Chapter 213: Chapter 213

Chapter 213: “+40,000”

“This…” Li Ye fell into deep thought.

Right now, Tomorrow had already digested most of the newly absorbed population. Considering its current living space and material supplies, it could indeed still accommodate another forty thousand people.

At the moment, it was also preparing for a massive expansion of its land, sea, and air combat forces, which naturally required more manpower.

Taking advantage of this period of rest to recruit new population was actually a very suitable move.

“You’d better think carefully,” Heath said leisurely. “Once this opportunity passes, there won’t be another like it. And as the Lord of a Level 3 City, I believe you should understand how crucial population is.”

Then, as if recalling something, he added in a soft tone,

“I heard from Albert that you suspect there are still Old Era human shelters existing within the Old Civilization District of the Southern Continent?”

Li Ye froze slightly, then gently shook his head.

He had only learned about it through intelligence reports—there were no concrete clues yet.

“You still haven’t answered whether you’ll take in forty thousand people,” Heath reminded him.

Li Ye appeared extremely cautious about it.

Ordinary Level 3 Mobile Cities could carry populations ranging between fifty to a hundred thousand at most.

For Tomorrow to suddenly expand to fifty thousand people would indeed be a considerable challenge for its internal management.

But as long as it could properly digest this growth, Tomorrow wouldn’t need to worry about manpower for a long time to come.

More than that, what truly stirred his heart was—

With fifty thousand people, it would already be possible to build a small society within the Mobile City itself.

To establish civilization upon a Mobile City.

This had been a faint dream residing in Li Ye’s heart for a long time.

After pondering for a while, he finally spoke.

“Bishop Heath, you should know—back in the Southern Continent, when I was asked to recruit over nine thousand people, Bishop Albert offered me one Level 1 Mobile City as compensation. Now that you’re asking me to recruit forty thousand people, shouldn’t you, by that logic, be giving me four Level 1 Mobile Cities?”

Heath’s expression didn’t change.

“Do you think that’s possible?” he said faintly. “Besides, judging from my understanding, your future ambitions must be far greater than that. You wouldn’t be recruiting just for the sake of rewards.”

Li Ye was taken aback.

“You actually think that highly of me?”

Heath seemed to have predicted that Li Ye would be tempted, and skillfully pushed at the right moment.

He informed Li Ye that after Tomorrow completed the recruitment of forty thousand people, the Apocalypse Sect would dispatch a professional management team to help absorb and reorganize the new population.

The team would remain aboard Tomorrow to assist until the city stabilized before leaving.

Upon hearing this, the pressure in Li Ye’s heart lessened considerably.

“If you want to advance to a Level 4 Mobile City,” Heath continued, “then you need to lay the proper foundation while you’re still at Level 3.”

“What kind of foundation?” Li Ye asked curiously.

“Develop complete land, sea, and air combat forces, and construct a functioning small society within the city,” Heath replied. “A Level 4 Mobile City can essentially be regarded as a self-sufficient, independent nation. If a Level 3 City advances to Level 4 without that groundwork, it’s nothing more than a castle in the sky. The same applies to Level 5 and Level 6 in the future.”

Li Ye thought it over and agreed that Heath’s words made sense.

“Then where should I go to recruit people in the southern part of the Western Wasteland Continent?” he asked.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Heath answered. “I’ll select high-quality citizens myself and send them to you aboard an Underground-digging Mobile City. Oh right, you haven’t told me what type of Level 1 Mobile City you’d like to choose.”

As Li Ye pondered, Heath began explaining.

Mobile Cities were generally divided into several categories:

Land-based, Airborne, Submersible, Underground-digging, Mountain-climbing, and Space-type.

They were then further classified by function into Assault-type, Defensive-type, Engineering-type, and Fire-support-type.

Among them, Land-type was the most basic and common form.

“There are even Space-type Mobile Cities?” Li Ye was stunned.

“Only high-level cities can operate in outer space,” Heath explained. “A so-called Level 1 Space-type City merely refers to the scale of a Level 1 City equipped with high-grade space-travel accessories.”

In the end, Li Ye made his decision.

“Please grant me one Underground-digging Mobile City.”

“Not only that, I’d like it to be equipped with a Level 3 Power Engine, Level 3 City Armor, and a full set of Level 3 Underground-digging City Accessories.”

Considering that recruiting forty thousand people at once was no small feat, Heath agreed to his request.

Li Ye’s reason for choosing an Underground-digging Mobile City was mainly for the sake of territorial trade and field resource gathering.

Underground routes were currently the safest pathways.

He planned to assign a helmsman to this Underground-digging City and select a trade team from Tomorrow, allowing them to use it to travel between continents—selling the low-grade items and blueprints the Tomorrow Alliance obtained from slaying monsters.

Moreover, the Underground-digging City could also carry funds to major continental markets to purchase the resources and high-grade blueprints needed by the Tomorrow Alliance.

“I see. You’ve thought this through quite thoroughly,” Heath nodded. “In that case, let me gift you something extra. I’ll also equip it with a full set of Level 3 Submersible City Accessories, and add a Level 3 Resource Detection Device.”

“Really?” Li Ye was pleasantly surprised.

With this setup, the city could travel freely underground or underwater, practically roaming across the entire planet.

Combined with the Level 3 Resource Detection Device, it could even gather resources during downtime.

After ending the communication, he returned to Tomorrow, gathered everyone, and announced the news.

“What? Recruiting again? And this time forty thousand people?” Old Zhou exclaimed.

“Seriously? Bishop Heath agreed to give us a Level 1 City—and it’s both Underground-digging and Submersible?” Tang Fang said excitedly.

“Recruiting so many people all at once… won’t we be overwhelmed?” Lin Xia asked worriedly.

“I actually think this is a win-win situation,” Lin Wu remarked. “Tomorrow’s future land, sea, and air combat forces will require plenty of manpower. Recruiting and assimilating people while things are peaceful is a smart move.”

Li Ye then turned to Tang Fang.

“Would you rather continue piloting your old Assault-type City in combat, or take charge of the new amphibious one to travel between continents?”

To him, both choices were equally tempting.

After some thought, he finally decided.

“Brother Li, I still find fighting more interesting. Let me keep piloting the Assault-type Level 1 City.”

Since that was the case, the helmsman for the Level 1 Underground-digging City would have to be selected from among Tomorrow’s personnel.

With the scale of a Level 3 City Simulation Training Pod, training a helmsman was not difficult. Traveling underground or underwater was relatively safe, and combat ability wasn’t a major requirement.

He immediately instructed the City Committee to arrange it as soon as possible.

“Hey, Li,” Old Zhou said, “we’re bringing in forty thousand people, and we’re only getting one Underground-digging City out of it? Doesn’t that seem a bit insufficient?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Li Ye showed a hint of melancholy in his eyes.

In truth, he thought the same.

But unlike other bishops of the Apocalypse Sect, Heath was clearly not an easy man to bargain with—as evident from their previous natural gas trade.

Heath’s efficiency, however, exceeded Li Ye’s expectations.

In just half a day, the first batch of selected citizens arrived aboard the Apocalypse Sect’s Underground-digging City.

Accompanying them was the professional management team that Heath had specially dispatched from higher ranks.

Leading them was a kind-faced High-ranking Bishop.

“My name is Whiteman. Thank you for being willing to accept so many people!” He shook hands with Li Ye.

Whiteman informed Li Ye that this batch of residents numbered 7,451, and several more batches would arrive within the next three days.

As he spoke, he handed Li Ye a list. On it were the ages, genders, special skills, and health conditions of these 7,451 individuals.

This was a preliminary record compiled by the Apocalypse Sect within half a day—intended to give Li Ye a general understanding first.

Li Ye carefully observed these survivors.

Most of their faces looked calm and honest.

What Heath said was true—the Apocalypse Sect had indeed helped with the screening.

“If it’s alright, let’s begin right away,” Whiteman said.

As usual, the newcomers were naturally assigned to the mid-level area.

Levels B14 to B17 were, of course, off-limits. Those were the zones used for farmland, aquatic farming, livestock breeding, and vehicle storage.

Levels B6 to B13 were the residential floors. Although they currently housed about ten thousand people, they still felt rather empty.

This batch of newcomers was naturally arranged in the mid-level area.

Levels B1 to B5 had been vacant before.

As a professional, Whiteman’s management team worked with great familiarity.

After inspecting Tomorrow’s residential floors, they quickly calculated everything.

“With the current capacity of Tomorrow’s B6 to B13 floors, it can accommodate the forty thousand new arrivals,” Whiteman said slowly.

“Really?” Li Ye was surprised.

He had originally thought the space would be insufficient and planned to use the B1 to B5 levels.

“Don’t underestimate the capacity of a high-level Mobile City,” Whiteman replied.

In the following time, he led his team to coordinate operations with Tomorrow’s City Committee.

As the Lord, Li Ye naturally joined them.

“Your Tomorrow already had ten thousand people, and now you’re adding forty thousand more—that’s no small number,” Whiteman said leisurely. “It’s necessary to establish a proper resident registry.”

Li Ye nodded repeatedly.

He was aware of this already and had previously ordered the City Committee to start on it.

However, their method was somewhat crude—they had been recording everything by hand in notebooks.

Whiteman then took out a laptop.

“This will make things much easier,” he said. “When I leave, this computer will be yours.”

Recording each new resident’s information, distributing food and fresh water, issuing Resident Cards, providing furniture and daily necessities—

everyone was bustling with energy.

Li Ye immediately ordered Lin Wu to organize personnel, mobilize Mechanical Arms, Work Claws, and Cranes to build new rooms for the new residents.

He himself went to the Production Workshop to begin crafting plastic goods like basins, cups, and chairs to distribute to the 7,451 people.

But soon he realized Tomorrow didn’t have the petroleum resources necessary to produce plastic.

Previously, when accommodating new residents from the Junk Zone, that batch of petroleum had been transferred from the Engineer.

“Zhou Xing, do you still have any petroleum left?” he asked through the walkie-talkie.

“Alright then. By the way, do you still need new recruits?”

Neither Zhou Xing, Fang Yong, nor Yang Zheng had much demand for new population.

Compared to Tomorrow, their cities neither needed to form internal societies nor large-scale land, sea, and air combat units.

The personnel they currently had were sufficient for their city functions.

After understanding Li Ye’s predicament, Whiteman extended a helping hand.

He immediately returned to the Underground-digging City and contacted the higher-ups to send in a batch of petroleum.

Over the next three days, more and more Underground-digging Cities arrived, bringing in the full forty thousand people.

The chaotic scene Li Ye had anticipated never happened.

With Whiteman’s help, the process of receiving and assimilating the newcomers went on in an orderly manner.

It was expected that he and his management team would remain aboard Tomorrow for quite some time.

Moreover, Li Ye also persuaded Zhou Xing and the others to recruit two thousand people for each of their cities.

As for himself, he eagerly began the expansion of his combat forces.

When he recruited the new population back in the Southern Continent, he had already increased his combat personnel by a thousand.

Now, he expanded Tomorrow’s total combat force to five thousand people in one go.

These five thousand included the land, sea, and air combat units, special forces, deck combat personnel, and those assigned to the Star.

Over the next month, these five thousand would undergo accelerated training in the City Simulation Training Pods.

The Level 3 Training Pod could only support five hundred trainees at once, which now proved insufficient.

Since it couldn’t be upgraded further for the moment, Li Ye had to invest resources to build another pod and schedule rotational training.

As he planned, a sense of anticipation quietly filled his heart.

Though troublesome, once Tomorrow fully assimilated forty thousand people, its strength would reach an entirely new level.

At his command, the Tomorrow Alliance’s five Mobile Cities set off grandly toward the Wasteland Zone.

On deck, Li Ye suddenly felt a chill on his face.

When he reached up to touch it, he realized—

Winter had arrived silently.

After two days of full-speed travel, the Tomorrow Alliance finally reached the mountainous region in the western part of the Wasteland Zone.

From afar, green ridges layered upon one another, faintly visible through thin mist. The sheer cliffs were like knife-cut stone, and the canyons below lay deep and silent.

The Engineer began its climbing retrofit, while the other Mobile Cities stayed put.

After all, unlike the Engineer, they lacked powerful engineering capabilities—even with modifications, they could hardly assist.

Tomorrow still needed time to digest the newly recruited population, while Fang Yong and Yang Zheng simply treated this as a rare vacation.

The entire alliance’s pace slowed to a calm rhythm.