54: Harvest and Aftermath

"1.2 million tons of refined star stone ore..."

"Over 1,800 Galaxy Beast blood crystals. Oh, and there are two A-Class crystals. Not bad..."

"What is this... an Oran limited edition backpack... why is this here?"

Zhang Huaiyuan tossed it aside with a look of disdain and continued searching the largest storage room of the "Wind and Waves" Pirate Group.

"17 bearer credit cards from the Free Star Alliance, each with a face value of 10 million..."

"A total of 47 kilograms of precious jewelry..."

"A total of 12 extraordinary weapons..."

"Asroth, how are the checks on the other storage rooms going?"

"Master, a total of 11 storage rooms have been discovered, containing a total of 312 tons of various refined rare metals, various..."

"Stop. Let's do this: define the consumption required to manufacture one "voyager generation iii" series standard assault ship as 1 unit. That will be clearer."

Zhang Huaiyuan pondered for a moment and said.

It was fine for now, but in the future, when the sphere of influence grew and the quantity of various resources became uncountable, counting by tons would be too chaotic.

"Understood, Master. Beginning to re-calculate according to your requirements..."

"Rare metals total 15.6 units."

"Conventional series metals total 88.2 units."

"293 intact "fearless ii" series mechs, and 122 damaged ones."

"3,712 conventional firearm-type equipment..."

"..."

"We've struck it rich!"

Hearing Asroth's report, a smile couldn't help but appear on the corner of Zhang Huaiyuan's mouth.

Although he was certain that since the other party possessed a small fleet, they would definitely have stored some materials for repairing and modifying warships, he hadn't expected them to have accumulated so much.

It was enough to build 15 "voyager generation iii" series assault ships. This was the model previously used by the "Dark Destruction Legion" squad.

Although they were antiques phased out by the Empire 150 years ago, in terms of comprehensive performance, they were considered relatively outstanding among those commonly circulating in the outside world.

"It looks like we have our work cut out for us, Asroth."

"Always ready, Master."

"Huh... this evolution is indeed more intelligent than before."

Zhang Huaiyuan looked at the real-time response of the intelligent assistant, the smile on his lips widening, and he said:

"First, the expansion of the combat robot production workshop; add two more production lines. However, don't rush to start production immediately. Wait until I design a new plan."

Before, he was hampered by a shortage of materials and could only make do with modifications based on the old foundation. Now that he had money, he naturally wanted to create more advanced mech combat robots.

He still remembered the equipment used by the elites under Viscount Kane in the Imperial mining area; they killed ordinary A-Class Galaxy Beasts like cutting vegetables, and could even withstand three SS-Class Galaxy Beasts for a while by relying on Ion Shields.

"Secondly, we need to add three buildings: a Carbon-Based Lifeform Modification Laboratory, as well as a starship Production Center and an Extraordinary Weapon Research Center."

Zhang Huaiyuan pondered for a moment and continued:

"The latter two are not urgent. Put the first one at the highest priority. I will design the blueprints later and order all construction robots to put down their current work and complete this task with full effort."

"Understood, Master."

"Hmm... also a Waste Material Processing Plant, but my knowledge reserve in the area of energy conversion is not enough yet. Let's put it on the backup list for now."

Zhang Huaiyuan recalled the many damaged pieces of equipment and materials he had harvested and added.

If he could design a device that could convert various waste materials into high-quality energy stones or refine them into higher-quality materials, the resource utilization rate would be greatly improved.

"Recorded, Master. Would you like me to pre-screen some high-quality materials on energy conversion for you?"

"Hmm... sure, wait..."

Zhang Huaiyuan paused, suddenly remembering that he could fully use his ability to construct another field of study, which would give him clear goals to study.

He immediately activated his ability and silently recited: "Based on the knowledge I currently possess, construct a field of study. The ultimate goal is to achieve the mutual transformation of basic matter, and to minimize energy loss in the intermediate stages."

"I will name it 'Energy Studies'."

After doing all this, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he focused his mind on himself. Soon, the familiar panel appeared.

Skipping the information above, a new line of numbers appeared before his eyes.

Energy Studies: Current research progress 0.013% (Recommended literature: "Research on Renewable Energy," "Energy Conversion and Storage," and 3,789 other items of knowledge).

"It's even lower than the initial progress of Creatology..."

Zhang Huaiyuan shook his head, not surprised in his heart.

On one hand, his research in this area was not very deep; on the other hand, the transformation between the same substances was already difficult enough, let alone different substances—this was almost the domain of gods.

He even estimated that even if he mastered all the recommended literature, he would at most reach a progress of about 10%.

"Take it slow."

After synchronizing the required materials to Asroth one by one, Zhang Huaiyuan added a few more plans. After confirming there were no omissions, he entered the laboratory and began to work.

"So, the first item: Carbon-Based Lifeform Modification Laboratory design."

"Beginning..."

Twenty-eight days later.

A building hidden in the mountains was completed through the joint efforts of hundreds of construction robots.

It occupied an area of about 100,000 square meters and was thirty stories high.

Starting from the tenth floor, the structure of each floor was almost the same—filled with countless sealed containers filled with transparent liquid, and experimental compartments hidden to the side.

At this moment, on the 12th floor.

Human bodies were soaking in those containers. Their eyes were closed, and they were sleeping peacefully within them.

Most of them had incomplete bodies, and some were even missing half of their internal organs.

They were the members of the "Wind and Waves" Pirate Group.

Unlike the hot-blooded youths full of dreams in the "Lightning" squad, these pirates were all executioners with hands stained with blood, and some were even mentally deranged.

Zhang Huaiyuan naturally didn't dare to rely solely on neural monitors and micro-explosives to control them; he had to use more thorough methods.

"First... clear the original memories, keeping only the use of extraordinary abilities and parts of the Golden Star Sea memories..."

He operated the nano-scale mechanical platform to the side and began to delve into the other party's brain.

"Hippocampus... cerebral cortex... amygdala..."

Zhang Huaiyuan activated "True Sight" and carefully peeled away and cleared all unwanted memories.

Originally, this would have been impossible because the various memories were intertwined too tightly; wanting to selectively delete and retain them was simply a fantasy.

However, the ability of True Sight made all of this possible.

"OK, it's completely cleared. Next is to implant new memories."

"Edit a fake story..."

"Orphan... trained from childhood... infusion of purpose for existence... reinforce memories through visual, auditory, situational, and other aspects..."

"Simulate human production environment... recreate the process from birth to growth... strengthen sense of identity"

"Asroth, build a data model to simulate and look for any loopholes."

"A perfect plan, Master. Your wisdom is astonishing."

"Very good."

Zhang Huaiyuan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and reached out to lock the newly edited "memory file."

"So... begin upload."