Compared with two years earlier, when the Xinfei Merchant Guild and three other merchant guilds first established this production base in the Black Rice Wasteland, its area had expanded almost tenfold. Its total footprint now exceeded ten square kilometers, and "base" was no longer enough to describe it.
Apart from the various workshops and factories the Xinfei Merchant Guild had built over the past six months, the sheer number of people moving here had gradually turned the place into something resembling a town.
Early in its development, the Xinfei Merchant Guild had drawn up an overall plan for the entire base and its surroundings.
As with the New District outside Bunta City, the Xinfei Merchant Guild had divided this place into an Industrial District and a Residential District, with the layout and facilities throughout closely resembling those of the New District outside Bunta City.
For instance, dozens of roads already crisscrossed the area. Besides the road connecting it to Bunta City, one ran south to the Stantin Duchy, while another stretched west into the depths of the Black Rice Wasteland. It would reportedly extend all the way to the Endless Sea.
A northbound road was also being planned.
According to the information released by the Xinfei Merchant Guild, this northbound road would reach the border between the Black Rice Wasteland and the Sark Kingdom to the north, with the aim of linking up with the road network in the northern Lampari Kingdom.
If that happened, the Black Rice Wasteland would have transport routes leading in every direction.
Thanks to the Black Rice Wasteland's unique geographical position, it was already capable of becoming the closest hub to the Endless Sea in the entire Lampari Kingdom, or even the whole western Sains Continent.
Even now, the many factories and workshops the Xinfei