Chapter Sixteen: The Threshold of a Thousand

At this moment, with the sudden addition of 182 clones, Li Qingsong finally relaxed the intense pressure he had felt from the lack of manpower—he had been wishing he could stretch a second into two, and desperately hoping all clones could work tirelessly without rest or sleep.

The planting base, which had been operating at less than half capacity, immediately switched to full power.

Thanks to the multi-layer planting system covering over 20,000 square meters—about 33 acres—the entire area was now planted with sweet potatoes, potatoes, soybeans, wheat, rice, and other crops.

On the other side of the planting base, the chicken farm was fully operational. Despite its modest 200-square-meter area, it housed over a thousand chickens under concentrated rearing conditions. Li Qingsong had deliberately kept the density low to prevent disease among the chickens.

Beyond that, the numbers of pigs, cattle, and sheep also rose sharply.

The entire planting base was now filled to capacity with various crops and livestock, truly running at full load.

"Finally, I don’t have to watch so much space go to waste," Li Qingsong thought, moved by the lush, thriving scene.

Outside the planting base, in the metallurgy industrial zone, several long-idle blast furnaces were finally manned by operators.

The clones wore the new spacesuits Li Qingsong had produced—though these suits offered little radiation protection or communication ability, they were much warmer and tougher. Proudly, the clones marched to the blast furnaces and began feeding in chunks of ore.

In the metal processing area, dozens of metalworking machines clanged incessantly, churning out all kinds of parts like a steady stream.

At the energy industrial zone, the sudden surge in electricity consumption had rendered the few existing generators insufficient. But this was no problem; new generators had already been built and fuel stored, ready to be put into operation as soon as there was manpower.

Moreover, the electrical grid itself was expanding.

A team of five clones, acting as electricians, took copper wires produced by the wire factory and, like spiders weaving webs, extended the dense network of power lines outward. At the same time, new electrical equipment was connected to the grid.

The idle tractors finally found drivers. Clones drove them back and forth between various mines and bases, hauling the much-needed minerals Li Qingsong required.

Though the Luoshen Star base had always been busy, it still felt lonely overall. Now, with more clones joining, it finally had a hint of bustling activity.

In fact, even after Li Qingsong filled all remaining worker gaps, over thirty clones still remained idle.

"I’ve never fought such a resourced battle before," Li Qingsong mused, feeling a surge of emotion as he began a new round of construction.

He simply couldn’t stand to see anyone idle.

At this stage, the framework of basic industry had been established, with preliminary divisions into metallurgy, casting, energy, chemical industry, and so forth—but it was still crude and rudimentary.

For example, in the energy sector, there were only a handful of steam generators.

In metallurgy, there were barely twenty simple blast furnaces, producing a combined annual output of roughly two thousand tons of various metals.

Further specialization and refinement were essential. Take steelmaking, for instance; it could be divided into various types, such as low-temperature steel, heat-resistant steel, corrosion-resistant steel, carbon steel, and more.

Only by subdividing could output and efficiency improve.

The same principle applied to metalworking, chemical production, and even the planting base.

The thirty or so idle clones were immediately assigned by Li Qingsong to the construction of new factories.

To this end, he devised an ambitious plan.

“All future factories and bases must be specialized and subdivided. At least five more planting bases need to be built; three more steel mills; ten chemical plants; and one or two dedicated machinery manufacturing factories…”

After some calculation, Li Qingsong realized that to support these numerous construction projects, steel demand alone would exceed a million tons.

And this was just the initial phase. His future plans would undoubtedly be on an even larger scale.

Yet at present, total annual metal output only reached about two thousand tons, with steel production barely at fifteen hundred tons.

The gap was enormous.

“Steel is the foundation of all construction; we must prioritize developing the steel industry. So… let’s build a high-efficiency, specialized steel mill! Annual output must be at least one hundred thousand tons!”

Jumping directly from fifteen hundred tons to one hundred thousand tons was a huge leap, but Li Qingsong was not worried.

He knew this was a long-term plan, not something achievable overnight. He had time.

With this goal in mind, Li Qingsong resumed his wait.

During this phase, cloning continued unabated, increasing at a rate of 205 clones every six months—410 annually.

The numbers of steel mills, foundries, and chemical plants steadily grew, and production capacity improved.

However, these newly built factories were no different from the initial ones—still low-end, small-scale, far from the specialized, large-scale factories Li Qingsong envisioned.

It was impossible to rely on such outdated capacity to supply the steel needed for his massive construction plans.

But for now, he had no choice but to increase the number of small factories to accumulate initial strength.

Two more years passed, during which Li Qingsong’s clone population grew to over 1,100—starting from 820, with 20 failures during cultivation.

That meant a full 1,100 brains and bodies ready to serve Li Qingsong without hindrance.

Moreover, during these two years, the clones did not merely work mechanically.

Li Qingsong used their brains to think through problems, such as how to optimally arrange power lines, how to safely operate blast furnaces, how to preprocess ore to save electricity, how to improve parts processing efficiency, and how to enhance material performance.

These detailed insights were not found in the Deep Space ship’s knowledge base.

Yet through actual work, Li Qingsong’s collective brains gradually explored and researched these issues, turning them into his own accumulated knowledge.

“Right now, I don’t have the energy for dedicated scientific research.

But that’s fine—practice is the best research at this stage.

My industrial system is becoming more complete, steel production is rising, and knowledge reserves are nearly sufficient.

Now, it’s time to put building a large, specialized steel mill on the agenda.”