New Mining Model

If nothing is found, then resupply. Once resupply is complete, continue the voyage. The human Great Fleet is already very proficient in all the procedures involved in interstellar travel.

After Little Grey was created, the resupply speed of the Great Fleet was significantly faster than before. Even though the Great Fleet now has a cluster of 50 million Crimson Flame Civilization ships, the overall resupply speed is still faster than it was back then.

Just like the resupply operation in this Star System, after arriving and exploring the Rocky Planet, humans immediately issued mining commands to Little Grey.

One hundred and eighty million ships successfully docked in planetary orbit. At the same time, Little Grey, having received orders, autonomously controlled hundreds of ships to slowly detach from the Great Fleet and lower their orbits.

Little Grey's original consciousness resided in the initial group of Nanobots, carried by a ship, while the other ships were extensions of Little Grey's body, also mounted on spaceships.

The Sea-Class Spaceship is large, but a planet is even larger. It would be difficult for Little Grey's Nanobots to mine efficiently. Therefore, humans extended her connection and created a massive number of Nanobots for her to use.

Due to limitations in computing power, Little Grey cannot control an unlimited number of Nanobots. Nevertheless, with her current computing power, she can barely cover a planet the size of Earth with the Nanobots she controls.

After hundreds of spaceships arrived in orbit around the planet, the hatches on the spaceships opened, and countless gray Nanobots swarmed out like locusts, then landed and rushed toward the target planet.

Even from the perspective of the fleet looking at it from space, such a scene would give the feeling of the sky being covered. The moment Little Grey entered the interior of the planet, it was as if clouds appeared on the planet, which originally had no atmosphere, instantly covering the entire sky and darkening the side of the planet facing the sun.

It got dark instantly.

A massive number of Nanobots formed a sea of clouds in the sky above the planet. This global coverage instantly increased the planet's brightness by several levels. It was the reflected light from distant stars shining on the Nanobots, making the planet appear as if it were draped in a grayish-glossy coat.

Immediately afterwards, gray clouds surged and swept down towards the ground, with countless Nanobots forming gray tornadoes, one end in the sky and the other on the ground.

Before long, Nanobots, which were originally like clouds, arrived on the ground, coating the entire planet with a grayish outer shell.

The exploration of mineral deposits on the planet was completed before Little Grey set out to mine, so after arriving at the planet's surface, Little Grey did not need to explore resource points again. She directly controlled swarms of Nanobots, which converged on the target point like a locust plague.

Little Grey's first real mining operation thus began.

The parts that make up her body, under the control of her Main Consciousness, began to excavate mines on the planet's surface, then decomposed various metallic materials located on the surface or buried deep underground, and transported them little by little to designated locations.

Just a few days later, metallic luster appeared at the designated location, and the engineers who had been observing the entire mining process knew that ore had been extracted.

Just like the Silver Mist that humans encountered years ago, Little Grey has mined out all the mineral deposits on the planet that exist as compounds, and sorted and piled them on the planet's surface. It is believed that soon, people will be able to see mountains of gold, Silver Mountain, Copper Mountain, and Iron Mountain. "I never thought that we would actually realize this kind of mining method!"

Looking at the gradually appearing mountains of metal, an engineer remarked that he was once a novice in Engineering Design, but now he is a pivotal figure in the field.

"Yes! Back then, we were even thinking that when we had the capability, we would go back to the Ross 154-4 Planet and take away those metals!" An expert in mineral resources also expressed his deep feelings, "The technology that we didn't even dare to dream of back then has actually been realized by us. It feels like a dream."

"If we had this technology back then, we wouldn't have been in such a mess because of the Silver Mist, and those warriors and personnel wouldn't have had to sacrifice themselves. In the end, our Human Civilization was too young back then, and we thought too highly of the universe."

Listening to the experts' reflections on mineral resources, the others watching Little Grey's mining operations remained silent.

In fact, seeing the scene of Little Grey mining brought back terrifying memories for most people who had experienced the Silver Mist Incident. The Sky-Covering Oppressive Feeling and the sense of helplessness are still fresh in their minds.

In the Command Center, seeing that everyone seemed lost in memories of Silver Mist, an engineer casually remarked, "I wonder how Silver Mist is doing now, whether she's still in that star system."

"What, you still want to take revenge on it?" A member of the younger generation glanced at him.

"Of course, my best friend sacrificed himself there. It's a pity that now that we have the ability to take revenge, we dare not return to that star system to search for him."

"There is a chance."

"Um!"

While everyone was talking, Little Grey, who had already mined several small mountains of minerals, sent a message: "Hey! Family, the resources are piling up like mountains. Don't just stare at them, send some transport ships to help transport them away!"

Her voice echoed throughout the engineering ships, and her image appeared as a projection, looking like a cute anime girl.

"It's moving! It's moving!" the Engineering Department staff replied.

As the message stated, when Little Grey sent back the communication, the resource management department's transport ships had already flown towards those metal mountains. After arriving near the metal mountains, engineering robots and various engineering equipment immediately emerged, loaded the supplies onto the ships, transported them to the Space Elevator, and sent them into space.

These resources will be transported to various related production workshops within the fleet, processed into a wide variety of products, and supplied to all aspects of the Great Fleet.

The human Great Fleet includes not only humans but also the largest number of people from the Crimson Flame Civilization. Moreover, since everyone's lifespan has been greatly increased, most people do not hibernate during interstellar travel, resulting in much greater resource consumption than before.

Basically, a resupply is required every time you travel from one star to the next. If you want to stop and explore Star System while crossing two stars in succession, you have to initiate a deep hibernation.

The fleet was enormous, with the total human population alone exceeding that of Earth Era, not to mention the other races. Therefore, although the human mining efficiency increased dozens of times, it still took about half a year to complete the resupply.

After resupplying, the human Great Fleet set sail again, this time targeting a single- Star System 21.7 light-years away. This was chosen primarily because most scientists believe that single -Star System are more likely to harbor civilizations.