Seven years later, the asteroid factory

Yan Xia hurriedly dodged.

Fortunately, the spacesuit had multiple layers and was not completely pierced.

He returned to the cabin and immediately gave instructions to Ella.

"Take pictures of the direction where the laser beam was shot. Perhaps there are survivors."

He was somewhat panicked just now, but now he felt a bit excited.

Ella adjusted the camera and simultaneously analyzed the scene where Yan Xia was hit by the laser beam earlier.

"Yan Xia, the direction of the laser beam has been analyzed."

"It comes from the direction of the Alpha Centauri outside the solar system. The energy of the laser beam is extremely concentrated, beyond the technology that Earth can handle."

"Based on the data, there is a 100% probability that it comes from an extraterrestrial civilization, and a 97.28% probability that the laser beam's distance is less than 5 light-years."

This was undoubtedly a cold shower for Yan Xia.

Extraterrestrial civilization.

Most likely, it was because of the gamma rays that an extraterrestrial civilization observed the direction of the gamma rays directly to the solar system.

So, shortly after 100 days, the extraterrestrial civilization sent out a laser beam for exploration. One hundred days after the gamma rays reached Earth, the laser arrived as well.

"So, the laser itself is for exploration. Can that extraterrestrial civilization analyze the spaceship and me through the reflection of the laser beam?"

This time, Ella didn't even need to calculate.

"Yes!"

"The level of civilization of the extraterrestrial civilization significantly surpasses that of human civilization, Yan Xia. The probability of the question you raised is high."

Yan Xia felt a sense of crisis.

If that was the case, then the extraterrestrial civilization would definitely enter the solar system for exploration.

At that time, he would meet the extraterrestrial civilization directly.

"It's only been such a short time, and I've encountered extraterrestrial civilization. Perhaps life really exists widely in the universe, and the fact that humans have developed without being discovered by aliens is just a coincidence."

Thinking about these things now is useless. Developing oneself is the only way to face extraterrestrial beings.

Yan Xia powered up the robot, and it lit up. It moved around, used its claws and drill bit, and seemed to be functioning smoothly. Then it jumped out of the cabin, correcting its position through the tiny holes the size of toothpicks on its body, and landed steadily on the surface of the asteroid.

The robot didn't have a camera; everything was controlled directly by Ella. It inserted the drill bit directly into the soil and started working.

Most of these asteroids were separated from planets due to planetary destruction or countless violent collisions, with their surfaces baked at extremely high temperatures, and their interiors containing almost no impurities.

The 3D printer could perform metal printing and came with a highly efficient melting device, which could further purify iron. For Yan Xia, everything was on the right track.

...

One month later.

The number of robots increased by four units.

Yan Xia decided to expand the number of 3D printers. After all, the speed of printing on one machine was too slow. Multiple-line operations printing parts would be much faster.

"Ella, calculate how many 3D printers our plan needs, without wasting resources and time."

Ella went into calculation mode and quickly came up with the result.

"Yan Xia, we need a total of 4349 3D printers, not only for manufacturing mining robots but also for printing other mechanical equipment."

"Our first priority is to manufacture photovoltaic panels so that we can have a large energy supply."

"Then we need to produce furnaces to smelt metals and make alloys."

"After that, we'll need high-precision machine tools. The precision requirements of 3D printers are not sufficient for the controlled nuclear fusion devices we plan to implement later."

"And also..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Yan Xia thought it would be a simple matter, but as he went on, he realized it was far from it. He quickly stopped Ella.

"As a mature AI, just archive these plans and proceed accordingly. No need to explain them to me. On top of that, add the manufacture of the cryogenic revival chamber in the early stages. We must make this first."

Following Ella's plans, it would probably take several decades to accomplish. If he waited that long, he'd either go mad or die of old age without achieving anything as the last human.

"No problem, Yan Xia!"

Ella's automatically generated plan was implemented with the fastest possible approach. However, even the fastest plan took half a year to execute.

With over a hundred robots and an expansion of 20 3D printers, they began manufacturing photovoltaic panels.

After the completion of a 5000-square-meter photovoltaic array, the first asteroid factory was also constructed. Thanks to the use of improved new photovoltaic panels, the power of the 5000-square-meter photovoltaic panels could reach 1300 kilowatts. Due to the conditions in space, the energy loss was lower and the power generation efficiency was higher compared to on the ground. Taking into account losses, the daily power generation of the completed photovoltaic panels reached 28,800 kilowatt-hours. After all, in space, there was no need to consider weather factors, so power generation could continue 24 hours a day. This was already enough to power the factory.

As Yan Xia expected, nothing happened overnight but required a lot of time. Fortunately, once everything was on track, development progressed rapidly. 100 robots became 1000, and the 20 3D printers increased to 300 in just four months. The factory began smelting large amounts of metal and started making manual lathes. The robots operated the manual lathes to produce parts with sufficient precision, completing the manufacturing of high-precision machine tools.

Until another year and a half passed, after the number of high-precision machine tools exceeded 10, they truly began making other machines. Following Yan Xia's request, Ella prioritized the production of cryogenic hibernation chambers. This technology was extremely difficult, requiring first achieving ultra-low temperatures and then using liquid nitrogen for freezing.

Before entering hibernation, a special anticoagulant needed to be injected into the body to prevent blood from freezing and to prevent the water inside the body from forming ice crystals. Only under this series of technologies could the cryogenic hibernation chamber be initially realized. This technology had not yet been achieved on Earth; Yan Xia had to rely on the technology calculated solely by Ella. He had no choice; surely he couldn't manually develop the technology tree himself as a computer engineer, right?

Another two and a half years passed. The factory on the asteroid transformed into an industrial park. This was already very fast. Even with the support of Earth's mature industrial system, building an industrial park from scratch on the ground would take about four years, which was quite impressive. But for Yan Xia, it felt terrifyingly long.

Fortunately, everything finally came to an end. In the year 2044 AD, nearly seven years after the destruction of Earth, Ella reminded him, "Yan Xia, the cryogenic hibernation chambers you need have been manufactured."