Eight Liters of Fuel

Several Steam Trains billowed thick black smoke as they once again departed the Main Base, fully loaded with supplies and Armed Clones carrying large quantities of ammunition.

The monstrous birds around the Main Base had now been cleared out. At most, a few scattered lone birds occasionally gathered nearby, and they could be easily killed.

But once they traveled some distance away from the Main Base, the number of monstrous birds gradually increased, and fighting erupted once more.

The Steam Train windows opened, and more than a dozen guns extended from each carriage, firing fiercely into the distance.

Some Clones also climbed onto the train roofs and fired outward from above.

Others did not ride the trains at all, instead running alongside them. This made their fighting far more flexible; they had broader firing lines and could reposition more easily.

Under this three-pronged assault, however many monstrous birds gathered around the trains were killed.

After killing the birds, the Armed Clones tossed their guns into the carriages and casually grabbed wrenches, hammers, rails, and other materials to begin repairing the damaged railway.

The transition from soldiers to railway engineers was exceptionally smooth and natural, without the slightest hesitation.

The trains rumbled onward until they finally reached No. 1 Copper Mine.

As the bridgehead, No. 1 Copper Mine had always endured the fiercest attacks and suffered the heaviest casualties.

But it did not matter. Now that the gun-wielding Clones had arrived, victory had arrived as well!

Several hundred Clones leaped down like tigers and wolves, raised their guns, and unleashed a volley.

In just over twenty seconds, more than thirty thousand bullets were fired!

Li Qingsong's design philosophy for the firearm he had named Assault Type-1 was not to pursue accuracy, but only rate of fire. With a nearly inexhaustible supply of bullets, he would defeat the enemy through sheer volume.

Improving accuracy was not so easy. It required gradually increasing firearm machining precision, along with high-precision machine tools and high-performance materials.

Why make things so troublesome? With that effort, I might as well produce tens of thousands more bullets. When tens of thousands—or hundreds of thousands—of bullets pour down at once, what enemy could possibly survive?

Thus, the monstrous birds besieging No. 1 Copper Mine were instantly cut down in huge numbers.

The Cold Weapon Clones, who had just been fighting desperately, immediately breathed a sigh of relief and retreated, handing the front line over to their comrades who had come to reinforce them.

What had happened at the Main Base happened once again. Under the impact of endless bullets, the monstrous birds fell in great swathes until every last one was killed.

At the same time, the Clones who had taken the other trains to the other Mine Bases achieved similar results.

Moreover, guns and ammunition continued to pour out of the Main Base without interruption.

Thus, in less than five days, all the monstrous birds besieging their base network and Railway Line had been wiped out.

Not a single monstrous bird remained within a ten-kilometer radius!

At that moment, Li Qingsong finally relaxed.

"But this is not the time to truly let my guard down."

Li Qingsong thought to himself, Luoshen Star is far too large, while my base network occupies only this tiny area. I have no idea how many monstrous birds there are farther away. I still need to conduct large-scale reconnaissance to determine their movements and numbers.

At the same time, I can no longer neglect the development of weapons technology.

Even this small Luoshen Star has produced such strange creatures. Who knows how many dangers are hidden elsewhere?

After making his decision, Li Qingsong immediately redeployed a large number of Clones back to the Main Base.

With sufficient guns and ammunition, Li Qingsong left only four hundred Clones to defend each of the outlying Mine Bases.

Although their numbers had been drastically reduced, their overall combat strength was still several times greater than that of the previous two thousand Cold Weapon Clones.

Even the Main Base only needed one thousand Clones for defense. But to ensure nothing went wrong, Li Qingsong still transferred two thousand Clones there to patrol and stand guard day and night.

Together with the thousand Clones needed for the Railway Line, the total number of Clones Li Qingsong committed to defense dropped sharply from sixteen thousand to only seven thousand. The remaining nine thousand consciousness-link slots could finally be reclaimed.

It worked out perfectly. Over the past period, the Clones responsible for basic production at the Main Base had been worked half to death. He could send more manpower to reinforce them and let them rest for a while.

Thus, Li Qingsong began another large-scale redeployment of Clones.

Apart from the seven thousand Clones assigned to defense, Li Qingsong specially dispatched another thousand Clones for reconnaissance.

They formed teams of several people, each driving an Off-road Vehicle farther into the distance to search across Luoshen Star's desolate, lifeless land.

Of the remaining eight thousand consciousness-link slots, some were assigned to basic production, while Li Qingsong used the rest to begin another, even more important task.

The research and development of weapons and combat equipment!

At present, he only had the Assault Type-1, and his combat methods were too limited. He needed more combat equipment.

"Luoshen Star's environment differs from Earth's. For now, I can't build aircraft here.

"So I can only find a way to build combat weapons like Armored Vehicles and tanks first.

"These things are relatively simple; just pile on armor. It's just... the power source will be difficult to solve. My battery technology isn't good enough."

After thinking it over, Li Qingsong decided to use an Internal Combustion Engine as the power source.

There was no gasoline on Luoshen Star, but there was plenty of methane. Methane had a lower density than gasoline but a higher calorific value, so it was more or less comparable on average.

If gasoline could burn to power vehicles, methane could do the same.

Especially since Luoshen Star's gravity was low, its "fuel consumption" would naturally be low as well.

His technological level had not been sufficient to build Internal Combustion Engines before, but things were naturally different now.

The only difference from Earth was that vehicles on Earth did not need to carry oxygen, because it was present in the atmosphere. An Internal Combustion Engine on Luoshen Star would have to carry oxygen separately.

Taking all factors into account—differences in gravity, terrain, fuel, technology, and so on—Li Qingsong estimated that he could probably use an average of eight liters of methane plus oxygen to drive a three-ton vehicle for around one hundred kilometers.

"Eight liters per hundred kilometers. That'll do."

Having made up his mind, he immediately began research on an even larger scale.

Li Qingsong not only wanted to build more firearms, but also Armored Vehicles, tanks, and all kinds of artillery!

While simultaneously conducting weapons research, basic production, patrols and guard duty, reconnaissance, and numerous other tasks, Li Qingsong also had some monstrous bird carcasses brought back so he could thoroughly examine and analyze them in the Biological Laboratory.

Li Qingsong now possessed a certain foundation in Biotechnology.

After a round of examinations, he discovered something that shocked him.

"This monstrous bird's bodily fluids are this nutritious?!"