Deep Space Wandering Fleet
Chapter 245 - Chapter 245 Chapter 245 Fully Automated Universal Factory

Chapter 245: Chapter 245: Fully Automated Universal Factory Chapter 245: Chapter 245: Fully Automated Universal Factory Zhang Yuan, after perusing these materials, began to breathe more heavily. He discovered that the so-called “fully automated universal factory” was actually an enormous 3D printer!

But this 3D printer’s functionality was extremely formidable, integrating multiple key technologies such as biology, information, and mechanics, and it could print tens of millions of different components!

Tens of millions!

Moreover, the components printed out had high precision and productivity, the parameters of which left Zhang Yuan wide-eyed with astonishment.

There actually existed such powerful machines in the world; it was truly incredible!

One could even say that the power of a single machine was equivalent to the sum of all the current human pinnacle productive forces, and even surpassed them by a great deal!

Seemingly having noticed his confusion, the Gleize leader explained, “Please do not doubt, this is the pinnacle of technology from a Cosmic Level 2 Civilization, even touching on that of a Third-level Civilization.”

“According to our observations, although we do not know what technological level your mother civilization has reached, your current industrial capabilities and technical means are still limited to the scope of a Level 1 Civilization…”

Zhang Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. The leader of the Gleize Civilization might have deliberately revealed a bit of common knowledge about Cosmic Sociology to the humans.

The negotiation between the two parties had already begun!

But he certainly couldn’t be foolish enough to bluntly inquire about this common knowledge, otherwise the other party would consider this cosmic information to have transactional value, and who knows how high they would price it…

He pretended to be very calm and said, “Regarding the description of these materials, this factory is indeed very powerful, even using some biological methods.”

“However, the current text explanation is not detailed enough. This transaction is of great significance; I hope to personally visit this Universal Factory. Would that be possible?”

The other party hesitated for a moment and then nodded in reply, “That’s not a problem, if you are not feeling too tired…”

The negotiations lasted for half the day until Zhang Yuan, too excited to even sleep, eagerly toured the so-called “fully automated universal factory”!

This behemoth was larger than an aircraft carrier, measuring about 300 meters in length, 120 meters in width, and a massive 160,000 tons, situated in the underground core of Gor City. There was a bustle of robots and workers busily working here.

There were also numerous supporting factories and nuclear power stations around.

That is to say, all the living materials of Gor City were produced in this industrial zone.

“It looks like… it’s not fake.”

Zhang Yuan exhaled deeply.

What was crucial was that this machine was not entirely metallic. Instead, it used a large amount of biological technology, incorporating some organic matter and proteins as part of its components. The advantage of this was a very powerful sensory system and a certain self-repairing capability, allowing it to work for a long time and with stability.

“This is a technological tree humanity has never possessed.” He was half amazed and half puzzled; he had only wanted peaceful negotiations and had never thought about signing such a big deal…

And moreover, the fact that the other party actually wanted to sell this powerful machine was truly bizarre.

“Oh, Lord Ganyador… forgive my frankness, but is this the subject of your trade with the second interstellar civilization?”

“Yes, indeed it is.”

“Then I would like to know, how do you maintain such a complex system?”

What Zhang Yuan meant was that such a huge machine could not possibly go fifty thousand years without needing maintenance.

And how could the technology of the Gleize Civilization possibly maintain it?

Ganyador said, “You needn’t worry about this problem. The core of the Universal Factory is the biological computer, which possesses the ability to self-repair to a certain extent. Without using brute force to destroy it, it almost requires no maintenance, and won’t need replacement for fifty thousand years, even a hundred thousand years.”

“As for the other mechanical components, all we need to do is follow the instructions of its Artificial Intelligence and replace them regularly.”

“Artificial Intelligence?”

“It’s just weak Artificial Intelligence, which can automatically detect the positions that need maintenance.”

Zhang Yuan made an estimate and felt some hesitation in his heart, “But just one factory might not be enough… even if it employs a different technological mainstream.”

The matter was of utmost importance; one couldn’t be too cautious.

Moreover, he was also weighing whether this trade contained any traps…

For example, what if, after gaining the majority of human production capacity, they suddenly attacked; or, what if humans painstakingly built a spaceship and they reneged, what would happen then?

After some deliberation, Zhang Yuan said, “I’m not saying the factory isn’t good, but the requirement for your spaceship is to support a population of 2 million to 2.5 million… that will take us a very long time. And the spaceship itself contains immense technological content, which could reveal many technologies…”

“You are mistaken,” Ganyador argued, “The Universal Factory represents not only tremendous productive power, but its database also contains a vast reserve of technologies. These are the technological reserves of a Peak Second-level Civilization, I think, just based on this information alone, it should be enough to exchange for a Constant Star Level spaceship.”

“That depends on what these technological reserves actually are…”

Zhang Yuan wasn’t simply beguiled and responded, “If the technologies in the database are ones we already have, then their value will be significantly diminished. Plus, as you know, many technologies are incompatible with each other… Even differences in screw standards can cause huge disparities. At best, we can draw inspiration from them, not use them directly.”

“Our human civilization’s industrial standards are largely established; it’s improbable that they would change easily because of one Universal Factory… Hence, the true value of the technology in this database is still up for debate.”

Of course, Zhang Yuan was purely bluffing; he really wanted to know what the peak of Second-level Civilization was, what technologies they had. While it’s true many industrial standards are indeed incompatible, even drawing inspiration from some technological concepts can be very significant.

In the following negotiations, Zhang Yuan examined the so-called “Universal Factory’s” capabilities while sending related information back to Earth Era for reports.

After an investigation, he thought the probability of a trap was low; the other party had already exposed their core technology, and it seemed possible they had some problem for which they sought human assistance.

The Universal Factory was truly too powerful and convenient. By just inputting some raw materials, it could produce a large number of components. This astonishingly automatic process made Zhang Yuan extremely envious.

Take a simple example: 6,000 centrifuges, if produced by a new civilization, might take half a year, require setting up corresponding production lines, and the investment of various resources and labor; but with the Universal Factory, new production lines would not be necessary at all, just the setting of specific programs in the computer, followed by the input of raw materials, and the production of various components could take as little as three months!

Although there was corresponding 3D printing technology on Earth, in terms of productivity and precision, it simply couldn’t compare.

He even felt somewhat inclined to close this deal.

“The value of a Universal Factory is hard to compare with that of a Constant Starship, so why not study it and assemble another Universal Factory?”

Even ten, a hundred, a thousand?

Even if the entire reverse-engineering process might be extremely difficult, Zhang Yuan still had some confidence in his engineers.

And that included bio-machinery, which humans rarely dealt with.

Of course, the difficulty was definitely significant; the various complex biotechnologies would not be easy to decrypt–otherwise, the Pangolins wouldn’t have failed to consider this point.

“So, does that mean the so-called ‘core,’ the production of biomachinery, is quite difficult? Or perhaps, the database doesn’t contain the manufacturing method of the Universal Factory at all.”

“Or maybe, this group of Pangolins are just too lazy to crack it?”