He checked the team rankings again.
He scrolled down from the first place.
The top twenty, none.
The top fifty, none.
The top eighty, none.
Jiang Ye was about to give up when, at the very bottom of the list, at the 98th position, he saw "Jiang Shui Tang"!
They had actually made the list!
"Holy crap, our team only has a hundred people and we made the list?" Isabella leaned forward, incredulous. "But we'll probably drop off soon, in a day or two."
"Don't boost others and dampen your own spirits!" Jiang Ye reprimanded her sternly. "Why don't you consider that our team's ranking might climb up?"
"It's not that I'm being pessimistic, it's just the reality. Teams on major planets eventually grow to tens of thousands of people. One hundred people really isn't enough!" Isabella crossed her arms.
"What's so difficult about that? Just you wait, I'll go back and recruit more people!" Jiang Ye stood up. "When I get back, I'll transfer money to your account. You buy a batch of simple birth pods here and build them in the camp."
He walked to the door and tried to push it open, but despite using all his strength, he couldn't budge it. The wind outside was too strong, and he was trapped inside.
Isabella burst into triumphant laughter. "See? Even heaven doesn't want you to succeed."
"Hmph, does heaven have control over me?" Jiang Ye retorted defiantly. He gave up on the door and went straight to the window, pulling it open with all his might!
The wind, carrying rain like bullets, surged in. The room was instantly drenched, as if a water pipe had burst.
Isabella was soaked from head to toe. She turned her head and yelled, "Damn it, Jiang Ye, are you a barbarian? You have to go out now?"
Jiang Ye flipped out the window, facing the rain. Before he could even land, a blinding flash of light shot through him from the sky!
Thunder rumbled, and his vision instantly went black.
[You have unlocked a new achievement: "Killed by Lightning"]
[You are the 6th person globally to unlock this achievement. Truly fortunate.]
Looking at the prompt from the remote control cabin, Jiang Ye was speechless. What kind of bad luck would get him struck by lightning?
It hadn't even been a week since they began their deployment on Birong Star, and five guys had already been struck by lightning before him. Truly, there was no end to misfortune, only more misfortune.
He detached from the remote control cabin.
Jiang Ye hadn't been in the control cabin for long this time, but he felt exhausted and nauseous upon exiting. The symptoms had become increasingly apparent in recent sessions, similar to staying up all night at an internet cafe.
First, he transferred money to Isabella, four hundred units worth for simple birth pods, which would quickly bring the team's total number to 500.
Then, he called Che Zhen to convene a military officers' meeting. Holding an offline meeting would be too troublesome with all the moving around, so it would be a video conference.
Jiang Ye found an empty room in his villa, propped his phone against a white wall, and started the meeting.
On the other end of the online meeting was the main conference room at the naval base. He could see officers rushing in one after another, scrambling to find seats. The meeting notification had indeed been very sudden, and many officers hadn't even finished dressing, buttoning their clothes as they walked.
Jiang Ye waited patiently. Five minutes later, most of them were seated.
"Most of you are here. We'll start the meeting. For those who are absent, they can watch the meeting recording later," Jiang Ye said into the camera.
The officers sat upright, their gazes fixed forward, each more like a statue than the last. The direct result of their devilish week of training was an incredibly disciplined force.
"Within the next six months, we will continuously reinforce Birong Star, increasing our troop strength to at least 3,000 men," Jiang Ye stated directly.
The officers' eyes widened in surprise, but no one moved.
"If possible, reinforce as much as you can. For the foreseeable future, I will find ways to expand the entire colony's population, and we will continue to recruit soldiers then," Jiang Ye continued. "Birong Star offers opportunities no less than here. If you work hard, you can earn a lot of merit points, and most importantly, it will cultivate your combat awareness."
Jiang Ye spoke slowly for over twenty minutes. Whenever he reached a crucial point, the officers in the entire conference room would simultaneously pick up their pens to take notes, their movements as synchronized as copy-pasting.
"After the meeting, everyone will go back and explain this clearly to their subordinates, and then compile a preliminary list of those willing to come to Birong Star," Jiang Ye instructed. "At least 20% of each unit must be mobilized. This is your task, and officers must volunteer. Officers must lead by example. Alright, meeting adjourned!"
The meeting concluded.
Jiang Ye turned off his phone's camera and pressed the hidden earphone in his ear.
"Hello, hello, can you hear me?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Ah?" Feng Zhishuang's voice clearly indicated he wasn't asleep.
"Are you sleeping? Then I'll call you back later," Jiang Ye said.
"No, no, I was just dozing off," Feng Zhishuang's voice became slightly more alert. "Go ahead, what's up?"
"I want to expand the population," Jiang Ye said directly. "We could have waited for the next batch of refugees, but now that the war has turned around, the refugees won't be coming anymore. So, I wanted to ask if you have any ways to introduce alien immigrants."
"There are plenty of ways. You've come to the right person. When I was interning, my job was to formulate interstellar immigration policies," Feng Zhishuang replied. "It depends on your specific requirements. What kind of immigrants are you looking for?"
"I want normal humans. I don't want strange species like mechanical beings or cyborgs," Jiang Ye thought for a moment. "As many young people as possible. Elderly people with skills and money are also welcome."
"You want young people, is it for labor?" Feng Zhishuang asked. "If it's for labor, I have an alternative measure."
"What is it?"
"It's not convenient to discuss over the phone. Please wait a moment. I'll write a document with the immigration plan and the labor supplement plan and send it to you. It'll only take a few minutes."
"Okay, thank you for your trouble."
The call ended, and Jiang Ye waited silently.
About ten minutes later, his phone vibrated, and a new document arrived.
[Jiang Ye Star Talent and Labor Supplement Plan - Draft]
[For the foreseeable future, the main economic development engines of Jiang Ye Star will be the large factory model and the military expansion model, meaning large-scale construction of factories to develop manufacturing, and massive expansion of the army to open up territory.]
[Most low-tech factories only require ordinary labor. Simulated robots can be used to replace human employees. It is estimated that 34 billion yuan will be needed to obtain the qualifications for unlimited production and use of simulated robots, which can continuously generate a large number of mechanical laborers to fill the factories, and the maintenance costs are very low. This is a common practice on most planets today. Some positions within cities and peripheral military positions can also use simulated humans.]
[The advantage of simulated humans is that their employment can be rapidly controlled. When it is necessary to suppress civilian economic activity, a large number of simulated humans can be used to occupy job positions, forcing living people out of work. When it is necessary to revitalize civilian employment, simulated humans can be mass-eliminated and replaced with living employees. This is beneficial for suppressing rebellions and adjusting economic development. The more industrially developed a planet is, the greater the role of simulated humans.]
Jiang Ye propped his chin and pondered. He had seen simulated humans before. When he went to Yongye Star, the central star station was full of beautiful simulated humans. They were indeed useful, cheap, and obedient.
However, emotionally, he felt a slight resistance.
He felt that simulated humans were somewhat dehumanizing.
He had only read the beginning of the document and continued to read.