In the spring of the ninth year, the long-awaited bountiful harvest finally arrived.
This season, the yield of monster radishes on both the Eastern and Western Continents was astounding. The Light Company alone purchased 8 billion radish tendons and 1.7 billion raw consciousness nerves from the Heavenly Kingdom.
The purchase volume was 16 times greater than the previous season.
All types of crops also saw a massive increase in yield.
Besides favorable weather conditions, there's another key reason for the bumper harvest: the lands starting to be cleared from the Dead Sea. Large areas that had been buried and covered reemerged. Many of these have been converted into agricultural land, directly increasing the base amount of arable land.
And beneath the land.
The exploration and excavation of the mantle have also reached a promising milestone.
The mantle bacteria have been successfully domesticated by the company and are now being widely used in combination symbiosis with Bone Fish.
The improved mature strain has been named [Shafulin-Fish Type].
The A2 virus created by Shafulin caused a global biochemical disaster, and he will likely spend the rest of his life in 404 City. However, the improved domestication of the new bacterial strain, including years of experimental data and behavioral research, was primarily driven and eventually achieved by him.
The case signature rights were still given to him, hence the name was born.
Shafulin told Zhou Yi, "Chairman, the biggest difference between the Fish Type and natural mantle bacteria lies in their natural compatibility with Bone Fish and Bone Man, which can even fuse from the fry stage. This allows Bone Fish to deeply grasp the characteristics of mantle bacteria, possibly making it a part of their bodily organs."
"One of the ancestors of the Fish Type is the mantle bacteria from Jupiter's moon Europa transplanted by the Giant Bone Fish [Earth Ghost] into Big Mouth and the others. Therefore, the Fish Type has a higher efficiency in utilizing cosmic rays, 37% higher than the original mantle bacteria."
"The biggest change is that the Fish Type can be artificially guided, including the use of labor at the level of Cave People and the cultivation media we have developed using LB-7 peptone and other raw materials – by directed food absorption methods, we can steer them to stay stable and grow in the desired direction."
"This is the result of generations of artificial selection and intervention to find those individuals that tend to stably adhere to the skeleton and propagate them."
Zhou Yi felt a profound sense of admiration.
He asked, "Now that the Fish Type mantle bacteria are being widely spread, will this impact the ecology of other species?"
"Generally speaking, this won't happen. The mantle bacteria themselves have an ultra-slow metabolism and rely on inorganic chemical reactions, with only Bone Fish and Bone Man able to support them."
"But whether completely new strains will emerge in the future, that's unpredictable."
Shafulin stated, "Mr. Chairman, it's time to release the Bone Fish on a large scale and let them roam the cosmos."
"The future surely belongs to Bone Fish and mantle bacteria, which will spread large amounts of mantle bacteria to other planets... Completing the seeding and expansion of a bacterial world and civilization!"
Zhou Yi chose to selectively ignore the last sentence.
The Solar System still had many problems, with the Heavenly People still holding sway, and the String Civilization turning the Sun into a Pandora's box.
Focus on the present first.
The breakthrough in mantle bacteria led to a large-scale life-level upgrade for the Bone Fish.
With the help of veteran Bone Fish employees like Fast Feet and Big Mouth, the new generation of Bone Fish quickly adapted to the symbiosis with mantle bacteria, efficiently absorbing cosmic ray energy and showing a noticeable increase in life strength.
This further propelled the Bone Fish to reach the stars.
In satellite orbit, the number of company Bone Fish rapidly increased.
Bone Fish with mantle bacteria thrived in the space environment, obtaining more direct energy where cosmic rays wouldn't be intercepted and weakened by the atmosphere and Outer Sea.
Based on the symbiosis with mantle bacteria, two branches of Bone Fish began to further refine their abilities and applications.
The traditional faction turned the mantle bacteria into a [Cosmic Heart], thus becoming Heavy Equipment Soldiers like Big Mouth, capable of emitting high-energy rays to disintegrate and destroy targets.
The innovative faction completely evenly distributed it on their body surface, becoming [Skin Radar].
They acted as Communication Soldiers, just like the founder Fast Feet, using this layer of mantle bacteria skin to communicate instantly with their kind. A single Bone Fish could cover an entire planet. This turned the Bone Fish into biological satellites and space mobile wifi, becoming the company's communication station for entering various planets in the Solar System.
In terms of specific cultivation, Zhou Yi sought the opinions of Bone Fish trainees like Fast Feet, Big Mouth, and Ancient Overlord.
Their attitude was clear.
"Since we are company employees, we surely obey the company's arrangements."
"Whatever the Chairman decides, that's what we'll do. Both directions are not bad."
Zhou Yi still let the Bone Fish employees choose for themselves.
Though most of their intelligence wasn't high, merely at the level of a few years old, they could still discern their interests.
Those who liked confrontation became Heavy Equipment Soldiers.
Those who loved chatting and could handle various business trips became Communication Soldiers.
In fact, in actual company missions, warriors and communication soldiers always worked together in partnership.
The Bone Fish truly became biological satellites, starting to take flight from Earth.
At this stage, two happy events also occurred.
The first was that among the first two batches of company Bone Fish, including Fast Feet, Big Mouth, and Ancient Overlord, all seven had completed training supervised by the Giant Bone Fish, and their growth rate was astonishing. Google seaʀᴄh n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
They were at least B-level, with the strongest, Big Mouth, reaching the LV3 Light Core Body level, and Fast Feet also stepping into the Light Core Body threshold with the help of the Giant Bone Fish.
The second was that the Giant Bone Fish were very pleased with these juniors, and began teaching them the methods of using time creatures.