Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Master's Seat Faces the Investment in the Blissful Realm

More than a month passed in a flash. The transformation of the Bliss Space Station was beginning to take shape, with large-scale smelting equipment and all the supporting factories required for manufacturing spaceships. Due to the size of the vessels, the first resources to be mined were those on the moon. All the raw materials produced were used for the renovation of the Bliss Space Station, though this was merely supplemental; the main supply of materials still came from the Prime Plane. However, since this was only the beginning, once the spaceship production lines were fully completed and mining and cargo ships specifically designed for this purpose were built, the Bliss Space Station would be able to achieve self-sufficiency.

On Earth within the Bliss Space, the foundations for enormous cities were being rapidly constructed. Fortunately, with the help of robots and an abundance of manpower, the speed of construction depended entirely on how quickly Wang Jing could transport materials. The initial batch of construction materials had already been delivered by Wang Jing, enough to complete the foundations of the giant cities.

During this period, those living in the slums of Earth did not simply sit and wait for change. After learning from citizens expelled from Bliss Space that the area had been seized, waves of rebellion erupted worldwide, with private ships constantly heading toward Bliss Space. In response, Moos, who controlled Bliss Space, followed the original system's protocol and dispatched numerous armed robots to suppress the uprisings. As for the unauthorized ships, they were intercepted by stationed Transformers, sent back to Earth, and all passengers were imprisoned.

Of course, relentless suppression was not a wise move. The United Government announced the distribution of medical pods to hospitals across Earth, granting free access to all patients, provided they were recorded in the citizen system and had no criminal history. Those with prior convictions, if they had not reoffended in two years, could also use the medical pods, but at a steep cost. For those without funds but with criminal records, if they managed not to commit crimes within three years, the treatment fee would be halved; in the fourth year, halved again, and so on, until after ten years without reoffending, they would enjoy the same free access as ordinary citizens.

This welfare policy immediately stabilized society, for nothing was more important than free health. To prevent abuse of power, hospitals that secretly gave free access to medical pods to those with criminal histories would lose their operating licenses, and involved personnel would face ten to twenty years in prison, or even the death penalty, depending on the number of treated individuals and their sentences.

Under this policy, those burdened by crimes were forced to restrain their claws.

Although the United Government’s governance created a much improved social environment, the most pressing issues of housing and food remained unresolved. Due to Wang Jing’s limited transport capacity, all resources had been diverted to the space development project. After all, on a planet depleted of resources, space mining was the only way forward, inevitably leading to a decline in living standards.

Yet for citizens of the Bliss Space Plane, all living in global slums, merely surviving meant their quality of life could not drop any further. But soon, their perception would change, for they would discover an extremely cheap food—nutrient paste.

This nutrient paste was about the size of a bar of soap, but could sustain a person’s nutritional needs for an entire day. It was a byproduct developed by the research team from the Wandering Earth Plane while designing a deep-sea oxygen filtration device. The original plan was to use an expansion valve to reduce underwater pressure, enabling the magnetic field generator to filter oxygen atoms from seawater. This method accelerated oxygen production, unlike electrolytic processes which released toxic gases or produced scale, reducing oxygen yield.

Directly capturing oxygen atoms from seawater required only a variable expansion valve and an electromagnetic generator—simple and efficient. During testing, researchers discovered the device could also capture other elements by adjusting the magnetic field, sparking the idea to collect all elements required by the human body from seawater and turn them into edible food.

Initially, this was just a prank by the researcher, who wanted to sneak the manufactured food into his colleagues’ meals to observe their reactions. Unexpectedly, the United Government saw its potential, enlarged and improved the magnetic field generator, and employed it in the production of nutrient paste. The factories were established along the coast of the Wandering Earth Plane, since the sea contained every element—just a matter of quantity.

Originally, these nutrient pastes were intended for storage to address a possible famine ten years down the line. However, when merchants from the Prime Plane saw them, they conceived the idea of marketing them as extremely cheap food. Nonetheless, the nutrient paste had two unavoidable flaws: first, its flavor was monotonous—other flavors existed, but were pricier than the basic salty version; second, the magnetic field generator consumed enormous amounts of electricity, since generating strong magnetic fields required vast energy.

Yet these two issues were perfectly circumvented in Bliss Space Plane: for those struggling to fill their stomachs, bland flavor was no concern, and the electricity issue was easily resolved after the Prime Plane built its first nuclear fusion reactor—since controlled fusion yielded nearly free energy.

To cut production costs, only local citizens were employed; not robots, as the United Government forbade it, and hiring humans was actually cheaper. Yes, you heard right—labor was cheaper than robots, mainly because there were so many people, making the workforce exceptionally cheap. Eating nutrient paste for every meal meant self-sufficiency; even the most ruthless exploiters would marvel at the inexhaustible depths of this place.

Of course, those doing business in Bliss Space Plane weren’t limited to nutrient paste production. There were also companies processing construction materials—large, visionary enterprises. Most established processing centers on Earth to refine iron ingots shipped from Bliss Space Station into rebar and wire for city foundations. Some operated a fully self-sufficient industrial chain, handling everything from space mining and transport, to smelting and factory processing on Earth. The benefit was minimizing costs for future competitiveness; the downside was heavy upfront investment and long timelines.

In summary, the United Government encouraged Prime Plane merchants to expand their business into Bliss Space Plane, stimulating local consumption and improving living conditions.