Four months later.
"Conquering an Alien Planet Starting with Mining" officially broke through twenty-five million copies sold!
Jiang Ye Star sold 8 million copies, Bi Rong Star sold 10 million copies, Liuxing Star sold 5 million copies, and another 2 million copies were sold on other alien planets.
More than forty planets had contacted the Jiang Ye Star publishing house, requesting cooperation in selling "Conquering an Alien Planet Starting with Mining." More than twenty planets had already reached agreements, and book plans were being finalized with great urgency. Each planet's book market had a different style, and when introduced, they would typically change the cover and pricing.
Besides the tangible sales figures, there were many other gains.
Isabelle created an account on a book review website. The account was empty, with only the author name "Yi Sha" and a pre-sale post for "Conquering an Alien Planet Starting with Mining." Even so, it still garnered a million followers!
According to Isabelle's private phone calls with Jiang Ye, her account received hundreds of private messages daily, most of them inquiring about her true identity and urging her to release her next book.
The Planet Leader of Grote Star, the Grand General of Chaofeng Star, and the Planet Leader's wife of Jiaohua Star had all requested the next installment of "Conquering an Alien Planet Starting with Mining" through diplomatic channels. Chaofeng Star, which had not previously established diplomatic relations with Jiang Ye Star, initiated them specifically to urge the author to continue.
More than thirty literary awards were presented to "Conquering an Alien Planet Starting with Mining." Over twenty of these were minor local awards, but there were also several major ones, such as the Canglang Literary Award.
This kind of change could be approached step by step, but Jiang Ye disliked this feeling of the unknown. He was still accustomed to everything being predictable and controllable in broad strokes, accustomed to making long-term plans spanning decades or even a century.
Time passed quickly, and amidst the busyness, winter arrived again on Jiang Ye Star.
Looking out from the Grand General's office, the world was a sheet of white. But Jiang Ye was still wearing summer clothes in his office, as the air conditioning was warm.
Less snow fell this year. In the first month of winter, the snowfall was 40% less than ten years ago.
This was the result of the planet's long-term environmental modification efforts.
The global climate of Jiang Ye Star today was vastly different from when Jiang Ye first arrived as the colonial governor; it was almost like two different planets.
More forests and grasslands, more animals and factories, and more marine life had led to changes in atmospheric composition.
Especially the acceleration of the water cycle, which not only altered the climate but also changed the topography of many regions.
There were more rivers, more alluvial fan plains, and fewer plateaus.
Jiang Ye Star now had a milder climate year-round, with summer's highest temperatures lowered by three degrees Celsius, winter shortened by a week, and the average minimum winter temperature increased by five degrees Celsius.
According to ecological models, if this pace of modification continued for another ten years, Jiang Ye Star would no longer experience frequent snow disasters in winter, and massive ice caps would form at the poles.
Simultaneously, sea levels would drop, exposing more land and oceanic islands. It was projected that the planet's land area would increase by 3.7 million square kilometers in ten years.
Some ecologists suggested artificially modifying the oceanic composition of Jiang Ye Star, particularly its salinity, which would have a direct effect on regulating the climate and sea levels.
Jiang Ye did not agree. Firstly, it would be too expensive, with the entire ocean modification project costing 40 trillion. Secondly, doing so would kill a large number of native species, and he did not want the entire ocean surface of the planet to be covered in dead fish, with the smell of decay constantly drifting on the wind.
Time flew by, and it was New Year.
Cen Yemeng and Jiang Ye decided to take a week off and stay home to celebrate the New Year.
The couple called Jiang Senlin to come home.
But Jiang Senlin had already gone to an alien planet. Several planet leaders had invited him to paint New Year pictures, with orders worth hundreds of millions, which he couldn't simply abandon. Therefore, Jiang Senlin would not be returning home this year; at most, he would have video calls with his parents.
Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng had houses on various planets. In previous years, they celebrated on Jiang Ye Star, but this year, after discussion, they decided to go to Meteorite Star.