At five in the morning, Jiang Ye woke up.
Normally, he would have rolled around in bed like a silkworm, perhaps indulging in a bit more sleep.
But today, he slapped his face hard and sprang out of bed with a carp leap.
Strive! Strive! He absolutely couldn't be at the bottom of the group!
He had to rapidly boost his development index to over 4000 points. He was still three hundred points short, which wasn't a lot, but he really had to put in some effort.
Leaving his bedroom, Jiang Ye bumped into the small sweeping robot in the corridor.
"Good morning, Master," the robot said. "You have no unread messages."
"Good morning," Jiang Ye nodded and headed straight for the kitchen.
He quickly prepared a few simple breakfast items, then carried the plate to the study.
In the center of the large desk in the study was a 40-inch touch screen.
Jiang Ye tapped a few times, used facial recognition, and the base panel interface appeared.
He first opened the [Commercial Factory] but there were no new factory messages.
Jiang Ye was a bit dejected. Building factories was a quick way to increase the development index, but factory quotas were too limited.
Then he opened [Investment Attraction].
There were a total of three new enterprise resumes!
Jiang Ye read them carefully. The first enterprise sold phone cases, and the second specialized in custom tea sets. Both were quite conventional, so he readily agreed.
The third enterprise resume was interesting:
[Enterprise: Meng Mu Infant and Toddler Group]
[Enterprise Scale: Served over 1.6 billion customers in total]
[Enterprise Reputation: Excellent]
[Remarks: I am Kong Ni, the representative for Meng Mu Infant and Toddler Group in the M78 Nebula. We hope to establish a series of mother-infant services in your city, Binhai. For specific cooperation matters, please click "Agree" in the bottom right corner to add my contact information for communication. We look forward to cooperating with you.]
The previous resumes had all been for sales-oriented enterprises, and Jiang Ye had fallen into a fixed mindset. Upon seeing the name Meng Mu Infant and Toddler Group, he initially thought it was a company that sold children, which startled him.
Upon closer inspection, he realized it was likely involved in infant and toddler-related services, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
He added Kong Ni as a contact, and the other party immediately messaged him.
Kong Ni: "Hello, Commander Jiang! It's a pleasure to serve you!"
Jiang Ye: "Director Kong, you're a busy person. Let's get straight to the point. What kind of industries does your Meng Mu Infant and Toddler Group want to establish here?"
Kong Ni: "For the first phase, we plan to open a prenatal education center, a maternity hospital, and a kindergarten. We will dispatch 400 experienced medical staff, 300 professional early childhood educators, and 20 management personnel. We will fund everything from construction to operation. After profitability, 30% of the profits will be given to you."
Jiang Ye was completely swayed.
Putting aside other considerations, there was a hospital!
Although it was a maternity hospital, primarily responsible for childbirth, it was still better than the city having no hospital at all.
The previous establishment of Simiao Pharmacy only allowed for dispensing medicine, which was not a long-term solution.
Moreover, with the influx of a large number of extraterrestrial populations, they would have to buy houses in the city, right?
Once the automobile industrial park was completed, they would need to buy cars, wouldn't they?
And they would need to eat at restaurants regularly, wouldn't they?
All of that meant a lot of money!
Jiang Ye maintained his composure and asked a series of questions to confirm the qualifications and standards of the Meng Mu Infant and Toddler Group.
He didn't want to casually introduce an inferior hospital, which would lead to people protesting with banners outside the hospital every day, causing too much trouble.
Although this group wasn't top-tier in the industry, it had over thirty years of history and was a mature corporation, making it relatively reliable.
Jiang Ye agreed, immediately signing the contract online and allocating a piece of land in the city center to them.
After dealing with investment attraction, Jiang Ye eagerly checked the rankings.
Development Index: 3703, barely any increase.
It seemed he would have to wait for these enterprises to officially set up operations before the development index could be boosted.
After quickly finishing his breakfast, Jiang Ye went to the underground garage, drove his base vehicle, and headed straight for the Cretaceous Plain.
It was still dark when he left the villa area, but the sun was already high in the sky when he reached the edge of the Cretaceous Plain.
From a distance, he could see vast plumes of sand and dust rising, as if in a battle.
The dust came from a bustling construction site where a large number of robots and construction machinery were already busy building new military bases, new spider factories, and new jump worm farms.
As soon as Jiang Ye parked his base vehicle, soldiers immediately ran to greet him.
"Greetings, Commander! Where would you like to inspect?"
Several soldiers saluted, speaking in unison.
"Just looking around. What's the situation now?" Jiang Ye got out of the car.
"Reporting, Commander, everything is going well!"
"The new bases and new factories will be completed tomorrow!"
"Captain Che Zhen is directing us to use mines for combat. By concentrating the jump worms and detonating them, we can kill more than ten at once. Yesterday, we killed a total of 568 jump worms and captured 25! The kills for today have not yet begun!"
"The farms are operating smoothly!"
Several soldiers reported in turn.
Jiang Ye nodded with satisfaction.
It seemed that even without his personal presence here, the troops could handle all the tasks well; they were already a mature force.
He went to inspect the farms specifically. It was the time when the jump worms were sleeping, so there was no feeding.
Jiang Ye entered the farm gate and looked up from the entrance. From the gray walls, massive worm heads extended, their half-open mouths revealing countless sharp teeth. They inhaled and exhaled slowly, and the air they exhaled was surprisingly fresh, suggesting these creatures had no bad breath.
After watching for a while, Jiang Ye had a sudden thought:
"Have you ever tried touching their teeth with your hands?"
The accompanying officers were a bit bewildered. After exchanging glances, they all shook their heads.
"Their teeth don't look sharp; they're round," Jiang Ye commented, "like the tip of a spear."
One officer suddenly left and ran off at full speed.
Half a minute later, he returned, panting, holding a long white tooth and handing it to Jiang Ye.
"Reporting, this was pried from the mouth of a jump worm killed yesterday!"
Jiang Ye took it and was surprised. The jump worm's teeth looked very smooth, covered in tiny, dense barbs. It felt like his skin would be scraped off with just a touch.
"These things can easily injure hands. Be careful when handling them," Jiang Ye instructed.
"Yes, sir!" the officers replied in unison.
"What is your name?" Jiang Ye looked at the officer who had brought the tooth.
"Reporting! My surname is Yuan, my given name is Jiao! I am currently the deputy captain of the 13th squad!"
"Good, I'll remember you," Jiang Ye nodded and turned to leave.
All the officers looked at Yuan Jiao with envious eyes. It was rare for the commander to inspect, and some could seize the opportunity while others couldn't.
Leaving the farm, Jiang Ye told the accompanying officers to disperse and headed directly for the military base construction site.
From a distance, he saw Leia.
It was impossible not to see her. Leia's outfit was even trendier than last time, making her quite conspicuous in the crowd.
She wore wide-legged pants covered in gold sequins, a transparent blue gauze top that revealed her zebra-striped underwear, and her hair was styled into colorful dreadlocks.
Jiang Ye walked closer, and only then did Leia notice him.
Without greeting him, she tilted her head back and scrutinized Jiang Ye, her brow furrowed.
"Are you wearing the same outfit every day?" she asked dismissively as soon as he approached. "So tacky!"
Jiang Ye was utterly speechless. "You think you're so trendy? Trendy auntie?"