As the chief shipbuilding engineer, Li Qing could double up on duties himself, but he would still need 2 senior shipbuilding engineers and 30 ordinary shipbuilding engineers to assist before he could build an Escort Ship.
Ordinary shipbuilding engineers earned a starting salary of around thirty thousand—that was the minimum standard.
If the work location was far from Jinmen, such as shipyard work like the Burning Ghost team’s, additional subsidies were required, bringing the pay to somewhere between thirty-five and forty thousand.
If there were other harsh conditions involved—like being even farther away, or signing a long contract of ten or twenty years and staying in some place for over a decade with rare trips home—the salary would be even higher.
Filling all the ship berths would require nearly one hundred thousand shipbuilding engineers, with monthly salaries alone amounting to billions.
Ordinary shipbuilding engineers earned far more than ordinary Warship crew members.
Such massive expenses were definitely beyond what Li Qing could afford now, and even once he had money in the future, it would still be an extremely high cost.
Planning ahead, Li Qing felt he needed to start thinking early about ways to cut expenses.
“How—to—save—on—shipyard—labor—costs”
He typed this query into a search engine, and soon a string of answers appeared on the light-screen.
After a careful glance, the vast majority were useless answers.
However, on a forum frequented by Warship modification enthusiasts, he found an interesting suggestion.
With the union in place, it was impossible to underpay or withhold wages, but one could start from the source by directly sponsoring some lower-class civilians to enter professional shipbuilding engineering academies, signing contracts in advance stipulating that one party would fund the education, while the other, upon graduation, would have to serve the sponsor for a number of years at a salary below the standard rate.
However, this kind of contract could only last about ten years at most, after which wages would gradually rise until they matched the normal rate.
In other words, this method might save some money, but the savings were limited and wouldn’t last.
Besides that, there was another suggestion that seemed completely useless.
That was to establish a Pioneer Base.
Once the base reached a certain scale, one could apply for Pioneer Migration.
There was only one migration method: directly accepting migration applications from within the United Empire of Humanity.
The reason this suggestion was called useless was mainly that establishing a Pioneer Base cost far too much, and meeting the conditions for Pioneer Migration wasn’t something you could achieve by just throwing together a hollow shell of a base.
Never mind a Life Planet—at the very least, you’d have to build a Space Habitat capable of housing several million to tens of millions of people and achieve self-sufficiency in living supplies before you could apply for Pioneer Migration.
Building a standard Space Habitat capable of housing tens of millions of self-sufficient people couldn’t even be considered without over a trillion Star Credits.
With that kind of money, you could pay nearly thirty years’ worth of wages—why bother building a damn base?
But after reading this suggestion, Li Qing’s interest was piqued.
To others, this was indeed a useless idea, but to him—
His ship berths currently only had a capacity of 2,300, but the Palm Universe had already begun repairing itself.
Within just a few years, enormous changes would take place inside the Palm Universe.
By then, if a portion of that ‘Witness of the Stars’ High-Dimensional Fortress could be restored, wouldn’t migration become possible?
After all, this ‘Witness of the Stars’ was not only a High-Dimensional Fortress—it could also be used as a super-large Colony Planet.
It can be understood that a War Star is something that can serve both as a super war fortress and be developed as a Colony Planet.
Once a portion of the High-Dimensional Fortress is repaired, a colony could absolutely be established on the restored sections.
Given that the High-Dimensional Fortress’s size must be measured in astronomical units, even restoring just a small area would yield more space than an entire planet.
However, due to the unique nature of the Palm Universe, Pioneer Migration wasn’t quite suitable.
The best approach would be to use genetic technology to cultivate new Natural Humans—raised from childhood inside the Palm Universe, they would never yearn for the outside world.
Worth mentioning is the reason he wouldn’t use Clones or bioengineered humans: their genes were incomplete, making them unsuitable for high-intelligence technical professions like shipbuilding engineers.
Only Natural Humans would do.
Li Qing weighed the two methods and decided the second was better—it would solve all problems at once.
But the Palm Universe hadn’t been repaired yet, so it couldn’t be implemented for now.
He could only make a note of it and deal with it later.
A month and a half later, the Yu Clan shipyard sent him a message: the Destroyer he had ordered was now in the queue and construction had begun.
Meanwhile, his studies at the Engineering Academy were in full swing.
Every day he was either attending lectures online or going to the academy in person, and any spare time was spent scouring the internet for information.
With his diligent study, boosted by dozens of times experience bonuses, his experience in various subjects grew rapidly, soon reaching lv3 or lv4, with some not far from lv5.
Normally, once these skills reached lv5, one could attempt shipbuilding.
So in addition to studying, Li Qing now had to prepare blueprints, materials, and recruit a batch of ordinary shipbuilding engineers in preparation for building a ship himself.
But just as he was about to spend his free time shopping at the trading market, a pinned message suddenly appeared in the long-dormant Elite Channel.
One glance captured his entire attention.
“Confirmed information: a Pioneer Team has discovered an alien civilization and a Life Planet in the Zutal Sector!”
He immediately clicked in and carefully examined the detailed information in the post. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
After reading it thoroughly, the surprise in Li Qing’s eyes grew even stronger, and he murmured to himself:
“There are actually that many? My plan…”
The post came from the Yu Clan, official in nature—there was no possibility of it being false.
The message stated that a pioneer with a special Innate Talent had entered deep into a nebula in the Zutal Sector, discovering an alien civilization deep within a dust nebula more than two thousand light-years from Jinmen Province.
At first, only some remote mining stations were found.
As exploration continued forward, more outposts and patrol fleets were discovered, ultimately revealing an alien civilization hidden deep within the dust nebula.
Using this alien civilization as a center, deeper exploration was conducted, originally intended to determine the civilization’s extent.
But at the border of this civilization, two more civilizations of similar scale were discovered.
In other words, three alien civilizations with technology levels between the third and fourth generations had now been discovered, with a preliminary confirmation of eight Life Planets across the three civilizations.
The Elite Channel was now boiling over, with all the pioneers thrilled.
What did eight Life Planets mean?
Jinmen Province, including the two natural planets in its capital Jinmen Star System, had only five Life Planets in total.
Across the territory of the United Empire of Humanity, some remote provinces might have only two or three Life Planets.
The entire United Empire had gone at least fifty years without discovering a new Life Planet.
This meant that those eight Life Planets could support the establishment of at least two provinces, and might give birth to one or two or even more Warlord Clans.
It also meant there were eight Life Planets up for grabs by pioneers, a foundation upon which an enterprise could be built.
This left Li Qing stunned for a good while, and then…
he felt a stirring of temptation.
His earlier plan had been to stay out of the Zutal Sector, but now that he discovered there were eight Life Planets there for the taking, he was itching to get involved.
If he could seize just one, whether to develop for himself or to sell, it would be an unimaginable fortune.
Or, worst case, if his strength was insufficient to grab one on his own, he could cooperate with others and receive a share of the equity based on his contribution.
Later, once the captured planet was developed, he could sit back and collect money endlessly, or simply sell his shares—a sum in the tens of trillions.
Put simply, even one percent ownership of a Life Planet was worth at least a trillion.
And that was for an undeveloped, pristine Life Planet, whether a Class Two or a slightly inferior Class Three.
If the planet had already been developed, terraformed to be habitable and open for immigration, its price would instantly multiply several times over.
For example, one percent ownership of Jinmen One Colony Planet could currently sell for twenty trillion.
And even that was a price with no market—it was simply impossible to buy.
The thread was buzzing with activity.
Countless lurkers—children of the great families within the United Empire—couldn’t hold back and surfaced to comment below the post.
In just over ten minutes, the message had already accumulated over a hundred thousand replies.
And as more and more people saw it, the news grew ever livelier, quickly spreading beyond the circle to those outside the Elite Channel.
Soon, Li Qing saw the same message appear on the Regional Channel.
In less than a day, it had become the most talked-about news in Jinmen Province, with practically everyone discussing it.
This was clearly not a good thing.
Eight Life Planets—how tempting was that?
Li Qing was certain that the many powers receiving this news were probably already convening their leadership to plan their advance into the Zutal Sector.
To ordinary people, this was just exciting gossip, but for teams with a certain level of strength, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
By pooling a team’s strength, successfully capturing a single Life Planet would mean soaring to the top in one stroke.
Everyone in the team’s leadership would make an absolute killing, and it might even directly change their fates.
“All family members currently staying in Jinmen, return to the family office immediately!”
It was a mass message from his second uncle, Li Lun.
He replied offhandedly.
Clearly, the second uncle summoning all Qinghe Li Clan members staying in Jinmen was most likely because of that news.
Li Qing didn’t request leave immediately.
He listened attentively through the entire class before requesting leave for his later courses, then took a flyer back to Jinmen Prime Planet, to the clan office located in District Five. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
It was a six-story building covering over ten thousand square meters.
The flyer landed on the rooftop, and as he opened the hatch and stepped out, he saw many flyers parked on the roof.
Four young clan members he didn’t recognize stood chatting by the central stairway entrance, merely nodding at him in acknowledgment.
He descended to the second floor and stepped out of the suspended walkway, seeing over two hundred figures standing in small groups throughout the hall.
Most were unfamiliar, with only a handful ringing a faint bell—including Li Lie, who had also returned.
He was rather surprised that so many people were here.
Just then, Li Lie spotted him, said something to the two people he was chatting with, and walked over:
“Want to talk over on the side?”
Li Qing nodded, gesturing with his chin toward one of the many small rooms along the edge of the hall:
“Room 32.”
“Let’s go.”
“By the way, why are there so many people this time? Has our entire class been called back?”
Li Lie shook his head:
“Of course not. It’s not just one class—it’s a portion of the clan members in Jinmen Province from the last three classes. A large portion still hasn’t received the notice and will trickle back over the next few months. By then, there’ll probably be several thousand people.”
“That many?”
“Naturally. Our Qinghe Li Clan is huge, with countless branches. Three generations of Pioneers with age gaps of over a decade between them—gathering over ten thousand people wouldn’t be a problem at all.”
Li Qing:
“…”
They entered the small room.
Li Lie closed the door and pointed at the tea table in the center:
“Let’s talk.”
There was a tea set on the table.
With no distinction between host and guest, he boiled the water while Li Lie sat down and began:
“You’ve seen the pinned message on the Elite Channel. The director of the clan’s Jinmen office is my father, so I know some inside information. The purpose of this clan summons is for us to join forces and seize a planet.”
Li Qing said nothing, waiting as Li Lie continued:
“Of course, that’s hardly news—anyone could guess it. The key point is that my father told me they’d known about this a week in advance. The news has already reached the United Empire of Humanity. The Clan Head has already convened a meeting with the senior members of all the clan’s branches and made a decision: they’re putting up a full fifty trillion Star Credits to establish a Pioneer Fund to support the clan’s Pioneers in seizing a Life Planet.”
“Tsk! Fifty trillion!”
Even Li Qing couldn’t help clicking his tongue, saying:
“Fifty trillion won’t be easy to get, will it?”
“Of course not. The Clan Head has decreed that any clan Pioneer may apply for the Pioneer Fund, but only if you can demonstrate your ability, strength, or potential—meeting the standard in any one of those qualifies you to apply. The specific amount granted depends on the evaluation of your ability, strength, and potential.”
“On top of that, the Clan Head encourages us to form teams and apply for the Pioneer Fund as a team. That route makes approval much easier than applying individually.”
Li Qing immediately understood and asked:
“You want to team up with me to apply?”
“Exactly. I’m planning to bring you and a few others I know together to form a team and apply for the Pioneer Fund as a group.”
“Once the fund is approved, we can decide whether to keep the team together and head to the Zutal Sector, or go our separate ways.”
“Hmm.”
Li Qing stroked his chin thoughtfully and asked:
“If someone applies as a team, can they still apply individually afterward?”
“Of course. The two don’t conflict with each other.”
“By the way, if you apply for the Pioneer Fund, you have to go to the Zutal Sector—that’s a prerequisite.”
“Ah…”
“Can we go later?”
“You can go later, but not too late. At most, you can put it off for a year.”
“I see. Let me think about it.”
The two of them chatted for a while longer.
He asked about how the others were doing, and they talked about some interesting things that had happened to them recently.
Before they knew it, an hour had passed, until someone knocked on the door and told them everyone had gathered and it was time to head out.