Blue Mercury is 20,000 kilometers away in orbit in space.

Space city.

The first settlement zone, within the temporary nature of the Royal Palace.

It took Levi two or three days to get used to the gravity of Blue Mercury, which is only half as large as Blue Mercury.

Otherwise, it's basically the same as on the ground, not much different.

There is also a more awkward place: because the settlement zone is a ring structure with a diameter of 100 kilometers and a width of only 500 meters, the curvature of the surface is very high, and the ground bends greatly, and I always feel that I live at the bottom of the U-shaped zone, which is very uneven.

To put it more figuratively, it is as if a hamster lives in a roller, and the vision in front of him is curved.

What used to be a wide field of vision, now it is gone.

Although the starry sky around is more dazzling and brilliant.

In addition, the acquisition of some daily necessities is not as convenient as on the ground.

Overall, it's definitely more comfortable and convenient to live on Blue Mercury.

But after lowering the quality requirements in a few aspects, Levi gradually got used to it, and the thought in his heart that it would be better to return to Blue Mercury for a while.

……

October 15th.

Dressed in a protective suit, Levi made rounds around the various functional areas of the space city.

No. 1 Farming Plant.

In the microgravity environment, the transparent cylindrical water pipes are flowing with nutrient solutions containing all the nutrients, and then through the tiny permeable pores on the surface, green plants grow one after another.

After three expansions, the number of "standard growth chambers" with a length of 18 meters and a width of 5 meters has increased to a total of 2,095, with an average of 2 staff members per growth chamber and astronauts providing related services, and nearly 5,000 humans serving the agricultural construction of the space city.

And don't look at the internal volume of each "standard growth chamber", it is only 450 cubic meters, and the effective use of space is about 400 cubic meters, but the agricultural output of such a "standard growth chamber" is at least equivalent to three acres of land on the surface.

Even whatever is grown, the unit yield is higher in the "standard growth chamber".

In the case of rice, a single standard growing chamber grows more than 4 tonnes of paddy over a period of 12 months, which is enough to feed 20 people.

That is, on average, 10 kilograms of rice can be grown in one year.

The legendary myth of 10,000 catties per mu has become a reality in the space farm.

Why is it so exaggerated?

An agricultural expert surnamed Song explains why:

"One, in the microgravity environment of outer space, plants have reduced a lot of unnecessary energy consumption, increased the rate of cell division by 20%, and the growth rate is 25% faster than on the ground, and they can grow a variety of rice crops every year."

"Second, we let the rice grow in an indoor space, provide sufficient light every day, carry out 24-hour photosynthesis, and the five-meter-high inner space can be planted with five layers, and the growth density is five times that of the flat space."

"Finally, the environment in the standard growth room is completely sterile and clean, the nutrient solution provided is comprehensive, the elements must be sufficient, there are no viruses and bacteria competing for the nutrition of rice, there is no occurrence of pests and diseases, and the selection is a high-yield rice variety, harvesting and sowing at least four seasons a year."

"So under the multiple advantageous factors, our standard rice growth room can produce 4 tons of rice a year."

"It's just that the only thing that is not so good is that the taste and texture of the rice are worse than the rice produced on the surface, it does not taste particularly fragrant, and it is not sticky and elastic enough after steaming...... The taste is indeed weaker. ”

"And greens, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, pumpkins...... And some fruits are ripe, there is a similar situation, but the overall feeling is not particularly different, they can all be eaten and eaten slowly. ”

Listened to the words of Expert Song.

Levi nodded, it was indeed not too demanding, as long as he could fill his stomach and provide enough nutrition.

"How many space migrants can our 'farming factory' meet at present, and how many food needs of the migrants will be allowed to be fully supplied in the event of a complete loss of ground supplies?"

"A 'standard growth chamber' of the ration type can provide the food needs of about 20 people, a 'standard growth chamber' of the vegetable type can provide the vegetable needs of about 30 people, and a fruit type of growth chamber can provide the fruit needs of about 20 people...... As for the space fish farm for fish farming and the artificial meat factory for growing meat, they are under development and construction, and the technology is not yet fully mature, and it mainly relies on imports from Blue Mercury. ”

"So for the time being, excluding fish and meat, and feeding a space immigrant, you need at least 0.13 'standard growth chambers'."

"At present, we have a total of 2,095 standard growth chambers, which can only support a maximum of 16,000 space migrants."

And that's not even counting the consumption of cooking oil, as well as cash crops such as cotton, which are used in the production of clothing...... If these are also self-sufficient, our space farm at this stage can meet the needs of about 10,000 space migrants at most. ”

"That is, a standard growth room, barely solving the problem of food and clothing for five immigrants, that is, an average household population, a standard growth room is needed."

"Therefore, at present, our space city only allows immigrants from 2,095 households for the time being!"

"If at least 3 million humans are to be resettled in the future, we will have to prepare more than 600,000 'standard growth chambers'...... That's an incredibly large amount of work. ”

600,000?

Levi shook his head, much, that's too much, and it's not very convenient to take away, making him a little big.

"Expert Song, there are also large areas of grassland and open space in the settlement zone of the space city, if those grasslands and open spaces are reasonably used, planted with fruit trees and wheat, assuming that 30% of the area is covered, can some standard growth rooms be saved?" Levi asked.

"This can save a lot, equivalent to an increase of more than one million acres of arable land, enough to meet the survival needs of 1 million space residents, the number of standard growth rooms, will be reduced to 400,000, if the residents in the settlement zone, raise some pigs, sheep, not only can solve part of the meat supply, sheep wool, is also a good clothing raw materials, and at least save tens of thousands of standard growth rooms." Song expert said.

"Okay!"

Levi thought for a moment and said, "It's a bit too troublesome to bring so many standard growth rooms, so let's start with me, in my palace, raise some domestic pigs and sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, try to improve the utilization of space, and call on other residents to follow suit." ”

"Your Majesty is wise, this is a very good example."

Expert Song said with a respectful bow.

Of course, for the construction of the remaining nearly 400,000 "standard growth chambers".

Levi thought for a while, and said to the housekeeper next to him, Bowen: "400,000 is indeed a bit too much, Bowen, you go and design an 'agricultural spaceship' with an independent power system and an internal volume of more than 16,000 cubic meters, such an agricultural spaceship, as long as 10,000 are enough, which not only ensures that the agricultural output is sufficient, but also ensures that it has the ability to be flexible and maneuverable." ”

"No problem, Your Majesty!"

The housekeeper Bowen nodded, slightly operating the optical quantum chip in his brain, and found that this task is not difficult, the 16,000 cubic meter agricultural spacecraft with the power system is about 100 meters long X 20 meters wide X 10 meters high, and the weight will not exceed 2,000 tons, and he already has hundreds of sets of design plans in his mind.

……

Inspections of the agricultural system have been completed.

Levi also went to inspect the power system.

That is, to visit the "power factory" on the outermost edge of the space city, which resembles a round petal.

At present, 12 such power generation plants have been built, each providing an average of 500,000 KW of power generation, a total of 6 million KW.

Such a huge amount of power generation is not only completely sufficient at present, but even has some redundancy, and has to use the method of turning on the axial ion engine to consume excess electricity, and at the same time offset the reverse thrust generated by the light pressure of the giant solar power generation panel in the process of power generation.

In fact, this thrust is not particularly large, but if there is no force to counteract, the entire space city will slowly accelerate to the level of 1m/s in the future, and it is possible to be pushed to the outer edge of the star system.

Therefore, at the end of the core axis of the space city, the ion engine is always on.

Of course, if necessary, the axis ion engine can increase the engine power by dozens or hundreds of times, plus the auxiliary engines set up everywhere, the entire space city can be accelerated, can get out of the orbit of Blue Mercury, and go to Mars or other planets in three or five years to develop the resources of other planets in the star system...... Flexibility is very high.

Therefore, this space city is also equivalent to a "resource development system" in interstellar space, which brings great convenience.

Furthermore.

In terms of power system, the surface of the transparent protective cover of the 24 settlement zones (or rings) of the space city, in order to reduce the intensity of light, is also coated with a layer of power generation material, which has about 20% absorption effect on sunlight and converts it into electricity, which can also emit more than millions of kilowatts of electrical energy, and the total power generation of the entire space city is more than 10 million kilowatts.

Almost as small as a nuclear fusion reactor.

On the contrary, the issue of energy has become the least necessary to worry about and consider.

Even where fusion reactors are to be used, large industrial ships are to be used, or future starships are to be used.

But that will be at least years later.

After all, the primary industrial spaceship that Levi needs so much is still lying in that rudimentary space dock, and the construction progress is only 33.5%, and it will be completed in at least 30 months.

I silently thought about it in my head.

Levi muttered to himself:

"It will take at least three years to build, decorate and improve the space city......"

"The recruitment and screening of immigrants and the subsequent cultivation of high-quality talents also require a lot of time and energy."

"It is estimated that it will take three years for the primary industrial ship to provide a portion of the primary industrial product."

"And the space dock is also a giant project equivalent to half of a space city, and it also takes a lot of time to perfect."

"When the space city is structurally and functionally complete, and all the settlers are in place, the space dock is complete, and the construction of the first starship begins...... It will take at least five years to get to that point, at least. ”

That is, even if you have moved to space.

It would be five years before Levi could officially rebuild a force of his own and regain possession of the starship...... Even the F-class warships with the lowest combat effectiveness.

Only then will he be truly "safe", at least within this star system, he does not need to guard against and worry about the threat of any force.

"There will be another five years of step-by-step development!"

Levi shook his head helplessly, but unfortunately he didn't have a "time fast forwarder" in front of him, if there really was, he would really want to press fast forward and run these progress bar-like times in an instant.

But this is clearly impossible.

We can only guard against arrogance and rashness, and develop patiently.

……

The entire circle around the area was inspected.

Rivi, who had a rough idea in mind, returned to the temporary palace.

So...... What's next?

Naturally, you can play when you need to play, and relax when you need to relax.

Levi also found something to do that would consume a lot of time and be quite meaningful.

Dedicated recreation room.

Lying in the comfort of the pod and donning a custom-made virtual helmet, Levi routinely entered the game.

……

Inside Tectonic World.

In the far east, on an island of one million square kilometers in the middle of the endless ocean.

Over time, the island has changed quite dramatically.

Plant.

In the central and western parts of the island, there are large areas of vegetation, including green meadows, tall palm plants, and a variety of flowering plants.

And in the middle of these covered vegetation areas, a higher terrain.

Standing immensely stands a huge castle of stalactite white.

The height of the castle spire is at least more than 300 meters, the main body covers an area of more than 10,000 acres, and almost every corner has some complicated and simple patterns, as well as solemn and solemn sculptures.

Fountains, stone pillar promenades, circular flower beds, slate paths...... It's everything.

Every corner is filled with the beauty of the combination of design and art.

This giant castle is the royal palace of the Dark Empire, where Levi once lived for decades.

Although it is unlikely that he will return to the Dark Empire and live in the palace that he dreams of in the middle of the night, it does not prevent him from creating an identical palace in the game "Construct World", where he can store some of his inner thoughts and emotions.

Rivi's figure had just appeared in the large square of the palace vestibule.

Then.

Two crisp and excited voices came from my ears.

Two handsome women dressed in dresses ran towards him.

"Your Majesty, today I planted 50 acres of violets in the back garden of the palace and got a violet garden out, you can accompany me to take a look, it's really beautiful!"

"Your Majesty, I filled the three large pools in the back garden with water, and the one with the highest terrain put a lot of water into it, so that the eighteen fountains in the middle and lower reaches can continue to spray water for a week, which is also very beautiful."