Chapter 258: How to Build a Modern Metropolis Within a Month? |
Hearing this, Li Ye could not help scratching his head.
This matter was actually related to him to some extent.
If he had not warned Heath and the upper human leadership back then, allowing them to promptly withdraw those hundreds of Level 0.5 Mobile Cities attacking the Underground World, they would have long since been buried beneath the earth.
In a certain sense, he too had contributed a share of his own strength toward the construction of Homeland Island.
“I understand now!” Zhou Xing’s eyes suddenly sparkled as he slapped his thigh excitedly.
He quickly voiced his guess.
Level 0.5 Mobile Cities possessed extraordinarily strong adaptability.
If outfitted with heavy machine guns, artillery, and various high-level weapons, they would become highly aggressive land combat vehicles. But if equipped with mechanical arms, work claws, cranes, and engineering facilities, then they would become omnipotent super engineering vehicles.
And after modifications for tunneling, aerial movement, or underwater operations, Level 0.5 Mobile Cities could adapt to engineering work across virtually any environment.
Albert also smiled and nodded repeatedly.
Seeing Zhou Xing looking so excited, Li Ye seemed to realize something and immediately looked toward Bishop Albert.
“Bishop Albert, may I ask how much a Level 0.5 Mobile City costs?”
He estimated that with the Tomorrow Alliance’s current strength, they should be able to afford one.
After all, constructing a Level 1 Mobile City required roughly 500,000 Crystal Coins, 5,000 units of Level 1 Iron Ore, and over 1,000 units of various construction materials.
Level 0.5 Mobile Cities were far smaller in scale, so naturally their resource consumption was much lower.
“If processing fees are included, it should probably only cost around three to four hundred thousand Crystal Coins,” he thought.
Just as he expected, Albert stated that the current market price of a Level 0.5 Mobile City was 420,000 Crystal Coins.
For Li Ye, that was merely equivalent to selling a few Level 3 Design Blueprints.
“Zhou Xing, if you want one, I really can help you get one,” Li Ye said.
Coming back to his senses, Zhou Xing lightly shook his head.
Although he was interested, he currently had little need for it.
Everyone continued sightseeing aboard the helicopter.
Li Ye continued asking questions.
“Bishop Albert, Homeland Island’s configuration follows fully modern standards, right?” he said hesitantly.
“That’s correct. Why?” Albert asked in confusion.
“So how exactly are you constructing those cities?” Li Ye asked.
Although he was not a civil engineering professional, he still understood that building a modern city from scratch was an extraordinarily complicated, massively expensive, and highly coordinated system project.
Whether it was transportation networks, water and electricity supply, drainage systems, residential buildings, or green space planning.
Albert simply pointed ahead.
“A major city is currently under construction over there. You’ll find your answer there.”
Over ten minutes later, the helicopter arrived above the construction site of the major city.
After only a few glances, Li Ye instantly understood.
The human side was primarily constructing major cities through the production workshops of Mobile Cities!
Within this major city were deployed two Level 4 Engineer-type Cities, over a hundred Level 0.5 Mobile Cities, and thousands of engineering vehicles.
The reason it was called a production workshop was because monsters in the wastelands could drop Design Blueprints for buildings such as apartments, office towers, skyscrapers, coffee shops, and so on.
As long as resources were投入 into the production workshops, those structures could simply be manufactured.
However, due to the production workshops’ own size limitations, Modular Construction Blueprints had to be input for improvements. Once modified, the workshops could produce buildings in modular sections, which could then be rapidly assembled using engineering equipment.
Back in South Glazed Continent, Li Ye and the others had already witnessed scenes like this.
Yet the city construction before them was even more insane.
Those two Level 4 Engineer-type Cities were directly manufacturing complete buildings such as apartments, office towers, and residential complexes!
Yes—manufacturing them directly.
Upon closer inspection, the production workshops inside the two Level 4 Engineer-type Cities were unimaginably enormous, large enough to contain entire skyscrapers.
Completed buildings were continuously produced within the workshops, then jointly transported to designated zones by multiple Level 4 cranes.
Zhou Xing instantly received an overwhelming shock.
Although he himself was the Lord of an Engineer-type City and possessed extensive understanding of engineering construction, this time he truly felt astonished.
“So it’s actually possible to bypass modular production entirely by expanding the size of production workshops and directly manufacturing buildings?” he muttered. “I’ve learned something… I truly learned something this time…”
Li Ye looked more carefully, and a strange light instantly appeared in his eyes.
The Level 4 Engineer-type Cities possessed a total of eight production workshops each!
At this very moment, all eight giant production workshops were operating simultaneously, continuously manufacturing various city structures.
“How incredible…” he could not help sighing.
Without a doubt, these two Engineer-type Cities had made enormous sacrifices in living space for the sake of engineering construction.
The eight giant side-by-side production workshops occupied the overwhelming majority of their internal area. Combined with the countless surrounding mechanical arms, work claws, cranes, and engineering facilities, almost no living space remained.
The more Li Ye looked, the more he frowned.
Although Engineer-type Cities configured like this possessed terrifying engineering capabilities, their appearance truly was somewhat unattractive.
“So how many people can actually live in these cities, Bishop Albert?” he asked.
“Less than ten thousand,” Albert answered. “And they aren’t even intended for habitation at all. The Apocalypse Sect specifically built these cities purely for engineering construction.”
As they spoke, the Level 4 Mobile Cities continuously fed steel reinforcement bars and concrete into their eight giant production workshops, manufacturing all kinds of structures.
Li Ye looked toward one of the giant production workshops.
A complete office tower was currently being born upon the assembly line.
The 200-meter-long and 80-meter-wide structure was illuminated beneath the workshop’s industrial floodlights, fully exposed amid a torrential storm of welding sparks.
Various manufacturing machines moved synchronously along assembly-line rails, precisely inserting prefabricated floor panels into the framework like surgeons. Every bolt hole along the floor panel edges had already been laser-aligned beforehand, with errors not exceeding 0.1 millimeters.
Ventilation ducts, water systems, and electrical facilities were also being accurately installed into the office tower.
The other giant production workshops displayed similarly astonishing scenes.
Li Ye carefully calculated the time involved.
From the moment construction materials were投入 until completion, an entire building only required fifteen minutes.
Sixteen giant production workshops across two Level 4 Mobile Cities meant that every fifteen minutes, sixteen completed buildings emerged.
At this moment, the two Level 4 Mobile Cities were simultaneously producing while moving, transporting completed buildings via cranes into their planned urban zones.
Meanwhile, the Level 0.5 Mobile Cities had all been converted into tunneling variants and outfitted with various engineering facilities, where they were responsible underground for excavating subway tunnels, constructing sewer systems, laying electrical grids, optical cables, and water pipelines.
Li Ye slowly nodded.
Urban domes, structural frameworks, and modern city construction.
He had now fully understood how these three most difficult engineering challenges were solved.
As for transportation networks, canals, and farmland construction—
Those truly were child’s play in comparison.
Albert then continued introducing the city’s urban planning.
The city was mainly divided into the following areas:
First was the Core Administrative and Transportation Hub District.
This included government and administrative centers used for city management, policy-making, and public services, as well as a central transportation hub integrating buses, light rail, and subways.
Second was the Residential District.
This contained various apartments and supporting living facilities.
Third was the Commercial and Entertainment District.
Examples included market plazas, cinemas, gyms, coffee shops, and restaurants.
Fourth was the Ecological and Agricultural District.
This included vertical farms planted with large amounts of graded crops, as well as seawater desalination and recycling systems.
As for Industrial Districts and Scientific-Educational Districts—
They had been completely eliminated.
If one wanted industrial production within a city, it was far more practical to simply position a Mobile City nearby and use its production workshops for manufacturing.
Meanwhile, Scientific-Educational Districts had been replaced entirely by the simulation training chambers inside Mobile Cities.
High-level simulation chambers possessed extraordinarily exaggerated time-flow ratios. Residents could spend an entire day studying within the chamber while only several minutes passed outside, effectively doubling results with half the effort.
Scientific research followed the same principle—
In truth, research itself had already become far less important.
As long as high-level monsters were killed in the wastelands, they would drop all kinds of advanced item Design Blueprints.
The technological level of those high-level Design Blueprints had already completely surpassed existing human technology.
“That’s why people in the wastelands often say that the Great Cataclysm centuries ago was not merely a disaster, but also an unprecedented opportunity,” Albert said quietly. “But personally, I still think it would’ve been better if the Cataclysm had never happened.”
Li Ye and the other three wore complicated expressions as they slowly nodded.
Everyone had their own perspectives on this matter.
At this moment, a brand-new idea emerged within Li Ye’s mind.
Thanks to Albert’s reminder, perhaps the Tomorrow could begin educational programs for its residents.
By inputting various educational books and materials into the City Simulation Training Chambers, residents could enter and study there, improving their overall knowledge and educational standards.
After all, the costs were not high anyway.
Very soon, the helicopter departed the city construction site and headed toward the center of the giant island.
Along the way, Li Ye witnessed transportation network construction in full swing.
The human side planned to establish a complete transportation network across the entire island. Thanks to the power of Mobile Cities, this task was practically effortless.
Unexpectedly, Li Ye spotted a familiar figure.
It was none other than the Dreamer, which he had previously encountered in the Wilderness Region.
At this moment, the aerial Mobile City was quietly parked upon the ground.
“I wonder how old Mr. Claude is doing now,” he silently thought.
Not only that—
Several minutes later, he saw another old acquaintance.
It was Lei Jian’s Conqueror.
Li Ye immediately looked toward Albert and requested the helicopter land upon the Conqueror’s deck.
When Lei Jian saw a strange helicopter requesting landing permission, he initially looked confused. But after seeing Li Ye inside the cabin smiling and waving at him, he instantly understood and enthusiastically waved back.
After landing, the long-separated friends embraced.
Just like back in the Wilderness Region, Lei Jian still wore the same familiar outfit.
A white tank top paired with sunglasses, with that Goblin Travel Kettle still hanging from his waist.
“You’re here to become residents of Homeland Island too?” Lei Jian asked.
Li Ye shook his head.
“No. We’ll continue advancing through the wastelands.”
After learning that the Tomorrow had already advanced to Level 4, Lei Jian was so shocked his jaw nearly dropped.
“Your development speed is way too absurd!”
Lei Jian also mentioned two matters to Li Ye.
First, the Lord of the Vanguard was also currently on Homeland Island.
However, he was only temporarily stationed there. In the future, he planned to participate in the wasteland project organized by the three major human organizations, equipping all Mobile Cities within his alliance with Level 3 configurations before continuing to wander and survive across the wastelands.
Li Ye slowly nodded.
That truly did sound like the Vanguard Lord’s style.
“Right, what was his name again?” he asked.
“Bai Fenghua.”
As for the second matter—
“I’m going to donate my Conqueror,” Lei Jian said with a smile.
“This…” Li Ye froze briefly.
As a Mobile City Lord himself, he naturally understood the significance of such a decision.
A Mobile City was not merely one’s home for survival—it was also a family member and companion that had accompanied its Lord for years. Most Lords developed extremely deep emotional attachments to them.
When Lei Jian first made this decision, he too had felt immense reluctance.
But he also clearly understood that in the future, he and his citizens would permanently settle within the cities of Homeland Island.
Rather than letting the Conqueror sit idle, it would be better to donate it to a world-class organization so they could assign a new Lord, equip it with Level 3 configurations, and continue wandering through the wastelands, shining brightly once more.
At this point, Lei Jian turned and looked toward the Conqueror before him.
“Old friend, I hope you’ll meet a Lord who truly cherishes you in the future.”
Li Ye placed a hand on his shoulder and gently patted it.
After chatting for several minutes, the two sides parted ways.
As Li Ye boarded the departing helicopter, Lei Jian waved forcefully toward him.
“Keep moving forward!” he shouted loudly.
Inside the cabin, Li Ye also waved in response, though his mood carried a trace of melancholy.
“If only Li Jin were still here too…”
Even now, he still vividly remembered Li Jin excitedly hugging both him and Lei Jian back when the three of them separated.
As the journey continued, the number of companions walking alongside him would only continue to dwindle.
……
“So where are we heading next, Bishop Albert?” Zhou Xing asked.
“To meet the island’s higher-ups,” Albert answered. “Your Lord wanted to learn about the Elemental Planes and the Inner World, didn’t he? I’ll temporarily act as the intermediary.”
Li Ye simply nodded.
An hour later, everyone arrived at their destination.
Before them now stood a magnificent skyscraper.
“This was also constructed by a Level 4 Engineer-type City,” Albert said casually. “It’s already fully operational.”
The helicopter slowly landed upon the rooftop helipad.
The staff members receiving them nodded respectfully toward Albert before opening the rooftop stairway entrance.
Just as everyone stepped toward the stairwell, Albert suddenly realized something and raised his hand to stop them.
“This time, the higher-up you’re meeting is no ordinary figure. Before going in, all of you should tidy up your appearance and composure. Don’t appear too disrespectful.”
Li Ye and the others nodded and complied.
While straightening his appearance, a trace of confusion also surfaced within his heart.
“Just what kind of major figure would make Bishop Albert act this cautiously?”
Very soon, he would receive the answer.