The falcon continued its descent. The planet, Spiral Star, grew enormously in size outside the window, while the fleet above had become too small to see.
Jiang Ye was accustomed to traveling between planets.
However, whenever he was at this altitude, gazing at the planet outside, he still felt a sense of human insignificance and the terrifying vastness of the universe. Especially when the planet he saw belonged to him, his emotions became even more complex.
Occasionally, a bright spot would flash from a distance, like dust illuminated by light, likely escorting fighter jets or small warships.
The Jiang Ye Star Army had fully re-equipped with visually stealthy warship hulls. Beyond two hundred meters, warships appeared as blurry masses of air to the naked eye. At a greater distance, they blended completely into the environment, only occasionally flashing when light changed, disappearing within half a second, as quick as an illusion.
While signing the refitting report, Jiang Ye recalled childhood UFO rumors, wondering if countless invisible alien spacecraft had been flying around years ago, unseen by humans. Both the naked eye and radar were too primitive. What appeared as a clear sky was actually teeming with passing vessels.
"At this altitude, there's already oxygen," Hua Qing suddenly said.
Jiang Ye looked out the window, vaguely sensing a subtle change in the light on the planet's surface. Spiral Star's thin atmosphere had formed and was thickening day by day, an invisible gaseous shell enveloping the planet. The light from the star thus changed.
The falcon continued to descend, finally reaching an altitude of one hundred meters above the ground.
Below lay a yellowish-brown plain. Wind was whipping sand and dust everywhere. Viewed from the air, it resembled countless yellow sand ghosts gathering.
However, there were now some things on the ground.
Camel thorns were growing in large patches. From this altitude, their forms were almost indistinguishable, appearing like wisps of down swaying in the yellow sand, so shallow they seemed like an illusion.
"Find a place to land, I'm going down to take a look," Jiang Ye said.
The occupants of the falcon began to don protective suits with transparent, fishbowl-like face shields. Spiral Star's atmospheric pressure was still too low, and the oxygen content insufficient. Stepping outside without protection would result in a fatal lung rupture.
The falcon found a flat area and hovered.
More than ten ships had already landed nearby. Squadrons of mechanical soldiers disembarked, carrying equipment to inspect the surrounding ground.
The inspection covered many aspects, such as whether there were radioactive minerals underground, any cunning alien species, disgusting alien fungi, or even stray munitions from interstellar wars. Although the probability was low, considering Jiang Ye's distinguished status, all necessary checks had to be performed.
Jiang Ye waited patiently for five minutes. The falcon then continued its descent, slowly settling onto the ground. Jiang Ye felt no vibration; the falcon, weighing seventy tons, landed as softly as a leaf drifting onto a lake.
The cabin door opened.
Jiang Ye eagerly stepped out, his feet touching the land of Spiral Star.
The heat was unbearable, like a steaming pot outside. The air conditioning in his protective suit immediately activated, preventing Jiang Ye from becoming medium-rare.
The soil was very hard, with stones everywhere. However, the stones within a dozen meters of the falcon had been crushed into flat particles the size of soybeans, densely covering the soil. The crushing of stones was done by the mechanical soldiers to prevent large rocks from hurting Jiang Ye's noble feet.
Camel thorns were everywhere, a vast jungle extending to the horizon, invisible to the naked eye.
The wind and sand were strong, the dust so thick it resembled a flour mill prone to dust explosions. Jiang Ye walked forward, approached a camel thorn, and squatted down to examine it.
Recently sown, the camel thorn before him was only calf-high, like an unremarkable weed.
Jiang Ye reached out to touch it. The leaves and branches were stiff, yielding almost no moisture.
Moreover, the entire plant was covered in dust, almost buried by sandstorms. Many broken stems and leaves were visible, making it look quite pathetic, half-dead, like a neglected potted plant on the verge of wilting.
Hua Qing handed him a plant voltage meter with a stethoscope-like interface. Jiang Ye attached the interface to the top and root of the camel thorn, immediately reading a voltage difference that changed slightly over time.
"So it's still alive, right?" Jiang Ye asked through the communication channel.
"Dead electronic camel thorns will quickly have their roots break, then disintegrate in the soil," Hua Qing replied on the communication channel. "Any camel thorn that is standing is alive."
"Aren't these camel thorns living a rather miserable life?" Jiang Ye looked into the distance. "They all look like they're about to be buried alive by the soil, as if this entire area will be extinct by tomorrow."
"No, this is a very tenacious species. Although they look like wilting flowers and decaying willows now, they will eventually grow into a lush expanse, with branches and leaves so dense that it's difficult for people to walk through," Hua Qing smiled. "Don't worry, the intelligent fungi have conducted environmental analysis and provided advance diagrams. This is how they grow at this stage."
Hua Qing then handed him an air quality meter. Jiang Ye opened it and measured in several locations. The oxygen content was noticeably higher near the camel thorns. These plants were diligently producing oxygen, slowly improving Spiral Star's environment.
Jiang Ye stayed for over half an hour, collected several camel thorn samples, and returned to the falcon.
"Let's go see the sea. Isn't there seaweed in the sea now?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Besides seaweed, there are many algae," Hua Qing nodded.
The mechanical soldiers guarding the nearby camel thorn thickets immediately returned to their ships. The escort fleet took off, and the falcon followed, maintaining a distance of a few meters above the ground.
The falcon's speed increased, easily breaking the sound barrier. Jiang Ye kept his face pressed against the window, watching the desolate plains covered in withered camel thorns, surviving tenaciously yet insignificantly in the rolling sandstorms. They seemed to have inhabited this planet for tens of thousands of years, completely dominating its surface and growing everywhere.
"Look, it's glowing," Hua Qing suddenly picked up a sample jar.
Liu Jizi turned off the falcon's internal lights and closed the blackout blinds, plunging the cabin into darkness. In the transparent sample jar in Hua Qing's hand, the branches of the camel thorn emitted a faint, pale green light. Jiang Ye remembered the glow sticks he bought for fifty cents each outside school, their brightness being about the same.
"At this stage, to create an atmosphere, many of these camel thorns are planted. When Spiral Star is ready for habitation, will these camel thorns be removed?" Liu Jizi asked.
"Yes, like discarding the millstone after the donkey is no longer needed," Jiang Ye nodded. "Ninety percent of the camel thorns will eventually be killed, with only a few allowed to grow in the remote desert edges."
Liu Jizi smiled, then turned on the cabin lights and opened the blackout blinds of the cabin window.
The sea appeared.
It was a brown-yellow sea, looking like muddy soup.
A layer of greenish-blue floated on the sea surface, likely algae.
"How disgusting, why is the sea here this color?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Don't worry, fly a bit further, and the seawater will turn blue," Hua Qing said.