Chapter 217: Money, Money, Money!
In the lordâs quarters on the upper deck of the Tomorrow in the Western Wasteland Continent, Li Ye was planning how to make use of the massive amount of funds he now had on hand.
Through Heathâs connections, he could directly contact the official store of the Apocalypse Sect.
Heath explained that the Apocalypse Sect had a dedicated Trade Department, which practically possessed any blueprints or items Li Ye wished to purchase.
All Li Ye needed to do was list out what he wanted and pay with Crystal Coins; Heath would handle contacting the Trade Department and completing the deal via the Saintâs resource transmission device.
In recent days, by selling the oil extracted from the mountains of the Wasteland Zone, the Tomorrow Alliance had earned a great amount of Crystal Coins.
Combined with the earlier profits from the Taranis Ocean, Li Yeâs funds had already surpassed two million.
The Apocalypse Sect even bought out all of his surplus Level 1 and Level 2 blueprints.
Out of curiosity, Li Ye asked Heath about the purpose behind the Sectâs blueprint acquisitions.
The latter gave a simple explanation.
First, they were used to support low-level human factions in the Wastelands.
Second, they were placed in official stores for resale to generate revenue.
In fact, the Apocalypse Sect had bought those blueprints at a discounted rate.
Not only it â the Titan Throne and Iron Oath Brotherhood were doing the same. In a sense, these three world-class organizations acted as the wastelandâs second-hand traders.
If it had been before, Li Ye would have never imagined having so much money â back when the Tomorrow was still a Level 1 city, earning even tens of thousands of Crystal Coins had been enough to make him overjoyed.
As for how to spend the money, he had already made detailed plans.
First, he would buy a Level 3 City Promotion Blueprint to prepare the Tomorrow for its advancement to a Level 4 city.
Second, he would buy a Level 2 City Promotion Blueprint and Structure Blueprint to complete the classic advancement trio for Level 2 Mobile Cities, allowing the Tomorrow Alliance to gain a second Level 3 Mobile City.
Third, he would purchase city accessories and blueprints to strengthen the Peacemaker, Iron Whale, and Engineer.
Fourth, he would buy blueprints for the land, sea, and air combat forces.
Fifth, as usual, he would allocate funds for the City Committee to purchase blueprints for food, clothing, housing, and other necessities.
From Heath, Li Ye learned a rough overview of current market prices.
A Level 3 City Promotion Blueprint cost 500,000 Crystal Coins.
A Level 2 City Promotion Blueprint cost 300,000, while a Structure Blueprint cost 280,000.
As for city crystals of any grade â they were âpriceless,â meaning even money couldnât easily buy them.
Moreover, both promotion and structure blueprints were classified as restricted resources and normally werenât for sale.
However, given the Tomorrow Allianceâs consistently good reputation, the Apocalypse Sect had agreed to make an exception.
âBy the way, is there a Level 3 Structure Blueprint for sale, Bishop Heath?â Li Ye asked.
âThere is,â Heath replied, âbut itâs around 500,000.â
He then earnestly offered a suggestion: since Li Ye didnât yet have a city crystal, there was no need to rush into spending so much money on a structure blueprint.
Later, when joining one of the three major human organizations, he could simply request the blueprint as payment.
âI see. Thank you for the reminder,â Li Ye nodded.
He then glanced over the details written on the promotion blueprint.
ăRequirements for a Level 3 Mobile City to advance to Level 4ă
ăIron Ore: 8,000 unitsă
ăTimber: 8,000 unitsă
ăFuel: 8,000 unitsă
ăSaltpeter: 8,000 unitsă
ăCity Alloy: 4,000 unitsă
ăCity Structure Blueprint: 1 copyă
ăCity Crystal: 1 pieceă
Li Ye silently began calculating the Tomorrowâs advancement to Level 4.
Now that he had the promotion blueprint, things were progressing.
Level 3 Steel could substitute for Level 3 Iron Ore â it only required collecting metal resources and feeding them into the steel mill.
Level 3 Timber could be obtained by planting Level 3 Pine Trees â that was the easiest part.
As for Level 3 Fuel, he could upgrade the Goblin Fuel Processing Device on the Engineer using the Upgrade Blueprint and slowly produce it. With the Energy Wind Turbine Sequence in place, the Tomorrow Allianceâs Mobile Cities rarely faced energy shortages â though land, sea, and air vehicles still relied on fuel.
Level 3 Saltpeter and Level 3 City Alloy could be obtained through field mining and external trade.
Overall, the greatest obstacle lay in acquiring a Level 3 City Crystal.
Thinking of that, he looked toward Heath.
âBishop Heath, can the Apocalypse Sect sell Level 3 City Crystals?â he asked.
âThere are some, but not many,â Heath said. âHowever, I can try to get you purchasing authorization.â
âReally?â Li Yeâs eyes lit up. âHow much do they usually cost?â
âStarting at three million,â Heath answered.
Li Ye couldnât help but take a sharp breath when he heard that.
But on second thought, as long as the Tomorrow Alliance worked hard, it was still achievable.
Now that the Silence Agreement had expired, eliminating even a single Level 1 or Level 2 Monstrous Civilization would yield massive profits.
Or they could simply hunt a large number of Level 3 monsters and sell the resulting blueprints.
Currently, the Tomorrow had more or less completed its Level 3 development â everything it needed was already in place. Future Level 3 blueprints would mostly serve as trade goods for revenue.
âAs the city level rises, the resource acquisition efficiency of a Mobile City really does keep increasing,â he sighed in admiration.
Back when it had been Level 1 or Level 2, the Tomorrow had been âhungry for anythingâ â every blueprint it obtained was used for itself.
Heath added that as a Mobile Cityâs level rose, it would engage in trade more and more frequently.
In the following time, Li Ye proceeded with the purchases.
He bought batches of Level 3 Frost Ore, Molten Ore, and corresponding Level 3 rare crystals, and in one go, equipped the Peacemaker with six Frost Cannons and six Molten Cannons.
That instantly thrilled Yang Zheng.
The Peacemaker already had several Level 2 shell production projects, including Poison Gas Shells, Smoke Shells, Armor-Piercing Shells, and High-Explosive Shells.
To that end, Li Ye specifically purchased four Level 3 Shell Upgrade Blueprints, allowing the Peacemaker to upgrade all of them to Level 3.
The Peacemakerâs regular cannons could now load these Level 3 shells to further enhance their bombardment power.
Now, as long as the Peacemaker organized a proper firing rotation for the deck cannons, it could maintain continuous bombardment.
Then, turning toward Fang Yong and Zhou Xing, he revealed the Level 2 City Advancement Trio he had prepared.
âNow then, letâs discuss whose city should advance to Level 3.â
To his surprise, Fang Yong and the other two exchanged glances â then took a synchronized step backward.
Li Ye was puzzled for a moment but soon understood.
Through the Tomorrowâs own successful advancement, the three had come to realize the true scale of a Level 3 Mobile City.
In general, assault-type cities gained the most from upgrading to Level 3.
For defensive-type cities, the massive size of a Level 3 city actually made acceleration and ramming difficult; as for fire-support and engineering-type cities, promotion mainly increased internal space, allowing for more cannons or machinery.
Moreover, the huge size and slower speed of a Level 3 city made escape in the wilderness much harder â being spotted on the battlefield could spell serious trouble.
Most importantly, Fang Yongâs group lived primarily to survive in the wasteland, unlike Li Ye, who wanted to build a small society within his city. Thus, their need for population and city space was much lower.
Li Ye, however, felt their perspective on high-level Mobile Cities was a bit too narrow.
Surely, among high-level Mobile Cities, there must be defensive, engineering, and fire-support types â all capable of performing beyond imagination once enhanced with various city accessories and modifications.
It was just that, for now, they had only seen low-level Mobile Cities and thus lacked exposure.
After Li Yeâs remarks, the trioâs views began to shift slightly.
After discussion, everyone decided to let Zhou Xingâs Engineer advance to a Level 3 City first.
For the Engineer to advance to Level 3 meant that its city space and deck area would increase severalfold, allowing it to mount more Mechanical Arms, Work Claws, and Cranes.
As long as it could be equipped with enough personnel, it would exert tremendous effectiveness.
Just the thought that a Level 3 Engineer-type city would soon appear within the Tomorrow Alliance filled everyone with excitement.
âIn that case, does this mean we might finally be able to build an Oceanic Mobile Island?â Yang Zheng reminded.
Li Ye pondered for a moment before gently shaking his head.
âHaving the Engineer promoted to Level 3 isnât enough. We still need to gather a whole set of Level 3 engineering blueprints.â
Then, he purchased several new blueprints.
Level 3 Bulletproof Helmet Blueprint.
Level 3 Energy Shield Device Upgrade Blueprint.
Level 3 Energy-saving Blueprintâfor use on the Resource Transmission Device.
He handed the remaining hundreds of thousands of Crystal Coins to Zhou Xing, telling him to buy more Level 3 blueprints and city accessories himself, so that the Engineer could become more complete.
After returning to the Tomorrow, Li Ye input the blueprints into the Production Workshop, upgraded the Energy Shield Device to Level 3, and designated the Resource Transmission Device for energy-saving optimization.
Together with the existing Level 3 City Camouflage and Level 3 Signal Shielding Device, the Tomorrowâs self-defense capabilities rose sharply.
According to his plans, every Mobile City within the Tomorrow Alliance would be equipped with an Energy Shield Device.
He also forged a batch of Level 3 Bulletproof Helmets and distributed them to the Special Forces and Combat Personnel.
Meanwhile, Zhou Xing began arranging for the Engineer to commence its Level 3 promotion.
After some thought, Li Ye reminded Zhou Xing of one important matter.
A Level 3 Mobile City was truly a massive entityâits internal city space and deck layout had to be carefully planned.
Thinking of this, Li Ye himself felt some regret.
When a Mobile City advanced in level, its floors, decks, and passageway scales could be designed through the Production Workshop.
At the time, Li Ye had only reserved farmlands and a few shops, forgetting to adjust the height of the Vehicle Warehouse.
As a result, the vehicle warehouse ended up being as short as an ordinary floor, unable to fit large ships like destroyers.
Because of that, every time a destroyer was retrieved or deployed, it had to be dismantled and reassembledâan incredibly troublesome process.
âWhen the Tomorrow advances to Level 4, I must fix this mistake,â he resolved silently.
By traveling aboard the Sky Dream Island, the Tomorrow Alliance arrived at the Southern Ocean.
At Li Yeâs command, the Tomorrow began deploying its forces.
On the A1 Deck, the Aerial Forces took off one after another.
Once assembled, the Fleet was deployed onto the sea surface.
During this time, Li Ye quietly checked the calendar.
Three days remained before the Silence Agreementâs nullification.
During this period, the Tomorrow had largely completed its internal consolidation and stabilization.
Although things had gradually settled, for safetyâs sake, Li Ye still asked Whiteman and his management team to remain aboard the Tomorrow for a while longer.
Meanwhile, several rounds of Intelligence Refreshes occurred.
After reviewing and processing all the reports, Li Ye obtained several key pieces of information.
In the early years after the Old World turned into the Wasteland, humanity had been on the verge of extinction. The Wasteland Gods chose to help humankind through the darkest times, allowing civilization to gradually recover to its current state.
Both human and monster world-class organizations had lost complete control over the Leviathan Ocean, allowing its colossal sea creatures to rampage freely across the waters.
The Apocalypse Sect possessed a top-secret research project personally led by the Pope, codenamed the âHoly Sonâ Project. The Sect placed extremely high hopes on this project, believing it would help humanity secure ultimate victory. However, its risk level was also unprecedentedly high.
The Giant Civilization was ruled by the King Giant, who possessed the ability to mentally communicate with all giants and even access their vision. Under his leadership, the giants had begun a mad campaign of external expansion. The King Giant currently resided in the capital state of the Old Civilization District. After slaughtering countless monsters, the giantsâ evolutionary chances and speed had sharply increased, making them far strongerâmany had even reached Level 4.
However, the Giant Civilizationâs casualty rate had risen from 47% a month ago to 89%, clearly showing it was at the end of its strength.
All of these pieces of intelligence were of Epic-grade.
Other reports provided additional details as well.
Thinking of this, Li Ye couldnât help but feel admiration toward the Giant Civilization.
That Monstrous Civilization, just like the Zombie Civilization, had singlehandedly devastated an entire continent.
They were even fighting five Level 3 Monstrous Civilizations simultaneously.
âNo wonder theyâre considered a Super Monstrous Civilization,â he murmured in awe.
As for the third piece of intelligenceâ
The Apocalypse Sectâs Holy Son Project? What kind of thing was that? It seemed the world-class organization was treating it as a final war weapon.
And the first reportâsimply unbelievable.
âNo wonder the Apocalypse Sect so fervently worships the Wasteland Gods,â he said slowly. âThey truly did help humankind once.â
But⊠why?
Li Ye firmly believed the Wasteland Gods were far from benevolent beings.
If they had chosen to help humanity, it must have been for a purpose.
âWas it to support human forces in order to balance the monster powers of that era?â
For that hypothesis, Li Ye found it quite plausible.
After all, human factions had now grown strong enough to rival the monstersâthe Wasteland Godsâ goal had been achieved.
Following this line of thought, Li Ye gradually came to a realization.
The world was not divided only between humans and monstersâthere existed a third faction, the Wasteland Gods.
This third faction was immensely powerful, yet constantly overlooked.
Li Ye was convincedâ
One day in the future, the Wasteland Gods would surely descend upon this world in person.