Wasteland Development Diary

Cui Mao said with a face full of emotion, "Mr. Zhou, Jin City was very sorry to hear about your company's experience and admired your courage."

"In this world, few dare to reject the power of Mechanical City."

"Making this decision comes at a great cost."

"The other two cities, 'Motorcycle City' and 'Hardware City,' each have their own reasons."

"As far as we know, Motorcycle City is a city that practices a slave system. A large number of semi-civilized beings are sent there to work as slaves, and even some mechanical lifeforms are trafficked there... Motorcycle City has always refused external inspections and supervision. Anyway, it has been sanctioned many times, so it doesn't care about this one more time."

He continued, "Hardware City is a haven for criminals, with many mechanical lifeform criminals. It also relies on the trade of many prohibited items and money laundering to generate revenue, and it will not accept external reviews and searches."

"Your company is different from them. It was originally in a honeymoon period with the Mechanical City cluster, but it dared to oppose their technological power sanctions, doing what many cities wanted to do but couldn't."

The knight opposite him exclaimed, "However, this is indeed something Mr. Zhou would do."

Zhou Yi's face twitched as he listened.

Motorcycle City is a city of slaves, and Hardware City is a gathering place for criminals—no wonder its rating is ridiculously -B.

Am I essentially the only righteous one this time?

He asked, "Has Jin City also been audited?"

"Yes."

Cui Mao looked calm, as if he was used to it.

Zhou Yi was curious, "What about the Heavenly Kingdom?"

"The Heavenly Kingdom has a special cooperation agreement with the Mechanical Cities."

Cui Mao said, "Audits will also be conducted, but in a different way from independent cities like us. The Heavenly Kingdom's interests align with the Mechanical Cities in this regard, and a large number of mechanical lifeforms work for the Heavenly Kingdom. If they have independent vacations, it will also cause a considerable loss to the Heavenly Kingdom."

Zhou Yi said, "Oh."

Seeming to realize his interest in this area, Cui Mao added, "Actually, there are also individuals and organizations that refuse audits from the Mechanical Cities. But either they are completely independent mechanical lifeforms, or they are like the Beiyang region, related to the Star Hub, so the Mechanical Cities can't interfere."

"But your company is the only one that has turned against them because of close ties with the Mechanical Cities' interests."

The official business was over.

Zhou Yi handed him a can of Coke, "How has life been in Sandport City these past two years?"

"Thank you. It's been much easier than before."

The young knight relaxed a little, pulled open the ring, and took a sip, "The crime rate two years ago was not low. Now, theft and assault cases have been reduced by half."

"On the one hand, the city's economy is booming, and everyone is busy making money and has hope. On the other hand, the Great Buddha has played a very good guiding role. It is a very magical alien."

"These past two years, besides daily official duties, my remaining time has been spent exercising and reading, and also... finding a wife."

Zhou Yi joked, "So you've been busy with your wife's affairs. That's your main job these past two years, right?"

Cui Mao smiled a little embarrassedly, "My wife is a good woman. She is a tailor in Sandport, a little older than me, a very good person, very upright, and she is always willing to help others."

Zhou Yi nodded, "It's not easy to find someone you like. Cherish it."

"Hehe."

"Wait for me a moment."

Zhou Yi walked outside, took a bottle of Jiannanchun with a packaging box from the warehouse, and handed it to Cui Mao.

"Happy wedding."

Cui Mao quickly waved his hand, "This is too precious. I can't accept it."

"It's just a gift between friends."

Zhou Yi said, "Accept it and be happy."

"Then... thank you."

The two started a friendly chat.

Regarding the sale of Guāngtái sand, Yuan Tong and the captain of the Third Squadron of the Tianjin Knights will handle the coordination.

It wasn't until late at night that Cui Mao said goodbye and left.

...

Although there was assistance from Recursive City and the Tianjin Knights, the negative impact of the Mechanical City sanctions was very significant.

The bustling scene of the express center was gone. The Bone Fish couriers were often resting in the Dead Sea, and the salaries of the employees also plummeted.

The suspension of production at Coral Mouth led to the depletion of Emerald Soup and Flame Cup inventory. There were already many imitations on the market, selling fakes under the name of Emerald City.

Zhou Yi's response was to re-manufacture Emerald Soup and Flame Cups himself, handing both of these products over to Sand Sea Duke for production.

Compared to the Mechanical Cities, which have specialized in manufacturing for many years, Sand Sea Duke's efforts were full of stumbles.

It said, "Mr. Zhou, in terms of raw materials, the roots of the Explosion Mushrooms provided by Mushroom Forest are sufficient, and I can also find cultivable sedimentary zones."

"We configure them according to the ratio you gave us before, and use compression machinery to ensure that the Emerald Soup is small enough after dehydration, but I don't know why it's easy to break... Maybe the craftsmanship is still not as good, and it doesn't look very good."

"Also, in terms of output, we are manually pressing here, and the daily output is about 100,000 pieces."

Zhou Yi remembered. The sales volume of Coral Mouth in the first month was 400 million pieces, with a daily production of over 13.33 million pieces. Now, in Sandport, it has become only a fraction.

The difference in production efficiency is indeed huge.

Sand Sea Duke also said, "The current amount is definitely not enough, but I am expanding the scale of workers. As long as the number of people is increased, the quantity can be increased. Currently, there are only 10 people doing it. I plan to expand it 100 times, recruit 1,000 workers, and buy a few more related equipment. This way, although it can't reach Coral Mouth's level, it's enough to produce several million pieces a day."

"In terms of Flame Cups, light-printing devices with radiation capabilities can be purchased, but it is more difficult to operate so precisely, and obsidian is not easy to make and obtain. So I boldly made an adjustment and replaced it with a more easily made container material."

It showed the new Flame Cup.

This thing has now completely become a casserole.

Zhou Yi felt that the current shape is more practical than before. The only flaw is that it is a bit big.

"Making stone pots by firing sand is cheaper and easier to operate than obsidian."

"The difficulty is still the price."

Sand Sea Duke smiled wryly, "The cost of our Emerald Soup is 20 mushrooms, which is twice that of Coral Mouth. The market price cannot be lower than 30 mushrooms, otherwise there will be no profit."

"The cost of Flame Cups is not low either, and the price must be increased to at least 2,000 mushrooms, which is 20 copper."

Zhou Yi expressed his understanding, "Base it on the actual situation. Our focus is on good quality and low price, but we can't do business at a loss."

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"Mr. Zhou, I am very confident in our things."

"Even if Emerald Soup is priced at 30 mushrooms, it is already an extremely cheap and nutritious food. The Flame Cup is also an indispensable tool for wintering and daily cooking."

Sand Sea Duke said, "It's just that with such a large price increase, I'm afraid it will take a while for buyers to accept it. Furthermore, our transportation channels also need to be gradually opened. After being sanctioned, our ships cannot dock at the ports of Mechanical Cities, and some places need to take a long detour."

Zhou Yi nodded, "These are all difficulties we have to face. We will explore and try slowly, and there is no rush."

...

The full sanctions of the Mechanical Cities continued to spread.

Before, many professionals wanted to join the company and were contacting the heads of various departments, but after the announcement was released, this group basically disappeared.

Foreign mechanical lifeforms also avoided this place.

Previously, Da Vinci had originally negotiated with a mechanical doctor and a nurse, but both refused to work because of this.

Zhou Yi only knew about this through Feng Ying.

Along with this, the entire Development Alliance's exports were blocked by the Mechanical Cities. Mechanical ports refused to allow ships carrying the company's goods to dock.

This level of blow made many organizations that traded with the Development Alliance waver. Many of the original trading partners also chose other suppliers.

Not only were existing channels decreasing, but new ones were also difficult to open up.

Zhou Yi was also a little annoyed by this.

He simply decided.

If no ships are willing to transport, then we will do it ourselves!

Anyway, the express center now has fewer orders, so let the couriers deliver the goods to the door.

Qian Su strongly agreed with this.

She said, "The Bone Fish couriers now have good carrying capacity. In the Dead Sea, it is no problem to carry 300 kilograms of goods. Three couriers are equivalent to a small transport ship."

"Now we have 85 couriers. According to the carrying capacity, they are equivalent to 27 small transport ships, and the speed is much faster than small ships."

Zhou Yi immediately decided, "Then let's do it. We will deliver the goods to the door and earn the freight!"

So the express center became busy again.

The pain caused by the Mechanical City sanctions continued.

However, after only a week, the situation suddenly took a turn for the better.

The reason was that the high temperature lasted for an unusually long time this summer. Many areas had very little rainfall, land and crops were severely damaged, and a large number of city residents were sick and injured due to the heat, making it very difficult to go out to work.

Then.

The cheap and high-quality refrigerated boxes became sought-after items this summer.

Steel Refining Duke happily reported, "Mr. Zhou, last month, we sold 60,000 refrigerated boxes, 4.71 million pieces of refrigerated coal!!! The total income was 246 light seeds, and the net profit was 148 light seeds."

"This month, we have already received advance payments for more than 190,000 refrigerated boxes and more than 20 million pieces of refrigerated coal. In addition, there are also custom needs for large cold storages and freezers."

"As long as the refrigerated boxes are sold, they need a constant supply of refrigerated coal to keep them running. Our core refrigerated coal sales will continue to increase! To reduce local consumption, I purchased foreign coal as a supplement to avoid over-exploitation of local minerals."

"We are already too busy here! I just urgently purchased three mechanical equipment and am recruiting people on a large scale."

This was a breath of fresh air among many bad news.

"Mr. Zhou, there is also a special buyer who wants to purchase a large number of orders... but their identity is quite special."

Zhou Yi felt a burst of relief in his heart, "Who? Rebels or raider groups?"

"Neither."

Bedu Duke said, "It is the weapon hunters of the 'Lord of War' lineage."