Spiral Star Fleet.
The Commander's Office.
Jiang Ye stood by the window, looking down, and let out a gasp of amazement.
Spiral Star had changed drastically.
The formerly ochre and reddish-brown land was now covered in a layer of pale green. Although the green wasn't yet pronounced, it looked like an expired planet growing mold, or like wisps of poisonous fog, but at least most of the land had turned green.
Oxygen was being generated continuously, and the Great Oxidation was proceeding vigorously.
Literally vigorously; many fine flashes could be seen, which were the flames from the oxidation explosions of metals within the earth's crust.
From the fleet's altitude, the explosions Jiang Ye could see with the naked eye were those with fireballs exceeding fifty meters in diameter. The scene was undoubtedly explosive and terrifying, but from orbit, they appeared as easily overlooked silent bright spots.
According to the fungi's calculations, the oxidation process on Spiral Star had reached 10%, and it would continue to accelerate. In an ideal scenario, a habitable atmosphere could be established within half a year.
"Knock, knock, knock!" The office door was knocked.
"Come in!" Jiang Ye said.
The office door opened, and the smell of alcohol rushed in. Jiang Ye knew who it was by the smell and slowly turned around.
Hua Qing was dressed like a pop star today, in a shimmering sequined dress that sparkled as she walked. Diamonds in this era were ten times cheaper than pearls. The Galactic Empire had colonized too many planets, some with diamond deposits as vast as oceans, found everywhere, yielding three pounds of diamonds with a single shovel. Consequently, their price had become low, and they were used for clothing embellishments.
"Commander, the first batch of electronic organisms has been designed, and there are some specific matters that require your approval," Hua Qing handed over a folder. "Shall I brief you now, or wait until you have time later?"
"Now," Jiang Ye said, reaching out to look at the files.
"Although the fungi and our research team are confident in building an ecosystem for electronic organisms, it's our first time undertaking such a large project, with immense investment and time pressure. Therefore, we need a contingency plan for failure," Tian Rao said. "Our original plan was to make the entire Spiral Star populated by electronic organisms, but now we want to change it."
"Change it to what? Both biological and electronic organisms?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Yes, but there's a detail," Tian Rao said. "We plan to divide Spiral Star into twelve zones based on longitude, from East 6 to West 6, and then designate one zone for electronic organisms and another for biological organisms."
"Why design it this way?" Jiang Ye was taken aback.
"For comparative experimentation. If the electronic organism ecosystem collapses, the adjacent biological organism zone can immediately migrate over, without taking much time. Our original plan was to divide it by hemispheres or latitude. However, if divided by hemispheres, and the electronic ecosystem collapses, it would be difficult for the other hemisphere to directly migrate the biological organism zone, requiring immense time. Moreover, tropical organisms migrating to the frigid zones would cease to function. Dividing by latitude..."
"Stop, I understand that," Jiang Ye said. "No need for further explanation."
"So, do you approve this plan? Dividing by longitude?"
"Did you come up with this division by longitude on a whim?"
"There are scientific calculations," Hua Qing extended her small hand and flipped through the file. "Here, this page."
Extensive formulas, mathematical models, and cited literature covered several pages, with many symbols and terms Jiang Ye had never seen before.
Jiang Ye frowned and looked for a long time. "I don't understand. Alright, let's proceed with this."
Hua Qing smiled. Jiang Ye sternly turned his head, and she immediately stopped smiling, resuming a serious and solemn expression to continue her report.
"The basic structure of electronic organisms has been designed, essentially by adding two organelles," Tian Rao said. "Mitochondria and battery cells."
"Mitochondria are organelles that use electricity, and battery cells are organelles that store electricity?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Yes, the fungi are currently improving these two organelles, and they are nearing completion," Hua Qing said. "Using these two organelles, we have already created electronic organisms, the camel thorn and the electronic rabbit."
"Are there any samples?"
"They are in the laboratory. I've printed photos for you," Hua Qing extended her small hand and flipped through the file. "Here, here."
A large photograph, occupying an entire page.
The first was of the camel thorn. It was only half a meter tall above ground, looking like withered branches, with roots extending more than ten meters deep underground. The left half of the photo showed the daytime, looking ordinary. The right half was a night-time rendering, with the entire camel thorn glowing brightly, like a strip of light.
"Why so flashy?" Jiang Ye was surprised.
"Both the battery cells and mitochondria emit a faint glow. It's not clear during the day, but it's obvious at night," Hua Qing said. "Our research team plans to leverage this luminescence effect."
"For example?"
"For example, city lighting. If electronic plants are planted along the streets, the light they emit would be sufficient for illumination. During the initial planting phase, we can observe the amount of light emitted from the planet's surface to determine the distribution range and prosperity of electronic organisms. Later, if electronic animals go out of control, their luminescence can also help in easily hunting or avoiding them. Furthermore, we can create different species with varying phototaxis and photophobia to regulate the balance of the ecosystem. The fungi are attempting to create different lights for different organisms, which opens up even more possibilities."
"This is a massive undertaking," Jiang Ye marveled. "All species need to be designed; how long will that take?"
"The electronic ecosystem should have a simpler composition. We will avoid species redundancy through ingenious design," Hua Qing said.
Jiang Ye flipped to the next page and saw the photograph of the electronic rabbit.
It was a small gray rabbit, only about the size of a billiard ball, plump, with glowing eyes and a glowing body. The overall impression was like a cheap glowing toy displayed at a street stall, not like a living creature.
"This rabbit..." Jiang Ye felt there were too many issues to even begin addressing.
"The rabbits are meant to eat plants, such as the camel thorn, to prevent overgrowth," Hua Qing said. "The fungi are currently trying to improve the rabbit meat, making these rabbits edible for humans and enhancing their flavor to be more delicious, serving as a specialty dish for Spiral Star."
"I have a question. What is the process of material and energy conversion after the rabbit eats the camel thorn?" Jiang Ye asked.
"The battery cells contained within the camel thorn will enter an electronic stomach within the rabbit, directly entering the rabbit's bloodstream and flowing to all parts of the rabbit's body to be consumed by cells," Hua Qing said. "Sixty percent of the electrical energy from the camel thorn's battery cells will be utilized by the rabbit, which is a very high ratio. The fungi are currently improving the battery cells and the electronic stomach, aiming to increase the utilization rate to ninety percent."
"That high..." Jiang Ye mused. "Then, wouldn't the rabbit population be astonishing? Ordinary rabbits eating ordinary grass only transfer ten percent of the energy, while electronic rabbits eating electronic grass transfer ninety percent of the energy. This means, assuming one mu of land on other planets had ten rabbits, one mu of land on Spiral Star could have ninety rabbits?"