Chapter 323 The Gold Rush in the Stars
Earth, Kyoto Joint Control Room.
When the "Phase I Report on the Ecological Life Support Closed Loop of Guanghan Base" was delivered to Wang Mingyuan, the main text of the report was not long.
Water circulation efficiency is improved.
The rate of oxygen self-sufficiency has increased.
The lunar surface plant greenhouse has been initially successfully tested.
The first batch of edible samples of Moon Rock Moss were non-toxic, but the taste was extremely poor.
The yield of Xingsha rice F1 was insufficient, so all of it was transferred to the maternal parent line for expansion.
These figures, taken individually, are far from impressive.
It could even be said that there are problems everywhere.
But Wang Mingyuan stared at the last line of conclusion for a long time.
The Guanghan Base has the foundation for a limited, long-term expansion.
At the conference table, the head of the Coordination Agency reported in a low voice: "Professor Wang, according to the latest calculations, if the second and third lunar surface spiritual plant greenhouses can be connected to the network within two months, the Guanghan Base's dependence on basic living supplies on Earth can be reduced by about 50%."
He paused for a moment before continuing, "In other words, the Guanghan Base can begin a small-scale expansion."
There was a half-second of silence in the conference room.
All eyes were drawn to the giant holographic star map.
On the far side of the moon, the eerie blue coordinates representing the Guanghan Base are no longer a solitary point.
Mines, Taiyi Furnace, Great Sun Spirit-Attracting Array, Taiyin Spirit-Locking Array, Water Circulation Bunker, Spirit Plant Greenhouse, Interstellar Teleportation Array...
These facilities, like rough blood vessels, pierced into that gray and desolate land.
It is still very young and fragile.
But it is indeed alive.
"The first phase of expansion will be limited to no more than two thousand people."
Wang Mingyuan finally spoke.
"Prioritize the addition of engineering development, ecological sustainment, array maintenance, mining and smelting, medical rescue, and low-gravity agriculture sequences."
"All personnel who landed on the moon must first undergo vacuum adaptation, low-gravity operation, space transport stress, and psychological assessment in a long-term confined environment."
His gaze turned cold as he said this.
"Guanghan Base needs people, but not stupid people who are sent to their deaths."
The head of the Coordination Agency immediately nodded: "Understood."
Wang Mingyuan paused for a moment, then added: "The lunar stationing allowance will be appropriately increased, and contribution points will be implemented according to the deep space sequence standard. Lunar surface materials, Yin-Yang dual cultivation trial quotas, and research permissions for Star Sand Rice mother seeds will all be included in the lunar stationing sequence priority exchange pool."
……
three days later.
The Cultivation Alliance's internal network has officially issued the "Provisional Regulations for the Second Phase Expansion of the Guanghan Base on the Moon".
This document was not fully disclosed to the general public.
But almost immediately upon its appearance, it caused a terrifying upheaval among various training academies, hunter guilds, array court branches, military factories, sect intranets, and the loose cultivator alliance.
[The second batch of personnel to be stationed on the moon at the Guanghan Base: 2,000.]
Minimum cultivation level requirement: Early Foundation Establishment stage. This requirement may be relaxed to Qi Refining Perfection stage for specialized technical positions.
[Lunar allowance: Twelve times that of the same level of position on Earth.]
[Contribution points: Counted double.]
[Priority redemption for the Lunar Residence sequence: High-purity lunar substrate, Yin-Yang dual cultivation trial quota, Star Sand Rice cultivation qualification, and long-term residence points at the Guanghan Base.]
The article is short.
But it was like a bombshell that crashed into the entire cultivation world.
……
The first base of the Kyoto Space Elevator.
The newly built deep space personnel training area was packed to capacity within just a few days.
Monks from different systems were uniformly incorporated into a temporary training camp.
There is none of the ethereal atmosphere of sect selection here, nor the high spirits of academy graduation.
They were greeted by rows of cold vacuum adaptation chambers, low-gravity centrifuges, space transport stress test chambers, and deep space safety manuals filled with death cases.
"Everyone, listen carefully."
On the training field, an interstellar expeditionary force instructor stood in front of the formation, his voice amplified throughout the entire area by a loudspeaker array.
"The moon is not a paradise, not a sacred mountain, and certainly not a playground for you to farm resources."
"There is no air, no gravity, and no natural veins there. Everything you are used to on Earth could kill you on the moon."
"The Foundation Establishment stage being able to use the teleportation array doesn't mean you can run around on the moon. Even if you're issued a spatial stabilization jade token, the Qi Refining stage must strictly follow the access procedures. Anyone who dares to remove their protective gear or leave the safe zone without permission will be treated as having committed suicide and will not be rescued."
Some people's faces turned slightly pale.
The instructor did not soften his tone in the slightest.
Say it again.
"A moon landing is not a blessing."
"Going to the moon is to do work."
Soon, the first batch of victims were stuffed into a vacuum simulation chamber.
Air pressure extraction.
The temperature dropped.
Spiritual pressure interference activated.
Those Foundation Establishment cultivators who could fly on swords and traverse dozens of meters in mid-air on the Earth's surface experienced the cruelty of the universe for the first time in a simulation cabin that closely resembled the lunar environment.
Someone's protective aura flickered violently.
Someone lost control while tumbling during a low-gravity posture transition.
Someone had just entered the space voltage stabilization test when they were forcibly ejected due to the shock to their consciousness, and they were left lying on the ground retching.
The instructor offered no words of comfort.
They simply crossed out a batch of names on the list.
"disuse."
"Downgrade to ground backup."
"Psychological stability is not up to standard."
The gold rush in the stars has never been a carnival that everyone is qualified to participate in.
It only offers an admission ticket to those monks who are resilient enough, disciplined enough, and willing enough to immerse themselves in the heavy industry system.
……
There was no welcoming ceremony on the lunar surface when the first batch of expanded personnel arrived at the Guanghan base.
Three "Gonggong-class" transport capsules slowly descended along the gravity array links into the outer landing area of the Guanghan Base.
The hatch opened.
The first to come down were neither sword cultivators nor miners.
Instead, he was an elderly agricultural professor with gray hair.
He was wearing bulky life support clothing and dragging a sealed seed box on his back, walking very slowly.
The monks escorting him tried to help him up several times, but he refused each time by waving them away.
The old man stepped on the grayish-white moon dust, raised his head, and looked at the entrance to the residential area buried deep beneath the moon's crust in the distance.
"Is this the moon?"
His slightly breathless voice came through the communication channel.
"It's more desolate than I imagined."
A young agricultural scholar behind him couldn't help but laugh, "Teacher, do you really think there's a Moon Palace here?"
The old man smiled as well.
"If you don't have it, then grow it."
When this message was transmitted to the base's internal channel, Lao Liu was standing behind the airlock waiting to pick up the person.
He couldn't help but grin when he heard that.
"Quite the boast."
But when he saw the items being pushed off the transport capsule, his smile slowly faded.
Those are not ordinary seeds.
Instead, it is a complete set of miniature ecological mother banks.
It contains mosses, algae, bacteria, nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, modified parent plants, and dozens of experimental crops that have been screened on the ground and can maintain a stable mutation rate under high radiation conditions.
These things are not as dazzling as star iron, not as expensive as helium-3, and do not have the heart-pounding energy fluctuations of the Extreme Yang Elixir.
But they can turn dead soil into living soil.
It can turn waste gas back into oxygen.
It can slowly give a cold underground bunker a touch of life.
Looking at the sealed boxes, Lao Liu suddenly realized that what this group of people brought might be heavier than tens of thousands of tons of titanium steel.
……
The second greenhouse area officially started construction on the fifth day after the arrival of the expanded staff.
This time, it's not as crude as simply spreading lunar soil, mixing in culture medium, and inserting a few experimental seeds.
The agricultural friars first laid a very thin layer of "living soil mother film" at the bottom of the greenhouse.
It was a dark brown thin layer composed of surface soil, microbial communities, lunar mineral fragments, and a low dose of lunar stabilizing fluid.
It is less than three centimeters thick.
But when it was spread on the grayish-white lunar soil, the entire atmosphere of the greenhouse changed.
It is no longer just a cold experimental chamber.
It's like a field that has just been turned over.
The elderly agronomy professor stood in the center of the greenhouse, his voice low but extremely steady.
"Connect to the water circulation branch line."
"The extreme sunlight array reduces the growth rate by 15%, so don't rush to induce growth; the bacterial community can't withstand it."
"The dilution ratio of the stabilizing solution should be further reduced to stabilize the root system first."
The young monks were so busy they barely had time to breathe.
The engineering monks squatted in the corner, clumsily helping to move pipes and fix supports.
They were used to pile driving, welding, mining, and wrestling with metal components weighing thousands of tons.
But now, asking them to walk around carrying a thin plate of fungal soil is more nerve-wracking than asking them to dismantle a Titan drilling rig.
Old Liu stood at the entrance of the greenhouse, watching the group of men who usually carried heavy components without batting an eye carefully holding the soil-supporting membrane, and couldn't help but mutter a curse under his breath.
"Promising."
After he finished yelling, he didn't dare go inside.
They were afraid that the lunar rock dust brought in by their boots would spoil the hard-won layer of living soil.
……
As more personnel arrived, the Guanghan base began to become crowded.
In the past, you might not see more than a few people in the passageway of the living area, but now someone pushes a tool cart through every few minutes.
The people in the mining division were covered in moon dust, the people in the engineering division were covered in engine oil, and the people in the ecology division frowned when they saw them, fearing that these guys would bring dust into the greenhouse.
The medical team receives new cases every day, such as low-gravity bone density loss, true energy disorder, and anxiety in confined environments.
In a cold, impersonal base, real "friction" begins to emerge.
Some people complained that the living area was too crowded.
Some people complained that the public rest cabins were open for too short a time.
Someone secretly added the hot sauce brought from Earth to the Moon Rock Moss Soup and was scolded by the Ecology Group for a long time.
Some people almost got into a fight in front of the scheduling system over a spot to work in the greenhouse.
Old Liu was extremely annoyed at first.
But later, standing at the end of the passage, looking at all of this, he suddenly fell silent.
Li Xiang asked him, "What's wrong?"
After looking at it for a long time, Old Liu said in a low voice, "It looks a bit like the surface of the earth."
Li Xiang smiled and said, "Is this a good thing?"
Old Liu thought about it.
"It was a bit noisy."
"But it's still better than before."
Li Xiang did not refute.
In the past, the Guanghan base was quiet, cold, and efficient, and everyone was like a cog in a machine.
Now, it's starting to get noisy, chaotic, and humane, but also full of trivial troubles.
But this precisely shows that it is transforming from a "frontline construction site" into something more complex.
A new social prototype.
A way of life that belongs to the moon.
……
The craze on Earth is also steadily rising.
After the first batch of expanded personnel successfully moved in, the number of applicants for the second and third batches began to surge.
Despite the Coordination Agency raising the screening threshold three times in a row, it still couldn't suppress the number of applicants.
Because more and more things are being sent back from the moon.
A new batch of high-purity lunar substrates has begun entering ground-based military factories.
The first batch of diluted cultivation solutions containing extreme yang and yin was sent to the military's experimental sequence.
The growth data of the female parents of Moon Rock Moss and Star Sand Rice have been repeatedly studied by major agricultural laboratories.
After the lunar cultivators returned to Earth for their rotation, their physical indicators, meridian resilience, and spiritual stability all showed significant changes.
Especially those cultivators who take turns on duty near the Extreme Yang Slow Release Array and the Taiyin Guiding Array.
It's just that the level of understanding hasn't been broken through.
But their foundations became heavier.
It felt like being hammered solidly by some kind of brutal cosmic hammer, again and again.
This is more convincing than any propaganda.
The moon is giving back.
Moreover, the rewards are tangible, visible, and can be exchanged for contribution points and future cultivation prospects.
The distance of 380,000 kilometers is no longer an insurmountable barrier.
It became the hottest trend in the entire cultivation world.
And more and more people are following this trend, rushing towards that cold, desolate sky, yet sparkling with endless wealth and future potential.