Chapter 154 Industrial Blood
*Drip, drip—*
A crisp notification sound. Ou Zhanpeng raised his head, rubbed his sore eyes, and muttered dejectedly, "This job is really not for humans!"
He had been drawing blueprints for most of the day, his head swimming and his vision blurry. Every part of him felt wrong, more exhausting than a head-on confrontation with an alien species.
Shaking his arm as he left the drafting room, Ou Zhanpeng headed to the cafeteria for a meal. Just as he was about to find a place to sit, a familiar voice called from a corner: "Zhanpeng—"
Spotting a familiar face, Ou Zhanpeng walked over with a smile and sat opposite Xie Yu. He popped a piece of fragrant braised pork into his mouth, praising it as he chewed, "Mmm, freshly made is so delicious!"
A few years ago, both the space station and the moon base could only serve space rations. But things were different now. Ever since artificial gravity was put into use, significant effort had been made to improve living conditions at the Landing Mountain base. Now, besides the vertical farms, the base also had a livestock farm. These two facilities could supply seventy percent of the base's vegetables and meat, greatly easing the logistical pressure.
This was also the only cafeteria outside Earth manned by a master chef.
This master chef was also the first astronaut to go into space solely due to his excellent culinary skills.
Xie Yu chuckled, "How is it? Have you adapted these past few days?"
Ou Zhanpeng sighed helplessly, "It's not about adapting, it's just that there are too many blueprints to draw. Drawing all day is too monotonous. If I draw any more, my eyeballs will be ruined."
"Be content..."
Before he could finish speaking, a noisy commotion suddenly erupted from outside. Both of them looked over in surprise.
While this place wasn't as strict as a military mess hall where talking was forbidden, out of basic courtesy, people spoke softly, never in loud clamor.
A group of people walked in excitedly, followed by many others, all beaming with joy.
"What's going on?" Ou Zhanpeng asked curiously.
Xie Yu scanned the crowd, "Wait a moment, I'll ask someone... Lu Yu, Lu Yu!"
"Hey, Captain Xie, you called me!" A familiar face emerged from the crowd and plopped down next to Ou Zhanpeng.
"What's all this hullabaloo?" Xie Yu asked.
"Hey, you guys don't know yet? Well No. 7 has struck oil!" Lu Yu said cheerfully.
"Struck oil?" Xie Yu's eyes lit up, "That's great!"
He couldn't even be bothered to eat and stood up abruptly.
Ou Zhanpeng, quick-handed, grabbed Xie Yu's arm, "Hey, hey, no, what well struck what oil?"
Xie Yu's smile was so wide he couldn't close his mouth, "What other oil could it be, of course, petroleum!"
What?
Ou Zhanpeng was completely dumbfounded, "Here? The moon?"
"Yes, the moon?" Xie Yu said.
"How is that possible?" Ou Zhanpeng felt his whole world crumble. How could there be petroleum on the moon?
Xie Yu walked away. Ou Zhanpeng lost his appetite and grabbed Lu Yu again, "Hey, hey, hey, tell me, this oil... what's the story behind it?"
"Oh, that's a long story... Wait for me for a bit, we'll talk while we eat!" Lu Yu got up, took a portion of food, and sat opposite Ou Zhanpeng. "A few years ago, the higher-ups decided on a plan to develop heavy industry on the moon and sent many people to survey mineral resources. Somehow, they didn't find minerals but started talking about rock strata and whatnot. I don't understand all those jumbled terms, but basically, they said there were conditions for oil formation."
Feeling his throat dry, he took a sip of juice to moisten it.
"And then?" Ou Zhanpeng asked.
"Then they found titanium ore, iron ore, as well as copper ore and rare earth elements. The priority was to develop smelting. Only after the mines and smelters were on track did they send the oil extraction equipment, a vacuum-specialized version," Lu Yu said.
Ou Zhanpeng sighed, "The moon's environment, it would be strange not to need a special version... Why are you eating again? What happened next?"
Lu Yu gave a wry smile, "Brother, you're my real brother, let me eat first, okay?"
"Sorry, sorry, you eat first!" Ou Zhanpeng also started eating, but without much enthusiasm.
He didn't have deep knowledge of petroleum, but he knew that the scientific community had never fully understood the formation of oil, and textbooks always adopted the biological theory of oil formation.
When he first encountered this theory, he found it utterly unreliable. If oil was formed from ancient organisms, how many animals would have to die together to form such vast oil fields?
Even if it was nonsense, it should at least be plausible!
Later, on a whim, he even searched for it online and found that there were quite a few theories of oil formation, but none of them had sufficient supporting evidence. Rather than theories of oil formation, they were more like hypotheses.
Now that petroleum had been found on the moon, the biological theory of oil formation was self-defeating. It was indeed good news worth celebrating.
"So, has the oil refining equipment and such arrived?" Ou Zhanpeng couldn't help but ask.
"I'm not sure about that," Lu Yu said. "It should be fine. The higher-ups must have made arrangements long ago."
Ou Zhanpeng nodded and said no more. He finished his meal in a few quick bites and hurried away.
He had expected that once this news got out, it would ignite global public opinion. However, the reality was that the base immediately issued a gag order, forbidding anyone from leaking related information to the outside world.
This wasn't particularly strange, as the two bases on the moon currently belonged to Yanjing, meaning China enjoyed exclusive rights to the moon's resources.
However, in name, the moon still belonged to all of humanity. Theoretically, every little partner on Blue Star had the right to own a portion of the moon's resources.
No one had competed for the moon before, not only because of the enormous investment but more importantly, there wasn't enough profit incentive.
Now that there were both minerals and oil, the moon could be completely transformed into a super factory, capable of manufacturing space warships. The cost would be reduced by at least eighty percent!
The launch cost alone could completely overwhelm Earth.
The benefits for the powers-that-be here were too immense. Once the news spread, any moderately capable partner would likely try to grab a share.
Both the minerals and the oil were discovered by China. The relevant industrial systems were either already built or in the planning stages. If a bunch of envious partners came to pick the fruit at this point, who would guarantee Yanjing's interests?
As expected, later that evening, the base received instructions to fully develop the petrochemical industry. If they were short on personnel or equipment, the ground would immediately arrange preparations to establish the relevant industries as quickly as possible.
It wasn't that the higher-ups were being impatient. Petroleum was incredibly useful. Take the warship currently under construction, for example. Although Landing Mountain had built the main structure, the various rubber and plastic components needed for the ship had to rely on supplies from the ground.
With petrochemicals, it would be different. It couldn't be said that all components could be manufactured on the moon, but at least sixty to seventy percent could be.
Every one percent reduction meant several launches of cargo capacity, meaning immense financial resources and countless manpower and material resources.
It not only had far-reaching implications but was also of great significance.