157: Chapter 157 Exchanging Blueprints for the Lunar Base

"Did they say what kind of anomaly it was?" Chu Ge muttered to himself. "It couldn't be that they found aliens, right? That would be disastrous; we'd be pinned down at our own doorstep before even heading out."

"My tech tree isn't fully developed yet. With our current technological level, going up there would just be a suicide mission."

Because of the existence of the Military-Industrial System, Chu Ge's way of thinking had involuntarily begun to lean toward these higher civilizations.

"It should be an anomaly in the distribution of certain metallic mineral belts. I'm not entirely sure about the specifics. You'll find out tomorrow when the comrades from the Aerospace Institute arrive." Academician Chen didn't notice Chu Ge's furrowed brow and continued speaking calmly.

Chu Ge breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that. It was fine; as long as it wasn't a scenario like in sci-fi movies where the Earth was being ravaged in various ways, everything was manageable.

"Alright, we'll wait until they arrive tomorrow. By the way, Old Chen, thank you for your help regarding my mother's leg ailment." Chu Ge remembered the matter of the orthopedic expert and hurried to thank Academician Chen.

Academician Chen waved his hand. "Xiao Chu, these things are really not worth mentioning. The country will do its best to take care of talents like you who have made special contributions to the nation, especially regarding your personal lives, such as medical care for immediate family members, schooling, and so on. You don't need to take this to heart."

Chu Ge nodded, and after the two chatted for a while longer, Chu Ge took his leave.

He returned to his office and first organized his thoughts. The groundbreaking ceremony for the shipyard was set for National Day. Taking advantage of the festive atmosphere of the nationwide celebration, it could be considered a birthday gift for the motherland.

For the military system, this was quite normal. The launching or delivery ceremonies for some breakthrough or symbolically significant fighter jets, warships, and the like would be chosen for special days, with National Day and Army Day being the most common.

As for what remained, Chu Ge felt it was time to start laying out the plan for the Lunar Base.

"System Big Brother, how many Honor Points are required for interstellar base construction?"

[The retrieval program shows that the information regarding interstellar base construction is graded. Among them, the S-rank is divided into two types: the first is a land-based regional interstellar base, and the second is a satellite-style aerial fortress interstellar base.]

"Pass on the aerial fortress for now; it's not needed at the moment."

[Then there are two types left: the first one mentioned above, and an SSS-rank one. Forget it, the system finds that an introduction is useless; the host's Honor Points are far too low.]

Chu Ge glanced at his Honor Points balance—16,000. This was still far too low? He felt that spending 10,000 Honor Points for the entire set of the aerospace carrier was already ridiculous enough. Was there an even bigger boss behind it?

However, the SSS-rank rating made him feel a bit restless. An entity of this rating had appeared in the Military-Industrial System for the first time.

"You should still introduce it. Who knows, I might strike it rich tomorrow?"

Chu Ge said shamelessly.

[The SSS-rank interstellar base also has another name: Colonial Planet Transformation Project. Its core is to analyze the geological structure, atmospheric composition, and cosmic environment of an unknown planet, and simulate an ecological environment suitable for a species' survival based on its needs.]

[Since the transformation involves the entire planet, even without counting the system's technical data support, the basic construction phase requires an extremely high level of technology. Apologies, but with your planet's current technological level, it is simply impossible.]

The system repeatedly poured cold water on Chu Ge.

Chu Ge ignored the system and opened his mouth wide in excitement. It could even do that? Holy crap, this sounds explosive. Hardships like unsuitable environments for survival are perfectly solved.

This means we can migrate to any planet at will; living on Mars is no longer a dream. Chu Ge was on the verge of clapping and cheering.

[Finally, the SSS-rank interstellar base requires 100,000 Honor Points.]

"One hundred thousand? That's... that's not expensive!" Chu Ge had not yet emerged from his Mars dream.

[The consumption of Honor Points is secondary; the main requirement is a matching technological level.]

Chu Ge finally snapped out of it and secretly cursed the system in his heart. This fellow had no sense of romance at all, not even letting him dream for a while.

"Fine, what you said makes sense. How many Honor Points does that S-rank land-based interstellar base require?"

[5,000 points.]

"It's much cheaper, but this is just like a nanny's quarters; it can't even compare to that SSS-rank one."

[...]

"Redeem it!"

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully redeeming the S-rank land-based interstellar base construction blueprint. The complete set of technical data has been issued; please check it. Friendly reminder: the host's remaining Honor Points: 11,000 points.]

Chu Ge glanced at it and expressed no objection; this was all he had left. Then he began to browse through some of the technical data for the base.

After reading for several hours, Chu Ge rubbed his head. The overall planning was quite complex, not much simpler than the aerospace carrier.

The main living and experimental area consisted of several major systems: the Life Support System, the VR Earth Virtual Environment System, the Gravitational Wave Gravity Maintenance System, and the Ecological Supply System. There were also other smaller systems such as the Energy Supply System, the Base Auxiliary Robot System, and Computerized Automatic Control. Chu Ge was quite familiar with these, so he didn't pay them much attention.

Then there was the supporting industrial base, which involved a series of technological processes such as mining, transportation, purification, separation, and synthesis. If broken down further, Chu Ge felt it could form an entire industrial chain.

This was just the process for one type of energy material, Helium-3. If the mining of other heavy metals were included, the aforementioned technological processes would likely increase significantly.

Chu Ge smiled gratifiedly. This deal wasn't a loss. Although it didn't look like much now, once this industrial base was completed, resources could be extracted continuously. Wouldn't the silver come rolling in by the ton?

...

Just like that, Chu Ge fell asleep with dreams of tons of silver.

The next day, after finishing breakfast, Chu Ge arrived at Academician Chen's office early.

"Old Chen, before the comrades from the Space Bureau arrive, I have a synthetic chemical compound that I need your help with. Just like last time, have the experts in biological genes help out."

As Chu Ge spoke, he handed over the prepared materials. It was his Intermediate Gene Medicine formula. With his first experience, Chu Ge felt quite familiar with the process this time.

"Alright, after we finish our discussion, I'll arrange for someone to send it over." Academician Chen packed the file folder and turned to look at Chu Ge.

"On National Day, construction on the Aerospace Aircraft Carrier will officially begin. Are all the data and blueprints ready?"

"They're ready. In the next couple of days, I'll arrange for a special vehicle and personnel to transport them. We'll provide the data in segments as we build; the rest will still be kept in our Research Institute's security warehouse."

"Hmm, that's very thoughtful."