Chapter 201: Chapter 201

Chapter 201: “Old Comrades” Eliminated by the Times

“In other news, Elder, may I ask—can the shop process nuclear bombs on our behalf?” Zhou Xing asked.

“Level 4 Mobile Cities do indeed have nuclear production projects,” the middle-aged elder replied. “But nuclear bombs are regulated weapons and not for external sale.”

“Lord, we really can’t afford those big toys,” Yang Zheng leaned in and whispered in Li Ye’s ear. “But as for Level 4 Cannons and Level 4 Heavy Machine Guns, maybe we can consider getting some.”

Li Ye nodded, then spoke up.

The middle-aged elder was stunned for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle.

“You folks haven’t spent much time roaming the Wasteland, have you? There’s no such thing as Level 4 Cannons.”

Through his explanation, everyone finally understood the reason.

Starting from Level 3 Cities, missile systems formally became a part of the weaponry category.

Not only do land, sea, and air combat forces have missile systems—Mobile Cities also come equipped with missile launchers.

Compared to cannons, missiles can easily reach several hundred to over a thousand kilometers, more than capable of carrying out long-range strikes.

In contrast, cannons with a maximum range of just a few kilometers seemed rather inadequate.

“So they’ve been phased out!” Li Ye suddenly realized.

“Still, Level 4 Cannons do exist,” the middle-aged elder clarified. “Level 4 Upgrade Blueprints can upgrade cannons into main guns with extended range.”

He then shared a bit of Wasteland lore with everyone.

Even after upgrading to high-level cities, some Lords continued to preserve their cannons.

Mostly because they simply couldn’t part with these old comrades who had accompanied them from the early days.

Some Lords even went out of their way to collect upgrade blueprints and kept upgrading them.

A few Lords had even requested that their cannons be buried with them upon their death.

Li Ye and the others weren’t the least bit surprised by this; instead, they found it deeply touching.

After all, to them, cannons were weapons that had accompanied them through countless hardships.

Humans are ultimately nostalgic creatures.

In the time that followed, the middle-aged elder led them to tour a new project.

This time, it was an array of combat robots.

There were reconnaissance robots capable of stealth and signal-jamming.

There were spider-shaped anti-infantry robots, equipped with eight razor-sharp mechanical claws and incredible mobility.

There were engineering robots dedicated to construction and vehicle maintenance.

And towering combat robots, tens of meters tall, practically mobile fortresses on the battlefield.

Li Ye nodded repeatedly as he watched.

He had to admit—his eyes were truly opened this time.

By Mobile City standards, Level 3 Cities marked the initial entry into the realm of modern warfare.

Level 4 Mobile Cities, on the other hand, were fully entrenched in modern warfare—possibly even surpassing it!

Unlike aircraft carriers and mobile suits, these robots were much smaller in size and could be sold individually.

However, they didn’t come cheap—starting at 150,000 Crystal Coins apiece.

After returning to Tomorrow, Li Ye delegated the city’s territory trade and external procurement to the City Committee and Lin Wu.

As such, the City Committee once again submitted a budget report to Li Ye.

As before, the report covered purchases of common and Level 1 daily necessities, household appliance blueprints, and crop seeds.

After several hours of work, the City Committee handed over a procurement list.

It detailed the blueprints they had selected and purchased from the marketplace that day.

Level 3 Power Engine “Everburn Core”.

Level 3 City Armor “Giant’s Plate”.

Level 3 Radar “Sky Eye-7 Model”.

Level 3 Signal-jamming Device “Silent Veil”.

Level 3 City Radio Upgrade Blueprint.

Level 3 Crop Upgrade Blueprint.

The City Committee also managed to acquire two Cannon Upgrade Blueprints and their corresponding Level 3 Rare Ore—these were for upgrading Tomorrow’s Frost Cannon and Molten Cannon.

The Level 3 Crop Upgrade Blueprint was intended for Yunmeng Cotton.

Incidentally, higher-level upgrade blueprints could also be used directly on Level 1 crops.

The same principle applied to other lower-level items as well.

Li Ye immediately examined the City Radio Upgrade Blueprint.

The blueprint indicated that upgrading the City Radio from Level 2 to Level 3 required 300 units of Level 3 Iron Ore.

After the upgrade, its functions would improve significantly.

First, its capacity would increase from 12 members to 24.

Second, energy consumption would drop to 2% per activation, with 0.5% per hour.

Third, it would add voice communication capabilities and could connect to the radio network.

Fourth, its reach would expand from regional communication to continent/ocean-wide communication.

“This is amazing!” Li Ye exclaimed.

With this, Tomorrow could keep the City Radio running continuously and even integrate radio systems for command purposes.

According to Lin Wu, this City Radio Upgrade Blueprint was the most expensive item in the procurement—costing a whopping 350,000 Crystal Coins.

Li Ye also took a close look at the Level 1 crops purchased by the City Committee:

Moon-silver Climbing Ivy

Dragon Breath Coffee Beans

Among them, Moon-silver Climbing Ivy was purchased for city greening.

As Tomorrow’s scale continued to grow, urban greening had become a noteworthy concern.

Lin Wu noted that they only had enough funds to purchase these.

Level 3 blueprints were inherently expensive, and these purchases were all core projects—driving prices up even more.

Although the Steelworks had operated at full capacity all day to produce and sell steel for income, the Crystal Coins earned were still limited.

The Crystal Coins earned during the Tomorrow Alliance’s attack on the Naga and other monstrous civilizations in the Taranis Ocean had now been fully spent.

Even all the steel produced during the three days in the Basin Zone had been sold off.

Li Ye understood and made proper arrangements.

For the time being, the Level 3 steel produced by the Steelworks would be prioritized for crafting Level 3 City Armor and the Level 3 Power Engine.

Before long, Dreamsky Island arrived at the Tourist State in the Old Civilization Zone.

At Li Ye’s request, the officials piloted the island to the shoreline of the Tourist State.

With the activation of the Super Magnetic Device, the five Mobile Cities of the Tomorrow Alliance steadily landed on the beach.

The first thing Li Ye did after disembarking was to begin deploying naval forces.

As for the waterborne components required for the Level 1 City Stellar, those were designated to be built by Tomorrow.

It was only then that Li Ye realized Tomorrow’s own waterborne components were all still Level 1–2, quite outdated—only the hull was at Level 3. For more chapters visıt NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Once back at sea, Convoys One and Two were redeployed, and the Flight III-class Destroyer began reassembly with assistance from the Engineer.

Li Ye looked toward the nearby city ruins.

“I wonder how Xie Jie and Ember’s Seventh Division are doing.”

Not long after, the scouting team returned with intel.

There were no giants roaming the city ruins—it was safe to enter.

And Ember’s Seventh Division was still alive within.

Upon noticing movement in the city, Division Leader Xie Jie came over in an off-road vehicle to meet the group.

From Xie Jie’s account, Li Ye learned what had been happening with Ember over the past month.

Ever since all the giants had gained intelligence, Ember’s operations on the surface had been severely limited—practically forced to stay hidden.

“Didn’t expect you folks to come back,” Xie Jie said in surprise.

“Yeah,” Li Ye replied. “There’s still a lot of work for us to do here.”

Just then, a sound came from afar.

Li Ye turned his head to look.

It was the Flight III-class Destroyer.

With the help of the Engineer, it had already completed assembly and returned to the sea.

The Level 3 Destroyer, like an unsheathed blade, sliced through the deep blue ocean. The spray kicked up by its bow shattered into countless tiny fragments in the sunlight, and a white wake trailed behind its stern for several miles.

The destroyer rose and fell steadily amid the waves, its diesel engine's low rumble interweaving with the sound of waves slapping the hull.

On deck, the barrels of the Vulcan Close-in Weapon System stood poised to roar, and missile launchers were neatly arranged—hidden beneath their cold, hard shells was devastating firepower.

On the water’s surface, Convoys One and Two were also patrolling.

Li Ye deployed four Shadow Falcon Fighters to patrol the entire Tourist State.

During this period, the four fighter pilots trained intensely in the City Simulation Training Pod, focusing especially on aerial combat. Their skills had advanced by leaps and bounds.

It wouldn’t be long before they’d be capable of engaging the flying forces of the monsters.

An hour later, the fighters returned with reconnaissance data.

Roughly five to six hundred giants remained across the Tourist State, most of them occupying ruined cities and towns.

Upon hearing this, Li Ye paused in thought for a moment, then waved his hand.

“No time to waste—let’s begin and bring peace to the Tourist State.”

Five to six hundred intelligent giants might have posed a major challenge to the Tomorrow Alliance back when they first arrived at the Southern Continent.

But now, with their significantly improved strength, they could handle it with ease.

What relieved Li Ye most was that none of these giants were Winged Giants.

These giants not only flew but could also manipulate air currents—utterly troublesome.

Back at Checkpoint A9, just the sight of a Winged Giant had given him a major headache.

Since there were no Winged Giants in the air, air superiority in the Tourist State naturally belonged to the Tomorrow Alliance.

The battle became much easier to manage.

Li Ye immediately gathered a few companions to discuss the battle plan.

This time, he used the Level 3 City Radio.

With its low energy consumption and wireless system connectivity, the radio was incredibly convenient.

“I’ve finally been waiting for a good fight,” Yang Zheng said eagerly.

The Peacemaker’s cannon strikes, Electromagnetic Railgun, and newly installed missile launchers were undoubtedly weapons of mass destruction.

However, they were best used against large swarms of charging giants.

Using them on a few scattered giants wandering city ruins and towns would be overkill.

After discussion, they finalized the plan.

Tomorrow and Engineer would remain hidden as usual.

Peacemaker would stay on standby in the rear.

Iron Whale and Stellar would go into battle.

Tomorrow would deploy Shadow Falcon Fighters, Black Hawk Helicopters, Special Forces, and Land Combat Forces.

In a certain abandoned town within the Tourist State...

A Resident Giant was wandering aimlessly.

The town’s clock tower trembled under the weight of his heavy footsteps.

With every step he took, the decaying pavement crumbled beneath him like brittle crackers.

Suddenly, a piercing whistle came from the sky.

The Resident Giant looked up and saw a fighter jet.

Sensing something was wrong, he immediately reached toward the clock tower ahead, tore down a section of the wall, and broke it into chunks of debris.

Then, he hurled them fiercely at the fighter.

The fighter climbed rapidly to evade the incoming rain of rubble, then dove down at a near-vertical angle.

The missiles mounted under its belly gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

As the giant’s face loomed closer, the pilot in the cockpit said coldly,

With that, he pulled the trigger.

The missile detached from the rack and streaked toward the giant.

It struck the Resident Giant's chest and exploded.

The shockwave blew open his ribcage like a steel framework detonated during demolition. Burning viscera burst like a meteor shower onto the street below.

The Resident Giant let out a pained wail and dropped to his knees. The rising dust formed a small mushroom cloud.

Despite the devastating blow, his powerful regenerative ability was still at work.

The gruesome abdominal wound was slowly healing.

The pilot prepared to finish him off—but upon noticing movement in the distance, he abandoned the plan.

In the distance, a Leopard 2A7V Main Battle Tank had completed its aim.

The howling Resident Giant clearly realized something was wrong. He reached to grab a nearby abandoned vehicle and prepared to hurl it in retaliation.

But in the next moment, the Leopard 2A7V fired.

The 125mm smoothbore cannon’s roar shattered nearby storefront windows, and the muzzle blast created a mini-storm in the area.

The tank shell transformed in a millisecond after leaving the barrel—its alloy core breaking free from the shell at incredible velocity, tearing through the air and forming a conical white vapor trail.

It hit the Resident Giant square in the head.

His facial skin caved in like stretched rubber, and his entire skull structure fractured layer by layer under the shockwave.

Bone fragments shot outward in a radial burst. His eyeballs exploded into twin clouds of blood mist due to pressure differences. His remaining jawbone stayed frozen in a roaring pose.

The hand clutching the vehicle continued to spasm from neural discharge. After two staggering steps, his massive body collapsed. His knees slammed into the ground, sending shards of asphalt flying.

Inside the tank, the spotter nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this.

The rest exchanged glances, then erupted into cheers.

Elsewhere, Tang Fang piloted Stellar to a ruined city.

The reconnaissance drone had already circled the ruins and relayed detailed information.

There were more than two hundred giants here.

In the cockpit, alongside Tang Fang, sat Lin Wu—he would be commanding Stellar.

After confirming the perimeter, Lin Wu picked up the walkie-talkie.

“Reporting—Stellar has arrived at the combat zone. Requesting operation orders.”

Li Ye’s voice came through the walkie-talkie.

“Listen carefully, Lin Wu. The city ruins you’re attacking contain the most giants—it’s extremely dangerous.”

“To assist you, I’ve deployed a Black Rain Bomber to Stellar. It is already cruising at high altitude above the city.”

“If necessary, you may call upon it for fire support. Lastly—be careful during the operation.”

As the forward vanguard, Stellar’s deck not only carried Convoys One and Two, but also the newly built Level 3 Leapfrog Mechs, Level 3 Heavy Cannon Bikes, Special Forces, and Bullfrog Vehicles.

Along with them flew three Prometheus-class units.