The mechanical soldiers, currently the leaders of the logging group, led their team members into the dense forest after selecting them.
They picked a tree and demonstrated the felling method.
An hour later, the entire logging area was bustling with activity.
The sound of chainsaws filled the air, and sawdust flew everywhere.
Giant trees fell continuously.
The mechanical soldiers were teaching their team members how to process the wood.
Jiang Ye patrolled the area with his guards.
The loggers looked very serious, diligently learning the steps and operating with sweat pouring down their faces.
This was their first day on this world, and the first skill they were actively learning. This skill would allow them to establish themselves and earn savings on Birong Star, eventually integrating into human society.
By noon, the beginnings of wooden houses started to appear in the open spaces within the forest.
The progress was quite rapid.
Jiang Ye was satisfied.
He had several considerations for having these androids work as loggers.
First, clearing a large area of the dense forest would be visible to satellites, contributing to an increase in development level data.
Second, the wood in this area was quite valuable, and Xu Yan's company was willing to purchase it in large quantities.
Third, apart from the military base, Birong Star had no villages or cities. Instead of spending a large sum to build a city for the androids to live in, it was better to let them build their own houses.
Perhaps it was the first time seeing a large number of androids working, Jiang Ye was very patient and stayed in the logging area for the entire day, until nightfall.
More than a dozen wooden houses had already been constructed.
They were not beautiful countryside wooden villas, but rather quite primitive and crude structures, with rough logs forming the walls, floors with splinters, a height of only two meters, and a roof covered with a layer of branches.
If it rained, it would surely rain heavily outside and lightly inside.
After a day of hard work, the loggers were exhausted.
Dinner was provided by the troops: large pots of meat congee, steamed corn buns, small cold dishes, and tomatoes.
The meat congee was made from canned meat transported from Jiang Ye Star, the steamed corn buns and small cold dishes were prepared by the nearby military base, and the tomatoes were grown in the greenhouses on Birong Star.
After finishing dinner together, it was time to sleep.
The groups that had finished building their houses squeezed into the rooms, lying on the floor, packed shoulder to shoulder.
The groups that hadn't finished building their houses had to sleep on the unprocessed logs.
No one complained. This was their first day on this world, and they didn't yet know what hardship was. After a day of hard work, being able to lie down comfortably to sleep made them feel happy.
The mechanical soldiers did not rest, holding their weapons in a state of readiness.
Although it wasn't the Mir Forest, there was still a high probability of encountering prey nearby.
Jiang Ye left in his spaceship.
He returned to his office.
Cen Yemeng was already asleep, but his secretary, Su Yueming, was still organizing documents.
"Commander," Su Yueming whispered, "I've placed all the documents that require your review here. Red labels are for urgent review, blue labels are for a quick glance, and white labels can be signed directly without reading."
"Alright, thank you for your hard work," Jiang Ye glanced at Cen Yemeng. "It's getting late, you should go back and rest."
"How are things at the logging site?" Su Yueming asked in a low voice. "Is there anything you need me to do?"
"Yes, there is," Jiang Ye said. "Their living conditions there are too poor, like primitive people. Improve them slightly. Don't make them too good; let them buy things with money."
"Open a shop at the logging site?" Su Yueming pondered. "Let them buy whatever they want?"
"That can be done. Let Wei Hongyang handle it," Jiang Ye hesitated. "The initial prices can be lower, and we'll subsidize some of the costs. Once their work is on track, we'll revert to normal prices. After this is done, have Wei Hongyang give me a detailed report."
"Okay, I'll notify him right away." Su Yueming left in a hurry.
...
A week passed quickly.
Jiang Ye received reports about the logging site every day.
The houses were all built, five hundred wooden houses, with waterproof roofs, windows, and thirty-watt light bulbs installed.
The main furniture in the houses consisted of ten beds, with ten loggers sharing one room.
Initially, there were no mattresses or bedsheets on the beds, nor were there pillows or blankets.
The loggers were accustomed to sleeping, and didn't find the wooden beds unusual.
Some, to save effort, didn't build beds and simply smoothed the wooden floor, sleeping directly on it.
But soon, the logging site's small store opened.
The store was a prefabricated building, and the owner was a mechanical soldier sent by Wei Hongyang.
The store had no samples; it operated on an order basis. The mechanical soldier would introduce some products, and if a logger was interested, they would pay a deposit. The next day, a transport ship would deliver packages. They would collect their packages by name, and if they were satisfied with the actual product, they would pay the remaining balance.
It was somewhat similar to online shopping, but since the logging site had no mobile phones or online shopping platforms, they had to rely on this ordering method.
On Wednesday, two loggers ordered mattresses and pillows.
On Thursday morning, the goods arrived.
The appearance of mattresses and pillows caused a stir at the logging site.
Many loggers stopped working and went to their colleagues' houses, queuing up to try out the mattresses.
They were indeed comfortable to lie on!
That day, over five hundred people flocked to the small store to order mattresses and pillows.
By the weekend, all the beds in the entire camp had mattresses.
Then, the first person ordered a blanket.
The blankets, without a doubt, started a new trend.
The temperature at the logging site was very high during the day, but it dropped sharply at night, making it quite cold. Some loggers would push their beds together and huddle for warmth. But this meant enduring each other's sweat, sleep-talking, teeth-grinding, and bad breath.
With blankets, it was different!
Soft! Comfortable! Warm! And with a faint fragrance!
The first blankets ordered were plain white cotton blankets.
Then, some female loggers ordered blankets with patterns.
The patterns became increasingly diverse, and eventually, everyone had a blanket with a different design.
Of course, buying clothes also became a trend.
Wearing only work uniforms every day was not only unsightly but also dirty and smelly.
Who wouldn't love new clothes?
The logging site's small store couldn't keep up and was expanded.
The mechanical soldier owner hired two loggers as shop assistants to help with inventory and collecting payments.
Besides the small store, the beginnings of a restaurant appeared.
Two loggers caught many toads by the nearby river.
They brought the toads to the mechanical soldier group leader and were told that the internal organs of these Birong Star toads were poisonous, and only the meat on the outside could be eaten.
So, they removed the toad's internal organs, cleaned them, and roasted them over a fire.
Some fellow workers were curious and came to ask for roasted toads.
More and more people asked for them, and the toads were becoming scarce.
The two loggers roasting the toads pondered for a moment and decided to... sell roasted toads!
On the first night, they sold 108 roasted toads at ten yuan each.
They earned 1080 yuan.
Meanwhile, the two of them, working hard as loggers for a whole day, could only earn two hundred.
The two small bosses felt the immense profit of commerce.
The next day, they asked the mechanical soldier group leader for leave.
Then they ran to the river and caught toads all day.
In the evening, they lit a fire and continued to sell roasted toads.
Business was even better; they sold three hundred and earned three thousand yuan.
However, on the third night, the toads couldn't be sold.
The reason was simple: they tasted bad.
People bought them the first two days just for novelty. After confirming they tasted bad, there were no repeat customers.
The two small bosses were very disappointed, looking at the piles of unsold roasted toads, feeling a sense of bankruptcy.
Coincidentally, Jiang Ye visited the logging site again that evening.
Seeing the commander approaching, the two small bosses stood up and hesitantly asked:
"Would you like some roasted toads? Ten yuan each."
Jiang Ye froze.
He looked at the roasted toads on the ground. Each one was overcooked and placed on leaves.
A strange smell made Jiang Ye frown.