In this vast and empty expanse of space, with no macroscopic celestial bodies for tens of trillions of kilometers around, Li Qingsong was building with all his might.
Over two billion Clones worked in three shifts daily, constantly maintaining 1.5 billion Clones on duty at their stations at all times. Adding the approximately 300 million Blutuk People absorbed into the industrial system, Li Qingsong was operating at full capacity.
Numerous new Quantum Supercomputers with higher computational power, capable of supporting more intelligent algorithms, ran at full throttle, fully supporting the operations of the Divine Craft AI. Under the control of the Divine Craft AI, trillions of general-purpose robots and intelligent machines worked without a moment’s rest.
Countless shuttles and transport ships zipped back and forth between massive industrial vessels, transferring millions, even tens of millions of tons of materials every second.
Factories roared and thundered, supplied by the abundant energy from protium fusion power plants, producing countless components. These were all ultimately transported to gigantic shipyards to be assembled into new starships.
Under Li Qingsong’s control, this region of space had been transformed into a bustling construction site.
Moreover, this construction site was also traveling at a high speed of about 24,000 kilometers per second.
Time slipped by quietly. Li Qingsong’s massive fleet, like the earth emerging from winter to greet the spring, gradually changed its appearance, bit by bit.
Finally, after several more decades of hard work, Li Qingsong completely finished upgrading his fleet.
By now, the "Flying Star"—which had been built through painstaking effort and had supported Li Qingsong’s entire technological development and industrial upgrade—had completely vanished.
All the dry rations had been "eaten" by Li Qingsong.
It had turned into nourishment, just as food supports a growing child, and was absorbed into Li Qingsong’s fleet, allowing it to complete this most crucial transformation.
Now, Li Qingsong once again possessed a large number of Warships.
One million Mercury-class Warships. Sixty thousand Venus-class Warships. And even 1,000 of the largest Earth-class Warships!
Every single one of these Warships integrated various technologies from the Strong Core Civilization. Each Warship possessed powerful Energy Shields, devastatingly lethal Energy Cannons, and sensors with unprecedented sensitivity and extremely fast detection speeds—capable of even tracking a micro-projectile with a mass of just one gram moving at over 300 kilometers per second!
Their propulsion systems had also undergone a major upgrade. With the abundant energy supplied by their onboard small-scale protium fusion reactors, their propulsion systems could even allow a Mercury-class Warship, with a mass of over 400 tons, to achieve an acceleration of 1,000 meters per second squared!
Even the largest Earth-class Warships, with a total mass exceeding two million tons, could achieve an acceleration of 150 meters per second squared!
This level of maneuverability was even higher than that of the original Mercury-class Warships.
Previously, this would have been almost unimaginable.
How massive were the old Mercury-class Warships? Just two or three hundred tons.
But the current Earth-class Warships have a mass of two million tons!
The difference between them was a factor of ten thousand.
What did it mean to push a colossal warship of over two million tons to an acceleration of 150 meters per second squared?
It meant that even with enough power, the structure of an Earth-class Warship from that era wouldn’t have been able to withstand it; it would have simply fallen apart.
Of course, the Earth-class Warships Li Qingsong was building now would not suffer from this problem.
The reason was simple: the large-scale use of Strong Core materials not only greatly enhanced the hull’s defense, but also significantly increased the ship’s structural integrity, allowing it to withstand such enormous g-forces.
However, there was another point to consider. Even if the ship’s hull could withstand such immense pressure, what about the Clones inside who were supposed to pilot it?
The human body cannot withstand such immense g-forces.
Even after multiple rounds of genetic modification, which had greatly enhanced all of the Clones’ physical parameters, they could at most endure 15 Gs of pressure. This was barely enough to handle the acceleration of an Earth-class Warship.
So what about the Mercury- and Venus-class Warships?
If the Clones couldn’t withstand it, then what was the point, even if the Mercury- and Venus-class ships could achieve an acceleration of 10,000 meters per second squared?
It would still be completely useless.
This might seem like an extremely serious problem, but in fact, for a Strong Core Civilization, it wasn’t a problem at all.
The reason was simple. Based on the huge breakthroughs a Strong Core Civilization would have in communication technology and artificial intelligence, Li Qingsong deduced that all of their warships should be Unmanned Warships.
That’s right. These Warships that Li Qingsong had built—whether Earth-class, Venus-class, or the smallest Mercury-class—were all Unmanned Warships!
When it came to actual combat, not a single Clone would be on board!
This was because Strong Core Civilizations had mastered Super-distance Communication technology. Take Li Qingsong, for example: within a range of one billion kilometers, communication latency could be compressed to just 0.1 seconds, and could be compressed even further.
Coupled with massive improvements in bionic technology and the greatly increased intelligence of the Wukong AI, the Clones could remotely pilot the Warships on the battlefield in real time from dedicated control rooms far behind the front lines.
Any data feedback from the Warships would be transmitted in real time to the battle control rooms, and relayed to the body and mind of every Clone.
Through Li Qingsong’s unified control, the reactions of each Clone could also be transmitted in real time back to the battlefield via Super-distance Communication.
Given that, what was the point of having Clones on the ships at all?
Since these were all Unmanned Warships, their maneuverability could be pushed as high as possible, as it would have no effect on the bodies of the Clones.
Furthermore, if a Warship was destroyed, the Clones’ control could be instantly transferred to a backup Warship, allowing them to pilot it and rejoin the battle.
Li Qingsong was almost certain that every Strong Core Civilization must use this mode of warfare. All the necessary technologies were in place, and the advantages of this model were simply too great.
That being the case, what reason would a Strong Core Civilization have not to use this method?
This was another huge difference between a Strong Core Civilization and an Electroweak Civilization. This difference would inevitably lead to a massive change in the nature of warfare.
Silently calculating the optimal tactics and strategies for this new mode of warfare, Li Qingsong sighed to himself, ’This way, a war between two Strong Core Civilizations of comparable technological level basically becomes a contest of industrial strength.
’After all, the warriors piloting the ships from the rear won’t be affected by the battle. So, whichever civilization has the stronger industrial power, able to build and deploy replacement Warships to the battlefield faster, will be the one to win the war.
’And... as it happens, industrial strength is my greatest specialty...’