"Yes. What's wrong?" Li Ye turned around.
After some discussion, he learned what the three leaders meant.
Their communities usually had two or three hundred people, but the number of vehicles in each convoy was limited. They also had to carry daily supplies, weapons and firearms, food and freshwater, and fuel.
The convoys had limited space and couldn't take everyone.
Therefore, the three leaders hoped that Tomorrow could recruit some people from their respective communities and take them along.
Though they had said it aloud, the three men's expressions were filled with reluctance.
They had lived together under the same roof for so long, relying on and trusting one another. Having to part so suddenly was truly difficult to accept.
But sometimes, in order to survive, one had to make a choice.
Li Ye pondered for a while before nodding.
"Sure."
Tomorrow was currently short-handed, whether it was combat personnel or ordinary residents to handle city work.
Following his usual practice, Li Ye recruited more than seventy newcomers in one go.
Since this time's recruitment far exceeded the previous number, even surpassing Tomorrow's current population, he changed some of the recruitment conditions.
Except for lone wolves, every three people could bring one child, elderly person, disabled person, sick person, or pregnant woman onto Tomorrow.
He did this to tie down the newcomers. Only by making them bring their families along could they serve Tomorrow more wholeheartedly.
Otherwise, Li Ye really wouldn't have felt at ease letting so many newcomers in at once.
After bidding farewell to everyone in the communities, the newcomers entered Tomorrow with their families in tow.
Seeing the several cannons and Heavy Machine Guns on Tomorrow, the parked convoys, the Level 1 Weapons equipped by the combat personnel, the two Level 1 Artillery pieces on the deck, and the Level 1 Crops planted in the fields and orchards, the worries in many people's hearts were greatly dispelled and replaced with pleasant surprise.
As a Level 1 City, Tomorrow was quite powerful, giving them considerably more assurance of their safety.
With a roar, Tomorrow set off.
Arranging rooms, assigning jobs, selecting combat personnel, distributing food and freshwater, building ordinary furniture in the Production Workshop and handing it out—
Over the next few hours, Li Ye and his deputy, Old Zhou, were so busy they could barely catch their breath.
"I'm exhausted, A-Li. I really can't do this!" Old Zhou wiped the sweat from his forehead. "To be honest, I only want to focus on being the Combat Captain and charge into battle at the front."
"How could that work?" Li Ye replied while distributing furniture. "Other than you, who else could I trust with the position of deputy?"
"What do you think of Lin Wu?" Old Zhou asked tentatively.
Li Ye immediately rubbed his chin.
Objectively speaking, Lin Wu was both a technical talent and very intelligent. He could indeed serve as Li Ye's deputy.
He was disabled and sick, and his friend's younger sister was also his weak point. He couldn't leave Tomorrow.
Besides, Lin Wu's performance during this period had indeed been good, and Li Ye had gradually come to trust him.
"Fine. I'll give it serious consideration." He nodded.
Afterward, Li Ye spent 300 Iron Ore to upgrade the water tower to Level 1.
This allowed it to store an additional 3,000 units of freshwater.
After all, Tomorrow's population had now reached 142 people, and the demand for water had risen sharply.
Now, a brand-new problem lay before Li Ye.
With the population increasing, Tomorrow also needed to improve its standard of living.
At present, Tomorrow's staple food was Blue Heart Potatoes, with one batch harvested each week.
Morning Light Wheat would also mature in a few days. By then, Tomorrow would have flour-based food.
And in another two weeks, a batch of Sun Apples on the upper level would ripen as well.
As for drinks, there were cola and iced black tea.
In addition, Tomorrow occasionally purchased vegetables, meat, and eggs from passing Survivor Towns.
On Blue Star, these supplies might seem somewhat meager, but in the post-apocalyptic environment, they were already quite good.
But Li Ye's ambitions went far beyond that. He planned to create a vegetable garden and raise poultry and fish, striving to ensure that Tomorrow had vegetables, meat, and eggs every day.
However, space on a Level 1 Mobile City was limited to begin with, and there wasn't much room left for raising ordinary poultry and fish or growing ordinary vegetables.
Just as Li Ye was pondering this, an alarm suddenly rang out from the Watchtower. To make it easier to alert everyone on Tomorrow in case of trouble, Li Ye had specifically asked Lin Wu to install a crude alarm the previous night.
Old Zhou immediately led the combat personnel, including the newly joined recruits, to assemble.
Li Ye quickly ran to the Watchtower.
"What's wrong?" he asked Lin Xia.
Lin Xia's face was pale as she handed him the binoculars.
Li Ye picked them up and looked. His expression immediately changed.
Multiple unfamiliar Mobile Cities had appeared simultaneously in several directions three kilometers away.
Judging from their routes and the directions of their weapons, they were clearly working together.
During this time, Li Ye also noticed that all these Mobile Cities had flags and city paint schemes.
The patterns appeared to be, respectively, the Hanged Man, the Magician, and the Chariot.
"These are characters from the Tarot cards!" he realized at once. "They're all Predator Cities!"
Immediately afterward, a bitter smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
According to the original plan, Tomorrow was supposed to leave the City Ruins today. He hadn't expected to encounter a hunt by members of the Tarot Alliance shortly after setting off.
The other side probably didn't know that the Mobile City they were hunting had happened to exchange the best spoils from the neutral boss.
At that moment, the three Mobile Cities simultaneously sounded two short blasts followed by two long ones. They lowered their convoys through the Lifting Platforms and accelerated toward Tomorrow.
Li Ye immediately ordered Tomorrow to turn around and accelerate away.
If they encountered one Predator City, Tomorrow could handle it with ease. But against three at once, they could only flee.
What followed was a chase between the two sides.
The newcomers watched the three Mobile Cities gradually approaching in the distance, and their faces turned pale.
They had just set off with hope, only to encounter such misfortune.
At that moment, Old Zhou let out a great roar.
"What are you afraid of? We're strong!" As he spoke, he slowly clenched his fists. "Even if they want to hunt us, they'll have to pay in blood!"
As Tomorrow slowly lowered its Lifting Platform, Convoys One and Two reached the ground and immediately accelerated toward the nearby streets.
On the deck, the combat personnel took up positions one after another in front of the Heavy Machine Guns and cannons, while the gunner Ning Wen began adjusting the Lava Cannon.
The Frost Cannon's shells had already been used up, while the Lava Cannon had five shells remaining.
Another roar rang out as a vehicle reached the ground through the Lifting Platform and accelerated into the streets.
It was the Storm IFV that Tomorrow had just exchanged for. Sitting inside were the crew members Li Ye had just selected.
From the Watchtower, Li Ye's eyes remained fixed on its figure.
This time, they could only hope that this Level 2 Vehicle would prove effective.
Before you continue