Jiang Ye rushed to Cen Yemeng's office.
Three beautiful women were seated in a line on the sofa: Li Nannan, Cen Yemeng, and Isabella. All three were reaching out to touch their respective holographic projections, handling their work.
Jiang Ye sat on the opposite sofa and asked, "What kind of great opportunity is as big as the sky?"
Li Nannan enlarged her holographic projection. A small asteroid belt, filled with gravel, slowly moved in the sky above the office, like schools of fish swimming in a river. Next to the asteroid belt was a massive planet, with two satellites orbiting it.
"This place is very close to us, about 12 light-years away," Li Nannan said. "The largest planet is Meteorite Star, and next to it is the Beta Xin-17130 asteroid belt. Meteorite Star's two satellites are named Red Moon 1 and Red Moon 2."
As Li Nannan introduced them, several names appeared.
Jiang Ye silently memorized: Meteorite Star, some asteroid belt, Red Moon 1 and 2.
"Three hundred and ten years ago, there was only Meteorite Star here. However, at that time, Meteorite Star's volume was six times its current size, its atmosphere was thin, its gravity was too high, the surface temperature was too low, and even oxygen would turn into solid ice in winter," Li Nannan explained. "After precise calculations, the military launched a needle at Meteorite Star."
"A needle?" Jiang Ye frowned.
"It was actually a small weapon, one meter long and ten centimeters wide, but in space, it looked like a thin needle when flying far away. This needle was accelerated to near light speed. After a glancing blow to Meteorite Star, it shaved off five-sixths of the planet's volume. The fragments flew out, forming countless pieces of space debris, creating Red Moon 1 and Red Moon 2, as well as the Beta Xin-17130 asteroid belt. At the same time, the planet's orbit was also knocked askew, bringing it closer to the star, and the temperature was no longer terrifyingly cold."
"Like shooting a billiard ball with a handgun?" Jiang Ye asked.
Li Nannan's eyes lit up, and she nodded approvingly, "Exactly, just like that!"
A doubt in Jiang Ye's mind was suddenly cleared.
He remembered watching a documentary on a science and education channel when he was a child, which said that habitable planets were actually very rare, with a habitable planet appearing only every tens of thousands of light-years. But now, within the territory of the Galactic Empire, habitable planets were everywhere, densely packed to an unbelievable degree.
It turned out that many planets were not habitable at first; they had all been artificially modified.
With advanced technology, things became simple and crude. A single shot could forcibly transform an uninhabitable planet into a habitable one.
"Of course, after launching the needle, a lot of follow-up work was done to restore Meteorite Star to a stable spherical shape, and Red Moon 1 and Red Moon 2 were restored to round satellites, and the atmosphere was thickened. This work, including weaponry and biological aspects, took more than twenty years. The specific process is very complex, so I won't explain it to you," Li Nannan added.
"You don't actually understand it, do you?" Jiang Ye immediately said.
Li Nannan glared at him fiercely.
Cen Yemeng and Isabella both burst into laughter.
"After Meteorite Star became habitable, it was approved as a breeding planet exclusively for the military. The entire planet became a large farm and ranch, producing various crops and livestock to support the army," Li Nannan continued. "However, this breeding planet was not for the Human race, but for another alien race's army in the Galactic Empire, the Crocodile people."
Jiang Ye looked confused. He knew there were many interstellar races within the Galactic Empire, but the Crocodile people sounded very unfamiliar.
"I've dealt with the Crocodile people, let me explain," Isabella interjected.
Li Nannan nodded, leaned back on the sofa, and pulled Cen Yemeng into her arms.
Isabella clicked a few times on her holographic projection screen, bringing up several large images.
The images showed a peculiar alien creature.
Its skin was dark green with many uneven protrusions, very similar to the texture of crocodile skin. It looked tough and leathery, and an old-fashioned handgun might not be able to penetrate it.
Its head was also flat, like a crocodile's, with sharp teeth exposed, clearly a carnivore. However, it had only one golden-yellow eye the size of a ping-pong ball.
It had no tail and two buttocks.
It had two thick hind legs and six small hands in front.
"These are the Crocodile people, their scientific name is the Crocodile race, but they are privately called Crocodile people," Isabella said. "They rose quickly, from having a written language to building spaceships, in just fifteen hundred years. After all, they have six hands, and their speed in tightening screws in factories is twice as fast as ours, right?"
"That joke isn't very funny," Jiang Ye said with a polite smile.
Isabella glared at him too and continued:
"The Crocodile people's forces constitute a large proportion of the Galactic Empire's military system, hence they enjoy more resources. Meteorite Star is one of their fiefdoms. Most of the livestock and crops produced on Meteorite Star are sold to the Crocodile people's high-ranking officials for consumption. However, the ones responsible for raising livestock and growing crops on Meteorite Star are humans."
"So we're working for them?" Jiang Ye understood and clicked his tongue in amazement, "Humans, of all people, working for crocodiles?"
"Don't underestimate the Crocodile people; they are very intelligent. Young crocodile children can do calculus and are proficient in many alien languages. I met the child of a Crocodile ambassador who, at the age of six, recited 'Chu Shi Biao' and 'Chang Hen Ge' to me," Li Nannan said from the side. "To be honest, if the Galactic Empire hadn't unified everyone, and we had gone to war with the Crocodile people, we really wouldn't have been able to defeat them. When we were tentatively landing on the moon, the Crocodile people already had several stellar batteries."
"And there are also some planets where the Crocodile people work for us. These breeding planets follow the rules of territorial jurisdiction. Breeding stars close to our sphere of influence are managed by us, and their produce is sold to them. Breeding stars close to their sphere of influence are managed by them, and their produce is sold to us," Isabella said. "It's a form of mutual assistance. We are all part of the Galactic Empire, there's no technological gap in weapons, and we are equals."
Jiang Ye nodded. "So Meteorite Star is about to start production? And I can take over?"
"Meteorite Star started production long ago. The person in charge is General Xu Aoqing, who has been in office for over fifty years," Li Nannan said.
Jiang Ye was confused. "Then what is this great opportunity referring to?"
"Xu Aoqing can no longer manage it. She submitted an application requesting someone else to operate Meteorite Star, and she would serve as a subordinate assistant," Li Nannan said. "I've secured this opportunity and thought it could be given to you and your wife."
"Why can't she manage it anymore?" Jiang Ye felt that the matter was not simple.
"Beast tide, global riots," Li Nannan said. "This matter is also very troublesome to explain. I'm going to the restroom first; I've been holding it for half a day, damn it, it's really uncomfortable."
Li Nannan stood up and stumbled towards the restroom.
Jiang Ye scratched his head.
It felt like an opportunity, after all, it was a planet. Who wouldn't want it?
But there was no free lunch in the world; it was bound to be a mess, and he was being asked to be the firefighter.
It all depended on how bad the mess was. If it took hundreds of years to break even, it would be better to not have it.