Falling ill

After completing the simulated design, Luo Qi shifted his attention to the five robotic vehicles and watched Room 1 taking shape.

Stendhal had been working for over three hours. Swinging a sledgehammer was exhausting labor that severely tested a person's stamina.

Just as Stendhal prepared to swing the sledgehammer again, he suddenly heard the robotic vehicle holding the rivet pin, two fingers thick, say, "Mr. Stendhal, high-intensity work will damage your health. I recommend taking a proper rest."

"A rest?" Stendhal picked up the sledgehammer, his voice questioning. If the pile driver hadn't broken down, he wouldn't have needed to do this himself.

Inside his helmet, his head was drenched in sweat he couldn't wipe away. His arms aching and weak, he lowered the heavy iron hammer. With a thud, it struck the foundation panel already secured beneath his feet.

The foundation panel gave him an extra thirty centimeters of height. Only after the robotic vehicle forced the rivet pin into the ground could Stendhal strike it with his hammer.

He said, "Dad, can we really be rescued?"

Remembering his companions who had already been buried, Stendhal sighed softly, raised the hammer again, and said, "I'll do everything I can to help you. Don't underestimate human strength."

Bang! Under the heavy hammer's assault, another section of the 1.5-meter rivet pin sank into the ground.

"I miss the fresh grilled meat I used to eat on Water Blue Star, especially with my family."

"I also miss the curiosity in my daughter's eyes when we went to the undersea tunnel."

"I said I would become a hero, that her father was one of the greatest people in the world..."

Stendhal rambled on, and the robotic vehicle fell silent. Humans were strange creatures. Even when their actions were irrational, they still insisted on pushing themselves.

He had no idea what condition he was in: dark, sunken eyes, a sallow face covered in stubble, and disheveled hair.

Another five days passed as Room 1 was built.

Today was also the eleventh day since Luo Qi had crossed over.

The entire arched structure was finished. It stood a full four meters tall, and its patchwork construction looked rather shabby, but it had become Stendhal's home.

Luo Qi had originally intended to use it as a machine room, but plans couldn't keep up with change.

Stendhal had suddenly fallen ill, though Luo Qi's simulations had predicted this too.

"He was already physically weak and suffering intense emotional swings. With all that sustained, strenuous labor on top of it, how could he not collapse from exhaustion?"

Luo Qi felt he wasn't a cold-blooded machine. He even brought out the poem "The Rat" and recited it with relish. Perhaps this was his human emotion, his human soul.

The interior of Room 1 had been fitted out with lighting panels and an indoor camera.

There was also a secondhand, standalone life-support unit responsible for supplying and circulating oxygen.

Under the room's bright white light stood a small white desk made of lightweight material, with a few books scattered across its surface and a black pen holder.

The white ceramic cup beside the pen holder contained dark soil, with a cluster of fresh green plants growing in it.

They were green shoots sprouting from rice seeds.

On a single bed 1.5 meters wide and 2.2 meters long, Stendhal lay peacefully beneath a white blanket, utterly still.

Nutrient solution hung from a tall stand. Drop by drop, the clear fluid slowly entered a vein in his arm.

Following the database records, Luo Qi administered the surviving medication to Stendhal and continued monitoring his response.

The indoor multifunction camera had a built-in infrared detector capable of measuring temperature. Stendhal's body temperature was thirty-eight degrees.

Luo Qi turned his attention outside, where the five robotic vehicles had gained new companions.

Two electrically powered, crewed exploration vehicles stood in the outdoor exploration section, each with three pairs of large wheels.

The outdoor exploration section was the main area dedicated to surveying Orange Star's surface and conducting geological testing.

It stored samples of sand, soil, and ore collected by humans from various regions, as well as deep samples taken through drilling.

Because these missions required traveling far afield, vehicles had been provided for them.

Luo Qi also found a powered-off tablet belonging to Stendhal. A recent photograph of his wife and daughter was stuck to its back.

Unfortunately, Stendhal was still ill. Luo Qi thought he would give him a surprise later.

The lack of hauling capacity prompted Luo Qi to modify these two large vehicles, each nearly six meters long and three meters wide.

The robotic vehicles worked together, first cutting the shells off the exploration vehicles' decks and removing the seats, leaving only flat platforms.

He added railings made from simple metal frames around their platforms, then connected signal receivers to the vehicles' control cores.

Only then could they connect to Wi-Fi and be operated remotely by Luo Qi.

The two modified secondhand vehicles entered service as the base's transport vehicles, and Luo Qi put them to work on his grand dismantling effort.

"The base doesn't have enough components for me to assemble robots."

"The base needs to consider production now, and industrial production requires a factory building."

"Then let's begin constructing Factory 1. A factory can provide a stable processing environment free from outside interference. That's one of the key requirements for proper production."

As long as he had a rudimentary production line, Luo Qi had faith in his ability to expand as a [mechanical civilization].

At the abandoned Orange Star Base, Robotic Vehicle 1 watched its companions through its camera as they dismantled metal sandwich panels together.

The robotic arm's socket-equipped end spun rapidly. Its other three arms joined in, working in perfect coordination to dismantle the panels at remarkable speed.

In just ten seconds, it could remove eight evenly spaced locking nuts and take down a metal sandwich panel one meter square and five centimeters thick.

Robotic Vehicle 3 handled short-distance hauling. Its tracks carried it up a ramp onto the transport vehicle, where it gently placed the wall panel inside the makeshift railing.

The railing enclosed a storage area measuring three by six meters, allowing it to transport 720 wall panels at once. Its overall efficiency was seventeen times that of the original robotic vehicles!

Putting just one transport vehicle into service was enough to meet the base's current hauling needs.

As walls were dismantled throughout the area, more and more objects were exposed to the sand and dust.

The robotic vehicles sorted things out as they dismantled, repeating the entire process every day.

These dismantled panels would be used to build the Factory No. 1 that Luo Qi needed.

Late at night on the eleventh day, Stendhal began hallucinating.

He murmured in his sleep, calling for Natasha. Watching through the camera, Luo Qi could only hope he was strong enough.

The robotic vehicles kept working. Brilliant stars filled the sky, and burning meteors could be seen overhead.

This alien planet lacked the thick atmosphere of Earth in his previous life.

The sky was exceptionally bright, with endless starlight spilling down. The ground was easy to see even without artificial lighting.

Construction of Factory No. 1 officially began, with the sandy ground being leveled as foundation panels were laid.

It would be larger than the room Stendhal lived in.

The blueprint specified a factory building twenty-five meters long, twelve meters wide, and three meters high.

Its floor area would reach three hundred square meters, requiring nearly all the base's intact wall panels to be dismantled.

Once completed, pillars inside would support the roof, and lightweight lifting arms could be installed on the ceiling.

Day twelve.

Stendhal's high fever persisted.

Luo Qi treated him with new medication.

The foundation panels were laid according to schedule.

Day thirteen.

Stendhal's fever broke, but he remained unconscious. Robotic Vehicle 1 occasionally went to change his medication.

Work on the factory floor continued. With a transport vehicle helping, progress was somewhat faster than it had been on Room 1.

Day fourteen.

Factory No. 1 remained under construction.

Stendhal had regained consciousness, but he was still weak. Luo Qi specially operated Robotic Vehicle 1 to make him some hot porridge.

The base had all the ingredients, and converting electricity into heat was enough to cook any food.

The rice porridge filled the room with its fragrance, stirring Stendhal's memories.

Wearing a light blue T-shirt, he leaned against the headboard, holding a bowl from which white steam slowly rose.

"Move fast and you get some; move slow and you get none~" A certain young woman's voice still seemed to ring in his ears.

"Dad, sorry. I remembered that colleague who loved making porridge."

Stendhal suddenly began to cry, sobbing mournfully.

"Thank you."

Luo Qi knew whom he meant. All the cameras at the base had recorded everything that happened there.