She didn't know how much time had passed. Before losing consciousness, she used her last bit of strength to collect all the robots and their work from the mine into her spatial storage. As her flesh began to peel away, her painful cycle of suffering began again.
The people outside the mine persisted for a month, but as expected, no more solar energy ore was sent up. Undeterred, they believed that Li Ke might have destroyed the combined robots in the other mines before he died, which was why this situation had occurred.
Although they had witnessed Li Ke's prowess, they still did not believe that she could survive for a month or longer down there, and they preferred to wait it out a little longer!
So they sent another batch of combined robots down to work. During the caution period, they only sent a small team of five people, but they still never returned.
After a stalemate lasting three months, and the loss of another five-person team, the two sides outside the mine finally signed a 50/50 split agreement and released two solar energy ores of equal weight into the mine.
Finally, a combined robot emerged from the mine carrying a crystal plaque with a condition inscribed on it: After the agreement is reached, mining operations in this mine can only be carried out for six months out of every year. Any unauthorized mining work beyond six months will yield no results, and the ban will be extended to a full year.
Since then, cooperation between the East and the West has gradually stabilized in all aspects due to solar energy resources. Although there were occasional minor conflicts, the large interests involved meant that it entered a relatively long period of peace.
For the next two years, Earth entered a long period of hibernation, and human life remained exceptionally difficult.
After the long period of extreme cold, the rainy season arrived. The erosion and damage caused by the rain, the expansion of alien plants' territories, and the invasion of mutated animals, along with various natural and man-made disasters, forced humanity into another difficult stage of survival.
Over five years, through joint efforts between East and West, the research and use of solar energy has finally been stabilized, and the energy source has been officially used in aerospace equipment. Five batches of space seeds have been successfully sent out to search for new life in the distant universe.
In the seventh year, with relatively abundant solar energy reserves, the West once again engaged in underhanded tactics, illegally mining during the prohibited period, resulting in no further harvests in the following year.
After this lesson, the West realized that Li Ke was still a formidable force, and from then on, they began to act according to the rules again.
In the tenth year, the human population decreased dramatically. Apart from the privileged elites who had always lived in the absolutely safe zone and the specially selected outstanding gene carriers, all humans who sought survival outside had lost their ability to reproduce.
Outside the mining area, through everyone's cooperation, a more advanced hybrid robot has now been developed, which allows humans to retain their self-awareness and integrate protective armor to carry out mining operations.
In addition, a safer protective device has been developed, which can be worn by strong mutants to carry out underground work for up to half an hour to an hour at the bottom of the mine.
After these upgraded robots and humans wearing upgraded protective suits went down into the mine, two robots and one human went missing. Apart from that, everything else seemed normal, but no one had seen Li Ke.
However, starting from this year, the amount of solar energy deposits declined significantly. Even though they upgraded their technology and equipment, the amount of solar energy they could extract continued to decrease.
By the thirtieth year, this largest solar energy mining area had finally ceased to produce anything.
The humans on the ground were very disappointed. Twenty years ago, they had begun exploring and mining in other places. Although they had opened more than a dozen small mines, the output was really negligible.
Over the past thirty years, the amount of solar energy minerals collected has been enough for humanity to search for for a thousand years, and nearly a hundred batches of space seeds of various sizes have been sent from the ground into space.
Finally, in the thirty-fifth year, the ground control tower received a reply from space, and not just one, nor just one source. This marked the beginning of the interstellar era.
Li Ke and the space slept together, absorbing the energy of the light energy mine. Over the past few decades, her gains have been enormous.
If these gains are calculated separately, it can be said that Li Ke and her space obtained four-fifths of the entire light energy mine, while humans on the ground only obtained one-fifth.
But even this one-fifth is enough for humanity to use for a very, very long time, long enough for them to find a way to survive. If they can't find one, then they are destined to perish.
When he woke up again, half a century had passed, and time inside the space was three times that outside.
Those people who were once brought into the space by Li Ke, except for a group of old-fashioned combined robots, are no longer here. However, they left behind many architectural and life traces for Li Ke in the space.
Li Ke reserved his only affection for his beloved dog and those adorable plants and animals.
Having absorbed so much energy, Li Ke gave away nearly half of it, just so that her dogs could go into a deep slumber and evolve with her, becoming as strong and long-lived as she was, never to be separated from her.
The vitality of the space was restored by thirty percent. Li Ke used this thirty percent on the plants and animals that were initially taken into her space, so that some of them regained their ability to reproduce and continue within the space.
Half a century later, when it reappeared, everything had changed drastically. The sea area surrounding the mining area had long since turned into a dry pit, with yellow sand everywhere and no one in sight.
Looking at the world scorched by the blazing sun, Li Ke, along with his dogs, walked towards the distant green horizon, embarking on a new journey once again.
This book has finally come to an end. Thank you to all the readers for your valuable feedback. I know I still have many shortcomings, but I will continue to work hard. The new book has just begun, and I hope that my next work will show new progress. I will keep writing.
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