The last item, [Launch Satellite], opened up to a dazzling array of options, dozens of functions.
By selecting the desired functions and configuring them, one could custom-order a satellite and launch it into a predetermined orbit.
This method was more expensive, with launch fees alone costing 1.2 billion, and custom satellite production starting at tens of billions. It was simply unaffordable.
Jiang Ye had initially felt he had an excessive amount of money, but now he realized he was still quite poor.
It made sense. Even township enterprises could reach billions in scale. For a planet, over a billion was truly insignificant. Some large corporations might burn through billions in mere seconds.
Jiang Ye returned to [Rent Satellite] and selected a white satellite closest to the town.
He paid 500 million and purchased it!
His account balance instantly dropped to 330 million yuan.
The purchased satellite then changed from white to green. Jiang Ye moved his finger over it, and specific information appeared:
[Type: Mini Commercial Satellite]
[Function: Global Network Service]
[Status: Good]
[Connected Devices: 0]
[Ownership: Jiang Ye Personal]
Many function keys also popped up. Jiang Ye reviewed them one by one. He could control the satellite's on and off from the base panel, and he could throttle or even cut off network access for one or multiple devices.
He nodded with satisfaction. He could now act as an operator, providing network access to everyone and charging fees.
However, there were currently no devices that needed network access.
Jiang Ye opened [Investment Attraction], edited the town's information, and changed the original "Network Access: No" to "Yes!"
He hoped that with network access, more companies would send in their resumes.
Exiting, he opened the Galactic Mall.
Jiang Ye checked the two newly added items.
The moment he saw the new product names, his expression immediately turned to surprise and delight.
[Product Name: Food Printer]
[Product Description: Add raw materials, configure, and quickly print various foods, including meat, pasta, fruits, vegetables, and other edibles. High-quality taste, high conversion rate, safe and hygienic.]
[Price: 30 million yuan]
The second new item was a complementary product:
[Product Name: Food Printer Raw Material Can]
[Product Description: Contains elements such as iron, copper, zinc, fluorine, selenium, carbon, nitrogen, etc. Each can weighs approximately ten pounds and can print about eleven pounds of food.]
[Price: 300 yuan]
Jiang Ye was a bit confused. Why could ten pounds of printing material produce eleven pounds of food?
What was this operation of creating something from nothing?
He decided to buy one to try it out and clicked on the Food Printer, placing an order!
With 30 million spent, his account balance was left at a round 300 million.
A private message immediately popped up.
Isabelle: Oh? Got a food printer? Where should I send it?
Jiang Ye: Send it to my place. Do you know how to use this thing?
Isabelle: Of course, I do. What do you think the meals you've been freeloading at my place are made from?
Jiang Ye was utterly astonished. It was actually printed?!
He had always thought Isabelle bought ingredients and cooked them herself, slowly and meticulously. He had even secretly praised her excellent cooking skills, calling her the legendary all-rounder beauty. Turns out, it was machine-printed food!
However, after eating at her place so many times, he hadn't noticed anything unusual. He only thought it was delicious. If the things printed by this machine could be so realistic, then she could really open a restaurant.
Jiang Ye waited for five minutes. A rumbling sound came from the courtyard; the delivery truck had arrived.
Isabelle got out of the driver's seat, dressed in a gray delivery uniform. She nimbly opened the rear storage compartment of the truck, revealing it to be full of cardboard boxes.
What are you standing around for? Come help! Isabelle shouted without looking back.
Jiang Ye immediately ran out to help her move the boxes. There were 12 boxes in total, each incredibly heavy and as large as a wardrobe.
Was this thing really this big? Jiang Ye was surprised.
Five meters by three meters, about the size of a large SUV. Isabelle took out a small knife from her pocket, sliced open the cardboard boxes with practiced ease, and began assembly. Jiang Ye helped her on the side.
After more than ten minutes, a food printer was assembled. She plugged it into the four-hole socket on the wall and connected two thick pipes, one blue and one red, to the outside window.
With a hum, the printer started up!
The entire machine was silver-white and divided into three zones: solid food, liquid food, and the operation area.
The operation area had four basketball-sized openings and a twenty-inch touchscreen.
The screen lit up, displaying a prompt:
[Insufficient Raw Materials, Please Add Promptly]
Isabelle sat beside him. "Let me teach you how to use it. You should buy a few cans of material first."
Jiang Ye immediately ran to the base vehicle and soon returned with two large aluminum cans. The aluminum cans were the so-called food raw material cans, looking very much like small gas canisters.
Both cans of raw materials were inverted into the material port. The prompt on the screen immediately changed:
[Filling Raw Materials]
[10%, 30%, 50%]
It finally settled at 50%, indicating that one can was 25%.
At the same time, a fan sound came from inside the machine, and the pipes connected to the outside window began to twitch like snakes. The printer was inhaling vigorously.
Jiang Ye suddenly understood why ten pounds of raw material could produce eleven pounds of food. The extra pound came from the air. The food printer could actually extract elements for food from the air.
Isabelle walked to the control panel and tapped it a couple of times.
"What do you want to eat?" she asked, looking at Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye thought for a moment. "Nothing tastes better than dumplings. Let's make dumplings."
He stood by and watched as Isabelle typed "dumplings" into the food template search bar.
Ten different sizes of dumpling models immediately appeared. The smallest was coin-sized, while the largest was like a pomelo. Who knew who would make such large dumplings, Kuafu perhaps?
Jiang Ye reached out and poked the third dumpling model, which was of normal size.
Next, he selected the dumpling wrapper and filling.
For the dumpling wrapper, he chose regular flour. For the filling, he chose celery and pork, with a ratio of 47% celery, 50% pork, and 3% for seasonings like ginger and soy sauce.
Finally, he selected the cooking method. The options were incredibly extensive: stir-fry, deep-fry, pan-fry, boil, braise, stew, steam, poach, simmer, sauté, bake, roast, cure, freeze, candied, honey-glazed, smoked, roll, velvet, baked.
Jiang Ye was stunned. "Can I choose any of these?"
"I advise you to choose something normal," Isabelle said. "Unconventional methods will result in bizarre dishes."
Jiang Ye nodded and decisively chose "candied," with a quantity of 8.
Candied dumplings! It sounded strange!
Isabelle put her hand to her forehead, sighing slightly. He really hadn't listened to her words. Men are boys until death; they just love to play.
The machine whirred, and in just over ten seconds, a pancake plate slid out of the machine, holding eight dumplings.
The dumplings were covered in golden threads of rock sugar, layer upon layer, swirling around. They were indeed candied dumplings!
Jiang Ye reached out and grabbed them. They were still warm. He ate two.
"Holy crap, they're really delicious!" Jiang Ye nodded vigorously. "Sister, since you're here, I need to discuss something with you."
Isabelle tilted her head, blinking at him.
"Why don't you open a restaurant in town? It would definitely be very profitable. People in town can't get anything good to eat right now," Jiang Ye said. "I'll give you a location, equipment, and startup capital, and we can split the profits."