Chapter 360: Chapter 359: Abundant Resources

Time passed swiftly; now it was the fourth year since the new civilization had stayed on this planet… The entire fleet could hardly wait to start preparing for the next voyage.

Four years, in comparison to the entire universe, was merely a fleeting moment, but to the humans in Kunlun Mountain, it was a considerable amount of time, long enough to accomplish many things.

At the beginning of the fourth year, approximately 110,000 people boarded “The Pelican,” a large transport ship, and left this star domain to return to their principal base. This population number was 10,000 less than anticipated.

Now, on the eve of their departure, the entire fleet had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Parts that were damaged due to war had been completely repaired, and people had added some new magnetic field generators to the exteriors, which, after one voyage, could achieve higher speeds and sustain longer distances.

At the same time, the internal defense measures had been thoroughly reorganized, and the weapons in the outer military corridors had been completely upgraded. These were not only automated defensive weapons but also some additional military strongholds, which could provide defense for a lengthy period should they encounter another communications blackout.

Especially, the entire network system had been divided into five levels of security.

Level 1 was the civilian network, Level 2 was the laboratory network, Level 3 was the military network, Level 4 was the emergency communications network, and Level 5 represented the Pangu Brain’s network system.

Each layer was isolated from the others, with very strict security measures.

On the other hand, as this tidying up neared its deadline, the various warehouses inside Kunlun Mountain were packed to the brim with material resources, gradually reaching saturation…

Zhang Yuan himself was terribly busy!

Seeing box after box of gold, platinum, and silver being transported up by the Space Elevator, all of them genuine high-purity products, he felt a miser’s peculiar thrill!

Humans… indeed are visual creatures, naturally attracted to these shiny objects.

Well, gold and silver have long ceased to be the so-called universal equivalents, but they are excellent industrial materials.

New humans can even afford to use silver to manufacture electrical wires. Although superconducting materials exist, ordinary wires still have their place when it comes to cost and reliability.

Not only Zhang Yuan, but ordinary citizens felt the same every time they saw the ceaseless flow of robots working beneath the Space Elevator and the boxes brimming with goods, their moods invariably lifted.

Especially since this planet, as a young planet, had an abundance of heavy element ores on its surface, far exceeding that of normal terrestrial planets.

The reason for this was… it was too young.

For example, Earth, in actuality, does not lack gold, silver, or platinum; how much gold does Earth possess?

Six trillion tons!

But how much has humanity extracted from Earth?

Very little, about 190,000 tons, a negligible one five hundred thousandth of the total.

This is because, as time passes, most of the heavy elements gradually sink deep into the core due to gravity.

Even as civilization approaches the level of a Level 3 Interstellar Civilization, it is impossible for humans to reach the deep core of Earth for gold.

Because Earth’s gold resources are scarce, people could only develop Mars and Mercury. Particularly Mercury, which is why it eventually became a mining planet and heavy industrial base within the Solar System Engineering System.

But this planet is different; due to its brief existence, many heavy metals have not yet had the time to sink to the core, and frequent volcanic eruptions are spewing minerals back to the surface.

Copious amounts of precious resources lay on the ground like garbage. Not taking this opportunity to gather some more would be a sin!

“Alas, Kunlun Mountain isn’t big enough, there’s no more tonnage. Even so, it’s not bad as it is now.” Zhang Yuan sighed with a worried expression, feeling like some greedy creature from a fantasy novel–a Giant dragon–wishing to survey these mountains of gold and silver all over again.

Now, as he inspected this large warehouse located in a zero-gravity vacuum zone, everyone wore Power Armor, and a few secretaries from the secretarial department recited various data incessantly.

“Our civilization doesn’t have a huge demand for gold; it’s mainly used in aerospace glass and personal jewelry, so the current reserve is 50,000 tons.”

“And these Uranium-235 raw materials, Hexafluoride Uranium, have all been refined and can be used in Fission Power Stations and the manufacturing of Radioactive batteries… Oh, and also for manufactured electromagnetic cannon shells. These electromagnetic guns produce fission explosions when they hit their targets, and create radioactive contamination, it’s better than nothing…”

“Our current stockpile is 120,000 tons.”

“The Helium-3 reserve is even larger, as it’s a primary nuclear fuel.”

Love of wealth is a natural human trait; these young secretaries, as they went on, inexplicably started to flush with excitement, as if they themselves were billionaires.

“…Oh, and here is Plutonium-239, a byproduct of breeder reactors, which can be used to make batteries. The reserve is roughly around 200 tons.”

Plutonium-239 comes from Uranium-238; it’s transformed by placing Uranium-238 in a reactor to absorb a neutron into Uranium-239, which then emits two negatively charged electrons, increasing the number of protons from 92 to 94, advancing two places in the periodic table, becoming Plutonium-239.

The need for these radioactive materials is not only for weapons but also for spaceship safety. Nuclear fusion is, after all, a complex energy source that becomes unusable with the slightest interference. Compared to that, nuclear fission is much simpler, and the existence of two power systems provides a more secure energy supply for spaceships.

“Basically, that’s what we have in these warehouses…”

After hearing these reports, Zhang Yuan was in a very good mood. Having inspected these material reserves, the last task was completed. Tomorrow, the Kunlun Mountain Fleet would set sail again, leaving behind this ownerless planet system.

Suddenly, something occurred to him, and he asked, “By the way, did those biologists find the most primitive life on this planet? They’ve been searching many volcanic craters, haven’t they? Surely they’ve made some discovery?”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but no,” replied Dr. Li Cheng. “Our drones took some soil samples from different volcanic craters, and we found some complex organic matter.”

“But upon examination, it’s still not real life. To truly evolve life, 400 million years is too short; it might need another seven or eight hundred million years.”