Chapter 54: Three Objectives

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Faced with this battle outcome, Li Qingsong felt rather satisfied. Although the combat effectiveness was only formidable within the current technological level, and he still did not know the enemy’s technological capabilities, he had at least pushed his own technology to its limit. However, the fuel consumption was undeniably excessive.

As he maneuvered the Mercury-class warship back home, Li Qingsong let out a quiet sigh. Just a few hours of combat had already consumed fifty tons of fuel. Not only that, but several tons of bullets, shells, and interstellar missiles had been entirely used up as well.

“This was just one warship fighting for a few hours. In an interstellar war, hundreds of warships would surely be deployed, and the fighting would last months, maybe years. Ignoring the total consumption over the entire war, just one sortie of 500 warships would burn at least 25,000 tons of fuel and thousands of tons of ammunition…”

Li Qingsong had always heard the saying, “Wars are won by logistics,” but had never fully grasped its meaning. When the expeditionary force wiped out the swarm of monstrous birds, consuming tens of thousands of tons of combat supplies in one go, he finally understood. Yet now, he realized his understanding was still too shallow.

“Since combat supplies are consumed in such great quantities, launching warships from the surface of Luoshen Star during wartime won’t work.” To leave the surface and enter space, a ship must accelerate to about one kilometer per second, which obviously requires a massive fuel expenditure.

“The best solution is to build a large, integrated logistical base in space. When not engaged in combat, warships can dock there, maintaining a speed of around one kilometer per second, ready to launch instantly when battle calls. Methane, liquid oxygen, bullets, shells, missiles, and various consumables could be pre-stocked there for easy access. Even a ship repair factory could be established to enable rapid maintenance.”

“But how large would such a base need to be…” Without ample fuel and supplies stored, the base would be meaningless.

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To be truly effective, it would have to be enormous—capable of storing at least a million tons of materials. Considering the infrastructure and its own mass, the total weight could easily exceed two million tons, larger and heavier than the previous space laboratory.

Moreover, such a massive logistical base would inevitably become a prime target for enemy attacks, necessitating heavy armor and extensive defensive weaponry. This would likely push its total mass upward of four million tons, perhaps even more.

“But there’s no alternative. I must have this base to support any future war,” Li Qingsong gritted his teeth, resolute. “So, my next three key projects are clear: First, expand warship production capacity to rapidly build more ships. Second, construct a large integrated logistical base. Third, establish a deep-space communication network.”

With a growing fleet of warships and spacecraft, communication, positioning, and coordination demands would skyrocket. Once the fleet expanded, how could he track each ship’s location? How would he command them? A comprehensive deep-space communication network was essential.

Having settled on these three priorities, Li Qingsong glanced anxiously at the nearby dwarf planet, now dubbed Enemy God Star—a name marking the enemy’s homeworld—and sighed again. “I wonder when they will make their next move. I hope they grant me more time. Unfortunately, I still can’t launch probes there yet. But that won’t be long. Once the deep-space communication network is up, not only ships and warships but also deep-space probes will receive information support. Then I can send them out.”

At present, Li Qingsong’s maximum consciousness connection hovered around 700,000 clones. To maintain 700,000 clones working constantly, he currently controlled about 1.4 million clones in total, with a reserve of around 1.6 million, summing to a population of 3 million.

But the workload of these 700,000 connected clones was nearly saturated. They could barely sustain the current production capacity—averaging one Mercury-class warship every two days. Adding other tasks would likely overextend them.

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Warships were far more complex than ordinary cargo ships, requiring higher precision and larger scale.

“Setting up the deep-space communication network doesn’t need many personnel, but it’s a technical challenge. There are still unresolved difficulties, and I estimate about 10,000 clones for research and another 10,000 for logistics will be needed to crack it in a reasonable time. As for constructing the integrated space logistical base, it will likely require no fewer than 200,000 clones.”

“This doesn’t even consider the increased fuel consumption from more ships, which will demand more manpower in mining and refining. My consciousness connection capacity will have to rise to at least one million to barely keep up.”

Li Qingsong turned his gaze toward the biotechnology lab within the space station. There, a dozen or so clones clad in white coats, hats, masks, and gloves were carefully handling matters inside a clean room.

“This time lies our chance to cultivate higher-quality clones.”

Time passed quietly. Days slipped by, and one clone at the petri dish once again observed the samples with care. A wave of joy surged within Li Qingsong’s mind.

Under the newly formulated culture medium, test subjects—mice, rabbits, and human cells—all showed rapid division and accelerated development. Their vitality was evidently stronger.

“Good, this is it!”

Armed with fresh experimental data, Li Qingsong immediately dispatched over twenty thousand clones to the culture medium preparation factory and clone cultivation factory. They upgraded and modified the equipment to meet the new standards.

Within just a few days, the first batch of culture medium sufficient for a hundred clones was produced.

Without waiting for more medium to be made, Li Qingsong promptly began cultivating this initial group of a hundred clones.

No matter what, he had to increase his consciousness connection capacity first. As for the average quality of clones, that could be improved gradually later on.