Xiao Yi had this thought, and immediately began to pay extra attention to the reflection nearby, and after a while, she found more than a dozen gem-like crystals of all sizes, but none of them were common colors on the earth.

At this time, Shaoguang finally cut a corner from the boulder, but when he picked up the fallen stone corner, he was stunned all of a sudden.

The laser cut surface was a melted glass-like irregular surface, and Hou Shaoguang quickly wiped this large stone more than one person high, and as a result, the stone chips on the surface fell in waves, revealing a mirror-like smooth surface at the end.

Hou Shaoguang was dumbfounded: "Xiao Yi-"

"Hey, what's wrong?" Xiao Yi hurriedly jumped over, looked in the direction that Hou Shaoguang was pointing, and stared at him in shock, "What's the matter?" Is this place a gem mine? ”

The stone that was sampled by Hou Shaoguang was a huge gem more than one person high.

"What should I do, do you want to move this back?" Xiao Yi reluctantly stared at the gem and refused to take her eyes off.

Hou Shaoguang felt that it was inappropriate to do this, and he couldn't bear to refuse Xiao Yi, so he held back for a long time before sighing and saying, "Let's ask for instructions, the bridge ......."

"Alright, I know the way." Ye Fei kept watching, "That stone can't run away, let it go, complete the task first, if there is no danger, before we leave, everyone will go to that asteroid to find a treasure." ”

Cutting off people's money is like killing their parents, Ye Fei is not a rigid old pedant, Xiao Yi picked up more than a dozen in the blink of an eye, and the gems on the asteroid must be grabbed, what's wrong with making the soldiers under him happy?

Cutting off people's money is like killing their parents, Ye Fei is not a rigid old pedant. Xiao Yi picked up more than a dozen in the blink of an eye, and the gems on the asteroid must have been grabbed, what's wrong with making the soldiers under him happy?

Maybe in the future this place will become a huge gem mine, and how much more can the warriors take? Think of it as a perk for discovering gem mines.

Ye Fei didn't take it to heart at all, but after the news came out, the reaction of the officers and men of the whole ship was extremely enthusiastic, the male soldiers valued the value of gemstones, and the female soldiers naturally liked shiny things, and couldn't help but look forward to the future treasure hunt.

"Great!" Xiao Yi jumped and jumped with joy, if it weren't for the heavy protective clothing she was wearing. Jump and fly up seven or eight meters high.

She has already picked up a dozen gems. Next, you can "use the public for personal gain" for a while, and you can come back a second time in the future, how much will you gain before and after?

She had already begun to plan how to apply for retirement after returning to the solar system, and then sold the gems and lived like a pig and finished sleeping. Sleep and eat a good life.

Hou Shaoguang didn't have so many ideas. Still meticulous in completing the task.

More than half an hour later. The two engineers, who had collected two boxes of samples, returned to the engineering ship, where they were received by others and analyzed in detail using specialized instruments.

The engineering ship flew away from the marked asteroid. Another larger asteroid was found, and Hou Shaoguang and Xiao Yi landed again, repeating the process just now.

What is surprising is that this time Xiao Yi once again found a large number of crystals that looked like gems, which was unbelievable, but all this was just the beginning, the engineering ship randomly selected sixteen asteroids in the asteroid belt, and as a result, a large number of gems were found on each asteroid, and everyone including Ye Fei was dumbfounded.

If only one or two asteroids find gems, it can be said that they have found ore veins, but all asteroids are like this, and it can't help but make people wonder.

However, this is a supernova remnant, and in the past, it was only speculated that the supernova explosion would produce a large amount of gems.

Thinking of this, it is not surprising that after the engineering maintenance ship completed the sampling work, the Aquila left the asteroid belt and flew to the planet on the inner side of the asteroid belt.

The two planets owned by the neutron star are not large, the one on the outer part of the orbit is red as a whole, and the poles are blue-black bald spots, which are tentatively named red stars.

The radius of the red star is about the same as that of Mars, it is an extremely inhospitable terrestrial planet, and through the preliminary detection of ground penetrating radar, it was found that the mass of the red star is very large, which means that the metal content in the red star is extremely high, and it contains a large amount of precious metal deposits.

However, the specific reserves and types need to be determined through detailed landing examinations.

Because the engineering ship did not have the conditions to land on the planet, this time the task could only be completed by the assault team, and the four assault landing ships were dispatched together to land at different locations on the red star, and carried out a detailed investigation of several locations that were most likely to contain rare metal veins.

The commandos are not professional engineers, and they do not recognize what the ore looks like, so they can only make a plausible search based on the photos provided by the engineering ship.

Although a group of stupid soldiers who didn't know anything about finding ore veins were extremely painful, but the mistake really allowed the commandos to find a few open open bare mines, but except for the gold, few people on the ship knew the value of other precious or rare metals, and the real value of these deposits was inadvertently ignored by everyone, so the reaction to the discovery of the ore vein was not enthusiastic, and it was just a simple record to complete the matter.

On the contrary, after Wu Han received a briefing on the Aquila, his mouth was so happy that he didn't close it for three days, and he almost laughed out of facial paralysis.

He can't help but be happy, with the rare metals discovered by the Aquila, the level of China's military industry can be raised to a higher level, you must know that the reason why the Aquila is exploring the nebula is inseparable from his support, and now that the exploration has made a major discovery, his position will be more stable.

However, the newly discovered resources are in the distant nebula, and it is not realistic to spend a huge amount of money and countless manpower and material resources to transport them back to the mainland, and it cannot be applied on a large scale for a while, so the most suitable way is to build a satellite factory on the neutron star and build warships directly in situ to digest the resources.

This will not only avoid huge transportation costs, but also play a role in confidentiality, so why not kill two birds with one stone?

But building a satellite factory is not a simple matter, the raw materials can be mined on the Red Star, and the equipment that can be mined must be transported from the solar system. Once basic manufacturing and smelting equipment is in place, it is possible to replicate the equipment on a large scale and speed up the extraction of resources.

This is a long-term and arduous task, and it is impossible to build it in three or five years.

After the exploration of Akashi came to an end, the Aquila rested for two days before heading to another planet.

The other planet happened to be on the other side of the neutron star at this time, and happened to be blocked by the neutron star and the giant planet, and it had not been able to uncover its true face before, and when the optical system captured its image, everyone gasped.

The radius of its planet is about 2,500 kilometers. Only a little bigger than Mercury. But it's more than twice as massive as Mercury.

Most of the surface of the planet is black or blue-black, and the surface of the planet is densely covered with waterways, river networks, and lakes, but neither rivers nor lakes flow water, but fluid with a metallic luster!

"This, this. How is this possible? "Scissors was completely dumbfounded. I can't wait to cut off the two mechanical eyes, wipe them, and put them back into the sockets. "So much mercury?"

There is only one liquid metal at room temperature, mercury, and there is so much mercury on the planet that it can be described as a sea of mercury.

Qi Zhiming, the chief engineer of the engineering maintenance ship who had just arrived at the bridge, shook his head and said, "No. Its average surface temperature is about 40 degrees, except for mercury, the melting point of gallium is 29.76 degrees Celsius, and the melting point of cesium is 28.44 degrees Celsius. In an extremely professional tone, he highlighted the presence of the other two metals.

These two metals have a much higher application value than mercury.

"This, this is really!" Scissors don't know what to say.

Human beings have speculated countless about the planets in the universe, and all kinds of planets have come in a variety of strange forms, but no one has ever imagined such a planet!

Everyone couldn't believe that it was true, but when everything was revealed in front of everyone's eyes, no one could not believe it.

Ye Fei touched his chin and said, "Call it Silver Star for the time being, Qi Gong, this planet doesn't need to be checked again, right?"

Aquila has made enough observations on this planet, and there is nothing to see except for the mercury that is full of stars, but mercury can evaporate at room temperature, and highly toxic mercury vapor fills the atmosphere of the entire planet, Ye Fei even suspects that the clouds in the atmosphere of Silver Star are all formed by mercury vapor.

"For what?" Qi Gong asked dissatisfiedly, "It has more development value than Akashi!" ”

"More valuable than Akashi?" Ye Fei was stunned, "How do you say it?" ”

"To develop the mineral deposits of Akashk, you need a lot of specialized equipment for mining and smelting, but you don't need it here!" Qi Gong pointed to the silver star on the screen and explained, "Although mercury is highly toxic, most metals can melt into mercury to form amalgam, and the most common natural amalgam in nature is gold amalgam and silver amalgamation, that is, mercury solutions of gold and silver. If the discovery on the Red Star is exciting, then the Silver Star can make everyone crazy, and I believe no one can say exactly how much the Silver Star is worth, or rather, it simply cannot be measured in terms of money...... Can you give me a close-up view of the planet's surface? ”

He couldn't figure out how this planet came to be, but he knew it was a treasure trove of super metals!

"No problem, Che Qi!" Ye Fei immediately commanded.

"Understood!" Che Qi immediately enlarged the surface of the silver star.

Qi Gong took a closer look, nodded to an area on the Silver Star and said, "Enlarge this place." ”

The picture zoomed in again, and a bare riverbed appeared on the screen, and Qi Gong nodded with satisfaction: "You see, this dry riverbed is full of condensed metal nodules, indicating that a large number of metals are dissolved in the mercury flow, and these metal nodules only need to be separated simply, that is, metal elementals, saving the trouble of smelting, isn't this more potential for development than Chixing?" ”

Ye Fei and the others looked at each other, and their vocal cords seemed to be choked.

It is much easier to remove metal nodules or scoop mercury to separate the dissolved metals than to mine and smelt. Ye Fei had already begun to imagine that there were many large and small factories on the side of the vast Water Galaxy, and the factories only needed to extract a large amount of mercury from the Water Galaxy to separate a large amount of metals.

It is estimated that the only trouble is that the mercury vapor is highly toxic, and if you want to enter the silver star, you must take precautions.

"Captain, trust me in my professional abilities." Qi Gong said.

Ye Fei hurriedly replied: "Of course I believe in your ability, but it's a little too unexpected." I didn't expect this planet to have so much value. ”

Qi Gong smiled slightly: "That's not all, the metal in mercury comes from this planet, obviously, Silver Star has a large number of metal deposits, otherwise it is impossible to dissolve so many metals in mercury." ”

After all, there are only a few metals that can be dissolved into mercury, and most deposits should be stored underground.

Ye Fei snorted vigorously, this matter is really too big, completely beyond imagination, this planet alone surpasses any previous discovery. For the state. Even more significant than the discovery of the Giants - not long ago, the nation's full-scale exploration of the Giants came to an end, and all expectations were disappointed, and there was no oil on the Giants. There are no heavy metal deposits. There is no coal either. Nothing but the natural environment.

"Captain, I suggest sending the situation back to home as soon as possible." Qi Gong said. "The minerals here are extremely important to the whole country.

Ye Fei nodded thoughtfully: "Now issue a gag order, from now on, the existence of this planet is classified as top secret, and no one is allowed to talk about this planet anymore!" ”

Qi Gong looked shocked: "Captain, what are you doing?" ”

"Qi Gong, my mood is the same as yours, and I also hope that this place will become the country's industrial base as soon as possible, but have you thought about it, the mechanical civilization is likely to value this place more than us!"

"This ...... I don't understand what you mean. Qi Gong told the truth.

"It's very simple, the situation here must be reported to the headquarters, but the resonance communication device is the technology of mechanical civilization, if they have the technology to intercept the communication of our army, and they know about this planet, what will happen?" Ye Fei said in a deep voice, "I don't want to think of them so badly, but if it's not my race, their hearts will be different, in case ...... So it's best to wait until you return home and report verbally. ”

He didn't say anything in case, but Qi Gong nodded suddenly in realization: "I understand." "Although he is a technician, he is not an old pedant who does not listen to what is going on outside the window, and he can understand it at all.

Ye Fei thought for a while and ordered, "Get out of here first, Jiang Xue, can we get closer to the neutron star?" ”

Although he is the captain of a ship, he has a specialization in the art industry, and in the complex space environment, Jiang Xue's professional advice must be considered first.

"Yes, but it's best not to get too close." Jiang Xue thought for a while and replied.

The neutron star has a high gravitational pull, high radiation intensity, and high magnetic field strength, so if it is really close, no one dares to guarantee that there will be no problems.

"Captain, is there any point in looking at the neutron star up close?" Qi Gong earnestly advised, "If it's just to satisfy curiosity, it's better not to take risks." ”

Ye Fei thought about it, but he really didn't come up with any reason why he had to get close, and couldn't help but purse his lips in embarrassment: "Then forget it, let's return to the mainland now and return to the mainland as quickly as possible." ”

I don't feel at ease when I tell anyone about the silver star, but I can only rest assured when I return to my homeland in person, and the matter of the gem has been left behind at this time.

"Wait!" Qi Gong remembered the purpose of his coming to the bridge, and hurriedly stopped, "Captain, I came to you for something, it's better for the two of us to talk alone." ”

Ye Feiden was stunned for a moment, nodded, and left the bridge with Qi Gong to return to the captain's room.

"What's wrong?" Ye Fei couldn't think of anything Qi Gong needed to talk to him about alone.

Qi Gong took out a glass jar containing diamond-shaped crystals from his pocket: "For it." ”

"Gems from asteroids?" Ye Fei recognized the origin of the crystal at a glance.

"I think it's much more valuable than a gem." Qi Gong said this sentence word by word.

Ye Fei couldn't help but feel slightly surprised: "Qi Gong, I don't know much about this, if you have something to say, just say it." ”

"I didn't want to go around in circles." Qi Gong put the crystal in front of Ye Fei, "I and the other engineers on the ship agree that this is an overweight element that no one has ever discovered. ”

"Overweight elements?" Ye Fei subconsciously repeated this very unfamiliar term.

"Yes!" Liu Gong nodded heavily, "I believe you also know that the larger the atomic weight, the shorter the time of existence, there is no heavy element with large atomic weight in nature, once they appear, they will decay into other elements with lower atomic weight in a very short time." ”

Ye Fei said indifferently: "I wasn't a good student when I was in school, but I probably understand what you mean." In other words, please say it simply and straightforwardly.

Qi Gong was stunned for a moment and said: "Superheavy elements are elements with particularly large atomic weights, and the physics community has always believed that such elements cannot exist in nature, but this crystal is a superheavy element, and its existence shows that supernova explosions can produce superheavy elements!" ”

"Not a gem?"

"No, but its scientific value is much more valuable than any gem!"

"Are you sure?" Ye Fei was still a little skeptical.

"One hundred percent!" Qi Gong was categorical, "I analyzed it more than 20 times with the instruments on the ship, and the results were completely consistent. ”

"I remember that there seems to be more than this kind of crystal...... Ye Fei carefully recalled the situation not long ago.

"There are four of them, all of them are super heavy elements!" Qi Gong said, "There may be types that we haven't found." ”

"And what do you mean?"

"I hope to return to the asteroid belt and conduct a full and thorough search again. The number of crystals we have now is too small to consume for experiments. And I believe that these superheavy elements must have properties that we don't know about, maybe they can strengthen the alloy, maybe they can improve the material, maybe there are radioactive isotopes in the same crystal. Speaking of this, Qi Gong's face lit up, "By the way, these super-heavy elements are very stable, so far, no radiation has been found, and they are very safe." ”

Ye Fei shook his head and smiled bitterly: "You won." (To be continued......)

PS: I had gastroenteritis, and I was in a bad state today, and I barely wrote this chapter from 3 pm to 9 pm.