Chapter 65: Each's Thoughts

In the conference room, the atmosphere that had been excited because of the "super cheat" was instantly pulled back to reality by one practical problem after another.

Several dozen top experts from various fields, speaking one after another, laid bare the difficulty coefficient of building a mining base on the Moon.

Luo Lao raised his hand, pressed it lightly in the air, and the noisy conference room fell silent at once.

"Many problems are a good thing; it shows we've considered everything thoroughly. Today we're here, pooling our wisdom, to settle these issues one by one. Let's start with the most core: construction and maintenance."

A white-haired aerospace engineer immediately spoke up:

"Sending people is the highest-risk option; training a qualified astronaut takes years, and a single launch can only carry a limited number of people, which fundamentally cannot meet the demand for large-scale construction."

"Most importantly, our operation requires secrecy; any manned space launch cannot escape the world's eyes."

"Exactly!"

General Zhang Xianzhong said in a low voice: "Rather than sending our precious astronauts to do construction work, we should change our approach."

"Could we build a batch of highly intelligent engineering robots and replicate them there?"

This proposal immediately gained the approval of most of those present.

An expert from the Robotics Institute of the National Capital Academy added:

"Absolutely feasible! We can design a multifunctional engineering robot to adapt to the lunar terrain, equipped with multiple robotic arms,

to perform precision operations such as cutting, welding, grasping, and assembly. Then integrate high-precision sensors and AI modules, enabling them to work autonomously in coordination, even to carry out simple equipment fault diagnosis and repair."

"Ground personnel only need to issue macro commands via the deep-space network; the rest can be left to the robot swarm to finish on its own."

"How do we solve the power problem?"

Zhang Yunfeng raised the next key point.

"If we rely solely on solar power, we cannot guarantee uninterrupted 24-hour operation of the mine and robots."

"Nuclear power."

A chief engineer from the nuclear industry group gave the answer without hesitation.

"We can design a small, modular nuclear fission reactor, commonly known as a nuclear battery.

They are compact, have high energy density, stable output power, and a single module can support the base's energy consumption for several years.

And most importantly..."

He paused, glanced at Qin Hao, and his eyes flashed with a strange light:

"We only need to build a prototype, optimize the system a bit, and then Comrade Xiao Qin can place it together with enough fuel for decades onto the Moon in one go."

"Hiss!"

A chorus of gasps filled the conference room.

"Directly 'blink' the nuclear reactor onto the Moon?"

"That move is too savage."

"Good! The power issue is settled then!"

Luo Lao then turned to the next expert: "What about materials? With the lunar surface ranging from -180°C to +150°C, plus omnipresent cosmic radiation and micrometeorite impacts, what should we build our base out of?"

A materials science expert stood up, a confident smile on his face:

"After systematic optimization and a redesign, the previous star-iron alloy's performance has jumped several tiers, with structural strength and impact resistance more than ten times that of before.

More importantly, its multilayer internal structure provides excellent shielding against high-energy particle radiation, while its thermal conductivity is extremely low, making it currently the most suitable construction material."

Zhang Xianzhong's eyes lit up as he couldn't help interjecting: "If this stuff were used on our fighter jets..."

Luo Lao glanced at him, Zhang Xianzhong gave a hehe smile, and immediately shut his mouth.

"Very good."

Luo Lao nodded satisfactorily: "Construction, power, materials—these three major issues now have a direction. The only one left, and also the thornier one, is secrecy."

He pointed at the lunar map on the screen:

"We can't choose the Moon's near side; that would be too obvious. We can only work on the far side, but there's still a risk of exposure—the US and other countries' deep-space probes and orbital satellites could still detect us."

The conference room fell silent again.

This is an unavoidable hurdle; no matter how well you build, once exposed, all strategic advantages will vanish.

Hostile nations will go crazy making trouble for you; in short, they won't let you have an easy time.

"Perhaps... we could cover it with a cloak of invisibility?"

A somewhat hesitant voice spoke up.

The speaker was a young person.

"An invisibility cloak?"

Zhang Xianzhong perked up: "Like the kind in movies?"

"The principle is similar, but the implementation differs," the young person explained.

"We have already developed an optical metamaterial; simply put, it's a film that can bend and route light around.

If we use this material to cover the entire mine, then to external observers—whether visible light or any other electromagnetic band—it will simply bend around it, as if nothing were there.

In satellite imagery, that spot will forever appear as normal lunar terrain."

This idea left everyone present looking at each other in bewilderment.

"This... this can actually be done?"

A military bigwig couldn't help asking: "To cover such a huge mine, how large a sheet would we need?"

"It should be possible, though the energy consumption and manufacturing cost would be extremely high," the young person admitted candidly.

"But we have Comrade Qin Hao, so cost is no longer an issue; we only need a small sample to replicate infinitely. As for power consumption, with a nuclear reactor on hand, that's not a problem either."

"I object!" another expert put forth a differing opinion.

"This optical stealth solution is too passive; if the material fails or is detected by some unknown means we don't know of, we'd be completely exposed. I suggest using virtual projection technology."

"How so?"

We surround the mine with high‑energy lasers and suspended dust, creating a three‑dimensional holographic projection identical to the surroundings.

No matter how the opposing satellite shoots, what it captures is only the illusion we want it to see.

We can even regularly swap the projection, simulating light‑shadow shifts and minute changes in meteorite craters to achieve perfect seamlessness—far more proactive and deceptive than mere invisibility.

For a moment, the meeting room divided into the Invisibility Camp and the Projection Camp.

They debated back and forth with great gusto.

Old Luo finally spoke, ending the debate, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth: "Only children make choices; we adults, of course, want both!"

Everyone froze.

Old Luo turned to the two experts and laughed:

We use optical stealth material for the mine's second layer as a basic safeguard.

Then we cloak it with virtual‑projection technology as active camouflage—double insurance—so the likelihood of detection drops dramatically.