Chapter 54: 3 Goals
Li Qingsong was quite satisfied with this combat record.
’My combat power is only strong relative to my current technological level, and I still don’t know what my opponent’s tech is like. But at least I’ve pushed my current capabilities to their absolute limit.’
’It’s just that the fuel consumption is a bit too high.’
Li Qingsong sighed to himself as he piloted the Mercury-class Warship back to base.
Just a few hours of combat had completely consumed a full 50 tons of fuel.
Not only that, but several tons of bullets, artillery shells, and Interstellar Missiles had also been expended.
’And that was just a single Warship fighting for a few hours.’
’An interstellar war would require mobilizing several hundred Warships, right? And it would have to last for several months or even years, wouldn’t it?’
’Setting aside the consumption over an entire war, just a single sortie for 500 Warships would use up at least 25,000 tons of fuel and thousands of tons of ammunition...’
Li Qingsong had always known the saying "wars are won with logistics," but he had never truly understood its weight.
After the expeditionary force wiped out the flock of strange birds, consuming tens of thousands of tons of combat supplies in one go, he thought he had understood it.
But now he realized his understanding was still far too shallow.
’Since combat supplies are consumed so rapidly, the model of launching Warships from the surface of Ceres when war breaks out will no longer be viable.’
Launching from the surface of Ceres into space first requires accelerating to a speed of about one kilometer per second. This would obviously consume a massive amount of fuel.
’The best way would be to build a large, comprehensive logistics base in space.’
’When there’s no fighting, the Warships can be docked at this logistics base, maintaining a constant speed of about one kilometer per second. When a battle starts, they can set off immediately.’
’At the same time, all the necessary combat supplies—methane, liquid oxygen, bullets, artillery shells, Missiles, and various consumables—can be stockpiled at the base for easy access.’
’We could even build starship repair facilities there, allowing for quick repairs in case of damage.’
’But a logistics base like that... how big would it have to be...?’
Stockpiling too little fuel and material at the logistics base would obviously be pointless.
For it to be truly effective, it would have to be enormous, capable of storing at least a million tons of supplies.
Factoring in all the facilities and its own dead weight, the total mass of such a base would likely exceed two million tons, making it even larger and heavier than the previous space laboratory.
Moreover, a large logistics base like this would inevitably become a primary target for the enemy, so it would need heavy armor and a massive defensive weapons system.
In that case, the total mass would probably jump to over four million tons, and possibly even higher.
’But there’s no other way. I must have a base like this to support the war that might break out.’
Li Qingsong gritted his teeth, his resolve hardening. ’Alright then, I have three priority projects to focus on next.’
’One: expand Warship production capacity with all my might and build more Warships quickly.’
’Two: focus all efforts on constructing a large-scale, comprehensive logistics base.’
’And three: the Deep Space communication network must be established.’
Once the number of Warships and starships increased, the demand for communication, positioning, and interaction would skyrocket.
’When I have more Warships, how will I determine the location of each one? How will I coordinate them?’
This would require a comprehensive Deep Space communication network.
Having established these three key construction projects, Li Qingsong glanced worriedly at the nearby dwarf planet—which he had now named Enemy God Star, signifying the planet where the enemy resided—and sighed again. ’I don’t know when they’ll make their next move.’
’I hope they give me more time. Unfortunately, I still can’t launch any Detectors there at this stage.’
’But it shouldn’t be too long. Once the Deep Space communication network is up, not only will the starships and Warships have information support, but the Deep Space Detectors will too. I’ll be able to launch them then.’
At this moment, Li Qingsong’s maximum number of consciousness connections still hovered around 700,000.
To keep 700,000 Clones working at all times, the total number of Clones Li Qingsong was currently using was about 1.4 million.
The number of reserve Clones was around 1.6 million, for a total population of 3 million.
But right now, the workload of the 700,000 Clones connected to Li Qingsong was almost at its saturation point.
At their current production capacity, they could only just manage to produce one Mercury-class Warship every two days on average. Taking on any additional tasks would likely be beyond their capabilities.
After all, Warships were much more difficult to build than ordinary cargo ships. They not only required higher precision but also had a greater tonnage.
’Building the Deep Space communication network doesn’t require a huge workforce, but it is a technical job with some unsolved challenges. I estimate it will take about 10,000 Clones for research and another 10,000 for logistics to have any hope of cracking it in a short amount of time.’
’As for the rest, building the comprehensive space logistics base will require at least 200,000 Clones.’
’And that’s not even counting the fact that an increase in Warships and starships will consume more fuel, requiring more manpower for mining and refining.’
’I’m afraid I’ll need to increase my number of consciousness connections to one million just to barely have enough.’
Li Qingsong looked toward the biotechnology experimental area of the space laboratory.
There, a dozen or so Clones dressed in white lab coats, hats, masks, and gloves were carefully operating some equipment inside a clean room.
’Whether or not I can cultivate higher-quality Clones all depends on this.’
「More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.」
At that moment, a Clone once again approached the petri dish to observe it carefully, and a wave of joy washed over Li Qingsong’s mind.
He saw that, nurtured in the newly configured culture medium, the mouse, rabbit, and human cells used in the experiment were all showing trends of rapid division and development!
Their life force was clearly more vigorous!
’Good, this is the one!’
Having obtained the firsthand experimental data, Li Qingsong immediately dispatched over 20,000 Clones. They ran to the culture medium configuration factory and the Clone cultivation factory, respectively, and began upgrading and modifying the equipment according to the new requirements.
And so, just a few days later, the first batch of culture medium—enough to cultivate one hundred Clones—was successfully produced.
Without waiting for more culture medium to be produced, Li Qingsong immediately began the cultivation process for this batch of just one hundred Clones.
’No matter what, I have to increase the number of consciousness connections first. As for the average quality of the Clones, I can work on improving that slowly over time.’