Discrete Integrated Circuits

After the threat of the monstrous birds had been completely eliminated, the base zone centered around the Main Base once again became a bustling construction site.

The damaged Mining Base was restored and reorganized, residential buildings were rebuilt, and the damaged Mining Equipment was repaired and upgraded, roaring once more as it extracted vast quantities of minerals.

Heavy-Load Trains once again sped along the previously devastated Railway Lines, carrying thousands of tons of minerals that converged upon the Main Base like rivers flowing into the sea.

At this time, the Deep Space spaceship, which Li Qingsong had previously controlled and sent into deep space for refuge, returned once more and docked in orbit around Luoshen Star.

Several clones immediately carried samples of the monstrous birds aboard a Landing Spaceship and entered the Deep Space spaceship to conduct genetic analysis on them.

Before long, the genetic profile of the monstrous birds appeared before Li Qingsong.

Li Qingsong was stunned.

"What's going on? This monster's genome is actually 50% genetically similar to mine—to humans'?"

This was enough to shatter his worldview.

Although Li Qingsong knew that even a banana shared as much as 40% to 60% genetic similarity with humans, the situation before him still shocked him.

After all, humans and bananas were both lifeforms from Earth, shaped through countless years of evolution from the same species. In other words, humans and bananas shared a common "ancestor." But these monstrous birds also shared a common ancestor with humans?

Had they once been lifeforms from Earth as well?

After careful research, relying on the still-incomplete genetic analysis technology available to him, Li Qingsong reached a relatively rough conclusion.

According to the genetic analysis, these monstrous birds had indeed once been an Earth species. Before humanity had inexplicably lost contact with him, the extant Earth lifeform most closely related to these birds was likely a microorganism—the Water Bear.

Li Qingsong had once read records stating that some researchers had found microbial life in Earth's upper atmosphere, from dozens to hundreds of kilometers above the surface.

Then... in Earth's early days, perhaps some extraordinarily resilient species living in the upper atmosphere had left Earth and entered space through various unusual mechanisms—such as close asteroid flybys or the effects of the solar wind.

Then, after billions of years of evolution, they had ultimately adapted to the space environment and evolved into their current form.

They had adapted to darkness and cold, and instead became unsuited to environments closer to the Sun, where temperatures were higher and the solar wind and radiation more intense. So they remained in the vast depths of space far from the Sun, constantly migrating and reproducing, surviving in this way.

"No wonder their bodily fluids are so rich in nutrients that human embryos can absorb... So we shared the same ancient ancestor billions of years ago."

Li Qingsong was filled with emotion.

At this moment, the wonder of life was vividly displayed before him.

"If one tiny Earth can nurture such wondrous life, then how many even more wondrous forms of life must exist in this vast universe?"

Gazing into space, Li Qingsong's heart was full of anticipation.

After resolving humanity's disappearance, now that he possessed his current capabilities, he certainly would not be satisfied with the tiny Solar System.

Entering the cosmic starscape was the path he would walk in the future.

After indulging in those thoughts for a moment, Li Qingsong drew his mind back.

Even a towering building had to begin with its foundation.

At this stage, he first had to restore his production capacity to its previous level before he could speak of further development.

More than sixty thousand clones worked busily for over a month. All facilities damaged by the war were completely repaired, and production fully resumed.

The site for the giant Clone Cultivation Factory Cluster had also been planned and leveled in preparation.

However, Li Qingsong did not immediately throw all idle construction manpower into it. Instead, he began working on something else.

Developing chips!

Li Qingsong had now reached a considerable industrial level. He could independently manufacture Internal Combustion Engines, all kinds of vehicles, and artillery; build various factories; construct railway and power grids; and had attained a respectable level of chemical technology. Yet he deeply felt that his current method of controlling clones to carry out various tasks still made inefficient use of labor.

Take the Planting Base, for example. The clones working there had to manually mix Nutrient Solution every day, manually add, dilute, and recycle it, manually process organic matter, and even harvest wheat by hand.

They also had to manually give the pigs water and medicine every day, and manually mix their feed.

Not to mention the various factories and Mining Bases.

Everything was done manually!

But such tedious, fragmented, repetitive labor was an enormous waste of the clones' physical and mental energy. Not only was it wasteful, but it was inefficient as well.

The solution was simple: automation.

Once automation was in place, at least 70% of repetitive labor could be handed over to automated systems.

That way, without increasing the number of clones by even one, Li Qingsong's productivity could increase severalfold out of thin air.

Especially when facing a construction task as colossal as the giant Clone Cultivation Factory Cluster, with a total area on the scale of ten square kilometers, relying solely on manual labor without automation would probably take more than ten years to complete.

But with automation on a certain scale, the production efficiency of all kinds of building materials would greatly increase, as would construction speed. It might even be completed in a single year.

But automation required chip technology first.

"Chip technology is the foundation of nearly all future technology. Then I'll conquer chip technology first!"

Li Qingsong made up his mind.

He directly reassigned ten thousand clones to swiftly build an enormous laboratory. Based on his prior knowledge reserves and the knowledge he had learned from the database, he custom-manufactured various pieces of equipment, prepared all kinds of materials, and immediately began the experiments.

Since he had only just begun attempting to manufacture chips himself, directly producing relatively sophisticated planar integrated circuits was clearly not feasible.

However, with sufficient theoretical knowledge and a certain degree of technical accumulation, he did not need to start from the very basics step by step like chip development had throughout history.

After weighing all factors, Li Qingsong settled on the goal he wanted to achieve.

Discrete Integrated Circuits!

So-called discrete circuits meant first manufacturing separate components such as resistors, capacitors, and Transistors, then installing them one by one onto circuit boards and connecting them with thin wires to achieve their functions.

By a rough comparison, integrated circuits of this level would correspond to modern chips with a process node of approximately the millimeter scale.

One millimeter equaled one thousand micrometers, or one million nanometers. Human Civilization had long since been capable of manufacturing chips with a 2 Nanometer process! Modern technology had even developed Quantum Chips beyond the scope of silicon-based technology!

Millimeter-scale chips were so outdated they were almost embarrassing to look at.

But for automation upgrades that were only just beginning, millimeter-scale chips were enough.