Going Wild Paid Off with Something Good! (4.2K)
Noon.
Li Ye stood atop the Watchtower, gazing into the distance.
"I didn't expect us to reach the central area so quickly." He spoke softly.
As the distance closed, Li Ye gradually got a clear view of the City Ruins ahead.
It was unmistakably a post-apocalyptic scene.
Buildings had collapsed, while weeds and vines grew thick over their mottled walls.
Rusty abandoned vehicles were scattered across the streets. The skeletons of skyscrapers still stood in the distance, but much of their outer shells had fallen away. Steel rebar stabbed into the sky from the concrete ruins like the ribs of dead behemoths.
The City Ruins were enormous. He could barely see the ends of them from left to right.
Based on Li Ye's guess, the city had probably once held a population of around one million.
He could not help rubbing his hands excitedly.
In the City Ruins, he could send people to collect Steel Rebar from the concrete in buildings, pick up pots, pans, discarded appliances, and other metals, then throw everything into Tomorrow's furnace and smelt it back into Iron Ore.
However, Tomorrow's Mechanical Arm was only of ordinary quality at the moment, making it inefficient at breaking through concrete. Relying solely on manpower to dismantle everything would be even more troublesome.
The furniture inside the city's buildings could also be dismantled back into wood.
Anything is better than nothing.
Compared to Steel Rebar, the city had no shortage of concrete.
But once concrete hardened, it could no longer be dismantled and reused.
Li Ye planned to spend about a week repairing and operating in the City Ruins while gathering as many resources as possible.
More than that, he was concerned about the situation here.
This was the central area of the Wasteland Zone. All kinds of survivors, convoys, and Mobile Cities would pass through.
Since this was a city in ruins with plenty of supplies to search for, many factions would be drawn here.
How many survivors were there? How many survival convoys? How many Mobile Cities? Was there a Zombie Tide? Were there monsters—or even a Wild BOSS?
A huge question mark appeared in Li Ye's heart.
As a Level 1 City, Tomorrow could travel along the city's main roads, but it would occupy every lane. It would also occasionally scrape against nearby buildings.
The suburbs on the outskirts of the City Ruins were manageable. Few buildings had been constructed there, and the roads were fairly wide. The city center, however, would be troublesome.
There were still several hours before the new intelligence refreshed, but Li Ye had no intention of sitting idle. He picked a relatively suitable spot on the outskirts and had Tomorrow berth there.
Li Ye then issued a series of orders.
Helmsman Tang Fang and A Bai would stand by in the cockpit, lookout Lin Xia would keep watch, and gunner Ning Wen would wait beside the Frost Cannon.
Ning Wen had been very busy these days as well.
The main reason was that he had to train the combat personnel to operate the cannons. After all, he was only one person and could not operate so many cannons at once.
Strictly speaking, he was less a gunner than the captain of the gunners.
Old Zhou split the combat personnel into two groups. One group stood by beside the Normal Cannons and Heavy Machine Guns, while the other kept watch on the ground.
Fifteen residents responsible for gathering resources outside boarded the Lifting Platform to the ground and began their work. Over the next few hours, they would collect Steel Rebar from concrete and abandoned vehicles, enter buildings to search for discarded appliances, and gather all kinds of metal goods.
Mechanic Lin Wu led his assistant and four logistics workers in continuing Tomorrow's repairs.
After the battle at Gross Mine, many parts of Tomorrow had been damaged. Since Roland Fortress was no longer available as a Safe Harbor, Tomorrow could only be repaired while moving through the wilderness.
Groups of people arrived one after another and began performing their respective duties.
With a clatter, Tomorrow's Mechanical Arm broke through part of a building. It struck again immediately afterward, shattering most of the concrete and exposing the Steel Rebar inside.
Two nearby residents stepped forward with mining picks, broke apart the remaining concrete, collected the Steel Rebar, and placed it on the Lifting Platform.
Across the street, three or four residents carefully slipped into a building and began gathering usable metal.
Two combat personnel escorted them, carrying Falcon Assault Rifles. A squad of combat personnel patrolled the street, one of them carrying a Gale Rocket Launcher.
On Tomorrow, the Normal Cannons, Heavy Machine Guns, and Frost Cannon were all in position. The moment anything happened, they would provide fire support.
The most valuable things were the abandoned vehicles on the streets. Their bodies contained plenty of metal. Yet there was only one abandoned vehicle on the entire street.
That was not surprising. Who knew how many Mobile Cities had visited this city over the years? They naturally understood that abandoned vehicles were the most valuable and would prioritize collecting them.
The Steel Rebar, abandoned vehicles, and metal goods collected from the rooms could all be returned to the furnace on the Mobile City and smelted back into Iron Ore.
A dozen minutes later, a disturbance came from the distance.
A series of intense rumbles rolled through the air.
The people working in the street stopped what they were doing and could not help looking toward the source of the sound.
That was the center of the city.
Those sound like cannon blasts, Li Ye thought. It could be a Mobile City bombarding some monster stronghold. Or perhaps two Mobile Cities are fighting.
Since he had not yet determined the details of this City Ruins, he still felt very insecure.
"No, I still need to find a way to investigate this city." He shook his head. "If all else fails, I'll send the convoy out to scout."
Tomorrow had currently produced four Level 1 Off-road Vehicles.
The Off-road Vehicles were parked in the lower section of Tomorrow, where there was a dedicated parking lot large enough to hold twelve vehicles.
The convoy reached the ground through the Lifting Platform and then deployed. When there were no missions, the convoy stayed in the parking lot, where mechanics from the Mobile City inspected and maintained it.
Thinking of this, Li Ye could not help feeling a little pained. Four Off-road Vehicles meant spending 1,000 units of Iron Ore.
But it was necessary.
For a Mobile City, a convoy was equivalent to its arms and hands.
A convoy could scout ahead, collect supplies, and even mount Heavy Machine Guns and Rocket Launchers when two Mobile Cities fought, launching an assault on the enemy Mobile City.
Li Ye formed the four Off-road Vehicles into two teams. Each convoy was assigned two drivers and four combat personnel.
The convoys were currently equipped with Falcon Assault Rifles and Gale Rocket Launchers. In addition, Li Ye had manufactured four Normal Heavy Machine Guns in the Production Workshop and equipped the convoys with them.
With that, the convoys' combat power was quite impressive.
While waiting for the intelligence to refresh, Li Ye opened a cup of Instant Noodles and began eating.
This Level 1 cup of noodles only required 0.2 units of flour to produce. Its taste was decent, and it provided a +10% satiety bonus, making it a rather good food.
When the convoys went out on several days of field missions later, they could be supplied with this food. It was convenient both to eat and carry.
While eating, Li Ye opened the system as well. There were still several hours before the next intelligence refresh.
Looking at the combat personnel patrolling the deck, an idea suddenly came to him.
"Since we have nothing to do anyway, we might as well go wild nearby!"
"Going wild" was a common term among Mobile Cities.
It meant sending out convoys and combat personnel to sweep away monsters and their strongholds along the way.
After all, on the wasteland, monsters were also a kind of resource.
Killing them yielded Crystal Coins, Iron Ore, coal, and other materials. Some humanoid monsters also dropped Cloth.
Mutated Monsters such as Lava Spiders and Steel-Bladed Hounds dropped special materials like Lava Spider Silk and Hound Steel Fangs.
Monsters also dropped a series of finished products.
Everything from daily necessities and books to weapons and blades could be found. They might even drop Level 1 Items.
Of course, what everyone wanted most were blueprints.
Li Ye thus sent out Convoy One and Convoy Two, along with Lin Wu piloting the Goblin Helicopter, to go wild outside.
In fact, quite a few monsters wandered through the City Ruins.
Boar People, Goblins, Snake People, Ant People, Jackalmen—
Some of these monsters patrolled in squads, some gathered around bonfires, and others occupied lairs.
But they were not easy prey. Most carried swords, blades, or clubs. Some directly wielded firearms or even Rocket Launchers.
Some had even set up Heavy Machine Guns and cannons in their own strongholds.
These monsters knew how to find cover, avoid shelling in standard firing positions, and even coordinate tactically.
Li Ye put away his binoculars and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He could not understand why the monsters on the wasteland were so absurdly hardcore.
Tomorrow had just formed Convoys One and Two and expanded its combat personnel, so Li Ye felt it was necessary to train them in advance.
Over the next few hours, everyone gradually returned with spoils from going wild.
Crystal Coins, Iron Ore, coal, and Cloth.
There were also ordinary finished products such as flashlights, axes, mining picks, and professional books.
All kinds of supplies gradually piled into small hills before Li Ye.
What surprised him most was that when Convoy One killed a Jackalman of Elite Captain rank, it unexpectedly obtained a Level 1 City Building Blueprint.
Level 1 Blueprint—City Simulation Training Pod Item Name: City Simulation Training Pod Item Level: Level 1 Additional Effect: Allows personnel who enter the pod to undergo various simulated training Required to Build: 200 units of Level 1 Iron Ore, 50 units of Level 1 Lumber, 100 units of Level 1 Copper Ore
"What is this thing?"
Li Ye frowned in confusion.
After carefully reading the blueprint's description, his eyes instantly widened.
The City Simulation Training Pod could construct corresponding training scenarios, ranging from driving vehicles and repairing Mobile Cities to fighting outside.
Training scenarios had to be constructed by inputting a series of professional books or accurate corresponding data.
If one wanted to fight an enemy, one had to input the basic data of one's own weapons and the target enemy, such as monsters, enemy land, sea, and air vehicles, or even Mobile Cities!
The training pod came with a handheld scanner. The data could be input simply by scanning the target.
"So that's how it works!" He rubbed his hands excitedly. "This time, I really found a treasure!"
With the City Simulation Training Pod, he could train combat personnel, mechanics, helmsmen, gunners, and other professionals.
It could even simulate battles against enemy Mobile Cities.
It could also train cooks, craftsmen, repair workers, and other personnel needed by a Mobile City.
The prerequisite was that he had to input the corresponding professional books or provide precise data.
Li Ye quickly entered the blueprint into the Production Workshop and spent resources to build the City Simulation Training Pod on the middle level.
The City Simulation Training Pod occupied about sixty square meters. Its exterior was a square building.
Inside were ten enclosed pods, each equipped with a seat and a neural-link helmet.
After seeing the finished product, Li Ye's excitement instantly fell by more than half.
The main issue was that the city building was far too crude. The training pod looked like a large square metal box. Everything from the seats, scanner, and parameter-setting machine to the neural-link helmets was rough to the extreme, as if it had all been cobbled together by hand.
"Forget it. You only spent this many resources to build it. What more could you expect?" he consoled himself.
Wanting to give it a try, Li Ye entered the automobile driving professional book he had just obtained from going wild into the training pod. He then lay on the seat and put on the neural-link helmet.
His consciousness immediately entered a square data space, where a crudely modeled automobile appeared before him.
Li Ye sat in the vehicle and began a series of driving operations.
Although the training pod's configuration was rudimentary, it could at least genuinely provide training.
"If it can be upgraded to Level 2, the experience should improve a lot." He thought to himself.
Over the next while, Li Ye used the scanner to input the data of his Level 1 Weapon, Heavy Machine Guns, and Frost Cannon. He also had Convoys One and Two search for and scan some monster corpses.
Then he entered the specific data into the training pod's screen.
Number of Trainees: 1 Weapon Held: Falcon Assault Rifle Target Location: Jungle Enemy Types: Goblins, Jackalmen, Boar People Enemy Number: 15 Battle Difficulty: Normal
After he finished the setup and put on the neural-link helmet, a scene immediately appeared before him.
However, whether it was the jungle, monsters, weapons, or even himself, all the models were extremely crude.
Li Ye tried moving and firing. The sensation was fairly decent.
"Forget it. Crude models are crude models. Being able to train people is already good enough. What more could you want?" he muttered to himself.
Over the next while, he had Old Zhou and the others enter the training pods one after another.
Although the experience was crude, everyone still seemed extremely excited.
They deliberately increased the number of monsters and the difficulty, constructing combat scenarios such as swamps, wilderness, and cities.
Li Ye began pondering.
It seemed that if he wanted to train more talented personnel, he now needed to collect as many professional books as possible.
Books on vehicle driving, mechanical repairs, cooking, first aid, cleaning, and so on.
If the training pod was used well, it could provide Tomorrow with an endless stream of technical personnel.
Once they replaced it with a higher-level training pod and collected a complete series of professional books, they might even be able to train pilots, submarine operators, and other specialists.
According to Li Ye's plans, the City Simulation Training Pod's resources would currently be prioritized for the following projects.
First, simulated wilderness combat for the combat personnel.
Second, routine repairs and maintenance for the Mobile City.
Third, Off-road Vehicle driving, firearm operation and marksmanship, and the operation of cannons and Heavy Machine Guns.
As for constructing the corresponding training scenarios and various training programs, he handed the task over to Lin Wu.
With it, Tomorrow's personnel would become much more capable.
After arranging everything, Li Ye opened the system panel.
The new intelligence had now refreshed.
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