At four in the morning, Jiang Ye was woken by a phone call.
Ever since he became the overall commander of a planet, he often received calls in the middle of the night. Each time, he was startled. Jiang Ye thought that if this continued, his cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health would definitely suffer. As a young man in his twenties, he often felt as weak and tired as someone in their forties or fifties.
He fumbled for his phone to answer, and Li Nannan's voice blared out.
"Are you blind? I sent you so many messages, and you didn't see them?"
Jiang Ye was miserable. "Commander, it's the middle of the night here!"
"From now on, turn your phone's ringtone up to the maximum. Ensure that the messages I send you can jolt you awake immediately. What are you good for!" Li Nannan was incredibly fierce. "Alright, get to reading your messages quickly. I'm calling just to wake you up."
The call ended abruptly.
Jiang Ye sat up in bed, frowning, and yawned as he checked his unread messages.
His yawn froze halfway through, and Jiang Ye let out a solid "Holy crap!"
[Good news! The human legions have achieved a great victory on the front lines, crushing the main Mil forces and turning the tide of the war!]
[The main human forces will pursue the victory, aiming to annihilate the Mil main army. Therefore, they are unable to pay attention to the edges of the battlefield and have no time to clear the occupied engagement zones. On the 148 planets in these zones, there are human military bases, as well as low-level Mil residual troops and war machines. Simultaneously, each planet has a different environment and ecosystem, referred to as "Planets to be Cleared."]
[To stabilize the situation as quickly as possible, the Mercenary Corps plan is now being launched.]
A hyperlink appeared. Jiang Ye clicked it to view the details, which was a promotional poster for the Mercenary Corps plan. It was clearly hastily made and quite rough, but the text was clear enough.
[Each colony planet can establish a mercenary corps to participate in the war.]
[Based on the scale of the victory, cash rewards can be exchanged daily and deposited into the overall commander's account.]
[Combat operations will be conducted through remote control pods, using weapons produced by local factories on the planets to be cleared.]
[Specific combat details will be gradually announced after signing up to participate.]
Below was a registration window, designed like an account registration. It also required binding personal identity and had a "I have read the terms and conditions and agree" checkbox that no one would ever read.
Jiang Ye understood this series of messages, but not completely. Some details were completely baffling.
He sent a message to Li Nannan, but Li Nannan directly called him back. It seemed she had time after winning the battle. When they were fighting hard before, Li Nannan wouldn't reply to his messages for days.
"You have ten minutes. Ask quickly if you don't understand." Li Nannan's tone was still sharp.
"Is this Mercenary Corps plan something that must be participated in?" Jiang Ye asked. "I want to focus on developing the economy during this period."
"It's not mandatory; participation is voluntary in principle," Li Nannan said.
Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, if you are unwilling to participate, your position as overall commander will be gone," Li Nannan added.
Jiang Ye almost spat a mouthful of blood to the ceiling. "Voluntary participation, but no job if you don't participate." Wasn't this just mandatory participation! With their level of familiarity, why beat around the bush!
Li Nannan: "If you want to develop the economy, you definitely can't miss this opportunity. The bonuses are particularly generous. If you fight well, it's more profitable than toiling away building factories back home. You know, 'when guns roar, gold flows like water'! This plan is essentially the military temporarily lacking manpower, so they're spending money to buy some auxiliary forces."
Jiang Ye: "What is a remote control pod?"
Li Nannan: "It's something about the size of a car. A person can lie inside it. It has a brain-computer interface that synchronizes your consciousness to the planet on the front lines. This way, your physical body remains safely at home, and your consciousness can go to the front lines to fight, ensuring your absolute safety. The signal delay between your consciousness and the weapons on the front lines is very small, less than a quarter of a millisecond."
Jiang Ye: "That's good, that's good. But what if my consciousness dissipates if I'm hit by a Mil nuclear bomb on the front lines?"
Li Nannan: "No, this technology is very complex, and it's hard for me to explain. You can think of the consciousness on the front lines as just a shadow of your true consciousness. Your consciousness is still in your brain, but the shadow of your consciousness is tightly integrated with your consciousness, so it's completely safe. You don't need to worry about losing consciousness."
Jiang Ye felt dizzy listening. All he heard were buzzing "consciousness" sounds like flies. However, as long as he was sure it was safe, he was relieved.
Li Nannan: "Register an account first. After registering, there will be various instructions. If you don't understand, read the instructions. If you still don't understand, leave me a message. I'm preparing for warp jump, so I'm hanging up."
The call ended decisively.
The phone screen was too small. Jiang Ye got up and went to his desk, activating the holographic projection.
Registering an account was simple: verify face, fingerprint, and voiceprint, then enter an ID.
Jiang Ye was terrible at naming things and couldn't think of a suitable name. Moreover, a confusing name on the battlefield would affect efficiency, so he still used "Jiang Ye" so his subordinates could recognize him.
Then, a series of windows popped up, all filled with long paragraphs of terms and conditions.
Jiang Ye diligently studied each one and even took photos with his phone, in case he forgot later and wanted to check his album.
Finally, the payment window appeared.
[The price of a remote control pod is 5 million yuan per unit. After purchase, it will be delivered to your doorstep by the express delivery center.]
[Each control pod can only be bound to one person and cannot be changed. The usage period is one year.]
Jiang Ye looked at his account balance: 150 million yuan.
He bought thirty units in one go, spending all his money!
He sent a message to Isabel, asking her to deliver one to the hot spring area and the others to the naval port.
Isabel: "Why did you buy remote control pods? Are you going to the front lines to fight?"
Jiang Ye: "Yes, I'm going voluntarily."
Isabel: "Do you need my help?"
Jiang Ye: "Your help? Oh, right! I forgot you're a veteran of the army! You have the fine tradition of answering the call to arms! Then keep one remote control pod for yourself at home. I'll call you later. Have you used this thing before?"
Isabel: "Used it? The army basically uses these things for fighting, training, and actual combat. I've spent thousands of hours lying in these things, I'm almost sick of it! Relax, this technology is very mature. The user experience is similar to playing games, and the manufacturer is even the same company that made game pods."
Jiang Ye: "As long as I don't die, I'm not afraid. It feels similar to playing games, except computer games are just a string of programs, while this can change reality after playing. If you help me, how much should I pay you?"
Isabel: "Calculated by the usage time of the remote control pod, 30,000 per hour, non-negotiable."
Jiang Ye: "Deal."
Isabel: "Good kid, really not negotiating? I said it high. Since it's a deal, you can't go back on it!"
Jiang Ye: "You think I'm a good kid, I think you're cheap labor. Thirty thousand an hour, even ten hours a day, that's only 300,000, which is dirt cheap."
Isabel was clearly choked. She felt a huge wealth gap. She thought she was asking for the moon, but the other party actually thought the price was very low and insignificant... After a moment of silence, she sent a pig-hitting-with-a-stick emoji.