Troubles (Third Update—Please Keep Reading!)

Although he had resolved to tackle the problem, it was obvious that it could not be accomplished in a short time.

Li Qingsong could only be patient, accumulating bit by bit and researching bit by bit.

Although the number of clones he could control had reached its limit, Li Qingsong still had not stopped cultivating new clones.

At present, Li Qingsong had arranged for them to work sixteen consecutive hours a day, including trips to the bathroom, meals, and brief breaks. The remaining eight hours were for sleep.

And while they slept, they did not need Li Qingsong's control.

Li Qingsong divided the 21,000 clones into three shifts. At any given time each day, only 14,000 clones would be working, while 7,000 would always be sleeping in the Collective Dormitory Building.

To Li Qingsong, those 7,000 control slots were a waste—something intolerable.

To fill those 7,000 vacant control slots, and because the clones filling them also needed sleep and thus could not work for eight hours each day, requiring replacements as well, Li Qingsong planned to cultivate another 14,000 clones.

This way, although some clones would not be working to their limits, he could ensure that 21,000 clones were working at every moment.

The freed-up work hours could be distributed among the other clones, giving each clone a little more rest. This would raise their fault tolerance, reduce scheduling difficulties, and slow the aging of their bodies.

Thus, Li Qingsong would command a total of 35,000 clones.

Several years later, this goal was successfully achieved.

The Luoshen Star Base had now truly flourished.

Several newly built large Collective Dormitory Buildings contained more than ten thousand beds in total, all filled to capacity every day.

Dozens of large planting, livestock, aquaculture, mushroom, and fruit cultivation bases produced massive amounts of food every day. It was transported by train to the Central Kitchen, where several hundred clones serving as cooks processed it into prepared meals, then distributed it once more among every factory, cafeteria, and base for delivery into the hands of every clone.

Hundreds of different factories roared day and night, producing at full steam. Under Li Qingsong's unified planning, they were organically integrated, with no possibility of one type of production capacity being excessive while another was insufficient.

At every moment, large numbers of clones woke up, briskly left their dormitories, put on their equipment, and headed for different posts according to Li Qingsong's overall plan.

At every moment, large numbers of clones also finished their day's work, took various means of transportation back to the Collective Dormitory Buildings, and fell asleep without the slightest delay.

Under Li Qingsong's unified control, every one of these clones was "versatile."

Every clone had mastered every skill needed by the base.

A clone might have been cooking food in the kitchen yesterday, driving a train today, operating machinery in a foundry tomorrow, harvesting wheat at the Planting Base the day after that, and then heading to the Chemical Laboratory or Metal Laboratory the next day to conduct experiments, observe material properties, optimize mechanical structures, and advance overall technological progress.

What work each clone did after waking up each day depended entirely on Li Qingsong's plans for the day and the needs of the base.

Under these circumstances, the work efficiency of the entire base and its tens of thousands of clones was pushed almost to the limit.

Li Qingsong's overall technological level continued to improve—slowly, but steadily.

At this point, even after optimizing the shift schedule, the number of clones Li Qingsong could control had reached its limit.

If he cultivated any more clones, they truly would have nothing to do and could only lie in bed all day like vegetables.

Yet Li Qingsong still did not stop cultivation.

The number of clones continued to increase at a rate of 4,000 per year. By now, the total number of clones under Li Qingsong's command had even surpassed 100,000, reaching 101,600.

Yet at the same time, the number of clones Li Qingsong controlled and put to work remained only 21,000.

"If I can't control them for now, then I'll keep them in reserve. Maybe I'll achieve a breakthrough in biotechnology someday, my control capacity will suddenly soar, and I can put these clones directly to use then instead of having to cultivate them slowly."

Li Qingsong thought this to himself.

But simply having these clones lie in bed every day would not do either.

If they lay there too long, they would not only develop bedsores and all kinds of illnesses, but their muscles would also atrophy.

With no other choice, Li Qingsong could only drastically reduce the working hours of each individual clone and rotate control among them as much as possible, allowing every clone to work for a while each day as a form of exercise.

Under these circumstances, each clone's work hours fell to an unprecedented low of less than six hours per day. As the number of clones continued to increase, this was further reduced to only four hours.

The rest of the time, they were either sleeping or lying blankly in bed.

This instead placed enormous pressure on logistics.

Even if they lay still, they still needed to eat, drink, breathe, and use the bathroom.

With no other choice, Li Qingsong built several more massive agricultural bases, directly raising quarterly wheat production to 14,000 tons before finally meeting current demand.

"The number of clones has already risen to 150,000... There can't be any more.

If there are, then the 21,000 clones I can control might as well stop doing everything else and just go raise pigs and farm at the agricultural bases."

Li Qingsong reluctantly shut down the Clone Factory.

Glancing at the newly built Collective Dormitory Buildings, Li Qingsong sighed.

Each such Collective Dormitory Building had ten floors, with one hundred rooms on each floor. Every room contained five triple-tier bunk beds and could sleep fifteen people.

That was 1,500 people per floor and 15,000 people per building.

Li Qingsong had built nine of them, yet they were still all packed to capacity.

"I never thought there would come a day when I'd be troubled by having too many clones. This really is..."

Looking toward the Biological Laboratory, Li Qingsong felt even more irritated.

A breakthrough in biotechnology was still nowhere in sight.

There was no helping it. Without improving the overall technological level, developing biotechnology alone would yield half the results for twice the effort.

Just as Li Qingsong planned to obediently return to developing fundamental technology, a clone at the No. 45 Iron Mine Base connected to his mind suddenly lost contact.

"What's going on?"

Li Qingsong immediately controlled a nearby clone to raise its head and observe the situation there.

The next moment, Li Qingsong sucked in a sharp breath.

"What the hell is that..."

The third update is complete. Please keep reading!!!!!!