A Good Place

Amid his nonstop studies, Li Qingsong controlled the clones and used the metalworking equipment to produce a rudimentary set of glassmaking equipment.

This equipment could not be used in a vacuum. It required sufficient atmospheric pressure. To that end, Li Qingsong had to find another small cave and seal its entrance with film, creating an environment suitable for the equipment's operation.

It consisted mainly of several components. First was the raw material processing tank.

There was also plenty of Silicon Dioxide on Luoshen Star, and it was fairly pure, ready for direct use. Thus, inside the raw material processing tank, the Silicon Dioxide was mixed with Sodium Oxide, Limestone, and other materials.

Afterward, they were sent into a furnace and electrically heated to over 1,500 Celsius. At that point, they melted completely.

Next, the clone responsible for blowing would use a long blowpipe to gather a little molten glass, then blow it into a mold, forming a glass tube.

Once it cooled, it could be put to use.

Naturally, Li Qingsong was using an extremely simplified manufacturing method at the moment. The glass tubes made this way had poor transparency, many burrs, and broke easily, among countless other flaws.

But none of those flaws could compare to one greatest advantage.

It could be made at the current stage. That was the greatest advantage!

Besides the seventeen clones responsible for agricultural production and holding down the fort, Li Qingsong assigned two of the remaining ten clones specifically to blow glass tubes.

Of the remaining eight, two drove Planetary Rovers and began searching for Mercury and Argon according to the earlier survey guidance.

These two elements were indispensable for fluorescent lamps.

Of the remaining six clones, three stayed on Luoshen Star's surface, operating the blast furnace and metalworking equipment to produce the Tungsten Filaments, metal sheets, and other materials needed for fluorescent lamps. The last three took those products back aboard the Deep Space spacecraft and used the ship's laboratory to manually make starters and similar devices.

All twenty-seven bodies were busy once more, without a single one idle.

By the time the clones found and brought back the colorless Argon ore, likewise frozen solid, and the silvery-white Solid Mercury, the first batch of glass tubes, starters, ballasts, and other components had already been completed.

Li Qingsong controlled one clone and began the final assembly work.

At this primitive technological stage, the most difficult step should have been creating a vacuum.

After all, a fluorescent tube needed to be evacuated first, then filled with Argon.

But this step posed no problem at all for Li Qingsong.

The reason was simple. Luoshen Star's surface was vacuum everywhere, so there was no need to pump anything out.

Thus, tiny components and wiring were installed inside the glass tube.

After making a fluorescent lamp, Li Qingsong carefully connected it to a power source.

The next moment, bright light burst from the tube, making that clone involuntarily squint.

"Not bad, not bad."

Li Qingsong was quite satisfied.

Now that he had confirmed they could manufacture fluorescent lamps, the greatest obstacle to building Planting Base Two had been removed.

So, of these ten clones, five were dedicated to manufacturing fluorescent lamps, while the other five operated various machines and began producing Planting Shelves.

These Planting Shelves looked like bookcases, except both sides were open.

Each Planting Shelf was about one meter deep, two meters tall, and three to four meters wide.

Its interior was divided into two to four tiers depending on its purpose.

The two-tiered ones could grow taller crops, such as wheat and rapeseed. The four-tiered ones could only grow shorter crops, such as lettuce and sweet potatoes.

There were also ones with no tiers, which were used for growing corn.

Li Qingsong made some of every kind of Planting Shelf.

This time, building a Planting Base was not simply about growing a few crops. Li Qingsong planned to grow a little of everything useful. Even if they could not eat it all, it could still be used for industrial purposes.

Time slowly passed. In the blink of an eye, several more months went by, and five more clones joined Li Qingsong's ranks, bringing the total to thirty-two.

With the sole tractor working more than ten hours a day to transport fuel and ore, with thirty-two clones laboring nonstop, with the blast furnace smelting day and night and the metalworking equipment roaring without rest, all the equipment needed for Planting Base Two was finally complete.

Even the larger generator prepared for Base Two had been built.

At last, it was time for the actual construction.

Fifteen clones, full of vigor and high spirits, dressed in shoddy, tattered Spacesuits covered in tape, arrived at the huge cave that had been surveyed beforehand, with a total internal area of 11,000 square meters.

Such a massive cave with no supports in the middle could probably only form on Luoshen Star, where gravity was extremely low.

If it had been on Earth, it would likely have collapsed long ago.

Though the cave was enormous, its entrance was not large, only around a dozen square meters in total.

The fifteen clones worked together. After moving in the supplies, they directly used specially manufactured steel plates as a door and sealed the entrance shut. At the same time, they left an entryway and an Airlock beneath the door to allow the clones to come and go.

The cave's interior was sealed by rock, while its entrance was sealed by an iron door. Thus, its interior was isolated from the outside.

The fifteen clones worked together again. Using long metal hoses as Floor Heating Pipes, they covered the entire cave in just a few hours.

As the Steam Generator roared, surging heat was transmitted into the pipes and began warming the ground.

Large quantities of frozen matter began vaporizing directly, then rose into the air.

Under normal circumstances, they should have naturally flowed toward areas of lower pressure. But with the exit blocked by the iron door, they could only accumulate inside the cave.

Carrying a certain amount of heat, they caused the frozen matter on the rock walls and cave ceiling to melt and turn into gas as well, causing the pressure inside the cave to rise higher and higher.

When the pressure rose to the equivalent of one atmosphere, a clone opened the gas outlet.

The miscellaneous gases came pouring out like a long sword thrusting forth.

After surging several meters outward, they cooled and turned into snowflakes that drifted down.

Once the internal pressure dropped, the vent was sealed, and the interior was heated again.

This process was repeated several times until all the chaotic gases inside had finally been expelled. Only then did Li Qingsong control the clones to place relatively pure Solid Oxygen, Solid Nitrogen, gases such as Carbon Dioxide in certain proportions, and Water Ice inside the cave.

After they had all melted and turned into gases that filled the entire cave, Li Qingsong controlled one clone and entered Base Two.

Taking off the Spacesuit, breathing the slightly moist air, and looking at the vast, empty cave, Li Qingsong murmured to himself, "What a good place."