Chapter 61: 350 Billion
「Eight months earlier.」
After the fleet of cargo ships disguised as Warships departed, Li Qingsong devoted himself to the full-scale production of specialized bullets and firearms.
Though they were specialized, their specifications were unique, not their technology. As such, there were no technical hurdles.
To the current Li Qingsong, manufacturing these custom bullets and firearms was still a simple matter, well within the scope of basic industry.
Over 900,000 Clones threw themselves into producing these elementary industrial goods. They worked tirelessly, without sleep or rest. If one even needed to use the restroom, a standby Clone would instantly take their place, ensuring that at every moment, more than 900,000 Clones were on the production lines. With no internal friction or communication overhead throughout the entire base, and with every individual perfectly coordinated, what kind of output could be unleashed?
Li Qingsong found the answer to that question through six months of full-scale production.
The answer was that in those six months, Li Qingsong produced a total of 350 billion bullets. With each bullet weighing 10 grams, the total mass reached 3.5 million tons.
Assuming each bullet contained two grams of propellant, that alone amounted to 700,000 tons of chemical powder!
At the same time, Li Qingsong also manufactured one million firearms specifically designed to fire these "large-body, small-head" bullets!
Afterwards, Li Qingsong spent over ten days deploying all one million firearms and every last bullet to various locations on the surface of Ceres.
That’s right—on the surface of Ceres, not in space.
Furthermore, each of these locations was specially calculated and deliberately chosen.
After all this was done, and before the first batch of disguised cargo Warships had reached Enemy God Star, Li Qingsong conducted several weapons tests in space.
Numerous heavy Missiles and bombs, each with a payload of several hundred kilograms, were detonated in pre-calculated positions in the space above Ceres.
The explosions created a massive cloud of dust and debris, successfully forming a "fog" that concealed the area.
Under the cover of this fog, on the surface of Ceres, the first batch of 45,000 firearms—all fitted with automatic firing and loading mechanisms—simultaneously pulled their triggers.
These custom firearms had a firing rate of 900 rounds per minute. Thus, in the very first minute of firing, a total of approximately 40 million bullets flew from the surface of Ceres and out into space.
Due to their special large-body, small-head design, they carried more propellant than ordinary bullets. And since the projectiles of these custom bullets weighed only about 0.5 grams, they achieved a much higher muzzle velocity—approximately 6 kilometers per second!
This velocity was enough to escape the gravitational field of Ceres.
Moreover, thanks to observation, calculation, and precisely adjusted muzzle alignments, these bullets would head directly for Enemy God Star after leaving Ceres.
And because of the pre-deployed fog, enemy Detectors hiding around Ceres were unable to detect these clusters of bullets!
Thus, completely unbeknownst to the enemy, over 40 million bullets began their journey toward Enemy God Star along their predetermined trajectory in the first minute.
The second minute, another 40 million. The third minute, the fourth...
After five minutes of continuous fire, with each of the 45,000 firearms having discharged 4,500 rounds, the guns fell silent.
But the torrent of bullets did not stop.
Li Qingsong had deployed a total of about one million firearms. Now, the next batch of guns seamlessly took over, instantly opening fire and continuing to pour the tiny 0.5-gram projectiles into space at a rate of over 40 million per minute.
At the numerous firing sites, ammo belts were rapidly fed into each active firearm. In the vacuum environment, the projectiles flew out while the casings were ejected, quickly piling up into small mountains beside them.
Clones in charge of collecting the casings bustled about, driving small excavators to clear away the mountain-like piles of shells and deposit them in temporary warehouses.
Clones responsible for maintaining the firing sites were busy carefully inspecting the condition of each firearm. The Clones managing the power supply watched the generators closely, daring not to allow the slightest delay.
After all, the automatic firing systems relied on electricity, and this was no time for a mistake.
Once all 20 batches, each consisting of 45,000 firearms, had completed one rotation, 100 minutes had passed. By then, the first batch of firearms had finished cooling down and undergoing maintenance, so they began firing again, followed by the second batch, the third, and so on, all the way to the twentieth.
The remaining 100,000 firearms served as backups. They would be brought online in case of an emergency.
No matter what, at every single moment, 45,000 firearms were firing at a rate of 900 rounds per minute. At every single moment, 40 million projectiles per minute were flying into the sky, toward Enemy God Star!
Li Qingsong knew that precisely targeting a dwarf planet 40 million kilometers away and getting these bullets to strike a specific location was an incredibly difficult feat.
Even with his Deep Space communications network, which could accurately determine planetary gravitational relationships and positional coordinates, and even accounting for the gravitational influence of the Sun and the Eight Major Planets, it was still nearly impossible.
’But...’
’When the quantity reaches a certain level, does precision even matter?’
’I don’t care if every bullet hits the target, as long as they’re generally flying in the direction of Enemy God Star!’
’You have advanced technology. You have high precision. You can build high-speed ion propulsion thrust devices, Nuclear Fusion Reactors, and Electromagnetic Cannons.’
’My technology isn’t as advanced, but my industrial strength is immense! I don’t need precision. I don’t need technology. I just need quantity!’
’I will drown you in numbers!’
This was the true reason Li Qingsong had created so many decoy Warships and had gone to such great lengths to delay for over eight months.
’Without enough time, how could I have produced so many bullets and guns? And how could those bullets fly all the way to your planet?’
On Ceres, the ceaseless firing of bullets continued for three full days.
In those three days, one million guns fired a total of 350 billion bullets into space, all aimed at Enemy God Star.
The projectiles from these 350 billion bullets traveled through space for nearly three months, finally arriving in the vicinity of Enemy God Star shortly after the second batch of decoy Warships was completely annihilated by the unknown enemy vessels.
At this moment, the first wave of bullets was still over a hundred thousand kilometers from Enemy God Star, with several hours of flight time remaining.
But out here, Li Qingsong had no way to conceal them. So, as expected, the bullet clusters were finally detected by the enemy.
’But it doesn’t matter. With this many bullets, let’s see how you try to stop them!’