49: Chapter 49 Development

Immediately after, Xia Xingchen looked at his points.

However, Xia Xingchen's target for a minimum reserve of points was one hundred million.

Xia Xingchen knew very well that he had to either excavate some valuable minerals or go and wipe out Chaos forces.

The problem was that his manpower had been completely squeezed dry:

Saint Sabat was leading the Holy War Army, sweeping away the remaining Burning Cult on the continent.

Nuwa and Leovitos were pushing forward with the construction projects of the Hive City world.

And of the 150,000 people on the warship, nearly 70,000 had already been deployed to the surface to assist.

The remaining 80,000 people had to maintain the daily maintenance and operation of the dream star, and no more people could be spared.

So from this perspective, what he lacked most was still population!

What a headache!

Xia Xingchen looked at the planet's population, which was truly too small. If all else failed, an idea popped into his mind: what if he borrowed some people from the Empire?

Xia Xingchen's gaze turned toward those hostile Governors in the starry sky, calculating in his heart.

If I rely on my warship, could I pull off a quick sneak attack on them, plunder some population, and then immediately run away?

The Drukhari often did exactly that.

Xia Xingchen calculated in his mind, then pulled out a pen and did some simple rough calculations on paper.

No, it won't work at all. The core issue is still the severe lack of population; I can't spare enough troops to implement this plan.

All the transport ships and engineering ships on his warship were being used to transport supplies.

There was no other way; I don't have a spaceport or an orbital elevator, so I simply can't transport supplies and various facilities on a large scale.

While Xia Xingchen was thinking, there was a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in."

As soon as Xia Xingchen spoke, a guard pushed open the door.

"My Lord, all the proposal books you requested have been delivered."

The guard immediately placed a stack of white papers in front of Xia Xingchen.

Good grief, I finally understand how those noble lords of the Empire could actually be worked to death by paperwork.

"This one is the white paper for the government framework construction, and the other is the summary report white paper for the exploration of Lanshan Planet."

As the guard spoke, he pulled two table of contents from the high stack of white papers and handed them to Xia Xingchen, placing them on top.

Looking at the table of contents which was almost as thick as a pinky finger, Xia Xingchen let out a wail in his heart.

A trace of despair suddenly arose in Xia Xingchen's heart. After comforting himself for a long while, he finally braced himself and began to read the contents.

The content of the government framework was basically no different from the Empire. Except for the Inquisition and the Officio Assassinorum, which he couldn't form, alternatives could basically be found for everything else.

Additionally, the National Academy of Sciences he had specifically added had also been included, publicly claimed to be for clerical and organizational work.

In reality, they were conducting the top-tier technological research and development within Xia Xingchen's faction.

To be safe, Xia Xingchen would need to find Blackstone for them in the future, or arrange for Blanks to resist potential Warp corruption.

Next, the content of the second white paper was about the basic information of Lanshan Planet.

This included the detailed distribution of continents, population, geographical features, and economic levels.

Xia Xingchen focused his attention on the distribution of the continents.

There were three continents on Lanshan Planet.

The largest and main one, the North Continent, was located in the northern hemisphere, while the south consisted of the remaining two small continents.

The poles of Lanshan Planet were vast, boundless oceans.

Very similar to Ancient Terra, both poles were covered in thick layers of ice.

Obviously, the main areas of human activity should be on the North Continent and the two southern continents, but according to the intelligence gathered from exploration, except for the North Continent where there was human activity, the other two continents were empty.

Something's not right, this is very wrong.

Although Xia Xingchen was full of doubts, he didn't have enough manpower to investigate the two continents right now, so he could only focus the construction on the main continent.

What he needed most now was time.

In the following months, Xia Xingchen finally devoted all his attention to infrastructure construction.

The Hive City Builder STC Template was running at full speed. (That's what the Iron Heart Society called it.)

Excellent technicians put resources allocated from the warship, as well as resources disassembled from that battlecruiser underground, all into the Hive City Builder.

In just five short hours, a building appeared before everyone.

A five-story building covering an area of 2,500 square meters and 10 meters high, with a total living area of about 10,000 square meters.

Calculated at low density, this building could accommodate 1,000 people, with everyone getting at least a three-bedroom apartment.

Furthermore, this construction system could simultaneously build infrastructure such as water purification plants and power stations.

For a time, the entire Holy City was almost tearing down houses on one side while building houses on the other.

Initially, the people in the Holy City were dissatisfied and skeptical about having their houses torn down.

So Xia Xingchen had the builder quickly set up a five-story model building on an empty lot, equipped with water and electricity, directly raising people's living standards to the level of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Once the medieval residents of the Holy Mountain City used hot water, electric lights, and warm housing for the first time, everything became much easier.

Many people simply abandoned their own houses and moved into the apartments collectively.

Xia Xingchen also dispatched specialized instructors to teach them how to use the various facilities.

Many young people learned very quickly; they practically ran into the modern era.

During this period, Saint Sabat also returned with her army.

The incorporated troops and the prisoners of the Burning Cult were all converted into Servitors and put into the massive infrastructure project.

Six months later, the Hive City on the surface of Lanshan Planet had begun to take shape.

Looking down from the sky, a huge ring had been established around the mountain peak.

Like a mysterious crop circle, the center point was the Holy Mountain, spreading out for thousands of kilometers around it.

Xia Xingchen divided the areas by rings, totaling four rings. The outermost was the first ring, reserved for future construction of defensive facilities.

The second ring consisted of factory facilities built using materials dismantled from the Imperial warships.

Xia Xingchen planned to use the factories here to produce all the lifestyle products needed for the Hive City, as well as some military equipment.

The third ring was the residential area.

The fourth ring was the main passage connecting the future Middle Hive and Lower Hive of the Hive City. It mainly housed the government agencies of the Hive City and various core facilities.

Xia Xingchen also built a massive Gothic cathedral for Saint Sabat, located within the fourth ring, and gathered all the priests there.

When the priests saw such a magnificent cathedral, all their previous dissatisfaction vanished into thin air.

Xia Xingchen intended to abolish all other cathedrals in other regions and leave only this one core cathedral. Many priests had been dissatisfied in their hearts, but at this moment, when the cathedral of myth appeared before them, all dissatisfaction was thrown to the back of their minds.

Just as Xia Xingchen was carrying out construction on Lanshan Planet with full fervor...

At the Mandenville Point, about thirty astronomical units away from this star system, the spatial fluctuations were gradually stabilizing. (Mandenville Point can be understood as the minimum distance from which a ship can safely enter or exit the Warp without interference from the gravity of stars or other celestial bodies.)