Chapter 310: Massive Construction

Back when he had first captured the Blutuk People, Li Qingsong had already made up his mind. Although capturing more types of intelligent life would aid his own technological development, he would never initiate an attack on an uninvolved intelligent civilization to capture its population—the only exceptions being those who held malicious intent towards him, such as the Blutuk and Harville.

This was a principle Li Qingsong held to as a human being.

Now, these Yunluo People had joined Human Civilization due to indirect circumstances. They posed no threat to him, and with over twenty races already under his command, adding one more made little difference.

And so, Li Qingsong made his decision.

Of course, since there was a possibility the Yunluo People might leave Human Civilization in the future, Li Qingsong would not allow them access to core secrets or critical jobs during their time here. Their treatment would also be slightly different.

Li Qingsong would only treat them as equals if the Yunluo People resolved to forever submit to humanity, promising not to leave even if they encountered their home civilization.

Li Qingsong had originally thought this was just a small matter, but he never expected that this promise would trigger a series of events.

Good events, of course.

The intelligent beings from the twenty other races, excluding the Yunluo Race, each felt a certain melancholy about the matter.

Their twenty civilizations, including those of the Blutuk and Harville, had been completely wiped from the Vast Cosmos. They could never return.

Thus, they couldn’t help but feel a bit of envy toward the Yunluo People.

‘You at least still have a sliver of hope, but our fate is forever bound to Human Civilization. We can never be separated.’

‘However, the fact that the humans were willing to make such a promise was enough to demonstrate the benevolence and goodwill of Human Civilization. Being bound to such a kind civilization means our future likely won’t be bad. We might as well just accept our fate.’

Imperceptibly, every race’s loyalty to Li Qingsong and to humanity rose once more, and their work efficiency improved slightly.

As for the Yunluo People, they were so moved by this promise that they embraced and wept, their resolve to contribute to Human Civilization strengthening even further.

Time continued to pass quietly, and in what felt like an instant, decades had passed. Li Qingsong’s massive fleet finally reached its destination, mooring in this brand-new Star System.

The main star of this Star System was a red dwarf, smaller than the Sun. It was a very common and unremarkable type of star in the Cosmos.

But even for a red dwarf, its “smallness” was only relative to other stars. In fact, its mass was still hundreds of times greater than Jupiter’s. A full six major planets orbited under its control.

In addition, there were also numerous dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets.

This red dwarf was older than the Sun, already over seven billion years old. But unlike the Sun, which was now “middle-aged,” this star was still in the early stages of its life cycle—a mere child, so to speak.

This is because a Stellar lifespan is inversely proportional to its mass.

The greater the mass, the shorter the lifespan. The most massive blue giants can have lifespans as short as a few million years.

The Sun has a lifespan of about 10 billion years, while this red dwarf’s could reach as high as 100 billion years.

When the Cosmos eventually ends and heat death descends, the last stars left shining will undoubtedly be the red dwarfs.

Here, around this long-lived star, Li Qingsong once again launched a massive construction effort.

Following a strict “environmental protection” policy to avoid any externally visible changes, factory after factory sprang up, and a vast fleet of space transports once again began shuttling through the starry expanse.

This time, the objectives of Li Qingsong’s construction project were simple and clear.

First, to build another Flying Star to serve as provisions for the long journey ahead.

Second, to completely overhaul and refit the existing fleet, and to increase the number of Warships to four million.

There were only these two objectives.

Normally, civilizations do not take too many Warships on long-range interstellar journeys. This is because the more you carry, the more resources you consume.

A Flying Star is a supply depot and can be made massive, but Warships are nothing but resource consumers during a voyage.

Even the former Intelligent Mechanical Calamity rarely traveled with a large number of Warships unless it had a clear strategic objective; it would manufacture them on-site after reaching a Star System.

But Li Qingsong was different. Adhering to the principle of caution, he would rather endure a more troublesome journey with more frequent resupply stops than fail to maintain his combat power at its peak, ready to handle any unforeseen incidents.

Thus, Space-Air Carriers designed to transport Warships and Large Transport Ships for carrying common goods began to stream out of the factories, one after another, like parts on an assembly line.

At a point in space free from the Gravity of any major planets, another Flying Star was already taking shape.

For now, it had a radius of only 20 kilometers. But as transport ship after transport ship arrived, and as a torrent of energy and material supplies converged on it like rivers flowing into the sea, it began to grow rapidly.

「Over a century later.」

Li Qingsong finally completed his last task before departure.

Before him now was a fleet of unprecedented scale.

A total of four million Warships, along with various small and medium-sized civilian, industrial, scientific, and shuttle craft, were all neatly secured to massive Space-Air Carriers.

A single one of these Space-Air Carriers was 20 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide.

A single Space-Air Carrier could carry 10,000 Warships or other types of vessels.

Thus, there were 500 Space-Air Carriers dedicated solely to transporting other ships.

Li Qingsong had also constructed another 500 giant Space-Air Carriers for transporting industrial goods, equipment, and other supplies.

For housing, Li Qingsong had also developed a new generation of high-capacity residential ships.

This type of residential ship was 10 kilometers long with a 10-kilometer diameter, giving it over 300 square kilometers of usable internal surface area.

Furthermore, Li Qingsong had implemented a multi-level design, causing the usable area to skyrocket tenfold to 3,000 square kilometers.

With a total population of 110 billion, including all races and Clones, and with each residential ship capable of holding a maximum of 2 million people, Li Qingsong had built a full 60,000 of them.

One thousand giant Space-Air Carriers, 60,000 giant residential ships, millions of Warships, and the rest of the vessels comprised this fleet of unprecedented size.

Beyond all that, there was one final, most crucial component of the fleet.

The Flying Star!

This new Flying Star that Li Qingsong had produced was even larger than the one previously built by the Intelligent Mechanical Calamity. Its radius reached a staggering 150 kilometers!