Chapter 23: Troubles

Although he had made up his mind to tackle the problem, it was clear that it could not be solved in a short time. Li Qingsong had no choice but to be patient, accumulating progress and conducting research bit by bit. Even though the number of clones under his control had reached its limit, he did not stop the cultivation of new ones.

At this point, Li Qingsong scheduled his workday to be 16 consecutive hours, which included time for bathroom breaks, meals, and short rests. The remaining eight hours were set aside for sleep. During those sleeping hours, he did not need to maintain control. Li Qingsong divided the 21,000 clones into three shifts. At any given moment, only 14,000 clones were working, while 7,000 were always asleep in the collective dormitories. To Li Qingsong, those 7,000 unused control slots were a waste he could not tolerate. To fill this gap—and accounting for the fact that the clones filling those slots also needed to sleep for eight hours—he planned to cultivate another 14,000 clones. This way, even if some clones did not work to their maximum capacity, he could ensure that 21,000 clones were active at all times. The extra work hours could be distributed among all the clones, giving everyone a bit more rest, which improved fault tolerance, simplified scheduling, and slowed down their physical aging. Consequently, Li Qingsong would have a total of 35,000 clones under his command.

Several years later, this goal was successfully achieved. The Luoshen Planet base had truly flourished. In the newly constructed massive collective dormitories, over ten thousand beds were filled every single night. Dozens of large-scale planting, livestock, aquaculture, mushroom, and fruit cultivation bases produced massive amounts of food daily. This food was transported by train to central kitchens, processed into finished meals by hundreds of clone chefs, and then distributed to every factory, canteen, and base, reaching every clone. Hundreds of different factories roared with activity, producing goods at a fever pitch. Under Li Qingsong’s unified planning, these operations were organically integrated, ensuring there was never a surplus in one area while another faced a shortage.

At every moment, large numbers of clones would wake up, promptly leave their dorms, put on their gear, and head to their assigned posts according to Li Qingsong’s master plan. Simultaneously, large numbers of clones would finish their day’s work, take various forms of transportation back to the dorms, and fall asleep without the slightest delay. Under Li Qingsong’s centralized control, every single one of these clones was "all-purpose."

Every clone possessed every skill required by the base. One day a clone might be cooking in the kitchen, the next they might be driving a train, and the day after that, they might be operating heavy machinery in a foundry. The day after that, they might be harvesting wheat at the cultivation base, and the day after that, conducting experiments in a chemistry or metallurgy lab, observing material properties, optimizing mechanical structures, and driving technological progress. What work each clone did upon waking depended entirely on Li Qingsong's daily plan and the needs of the base. Under these circumstances, the efficiency of the tens of thousands of clones across the base was pushed to its absolute limit.

Li Qingsong’s overall technological level was rising steadily, albeit slowly. Even with optimized shift scheduling, his control capacity had reached its limit. If he cultivated any more clones, they would have nothing to do but lie in bed like vegetables. Yet, Li Qingsong did not stop. The number of clones continued to grow at a rate of 4,000 per year. By now, the total number of clones under his command had surpassed the hundred-thousand mark, reaching 101,600. However, the number of clones he could actively control for work remained fixed at 21,000.

"If I can't control them for now, I'll just stockpile them," Li Qingsong thought. "Perhaps one day I'll achieve a breakthrough in biotechnology, and my control capacity will surge. Then I can put these clones to work immediately instead of having to cultivate them slowly."

But he couldn't just let them lie in bed all day. Long periods of inactivity would not only lead to bedsores and various illnesses, but their muscles would also atrophy. With no other choice, Li Qingsong drastically reduced the working hours of individual clones, rotating them as much as possible so that every clone could work for a period each day, if only for exercise. Under this arrangement, the working hours of a single clone dropped to an unprecedented level of less than 6 hours per day, and as the number of clones continued to increase, it dropped further to just 4 hours. The rest of the time, they were either sleeping or lying blankly on their beds. This, in turn, placed immense pressure on logistics. Even if they just lay there, they still needed to eat, drink, breathe, and use the bathroom.

There was no choice; Li Qingsong had to build several more massive agricultural bases, increasing the quarterly wheat production to 14,000 tons just to meet the current demand.

"The number of clones has reached 150,000... I can't have any more. If there were any more, the 21,000 clones I can actually control would have to do nothing but raise pigs and farm in the agricultural bases." Li Qingsong reluctantly halted the operation of the clone factory. He glanced at the newly built collective dormitory buildings and sighed. Each of these ten-story buildings had 100 rooms per floor, with each room containing five triple-decker bunk beds, housing 15 people each. One floor held 1,500 people, and one building housed 15,000. Li Qingsong had built nine such buildings, and they were all packed to capacity.

"I never imagined I would one day be troubled by having too many clones. This is really..."

He looked at the biological laboratory, his heart feeling even more restless. A breakthrough in biotechnology remained a distant prospect. With no way to raise the overall level of technology, focusing solely on biotechnology yielded twice the effort for half the result. Just as Li Qingsong was planning to focus on developing basic sciences, a clone located at Iron Mine Base No. 45 suddenly lost its connection to his mind.

"What’s going on?"

Li Qingsong immediately commanded a nearby clone to look up and observe the situation. The next moment, Li Qingsong gasped.

"What on earth is that..."