Deep Space Wandering Fleet-Chapter 212 - Folk Affairs

Chapter 212: Chapter 212: Folk Affairs

Chapter 212: Chapter 212: Folk Affairs

At the beginning of Spring Festival, after much anticipation, the luxurious one-day holiday finally arrived!

Of course, “one day” referred to officials like Zhang Yuan, while the common people still had a five-day mini holiday.

“I haven’t had a proper rest for a whole year.”

Reflecting on the past year, Zhang Yuan felt both melancholic and amazed by the enormous changes undergone by the civilization.

Upon returning home, he first indulged in a lazy sleep, blissfully sleeping until nine in the morning. It was unbelievable how simply sleeping could bring such happiness.

Then, he watched a sci-fi movie “Under Deep Space” with his wife, a major production by Earth Civilization filled with dazzling interstellar war scenes, which he found thrilling.

Lastly, they strolled around the newly constructed ecological park and had a simple and modest dinner on the lawn.

In the blink of an eye, time slipped away.

Thus, the day off passed mysteriously fast…

It was foreseeable that there wouldn’t be such holidays in the coming year, unless next Spring Festival might offer another day off.

Even though there was a slight regret, Zhang Yuan didn’t complain too much and began the new year’s work on the second day.

Currently, the number of tasks, big and small, was rather overwhelming, including in industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and services, all demanding more intelligent robots. Oh, and the newly enacted population policy…

This policy was to be formally reported by the media today, and a significant uproar from the public was expected.

However, based on the leaked information, the current public opinion was still manageable. Fortunately, most aboard the spaceship were young and childless, so the impact of this policy on them was relatively minor. Young people, being more open-minded and receptive to new things, might complain initially, but given time, they would gradually adapt.

When Zhang Yuan returned to his office, he found that numerous reports had already filled his entire mailbox, awaiting his review.

These reports were all written by people, indicating that many, like him, had barely taken any holidays. If these diligent surface workers hardly took breaks, then even less so for high-ranking officials like them.

He quickly immersed himself in work.

“…As of today at noon, the transportation railway between the B3 uranium mine and the central industrial hub on the surface was officially completed. The intelligent train has passed the unmanned driving test and has a transport capacity of about six thousand tons per trip. With three round trips per day, it can transport 18,000 tons of ore.”

“It is estimated that at the B3 site, with an initial investment of two excavators, the daily iron ore collection capacity totals 6300 tons.”

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Zhang Yuan frowned, which meant that the train’s transport capacity far exceeded the collection ability?

But there was no solution; the complexity of this excavation equipment was high, and it was bulky. Some key components were brought from Earth because the new civilization was incapable of producing them, and some parts relied on heavy metal 3D printing equipment. With the current pace, only one machine could be assembled per month.

More advanced industrial machines were being prepared to produce various medical devices, on one hand, to create medicines and devices that could delay aging and increase life expectancy. On the other hand, equipment related to artificial womb technology, various nutritional devices, and medical equipment were being prepared for the upcoming baby boom.

“Fortunately, the current mining output is already sufficient for our current use; even the capacity of the surface steel smelting plant hasn’t been able to use up so much iron ore.”

The development of a civilization always had so many bottlenecks. Just the mining, transportation, and smelting of minerals could create so much imbalance. The task of Zhang Yuan’s department was to bridge the gaps in the entire civilization’s meridians, preventing any industry from facing overcapacity.

Under this overall planning, despite various issues big and small still existing, the civilization was generally in a vigorously developing momentum…

Next, Zhang Yuan’s pupils slightly dilated. The new issue of Time Weekly should be updated!

…

“Latest news! Geologists have discovered a large uranium mine 180 kilometers away, and according to the current power consumption, its reserves can last us a thousand years!”

“Various nuclear fission reactor units are urgently under research. According to insiders, this planet is ousting almost all the Helium-3 brought by the solar wind due to a slight magnetic field on its surface. Since the cost of collecting nuclear fusion fuel is too high, using nuclear fusion energy is not as economically viable as fission energy!”

“Latest news! Zone A Ecological Park has been completed, with tickets priced at only one yuan. According to insiders, after the Spring Festival holiday, it will be open to the public for free…”

“…The sci-fi blockbuster ‘Under Deep Space’ from Earth Civilization has received universal acclaim!”

“…The plan to mass incubate babies using artificial womb technology has been approved by the Scientific Council!”

This is a publication of the new government’s Time Weekly, priced at 0.5 yuan per issue, published weekly, focusing on the major news and events of the week. Compared to the rich content inside, the price is not expensive, with a monthly expense of only two yuan, which everyone can afford.

Producing such a newspaper is mainly to improve the transparency of information and enhance the social responsibility of the citizens.

As a citizen of the new civilization, experiencing the slow progress of civilization creates a unique sense of achievement and belonging. It is because of everyone’s hard work that the wheel of history is gently pushed forward.

This progress is inseparable from everyone’s efforts.

In this issue, the most important content is undoubtedly the “bill to use artificial womb technology to mass incubate babies” that was… approved!

It was a real eye-opener!

As expected, the passage of this bill provided an opportunity for all sorts of bizarre characters to emerge, including comments from certain experts and professors as well as cheers from various feminists.

Some feminists, I don’t know what they think, even believe that this bill has achieved true gender equality: neither men nor women give birth, letting gender-neutral machines do the childbirth. What a dreamlike equality!

The internet was in a complete uproar. Rational debates are acceptable, but all kinds of aggressive comments were directly deleted or muted. The monitoring of the online environment did not even require much human labor, as intelligent algorithms automatically prevented malicious disturbances.

Fortunately, the news of this bill had been in the air for more than a day or two. Everyone had heard about it during the hibernation period, and somehow, it seemed not so hard to accept…

During the festive season, at least there were no protests or demonstrations.

Anyway, for someone single like Wang Junpeng, it seemed… alright.

“Hey, society needs people, and we are unwilling to breed, so this is the only way,” Wang Junpeng, looking at the newspaper that detailed the various reasons for this decision, thought it made sense.

Although still somewhat uncomfortable, the reasons given were objective facts, and he didn’t know how to argue against them.

“The government raises the kids, what does it have to do with us? It’s not like they are banning us from having children… I don’t see what’s so hard to accept,” Xu Jie, engrossed in playing a game, said thoughtlessly, “It’s a simple logic. If this bill wasn’t passed, we would still have so few people decades later. Industrial development would lag, and once the machinery brought from Earth depreciated, all of humanity would be doomed! I really don’t understand… How could those opposers wish for suicide?”

Wang Junpeng wondered, “Of course, it concerns us. Where does the money come from? It’s our taxes! Taking the taxes we paid to raise other people’s children!”