Star on the Ground

To carry out this ten-year plan, the first thing Li Qingsong changed was the current power supply model.

Under the existing model, whenever electricity was needed somewhere and the supply was insufficient, a dedicated generator was built to power it.

But this model was highly inefficient, difficult to coordinate, and wasteful.

So Li Qingsong reformed it from the ground up.

He produced some electrical cables and connected every power-consuming unit to every power supply unit.

Thus, a rudimentary initial version of an "electric grid" took shape.

From then on, generators only needed to supply power to the grid, while blast furnaces, factories, and planting bases only needed to draw power from it.

Li Qingsong only needed to monitor the grid voltage and raise or lower the generators' output according to its fluctuations.

Another advantage was that it could be expanded with great convenience. New generators could be connected at any time, as could new power-consuming equipment, leaving room for future expansion.

He relocated all three existing generators to the Energy Industrial Zone. From then on, the tractor only needed to transport oxygen ore and tholin ore there, instead of running back and forth everywhere.

That blast furnace was moved to the Metallurgical Industrial Zone. In the future, more blast furnaces would be built there, capable of smelting more types of minerals.

Minerals no longer needed to be transported separately either. They only needed to be delivered to the Metallurgical Industrial Zone.

The same went for the Metal Processing Industry. All those machines were gathered together, and the metals produced by the Metallurgical Industrial Zone could likewise be transported there in bulk.

There was also the Chemical Industrial Zone, though it was still completely empty at the moment.

And the Glass Products Industrial Zone, which had only just begun to take shape, among others.

Building this framework took Li Qingsong more than a month.

As he looked at these industrial facilities, still rudimentary and still few in number, Li Qingsong nevertheless felt entirely different from before.

Because he knew that all he needed to do next was keep filling out this "skeleton." As long as he kept adding to it, it would eventually become full and robust, allowing quantitative changes to produce a qualitative transformation.

Over the following year, Li Qingsong built a second and third tractor, produced a larger model of generator, and extended his reach beyond the valley for the first time.

At the nearest open-pit iron mine, Li Qingsong stationed someone there for the first time, keeping them permanently at the site to collect ore and load it into detachable truck beds.

When a tractor arrived, it only needed to drop off an empty bed and haul away the full one.

That year, the population under his command also rose to 47.

In the second year, the number of metal processing plants under Li Qingsong's command increased to sixteen. They could produce more types of parts, with greater precision.

At the same time, the first Chemical Factory came into being. There, Li Qingsong began preparing some basic chemical raw materials, such as the Three Acids and Two Alkalis.

Of course, the equipment was rudimentary at first, output was low, and most of the work relied on manual labor.

But that was fine. He could improve it bit by bit later.

The third year, the fourth year, the fifth year...

By the beginning of the sixth year, the population under Li Qingsong's command had risen to 87, and Planting Base No. 2 became capable of operating at full capacity for the first time.

Of course, he would not do that at this stage.

What was the point of producing so much food when they could not finish it? Better to put the population into industrial development.

In the seventh year, the first death occurred.

A clone developed radiation sickness. After treatment proved ineffective, Li Qingsong destroyed it. For the first time, the population under his command declined, dropping from 97 to 96.

That same year, another clone encountered a metallurgical furnace malfunction and died unfortunately, reducing the population by one more.

After that, the first fully enclosed steel-structured factory building appeared.

This factory was used to produce certain chemicals. With those chemicals, Li Qingsong was finally able to produce some special grades of steel.

Time gradually passed amid the clones' constant labor.

Slowly, more and more steel structures appeared throughout the valley, and the cables grew ever longer.

Nor were those cables exposed to the open air anymore. They had received the necessary insulation treatment, greatly reducing the chances of accidents.

The Metallurgical Industrial Zone had also expanded from its original single blast furnace to more than twenty. Besides smelting iron and steel, it had gained the ability to smelt other commonly used metals.

The number of tractors increased to sixteen, and their designs became more rational, their assembly more precise, and their performance more powerful.

The original generators had all been retired and replaced by twenty more efficient Thermal Power Generator Units, with a total installed capacity of forty thousand kilowatts.

Even the feeding process had become somewhat mechanized, making it far more convenient than before. These twenty generators now required only five people to look after them.

Time slipped quietly by.

On this day, aboard the Deep Space spacecraft, Li Qingsong's original body stood before the viewport, gazing silently for a long time in the direction of that shining star in the distance.

That was the Sun.

Earth was in that direction as well.

Today, the ten-year deadline he had set for himself had passed. It had also been roughly fourteen years since he had lost contact with Earth.

Throughout those fourteen years, he had never received a second message from Earth.

Limited by his observation capabilities, he had never learned what had happened on that distant planet.

"Perhaps they really are gone."

Li Qingsong thought silently, a trace of sadness rising in his heart.

But he quickly tossed that feeling to the back of his mind.

He turned and looked at the enormous dark-red planet below him.

On its surface was a shining point of light utterly unlike anywhere else, as though a star had appeared upon the ground.

His heart was once again filled with passion and anticipation.

Because he knew that point of light was the result of ten years of tireless work by himself and a total of 135 clones.

With a thought, the vision of the clones on the surface appeared in his mind.

He saw tractor after tractor roaring across the land. He saw load after load of oxygen ore, tholin ore, iron ore, copper ore, and aluminum ore being transported in. He saw blast furnace after blast furnace spewing black smoke, and generator after generator running through the night.

His industrial scale was still very small overall. Even taken altogether, it was not yet comparable to a small factory from Earth's era.

As for its Technological Level, it was nowhere close.

Even now, he had not achieved even the slightest degree of automation.

But that was all right. The overall framework had already been established, and all kinds of industrial foundations were already in place.

At least, they were complete for the current Technological Level.

All that remained for the future was continuous upgrading, renovation, and refinement.

The achievements of these ten years filled Li Qingsong with heartfelt joy.

But something else made him even happier.

He finally had the ability to produce Clone Nutrient Solution!