Chapter 108 107: 100 Million
The only question now was how closely the simulation would match reality. Would the excellence achieved in the simulated world truly translate to excellence in the real one?
'I don't expect to perfectly replicate the simulation's results and actually double the maximum number of consciousness connections to 20 million,' Li Qingsong thought silently. 'Getting to 15 million will be enough. I'll be satisfied with 15 million.'
At this moment, the human embryos produced using this gene-editing solution had already been placed into cultivation tanks. The answer would be revealed in half a year.
「Half a year flew by in an instant.」
More than thirty years had now passed since Li Qingsong's arrival in the Jupiter System. At this time, a new batch of 1,000 Clones was swiftly born.
Li Qingsong breathed a sigh of relief. 'The fact that they were born successfully instead of developing into monstrosities at least means the general direction of this solution is correct.'
Li Qingsong's consciousness immediately transferred to one of the Clones.
The next moment, his eyes widened in utter shock.
'What the hell?!'
He sensed that his maximum number of consciousness connections hadn't increased to 15 million, nor had it reached the 20 million predicted by the simulation.
Instead... it was 100 million!
'Damn it, how could the Nuwa AI's prediction have been so ridiculously off?'
The AI simulation's results were indeed wrong, with an error margin as high as 400%. But what Li Qingsong could never have imagined was that this wasn't a negative error, but a positive one!
This... this...
In an instant, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a very long time washed over him. He connected to the consciousness of every single Clone, yet still had a massive number of connections left over. The resulting feeling of "emptiness" swept through his mind, leaving him stunned for a moment before he could process it.
'One hundred million, just like that? I've already broken the hundred-million mark?'
'I originally prepared 30 million Clones, thinking that would be more than enough. But now I'm this short?'
In a single stroke, all of Li Qingsong's previous arrangements and plans were thrown into disarray.
Li Qingsong had already constructed a massive Clone cultivation factory. It could produce 500,000 Clones per batch, for an annual output of one million. He had thought that would be more than enough, but now, it was clear that it was far from it.
'I need to build an even larger Clone cultivation factory! The scale has to be expanded by at least tenfold!'
'No, ten times won't be enough!'
'With a maximum connection limit of one hundred million, I'll need about two hundred million Clones under my command. That's the only way to guarantee rest periods for each Clone and have replacements ready in case of accidents.'
'Even if I expand the current production capacity tenfold, that's still only an annual output of 10 million Clones. It would take twenty years of production at full capacity to reach my target.'
Li Qingsong didn't have that much time to wait.
Therefore, the existing Clone production capacity needed to be increased at least thirtyfold, reaching an annual output of 30 million, just to be barely sufficient.
'An annual output of 30 million Clones... just how massive would the Clone cultivation factories have to be? How large would the nutrient solution plants, affiliated power stations, equipment repair shops, and other support factories need to be...?'
'And with the number of Clones skyrocketing to two hundred million in such a short time, all the other facilities would have to keep up too.'
'First and foremost is the food problem. The scale of my crop, livestock, and aquaculture bases will have to be expanded by at least six times.'
'Then there are the clothing factories. Space Suit production has to keep up, right? And what about daily necessities? Underwear, jackets, hats, towels, blankets, cups, utensils, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and so on and so on... production for all of that has to keep up too, doesn't it?'
'Dormitory construction has to keep up, too. Having the Clones live in family-style apartments is out of the question, but I have to at least ensure every single Clone has a bed, right?'
'With so many Clones, the demand for transportation will increase. The number of buses will have to go up, right? The railway lines will have to be expanded, right? The number of passenger spaceships will have to increase, right?'
'Besides, all these Clones will need enough jobs so they can produce the resources to supply our research and development. That means all sorts of new factories will have to be built, right?'
'The research bases will have to be expanded, right? The number of research facilities will have to be increased, right?'
In a single instant, a list of construction needs so massive that even he felt a little intimidated flooded Li Qingsong's mind.
"This... this really is a goddamn good problem to have. Let's start with the most urgent construction needs," he thought. "First, the Clone cultivation factories and their support facilities, and then the food production bases."
The existing cultivation factories, which had an annual output of one million Clones, already covered an area of 100 square kilometers including their support facilities.
Now, even with further improvements to the process and higher production capacity, reaching an annual output of 30 million Clones would still require expanding the area to at least 2,000 square kilometers.
His existing integrated agricultural base covered about 300 square kilometers.
Previously, Li Qingsong had thought that a base this large would last for at least several decades, if not a century. He never expected that after little more than a decade, it was already becoming insufficient.
Now he had to build six more integrated agricultural bases of the same size.
But construction on such a massive scale also required sufficient material support.
Fortunately, he had 30 million Clones on hand. By putting all of them on urgent assignment in the various mines and factories, he could just about manage the resource demand for this new construction.
And so, under Li Qingsong's control, 30 million Clones plunged into a period of unprecedentedly frantic work.
In space, countless cargo ships from dozens of satellites and the Jupiter Ring shuttled back and forth. A ceaseless flow of materials entered and exited the four Galilean moons via four space elevators.
Supported by power from nuclear fission plants, fuel production factories worked at full capacity, producing fuels like liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, and methane. This fuel was supplied to starships of all sizes, where it was ultimately expelled as superheated gas, vanishing into the boundless interstellar space. It was also supplied to various vehicles on the ground, where it was released as exhaust into the atmosphere.
Hundreds of thousands, even millions, of heavy, intelligent machines tore across the desolate landscape day and night. They were controlled by the Divine Craft AI and maintained by legions of Clones.
For a time, Li Qingsong even set aside his most important project: cracking the miniaturization of nuclear fission Thrust Devices. He threw himself into the construction effort completely and without reservation.
In the first year, phase one of the Clone cultivation factory project became operational, and the cultivation of 5 million Clone embryos began.
By the second year, the total number of Clones under Li Qingsong's command had risen to 41 million. Phase two of the Clone cultivation factory became operational, and another 15 million Clone embryos began their cultivation. At the same time, three integrated food production bases were also completed, beginning to cultivate all sorts of crops, livestock, aquatic species, fruits, and cotton.
By the third year, the vital Clone cultivation factories and the new integrated food production bases were finally complete, resolving the most pressing crisis.
At this point, the number of Clones under Li Qingsong's command had skyrocketed to 110 million.