Chapter 1 The Stellar Plague
"Something big has happened. You watch the forest here, I'm going out," Jiang Ye said as he got out of bed in a hurry.
He drove straight to the White Ant Real Estate building. Coincidentally, as his car landed on the rooftop, another car landed next to it. The door opened, and Xu Yan, still in her pajamas, jumped out.
Jiang Ye waved at her. "Is it about the solar observation base?"
"Yes!" Xu Yan nodded, her eyes also showing panic. "Let's talk in my office."
The two walked downstairs side by side, their steps unsteady, as they had been called out in the middle of the night.
"Even a slight dimming of the sun can have devastating consequences for an entire planet," Xu Yan said. "Most inhabited planets in the M78 Nebula have undergone habitability modifications. The atmosphere, radiation, and temperature are all just right. Jiang Ye Star is the same; its atmosphere was very thin before, and it was filled twice. That's why you colonial governors were sent here."
"If the sun dims even a little, the global temperature will drop significantly, and the ecosystem will be easily destroyed. Many plants will die. Sea levels will fall, winters will extend to half a year or even longer, blizzards will be thicker, and entire cities will be buried," Xu Yan spoke rapidly.
"I understand how terrifying it is," Jiang Ye said. "How much money does the solar observation base need?"
"I don't know. It needs to be designed on-site; there are no existing blueprints."
They had reached the office door. Xu Yan pushed it open, and the air conditioning immediately kicked in, the lights turned on, and the office desk's projector activated.
She poured Jiang Ye a cup of hot tea and then sat down to get busy.
Her hands moved ceaselessly across the desk, initiating a multitude of programs and expertly inputting parameters.
Jiang Ye didn't understand any of it and sat quietly beside her, waiting. But judging by the furrow in Xu Yan's brow, the task was not easy.
While she was busy, Jiang Ye secretly opened his phone and checked his account balance.
142,895,000,000 yuan.
Over 140 billion. He wondered if it would be enough to build a solar observation base.
Aerospace projects were always incredibly expensive, and Jiang Ye felt a pang of anxiety.
"We need to build three ground bases on the equator so that they can continuously observe the sun," Xu Yan finally said. "And then build a dedicated space station to send ships to observe the sun up close and install probes."
"Just tell me the cost," Jiang Ye said.
"Three bases will cost 30 billion, and the space station will cost 10 billion. This is the essential expenditure," Xu Yan said. "As for the stellar ships and probes, the more, the better. It depends on how deep your pockets are."
"How many probes can one stellar ship carry? What's the maximum number of probes needed? How much does each one cost?" Jiang Ye pressed.
He was just a rich man, ignorant of everything else, only understanding amounts.