From daytime until deep into the night.
Vast tracts of frozen earth were turned over, with excavated soil piled up into small hills.
The human soldiers retreated to the star station to rest, while the mechanical soldiers continued their work, beginning the concrete pouring.
The pouring was done in layers, with pauses to install pipelines. The pipelines beneath the docking bay were incredibly dense, coiling like snakes, layer upon layer, interspersed with clusters of sensors, signalers, and wireless chargers.
Over the course of an entire night, eight new docking bays were expanded, leaving behind empty, barren ground.
The mechanical soldiers, their power depleted, collectively returned to their depots for recharging.
The signal station immediately sent a message to Jiang Ye Star.
[8 Docking Bays Expansion Complete]
It was sent seventy times in succession before finally succeeding.
...
Star Station, Office.
Jiang Ye's phone received a message.
[Dear Black Gold Client Mr. Jiang Ye, the 8 products you ordered have arrived in the orbit of Jiang Ye Star. They will descend and be delivered immediately upon payment of the balance.]
[Order 1: "Aerial Fortress" cruise near-earth firepower military spaceship, capable of carrying 20 tons of high-explosive aerial bombs, 20 medium-range surface-to-surface missiles, 88]
The sentries standing guard in the distance donned noise-canceling headphones; the sound wave from the collective landing of these spaceships was akin to a volcanic eruption. However, the soundproofing in Jiang Ye's office was too effective, and the interior remained silent.
Green squares advanced rhythmically towards the spaceships. These were the formations responsible for receiving the ships, mostly engineers and ship handlers, who would confirm the ships had no quality issues and complete the handover.
Jiang Ye stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, observing silently.
Half an hour later, his phone vibrated.
[Report to Commander, new spaceships have been inspected and signed for, ready for loading.]
[According to the planned schedule, this shipment includes 100 sets of barracks construction materials, capable of building semi-permanent barracks to house 5,000 people, one thousand mechanical soldiers, and one hundred tons of daily provisions.]
Jiang Ye typed: "Load them up, and take off for delivery once loaded."
For the next week, the Birong Star camp was busy constructing barracks.
The barracks were rather meager in scale, with six-person rooms and bunk beds. The bathrooms only had showerheads, no bathtubs. The only commendable aspects were their safety and warmth; even the windows were twenty centimeters thick, and the walls were embedded with electric heating tubes. As long as the power supply was stable, the interior could be kept as warm as spring.
After several trips for construction materials, the barracks expanded within a week to accommodate five thousand people.
The barracks for mechanical soldiers were also expanded to house fifteen thousand.
Accompanying these were the supporting power systems, warehouses, snowmobiles, and a fleet of ornithopters.
As soon as the camp expansion was completed, Jiang Ye received a notification on his phone.
[Birong Star app requests an update, do you agree?]
His brow twitched.
Update!
One second to download, two seconds to install.
[Detected that your fiefdom has developed and grown, reaching "Tribal" civilization level.]
[Please continue to strive and advance towards more prosperous and powerful civilization tiers!]
Jiang Ye saw the newly added feature in the app: a civilization level function.
His own fiefdom had just surpassed the "Savage" level and entered the "Tribal" level, with a progress of 2%.
"All flash and no substance," Jiang Ye commented.
He wanted to know the levels of other fiefdoms on Birong Star, but after tapping on his phone for a long time, he couldn't find any rankings.
"Garbage software," Jiang Ye couldn't help but complain.
Then, he thought better of it and called Li Nannan.
After waiting for a while, she finally answered.
"Hello?" Li Nannan's voice sounded groggy, as if she had just woken up.
"Commander, sorry to disturb your sleep. I wanted to ask... do you have data on the various fiefdoms on Birong Star?" Jiang Ye asked.
"No, I don't manage that area." Li Nannan's tone became slightly more alert; she was also concerned about matters on Birong Star. "I can only see the situation in your area. There are military satellites specifically monitoring you from above, and a database responsible for analyzing you. It's the same for other fiefdoms."
"Do you have a way to... inquire about it a little?" Jiang Ye asked. "My fiefdom has just entered the Tribal level, and I want to know what level other fiefdoms are at."
"No need to inquire, there are definitely those with higher development levels than you. Many of the planets participating in the Birong Star competition are incredibly wealthy. They can quickly raise their levels just by throwing money at it. We are poor; we can only work hard. You won't have an advantage in the early stages, so you can only rely on your vast territory to gain an advantage in the later stages, trading space for time." Li Nannan said.
Jiang Ye's eyelids twitched; he felt like he had heard this before.
After chatting with Li Nannan for a few more minutes, he hung up.
Jiang Ye pondered for a moment, then began clicking incessantly on his office screen.
First, he issued an order: within 48 hours, the second batch of troops would be transported to Birong Star.
After the transport, the first camp on Birong Star would have a total of 5,000 human soldiers and 15,000 mechanical soldiers. This troop count was already considerable, with enough personnel for the next phase of the plan.
The draft of the plan, Jiang Ye had already prepared.
It was named—"Dimensional Leap" Plan!