Chapter 261: Fishing in the Stone Sea |
“There should be.”
Li Ye made that judgment because the Mobile City's technology tree advanced step by step with each level. The gap between every level was enormous.
He then looked at the third blueprint.
【Item Name: Construction Gel】
【Level: 4】
【Effects:
Can be molded into any structure. It will harden after cooling.
Hardness +100%】
【Crafting Requirements: Any amount of water, gravel, and soil】
This Level 4 item was indeed rather unusual.
“Isn't this just high-grade concrete?” he quickly realized.
Moreover, it was an extremely cost-effective Level 4 item to produce.
Water, gravel, and soil were all materials that were easy to obtain.
Li Ye slowly nodded. With this, the construction plan for the small cities inside Tomorrow's floors could be accelerated significantly.
However, he soon noticed another issue.
“Although the hardness is extremely high, should steel reinforcement bars still be embedded inside the walls?”
He immediately imported the blueprint into the Production Workshop and invested resources to manufacture a batch of Construction Gel.
Under the operation of the mechanical arms, the Construction Gel was quickly injection-molded into a wall.
Li Ye had clearly underestimated the value of “Hardness +100%.” The wall was absurdly tough. Even repeated heavy blows from the mechanical arms only produced a few minor cracks.
“...With this level of strength, there's probably no need for steel reinforcement.”
Not only that, Construction Gel could also be used on battlefields to rapidly construct fortresses, strongholds, trenches, defensive lines, and similar structures.
Li Ye immediately summoned the City Committee and instructed them to speed up the small-city construction project inside the city floors.
During this period, he also called over the Trade Department to ask about the trade with the Apocalypse Sect.
After delivering that batch of Level 3 Blueprints, the Tomorrow Alliance's debt had dropped from one million to two hundred thousand.
Once the Tomorrow Alliance returned to Bedrock Abyss, Li Ye planned to pay off the remaining debt.
Just then, A-Zhu, the Lord of Enlightenment, came to see him.
A-Zhu's intentions were simple. Since they were already here, Enlightenment, as an Underground-digging Mobile City, naturally couldn't remain idle—it needed to get to work.
The rocky underground environment of Bedrock Abyss was clearly the perfect place for it to display its strengths.
To be safe, Li Ye instructed Enlightenment not to travel too far and to limit its resource exploration and mining to this supermassive cavern.
While nodding, A-Zhu turned to look at the Stone Sea in the distance.
Li Ye instantly understood what he meant.
“You want Enlightenment to enter the Stone Sea and mine resources? The Mutant Creatures there are extremely powerful. Enlightenment's current defenses can't withstand them at all. Better forget it.”
After A-Zhu left, Fang Ying came to see him.
“We only obtained a few dozen jin of slime from those Mutant Creature corpses. That's far below what I expected,” he said with obvious disappointment.
Li Ye sighed softly as well.
He naturally wanted to hunt more Mutant Creatures, but the Stone Sea's environment simply made it difficult.
What surprised him was that Fang Ying proposed an unexpected idea.
“How about we send a ship into the Stone Sea to fish?”
“Huh?”
Li Ye was completely stunned by the wildly imaginative proposal.
Fishing... in a sea of stone?
How could that even be possible?
Fang Ying briefly explained his idea.
They would build a fishing boat and coat its underside with the slime they had just obtained. That would allow it to sail across the Stone Sea and fish.
Li Ye slowly nodded. Engineer did indeed have a fishing boat project, but it was only Level 1.
“Dr. Fang Ying, there's one thing you need to keep in mind,” he said. “Even if a Level 1 fishing boat can sail across the Stone Sea, it has absolutely no chance of surviving attacks from Level 4 Mutant Creatures. It'll probably sink within seconds.”
Fang Ying smiled faintly.
“Didn't you just obtain the blueprint for Level 4 Construction Gel?”
Li Ye immediately understood.
He finally grasped Fang Ying's intention.
If they built the fishing boat entirely out of Level 4 Construction Gel, its durability would be incredibly high. It might actually be able to withstand attacks from the Mutant Creatures.
“What about the fishing net?” he asked.
“Nature H6 has Energy Fishing Nets,” Fang Ying replied. “Well? Want to give it a try?”
After thinking for a while, Li Ye agreed.
Mainly because the cost of this experiment was indeed very low.
Besides, he was genuinely curious about the idea of fishing in the Stone Sea.
After a busy round of work, a fishing boat made entirely from Construction Gel was completed. Li Ye even equipped it with a Level 1 Mobile City propulsion system and propeller.
Once the Energy Fishing Net was loaded, the fishing boat slowly sailed into the Stone Sea.
Two Special Forces soldiers were responsible for operating the boat.
Meanwhile, a Black Hawk helicopter circled overhead. If anything went wrong, it would immediately drop ropes to extract the two men aboard.
The airspace inside the supermassive cavern was extremely complex. Even the highly maneuverable Black Hawk helicopter struggled to navigate, constantly changing direction to avoid the countless stalactites hanging overhead.
Thanks to the slime coating on its underside, the fishing boat safely traveled across the Stone Sea.
Under Li Ye's expectant gaze, it deployed the Energy Fishing Net.
More than ten minutes later, the fishing boat successfully caught a batch of Stonefish with the Energy Fishing Net.
However, while returning, an accident suddenly occurred.
A gigantic whirlpool formed within the Stone Sea.
Immediately afterward, an enormous crab claw hundreds of meters in size burst from beneath the surface and clamped tightly around the entire fishing boat!
Realizing the situation had turned disastrous, the two Special Forces soldiers immediately activated their jetpacks, leaped into the air, grabbed the ropes dropped by the Black Hawk helicopter, and escaped.
Standing on Tomorrow's deck, Li Ye watched the scene and let out a helpless sigh.
This time, there was one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The bad news was that the Stone Sea fishing plan had failed, and his plan to mass-hunt Level 4 Mutant Creatures had come to nothing.
The good news was that, judging by that crab claw, its owner was very likely a Level 4 Wild BOSS.
However, considering all the factors they had previously discussed, it would be extremely difficult for the Tomorrow Alliance to hunt this Level 4 Wild BOSS.
While thinking, Li Ye casually opened the System Panel.
A new round of Intelligence had already refreshed, with a total refresh period of eight hours.
【1. The City Auction House in the Western Wasteland Continent Basin Region will open in 7 hours, 42 minutes, and 32 seconds. Don't miss it. (Intelligence Value: Ordinary)】
【2. You are currently in the upper layer of Bedrock Abyss at a depth of 17,234 meters. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)】
【3. In the third tunnel southeast of your current supermassive cavern, proceed to the end of the tunnel and turn left to find a small Level 4 Frost Ore Vein. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)】
【4. More than one hundred years ago, to escape the war between the world-class organizations of both humans and monsters, many Monstrous Civilizations fled into the Elemental Plane for refuge. Bedrock Abyss, home of the Stone Elemental Civilization, was one of these locations. The Stone Elemental Civilization attempted to drive out and destroy these Monstrous Civilizations, but they hid too well and escaped destruction. Among them are two Level 4 Monstrous Civilizations still hiding within Bedrock Abyss. (Intelligence Value: Rare)】
【5. One month ago, the Stone Elemental Civilization refused to submit to the Monster World-class Organizations, triggering a war. Unable to tolerate such defiance, the three major Monster World-class Organizations have already dispatched an expeditionary force to attack Bedrock Abyss. (Intelligence Value: Rare)】
Li Ye immediately looked at the first piece of Intelligence with a wry smile.
“My Mobile City is already Level 4, and you're still giving me City Auction House Intelligence for a Level 1 region?”
His expression then turned to surprise.
He had originally assumed that the Stone Elemental Civilization served the Monster World-class Organizations, but it turned out they were actually resisting them.
Even more surprising was the fact that some Monstrous Civilizations had fled into the Elemental Plane to seek refuge.
“Come to think of it, escaping into the Elemental Plane really is a viable option...”
In a sense, the Elemental Plane was an isolated miniature world, completely separated from Blue Star.
Of course, the prerequisite was possessing enough strength to survive there.
Li Ye then looked at the second piece of Intelligence.
“Bedrock Abyss actually has upper, middle, and lower layers?” he said in surprise. “17,234 meters... The upper layer alone is deeper than ocean trenches!”
To understand what was going on, he decided to ask Fang Ying.
Before leaving, Li Ye specifically dispatched people to mine the small Level 4 Frost Ore Vein.
After learning why Li Ye had come, Fang Ying patiently explained.
“You can think of the entire Bedrock Abyss as an underground world stacked layer upon layer,” he said. “The upper layer is the shallow region, while the lower layer is actually the middle region.”
“I see.” Li Ye pondered for a moment. “Then, Dr. Fang Ying, do you know how deep Bedrock Abyss actually is?”
Fang Ying gently shook his head.
“We at Titan Throne would also like to know that answer. Unfortunately, every time we're teleported here, we arrive at a different location. But based on our preliminary estimates, Bedrock Abyss is at least over a hundred thousand meters deep.”
“Over a hundred thousand meters?”
Li Ye was astonished.
Thinking about it carefully, the Stone Elemental Civilization truly did possess the confidence and strength to reject the Monster World-class Organizations.
After all, they possessed an Elemental Plane comparable to a small world, with a strategic depth of well over a hundred thousand meters.
After a moment of thought, Li Ye spoke again.
“Dr. Fang Ying, there's something I've always been curious about.”
“Go ahead.”
“How do monsters themselves view the Monster World-class Organizations?”
After pondering briefly, Fang Ying answered.
Although monsters dominated the planet and Monstrous Civilizations were countless, they were nowhere near as united as humanity.
The three Monster World-class Organizations could certainly be considered the strongest powers among monsters. They possessed overwhelming strength and prestige, but many Monstrous Civilizations still refused to submit to them.
“So some high-level Monstrous Civilizations actually oppose them?” Li Ye asked.
Fang Ying nodded.
“That's right. The Level 3 Spider Demon Civilization in the Arctic Continent was one such example. When I heard that the entire continent had been sunk by that Level 3 Monstrous Civilization, both my colleagues and I were shocked.”
He then added solemnly,
“But no matter how much high-level Monstrous Civilizations hate the Monster World-class Organizations, there's still one race they hate even more—humans.”
“On the wasteland, humans and monsters can never truly reconcile.”
“That's why everyone was so astonished by the Silence Agreement. It greatly eased the relationship between humans and monsters, reduced the intensity of their conflict, and barely maintained the wasteland's fragile development.”
Thinking back, Li Ye realized it was indeed true.
It was precisely because of the Silence Agreement that Tomorrow had been able to develop peacefully in the Western Wasteland Continent.
But once the Silence Agreement was abolished, all that stability would disappear.
Fang Ying shared the same view.
The Titan Throne doctor let out a long sigh.
“There won't be a second Silence Agreement on the wasteland.”
The two of them fell silent for a long time.
After finally gathering his thoughts again, Fang Ying spoke once more.
“The thing that grabbed the fishing boat just now was probably the Level 4 Wild BOSS,” he said. “How about we work together and try to hunt it?”
Li Ye froze.
Hunt a Level 4 Wild BOSS... inside the Stone Sea?
“Does Nature H6 happen to have some Level 4 item capable of dealing with it?” he asked.
Fang Ying nodded.
He then showed Li Ye one of Nature H6's Level 4 weapons.
The Molecular Disintegration Main Cannon.
This Level 4 main cannon fired directed molecular oscillation waves capable of breaking down biological exoskeletons and scales, causing them to rapidly decompose.
The molecular oscillation waves covered an enormous area, making them virtually impossible to evade.
“So?” Fang Ying asked with a smile. “Want to cooperate?”
Li Ye fell into deep thought.
The Tomorrow Alliance had only just reached Level 4, yet they were already considering hunting a Level 4 Wild BOSS.
The danger involved went without saying.
But if they succeeded, the rewards would be enormous.
“Please give me some time. I'd like to discuss it with my companions first.”
As he spoke, he picked up the walkie-talkie.
Fang Yong, Zhou Xing, and Yang Zheng all agreed.
“High returns always come with high risks. If we pull this off, we'll get a Level 5 item!” Yang Zheng said excitedly.
“I support going all out, Alliance Leader,” Fang Yong said.
“I agree as well,” Zhou Xing echoed.
Li Ye put away the walkie-talkie and turned toward Fang Ying.
“Then let's give it a try.”
Before the operation began, both sides first needed to negotiate how the loot would be divided.
Nature H6 and Fang Ying certainly weren't helping for free. The reason they wanted to hunt this Level 4 Wild BOSS was also for its drops.
Li Ye stated that the Tomorrow Alliance would have first priority on the guaranteed Level 5 drop.
Fang Ying immediately fell into hesitation.
“To be honest, the reason I suggested hunting the Level 4 Wild BOSS in the Stone Sea,” he said, “is because we also want that Level 5 item. Otherwise, we would've chosen to tame that Level 4 Wild BOSS instead.”
That was exactly why they were discussing the matter before taking action—to avoid unpleasant disputes over the loot afterward.
Li Ye tactfully expressed his position.
The Tomorrow Alliance would undoubtedly serve as the main force during the hunt and would be taking enormous risks. If they still couldn't obtain the Level 5 item under those circumstances, then what would be the point of risking so much?