Jiang Zhixu's plan was simple—use his talent, Omni-Crit, to increase the number of shells.
Luckily, he hadn't used his talent today!
As long as he could multiply a single shell by more than ten times, this crisis could be smoothly resolved!
The randomness of his talent wasn't like the fake randomness of game developers.
Jiang Zhixu believed his luck wouldn't be that bad!
"Yes!"
Qi Honglang's eyes lit up, immediately realizing that the City Lord would once again use his talent to perform a miracle!
If there were more shells, perhaps they could ensure the raiders never returned!
...
Ammunition Bay.
It was empty.
The last two shells had already been moved to the gun turret on the city's right side, yet to be loaded.
Jiang Zhixu didn't have them moved back. He directly dismissed unrelated personnel, leaving only Qi Honglang and two gunners by his side.
The proficient gunner, Meng Guolong, was quite steady, just turned forty this year, but his face was full of wrinkles, his skin rough, looking like he was sixty.
The other boy didn't look so old, only sixteen, but his mindset wasn't stable, his eyes filled with a bit of nervousness.
Jiang Zhixu didn't engage in small talk with them. He picked up a round shell, focused his mind, and selected it.
[Target: Ordinary Gunpowder Shell]
[Type: Quantity Critical]
[Talent Activating]
[Activation Successful, Multiplier: 97 times!]
In an instant, a dense clattering sound filled the air! Countless black shells appeared out of nowhere, crashing onto the thick wooden floor, creating shallow dents.
Everyone hadn't reacted yet.
A total of ninety-seven shells materialized, and the once spacious artillery room was now so crowded that there was no place to step, the shells piling up to their knees!
Clatter!
Meng Guolong's eyes widened, his cigarette holder unconsciously dropping onto the shells.
The junior gunner momentarily forgot his fear, dumbfoundedly holding a shell that had just fallen into his arms.
Even though he was mentally prepared, Qi Honglang was still somewhat shocked.
'Here it is, creating something from nothing again! What level is the City Lord's talent? Could it be Heavenly-grade?'
Talents were divided into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, top-grade, and heavenly-grade. Qi Honglang thought that to reach this level, it must be a heavenly-grade talent!
Because in his understanding, the limit was a high-grade talent holder, who could double the acquisition of natural resources.
That was already very powerful, but compared to turning a single shell into a sea of shells, it was far inferior!
Jiang Zhixu struggled to pull his foot out from the pile of shells, his expression calm as he asked, "Is this enough? Are these shells enough?"
"Enough!!!"
Meng Guolong had completely forgotten his steadiness, his expression almost ecstatic.
He exclaimed, "City Lord, with so many shells, we can completely obliterate that Raider Mobile City and seize everything they have!"
In this world, as long as you could capture the opponent's city, you could obtain all the production materials from the opponent's workshop through their City Lord Control Console.
This was also why Mobile Cities chose to become raiders.
High risk, high reward, winner takes all!
Jiang Zhixu nodded slightly, "The opponent has a Level 1 gun turret, don't be careless. Focus on repelling them, with destruction as a secondary goal."
"City Lord, I have some understanding of Level 1 gun turrets."
Meng Guolong immediately said, "They are indeed powerful, hitting us once would be devastating, but Level 1 gun turrets must use special shells, and producing those shells requires consuming a large amount of special resources!
"So, they wouldn't dare fire easily, they would only use it as a trump card to decide victory. Whereas we—"
He touched the sea of shells beside him, confidently continuing:
"As long as you're willing to use the shells, we can control the distance at around a thousand meters for a fire blockade! This way, they can't get close, and if they try to run, they can't escape our range!"
With both sides moving at high speed, even at five hundred meters, you couldn't ensure a high probability of hitting.
The opponent was also a Level 1 city, their resource reserves couldn't be too much, and they probably only had a few special shells, unlikely to waste them, most likely ensuring to fire within three hundred meters.
This was the safest, most rewarding approach!
If this was the case, this Level 1 raider city would certainly be left behind today.
Jiang Zhixu pondered for a moment, thinking it was worth a try.
Even if they couldn't succeed... with so many shells here, the opponent couldn't possibly attack them.
So Jiang Zhixu said, "Alright, since you're confident, let's do it."
Meng Guolong's face lit up with joy, rubbing his hands together, "Alright, rest assured, today I'll definitely leave this city for you!"
He had been firing cannons for years, but had never fought such a well-resourced battle!
"Um..."
Junior Gunner Lu Yan saw Jiang Zhixu preparing to leave, gritted his teeth, and raised his hand, "City Lord, may I use these shells?"
He didn't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
In the wasteland, shells were expensive strategic resources, and as an apprentice gunner, he normally wouldn't touch more than a few rounds a year.
This was why most gunners, even after seven or eight years, were still only proficient level—not because they didn't want to practice, but because they couldn't afford to!
Jiang Zhixu was taken aback because he hadn't excluded this junior gunner from the start.
But this was a good opportunity to build loyalty, so he smiled and asked, "How many shells have you fired?"
The junior gunner, lacking confidence, stammered, "O-one."
"How many more do you need to reach proficient level?"
"Fifty..." The junior gunner lowered his head.
"But—" He raised his head unwillingly, his dark eyes fixed on Jiang Zhixu, "If I focus, twenty would be enough! Before, I didn't want to help that old scoundrel, so I fired carelessly!"
Gunners gained experience from firing.
The exact amount of experience gained was a multi-dimensional calculation, only the system knew the specific algorithm.
But one thing was certain, the more accurate the shot, the greater the contribution to the battle, the more experience gained!
Jiang Zhixu was intrigued, "Alright, no need to be so harsh with twenty, I'll give you a quota of thirty. But if you finish thirty and still haven't leveled up, what then?"
The boy gritted his teeth, ignoring Meng Guolong's objections, insisting on making a military pledge, "If I can't level up with twenty, I'll drop dead right in front of you!"
A single ordinary shell required 10 units of steel and 10 units of gunpowder, enough to buy two slaves.
An apprentice gunner without talent wasn't worth that many resources.
The boy was ready to risk everything.
But to his surprise, Jiang Zhixu didn't accept his pledge.
"Don't always talk about life and death, you have a long life ahead! Practice well, and if you don't meet the target, I'll have another punishment."
Jiang Zhixu reached out to ruffle the boy's hair, feeling the grease on his hand.
He withdrew his hand without a change in expression, turned, and left.
Meng Guolong watched his departing back with a complex expression.
The boy stood there, stunned, Jiang Zhixu's words echoing in his ears, tears gradually welling up.