Jiang Ye pushed open the base door and sat down in the snow, looking up at the sky.
The night had fallen, and the sky was like a deep black sea. The stars reminded him of bioluminescent fish in the ocean depths.
Suddenly, one star grew brighter and larger!
Jiang Ye stood up.
A glowing, colossal spaceship descended from the clouds, spewing blinding engine flames and emitting a rumbling sound!
This ship was clearly larger than the last one, resembling a giant oil tanker. Its side viewports alone numbered over a hundred.
As it neared the ground, the ship finally decelerated, kicking up a torrent of snow before landing on an open space fifty meters east of the base with a deafening roar.
Jiang Ye hurried over.
The tail of the spaceship opened, and a bright, warm yellow light spilled out, illuminating the snow.
A tall young woman emerged and waved at Jiang Ye.
Isabelle.
So punctual, not a minute off. Jiang Ye ran over and stood beside the spaceship.
Not just not a minute off, not a second. This spaceship costs over two billion, and such an expensive piece of equipment isn't a joke! Isabelle smiled. Where's your cowshed? I'll see how to get your four cows over there.
Jiang Ye turned and pointed, "It's over there."
Isabelle looked up at the cowshed, then down at the deep snow reaching her thighs, and frowned.
The snow around your base is too much of a hindrance, and you haven't cleared it.
I wish I could, but with just me and a shovel, clearing it all would be exhausting. Jiang Ye spread his hands in resignation.
The spaceship has de-icing fluid, can I borrow some? Isabelle asked.
Sure! Jiang Ye was delighted. Is there a charge?
Isabelle didn't answer, simply saying, "Wait here," and turned to go back into the spaceship's cabin.
Two minutes later, she reappeared, pushing a flatbed cart. On it sat four large blue plastic barrels, each with a capacity of 50L.
Here, one barrel for you, one for me. Just pour it on the snow. You don't need to pour much; this stuff is potent. Isabelle explained.
Jiang Ye picked up a barrel. It was incredibly heavy, likely over sixty pounds.
Isabelle's strength was astonishing. She lifted a barrel with one hand, her expression as calm as if she were picking up a bottle of soda, and unceremoniously twisted off the lid.
Jiang Ye stared, amazed by the woman's incredible strength!
He was fortunate he hadn't offended her. With such power, he might have been beaten to death with just two punches.
Both of them began to pour the de-icing fluid onto the snow.
The de-icing fluid was more viscous than expected, like cooking oil, and had a beautiful deep blue color.
The thick snow began to melt rapidly!
White steam rose from the snow. Even through two layers of thermal pants, Jiang Ye could feel the warmth.
"Wow, this de-icing fluid is potent, it even generates heat!" he exclaimed.
It automatically generates heat upon contact with sub-zero snow and can do so for about ten minutes, Isabelle said.
The two barrels of de-icing fluid were quickly emptied.
A ten-meter-long, three-meter-wide path was cleared. Black soil was exposed, with not a single drop of snow. The entire path was emitting white smoke.
The cowshed was still quite a distance away. The two returned, each carrying another barrel of de-icing fluid, and continued melting the snow.
After half an hour of snow-melting work, a large path was finally cleared from the spaceship to the cowshed.
Isabelle returned to the spaceship and, moments later, led out a dairy cow.
The dairy cows Jiang Ye knew were all black and white spotted.
This one, however, was blue and white spotted!
"What the heck, why does it look like that?" Jiang Ye was somewhat bewildered.
"Huh? Isabelle looked confused, glancing at the cow. There's nothing wrong with it. Didn't you order a yogurt dairy cow?"
"Yogurt dairy cows are blue and white spotted?" Jiang Ye finally understood.
Isabelle blinked, then smiled at Jiang Ye with the look one might give a mongrel, and led the cow towards the cowshed.
Jiang Ye followed closely, stepping forward a couple of paces as they neared, and opened the cowshed door.
The interior was empty, with a lingering smell of chicken droppings and a few stray chicken feathers in the corner.
Isabelle blinked. "Where do I tie the cow?"
Jiang Ye froze. He had forgotten about that!
"Wait a moment, I'll go buy the livestock equipment right now!" Jiang Ye slapped his forehead.
Isabelle put her hands on her hips and looked at him speechlessly.
Jiang Ye ran back to the base and opened the livestock assistant.
Soon, he found a set of dairy cow enclosures, including a manure pit and milking buckets.
The price was exorbitant, 100,000 for a set!
Jiang Ye bought four sets, spending 400,000, and his personal assets instantly plummeted to 62,240 yuan.
He was instantly impoverished, falling from the throne of the world's richest man.
The transaction bay flashed with light, and boxes of components were ejected.
Jiang Ye grabbed the parts boxes and rushed out. In the cowshed, he unboxed them and began assembling the parts one by one.
Isabelle also helped, and the two quickly constructed the dairy cow enclosures.
The blue and white spotted yogurt dairy cow was very docile, not struggling or running, but waiting obediently. Once the enclosure was built, Isabelle pushed its large backside, guiding it inside, and locked the gate. The cow let out a "moo" and stood still.
Jiang Ye worked for another hour, finishing the remaining three enclosures.
Isabelle led all four yogurt dairy cows into the cowshed.
"Alright, I'm heading back," Isabelle sighed. "Next time, have everything ready before you place an order. You're making me miss dinner."
"I'm truly sorry, this was unexpected. I was too busy during the day," Jiang Ye said, feeling guilty.
Jiang Ye escorted her back to the spaceship and then stepped back.
The spaceship's engines spewed flames, ascending rapidly, and soon disappeared into the clouds.
Jiang Ye returned to the cowshed and looked at the four dairy cows again.
They all appeared robust, with bright eyes and large udders – good dairy cows!
The cows were all looking at Jiang Ye expectantly, mooing repeatedly.
Their voices were initially soft but quickly grew louder.
Jiang Ye suddenly realized these cows must be hungry!
They were probably saying, "Master, give us grass!"
He hurried back to the base and opened the livestock assistant.
He searched for "dairy cow pasture."
The search results popped up, showing three types:
[Premium Pasture: For dairy cows, this grass is super fragrant and incredibly delicious.]
[Ordinary Pasture: Dairy cows find this acceptable.]
[Inferior Pasture: Dairy cows will only eat this when they are extremely hungry.]
The prices varied significantly. Premium pasture cost 400 yuan per bag, ordinary pasture cost 200 yuan per bag, and inferior pasture cost only 50 yuan per bag.
Jiang Ye pondered for a moment and bought one bag of each type of pasture.
He carried them to the cowshed and poured them into the cows' feed troughs.
As he poured, he noticed that you truly get what you pay for. The premium grass was tender and long, like it had just been cut from the ground. The ordinary grass was dried out, and the inferior grass even had yellow leaves.
Two cows ate the premium grass, one ate the ordinary grass, and one ate the inferior grass.
Jiang Ye wanted to conduct an experiment: would different grasses produce different milk?
In addition to the grass, he also poured some water into each cow's water trough.
Then, he went back to sleep!