"Is this... is this real?!"
Seeing it with his own eyes, Stendhal wanted to rub them again, but his hands could only touch his helmet.
He knelt, his eyes wide as he stared at the tender stems and leaves, each a finger long, growing in the black soil.
"I actually grew potatoes in Orange Star soil-soil filtered and screened in the research zone!"
Lightly touching the green shoots, Stendhal hurriedly opened the recording function on his tablet.
The man on the screen looked gaunt and unshaven, like someone in his thirties or forties.
That did not matter.
"I'm Stendhal. Our survival base was struck by meteorites. I lost fifteen companions, but I survived."
"I planted these potatoes with hope in my heart, and they sprouted from the soil... The inflatable cover effectively retains the daytime warmth and keeps out the bitter nighttime cold."
"I feel like I'm on Water Blue Star, together with Natasha and Fei'er."
Stendhal beamed as he swept the tablet over row after row of seedlings.
"I often dream..."
His expression grew peaceful as he drifted into his memories.
"If I get back to Water Blue Star, I'll never leave again. We'll be together forever."
"...And thank you, Dad. I'll definitely make it back!"
Day 19 arrived.
The roof of Factory No. 1 was completed.
The weather was clear and windless.
Seeing the base begin to take shape, Luo Qi breathed a great sigh of relief. It felt like a hard-won achievement, yet there was a certain calm ordinariness to it.
Right-he had no body now, and external things no longer stirred much joy or sorrow in him.
Within his data simulations, all of this felt as though it was simply how things ought to be.
Thankfully, Orange Star's weather was dry, with no dark clouds or rain. The base currently had ample electricity; he only needed to keep following the plan.
A three-dimensional blueprint of Factory No. 1 appeared in his mind.
Part of it would serve as a general processing area, with separate sections allocated to servers and electrical energy storage.
In truth, it was more like a small, multipurpose workshop, producing whatever was needed.
Luo Qi had also tried using the main base's local network to transfer his core into other electronic devices.
As long as a piece of machinery had electromagnetic signals and the appropriate receivers and processors, he could inhabit it.
On a tablet, however, his available computing power could only simulate a single tree flowering, bearing fruit, flourishing, shedding its leaves, and dying.
On a server, he could use mathematical formulas to simulate an entire forest's cycles of life and death, down to every fallen leaf and ray of sunshine, from morning dew to tiny droplets of mist, and even the effects of bacteria on everything.
His simulation capabilities were clearly tied to the computer's processing performance.
In his previous life, some radical scientists had claimed that the entire universe was merely the output of an unimaginably sophisticated simulation computer.
The free will everyone believed they possessed was nothing more than data stored in that computer.
The futures everyone believed were their own were merely predetermined events calculated by a supercomputer.
But that could wait.
The shell of Factory No. 1 was complete, but it could not be put into service immediately. Luo Qi began directing the mechanical vehicle and called on Stendhal to help install the wiring.
Production required electricity first, including connections for cameras and lights.
At night, the mechanical vehicle worked alone.
After two days, the wiring was complete, and Factory No. 1 was ready for use.
One server was the first to be removed from the cluster and moved ahead of the others into a separate little windowless room in Factory No. 1.
Luo Qi calibrated the signal equipment and transferred his data into Factory No. 1 through electromagnetic signals.
What he found difficult to accept was that, while existing as an electromagnetic signal, he lost all perception of the outside world. It was like being locked in a dark room with no sense of time.
Only upon reaching a network or computer could he regain his senses.
As the other units were moved out one after another, the abandoned main base was officially declared completely defunct and marked for demolition.
Luo Qi had a clear understanding of how to apply his current electrical resources and [Elementary Electromagnetism], including radio-wave radar, computer chips, and electromagnetic catapults.
If introductory electromagnetism allowed people to understand electromagnetic forces, generate electricity, light bulbs, drive machinery, and build factories...
Then [Elementary Electromagnetism] meant entering the information age, delving deeper into the Electromagnetic Force System, and using radio waves to produce fluctuations at different frequencies defined as signals, enabling radar detection, computer programming, radio communications, and more.
Research technology and applied technology were not the same, either. Research technology represented cutting-edge laboratory science, while applied technology was inexpensive and widely available.
Luo Qi had also confirmed that the knowledge of Elementary Electromagnetism corresponded to the technological framework used by Earth's civilization in 2020 in his previous life.
Ultimately, all these products of applied science were derivatives of electromagnetism. Without the Electromagnetic Force System, they were lifeless.
The Elementary Electromagnetism system had already begun touching on Controllable Nuclear Fusion and the use of electromagnetic launch systems as weapons.
Through the efforts of Stendhal and the mechanical vehicle, an experimental electromagnetic metal melting furnace was assembled.
It was a product of the Elementary Electromagnetism system.
With the electromagnetic melting furnace, Processing Plant No. 1 could attempt to recycle metal.
It had a hexagonal frame built from layers of salvaged metal strips, with gaps left for superconducting wire to thread through and wind around. It stood two meters tall and measured 1.6 meters across.
It was supported half a meter above the ground, with a bowl-shaped metal container underneath, made from the landing capsule's hatch.
When current flowed through the superconducting wire, it generated a magnetic field. This powerful artificial field could control metal objects.
The magnetic force suspended the metal, while the energized magnetic field lines cut through and heated its molecules, melting it.
At least, that was the theory.
That afternoon.
The electromagnetic metal furnace experiment began—the first experiment based on Luo Qi's knowledge of the Electromagnetic Force System.
It was also the first experiment since the establishment of the new base on Orange Star. There was no oxygen inside the shabby, cobbled-together Factory No. 1, so Stendhal had to wear his protective suit at all times.
He prepared to take part in Orange Star's first scientific experiment.
Standing before the electromagnetic furnace, Stendhal held a twisted steel bar, looking somewhat uneasy.
The mechanical vehicle waited quietly to one side.
Reused white light panels illuminated the entire empty factory. There were no windows in the walls, only cameras.
A meter-high pile of scrap metal stood behind Stendhal.
"Can we start, Dad?"
Stendhal looked at the monstrous frame in front of him. By now, he had a full beard.
As he put it, nobody here cared anyway, so he might as well keep life simple.
"First electromagnetic experiment!"
"Prepare the metal recycling project!"
"Power up the battery melting furnace!"
Luo Qi spoke calmly. He had already prepared twenty revision plans in case of failure.
All thirty-six cameras inside Processing Plant No. 1 focused on the metal frame.
Visual electronic signals were currently Luo Qi's main means of observing the world.
Current boosted by the transformer flowed into the furnace.
Even through his protective suit, Stendhal instantly felt his hair stand on end. As he stepped back, he instinctively tossed the metal bar away.
Whoosh!
The metal bar was sucked through the opening at the top of the furnace. Its strange parabolic trajectory put Stendhal on guard, and he backed away again. He could not shake the feeling that this thing was terrifying.
Red light shone through the gaps. The glowing metal bar rapidly gathered into a ball of liquid!
"Fantastic!"
Stendhal jumped, despite his fifteen-kilogram protective suit!
Luo Qi breathed a sigh of relief. An electromagnetic processing system meant the base now had a fundamental platform for construction.
It meant that as long as there was electricity, the base could recycle and smelt metal. Recycling and smelting metal meant taking the first step toward a manufacturing system.
Manufacturing capacity was the hope for Orange Star Base's development.
Luo Qi inspected the equipment again, but unfortunately, he had no equipment for observing magnetic fields.
He could only rely on calculated mathematical models to ensure the furnace operated correctly; he could not detect the actual shape of the electromagnetic field in operation.
Steel and light alloys had to be smelted separately. Luo Qi built a conveyor belt for the electromagnetic furnace to improve efficiency.
However, limited by the base's energy reserves, this production line could operate for only two hours a day.
The first trial run recovered roughly 0.2 tonnes of steel-two hundred kilograms. The output was abysmally low. Any private business owner would have despaired, shut down the factory, and gone home.
Who cared about new technology? A factory was supposed to make a profit!
But on this barren Orange Star, Luo Qi stopped the electromagnetic furnace, began storing electricity, and simulated the next step: forming parts.
The sheet of iron left after molten iron cooled naturally was unusable. One advantage of Orange Star, however, was that its nighttime temperature was around minus forty degrees.
Factory No. 1 fell silent. Even the perpetually busy mechanical vehicle had a rare chance to stop.
Orange Star was not Water Blue Star. It had no machining infrastructure, no lathes or machining centers.
Luo Qi ran calculations on models for forming parts.
The commonly used mold-casting method involved making a mold and pouring molten iron into it. Once the iron cooled, it formed the part.
This was currently the method Luo Qi favored most, primarily because it was simple, convenient, and easy to carry out.
But as a computer with an unconventional mind, he had thought of magnetic-field control theory. An idea had blossomed in Luo Qi's mind the moment the electromagnetic melting furnace succeeded.
Make the magnetic field stronger, more precise, and controllable, then shape the liquid metal directly into a single solid piece, fixing it into the required part.
However, such precise control of an electromagnetic field would likely involve the third theoretical stage, [Intermediate Electromagnetic Force], and extend to the confinement fields used in Controllable Nuclear Fusion.
Luo Qi stood on the shoulders of two giants. He had more than enough excellent theories; for now, he only needed to wait for the base's production capacity to expand.
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