Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 272: Unknown

After thousands of years of fleeing, Tom was already weary.

Previously, he had painstakingly planned and successfully broken through to become a Strong Nuclear Civilization, then carried Flying Star to begin his escape. During the long voyage, he gradually researched Strong Nuclear level technology, finally elevating his technological level and combat power to a considerable height.

In recent years, within this Lyra G16 Solar System, a great battle with the Havilah Civilization ensued, and he defeated the Havilah Civilization, which had transformed into the strongest at the same technological level, on the front lines. This had truly proven his current strength.

At this moment, there was still some time for him to continue developing technology. The numerous wreckage of warships from the Havilah Civilization could also be used for reverse engineering, accelerating technological development to a certain extent.

Since that was the case... then within this Lyra G16 Solar System, he would go all out, develop with all his might, and then engage in a life-or-death showdown with the Mechanical Disaster. Either you die, or I die!

If you don’t come, so be it. But if you do come, only one will ultimately leave this solar system!

Tom had truly made up his mind.

At this moment, the great battle had subsided, and the Lyra G16 Solar System finally returned to peace. Tom, with his astonishing 3.5 billion consciousness links, went all out, controlling his 3.5 billion clones, which were maintained at that number at all times, to begin technology research and development.

Propulsion, radar, super-long-range communication, quantum mathematics, basic physics, applied physics, chemical industry, biotechnology, material technology, energy shield technology, fusion technology...

And so on, the entire industrial system, the entire scientific system, whether it was at the basic or applied level, all began research, not a single one left out!

At the same time, Tom did not forget to carry out large-scale production of clones.

The Unified Force Field, a unique attack method belonging only to him, was his greatest trump card at this stage and must be strengthened with all his might.

Based on its unique mode, where each attack would consume a large number of clones, he had to stockpile enough clones.

Tom’s plan was to increase the number of clones under his command again, raising it to 10 billion!

Only 5 billion clones were in regular use, while the remaining 5 billion clones would simply consume resources without contributing, requiring other clones to care for them, wasting resources?

No problem, just let them go into hibernation. This way, he would only need to dispatch a small number—no more than 10 million clones—to complete all work related to clone hibernation, such as caring for them, producing minerals and energy, and maintaining equipment operation.

It wasn’t that Tom couldn’t stockpile more clones, but rather that doing so would be meaningless.

Limited by his maximum consciousness link count of 3.5 billion, Tom could at most deploy 3.5 billion clones for a single Unified Force Field attack.

However, there was no upper limit to the number of related Unified Force Field equipment.

After meeting the minimum requirement, which was approximately 1 billion units of Unified Force Field related equipment, beyond that number, the more equipment there was, the greater the energy that could be released, the higher the detection accuracy, the higher the prediction accuracy, and ultimately, the greater the lethality. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

This mechanism determined that no matter how many Unified Force Field related devices Tom stockpiled, they would all be used up at once when a real attack was launched.

The reason was simple: better to break one finger than injure ten. Instead of damaging a hundred thousand warships, it’s better to destroy ten thousand.

Tom could not divide his stockpiled Unified Force Field related equipment into two batches for two separate attacks. In that case, the power of each attack might be insufficient, and ultimately no battle results would be achieved.

Either don’t activate it, or if you do, launch the strongest attack within your capabilities! This is where the strategic significance of the Unified Force Field lies.

Furthermore, the complexity and precision requirements of Unified Force Field related equipment are extremely high. Even with Tom’s industrial strength, he could not mass-produce them in a short period. All these factors combined ultimately led to the situation where the Unified Force Field could only be used once per war.

Since it could only be used once, stockpiling too many clones became meaningless.

In addition to the regularly used clones, stockpiling 3.5 billion specifically for Unified Force Field attacks, and another 1.5 billion for replenishing the regular clones, would total 10 billion.

At this moment, Tom was simultaneously conducting technology research and development, stockpiling clones, and stockpiling Unified Force Field related equipment. In addition to these three aspects, he was also carrying out another crucial task.

In the previous war with the Havilah Civilization, Goku AI only performed at a conventional level. Its performance, while acceptable, was just mediocre.

This was unacceptable to Tom.

Facing a powerful opponent like the Mechanical Disaster, he had to elevate every aspect of himself to the maximum possible extent to have any hope of victory.

Since that was the case, it was time to do what had been delayed for so long.

Conduct live-fire drills and train Goku AI!

Thus, the space that had originally returned to peace once again ignited with roaring gunfire. On average, thousands of unmanned warships were destroyed every day.

And besides unmanned warships, the consumption of unmanned combat facilities such as interstellar turrets, mines, missiles, shells, satellites, and probes soared to a level that would astound an ordinary Strong Nuclear Civilization.

Tom, without any scruples or hesitation, unleashed his immense industrial manufacturing capability, going all out to supply the consumption of live-fire drills, and wholeheartedly nurturing Goku AI, allowing it to grow rapidly.

Time quietly slipped away amidst Tom’s busy schedule, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten years had passed.

During this period, the stellar activity of Lyra G16 had maintained that biometrically marked pattern.

But because it hadn’t caused him any other trouble, Tom hadn’t paid attention to it.

Until today, when a high-energy laser beam, whose origin was unknown, suddenly struck one of Tom’s warships.

This warship was stationed around the star, used to prevent the Electromagnetic Disaster from leaving the star and causing him trouble again.

This laser beam immediately alerted Tom.

Because throughout all his current combat forces, no laser beam was fired in that direction.

Furthermore, this laser beam came from the direction of the star.

Tom’s first reaction was that the Electromagnetic Disaster creatures were causing trouble again.

But the next moment, Tom realized that this was not fired by the Electromagnetic Disaster creatures.

Typically, laser beams cannot travel too far because they expand rapidly with increasing distance, leading to a decay in energy per unit.

And his detection equipment had not detected any Disaster Creatures approaching. At the same time, the type of this laser was also different from the lasers previously fired by the Disaster Creatures.

Its energy was higher, its lethality stronger, and its radiation type was more chaotic.

It wasn’t fired by him, it wasn’t fired by the Disaster Creatures, so... who could it be?

Tom’s heart instantly grew heavy.