Chapter 36: Set Off
At this moment, the enormous expeditionary force had completed its assembly.
On a plain near the Main Base, a total of 40,000 Clones, riding in over 3,000 various vehicles, simultaneously began to advance.
For a moment, the earth seemed to tremble slightly.
Among these more than 3,000 various vehicles, there were 300 fully enclosed double-decker trucks specifically used for transporting personnel.
These large trucks were 20 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 4 meters high, but they were divided into two levels, each with a height of two meters.
The internal area of one level was 60 square meters, capable of seating 50 Clones, making it 100 Clones for both levels.
For normal people, such a crowded and narrow space would obviously be unsuitable. However, for Clones, it didn’t matter.
Anyway, during the transportation process, Tom would not connect their consciousness; they just needed to sit there obediently.
300 troop carriers transported 30,000 Clones, while the remaining 10,000 Clones were distributed among various other vehicles.
Among them, there were 500 tanks, with three crew members per tank, totaling 1,500 people.
There were 500 armored vehicles, with four people each, making it 2,000 people.
There were 200 artillery vehicles, with three people each, totaling 600 people.
There were also large trucks specifically for transporting supplies, with each truck capable of transporting 100 tons of goods, including machine gun ammunition, artillery shells, fuel, first-aid medicine, pure oxygen, methane, meat, grains, vegetables, and so on, totaling 1,000 trucks.
This amounted to a total of 100,000 tons of supplies!
Beyond that were some special vehicles, such as ambulances, kitchen vehicles, repair vehicles, and escort vehicles.
All in all, over three thousand vehicles and forty thousand Clones, all gathered, set out on the expedition!
Following the pre-surveyed route, the large force advanced at an average speed of approximately 30 kilometers per hour.
Another small team moved faster, reaching about 60 kilometers per hour, arriving ahead of the main force.
After only two hours of travel, this team had already stopped.
Thousands of logistics support Clones, wearing spacesuits, jumped out of the vehicles, took large quantities of boxes from the supply trucks, disassembled them, took out the parts inside, and immediately began to set up camp on the desolate and silent land of Loshen Star.
Soon after, a huge, fully enclosed metal tent was set up.
Its internal area reached 500 square meters, capable of accommodating 500 people for dining simultaneously.
The Clones set up a total of 100 such metal tents in less than an hour.
While setting up the tents, other work had already begun.
Kitchen Clones drove the huge kitchen vehicles, taking out baskets of ingredients, processing them on the spot, and then quickly cooking these ingredients in huge pots, stoves, and steamers, before directly portioning them into fixed quantities.
All 40,000 meals were completed in less than two hours.
At this time, the slowly advancing main force arrived at the camp at precisely the right moment.
Parking in the pre-reserved open space, the Clones orderly got up and, without needing to wear spacesuits, exited the vehicles through the erected passages and entered the "dining hall."
Each Clone took one meal, eating as they walked, and by the time they reached the edge of the tent, they had just finished eating and arrived at the restroom entrance.
They entered, took three minutes to finish, came out, and then returned to the troop carrier via another passage to sit down obediently.
Eating and resting proceeded rapidly in this assembly-line manner, completing quickly.
Other Clones who had already eaten quickly performed safety checks on various vehicles, checking for any malfunctions during the previous travel.
Still other Clones pulled long pipelines to inject methane and liquid oxygen into the vehicles’ huge fuel tanks.
A total force of 40,000 people simultaneously carried out multiple tasks, everything in an orderly fashion, without the slightest chaos.
Leading a force of 40,000 people on Earth, let alone achieving the perfectly orderly state Tom had here, even if it were half as good, it would require at least a general, with the help of a large team of strategists, to accomplish.
Too many complex matters were involved.
When to set up camp, when to rest, how to handle drinking water, how to handle restrooms, how to deal with vehicles falling behind, how to deal with breakdowns, how to deal with troublemakers...
Even a slight detail going wrong could throw the entire team into disarray.
Ordinary people simply couldn’t coordinate it.
But for Tom, commanding a massive force of 40,000 people and over 3,000 vehicles was effortless and easy.
All maintenance work was completed in a total of one and a half hours, all Clones of the main force returned to their positions, and the convoy roared forward once more.
The logistics support Clones remained in place, quickly disassembling and boxing all supplies back onto the trucks, leaving no human traces behind except for some messy tire tracks and footprints.
Not even a trace of the Clones’ feces was left behind.
That stuff was good for preparing soilless plant nutrient solution; how could it be wasted here?
One hour after the main force departed, the logistics support team completed all preparations.
Thus, this convoy also quickly set off, eventually overtaking the main force and arriving at the next camping spot two hours ahead of the main force, at which point the previous scene repeated itself.
The entire team continued without stopping throughout the night, except for one rest every four hours. Although the speed was only 30 kilometers per hour, after one day, they still advanced a full 600 kilometers.
Due to a slight detour, the total distance expanded from the previous 1,000 kilometers to 1,300 kilometers at this point.
Calculated at the current speed, the expeditionary force would reach the battlefield in less than 30 more hours.
Time passed quietly, and the frontline reconnaissance Clones reported that the actions of their expeditionary force had not affected the Monster Birds in the slightest.
The small plain was still bustling with activity, filled with flying Monster Birds, their movements detectable from over a hundred kilometers away.
In comparison, the movement of Tom’s convoy was unnoticeable.
At this moment, the expeditionary force was about to arrive. Therefore, the expeditionary force’s convoy began to disperse, parking separately around this small plain.
A large number of artillery vehicles were towed to their designated positions, their muzzles adjusted, ready to begin bombardment.
A large number of tanks and armored vehicles had their routes planned, prepared to charge into the Monster Birds swarm.
Most importantly were the machine gun emplacements.
A large number of high-rate-of-fire machine guns were aimed not only at the Monster Birds in the small plain but also a considerable portion at the sky
Currently, Tom had no dedicated anti-air capabilities, so he could only temporarily make do with machine guns.