Two hours later, under the destruction wrought by the Solar Ship's mechanical cranes and the iron crows, building after building collapsed into the dust.
The dog-headed people pushed carts back and forth between the ruins and the worksite.
The Snake People crushed the bricks and stones that had been brought in, fed them onto the assembly line, then extracted the alloys and Source Matter that had been fused into them long ago in the furnaces.
Massive steel frameworks were hauled out of the ruins by cranes, dismantled and modified, then sent into the workshops.
There were even more instruments and equipment.
Everything that could be used was taken away. Everything that could not be used was dismantled. Some essential parts were kept as spares, while the rest went back into the furnace to be recast.
Once again, the Solar Ship was clad in brand-new iron gleam...
From beginning to end, Anton sat before the entrance to the base, watching in silence.
Witnessing it all.
After they left, he returned to his workshop and began to work.
As though he had already spent an entire lifetime resting, he worked without sleep or pause, day and night, producing and modifying things with astonishing efficiency.
Huai Shi turned a blind eye to it.
Other than occasionally checking Anton's vital monitors and ensuring he got the necessary sleep, he did not interfere.
There was no need for meaningless concern or obstruction.
Everyone here had staked everything—not merely for themselves and the future, but also for the inheritance and weight handed down from the past.
So the work continued.
The mission continued as well.
The Solar Ship rumbled onward through Hell.
.
The farther they went, the stranger the whole world became.
Thick fog shrouded everything.
They did not see another living creature, as though