Jiang Ye spent over ten minutes meticulously reviewing the production data and market conditions for the Typhoon spacecraft. He nodded, "Approved. What's next?"
"The second weapon is the Ground-Penetrating Seismic Bomb, a type of long-range interstellar missile," Hua Qing explained. "This seismic bomb, upon reaching its target planet, can rapidly drill into the deep crust, detect the planet's subsurface structure, and then find suitable locations for detonation. After detonation, it can trigger earthquakes."
"Is it similar in concept to the Typhoon spacecraft?" Jiang Ye asked. "Both use the planet's own energy to destroy it. The Typhoon uses airflow, and the seismic bomb uses tectonic plates?"
"Precisely, Your Excellency is wise," Hua Qing stated stiffly, offering flattery. "Solely relying on external force to destroy an enemy target on a planet, from a microeconomic perspective, requires more powerful and numerous expensive weapons. From a macroeconomic perspective, it also means a large amount of energy from other planets is forcibly sent to the target planet, causing energy imbalances between cosmic regions. Only by using the target planet's own energy to destroy it is the most economical and practical method."
"Leveraging external force to strike."
"Correct."
"What are the specific effects of the seismic bomb? What scale of earthquake can it trigger?" Jiang Ye inquired.
"This depends on the target planet's condition. The more unstable its tectonic plates, the greater the energy that can be released," Hua Qing replied. "For most planets, detonating on a fault line can cause magnitude nine or ten earthquakes."
"So, it's difficult to strike targets not on fault lines," Jiang Ye mused. "It seems less effective than the Typhoon spacecraft."
"However, the seismic bomb's market share is higher than the Typhoon spacecraft," Hua Qing quickly interjected.
"Why?" Jiang Ye asked, surprised, flipping through the cost data. "This thing isn't cheap either, two billion per unit."
"The Typhoon spacecraft's attack is usually immediate," Hua Qing explained. "Seismic bombs can be timed or remotely detonated, serving as a deterrent."
"This thing can wait underground?" Jiang Ye exclaimed.
"It can wait for a long time and detonate upon receiving a command," Hua Qing said. "For some weaker target planets, just a few seismic bombs can threaten them. If they want to resist, we can detonate them at any time."
"It's like holding a sword over their heads, releasing it if they don't cooperate," Jiang Ye said. "If they cooperate, the deterrence remains."
"Yes," Hua Qing nodded. "And besides military offensive use, seismic bombs can also be used for civilian purposes. Some planets prone to frequent earthquakes periodically use seismic bombs to trigger minor earthquakes, releasing the energy of larger potential quakes."
Jiang Ye suddenly frowned, recalling the planet Hal.
His first thought was, couldn't Hal use this to release seismic energy?
But then he realized it was impossible. Hal's entire surface had disintegrated; releasing energy would be useless.
If a wall is about to collapse, you can quickly prop it up with bricks. But if a hundred-meter-tall building is about to fall, propping it up is futile.
After ten minutes of detailed review of the seismic bomb's production parameters and market status, Jiang Ye signed his approval.
"The third weapon," Hua Qing announced. "Biological weapon, the Mutation Cloud."
"Mutation Cloud?" Jiang Ye furrowed his brow.
"First, biological samples are collected from the target planet. Then, based on the target's genetic structure, a corresponding induction agent is formulated. The induction agent's sole purpose is to induce accelerated genetic mutation in the target's organisms," Hua Qing explained. "This agent's genes are then injected into a type of fungus, and the fungus is introduced into the target planet's atmosphere."
"These fungi will proliferate in the clouds, spreading throughout the planet's upper atmosphere with the air currents, and then produce the components of the induction agent. This will then fall to the entire planet through the water cycle," Hua Qing continued. "Rain will become a deadly substance, and any organism exposed to it will undergo rapid genetic mutation. Most mutations are fatal, such as malignant tumors, newly grown organs, ruptured blood vessels, and mass deaths of flora and fauna, like mosquito swarms after insecticide application."
"A small portion of flora and fauna will experience non-fatal mutations, but they will also be disabled, deformed, and have difficulty reproducing."
"Most critically, the ecological environment will be completely destroyed, leading to a systemic mass extinction," Hua Qing stated.
"That's chilling," Jiang Ye said. "This weapon should be banned, shouldn't it?"
"Internally banned."
"Externally not banned?"
"That's correct," Hua Qing nodded. "The Mutation Cloud is very popular, with immense market potential."
Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes.
"Internally banned" meant that planets within the Galactic Empire could not use it against each other, nor could the Galactic Empire use it against planets they intended to conquer.
"Externally not banned" meant it could be used against hostile planets that were not intended for occupation or utilization.
"Mutation Cloud... how is it sold? Is the physical product a cloud? How is it delivered?" Jiang Ye asked.
"The physical product is a space platform. This platform can operate fully automatically according to programmed instructions, or it can be manned for direct command input," Hua Qing explained. "This space platform handles the entire process from start to finish, including information gathering, formulation of the induction agent, production of the fungal strain, and deployment of the Mutation Cloud. You simply place the space platform near the target planet and wait."
Jiang Ye frowned, reading the market data.
Currently, the market for Mutation Cloud was sluggish, though it had shown a slight upward trend in recent years, it wasn't strong.
"Is the commercial potential truly immense?" Jiang Ye asked. "Looking at the market data, this thing is likely to become overstocked."
"The potential is absolutely immense. Laypeople don't understand, but a friend of mine is involved in this project," Hua Qing whispered conspiratorially. "The immense potential is because the Purification Cloud is about to be released."
"Purification Cloud?" Jiang Ye felt he suddenly understood something.
"The reason Mutation Cloud is internally banned is that it causes long-term ecological pollution that is very difficult to eradicate. Even if the entire atmosphere is replaced, some fungi will remain," Hua Qing explained. "The function of the Purification Cloud is simple: it uses fungus to combat fungus. Concurrently with the development of the Mutation Cloud, based on the characteristics of the carrier fungus, a specialized Purification Cloud was developed to counter it. The Purification Cloud produces a purifying agent that kills the previous fungi and is harmless to the planet's environment, with targeted attacks."
"So, once the Purification Cloud is developed, the Mutation Cloud could potentially be downgraded and made usable internally," Jiang Ye understood. "The market will skyrocket immediately?"
"Exactly!" Hua Qing nodded vigorously. "The Purification Cloud has already reached the orbital trial stage. It's estimated that in a few months, a target planet will be selected for experimentation. After the experiment, if the results are good, the market will explode. This is insider information, and insider information is money!"
Jiang Ye pondered, his expression hesitant.
"Furthermore, there's a customary rule within the Galactic Empire: when testing important weapons like the Mutation Cloud and Purification Cloud, they select planets that already have related factories to be responsible," Hua Qing said. "For example, if we build a large-scale Mutation Cloud factory, and in a few months there's an orbital experiment, the Galactic Empire has a high probability of selecting us, giving us a planet, and providing us with funds to use it. The experimental funding is usually generous, ranging from tens of trillions to hundreds of trillions."