Chapter Eight: The Brand-New Base One

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With the original twelve clones maintaining their existing duties, the five newly added clones also plunged into busy work. Drawing on previous experience, Qing Song Li once again directed two clones to begin assembling the second steam turbine using the available parts.

Meanwhile, the other three clones resumed the construction process of Base One. They first employed electric heaters to clear the freezing gases from the cave, except for the area occupied by Base One itself.

The cave spanned approximately 600 square meters; so far, only 200 square meters had been utilized. With ample manpower now available, Qing Song Li planned to make use of the remaining space.

Electric heaters demanded substantial power, but electricity supply was limited. To avoid disrupting the fluorescent lighting and interfering with crop growth, the clearing of freezing gases had to proceed at a low efficiency, taking nearly ten days to complete.

Following that, the clones busied themselves knocking off all sharp protrusions from the cave walls and smoothing them out to prevent puncturing the protective membranes.

Next, Qing Song Li transported about eighty percent of the special films stored on the Deep Space vessel and laid them along the cave walls.

The original Base One was directly incorporated into this new planting base.

After finishing the film splicing, laying, and securing, verifying the seal, and installing temporary lighting fixtures, Qing Song Li surveyed the vast, empty hall and envisioned the future. He then busily unloaded the remaining planting racks and usable piping from the Deep Space vessel.

By the time the planting racks were assembled, pipes laid, and fluorescent lights installed, the second steam turbine was completed. A new generator was dismantled from the Deep Space vessel and connected to the turbine.

This new steam turbine had an installed capacity of 30 kilowatt-hours. Alone, it was insufficient to meet the entire base’s electrical demands, but together with the first turbine, they more than sufficed.

“Start it up!”

At Qing Song Li’s command, the clone acting as the fire tender immediately tossed the pre-prepared frozen torlin ore and oxygen ore into the thawing chamber.

Heat from the first generator extended here, slowly thawing the ores. Mixed with oxygen, a fierce combustion immediately ignited.

The ice melted into liquid water, then transformed into steam. The heavy rotor began to turn, causing the ground beneath to tremble slightly.

A torrent of electricity flowed out, powering the fluorescent lights, which instantly bathed the space in bright illumination.

Meanwhile, the still scalding steam after work flowed through pipes to the underground base, cooled there, and returned to the steam turbine.

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The temperature inside Base One rose immediately.

Once the temperature stabilized and air pressure equalized, several clones moved forward to remove the original membrane from Base One.

At this moment, the two bases—one large, one small—truly merged into one.

Pre-prepared fasteners, nutrient solutions, and sweet potato vines were methodically planted on the new racks.

From this moment, they would grow alongside the original sweet potatoes.

The new planting base now covered a total area of 600 square meters, with a height of 2.3 meters. Of this, 400 square meters remained dedicated to sweet potato cultivation, while the remaining 200 square meters served other purposes.

The newly added four-layered planting racks for sweet potatoes effectively quadrupled the original 400 square meters, expanding to 1,600 square meters.

This 1,600-square-meter planting area was expected to yield around 10,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes each quarter.

Assuming each clone consumed 3 kilograms daily, amounting to 270 kilograms per quarter, Base One alone could now sustain about 37 clones through sweet potatoes alone.

Beyond the sweet potato area, the remaining 200 square meters were allocated as follows: 80 square meters for nutrient preparation rooms, temporary storage, rest areas, and kitchens.

Another 80 square meters—accounting for the additional space created by two to four floors—yielded roughly 200 square meters of planting area, where Qing Song Li planted small amounts of wheat, soybeans, peanuts, rapeseed, leafy greens, spinach, and similar crops.

Each crop was grown sparingly, producing modest yields, serving mostly as seed reserves and occasional dietary supplements.

The final 40 square meters were devoted to internal passageways and related infrastructure.

The entire 600-square-meter Base One was meticulously arranged by Qing Song Li, with near-optimal space utilization.

With the expanded planting area came higher power demands and increased manpower needs.

The addition of five clones fit almost perfectly to sustain the entire base’s operation, leaving Qing Song Li with almost no spare hands for other tasks.

The two steam turbines roared incessantly like two insatiable beasts, consuming all torlin and oxygen ores brought by the clones in short order.

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This forced Qing Song Li to increase the mining team to five clones.

The fire-tender team also grew from two to three members, working in shifts, each working over twelve hours daily—just barely enough to meet the steam turbines’ fuel consumption.

The two clones remaining aboard the Deep Space vessel could not be moved lightly. Besides avoiding complete loss being paramount, they were responsible for study and cultivating new clones.

The remaining seven clones were all devoted to the planting base, constantly repairing faulty wiring, mixing nutrient solutions, and tending crops.

A total of seventeen clones worked tirelessly around the clock.

Time slipped by quietly in this manner, and three more months passed.

This time, the clones gathered again at Base One to harvest all mature crops.

After one day, Qing Song Li looked upon over ten thousand kilograms of sweet potatoes piled in the temporary storage, alongside a wide variety of wheat, grains, beans, peanuts, and vegetables, a smile spreading across his face.

“The survival crisis is at last temporarily resolved. With so many sweet potatoes, there’s no longer a worry about starving to death.

However…”

Feeling the busyness around him, Qing Song Li’s expression gradually grew serious.

“My agricultural foundation is still too fragile. If any accident causes major tears in the membrane, the air will escape instantly, and all crops will die immediately.

There is no industrial system at all yet.

Fortunately, there is now some food reserve, and manpower for agricultural production is sufficient—for now. Once I replenish the new clones, I can finally leave agriculture behind and focus on other matters.”