Battle

During experiments with various tactics, whenever Li Qingsong found one approach ineffective, he immediately abandoned it and tried another.

Thus, experience in Cold Weapon Team Combat was continuously generated and, through Li Qingsong's consciousness control, instantly synchronized to every clone, including those urgently taking trains to the copper mine base.

Although the remaining hundred thousand-plus clones were occupied with other work or resting, within just a few hours, they too had gained a great deal of cold-weapon combat experience.

The clones defending No. 1 Copper Mine Base swiftly formed the battle formation that had proven strongest through testing.

By then, the train carrying reinforcements from the Main Base had arrived. Large numbers of fully armed clones jumped from the train and joined the layered battle formations.

For a time, the defending force at No. 1 Copper Mine surged to 3,500!

And the formation was exceedingly dense.

The Core Facilities of No. 1 Copper Mine consisted of a mine pit, a complete set of Mining and Crushing Equipment, Ore Dressing Equipment, an auxiliary power plant, a dock, rest areas, and more. The total area covered was only several tens of thousands of square meters, and one side was bordered by a canyon that required no defense.

The total length of the defensive line was only a few hundred meters.

On a few hundred meters of front line, at most a thousand people could engage in battle at once. Li Qingsong kept the remaining Armed Clones as reserves.

Whenever a clone on the front line died, Li Qingsong's consciousness link would immediately transfer into a reserve clone, allowing it to fill the gap at once and ensuring the line always had sufficient troops.

As they waited in stern readiness, several hours slipped by quietly. With a faint tremor running through the ground, a mass of dark shadows appeared ahead beneath the searchlights.

Li Qingsong knew they were not shadows at all, but a flock of monstrous birds.

There were so many of them that they blanketed the ground.

Li Qingsong immediately withdrew the shares of consciousness links temporarily assigned to production at the Main Base, halted some less important production tasks, and connected a thousand shares of consciousness links to the Armed Clones on the front line.

Amid the silent roar of the flock, as though they had sensed an abundance of delicious food here, the monstrous birds charged in an instant. The Armed Clones stood ready, and the two sides collided at once.

In an instant, dozens of fully armed clones were sent flying outright. Some were seized by the monstrous birds midair and torn apart. Others fell into the flock, only to be trampled or bitten to death the next moment. Those who had not died got back up and threw themselves into the fighting without hesitation.

Countless long spears thrust and stabbed fiercely, countless long blades crashed down heavily, and countless shields were raised high, doing everything possible to block attacks from the monstrous birds for themselves or their comrades.

For a time, flesh and blood flew across the battlefield, and chaos reigned.

Li Qingsong focused with utmost intensity, controlling all one thousand front-line combatants without daring to relax in the slightest.

Under his control, the combat clones' coordination was near perfect. Every spear thrust, every slash of a long blade, every raised shield was so coordinated, so smooth and natural.

And whenever a front-line clone died, a fully armed clone from the reserves immediately rose and joined the front line without hesitation, continuing the battle.

Every deployment proceeded in perfect order, as though they had rehearsed it tens of millions of times. Not a single mistake was made.

Moreover, no matter which reserve clone was sent into the fray, it could instantly blend into the battlefield and fight in close coordination with the comrades around it.

But even so, the pressure of the battle remained immense.

There was no helping it. These monstrous birds were simply too large, and far stronger than human beings.

From time to time, some of the birds would briefly take flight. Though they fell back down after flying only a short distance, more like jumping than flying, they still caused Li Qingsong some trouble.

Whenever that happened, Li Qingsong had to assign more shares of consciousness links here and control more Armed Clones to join the battle before he could resolve the problem.

On average, even with the clones coordinating so seamlessly, even as combat experience and techniques continued to be generated in actual battle and instantly synchronized to all clones, Li Qingsong still had to pay the price of three clones' lives to kill one monstrous bird.

It's a shame I don't have time to build fortifications. I can't rely on fortifications to hold back these monsters. If I want to keep the base, I can only fight them in the open like this.

Li Qingsong thought to himself, But it doesn't matter. Watch the Explosives!

A clone charged out like a desperado, clutching a large bundle of Explosives, and hurled it directly as though it were a grenade.

Because gravity on Luoshen Star was so weak, the bundle flew more than a hundred meters before exploding with a thunderous boom.

In an instant, four or five monstrous birds were blown to pieces, their remains flung into the sky.

The ground trembled faintly. Amid one burst of flame after another, monstrous birds were blown apart one after another.

The number of clones continued to dwindle. But with the addition of Explosives and the constant reinforcement from the reserves, the defensive line finally held in a stalemate.

The battle at No. 1 Copper Mine was fierce. At the other Mining Bases, the clones stood in stern readiness, while at the Main Base, numerous steel factories and Metal Smelting Factories continued producing desperately at full capacity.

After several days of consolidation, Li Qingsong's production rate for complete cold-weapon sets rose again, reaching an average of 3,000 sets per day.

In the collective dormitories, large numbers of clones rose under Li Qingsong's control, left the dormitory buildings in high spirits, went to the Equipment Depot to collect full sets of equipment, and then rushed toward the front line.

The Equipment Depot did not have much equipment in storage, maintaining only around two hundred sets.

At the current rate of consumption, those two hundred sets seemed likely to run out very quickly.

But that did not happen. The reason was simple: with dozens of factories producing at full capacity, a steady stream of combat equipment was being replenished here.

For every set of equipment a clone took away, a new set was delivered to replace it.

Clones continuously took equipment away on one side, while newly produced equipment was continuously delivered on the other. Between the outflow and inflow, the inventory remained between 150 and 200 sets, neither more nor less.

The clones who received their equipment then boarded the trains in an orderly yet rapid manner, heading at top speed for the next base about to come under attack from a flock of monstrous birds.

After arriving, they would sit there and rest for the time being. At the same time, Li Qingsong's consciousness links would instantly disconnect and withdraw to the Main Base, where he would once again control a continuous stream of Armed Clones to set out and reinforce the defenses of the other bases.