"Wait a minute!"

"Wang Man, what do you mean by that?"

Tang Hairong's face turned somewhat ugly, and his voice became somewhat aggressive.

"What do I mean?" Wang Man sneered. "You should know better than anyone how many resources your mega-project has consumed."

Let me tell you the truth.

"Currently, the fleet's basic metal resources are less than 10% remaining. If this continues, it won't be long before all construction projects have to be halted!"

Wang Man's words greatly surprised Tang Hairong!

"What?!"

Tang Hairong exclaimed in shock.

"How can the consumption rate be so fast?!"

Seeing Tang Hairong's genuine expression, Wang Man's anger gradually subsided.

He sighed heavily, shook his head, and explained, "The starship factory consumes a huge amount of basic metals every day. As you know, all the starships in the fleet are waiting to be upgraded, so you can imagine the rate of consumption."

As he spoke, he raised his head, glanced at Tang Hairong's unpredictable expression, and said again, "In addition, on your side, the consumption of basic metals is second only to the Starship Factory."

"If the Starship Factory were to shut down due to issues with base metal inventories, I couldn't possibly bear that responsibility!"

Tang Hairong frowned, looking puzzled, and asked Wang Man, "What about your planetary resource exploration and mining project? Is there a problem?"

Wang Man rolled his eyes in annoyance at Tang Hairong's question.

"Hey Lao Tang, are you pretending not to understand, or do you really not understand?"

"Mining, sorting, and smelting ore—doesn't that all take time?"

"Moreover, even some of the equipment for resource extraction and smelting needs to be manufactured on-site."

"The computing power allocated to us is so limited, how could it possibly keep up with such a terrifying rate of resource consumption!"

As he spoke, Wang Man changed the subject and turned his attention back to Tang Hairong.

"Hey Tang, what kind of mega-project is this? Is it more important than the modernization of the fleet?"

"or……"

Wang Manchao winked at Tang Hairong: "Consider it a favor I owe you, okay?"

"No way!" Upon hearing this, Tang Hairong's expression changed drastically. "Old Wang, even if it took ten favors, let alone one, I still can't stop this project."

"You should use this free time to think about how to quickly mine mineral resources!"

Seeing Wang Man's face fall instantly, Tang Hairong shook his head with a wry smile: "Old Wang, to tell you the truth, the project on my side was personally ordered by Professor Lü."

"Its importance is probably not much different from that of starship modification."

"What?!" Wang Man was taken aback and asked in a low voice, "What exactly are you building? Wasn't the Dyson Cloud expansion project already completed?"

"Could it be the second phase of the project, the Dyson Circus?"

"Is Professor Lü taking such big steps?"

"What nonsense..." Tang Hairong waved his hand impatiently, correcting Wang Man's statement, "It's a giant space ring-shaped habitation station."

"Space...circular...habitation station?"

Wang Man's eyes were filled with confusion as he said, word by word, "What is this thing?"

"Wasn't Kepler-452b designated as a habitable area for human civilization?"

“What should newborns do if the Earth’s surface gravity is 2.03g?” Tang Hairong said bluntly. “The new generation, who have not yet undergone their coming-of-age ceremony, cannot withstand a 2g gravity environment!”

"Then...aren't there space incubation centers?" Wang Man's eyes showed even greater confusion.

“The scale is too small, and the cramped interior space will have a negative impact on the mental health of the new generation.” Tang Hairong shrugged. “These are Professor Lü’s original words. In order to solve the problem once and for all, we were ordered to design a circular residential station.”

As he spoke, he reached out and pulled over the holographic projection beside him, bringing up a set of model data.

"The entire circular habitation station is located on the Kepler 452b synchronous orbit and is over 100 kilometers wide."

"It is equipped with an artificial gravity device and various latest technological products."

"The residential station is connected to the ground by twelve giant space elevators."

"Old Wang, look at the size of this project." Tang Hairong smiled wryly. "The amount of all the base metals used was calculated with zero tolerance, and there was no waste whatsoever."

"Furthermore... Professor Lü said that in order to ensure the future development of human civilization, the circular habitation station project is second only to the starship replacement project in terms of priority."

A sudden silence fell over the office.

Judging from Wang Man's constantly changing expression, he was probably not in a good mood!

After a long while, a long sigh came from the speaker.

"Why……"

"Old Tang, what should we do now?"

Tang Hairong was silent for a moment, then tentatively said in a low voice, "How about... you ask Professor Lü?"

...

【Earth】

A small, manned shuttle that had traveled a long way drew a graceful arc and quietly docked next to the massive Earth.

[Identification in progress...]

[Identity verification successful. Welcome back, Academician Wang Man.]

As this line of bright white text appeared in front of Wang Man, the tightly closed port gate slowly cracked open.

The gap was small, but large enough to allow a small shuttle to pass through.

Under the control of the onboard computer, the small shuttle smoothly passed through the port gate.

Outside the window, there is a directional holographic projection flashing green fluorescence.

The shuttle followed the holographic arrow and slowly drove into a small helipad.

Looking at the familiar scene outside the porthole, Wang Man took a deep breath to calm his somewhat anxious heart.

"Academician Wang Man, Professor Lü is waiting for you in his office."

Zero's electronic synthesized voice echoed inside the shuttle.

"Okay, I'll go right away."

As he spoke, the side door of the shuttle opened automatically.

With the help of the auxiliary device, he carefully crawled out of the hatch and stepped onto the solid deck of the Earth.

"drop!"

"Electromagnetic adsorption has been successfully switched."

A slightly stiff electronic notification sounded from inside the helmet.

Wang Man subconsciously turned his head to look at the slowly closing port gate, his anxiety growing even stronger.

In fact, he initially rejected Tang Hairong's suggestion.

After all, if there are problems with the reserves of basic metal resources, he, as the person in charge of exploring and mining planetary resources, needs to bear a great deal of responsibility.

But seeing the gap widening and unable to come up with any solutions, Wang Man had no choice but to follow Tang Hairong's advice and reluctantly return to the Earth.

"hope……"

"Professor Lü, please don't be too angry..."

Following the holographic arrow, Wang Man walked on the hard, cold deck, his mind wandering.