Wasteland Development Diary

Sitting on the sofa, Zhou Yi thought of the television that kept repeating "Journey to the West."

What a pity.

If it hadn't broken down, at least he'd have something to watch.

Zhou Yi mentioned this to the Kestrel and asked if prolonged exposure to the death ray would cause a machine lifeform to end up like that.

"Prolonged exposure to the death ray radiation in the Dead Sea can indeed lead to various anomalies."

The drone replied, "But the situation you described sounds more like it suffered significant damage during its awakening, or was affected by a drastic environmental change, preventing it from completing the awakening process. Such machine lifeforms are called uncivilized bodies, and there are quite a few of them, but they are usually unable to communicate."

"If they are in a stable and suitable environment, they have a chance to completely transform into intelligent entities through a certain period of self-evolution and correction."

Zhou Yi immediately realized, "Are you saying that if it's discovered early, sending it to Recursive City could save it?"

"Yes, Recursive City has a sound infrastructure, rescue teams, and repair and maintenance centers."

Zhou Yi sighed, "If I had met you sooner, it might still be okay now..."

And I could watch TV.

The Kestrel suddenly spoke, "Are you cultivating farmland here just to satisfy your appetite?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yi nodded.

"But from my perspective, you don't seem to have a survival need in that regard. Although I don't have precise surveying capabilities, I can observe that your body strength is astonishing, and you can efficiently absorb free death ray energy, whether in the Dead Sea or on land."

"From a physiological structure standpoint, you should have no need for so-called conventional food."

"In other words, you are just a special light-absorbing lifeform that looks like a human but is more like something between flesh and machine."

The Kestrel said, "Therefore, I cannot understand why you have a special desire for this kind of natural food with extremely low conversion rates."

"Are you really human?"

"I think I am..."

Previously, Zhou Yi felt that the drone was an emotionless workaholic, not wasting words and only talking about work, not personal matters.

His relationship with the Kestrel was limited to being business partners.

This was the first time the drone had expressed a desire to understand Zhou Yi himself further.

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment before saying, "Do you know why I came ashore?"

"You said it was for a stable and safe living environment."

"Right."

Zhou Yi followed his train of thought and said, "I don't know the evolutionary path of machine lifeforms, but based on my experience, flesh and blood life is inherently fragile, but because of that fragility, it always races against time. Seizing the time to find food, seizing the time to find shelter, seeking out mates, accumulating resources needed for survival."

"Based on this, all kinds of desires have been derived, physiological needs, wealth, power, the need for respect, self-actualization... because of desire, progress can be accelerated."

"Coming ashore is to fulfill my desires."

"I want to possess all kinds of delicacies, I want to find interesting partners, I want to build a rich and prosperous city here, I want people in this era to live in a better way... I want it all!" Zhou Yi clenched his fist.

These strong desires made him clearly feel that he was still alive.

Zhou Yi cracked his knuckles, "Ultimately, I want to transform the Dead Sea. If I don't want to be unilaterally affected and transformed by the Dead Sea, then I have to learn to use it."

"Crazy."

The Kestrel gave its evaluation.

"You have a body that resembles a human, and I cannot judge what kind of lifeform you are," the drone said. "But you do have human-like arrogance and delusions."

Zhou Yi spread his hands, "Then let's put it another way. The Dead Sea has nearly infinite energy, and what I ultimately want to do is to develop and utilize it in various ways, and transform this extreme environment."

"In this way, both light-absorbing species and humans can benefit from it. Of course, I personally will definitely take the lion's share."

"Transforming and utilizing the Dead Sea is not something that can be done overnight. How the Dead Sea was formed, what its specific components include, how many kinds of creatures are in it... these prerequisite questions need to be answered one by one. That's why I came to the more stable land, built a solid base on land, conducted long-term observations and experiments on the Dead Sea, and then promoted it step by step."

"So there is the Wasteland Development Company."

"Does that sound more normal?"

"..."

The drone's camera's red light flashed rapidly, as if it were thinking.

It said, "Can it be understood that you want to conquer the Dead Sea?"

"You can also say that."

"Crazy."

The Kestrel's evaluation remained unchanged: "This is indeed a grand plan, and it is also an almost impossible task. But I understand your idea, although my individual strength is small, I will do my best to accompany you."

Zhou Yi cupped his fist, "Thank you for your support."

In fact, there was another reason he didn't say.

Although he didn't know exactly how prehistoric human civilization was destroyed, judging from the current situation and results, it was inseparable from the Dead Sea, a special phenomenon covering the world.

As the only surviving prehistoric human, Zhou Yi had such a strong desire from the day he woke up.

In the last era, humanity was utterly defeated and destroyed.

In this era, I'm going to get my revenge, and screw them all!

Starting with the Dead Sea!

...

The latest novels are first published at Six Ninety-Nine Books Bar!

After nightfall, Zhou Yi prepared to lead the team to go fishing in the sea again to obtain light seeds.

Because the Kestrel stated that its body was relatively outdated and needed to be upgraded to maintain the area's vision and information coverage.

This time he was going to go to a more distant area.

While Zhou Yi was still preparing, Gong Zheng came over with a cane.

"Chairman, a merchant named Cui Mao has arrived in Mao Valley Town. He hopes to meet with you and do business with our company."

A merchant is visiting?

Zhou Yi asked him, "Do you know this person?"

"I don't know him."

Gong Zheng shook his head, "Merchants' routes pass through many cities and towns, buying and selling along the way, lasting from several months to several years. We are the last stop on the east side. Mao Valley Town has very thin profits, and merchants who have come once never come again."

"Chairman, this Cui Mao is carrying valuable goods."

He said, "The first is that he has a 'Dead Sea Atlas,' although it is a basic version, this book is revised and supplemented once a year, and the records and descriptions on it are more accurate."

"Another is a medicine bag hood that can be worn to prevent inhaling toxins."

"If we have the hood, A Jin and I can enter the periphery of the Mushroom Forest, where there are many good things, including edible mushrooms, tools from hunting groups that died inside, and a large amount of feces—claw pigs like to excrete feces there. They will eat some mushrooms, which can help them excrete feces."

Zhou Yi was stunned.

Mushrooms actually have the effect of relieving constipation, and claw pigs actually use the Mushroom Forest as a public toilet.

Merchants' books are indeed an important source of information for understanding ground cities and people.

"Bring him over."

"Yes, Chairman."

What bothered Zhou Yi was that Bird's Eye View was a divine skill that could directly suppress the other party's psychological price, but using the remote control would be relatively obvious.

Suddenly, the Kestrel's voice came from his mind.

"If it's inconvenient, I can directly communicate with you through consciousness signals."

Zhou Yi's brows immediately relaxed.

He had done this with the Samurai Crabs before, and because he had input a lot of energy into the Kestrel, it seemed that both parties had successfully synchronized frequencies.

This made things much easier.

Soon, the merchant Cui Mao was brought over.

But the Kestrel immediately reminded him.

"He is not an ordinary person, he is an Enhancer."

Zhou Yi's gaze became sharp.

This merchant seemed to be not simple.