Chapter 43: 110,000
With the construction of the clone production factory complete, the entire factory cluster would only require up to ten thousand Clones for maintenance.
Li Qingsong then assigned the vast number of surplus Clones to the construction of more outlying bases, railway lines connecting them, and the expansion of the power and communication networks.
As a result, mine after mine sprang up across the surface of Ceres. Moreover, these new mines were more technologically advanced; they could perform preliminary ore processing on-site and required even less manpower than before.
Railway lines extended rapidly, while the power grid and communication network spread far and wide.
The problem, however, was that while there were now many mines, Li Qingsong didn’t have enough manpower to operate them.
Once built, they could only be left idle.
But that was no matter. Soon, the first batch of newly grown Clones would be ready.
After about half a year of busy construction, the first batch of Clones was finally finished growing.
Under Li Qingsong’s control, all fifty thousand incubation pods were emptied one by one. The Clones were then transported to a recovery lounge for preliminary examinations.
After a short, excited wait, the fifty thousand Clones finally awoke. Without hesitation, Li Qingsong immediately extended his consciousness link to them.
In that instant, a surging wave of mental power washed over him, and Li Qingsong’s thoughts accelerated to an unprecedented velocity.
In this state, problems that had previously accumulated—ones he hadn’t had the mental capacity to solve—were resolved in a flash.
It was like a student who didn’t have enough time to finish a thick stack of exams. But now, more students had instantly joined in, and in just a short while, every single exam was completed.
Reveling in this surging mental power, Li Qingsong shifted his focus and began testing how many individual consciousnesses he could now link with.
The number of consciousness links increased rapidly, jumping from just over 60,000 to 70,000 in an instant.
But that wasn’t the end; the number continued to climb rapidly.
Eighty thousand, ninety thousand, one hundred thousand...
It didn’t stop at one hundred thousand, finally surging to 102,200 before Li Qingsong felt that all his available consciousness links were occupied.
Clearly, his current connection limit was 102,200.
But this was only the limit for the body he was currently inhabiting.
’They also used the strange bird’s bodily fluids as a nutritional supplement, but this new batch of Clones was produced through a more standardized and rigorous process. Their "quality" should be higher than the clone body I’m using now!’
Li Qingsong immediately transferred his consciousness to one of the newly grown Clones, but his connection count didn’t increase. Instead, it dropped by 500.
’Subtle variations lead to minor differences in quality. That’s normal.’
Li Qingsong thought, transferring again.
This time, his connection count rose by 900, reaching 102,600.
And so, Li Qingsong tested them one by one, trying out every single clone body until he had selected the one that could support the highest number of connections.
This particular Clone’s consciousness link count reached 109,800!
That was almost 110,000!
And including this new batch of fifty thousand, the total number of Clones he possessed was almost exactly 110,000!
’Excellent, excellent.’
Overjoyed, Li Qingsong immediately had the fifty thousand Clones dress, eat their first meal, and perform restorative exercises. Once they were ready, he dispatched them to the various mines, factories, and farms that had been built previously but had remained inoperative due to a lack of manpower.
A new batch of cell samples had already been placed into the pods, and the next round of cultivation began.
’My consciousness link count has increased to nearly 110,000, but it’s obvious that having only 110,000 Clones won’t be enough. They need to rest, too. To keep 110,000 Clones working around the clock, 24 hours a day, I’ll need at least 170,000 Clones in total. If I don’t want to work the Clones to the point of exhaustion and want some buffer in scheduling, I’ll need at least 200,000. Factoring in a strategic reserve and future increases to my consciousness link capacity... I’ll probably need a million Clones to be comfortable. This clone factory will have to run at full capacity for at least the next ten years, without a moment’s rest.’
At this point, Li Qingsong controlled a total of 269 bases.
Now that he had sufficient manpower, all 269 of these bases were operating at full capacity.
Innumerable trains sped along the rails, countless heavy trucks rumbled across the desolate, silent surface of Ceres, and a multitude of factories and mines hummed day and night.
Yet even with everything running at full capacity, of the nearly 110,000 Clones Li Qingsong could control, a full thirty thousand remained temporarily idle.
’I finally have idle Clones.’
Li Qingsong mused to himself. ’With these thirty thousand Clones freed from production, I can finally establish a dedicated technology development department.’
Li Qingsong had been conducting research and development all along, of course. But in the past, his R&D work was more reactive—whenever a problem arose, he would temporarily assign a team to find a solution. It was more of an ad-hoc emergency response than deliberate, forward-looking research.
But now, things were different.
Li Qingsong had moved beyond the initial phase of struggling for survival, self-preservation, and simply maintaining his bases’ basic functions.
It was time to proactively drive technological advancement.
After all, building such large bases, so many production lines, and such a complete industrial system was not an end in itself. The ultimate goal wasn’t production, but to use production to advance science and drive technological development.
And so, another enormous base rose rapidly from the surface of Ceres.
It was a comprehensive research and development facility.
Li Qingsong divided its interior into several large modules: a Materials Research Tower, a Casting and Forging Processes Tower, a Mechanical Engineering Tower, an Optics Tower, a Chemistry Tower, a Computational Sciences Tower, and so on.
Each tower was further subdivided. The Materials Research Tower, for instance, housed departments for Polyethylene, Metallurgy, Glass, Heat-Resistant Materials, and more.
The Computational Sciences Tower was divided into departments for Photoresist Development, Silicon Purification, Circuitry, and so on.
Its research scope encompassed every facet of modern technology.
Although it was all still very basic, the overall framework for research was now in place.