Chapter 306: Completely Squeezed Dry

The Variable Energy Shield had left a deep impression on Li Qingsong.

This unique Energy Shield Technology of the Harville Civilization may not have seemed all that effective against his Unified Force Field—it only reduced the warship destruction rate from 99% down to about 94%, a mere 5% effect. But one mustn’t forget the power of the Unified Force Field.

That was an ultimate attack that Li Qingsong had spent several hundred years accumulating. It cost the lives of 3.5 billion Clones and required him to leverage his own unique nature just to unleash. It was quite possibly a one-of-a-kind technique in the entire Milky Way Galaxy, perhaps even the entire Cosmos!

To increase the survival rate of a fleet’s warships by 5% against an ultimate attack that ordinary civilizations couldn’t even dream of… that was already impressive enough. In fact, it was nothing short of incredible.

‘If I mastered this Energy Shield Technology and applied it to my own warships, it would mean every single one of them would have an extra life.’

Besides, Li Qingsong had no need to use the Variable Energy Shield to resist his own Unified Force Field. He wouldn’t need to have the technology activate for his entire fleet at a single, fixed moment. Instead, he could trigger it whenever it was needed.

‘It could probably only be activated once, but think about it. On an interstellar battlefield, once an enemy warship is destroyed, it’s gone for good. But my ships, thanks to the Variable Energy Shield, could withstand a fatal blow and still have the ability to keep fighting. What a massive advantage that would be?’

‘It’s simply unimaginable.’

‘If I had possessed this Energy Shield Technology from the start, I’m confident I wouldn’t have even needed the Unified Force Field to gain a tactical advantage on the battlefield against the Harville-Mechanical Calamity Alliance.’

And now, this technology that even Li Qingsong coveted was laid out right before him.

Countless robots and Clones streamed in, securing every research institute, laboratory, Supercomputing Base, and data storage facility inside the numerous science vessels.

In total, there were over ten thousand research institutions related to the Variable Energy Shield.

And that was with the Harville Civilization’s main fleet having been severely damaged and an unknown number of their science vessels destroyed.

Li Qingsong estimated that before the battle, their number must have been at least 30,000.

Moreover, one mustn’t forget that after successfully developing the Variable Energy Shield, the Harville Civilization had already dismantled a large number of research institutions. Those that remained were merely for routine iteration and maintenance.

Back when the Harville Civilization marshaled all its resources to develop the Variable Energy Shield, the number of research institutions involved must have been in the hundreds of thousands!

Even Li Qingsong felt a profound sense of shock just imagining the scene: an entire civilization of over one hundred billion people, all their strategic efforts focused on this single technology; hundreds of thousands of research institutions; hundreds of millions, even billions, of researchers launching a concerted effort to study and conquer the problem.

Li Qingsong even believed that this single piece of technology was more valuable than the entire Harville Civilization.

‘Thankfully, thankfully, all of this is mine now.’

At Li Qingsong’s direction, all the chips containing data on the Variable Energy Shield were retrieved.

Each chip was only the size of a fingernail, yet its storage capacity was higher than even the most advanced storage chips Li Qingsong had ever manufactured.

And now, these chips filled an entire medium-sized transport ship, a testament to the complexity and sophistication of the technology.

Only after placing them in the core of his fleet, under the most stringent protection, did Li Qingsong finally breathe a sigh of relief.

‘Next comes the slow process of analyzing, learning, and attempting to manufacture it myself. But that’s a long-term project, so there’s no need to rush.’

With the data for the Variable Energy Shield transferred, the Harville Civilization had been thoroughly squeezed dry by Li Qingsong.

By now, the preliminary data collection on the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet was also complete.

Just as with the Harville Civilization, Li Qingsong had also harvested an immense amount of conventional technical data in the process.

Even though the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity was just an AI with an extremely weak ability to develop technology on its own, it had still managed to accumulate some gains over more than one hundred thousand years and through the extermination of numerous other civilizations.

The fact that the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity Fleet’s conventional cruising speed could reach 73% of the speed of light—even higher than that of the Harville Civilization—was clear proof of this.

This haul of conventional technical data was also enormous. But compared to the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity’s unique technology, it was all but worthless in Li Qingsong’s eyes.

It wasn’t that the conventional technical data wasn’t valuable; it was that this unique technology was far more so.

An intelligent AI nurtured on the very destiny of an entire Strong Core Civilization—just how powerful would its capabilities be!

This was an unprecedentedly powerful AI system, one that could utterly suppress even his Wukong AI in every respect—from fine-tuned control and logical deduction to grand strategy and more!

‘After I use the Red Dog AI as fodder for Wukong, Divine Craft, Jade Emperor, Nuwa, and my other AIs, just how far will my artificial intelligence system evolve?’

‘At that point, my industrial power will at least double, and the combat effectiveness of my Unmanned Combat System is bound to see a massive boost.’

‘When that time comes, if I face an ordinary, conventional Strong Core Level intelligent civilization, I might not even need to dispatch my manned fleet or rely on any biological intelligence at all. I could rely solely on my AIs to achieve a total victory, without letting a single ship escape.’

‘That was something even the Red Dog AI couldn’t do.’

‘When faced with a typical Strong Core intelligent civilization, it could probably only manage a defeat, not a total capture. And even that process required it to rely on the biological intelligence contributed by a vast number of slaves.’

‘But now, after my own AIs merge with Red Dog, it’s highly probable they could accomplish it.’

Facing the Supercomputer Mother Ship, its power supply now severed, Li Qingsong again dispatched a large number of Clones and robots to take away all the data and every line of code.

The mountain of storage chips was even larger than the haul from the Harville Civilization’s Variable Energy Shield project. Li Qingsong had to dispatch two entire medium-sized transport ships just to load it all.

With the chips loaded and the data collected, it was time for the final prize.

‘Of course, compared to the previous prizes, this one was somewhat insignificant. Still, every little bit counts, and it would be a waste not to take it.’

Li Qingsong opened the smart ships used to transport slaves and saw all sorts of bizarre alien life-forms with varied appearances and anatomies—nineteen different species in total.

The total number was over 60 billion.

When they saw Li Qingsong enter, the intelligent beings had no reaction at all. They didn’t even know to run, appearing to be completely numb.

Li Qingsong sighed softly, an involuntary wave of pity washing over him.

“If I didn’t have a few aces up my sleeve, my fate would probably have been even worse than yours.”

“Hmm… To be captured and brought here as slaves, your home civilizations probably don’t exist anymore.”

“From now on, you’ll follow me. At least with me, you won’t be mistreated, and your material conditions will be better. More importantly… I will give you everything except for independence from me. That includes your dignity.”

Accounting for their various survival needs, Li Qingsong quickly retrofitted some habitat ships and transported all 60-plus billion of the tormented intelligent beings away.

And so, the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity, the Black Mountain Civilization, had now also been thoroughly squeezed dry by Li Qingsong.