this: if we enter the desalination market, not only can we profit from providing fresh water to desperately thirsty populations worldwide, earning excellent public goodwill—surely those so-called environmental groups won't picket us then?—but the crucial point is that we can also refine massive amounts of precious metals and minerals from the water. Those materials are where the real profit lies. Even if we don't sell them, we can use them in the construction of our own Starry Sky City!"

Chen Changsheng exclaimed with emotion, "How did I not think of that? By extracting 4 million tons of seawater, we can produce 100,000 tons of sodium chloride, 30,000 tons of Glauber's salt, 5,000 tons of magnesium, 5,000 tons of gypsum, 2,400 tons of potassium carbonate, 250 tons of bromine, 100 tons of boric acid, 6,000 tons of heavy water, 700 kilograms of lithium, 200 kilograms of iodine, and 10 kilograms of uranium. The value of these substances and metals is immense. The Boss truly lives up to his name; he sees things much further ahead than we do."

Liu Hui laughed, "Dean Chen, modesty doesn't suit you. Don't try to hide your brilliance from me; I am not one of those incompetent bosses."

Chen Changsheng offered an awkward smile but remained silent.

Liu Hui kept an unspoken thought to himself: by forcefully entering the desalination market and crushing all other factories with rock-bottom prices, he could gain complete control over the industry, effectively holding the lifeline of these severely water-stressed nations. At that point, anyone who displeased him would have their water supply cut off—who would dare challenge him then? While this prospect looked glorious, it carried significant risks that Liu Hui would need to navigate carefully.

Liu Hui then continued his inquiry, "What do our desalination units look like? Are they very large?"

Chen Changsheng brought up an image on his computer. "Boss, look, this is our desalination equipment."

Liu Hui leaned over, only to see a massive cargo ship displayed on the screen. He said with surprise, "Dean Chen, did you pull up the wrong image? What I see looks like a huge cargo freighter!"

Chen Changsheng smiled, "You see correctly, Boss. The interior of this large cargo ship has been completely refitted by us; it is now a floating desalination plant."

Liu Hui asked somewhat blankly, "But it looks exactly like a large cargo ship. From the exterior, no one would guess it’s a desalination plant."

Chen Changsheng explained, "Because we anticipated that 'Starry Sky City' would be floating on the ocean, we modified the equipment onto this large freighter. It wasn't intended to be deliberately unconventional. Future desalination plants for Starry Sky City will be built within the city itself, not on freighters."

Looking at the massive cargo ship, Liu Hui suddenly laughed, "Not bad, very good! I just realized, if our desalination plants look like this, that would be excellent."

"Boss, what are you talking about?" Chen Changsheng asked, confused as to why Liu Hui was praising a desalination plant refitted inside a cargo vessel.

Liu Hui chuckled, "I mean the concept of refitting a cargo ship into a desalination plant is brilliant. This way, we don't have to build factories on land, which significantly reduces the chance of our secrets being leaked. Moreover, this floating desalination plant has another advantage: it's mobile. Once we finish supplying water in one location, we can sail to another area to supply water. It's incredibly convenient. Even if we fall out with our partners in the future, we just sail the ship away, leaving them nothing behind."

Chen Changsheng replied, "Actually, all of this is thanks to you, Boss. Because you provided us with high-grade energy stones, we were able to save a massive amount of energy space within the ship. With that space saved, we could install an entire desalination plant on a single large cargo vessel."

Liu Hui asked, "How many tons of fresh water can this desalination ship produce daily?"

Chen Changsheng stated, "This cargo ship has a deadweight tonnage of 100,000 tons. Therefore, the desalination equipment installed on it is a medium-sized unit. When running at full capacity, it can produce five million tons of fresh water per day."

"How much?" Liu Hui paused, worried he misheard, and quickly asked again.

"Boss, if our desalination ship runs at full throttle, it can process five million tons of fresh water in one day," Chen Changsheng repeated.

Liu Hui was utterly stunned. Currently, all the desalination plants in the entire world combined only process forty million tons of seawater daily. This plant, refitted onto a mere 100,000-ton freighter, could produce five million tons daily—that single ship alone accounted for one-eighth of the total global desalination capacity. This figure was so immense it was impossible for Liu Hui not to be shocked.

Chen Changsheng seemed completely unfazed and explained, "Boss, there's nothing strange about it. Energy is the most crucial factor in desalination. Previously, because desalination was an energy-intensive industry, the costs made high output unfeasible, which is why the daily yields of those plants weren't very high. If we ignore energy consumption, all the world's desalination plants running at maximum capacity could certainly exceed one hundred million tons daily. The reason our ship has such powerful desalination capabilities is entirely due to the high-grade energy stones you provided. Without the immense energy stored in those stones, we wouldn't dare process this much seawater; otherwise, the more water we purified, the more money we would lose."

After hearing Chen Changsheng's explanation, Liu Hui finally understood. In the end, desalination relied entirely on his supply of cheap, high-grade energy stones. Without these inexpensive stones, he too would be unable to manage such an energy-hungry project.

However, Liu Hui quickly became elated. He was currently in possession of countless Monster Cores, so numerous they had nowhere left to stack them. Moreover, Alexander from the Magic Plane was continuously supplying him with more, forcing him to temporarily store these cores in Alexander’s super-warehouse. Since these Monster Cores couldn't be sold directly, Liu Hui was struggling with how to manage this untradeable wealth. This desalination project was the perfect solution to convert the electrical energy within the cores into tangible profit. If secrecy was maintained, he could openly use the cores, exchanging them for the various resources he required.

"Dean Chen, how much electrical energy is required to desalinate one ton of seawater and separate its minerals and precious metals?" Liu Hui inquired.

"It takes roughly one kilowatt-hour to desalinate one ton of fresh water and separate its associated minerals and precious metals. Of course, this standard is achievable only because we utilize our formations and other cutting-edge technologies. Other desalination plants cannot achieve such high conversion rates; they require about four kilowatt-hours or more to process one ton of fresh water, and they cannot separate the minerals or precious metals. Additionally, their equipment degrades rapidly, needing replacement every fifteen years, unlike ours which lasts a century. Thus, their operational costs are much higher than ours," Chen Changsheng replied.

Liu Hui quickly calculated. Based on Chen Changsheng’s figures, the desalination plant on the 100,000-ton freighter would consume five million kilowatt-hours daily. Annually, this amounted to 1.825 billion kilowatt-hours, which translated to 1,825 Grade Four Monster Cores.

When he calculated such a massive core consumption, Liu Hui was momentarily taken aback; desalination was indeed a high-energy industry. But the potential return was equally staggering. Processing five million tons of seawater daily meant an average of fifty-eight cubic meters per second—the equivalent of a small, vigorous river. Over a year, this would yield 1.8 billion tons of fresh water, generating immense economic benefit. This figure didn't even account for the precious metals and various minerals extracted during the process, which alone amounted to nearly 200,000 tons daily, not counting their inherent value.

As Liu Hui reached this realization, his excitement surged. He had just uncovered another magnificent highway to riches.

Thanks to book friend: Da Han Guo Xing Liu for the tip! A