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After teasing a foreign beauty, Zhang Yuan felt...
Not bad!
As for the "Love Animal Association," it was pure nonsense, just a convenient excuse to slip away.
While munching on grilled octopus skewers, he secretly lamented, "Ah, soon I won't be able to eat this anymore, what a pity..."
Replacing natural meat with synthetic meat grown from cells in Petri dishes had long been achieved technically. Furthermore, after extensive research, synthetic meat turned out to be cheaper, more environmentally friendly, and healthier than natural meat, winning the hearts of many Third World citizens.
However, synthetic meat always tasted soft, somewhat like a meat patty, lacking the elasticity of muscle and the chewiness of soft bones, not quite appealing to the taste.
As Zhang Yuan ate, he pondered the conversation he had with Professor Wang Zhong.
They talked for a long time, discussing not only academic issues but also some details about the "Earth Era," including the work system, economic system, and so on.
For someone like him, an undergraduate with decent grades but no special achievements, the roles available were mostly Second Level or third-level jobs, with a basic salary of one thousand and eleven yuan per month.
If he published a few good papers and proved his academic value, he could get better jobs and his salary would rise to one thousand three hundred...
That's how harsh the competition was.
"If I followed a good mentor and produced excellent experimental results, I could also get a raise."
"If I could complete some high-quality patents, bringing some revenue to the Deep Space Foundation on Earth, the salary could continue to increase..."
"Is this the new economic system they've devised? Hmm, it feels strange, but it sounds quite effective."
Ideals could motivate for a while but not for a lifetime. The "Earth Era" was an independent little society and naturally required a complete economic system to stimulate the working enthusiasm of its internal staff.
Here, "money" wasn't the Earth-used federal coins but the currency within the spaceship, known as "New Coin."
As long as his work did not go drastically wrong, he received a fixed amount each awake month according to work level, essentially serving as a government-issued bond.
New Coin could be used to purchase food, clothes, and various entertainment services inside the spaceship, as well as for trading among each other.
Of course, because resource production was quite limited, salaries could not be very high, topping at three or four thousand, so the wealth gap would not be very large...
Besides this economic policy, there was another one, which was the conversion policy between federal coins and New Coin.
The Deep Space Foundation, which provided subsequent "light path" support, might be short of money. To quickly raise these funds, the Foundation called on astronauts to make donations, which could be personal assets or intellectual property.
Asset donation was not a mandatory measure; it was up to personal ability.
Assets on Earth could be converted to some extent into "New Coin" for use inside the spaceship.
This conversion plan was still under study and would be announced to everyone when ready.
"Hey... although this approach was somewhat odd, everyone should understand, right? Helping the Foundation was helping ourselves."
The fifty thousand people boarding the spaceship carried a bit of idealism. Going to an unknown Planet to establish a Human colony required enduring hardships and being prepared to possibly pay with their lives. All difficulties were discussed in advance, and everyone was mentally prepared.
Was it likely to expect a better enjoyment than on Earth?
If you wanted to enjoy yourself, you might as well stay on Earth.
Anyway, Zhang Yuan had already donated all of his family's assets and felt quite at ease.
However, there was one thing he cared about, which was the work level inside the spaceship. The higher the work level, the more privileges one had within the spaceship, and the more important the position and salary.
People always needed to set some goals for themselves, and Zhang Yuan didn't want to become a marginal figure that the spaceship could do without.
However, work level could not be obtained through donations; it could only be achieved by one's own abilities after obtaining accomplishments, calculated fairly and justly through a complete "impact factor algorithm."
The highest-level positions were "Captain," with only a few candidates who were irreplaceable.
Zhang Yuan knew deeply how difficult it was for the spaceship to travel twenty light years to a Planet.
Even though Earth Civilization had prepared as much as possible, the entire journey was still extremely arduous.
The Captain not only needed to make overall plans but also manage material allocation, nurture the next generation of successors, and bear tremendous psychological pressure. Those comments saying even a pig could be a Captain were essentially pig-thinking.
Besides the Captain, the middle-level cadres inside the spaceship included leaders of various departments, university experts and professors, project reviewers, and community organization committee members, among others.
The lowest-level workers were, of course, like those spaceship maintenance workers and production line workers. These workers were carried in saturation numbers, and to put it harshly, it was not that they were not important, but that they were so numerous that even if half of them were lost, it would not significantly impact the spaceship's operation...
Thinking of this, Zhang Yuan basically made a plan for the future.
His undergraduate grades were decent, but among the excellent group, they were just average, so it was best to write a few good papers to improve some social status.
"In the new society, knowledge reigns supreme, and the social atmosphere is very good."
"With good papers, it would be easier to find a mentor, and it would also prove one's ability to gain higher social status."
But what to write about...?
What papers could be written?
After racking his brains and exhausting all thoughts, he temporarily had no particularly good ideas.
Writing a superficial paper wouldn't bring much benefit and would even earn a scolding from Professor Wang Zhong, which he didn't want.
With such thoughts, after spending more than ten minutes, Zhang Yuan finally reached his temporary dormitory floor, panting heavily.
The dorm light was on, and there was a roommate inside, also an early-arrived astronaut like him.
"Knock, knock, knock," he rapped on the door.
"Come in!"
As soon as he walked through the door, Zhang Yuan got quite a surprise.
The floor was littered with a jumble of mechanical creations, red, white, yellow, with various bizarre-shaped robots.
Some were still crashing around, like a four-wheel-drive car, "bang," hitting the wall.
"Be careful, don't step on them."
In the corner squatted a plain-looking young man, with a bit of greasy stuff smeared on his face.
Zhang Yuan quickly dodged. The four-wheel-drive car bumped into the table leg again, dropping a few parts.
He cautiously maneuvered around the robots, placed his seafood noodles on the table, and curiously asked, "Dude, are you making robots?"
"No, I'm choosing..."
"These are my favorite creations. Deciding which ones to take to space, it's a headache!"
The young man said with a frown.
Yet, he was a bit smug, his eyes constantly observing Zhang Yuan's expression.
Zhang Yuan chuckled and nodded understandingly, "A harem of three thousand beauties and you can only bring one on the journey, it's painful, huh?"
Everyone's carrying allowance was twenty kilograms, no more than that.
These machines were metal, and just two of them together exceeded twenty kilograms.
"Exactly! I've been fretting over it for hours!" the young man across lamented.
Regarding this behavior, Zhang Yuan had no intention of commenting.
Everyone had their own hobbies, and it wasn't really a big deal. Someone who could make robots by themselves was certainly a rather impressive individual.
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