Only someone whose brain is filled with water would go head-to-head with you lot!

On the planet Luoshen, Li Qingsong felt a chill creeping through his heart.

The probe’s close-range observation had lasted for only a very brief moment. Yet, even this short duration of data collection was enough for him to deduce a great deal of information.

His opponent was formidable.

This could be discerned not only from their ability to construct larger spacecraft, but also from their propulsion technology.

Ion propulsion technology was something humanity had already mastered and applied on a relatively large scale.

The underlying principle of this technology involved first ionizing the propellant—the substance expelled to generate reactive thrust for propelling a spacecraft—and then utilizing electromagnetic fields to accelerate the propellant ions to extremely high velocities before discharging them through a nozzle.

Because the velocity of these propellant ions was exceptionally high, reaching tens of thousands of kilometers per second—far surpassing the mere several to a dozen kilometers per second of chemical fuel exhaust—a unit mass of propellant could generate reactive thrust far exceeding that of chemical propulsion, thereby yielding a much higher propulsion efficiency.

However, this technology came with significant limitations. Although its specific impulse was high and the propellant utilization rate was extremely efficient, the overall thrust per unit of time was negligible.

Simply put, a unit of chemical fuel could accelerate a one-ton object from zero to ten meters within one second, but could only sustain this for three seconds, resulting in a total acceleration of thirty meters.

Conversely, with ion propulsion, the same mass of propellant could, at best, accelerate a one-ton object from zero to 0.01 millimeters per second within one second, but this could be sustained for a full year, accumulating a total acceleration of 315.36 meters—far surpassing chemical fuel propulsion.

Within the human world, ion propulsion technology was practically incapable of meeting the rapid maneuvering and thrust requirements of massive objects; it was merely applied to tasks such as satellite station-keeping and the slow acceleration of long-distance spacecraft.

The advantages and disadvantages of ion propulsion were both glaringly obvious. So... what if there existed a technology that could resolve its shortcomings while preserving its advantages? That is, solving the problem of insufficient thrust while retaining the benefit of an ultra-high specific impulse?

This was the high-speed ion propulsion technology of humanity's dreams!

In theoretical projections, once high-speed ion propulsion was mastered, humanity might even be capable of building starships fit for interstellar voyages!

Yet, high-speed ion propulsion technology remained too profound, and the human world had never been able to conquer it. With no other choice, they had to settle for second best, temporarily developing secondary pressurized injection technology—the propulsion system currently employed by the deep-space vessel—as a transitional measure.

And now... Li Qingsong was witnessing the practical application of high-speed ion propulsion technology right on those unknown spacecraft!

Based on this alone, Li Qingsong could conclude that his opponent's technological prowess vastly surpassed his own, and far exceeded that of human civilization before its disappearance.

Coupled with the sheer size of that colossal vessel, Li Qingsong had ample reason to believe they originated from another star system.

This raised a fundamental question.

What are you doing in the Solar System?

What is so special about the Solar System? Pondering this over and over, the only unique characteristic he could find was that the Solar System was a stellar system harboring an intelligent civilization.

Aside from an intelligent civilization, Li Qingsong could not think of anything else remarkable about the Solar System.

In that case, what is your connection to the disappearance of humanity? What role did you play in that event?

Over a million brains within Li Qingsong's consciousness pondered this question simultaneously, but the processing ceased on its own after only a brief moment.

Now was not the time to dwell on that mystery. The most pressing matter was that they were flying straight toward him!

Judging by the current situation, their mother ship—that massive spacecraft—seemed to have sustained unexpected damage, which was why it had been forced to temporarily dock in the orbit of the planet Dishen, utilizing the planet's resources to repair itself.

Perhaps the reason they had not directly attacked him earlier, instead resorting to using the swarm of strange birds to kill him with a borrowed knife, was because they were in the early stages of repairs and temporarily lacked the capability to wipe him out.

And now, after decades of recuperation, they had restored a portion of their strength and were impatiently initiating an interstellar voyage to eliminate him!

For a civilization that had mastered high-speed ion propulsion, just how advanced must their offensive and defensive technologies be?

He could not possibly be their match! At least in a direct confrontation, he would undoubtedly lose!

Li Qingsong made this judgment in his mind instantly.

So... what now?

Facing this unprecedentedly powerful opponent, Li Qingsong remained steadfast and calm.

Weighing his own strengths and technological level against the opponent's advantages and disadvantages, a plan rapidly took shape in his mind.

"Regardless of your schemes or your background, at this stage, the strength you have displayed before me consists merely of these few dozen small spacecraft.

In a direct clash, I probably couldn't defeat even these few dozen ships, but it doesn't matter—I'd have to be out of my mind to want to fight you head-on!"

At that moment, Li Qingsong decisively issued instructions to the 1.1 million clones he simultaneously controlled.

Aside from the personnel required to maintain the baseline operations of the base and ensure the survival of the clones, every other non-essential post was ordered to shut down immediately.

This instantly freed up as many as 900,000 slots of consciousness links.

The next moment, those 900,000 consciousness link slots, along with their corresponding clones, were all thrown into a single task.

Build guns! If you can't build advanced guns, build gunpowder firearms! Build massive quantities of gunpowder firearms!

With the temporary suspension of numerous irrelevant factories, every facility related to firearms and ammunition plunged into a frenzy of activity.

Numerous mining operations abruptly ramped up production rates, their excavators and crushers roaring wildly as they tore massive chunks of ore from the earth.

Trains hurtled past at unprecedented speeds, transporting the harvested ore to metallurgical plants.

Blast furnaces billowed black smoke as torrents of molten steel surged forth; after cooling and solidifying, the metal was routed to processing plants, where countless operating machinery turned them into individual components.

Chemical plants operated with equal fervor, delivering vast quantities of gunpowder to ammunition factories, where it was processed into standard-spec bullets that poured down conveyor belts like rushing rivers.

While initiating this frantic production run of firearms and ammunition, Li Qingsong simultaneously issued an order recalling all 500 of his sole Mercury-class warships lingering around the space base back to the surface of Luoshen, directing them to enter the massive manufacturing hangers.

Before long, all those warships materialized within view.

Yet this time, they did not linger in space; instead, backed by the deep-space communication network, they engaged their engines for a desperate, blistering acceleration, charging fiercely toward the planet Dishen.