As night fell, the encysted insect farm was completed.
Jiang Ye, wearing his mech suit, followed Ji Jingwu to tour the farm.
The farm was cheap, and Jiang Ye had anticipated that the quality might not be good when he placed the order. Seeing it on-site, it was indeed rudimentary, its exterior no different from a cheap chicken farm. The roof was made of several layers of cheap plastic film, reminiscent of rural greenhouses from the early 21st century.
Upon opening the door, the ground was covered with circular breeding pools filled with stagnant, yellowish urine-colored water. A few centimeters above the water, a wire mesh with small holes was placed.
"When will the encysted insects be delivered?" Jiang Ye asked.
"They are already inside," Ji Jingwu replied, standing straight.
Jiang Ye squatted down, trying to peer through the wire mesh, but he couldn't see anything. The light in the shed was too dim, and the water too yellow.
"Why is there a layer of wire mesh? To prevent them from crawling out?" Jiang Ye inquired.
Ji Jingwu remained silent, squatted down, and gently lifted a piece of wire mesh.
Jiang Ye waited patiently for a few seconds. Suddenly, ripples appeared on the surface of the calm breeding pool water. Immediately after, several pink, fleshy worms slowly rose, breaking through the water's surface and hovering in the air, drifting upwards like smoke.
Ji Jingwu grabbed a few small worms with his large hand and threw them back into the water. He held onto only one small worm and then replaced the wire mesh.
He handed the worm to Jiang Ye.
"This thing... gravity doesn't affect it?" Jiang Ye took the worm and examined it in his hand. The larva, the size of a peanut, had a pinkish exterior like a peanut shell. Its body was segmented, with eight small legs on its abdomen. No head or tail was visible, resembling a wrinkled peanut with legs.
"It does. But when encysted insects absorb time crystals, they generate a phenomenon of suspension. Because time changes, space also changes. I don't know the specific mechanism; you'd have to ask a physicist," Ji Jingwu explained. "What you're holding is just a newly hatched larva. If there's enough nourishment, they will grow to be as long as a finger within a week, and then they can be harvested."
"Where do I sell them?" Jiang Ye asked. "Through the trading pods?"
"No, the company will send transport ships. Trading pods would cause the time crystals within the encysted insects' bodies to be lost, turning them into something without nourishment, like saliva-soaked tea leaves," Ji Jingwu became more talkative when discussing his professional work. "The most troublesome thing in the encysted insect market is the abundance of fakes. Insects that look similar on the surface can have vastly different internal time crystals. The method of identification is to spin them."
"Spin them?" Jiang Ye narrowed his eyes.
"Like spinning a top, spin them on a smooth surface. Encysted insect corpses rich in time crystals will slightly leak during rotation, thus suspending themselves in the air," Ji Jingwu said. "Or you can soak them in boiling water; high-quality encysted insects will also float."
Jiang Ye felt speechless and squeezed the small worm in his hand. The encysted insect, likely feeling the pinch, frantically waved its eight small legs.
Suddenly, his earpiece crackled, and Isabel's voice came through, "I'm here, where are you?"
"I'm coming back," Jiang Ye replied. "I'll bring you a small gift."
"Oh really?" Isabel's laughter was cheerful. "Such a surprise?"
Jiang Ye left the farm, clutching the worm, and returned to the control room.
"What is it?" Isabel jumped up from her chair and ran over happily.
Jiang Ye handed her the half-dead worm in his hand. "Here, for longevity."
Isabel's eyes widened. "You're giving me this?"
"What else did you expect?" Jiang Ye was bewildered.
Isabel rolled her eyes, looking disappointed, and took the worm to play with it.
Jiang Ye decisively returned to the birthing room, lay down in the bathtub, and logged off.
Waking up from the remote control pod this time, there was no nausea, but dizziness was unavoidable and lasted for a while. The medicine from the hospital was still effective; he needed to keep taking it.
The two cleaning robots heard the control pod opening and rushed over, looking expectantly at their master.
"I'm not throwing up this time," Jiang Ye said.
The two cleaning robots turned away in disappointment, as if their grand meal had been canceled.
Picking up his phone from the table, he saw over a dozen unread messages.
The first message was from Che Zhen, who hoped to develop continents 6, 7, 8, and 9 simultaneously, as the fifth continent was almost entirely occupied. Across the sea were three new continents aligned side-by-side. He also wanted to return to Binhai City and develop the continent opposite it.
Jiang Ye replied with a single word: "Approved."
He was about to reach ten thousand development points, so it was good to have his troops work harder. Every night when he slept, he thought of his girlfriend on the node star, and Jiang Ye was extremely anxious.
The next few messages were from Liu Jizi or Feng Zhi Shuang, reporting on bond sales. They were still selling very well, with the total amount exceeding ninety billion and trending towards one hundred billion. Nearly eighty percent of this was injected by alien funds. A Black woman named Charlotte had placed over 20 orders herself, purchasing bonds worth over twenty billion for various durations.
Finally, there were four messages from Shao Wan:
"Those queuing to buy bonds have mostly dispersed. Should we temporarily remove the police station's sales points? Please give instructions."
"When will the meeting at the Binhai City Police Station be held again?"
"The officer who was going to fine you is named Morton Roxanne. Her suspension procedures have been completed. Please decide whether she continues to work or faces disciplinary action."
"Someone has gone missing in Petroleum City, named Matsunuma Kenichi. He is a senior worker responsible for inspecting the assembly line at the canned food factory. He has no family. He hasn't shown up for work for three consecutive days. Colleagues went to his home to look for him but couldn't find him. I am investigating this matter."
Jiang Ye frowned and replied to each message.
"Remove the police station sales points. Temporarily keep the Petroleum City and Binhai City ones."
"The meeting will be held in an hour and a half. I'll drive over now."
"Morton Roxanne is suspended without pay for one month. After one month, she will return to her original post."
"You handle the missing person case properly. It's not normal for a living person to disappear inexplicably."
Putting his phone in his pocket, Jiang Ye changed his clothes and went out, driving to Binhai City.
He went straight to the main conference room of the police station. The police officers of Binhai City were all present. Before Jiang Ye entered, there was a buzz of whispering. The moment he entered, the entire room fell silent. Everyone sat up straight, looking forward, their expressions so serious they could be mistaken for Terracotta Warriors covered in dust.
Jiang Ye took his seat, his expression neutral, but he was scanning the room.
One minute, three minutes, five minutes...
Twenty minutes passed. The conference room was packed, but it was as silent as a morgue. The atmosphere was extremely eerie. The commander had summoned everyone for a meeting but said nothing for twenty minutes, merely looking at each officer's face. Many officers were sweating on their foreheads, unsure if it was from the heat or nervousness.
Jiang Ye suddenly tapped the microphone. "The police captains of each team, please stand up."
Eight people from the front row stood up with a rustle.