Super Mothership
“Tss~” The private cabin doors slid open from both sides.
“Thank you for taking this Lunar Spaceport Direct Elevator. Please make sure you have all your personal belongings with you. We wish all passengers a pleasant journey…”
Amid the sweet announcement, the four members of the Ghost Brigade stepped out of the space elevator and truly set foot on the land of Third New Moon City.
“Wow! The air here is so fresh— it seems even better than the air quality on Earth!” Alice exclaimed in delight after taking a deep breath.
The space metropolis before them was mostly constructed of steel, yet it was richly interspersed with lush green vegetation. Not far away stood a large, tree-shaded park, and all kinds of rare and precious flowers could be seen everywhere. The city’s greening projects were even more impressive than those of Earth’s most developed cities.
“As an immigrant city, ecological agriculture is one of Third New Moon City’s priority development projects.
It employs plant-accelerating technology from the Kara Civilization, allowing vast areas of greenery to be cultivated in less than half a year. After special adjustments, the city’s oxygen cycle is now completely self-sufficient, and surplus agricultural produce can even be exported to Earth.
See that enormous transparent dome above our heads? It’s said to be made from a special material unique to the Ghost-type. Not only can it withstand massive differences in internal and external air pressure to ensure a stable atmosphere, it also has thermal insulation and self-repair capabilities.
This kind of thing isn’t even available on the market— truly amazing!” the thin man said, pointing at the transparent dome overhead.
The main body of Third New Moon City was entirely enveloped by this transparent dome, forming a self-contained ecological micro-world.
Everyone marveled in amazement. At that moment, Alice, who had been looking around, suddenly lit up and let out a soft “Eh?”
“Alice, what is it?” Chris asked in confusion, following her gaze.
Not far from them, a young man and woman had just stepped out of the space elevator as well. From Chris’s angle, he couldn’t see their faces— only their backs.
The young man wore a black trench coat, his hands tucked into his pockets, calmly surveying his surroundings like an ordinary tourist. The woman, dressed in professional business attire, was tall and slender, following behind him like a secretary.
With Chris’s seasoned eye, he immediately noticed that the pair possessed an aura quite different from ordinary people.
However, just as Chris was about to take a closer look, the two turned into a sparsely populated passageway and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
“It’s nothing. I just felt like I’d seen that big sister somewhere before. Probably just my imagination,” Alice said as she shook her head, a trace of puzzlement in her eyes.
……
Elsewhere, Nie Yun and Code had already entered a silver, ordinary civilian hovercar.
Without any visible operation, the hovercar rose up, merged into the traffic flow, and headed toward Atlantis Headquarters.
“The city administration has done a good job. It looks like things here are already on track,” Nie Yun remarked, gazing down at the buildings below.
“Zzz~” The face beside him shifted as Code’s disguise projection shut down, revealing once more that breathtakingly beautiful visage.
“That’s largely thanks to Miss Xiaoxiao’s guidance and assistance. You know, when it comes to handling human relationships— especially disputes— I’m still a bit out of my depth,” Code shrugged, the gesture and expression uncannily similar to Nie Yun’s.
“Heh…” Nie Yun chuckled and didn’t pursue the topic further.
After all, for questions like these— ones that history has never provided standard answers to— it really was asking a lot of a newly born artificial intelligence.
“It’s still a bit too quiet. How is the next phase of immigrant selection coming along?”
“We’ve already selected three million of the most suitable immigrant candidates. All of them possess considerable talent and value, mainly scientific and technical personnel and their families. Ninety-five percent belong to the orderly and good alignment, while the remaining five percent are randomly chosen from the evil and chaotic alignments,” Code replied.
Nie Yun nodded.
As a pioneer of space migration, the future Third New Moon City was bound to become a high-tech metropolis centered on scientific research. The quality of talent went without saying, and obedience was naturally one of the factors under consideration.
“How are the various countries reacting to space migration?” Nie Yun asked again.
“Although there are still some stubborn opposition forces, most countries are able to recognize the situation and support cooperation with us to promote the development of space migration.
In addition, the number of newborns on Earth this quarter has increased by 50% year-on-year. It’s expected that a full-scale baby boom will erupt in about half a year, and quite a few countries have already requested to accelerate the pace of migration.
Although Earth’s food production has increased dramatically thanks to plant-accelerating technology, the per-capita share of resources on Earth is still not abundant. Continued population growth will place a tremendous burden on Earth’s resources and reduce public welfare.”
“Mm. Population is the foundation of a civilization. Compared to those interstellar civilizations that have developed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, Earth civilization’s population is still far too small.
From now on, anything that is beneficial to population growth should be treated as a top priority.”
Having just glimpsed the tip of the iceberg of the Wolf Empire’s strength, Nie Yun had fully come to understand the deep foundations of long-established interstellar civilizations.
If the Gemini were merely interstellar newcomers just beginning to emerge, then the Wolf Empire was an interstellar hegemon that had pushed this stage of development to its absolute peak!
Like a jungle filled with hunters and lurking dangers, if Earth civilization wanted to gain a firm foothold in the fourth star cluster of the Orion Arm, it would require the comprehensive development of the entire civilization’s strength and foundations.
After a moment’s thought, Nie Yun continued, “The new immigrant city project can begin implementation. Within half a year, not only must the area of Third New Moon City be doubled, but at least five additional immigrant cities must be built in the surrounding area. The supporting ecological and agricultural systems must also be completed at the same time.”
“This would require mobilizing more than 95% of the construction capacity in the lunar region. The progress of our ‘Lunar Defense System’ project would likely be affected,” Code replied after a brief calculation.
“No. Third New Moon City, as a pilot project, must be completed independently by us. But once we have this experience, we can fully package and sell the relevant space-city construction technologies.
With us providing energy and technical support, I believe forces on Earth with ambitions for space colonization will flock to it!
Owning their own immigrant cities… is this bait heavy enough?”
After a round of technological breakthroughs, and with Nie Yun’s virtual reality technology as assistance, Earth’s major powers had indeed acquired a certain level of space development capability.
“Hm… In that case, it would indeed be possible to mobilize the enthusiasm of Earth’s major powers and accelerate the pace of space colonization. However, our level of control over these immigrant cities would likely decline,” Code said.
During this period of observation, Code had come to deeply realize that every human was essentially a variable. As the number of participating humans increased, more and more variables would disrupt its precise calculations, causing events to slide into completely unpredictable directions.
Likewise, the participation of numerous Earth factions would inevitably allow them to exploit loopholes to seize certain powers, and might even result in space forces beyond their control.
“Ambition is the best driving force for the progress of human civilization. Even wars have directly fueled explosive technological growth.
Just like the Gemini— sometimes, appropriate internal competition isn’t a bad thing,” Nie Yun said with a faint smile.
Of course, the premise was that he had the ability to keep such conflicts within reasonable bounds.
According to Nie Yun’s thinking, aside from Third New Moon City, the management rights of the other lunar immigrant cities could even be completely relinquished— naturally, not for free…
……
Atlantis Headquarters was located in the central core area of Third New Moon City. Standing 1,600 meters tall, it was nearly twice the height of Earth’s tallest buildings.
It consisted of four spiraling, arc-shaped structures. When viewed from above, it closely resembled Atlantis’s silver vortex emblem, making it the undisputed landmark of the immigrant city.
At this moment, inside the CEO’s office on the top floor, Chu Xiaoxiao was still dressed in a white outfit, focused intently on reviewing Atlantis’s operating reports for the quarter.
Even with a sizable think-tank team, the massive business empire had extended into every corner of the world. The number of electronic documents requiring Chu Xiaoxiao’s personal review was equally staggering— if converted to paper, they would likely pile up like mountains.
If not for the auxiliary chip in her brain operating at high speed to help organize the data, at an ordinary person’s pace, simply understanding this single report might take several days.
Chu Xiaoxiao, absorbed in her work, was extremely focused. Her jet-black hair fell softly, her eyes bright and teeth white, resembling a serene painting of a refined lady seated in stillness.
“Cough, cough!” A familiar voice sounded, interrupting her thoughts.
She looked up to see Nie Yun standing at the doorway, the same familiar smile still on his face.
“Well? Surprised to see me? Unexpected?” Nie Yun walked up to Chu Xiaoxiao and said with a mischievous grin.
Unexpectedly, Chu Xiaoxiao merely glanced at him calmly, then pursed her lips and lowered her head to continue working.
“Surprised my foot. We just met on Mars yesterday, didn’t we? Didn’t I tell you not to bother me with avatars when I’m at work?”
“Uh…”
Clearly, Chu Xiaoxiao hadn’t realized that this was Nie Yun’s real body.
Then, in the next instant, Chu Xiaoxiao felt her waist tighten as she was pulled straight into Nie Yun’s arms.
“Ah… mm!”
Before her cry could fully escape, her cherry-red lips were already sealed.
That familiar sensation surged forth. Chu Xiaoxiao’s eyes, which had been wide open in shock, gradually filled with a misty sheen…
TL Note- Internal Competition...
Comments
Post a Comment