Xu Yan: "Someone named Feng Zhi Shuang added me and gave me blueprints for a gene research hospital, along with construction funds. Do you know about this? Can it be built?"
Jiang Ye: "Build it in Petroleum City. Feng Zhi Shuang is my newly hired macroeconomist. She'll be coordinating many construction projects with you from now on."
Xu Yan: "Macroeconomist? Stop bragging. You can't just hire them with money."
Jiang Ye: "Hey, you still don't believe me? I've hired more than just her; a total of forty macroeconomists are coming. By the time the building is finished, they should have arrived."
Xu Yan: "See, your bragging knows no bounds. If you can get forty macroeconomists to assist you, even a pig's backside could grow jet engines and go to space."
Jiang Ye didn't explain further, but he was very happy. Judging by Xu Yan's reaction, macroeconomists were a highly sought-after and rare profession in this era, meaning they were definitely valuable. With Feng Zhi Shuang's team, the development index was likely to break through ten thousand points much sooner.
Besides the super skyscraper and the gene research hospital, Jiang Ye also ordered a batch of mines from Xu Yan to exploit the major known mining areas on the third continent. Since many of these were rare earth or toxic minerals, their extraction was difficult, and the cost of the mines was extremely high. After paying all the construction funds, Jiang Ye was left with a meager six billion.
Life had become very tight.
The troops gradually finished their leave and returned to the military base. Without waiting for Jiang Ye's orders, all squads voluntarily departed for the third continent to continue expanding their territory. After all, expanding territory meant earning money, and striking a mine meant instant wealth. With such a great opportunity, anyone who wasn't diligent would be a fool.
Currently, among all the work in the colony, soldiers' income was not necessarily first, but it was definitely among the top few. Since Jiang Ye's new reward system was implemented, many soldiers had become wealthy by expanding their territory. Jiang Ye sensed this in two ways: first, the huge amount of reward money distributed to each squad every evening; second, the constant stream of reports from soldiers requesting permission to build small villas near the military base. If they had no money, how could they afford to build villas?
Jiang Ye approved all villa construction requests. He even contributed some funds to help build roads and leisure squares in the military villa district. Building villas near the military base made it convenient for soldiers to visit home during their leave. With the military and homes almost integrated, if the military base were threatened, everyone would fight to defend it, eliminating any concerns about loyalty. Defense of their homes was no longer an issue.
Furthermore, when new recruits arrived in the future and saw the villa district built by the veteran soldiers, they would surely feel a sense of opportunity, thinking, "Yes, there's potential for wealth here," or "If I endure hardship, I'll build a small villa like this one day." Their obedience and loyalty would skyrocket.
A monthly salary of three thousand made training incredibly tough. A monthly salary of eighty thousand meant, "Commander, please don't treat us like humans!"
One evening, Jiang Ye was leisurely having dinner at home. On the floor by the table, two sweeping robots, one large and one small, lay on their backs, motionless. They were being punished. The mobile parts of both robots were underneath, and when flipped over, they were as helpless as turtles, unable to move. They could only lie there and stare blankly.
The reason for their punishment was fighting. Jiang Ye had finally come home for a couple of days of rest and sleep, but he was repeatedly woken up by the noise of the two robots fighting. In a fit of anger, he flipped them both over onto their backs. After flipping them, Jiang Ye had also issued a stern warning: "If you fight again, I'll make sure you never get to turn over again!"
After eating more than half of his meal, the two robots, frightened into silence, seemed to have shut down. Jiang Ye's anger gradually subsided.
"Master, you have one unread message," the two robots said in unison.
"Open it," Jiang Ye said.
Two holographic projection frames popped out simultaneously. Initially, one was larger than the other. The smaller frame quickly enlarged itself by two times, and the other frame was not to be outdone, immediately expanding as well. As if competing, both frames enlarged. Within seconds, the text on both frames was larger than a millstone.
Jiang Ye slammed his hand on the table. Both projection frames simultaneously shrank back to their original size, finally making the messages legible.
Che Zhen: "Reporting, Commander! Forward units on the third continent have found a skull larger than a car in the desert. The area has been cordoned off and secured."
There was also a photograph. Jiang Ye lightly tapped it to enlarge it, and his pupils contracted in shock. Vast yellow sand stretched to the horizon, gleaming golden under the sun. In the screen full of gold, many spider-like armored vehicles surrounded a white skull. The eye sockets of the skull were as large as caves, big enough for an elephant to enter. Some people stood beside it, appearing like ants beneath a sugar cube, their expressions a mixture of shock, as if primitive humans encountering a giant beast for the first time. Most importantly, the skull was entirely shaped like a human skull, not some strange bone from a beast. The scene was incredibly surreal. If Jiang Ye hadn't known some of the officers in the photo, he would have assumed it was an art piece or a still from a fantasy movie.
Jiang Ye took out his phone and personally called Che Zhen. The call was connected quickly, accompanied by the sound of wind and the soft rustling of sand. Che Zhen was likely at the scene.
Jiang Ye: "You only found one skull? Have you tried digging down?"
Che Zhen: "We haven't dug down yet. This matter is too significant, and we dare not act rashly! The second squad of the fourth company of the second brigade discovered this skull. The members of that squad were terrified and reported it upwards, but no one believed them. I didn't believe it at first either. How could there be such a large skull? What could have such a large head? Upon seeing it in person, I was also startled, so I sent you a message for instructions."
Jiang Ye: "Send me the coordinates of the site. Have the troops guard it temporarily. I'll have the construction company go there to build some infrastructure and station troops to guard it. This thing is definitely valuable, at least a rare fossil. We'll discuss how to handle it further later. Also, send me more photos, from different angles, close-ups, and have someone crawl into the eye socket to take pictures of the interior."
Che Zhen: "Yes, sir!"
Jiang Ye: "I'll arrive in about three hours. You guard the site for now."
After hanging up, Jiang Ye stood up and rushed out. The two sweeping robots panicked, "Master! Master! We haven't flipped over yet!" The sound of the door closing could be heard from downstairs, followed by the rapid ascent of a flying car, and then silence. The two sweeping robots looked at each other, their eyes wide.
"Old geezer, it's all your fault for starting the fight. Now Master has forgotten us, and who knows how long we'll be lying here."
"You brat, always blaming me! Didn't you start it?"
The two robots struggled to twist themselves, trying to bump into each other, but strangely, after twisting for a long time, neither managed to flip over, only rotating in place twice.