Chapter 12: A Feast for the Tongue—A Perfect Companion for a Meal

12. This Chapter is on the Tip of the Tongue, Good for Appetites

After capturing the group of smugglers led by Dulak Quinto, everything returned to calm for the next week or so, and the colony developed steadily.

The number of mining stations built around the gas giant had increased to four, providing the mothership with a large amount of Helium-3 fuel for its fusion reactors. However, the mothership only carried four of these modular mining stations; if new ones were needed, they would have to be built from scratch. Fortunately, there was no shortage of metal resources in the star system. Currently, several metal asteroids had been captured by the mothership for decomposition and refining.

In addition, among the nine moons orbiting this gas giant—also named Endor—three were rich in various metal minerals. The Engineering Department was currently working overtime to build an interstellar mining site on one of these asteroids to provide raw materials for construction work in space.

The colony on the ground was also progressing. On Dawn Planet, 1,000 modular two-story residential buildings had been completed. The population had increased to over 1,700, and the entire colony could now accommodate 10,000 residents.

Daphne Clement of the Administration Department was constantly selecting suitable residents to wake up and send to Dawn Planet to join the construction efforts. Incidentally, Graham was no longer just a village chief; as of yesterday, he had been promoted to town mayor.

The biggest problems now were, first, the pressure on job positions caused by rapid population growth, and second, the shortage of transport ships shuttling between the mothership and Dawn Planet. The mothership only had five small transport ships in total, each capable of carrying 100 passengers or 50 tons of cargo at a time, which was far from meeting the demand.

Moreover, these transport ships were about 30 meters long, classified as light frigates, and could not be built on the mothership's internal production lines. To build more, a small space dock had to be constructed. Although work had already begun, even with the modular materials carried by the mothership, it would take another week to complete a structure of this scale.

To make matters worse, one of the transport ships must have had some lingering faults from the mothership's transit, and under such high-intensity use, it simply went on strike...

These matters left Tang Xiao feeling overwhelmed. When the colony first started construction, there weren't many issues, but now that the scale was growing, the problems were multiplying. For the past few days, he hadn't had any free time to think about things like the *Star Wars* plot; he was constantly shuttling between Dawn Planet and the mothership, making various decisions.

However, the benefit of this was obvious. His brain had been infused with all sorts of knowledge, and after this period of application, much of it had been developed, and many tasks had become second nature.

If it were over a week ago, before he had transmigrated, when he was just an ordinary college graduate, if someone had told him he could manage such a growing interstellar colony, Tang Xiao would have certainly thought that person was talking about the plot of a science fiction novel.

But now that things had developed to this point... Could it be that I’ve transmigrated into a sci-fi novel? Tang Xiao looked up at the sky, wondering if he could see the author's incredibly handsome face.

In any case, under Tang Xiao's leadership, the colony continued to develop in an orderly manner. They set up hunting teams, allowing the marines to accumulate combat experience while also supplementing the colony's meat supply...

They searched for mines on Dawn Planet, extracting limestone, coal, and metal raw materials...

They cleared farms and fruit fields to plant native vegetation, and built enclosed hydroponic farms to grow rice, wheat, corn, and other crops brought from the mothership.

They built steel mills, cement plants, sewage treatment plants, power stations, metal refineries, parts processing factories, and more.

They also built roads and ground spaceports, and laid pipes and fiber-optic cables.

And the most difficult step—sewage disposal. Because on this pristine planet, how to discharge and plan for the waste and wastewater produced by factories, as well as domestic sewage, was a very difficult problem.

The biggest issue was that 95% of Dawn Planet's surface was land, meaning the vast majority of water was underground, which made sewage disposal extremely difficult. The modular sewage treatment plants carried on the mothership had limited capacity, and the current problem was the need to build more and larger sewage treatment plants...

Moreover, Tang Xiao had begun to develop an inexplicable affection for this planet. After all, when he awakened the Force, he was breathing its air and feeling its nature; he didn't want to destroy its beauty. In a way, it had become a bond.

So, once, while inspecting the colony and seeing residents building sewage pipes, Tang Xiao had a sudden flash of inspiration. After returning to the mothership, he began to seriously discuss a very grave issue with Daphne Clement: he planned to build a giant "poop collector" on the mountain next to the colony to concentrate all the sewage and excrement, and then build a dam to use the waste to generate electricity.

His reasoning wasn't entirely baseless, as he had done exactly this in a certain game before. He figured that since even spaceships from games could be brought into reality, this kind of "poop collector" that could be realized in a game should also be possible.

However, Clement was terrified. She desperately suppressed the urge to drag Tang Xiao off to have his brain checked and told her manager very seriously that this was impossible in reality. The energy spent pumping the waste up the mountain would be far greater than the electricity generated, the pressure of the waste wouldn't be enough to drive the dam's turbines, and the high impurity content would easily cause blockages.

After all, you never know if someone is constipated, right?

Additionally, one had to consider the seasonal issues. What if the waste in the collector froze in winter? So, a heating device would be needed, right? That’s all cost!

To strengthen her argument, Clement even dragged over Guan Yan, an energy expert who was in the middle of eating, to explain. Guan Yan was innocent; although she vomited her lunch the moment she heard the topic, she still tried her best to help Clement persuade Tang Xiao.

Seeing that this path was a dead end, Tang Xiao, who had entered a state of obsession, asked them how many water purification plants would be needed to repeatedly purify the waste into drinking water.

Clement and the others were stunned by Tang Xiao's wild imagination. They brought in Qu Xuewen and Feng Yongwang, and together with several experts, they painstakingly persuaded him. Only then did Tang Xiao abandon the ideas of waste-powered electricity and recycling, finally avoiding the path of being shot.

This "fragrant" topic still needed a conclusion, so they discussed it for half a day. The final conclusion was that a giant "poop collector" could actually be built—it was essentially a super sewage (excrement) treatment center. Although the cost was a bit high, it seemed it could indeed solve the sewage problem on this planet, which was mostly underground water.

Of course, the collector couldn't be built on a mountain; otherwise, if it burst, it would be a disaster—the city would be flooded with waste.

Tang Xiao immediately made the decision: every city would have a central poop collector built! Not only could this concentrated waste be treated and used as fertilizer, but it could also help maintain public order when necessary, right?

They finally decided to establish a Department of Public Health to handle this matter. When making this decision, Tang Xiao had no idea that he had single-handedly created the most terrifying department in the history of the galaxy.

However, Tang Xiao quickly detached himself from this "fragrant" topic. At this moment, he was contentedly stirring a bowl of mushy chocolate with a spoon, taking a bite every now and then, while discussing a very important topic with a newly awakened elite sociologist.

There were no snacks on the mothership, so Tang Xiao had to satisfy his cravings with this semi-finished product.

"Manager, the thing we must consider now is the cohesion of the colony. Currently, our scale is small, and everyone revolves around you, which is good. But if we continue to develop, this will be far from enough. Please take a look at my proposal..." the sociologist, named Norris Barry, said earnestly to Tang Xiao.

Just then, Guan Yan, carrying a boxed lunch, passed by. Seeing Tang Xiao, she said, "Oh, you're here, Manager. By the way, there's a matter: the analysis of the infrared laser weapon is going very smoothly and should be completed ahead of schedule. We will conduct the first weapon test this afternoon. Will you be going?"

"Ah, no problem, I'll be there this afternoon," Tang Xiao replied. He felt he should praise her for completing the preliminary analysis of the infrared laser weapon in just over a week, but he suddenly got stuck, not knowing what to say. So, he picked up the mushy chocolate in his hand and said to Guan Yan, "Want some?"

Seeing the sticky, brown object that Tang Xiao had stirred into a spiral shape, Guan Yan's face darkened, and she quickly refused, "Uh, no thanks, I don't have much of an appetite..."

"Ah, what a pity, this is quite delicious," Tang Xiao shook his head regretfully, stirred the bowl again, and then scooped up a large, sticky spoonful and ate it with a smacking sound.

Guan Yan's face turned from black to green. She dropped her boxed lunch, covered her mouth, and turned to run.

[Easter Egg Chapter Attachments 1, 2: Various poop collectors.]

Bilibili UP host Yuan Meng Qing Yan's video, everyone can go take a look...

(End of this chapter)