The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, incredibly swift.
"So this is an industrial-type city?" Jiang Zhixu watched in awe and asked Qi Honglang beside him, "If we were to dismantle the Roar, how long would it take?"
"Three seconds," Qi Honglang joked, "Of course, after a round of shelling, there probably wouldn't be anything useful left."
"Hahaha! True, each has their own expertise."
Before long, the lift platform at the bottom of the Elegy descended, and two heavy trucks drove out.
The heavy bodies and deeply embedded tires clearly indicated the astonishing load they carried.
These two trucks carried no weapons and headed straight for the Deep Blue.
Before they arrived, Zhou Yi had already communicated the tallied resource numbers to Jiang Zhixu.
"A total of 5730 units of iron ore, 2214 units of steel, 1924 units of coal, and 172 units of titanium alloy."
Jiang Zhixu nodded in satisfaction upon hearing this.
This was already a huge amount of resources!
"Brother Jiang, our iron ore is overflowing," Qi Honglang whispered in Jiang Zhixu's ear.
With the remaining stock on the Deep Blue and this new batch, they now had a total of 8827 units of iron ore, while the total capacity of the Deep Blue's Materials Warehouse was only 5000!
Qi Honglang, who was in charge of logistics, had never seen the Deep Blue's iron ore reserves exceed 500.
Before today, he never imagined that their city would one day be troubled by having too many resources!
"Indeed, crime does pay!" he exclaimed.
"Just bring it up and pile it somewhere for now. I'll upgrade the warehouse later," Jiang Zhixu instructed.
Iron ore was hard currency in this world!
Moreover, the Deep Blue had many places that required iron ore, such as for the repair and upgrade of various components.
And the upcoming expansion of weapons and equipment would all require a large amount of iron ore.
At this time, when everything was in need of development, Jiang Zhixu did not plan to sell.
...
After this wave of material transactions was completed, the trust level between the Deep Blue and the Elegy also rose significantly.
Taking advantage of the transaction gap, Jiang Zhixu proactively sought Zhou Yi's advice on matters related to the upgrade of mobile cities.
[Prerequisites: Possess twelve Level 1 Modification Components and three Level 2 Modification Components (all city cannons are counted as one component)]
Once these prerequisites are met, the Advancement Mission will be activated.
The Advancement Mission is random, and Zhou Yi was unsure of what it would entail.
Anyway, after completing the Advancement Mission, you would be rewarded with a one-time Level 2 City Blueprint, and once you gather the resources, you can upgrade to Level 2!
"Thank you for the information, Brother Zhou."
Zhou Yi was indeed a decent person—at least to Jiang Zhixu.
He did not comment on Zhou Yi's enthusiasm for keeping slaves.
He could only influence himself; he couldn't possibly persuade others to free their slaves, that would be foolish.
After a friendly conversation, they prepared to part ways.
Zhou Yi warmly said, "If you need any subcontracting, feel free to come to me! I usually stay in Rust Town, where four or five mobile cities are permanently stationed, and raiders don't dare to come over. This chapter was copied from novelping dot com without permission.
"Oh, and here's my subcontracting list!"
At the end of the communication, Zhou Yi sent over a long list.
Jiang Zhixu glanced at it and was secretly amazed.
Goodness!
Aside from living supplies, there were as many as a dozen types of Level 1 armaments.
Level 1 Off-road Vehicles, Level 1 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Level 1 Rifles, Level 1 Rocket Launchers...
To be able to subcontract these things, and you say industrial cities aren't good at combat?
Who are you kidding!
No wonder he dared to come to the Deep Blue without even a Level 1 Cannon; he had his own confidence.
Thinking of this, Jiang Zhixu felt a bit regretful.
—He should have kept those two raider cities!
If they joined forces, they might actually succeed!
'Forget it, it's not feasible.'
Jiang Zhixu only lamented for a moment.
Because he quickly realized that his own achievement—the Roar—was lying not far away, already proving his combat strength.
However, the other party chose not to fight, which meant they didn't want to.
If he forced the other party to act without prior communication, it might lead to enmity afterward.
'I really let the resources go to my head.'
Jiang Zhixu reflected for a moment. With his critical strike talent, he wasn't actually lacking resources, so there was no need to take such risks. A steady development could also lead to rapid rise!
...
The Deep Blue set off again, heading towards the Freshwater Lake.
In the City Lord's Chamber, Jiang Zhixu stood in front of the control panel.
[Would you like to spend 200 units of steel to upgrade the Materials Warehouse to Level 1?]
[Would you like to spend 200 units of steel to upgrade the Food Warehouse to Level 1?]
[Would you like to spend 200 units of steel to upgrade the Water Tower to Level 1?]
[Would you like to spend 200 units of steel to upgrade the Ammunition Bay to Level 1?]
"Upgrade!"
Jiang Zhixu watched as the iron ore in the warehouse disappeared with a clatter, feeling a twinge of pain.
Who said there was too much iron ore?
In the blink of an eye, eight hundred units of steel, equivalent to eight thousand units of iron ore, were spent just like that!
Fortunately, after this wave of upgrades, the capacity of each storage room increased tenfold, so there was no fear of overflowing for now.
Even if he crits out ninety-seven shells again, he wouldn't worry about having no place to store them, because the upgraded Level 1 Ammunition Bay can store a total of 999 shells of various types.
...
Late at night, eleven-thirty. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
The Deep Blue traveled without incident and safely reached the Freshwater Lake.
It only encountered a wave of mutated skeletons along the way, which were all blown to bone fragments with five shells.
Jiang Zhixu sent people down to check the spoils and obtained a common-grade living blueprint, the "Gingerbread Recipe."
After a glance, he tossed it into the Workshop.
Midnight was approaching, theoretically the time for talent cooldown refresh.
Jiang Zhixu's mind became active, pondering where to use today's critical strike opportunity.
His thoughts involuntarily drifted to his most powerful weapon—
The Level 1 Cannon, the Thunder Cannon.
'Why not... try a Quality Crit on it?'
Maybe he could create a Level 2 Cannon in one go!
But he quickly dismissed this idea.
The reason was simple: ammunition!
The Level 1 Cannon couldn't fire common-grade shells; could a Level 2 Cannon fire Level 1 shells?
The answer was obviously no!
If he really upgraded the "Thunder Cannon" to Level 2, he would find himself with a powerful weapon that he couldn't use.
Of course, he could also perform a Quality Crit on the shells separately.
But there would still be a problem.
The rules of the "Omni-Crit" talent clearly stated that each item could only be crit once, and products generated by the talent could not be crit again.
This meant he could only produce one Level 2 Thunder Shell per day, and it had to be made from a Level 1 Shell that hadn't been affected by the talent!
This condition was quite stringent.
Just manufacturing one "Level 1 Thunder Shell" required 100 units of Thunder Ore, 40 units of gunpowder, 20 units of steel, and 20 units of Bio-Gel.
The rest was manageable, but the Deep Blue's Bio-Gel reserves were not abundant.
Not to mention it would take up the only talent use permit for the day!
If there was nothing else that needed critting afterward, then critting a Level 2 Cannon and a few Level 2 shells as strategic reserves would be feasible.
But today was only the second day of development, and Jiang Zhixu had to reserve resources for the most important things.
—Immediate combat power!
Thus.
There was only one answer left.
As the clock ticked towards midnight, Jiang Zhixu, who was closely monitoring the talent panel, was the first to notice its change.
The cooldown time was up!
"Quantity Crit, Thunder Shell!"