Chapter 15: Massive Boost
Over the past ten years, Li Qingsong had become increasingly aware of a problem.
This problem severely restricted his rate of development, preventing him from doing many of the things he wanted to do and from building many of the facilities and factories he wanted to build.
The problem was population.
At present, he had just over a hundred people in total. With so few hands, even with perfect coordination and cooperation and no internal friction, how much could they really accomplish?
In fact, a significant portion of the equipment Li Qingsong had built wasn’t even operational.
Take the generators in the energy industrial zone, for example. After being built, they just sat there, unused.
Or the sixteen tractors he had built, of which only seven were in daily use.
It wasn’t that the demand for transport was low. On the contrary, the blast furnaces, generators, and cultivation bases all required a massive supply of external ore and resources.
But there was no way around it; he just didn’t have enough people to operate them.
Li Qingsong had suffered greatly from this over the past decade.
Fortunately, after focusing his efforts on chemical engineering and with the gradually increasing output from the cultivation bases, he had finally managed to formulate a clone nutrient solution that barely met the standard.
Inside the cave that served as the chemical factory, Li Qingsong’s heart pounded with excitement as he stared at the pale blue liquid in the large glass vat before him.
This was only enough nutrient solution for a single person. And producing just this small amount had taken two Clones an entire week.
It couldn’t be helped. At this stage, nearly all work had to be done by hand, similar to customized lab work, making automated mass production impossible.
’But that’s fine. If two Clones can prepare one portion a week, then if I pull fifty Clones from other areas, can’t I prepare twenty-five portions a week?’
’In two months, that’s 200 portions, isn’t it?’
Li Qingsong’s target for this first batch of "home-grown" Clones was two hundred.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to produce more. But it wasn’t just the nutrient solution; other aspects like the power supply and the production of incubation tanks also had to keep up. Considering his current capabilities, Li Qingsong determined that producing 200 sets of tanks and solution for the first batch was optimal.
’Anyway, the incubation tanks can be reused after they’re built. It won’t be too late to increase the number once I have more manpower.’
And so, Li Qingsong decisively pulled a total of fifty Clones from the already strained factories and facilities, dedicating them entirely to the formulation of the nutrient solution and the manufacturing of the incubation tanks.
Aboard the Deep Space Spaceship, the two bodies he had left on standby began working day and night to process the initial cells.
As a result, the Clones in other areas had to devote even more time and energy to their work.
Their daily work hours increased from the previous twelve to sixteen, which was just enough to keep the rest of the systems from falling into chaos.
This was a grueling sixteen hours!
The Clones’ sleep time was even compressed to a mere six hours. All other activities—eating, using the restroom, short breaks, travel, and so on—had to be completed within the remaining two hours.
To ensure the Clones’ mental and physical stamina, Li Qingsong was uncharacteristically generous for once.
The vegetables, eggs, and meat from the cultivation bases, as well as the most important staples like flour and rice, were now supplied without restriction.
Every day, the kitchen would stew a large pot with a hundred kilograms of meat and boil several hundred eggs for the Clones to eat. Only then were they barely able to hold on.
Originally, Li Qingsong hadn’t wanted to rush things like this, but he had no choice. He had already been waiting for far, far too long.
It had been over a decade since he lost contact with Earth. He was desperate to develop his operation as quickly as possible.
’Even if I can’t change the fate of Human Civilization, I at least have to figure out what happened.’
Even if not for civilization, but just for himself, Li Qingsong dared not slack off.
’That entity, or force, that caused Human Civilization to lose contact... will it threaten me one day in the future?’
This was a question Li Qingsong had to consider.
Across the entire base, over a hundred Clones worked ceaselessly, like tightly wound clockwork.
Under these conditions, two months finally passed.
All 200 incubation tanks were completed, arranged in a row inside the clone production factory.
This was a brand-new factory. For it, Li Qingsong had specifically sought out a cave that was deep enough, with a sufficiently thick rock layer and low enough background radiation.
Clone embryos weren’t like adults; they couldn’t withstand even the slightest radiation. Otherwise, there was a high probability they would either fail to develop or grow into monstrosities. They had to be placed somewhere with adequate radiation shielding.
The temperature inside the factory wasn’t a comfortable 26 degrees Celsius, but 37 degrees—the same as the human body.
Only at this temperature could the embryos develop comfortably.
The 200 portions of nutrient solution were poured into the incubation tanks. Afterward, the 200 initial cell samples from the Deep Space Spaceship were placed inside them.
Like seeds sown in soil, the cells, still invisible to the naked eye, began to slowly grow.
With the fifty Clones withdrawn from the nutrient solution formulation room, the Clones in other areas could finally relax a little.
They had been exhausted over the past couple of months.
Filled with anticipation and hope, Li Qingsong began what was only a six-month wait, yet felt to him like an eternity.
"Grow up quickly. There are so many tractors waiting for you to drive, so many blast furnaces waiting for you to operate, so many crops waiting for you to tend to..."
As time slowly passed, the initial cells in the incubation tanks developed into lumps and masses of flesh, then gradually took on a human form.
But during this process, some of the embryos did not develop normally and were clearly malformed.
"It can’t be helped. The nutrient solution I formulated and the incubation tanks I produced just can’t compare to the original equipment, after all."
Li Qingsong shook his head and directed a Clone to go forward, destroy the malformed embryos, and dispose of the nutrient solution.
Although there were some hiccups, only a small portion had failed. In the end, after waiting for half a year, a total of 182 Clones developed successfully.
He had them carried out and placed on beds. After a short wait, the 182 Clones slowly opened their eyes.
Li Qingsong’s consciousness instantly extended to them. The next moment, he felt himself gain 182 new brains and 182 new bodies.
Brand new brains and bodies, untouched by any contamination or damage!
His memory, logical reasoning, learning ability, research skills, and all other brain-related faculties more than doubled compared to before!
And it wasn’t just his mind. The number of bodies he could now command had instantly jumped from 134 to 316!