I Want an Explanation

About a hundred kilometers north of the Waste Mine Society, the area was already more or less within the bounds of the High Wall Ruins.

Before the disaster, it had been a major city. Now it was nothing but ruins. Wasteland Energy Storms, mutated monsters, Orks... The environment and the things that lived there all posed a tremendous threat to humanity.

However, the vast urban ruins also concealed the riches of the prewar era.

Trash Town lay beside the High Wall Ruins.

At first, scavengers had established the settlement as a supply stop and trading post for expeditions into the High Wall Ruins.

Over time, it continued to grow, eventually becoming a sizable town.

Trash Town had no central government or ruler. Instead, merchants known as Agents controlled the situation, forming a social structure of Agents, caravans, adventurers and mercenaries, and scavengers. Armed adventurers fought to seize and protect one resource site after another, while scavengers went in to dig up resources. Caravans bought and sold them, and the Agents controlled everything from behind the scenes, monopolizing the trade.

The garbage brought back by scavengers was given some basic processing into various raw materials, mostly metal. This was one of Trash Town's main products.

The other main product was energy.

Here, we had to talk about the Wasteland Energy Storm, one of the most terrifying disasters on Nuxiao Planet.

Wasteland Energy Storms were the result of grievous wounds left behind by the war. As the violent winds swept across the land, they stirred up high concentrations of waste energy—the residual effects of a Psionic Power eruption. This energy couldn't be used in its normal state. Instead, it caused lethal damage to the human body, machinery, and electronic equipment.

Humans couldn't survive in such an environment. Even the mutated monsters spawned by the waste energy wouldn't venture into the storm's core during the fiercest part of a Wasteland Energy Storm.

And the High Wall Ruins were among the areas where Wasteland Energy Storms occurred most frequently and with the greatest intensity.

But every storm left something behind. When the raging waste energy combined with certain minerals, it occasionally produced something known as Thermal Ash Stone. It wasn't the same as a high-density energy crystal, but once ignited, it could generate sustained high heat.

That meant it could be used to generate electricity.

Raw materials and Thermal Ash Stone: those were Trash Town's two main products.

Gu Hang remembered that the Waste Mine Society had once sold nearly all its ore to Trash Town. They had wanted to sell it to the closer Revival City, but Revival City didn't buy raw ore. Trash Town was the closest place with the ability to do basic processing. The low prices it offered were one of the main reasons the Waste Mine Society had struggled to feed itself.

He didn't need to dwell on the past. What mattered to Gu Hang was that the Waste Mine Society had connections with Trash Town.

Gu Hang decided to have Patel contact Trash Town as soon as he got back.

His directly administered territory couldn't continue to develop without adequate supplies of raw materials and energy.

As for what he would trade, he had already decided.

Food.

Trash Town didn't produce any food, so it usually imported it from Revival City.

Gu Hang's plan was to produce Alloy Plasteel at the Waste Mine Society, along with other industrial goods in the future, and ship them to Revival City for sale; buy food from Revival City and sell it in Trash Town; then buy raw materials from Trash Town to expand production.

A very good cycle!

The hundred tons of food he had just obtained from Revival City could be put to use.

Besides supplying the Governor's territory, he planned to sell the rest to Trash Town.

The supplies would arrive in eight days, and Gu Hang waited patiently.

During those eight days, he received two pieces of news, one good and one bad.

The good news was that the fixed monthly Grace income had risen rapidly as the Waste Mine Society ramped up Alloy Plasteel production.

[Current Grace Points: 1]

[Fixed Monthly Income: 12]

[Governor's Camp: 8/Terra Month]

[Waste Mine Society: 4/Terra Month]

It had doubled!

Neither territory had gained any population. The main change during this period had been the increase in Alloy Plasteel production capacity. The Waste Mine Society's income had risen from 1 to 4, which should reflect its increased productivity.

The Governor's Camp's increase should likewise reflect greater productivity. The difference was that the Waste Mine Society had installed two standing smelting furnaces, while the Governor's Camp had two Black Box Fabricators. Although its Alloy Plasteel output was lower than the Waste Mine Society's, the quality was much higher, and it had also produced two smelting furnaces.

In short, expanding production was always a good thing. Whatever the products themselves were worth, the increase in the system's fixed monthly income was valuable too.

Gu Hang hoped he could raise his fixed monthly income a little more before this month's Grace Points were distributed.

He could find ways to bring in more people, open up trade routes, expand production... Over the past few days, apart from inspecting the soldiers' training, he had been thinking about these plans.

However, on the seventh day, he received some bad news:

"The cargo was robbed?"

Gu Hang glared at the man before him, his face dark as he pressed him for details.

The man wailed, "Yes! We were hauling thirty wagons of supplies from Revival City. We were nearly here, so we decided to take a rest before carrying on. We were sitting on the ground singing when hundreds of bandits jumped out and robbed us!"

Why not have a hot pot while they were at it?

Gu Hang sneered. "Not a single item of cargo left, and not one person injured? Are the wasteland bandits that merciful now?"

"But we were injured! Look at my nose, Governor! They smashed it with a rifle butt and broke my nose!"

The man kept talking, but as the Governor's expression grew darker, his voice grew quieter. He began to feel an oppressive force filling his heart, as though a mountain were about to come crashing down on him.

He struggled to speak again. "We surrendered. The people who robbed us didn't seem like ordinary thieves or wasteland bandits. I recognized two of them. They seemed to be mercenaries who hung around the outskirts of Revival City. At first, we were scared too, but after we surrendered, they really didn't kill any of us. They just took the ox carts."

He paused, then continued, "I suspect someone saw the supplies we were transporting when we set out. Those mercenaries, blinded by greed, didn't dare attack us near Revival City, so they followed us all the way..."

Gu Hang cut him off. "You said you were robbed fifteen kilometers from my camp?"

"Yes."

"You didn't have many people or enough guns, so you surrendered when they surrounded you. Then the bandits didn't kill you; they just took the cargo?"

"Yes."

"Good." Gu Hang couldn't be bothered to say anything more to the man.

He left the prefab barracks where the battered members of the transport team had been temporarily put up, called Yan Fangxu over, and told him to take the more than twenty Marines at the camp and the newly reformed Waste Mine Company with him. They were to investigate the scene first and do their best to track down the bandits.

As for Gu Hang, he returned to his room and had his aide, Zhang Chao, connect him to Hodgson, the chair of the Revival City Council.

"My cargo was robbed. I want an explanation from you."