"The cost of building houses is actually very low."
Black Smoke answered truthfully.
"Prefabricated walls and floor slabs are produced on the production line. Daily maintenance only requires those miniature Mechanical Desert Spiders. As long as there is electricity and raw materials, the supply can be continuous. After being transported to the construction site, a few people can complete the construction in one day, so the labor cost is also very little..."
"It is essentially a type of building block, just large enough for people to live in and strong enough to withstand strong winds and earthquakes; calculated purely by labor cost, the value created by a Cangyuan employee within two months is equivalent to a 'bare shell house'. If they work for two more months, the house can be fully equipped with electrical appliances."
"Hmm, that's about what I estimated before." Lu Yuan nodded. "In the future, as the level of technology increases and production efficiency improves, labor costs will be further compressed."
"But cost does not equal value, let alone price. Please think twice, Executive Officer!"
Black Smoke strongly suggested, considering Cangyuan's interests.
"Believe me, I know how 'motivating' expensive housing can be."
Lu Yuan looked at him and sighed.
"But Cangyuan's ultimate goal is to rebuild human civilization and make humans the dominant species in the universe again. This is a grand goal that has never existed before, and it will definitely face countless trials in the future. Therefore, I need my employees to maintain high morale at all times."
"I only have one question: how much room for improvement in morale is there for a person whose desires for the next few decades are filled by housing?"
He gave Black Smoke a meaningful look.
The big guy should understand what he was going to say next.
Black Smoke opened his mouth, wanting to speak but stopped himself, no longer objecting, but began to think quietly.
In his opinion, if Xing Hai's simulation of social operation logic reached this level, then what the Executive Officer said indeed made sense.
Cangyuan's mission was too grand and too difficult to be fully applied using experience from peaceful times.
It was clear that the Executive Officer did not deny the point that "desire motivates people". On the contrary, he wanted to greatly amplify the desires in people's hearts, even making desires "unlimited", in order to better stimulate the indigenous people's desire for exploration and adventurous spirit, just like the Age of Discovery from the 15th to 17th centuries.
The "exploration" and "adventure" of the Age of Discovery were actually just nice terms. To put it bluntly, it was still about pursuing large farms, large estates, large silver mines, and large treasures, or at least the rewards and privileges granted by the monarch after returning home.
If venturing out to sea at the risk of dying from disease and swords, staying away for a year or even longer, only resulted in a place to live, it would be better to honestly go home and farm.
If you don't rely on future wealth and prosperity to attract people to work hard, do you rely on kindness?
Moreover, if the plan is to rapidly increase the income of the indigenous people in the future, it really doesn't matter whether the housing price is set high or low now.
The current 25-year mortgage might depreciate by more than ten times in a year.
Given Cangyuan's current BT development speed, where production doubles every week, this figure might even be conservative.
Working hard for seven months to get a house, this length of time is just right to motivate people. If it were longer or shorter, the feeling would be subtly different and it would be easy to breed a mindset of lying flat.
After seven months, just continue to motivate them with more desirable goods.
The Executive Officer really has a way...
Hmm...
"I understand, Executive Officer!"
............
At the same time, within Oasis City.
Cheng Lei drove an all-terrain vehicle through the main street of the lower city, which quickly became busy as the sun set.
Caoyuan sat in her passenger seat, and Ye Xing sat in the back seat. Both were wearing indigenous robes and masks, carefully observing everything outside.
It was the time when the day shift and night shift changed. The workers who got off work were dressed simply, their steps were tired, and they flooded into the food market or cheap restaurants on the street, planning to rest as soon as possible after filling their stomachs.
Engineers and city guards were clearly dressed better, their clothes having at least some color. Some of them went into bars and video arcades after work for rare entertainment.
The road was already narrow, and with the crowd, the vehicle speed couldn't be increased at all. Cheng Lei drove a turtle car ostentatiously, slowly passing through the areas that needed scouting, so as not to arouse the suspicion of the guards.
"That's the old police station," she pointed to a three-story concrete building ahead. "I've sent someone to get the indoor floor plan. If you need it, I can give it to you."
"Did Apollo store weapons inside there?" Caoyuan asked the key question.
"Many large boxes were transported in, some bigger than a person, but it's not certain if they were weapons. The police station's basement is a prison and armory, which is very suitable for storing things."
"Hmm..." Caoyuan nodded with interest. "Understood, let's go to the landing field!"
The flight landing field was close to the water, and there weren't many pedestrians around. To avoid suspicion, Cheng Lei could only pass through at a relatively faster speed.
Caoyuan saw that the landing area was as large as six or seven football fields, with strict defenses around it. There was an armored outpost every 100 meters, and in the distance was a row of neat hangars.
"The space fighters are parked in there..."
Caoyuan found it hard not to be envious.
He turned to look at Ye Xing and turned off the translator.
"Brother, we have to find a way to get in, scan the space fighters, and get the blueprints."
Ye Xing: "Hmm... you're right."
Caoyuan: "What's wrong? Absent-minded?"
Ye Xing: "Ever since I came to the main city area, I've felt strange."
Caoyuan: "Maybe the noise is too loud and the air is also polluted. That's the downside of high perception."
Ye Xing: "No, it's not the sound, nor the smell, but something is wrong, and this wrongness is coming from a specific direction."
He poked his head out of the car.
"Over there!"
Following the direction he pointed, Caoyuan's gaze crossed the water and looked at the pyramid on the small island.
It was much taller than any other building in the city, including the City Lord's palace.
"Is there anything special about that pyramid?"
Ye Xing pointed to the towering spire and asked Cheng Lei in the local language.
"That's the temple in the city."
"Temple?"
Caoyuan smelled a hint of trouble.
"What god is worshipped? Are there many believers?"
"It's not really a god," Cheng Lei said. "The monks there call the one they serve the 'Aether Race', claiming that this race ascended to godhood long before humans used stone tools and are the only salvation in the universe. One-third of the people in the city believe quite deeply and regularly donate money to the temple. The rest will also go to the temple to sit, after all, it's very luxurious and cool inside, and they occasionally give out eggs and things."
Ye Xing cautiously asked: "Is it effective?"
Cheng Lei smiled, but the smile was a little bitter.
"At least I don't believe it. People still have bad luck, and those who should get cancer still get cancer. Of course, according to the high priest in the temple, the reservoir in Oasis City is a gift from the gods. If our actions anger the gods, the reservoir will turn into a sand pit."
It seemed that the citizens of Oasis City were already used to the existence of religion. After all, this was a post-apocalyptic wasteland world, and it was not strange to believe in some ghosts and monsters.
The monks who served the 'Aether Race' gods had never shown abilities similar to psionics, but the temple did make Ye Xing, a perception-type player, feel something unusual.
Interesting...
Ye Xing thought to himself, if it wasn't psionics, then it must be some kind of black technology causing trouble.