The creation of carnivorous creatures took much longer than that of sunflower trees.
After all, sunflower trees were modified from existing plants, while carnivorous creatures evolved from small cells from scratch, naturally taking more time.
During this period, Jiang Ye was not idle.
A batch of interstellar corporations came to Jiang Ye Star for inspection. To show his sincerity, Jiang Ye personally accompanied them.
His influence was quite valuable, and he signed several investment contracts. Within a week, over three hundred billion funds would flow into Jiang Ye Star for building company offices, hiring employees, and advertising, among other things.
Jiang Ye also took time to fly to Birong Star.
In the nuclear radiation contaminated zone, the first batch of sown sunflower trees had already formed a small scale.
Of course, he couldn't inspect the site in person, but he had drones.
Jiang Ye sat in his office, his fingers sliding across the screen, controlling the drones to fly and film the sunflower trees.
Although sown simultaneously, the growth of the trees varied greatly due to differences in soil and moisture.
The most lush sunflower trees were already five stories high, with huge, verdant leaves. Many tender green sunflower buds had just appeared on the branches, prickly and estimated to turn sunny yellow in a few days, bearing sunflower seeds.
Around the thick main tree were hundreds and thousands of smaller, human-sized sub-trees. Their bare stems had only a few leaves, and they also had several tender green sunflower buds.
Jiang Ye roughly counted that one large sunflower tree, along with its surrounding sub-trees, would simultaneously bloom thousands of sunflowers.
High and low, a world of sunflowers.
The drones could also detect radioactivity. Jiang Ye tapped the screen twice with his knuckles, and the screen immediately switched to radiation values.
The nearby soil was light yellow, and faint wisps of pale yellow in the air represented low levels of radiation.
The entire sunflower tree, however, was a deep red-purple, saturated with radioactivity!
Especially the unbloomed sunflower buds, so purple they were almost black, looking like some kind of netherworld demonic flower.
Jiang Ye was quite satisfied. The adsorption capacity was indeed incredible. Once the radiation levels in the surrounding environment dropped to a safe level, all the sunflower trees would be dug up by the roots and destroyed collectively.
The troops had not expanded recently, being busy consolidating industrial zones and military bases. The inferior, castrated mechanical soldiers produced earlier had not yet been refitted, so the number of mechanical soldiers had not increased.
The artificial humans were all dispersed in various industrial zones working. Those who arrived earlier already had tens of thousands of yuan in savings, their lives had entered a normal track, and after work, they would go to restaurants to drink and sing. Some dozens of artificial human couples had even submitted marriage applications.
After all, the artificial humans in each industrial zone had both males and females. They worked together daily, saw each other every day, and it was easy to develop feelings for each other. Moreover, all artificial humans were orphans, alone in the world, with similar wealth. They didn't need to overthink their marriage decisions and could make up their minds with a snap of their fingers.
The heads of the industrial zones delivered these marriage applications to Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye did not hesitate, approving them all, stamping them without even looking.
He suddenly thought that he should establish police stations on Birong Star. Currently, these industrial zones would eventually be accompanied by residential areas and commercial areas, thus becoming towns, requiring dedicated police officers to maintain public order and handle various procedures, such as marriage registration.
Jiang Ye also specifically went to see the canteen run by Mu Gui and Benson.
It was booming, with prosperous business.
The canteen's hygiene and dishes were not bad, and with no other restaurants, it was a monopoly, dominating the catering market for artificial human companions in the vicinity, currently making a fortune daily.
It was afternoon when Jiang Ye went. The waiters were clearing tables after lunch, and Mu Gui and Benson were also busy.
Upon seeing Jiang Ye, the two young bosses hurriedly bowed, "Greetings, Commander!"
"Do you have the account books?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Yes! They are in the office, I'll go get them for you!" Mu Gui quickly replied.
"Take me there, I have something to tell you both," Jiang Ye said.
In the canteen's office, he closed the door.
Jiang Ye sat in the boss's chair, crossed his legs, and flipped through the account book.
Mu Gui and Benson stood by, extremely nervous, quietly observing the commander's expression.
"The profit situation is quite good. Are there any difficulties at the moment?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Temporarily... no difficulties," Mu Gui said.
"Do you two still have the energy to open branches?" Jiang Ye put down the account book and looked up at them.
"We do, but the funds for this store haven't..." Benson said hesitantly.
Mu Gui suddenly interrupted him, "Yes! If you order us, we'll do it!"
Benson was stunned for a moment, then realized and nodded repeatedly.
Jiang Ye smiled meaningfully, appraising the two. Mu Gui seemed more astute, while Benson appeared more timid.
He wondered how their relationship would be in the future when the catering business grew to a scale of hundreds of millions in profit.
It was unlikely they would remain as close as they were now, as if they were one person.
"I'll give you another thirty million, and you can open six branches in all the areas where artificial humans gather," Jiang Ye finally said. "For artificial humans in other places, they can only eat self-grown vegetables or buy bagged canned food from construction site stores. You will fill the gap in their dining needs. The specific rules will be the same as this store."
"Thank you, Commander! We will work hard and not let you down!" Mu Gui immediately straightened his back and bowed.
Benson followed suit with a bow of thanks.
Jiang Ye said nothing and got up to leave. On the way back to the space station by car, he transferred the thirty million via his phone, fifteen million to each of Mu Gui and Benson.
Back on Jiang Ye Star.
The intelligent fungi were still busy.
[It has developed characteristics of fish.]
[A fist-sized body, a complete digestive system, fins and gills, it floats and sinks in water by adjusting the air in its swim bladder, with supporting bones, a blood system covering its entire body, perfectly symmetrical organs, and can produce 100 fish eggs at once. The scales contain chlorophyll, which can produce a certain amount of energy and oxygen in shallow water when exposed to light.]
[This form will be its juvenile form, named Jiang Ye Fish. Is that acceptable?]
Jiang Ye looked at the photo.
A round, somewhat pufferfish-like dark green fish.
Two black bean-like eyes, with a tendency towards a cross-eyed appearance.
Jiang Ye: [Why name it after me?]
[Intelligent Fungi: Have you heard of the Gospel – "Bread is my flesh, wine is my blood. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."]
[Intelligent Fungi: Naming this carnivorous fish after you, the people of Birong Star will be grateful to you when they eat it in the future. They will remember that you brought this fish to Birong Star, allowing everyone to have enough to eat, making you a god-like, revered existence, and they will be thankful to you. Isn't that wonderful?]
Jiang Ye: [Not wonderful at all. This fish is too ugly, and I don't believe in that stuff. I'm just an ordinary person, why pretend to be a deity? Let's name it Ugly Meat Fish.]
[Intelligent Fungi: Understood, named Ugly Meat Fish.]
Jiang Ye: [Is this the carnivorous creature you are making?]
[Intelligent Fungi: This is only the juvenile stage; it is not yet complete.]