Alien Construction Site

Former University of Science and Technology, Dean's Office.

The entire room was shrouded in darkness. Lights of various colors drifted across the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows like a giant screen in a dark cinema.

All the floor-to-ceiling windows were divided into three scenes from left to right.

On the far left was a lunar mine. The illuminated industrial zone on the lunar surface still looked somewhat crude. Long lines of cargo trucks came and went, and the cargo containers on the different trucks were all different colors. Most of the containers being hauled away were golden, and they were packed full of Moon Gold Coins.

Over the past few months, thirty-six lunar mines like this had been established, while another twelve were under construction. The supporting smelters, logistics centers, laboratories, and residential areas numbered more than a hundred.

More than thirty thousand Teacher Bais were already working on the lunar surface, along with another five thousand human astronauts stationed there. Of those, a thousand students had been sent up by the Interstellar Exploration Academy alone. The place was truly thriving.

The middle scene was a sea of orange-red. It was unmistakably the rugged, rubble-strewn surface of Mars. Endless yellow clouds dimmed the daylight, making it resemble the Gobi Desert, only ten times more desolate.

Dozens of probes of various models were moving through a red valley. Some resembled traditional old-fashioned Mars rovers, but their solar panels had been expanded fivefold, allowing them to greedily absorb sunlight.

Others looked like gigantic metal spiders. They were more agile than blue sheep, scrambling up and down steep cliffs to hammer at rocks and collect samples. There was even a small cargo worker with two long, wheeled legs, while excavation probes that could not be seen in the scene were tirelessly digging in deep wells in the distance.

All of these were probes Song He had paid to build. After enduring a long flight to Mars, they were beginning to establish a Martian base while surveying the area and collecting data in all directions.

More than a thousand probes had already reached Mars and Venus, another thousand were on the way, and yet another thousand were being built.

The number of probes that had landed on Mars and Venus was already unprecedentedly large. Throughout human history, exploration of Venus and Mars had always been underfunded and scattered. Every few years, humanity would rouse itself and send three or five probes up, then lapse into listlessness for the rest of the time. Never before had they been dispatched in such massive groups.

But these were only appetizers, scouts sent ahead. Once they had collected preliminary data, larger and more advanced probes would swarm in behind them. Song He had already set aside two trillion for Venus and Mars exploration, and even more huge sums would certainly be added later.

The scene on the far right had returned to a stark black-and-white palette. The black was the profound night sky, while the white was the construction site of a space city.

Two large construction sites could be seen in the scene. The nearer one was the new Space City, where thousands of Teacher Bais floated back and forth. Like bees building a nest, they worked in orderly chaos, gradually assembling the space city's street modules.

In the corner of the scene, another Space City could be seen in the distance. At its edge, a huge space battleship had already begun to take shape. Its main framework and outer shell were visible. It was the Moon Battleship, which was being built at full speed. Constructing the Moon Battleship was even more difficult than building a space city, and more than ten thousand Teacher Bais were busy at the site.

The entire Dean's Office overlooked the lunar mine on the left, the Martian construction site in the middle, and the Space City and Moon Battleship construction sites on the right. The colossal space projects continued day and night, creating a breathtaking beauty.

Song He sat at his desk, head lowered as he dealt with school documents and company reports one after another.

Whenever he grew tired from working, he would raise his head and look at the alien construction sites on the floor-to-ceiling windows. It was deeply relaxing and filled him with peace of mind. For the past few months, he had been living this busy yet satisfying life.

The office door suddenly opened. Xiang Xiaotong jogged back in, her neck covered in sweat.

"Did you see it?" Xiang Xiaotong waved the phone in her hand.

"See what?" Song He turned to glance at the phone screen resting to the side. "There's nothing there?"