The Mobile City on the Wilderness

The morning was a mix of wind and rain.

On the vast, boundless wasteland, a behemoth the size of a small mountain was slowly advancing through the curtain of rain.

Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be a town with a distinct steampunk style.

Beneath the town were rows of tires and giant treads, along with a series of equipment such as mechanical arms, cranes, watchtowers, cannons, heavy machine guns, and searchlights.

Buildings, water towers, warehouses, small processing plants, fields... The town's structure was clearly layered from top to bottom, neatly arranged.

At this moment, Li Ye, standing atop the watchtower, clutched the newly organized supply list with a solemn expression.

This was his first week since arriving.

This was a wasteland world.

Zombie hordes, mechanical lifeforms, mutated creatures, monster civilizations... This world was far more perilous than he had imagined.

Survivors depended on magical [Mobile Cities], strengthening and building their own cities step by step by collecting resources, recruiting talent, and hunting other [Mobile Cities] to survive.

This mobile city was named "Mole," a low-tier Level 1 mobile city.

On the very first day of his arrival, Li Ye had unfortunately become a slave on the Mole.

Working day and night, extremely poor living conditions, meager rations and fresh water every day, coupled with the occasional beatings from the lord and his trusted enforcers...

Li Ye endured it all silently. While appearing outwardly calm, he began his own plan in secret.

Rallying other slaves to join, preparing weapons, secretly subverting disgruntled confidantes of the former lord, formulating a plan for rebellion...

Just last night, Li Ye led his people to seize the opportunity and launch an uprising.

After a night of bloody battle, Li Ye successfully took control of the Mole at the cost of over half his own casualties, completely eradicating the former lord and his enforcers.

He was then unanimously elected by everyone as the new leader of this mobile city. With the thought of starting anew, Li Ye renamed the mobile city "Tomorrow."

[2 Normal Cannons, 6 Normal Cannonballs]

[4 Normal Heavy Machine Guns, over 200 Normal Machine Gun Bullets]

[6 Pistols, over 40 Normal Bullets, 25 Normal Knives, 2 Level 1 Weapons, 87 Crystal Coins]

[35 units Iron Ore, 23 units Wood, 115 units Fresh Water, 15 units Gunpowder]

[125 Buns, 68 Potatoes, 3 Canned Meat, half a bag of Flour]

[Mobile City Energy Remaining: 15%]

Looking at the lines of numbers on the supply list in his hand, Li Ye sighed deeply.

The original lord had no concept of resource management and indulged in extravagance, so only this much remained when he took over.

Resource scarcity! This problem now lay squarely before Li Ye.

Whether it was the food and fresh water needed for survival, the raw materials like iron ore and oil needed for Tomorrow's production and upgrades, or the bullets and cannonballs that the mobile city relied on for defense, he was severely lacking in everything!

Even more troublesome was that after a round of power reshuffling, Tomorrow had no specialized personnel like mechanics, gunners, lookouts, or combat captains. Currently, it could barely maintain daily operations.

Thinking of this, Li Ye couldn't help but sigh with melancholy.

"This is truly difficult."

Putting away the list, he slowly walked towards the cockpit via the ladder.

In the cockpit, a thin seventeen-year-old boy was engrossed in a driving manual as thick as a dictionary in one hand, while nervously operating the controls at the driving console with the other.

Seeing Li Ye approach, a look of joy appeared on his face.

"You're here, Brother Li."

Li Ye nodded.

This boy was named Tang Fang. He was originally a slave along with Li Ye, frail but sharp-witted. After taking over Tomorrow, Li Ye, on a whim, assigned Tang Fang to be Tomorrow's helmsman.

To his surprise, Tang Fang had managed to learn the operating procedures well enough in less than two hours and successfully started Tomorrow.

This young man was far more talented than he had imagined; perhaps he could truly become an excellent helmsman.

Just then, a dark-skinned middle-aged man strode in.

"Ah Li, the bodies have all been disposed of, and the supplies have all been organized."

As he spoke, he seemed to recall something and added, "We've also dealt with that lord's confidante who was subverted, just as you suggested."

Li Ye continued to gaze at the screen without turning his head, his expression unchanged.

"Mm."

The middle-aged man was named Old Zhou. He was the first person Li Ye met when he first arrived and the first slave to join his rebellion plan. He now served as Li Ye's deputy.

After a brief exchange, the three of them simultaneously looked at the glaring "Remaining 15% Energy" displayed on the control panel screen.

This was all the energy Tomorrow had left. Even operating in the most energy-saving mode, it would consume 2% of its energy daily.

This meant that if they didn't find an energy supply soon, Tomorrow would completely shut down within a week.

On this monster-infested wasteland, stopping was a very dangerous prospect.

Li Ye was the first to snap back to reality, gently patting the shoulders of the two people beside him.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright. For now, let's decide where we're going..."

Just then, a line of prompts suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Intelligence System Activated.]

[1. Tonight, due to the extremely tight defenses of the monsters in Gross Mine, the offensive operation of the Level 1 Mobile City "Azure" has completely failed. Azure suffered severe damage in multiple areas, including its water tower, its lord was critically injured and fell into a coma, and its subordinates suffered over fifty percent casualties. (Intelligence Value: Normal)]

[2. In fifteen minutes, a Level 1 Iron Mine of medium size will spawn twenty kilometers to the southeast. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)]

[3. On the edge of the Rotting Lands, a convoy is trapped by a Zombie Horde. (Intelligence Value: Rare)]

[4. In three days, the wild BOSS "Lava Spider Queen" (BOSS Level: Level 1) will descend upon the Fire Feather Forest. (Intelligence Value: Exceptional)]

[5. Currently refreshing... (Intelligence Value: Epic)]

"Intelligence System?"

After a brief moment of elation, Li Ye quickly composed himself and immediately began to carefully read the intelligence before him.

First, the first piece of intelligence.

He hadn't heard of Gross Mine or Azure before, but he assumed the former was a resource-rich location, and Azure had launched an attack to acquire its resources.

In the wilderness, battles erupting over resource points were common occurrences.

The second piece of intelligence made him excited.

In fifteen minutes, a Level 1 Iron Mine of medium size would spawn twenty kilometers to the southeast.

A medium-sized iron mine would likely yield around 500 units of Level 1 Iron Ore. Iron ore was a basic resource required for the production and upgrading of mobile cities, essentially hard currency on the wasteland.

Out in the wilderness, countless people would fight tooth and nail for such a mine, yet he now had the opportunity to easily mine it.

The third piece of intelligence was quite interesting.

On the edge of the Rotting Lands, a convoy was trapped by a Zombie Horde.

"Is this a convoy made up of survivors, or..." Li Ye couldn't help but ponder. "Is it a convoy sent out by some faction in the wasteland to search for supplies?"

After all, the wasteland was a complex place, with factions of all sizes intermingling.

Suppressing the doubts in his mind, Li Ye continued to read the intelligence.

The value of the fourth piece of intelligence was even higher.

In three days, the Lava Spider Queen would descend upon the Fire Feather Forest.

The Lava Spider Queen was a Level 1 wild BOSS. Defeating it would not only drop a large amount of resources but also potentially its unique weapons and items.

More importantly, it was guaranteed to drop a Level 2 item.

The area where Li Ye was currently located was called the "Wasteland Zone," which belonged to the Level 1 zones. The resources produced were generally Level 1, and the chance of producing Level 2 items was extremely low, almost a matter of luck.

Wild BOSSes were considered the ceiling in terms of combat power among wasteland monsters. Their combat strength and defense were outrageously high, and they even possessed powerful special skills.

Generally speaking, the combat power of a Level 1 wild BOSS was comparable to a fully equipped Level 1 mobile city. However, in reality, the latter's win rate was often less than thirty percent.

This time, Li Ye could only sigh in admiration.

His Tomorrow currently lacked personnel; there was no lookout, combat captain, or mechanic. It simply didn't have the strength to defeat this wild BOSS.

"Even so, I can sell this piece of information and exchange it for some resources," he thought.

The fifth piece of intelligence was still refreshing. Li Ye looked at the "Epic Level" annotation in the intelligence column, and his breathing involuntarily became heated.

Even the Exceptional-level intelligence was quite remarkable; what kind of content would Epic-level intelligence hold?

He couldn't help but feel full of anticipation.

Following Li Ye's instructions, Tang Fang, half-believing, turned the direction and headed southeast.

After a while, a medium-sized iron mine appeared within the sight of the three.

Tang Fang and Old Zhou instantly became excited, while Li Ye nodded in satisfaction.

"Gather everyone immediately, we'll start mining now," he said.

Tomorrow currently had a total of 13 people. Li Ye instructed Tang Fang to remain on standby in the cockpit and picked out a companion with good eyesight to temporarily serve as a lookout, responsible for watching from the watchtower. He himself led the remaining people towards the iron mine.

Surprisingly, the iron mine had a very game-like appearance. It was shaped like a small mountain, with various sizes of ore growing on its surface.

Along the way, Li Ye also glanced thoughtfully at the mining pickaxe in his hand.

[Item Name: Mining Pickaxe]

[Item Level: Level 1]

[Attached Effect: Mining efficiency increased by 10%]

[Crafting Requirement: 3 units of Iron Ore (Level 1)]

After the apocalypse descended, many supernatural changes occurred in this world.

The most significant change was the appearance of "levels."

Even Level 1 items, the lowest tier, had functions that were significantly stronger than ordinary items.

Not only that, but even the monsters on the wasteland have appeared with levels. Ordinary weapons are already finding it difficult to inflict effective damage on Level 1 monsters. If you want to effectively kill Level 1 monsters, you need to equip Level 1 weapons.

Item levels are divided into 1-7 levels, and with each level increase, the item's function will improve by one step.

Mobile cities also follow a 1-7 level scale.

A Level 1 mobile city can accommodate 500-1,000 people and is known as "Town-class."

A Level 2 mobile city can accommodate 5,000-10,000 people and is known as "Fortress-class."

A Level 3 mobile city can accommodate 50,000-100,000 people and is known as "Island-class."

A Level 4 mobile city can accommodate 200,000-500,000 people and is known as "City-class."

A Level 5 mobile city can accommodate 1,000,000-5,000,000 people and is known as "Kingdom-class."

A Level 6 mobile city can accommodate 10,000,000-20,000,000 people and is known as "Mobile Continent-class."

A Level 7 mobile city can accommodate 50,000,000-100,000,000 people and is known as "Civilization-class."

After working for several hours, Li Ye and the others finally finished mining this iron ore vein.

Putting away his mining pickaxe, Li Ye wiped the sweat from his forehead with satisfaction.

This time, he had mined a full 514 units of Level 1 Iron Ore, which was equivalent to a week's harvest for a mobile city.

At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Currently, the Tomorrow is severely short-handed. Mining an ore vein requires everyone to be deployed, and even he, the lord, has to personally go out.

The shortage of manpower leads to excessively long mining times, which greatly increases the chance of encountering monster attacks.

After finishing work, Li Ye returned to the cockpit and, looking down at the third piece of intelligence in the system bar, couldn't help but fall into thought.

"Should I save this convoy or not?"

Since this intelligence was classified as "Rare," it was undoubtedly very valuable.

Perhaps this convoy was loaded with supplies, or maybe there were talents like mechanics in the convoy.

Li Ye felt a stir of desire, but the thought of a zombie horde quickly calmed him down.

Zombies.

The most common Level 1 monsters in the wasteland.

They often appeared in the form of zombie hordes, leaving nothing alive in their wake.

Even the lowest-level Level 1 zombie hordes were quite difficult to deal with.

"If only I had Level 1 artillery or a Level 1 heavy machine gun," Li Ye sighed.

The heavy machine guns and artillery on the Tomorrow were only Normal grade and couldn't inflict effective damage on zombie hordes. If not careful, they could even backfire, leading to capsizing.

After much deliberation, Li Ye finally made his decision.

"Tang Fang, adjust our course. We're heading towards the Rotting Lands."