The police station had become a temporary point of sale for bonds, so the meeting couldn't proceed. Jiang Ye went straight home, preparing to make another trip to Birong Star.
Of course, the traditional Chinese medicine he got from the hospital needed to be steeped and drunk. Jiang Ye didn't know how long it would take to boil, so he put a packet of medicine with water in a small pot and simmered it for half an hour. Finally, he poured out a large bowl that looked like oil, tasting incredibly bitter. But to avoid vomiting, he pinched his nose and forced himself to drink it down.
Before entering the remote control cabin, he pressed his earphone and initiated a call with Feng Zhi Shuang.
"Transfer all the money for buying bonds to me."
"One moment… Done!" Feng Zhi Shuang replied.
Jiang Ye opened his phone to check his account and saw a new transfer of 61.24 billion yuan!
"Why is there so much money!" Jiang Ye exclaimed in shock.
"More than half was bought by a few dozen wealthy individuals. From the data, there's been an influx of alien funding, likely from behind-the-scenes investors on other planets," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "Many ordinary people also bought a lot, with the vast majority purchasing over 100,000 yuan, probably treating the bonds like fixed-term bank deposits."
"How much do you expect to reach in total?" Jiang Ye asked.
"It's uncertain; the热度 (rèdù - popularity/buzz) hasn't subsided. The queue is still endless. And some individuals are repeatedly adding to their purchases," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "There's a Black woman named Charlotte who has bought four times, each time for a billion yuan. We've escorted her to the VIP room. She's still on the phone, I don't know who she's contacting, and she might buy more. Her phone is military-grade and can access military space signal stations, contacting nearby planets. She might have some background."
"Alright, I understand. Treat such VIP guests with the utmost care," Jiang Ye said.
He recalled his previous meeting with Charlotte. She had been looking for her cat, and upon discovering the cat had gone to the general's house, she immediately inquired about investment matters, appearing very anxious, as if she had a precious jade she couldn't offer.
"With so much alien funding flowing in, is the overall economic environment of the entire galaxy unfavorable, causing large sums of money to seek safe havens?" Jiang Ye sensed something was amiss.
"I was considering that just now," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "I'm temporarily unable to get away. Once the bonds are mostly sold, I'll look into the economic situation of the entire galaxy. If that's the case, it could be a golden opportunity, perhaps leading to explosive development. Also, the development index should reach 9500 points within a month, very close to the 10,000 points you're aiming for."
"Okay, thank you for your hard work," Jiang Ye nodded, turned off his earphone, and activated the remote control cabin.
This time, the feeling of soul departure was almost nonexistent. The soul transference process was incredibly smooth; he woke up in the bathtub in an instant!
Perhaps the medicine he drank had taken effect. It seemed the doctor's skill was quite good.
He sat up in the bathtub and put on his clothes.
The air was filled with a sour, pungent odor, so strong it stung his eyes, like boiling low-quality paint. The sound of clanging metal echoed from outside the window, from all directions.
Jiang Ye had bought a set of swordsman mechs. After putting one on and leaving his birth pod, he finally understood the source of the smell and noise.
A large portion of the rainforest outside the camp had vanished, burned to ashes on the ground during combat. Mountain-like bodies of Earth Dragons lay scattered everywhere, over a hundred of them. Beside the Earth Dragon carcasses, damaged mechs glowed on the ground, countless in number.
Soldiers were collecting the scrapped mechs and cutting up the Earth Dragons into chunks of meat. In a clearing further away, a massive bonfire blazed fiercely, and the cut Earth Dragon meat was being sent to the pyre. The sour smell in the air originated from this.
Jiang Ye glanced at the point-defense cannons. The barrels were almost buried under shell casings, and many soldiers were busy clearing them.
He casually grabbed a soldier to inquire about the situation.
"We just finished a battle about two hours ago. The outer point-defense cannons were all scrapped. One Earth Dragon jumped into the camp, but it was sprayed to death by a point-defense cannon before it could cause any damage," the soldier replied honestly.
Jiang Ye frowned and headed straight for the camp's control room.
The Earth Dragons were becoming more numerous. Initially, there were only a few dozen, but now waves of a hundred or more were appearing. Now that he had money, he had to buy some infrastructure to strengthen their defenses.
He decided to heavily invest in point-defense cannons and a shell manufacturing plant.
Jiang Ye spent money frantically, setting up three lines of point-defense cannons around the camp, totaling 20 cannons and forty underground shell production factories. A full 16 billion yuan was spent!
If this money were spent on Jiang Ye Star, it could build a new city. Here, it could only defend a small camp. In the short term, it was a massive loss. But Jiang Ye's goal wasn't short-term; it was long-term development. He intended to establish a foothold on Birong Star.
He opened the team leaderboard. Jiang Shui Tang had impressively risen to 12th place, just one step away from the top ten.
Over the past period, most teams had given up on their costly endeavors. The situation on Birong Star was too perilous; a camp built with billions could be flattened by Earth Dragons within three days. Earth Dragon eggs were hatching like locusts across the globe, and swarms of Earth Dragons that grew larger as they ate were everywhere. To claim a piece of land on this planet required an endless drain of money!
When teams were initially assigned to various planets, it was based on the development index of their home planets.
For instance, the largest and most difficult planets were assigned to teams from planets with high development indices.
Smaller and easier planets were assigned to teams from lower-level planets.
Birong Star was initially classified as a small and easy planet because the Myr people hadn't left any decent defensive structures on the surface, making it look like an abandoned wasteland. Therefore, teams from planets with a development index below 10,000 were all assigned here.
However, upon arrival, they discovered that the Myr had buried time bombs underground, with numerous hidden nuclear weapon depots and Earth Dragon eggs spread across the globe, directly escalating the difficulty level by several grades.
But it was impossible to change now, so they could only maintain their positions. This led to the awkward situation of novice players in the starting village tackling high-level dungeons. Most teams couldn't afford to spend enough money to fight back. Spending so much money here was like throwing it into a bottomless pit. How many dared to persist? Consequently, more and more people gave up.
Captains like Jiang Ye, who didn't hesitate to borrow money from their home planets to desperately consolidate their positions, were considered rather insane. They were determined to stabilize themselves on this planet, regardless of cost or consequence. No one knew if they could ultimately persevere, but for now, they chose not to retreat!
After buying the point-defense cannons, Jiang Ye didn't place any further orders. He didn't know what other infrastructure to buy and decided to discuss it with Isabella when she arrived.
Construction team spacecraft soon descended from the sky, commencing extensive construction at the designated locations, with drilling machines roaring.
One after another, brand-new point-defense cannons were erected, activated, and began rotating their barrels to observe their surroundings, providing a strong sense of security.
As the last point-defense cannon was installed, a prompt suddenly appeared on the control room screen: