Mobile City on the Wasteland

Early in the morning, wind and rain raged.

Across the boundless wasteland, a colossal object the size of a small hill moved slowly through the curtain of rain.

On closer inspection, it was unmistakably a town with a distinctly steampunk style.

Rows of tires and giant treads were mounted beneath the town, along with mechanical arms, cranes, watchtowers, artillery, heavy machine guns, searchlights, and a whole array of other equipment.

Buildings, water towers, warehouses, small processing plants, fields... The town's structure was clearly tiered from top to bottom, with everything arranged in neat rows.

At that moment, Li Ye stood atop the watchtower, gripping the newly organized supply list tightly, his expression grave.

This was his first week since transmigrating to this world.

This was a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Zombie Tides, Mechanical Lifeforms, Mutated Creatures, Monster Civilizations... This world was far more dangerous than he had imagined.

Survivors depended on miraculous Mobile Cities, gathering resources, recruiting talent, hunting other Mobile Cities, and steadily strengthening and developing their own cities in order to survive.

This Mobile City was called Mole. It was an unimpressive Level 1 Mobile City.

On the very first day after transmigrating, Li Ye had the misfortune of becoming a slave aboard Mole.

He had worked day and night in horrendous living conditions, receiving pitifully small rations of food and freshwater each day, while the lord and his trusted enforcers beat him from time to time...

Li Ye silently endured it all. On the surface, he remained calm and unmoved, but in secret, he began making his own plans.

Recruiting other slaves to join him, preparing weapons, secretly winning over the disgraced lord's trusted aides, formulating a rebellion plan...

Just last night, Li Ye had led everyone in launching an uprising when the opportunity arose.

After a night of bloody fighting, Li Ye successfully seized Mole at the cost of more than half his side being killed or wounded, then completely eradicated the former lord and his trusted enforcers.

He was subsequently chosen by everyone to become the new lord of the Mobile City. With the thought of starting over with everything, Li Ye renamed the Mobile City Tomorrow.

2 Normal Cannons, 6 Normal Cannonballs

4 Normal Heavy Machine Guns, more than 200 Normal Machine Gun Bullets

6 Pistols, more than 40 Normal Bullets, 25 Normal Knives, 2 Level 1 Weapons, 87 Crystal Coins

35 units of Iron Ore, 23 units of Timber, 115 units of Freshwater, 15 units of Gunpowder

125 Steamed Buns, 68 Potatoes, 3 Cans of Meat, half a sack of Flour

Mobile City Energy Remaining: 15%

Looking at the rows of figures on the supply list in his hand, Li Ye let out a hollow sigh.

The former lord had not possessed the slightest notion of managing supplies and had squandered them recklessly. Thus, by the time Li Ye took over, only this much remained.

Resources were scarce! This problem now lay squarely before Li Ye.

Whether it was the food and freshwater needed for survival, the raw materials such as Iron Ore and oil needed to produce and upgrade Tomorrow, or the bullets and cannonballs on which the Mobile City relied for defense, he was desperately short of everything!

Even more troublesome was that after the reshuffling of power, Tomorrow had not a single professional such as a mechanic, gunner, watchman, or Combat Captain. At present, it could barely maintain its daily operations.

At the thought, Li Ye could not help sighing dejectedly.

"It's really tough."

Putting away the list, he slowly walked toward the cockpit along the gangway.

Inside the cockpit, a thin seventeen-year-old boy was flipping through a driving manual as thick as a dictionary with one hand while operating the controls before him with the other, visibly tense.

When he saw Li Ye approaching, delight appeared on his face.

"You're here, Brother Li."

Li Ye nodded.

The boy's name was Tang Fang. He had originally been a fellow slave of Li Ye's. Though he was frail and often ill, he was very clever. After seizing Tomorrow, Li Ye had decided to give Tang Fang a try and assigned him to serve as Tomorrow's helmsman.

To his surprise, Tang Fang had barely learned the operating procedures within two hours and had successfully started Tomorrow.

This boy was far more talented than he had imagined. Perhaps he really could become an outstanding helmsman.

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

"A-Li, all the bodies have been dealt with, and the supplies have been sorted out."

As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and added, "We also dealt with the former lord's trusted aide who had been won over, just as you suggested."

Without turning his head, Li Ye stared at the screen, his expression unchanged.

"Mm."

The middle-aged man was named Old Zhou. He had been the first person Li Ye met after transmigrating and the first slave to join his rebellion plan. He was now serving as Li Ye's deputy.

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

That was all the energy left aboard Tomorrow. Even when operating in the most energy-efficient mode, it consumed 2% of its energy each day.

In other words, if they could not find an energy supply, Tomorrow would come to a complete standstill in a week.

In this wasteland crawling with monsters, stopping was extremely dangerous.

Li Ye was the first to recover. He gently patted the shoulders of the two men beside him.

"Don't worry. Everything will get better. For now, let's decide where to go..."

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

Intelligence System activated.

1. Tonight, because the monsters of Gross Mine were too heavily defended, the attack by the Level 1 Mobile City "Azure" failed completely. Multiple parts of Azure, including its water tower, suffered severe damage. The Lord of Azure was seriously wounded and fell unconscious, while more than half of his subordinates were killed or wounded. (Intelligence Value: Normal)

2. In fifteen minutes, a Level 1 Iron Ore Vein of medium size will appear twenty kilometers southeast. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)

3. At the edge of the Rotting Lands, a convoy is currently trapped in a Zombie Tide. (Intelligence Value: Rare)

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

5. Refreshing... (Intelligence Value: Epic)

"Intelligence System?"

After a brief surge of joy, Li Ye quickly composed himself and immediately began carefully reading the intelligence before him.

The first piece of intelligence came first.

He had never heard of Gross Mine or Azure, but he guessed that the former was probably a resource point rich in mineral deposits, while Azure had launched its attack to obtain those resources.

In the wilderness, battles over resource points were extremely common.

The second piece of intelligence excited him.

In just fifteen minutes, a Level 1 Iron Ore Vein would appear twenty kilometers southeast—and it was actually medium-sized.

A medium-sized Iron Ore Vein could probably produce around 500 units of Level 1 Iron Ore. Iron Ore was a basic resource required for Mobile City production and upgrades, and could be considered hard currency in the wasteland.

In the wilderness, countless people fought desperately over such a mine, while he now had the chance to mine it with ease.

The third piece of intelligence was quite interesting.

A convoy was trapped in a Zombie Tide at the edge of the Rotting Lands.

"Is this a convoy made up of survivors, or..." Li Ye wondered. "Is it a convoy sent out by some faction in the wasteland to search for supplies?"

After all, the wasteland was complicated, with factions of all sizes interwoven throughout it.

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Li Ye continued reading the intelligence.

The fourth piece of intelligence was even more valuable.

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

The Lava Spider Queen was a Level 1 Wild BOSS. Killing it would not only yield a large amount of resources, but might even drop its unique weapons and items.

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

The area where Li Ye currently was was called the "Wasteland Zone." It was a Level 1 Zone, and the resources it produced were generally Level 1. The chance of obtaining a Level 2 Item was extremely low—so low that such items could practically only be found by chance.

The combat power of Wild BOSSes was at the pinnacle among wasteland monsters. Their strength and defense were absurdly high, and they even possessed powerful special skills.

Generally speaking, the combat power of a Level 1 Wild BOSS was equivalent to that of a fully equipped Level 1 Mobile City. In reality, however, the latter's odds of victory were often less than thirty percent.

This time, Li Ye could only stare helplessly from the sidelines.

Tomorrow was currently short-staffed. It had no watchman, Combat Captain, or mechanic at all, so it simply did not possess the strength to kill this Wild BOSS.

"Even so, I can sell this piece of intelligence in exchange for some resources or something." He thought.

The fifth piece of intelligence was still refreshing. Seeing the "Epic" label in the intelligence column, Li Ye's breathing grew heated.

Outstanding-level intelligence was already extraordinary. What could Epic-level intelligence possibly contain?

He could not help looking forward to it.

Following Li Ye's instructions, Tang Fang turned the vehicle around in disbelief and drove southeast.

After a while, a medium-sized Iron Ore Vein appeared within the three men's field of vision.

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

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

Tomorrow had thirteen people in total. Li Ye had Tang Fang remain on standby in the cockpit, selected a Companion with good eyesight to temporarily serve as a watchman and keep watch from the watchtower, then led the rest toward the Iron Ore Vein.

Surprisingly, the Iron Ore Vein had a distinctly game-like appearance. It was shaped like a small hill, with mineral deposits of various sizes growing all over its surface.

On the way, Li Ye thoughtfully glanced at the mining pick in his hand.

Item Name: Mining Pick

Item Level: Level 1

Additional Effect: Mining Efficiency increased by 10%

Materials Required to Craft: 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 level available, were considerably more powerful than ordinary items.

Not only that, even the monsters of the wasteland had gained levels. Ordinary weapons could no longer effectively damage Level 1 Monsters. To deal effective damage to Level 1 Monsters, one needed to equip Level 1 Weapons.

Item levels ranged from Level 1 to Level 7, and an item's functions would improve by an entire tier with each increase in level.

Mobile Cities likewise ranged from Level 1 to Level 7 in scale.

A Level 1 Mobile City could accommodate 500 to 1,000 people and was known as Town-class.

A Level 2 Mobile City could accommodate 5,000 to 10,000 people and was known as Fortress-class.

A Level 3 Mobile City could accommodate 50,000 to 100,000 people and was known as Island-class.

A Level 4 Mobile City could accommodate 200,000 to 500,000 people and was known as City-class.

A Level 5 Mobile City could accommodate 1 million to 5 million people and was known as Kingdom-class.

A Level 6 Mobile City could accommodate 10 million to 20 million people and was known as Mobile Continent-class.

A Level 7 Mobile City could accommodate 50 million to 100 million people and was known as Civilization-class.

After several hours of hard work, Li Ye and the others finally finished mining the Iron Ore Vein.

Putting away the mining pick, Li Ye contentedly wiped the sweat from his forehead.

This time, he had mined a full 514 units of Level 1 Iron Ore, equivalent to a Mobile City's harvest for an entire week.

At the same time, he secretly sighed inwardly.

Tomorrow was severely understaffed. Mining a single vein required everyone to pour out of the city, and even he, the lord, had to personally join in.

The shortage of manpower made the mining take too long, sharply increasing the likelihood of a monster attack.

After finishing work, Li Ye returned to the cockpit. Lowering his head to look at the third piece of intelligence in the system panel, he fell into thought.

"Should I save this convoy or not?"

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

Perhaps the convoy was loaded with supplies, or perhaps it contained talented people such as mechanics.

Li Ye was eager to act, but he quickly calmed down at the thought of the Zombie Tide.

Zombies.

The most common Level 1 Monsters in the Wasteland Zone.

They usually appeared in the form of Zombie Tides, leaving no life wherever they passed.

Even the weakest Level 1 Zombie Tide was extremely difficult to deal with.

"If only I had a Level 1 Artillery piece or Level 1 Heavy Machine Gun." Li Ye sighed.

The heavy machine guns and artillery aboard Tomorrow were only Normal-grade. They could not effectively damage a Zombie Tide, and the slightest mistake might even draw the fire toward them and cause the city to capsize.

After weighing it over and over, Li Ye finally made his decision.

"Tang Fang, change course. We're heading for the Rotting Lands."