Wasteland Development Diary

"We've decided to try participating for a while," Zhou Yi told the Old King.

"If the results are good, the company will invest long-term and promote this project. But if there's no improvement in the process or the outcome, I'll cut my losses and exit in time."

"Understood, of course, you can."

The other party stated, "Star Cluster provides the base and local information, and you handle the Light Seed ore collection, with a 50/50 split of the profits. This profit isn't just from the Light Seeds, but also includes the subsequent development of the Mars base and the artificial Circular Flow that's still in internal testing."

Star Cluster was offering high concessions, making Zhou Yi realize that Mars development was indeed encountering difficulties.

The Old King stated bluntly, "The Star Cluster Matrix has been independently developing Mars for many years and is in great need of strong partners, especially Light Core entities and specific labor."

"Professionally trained work Electro-Cats are the best explorers and collectors there. We're offering a 50/50 profit split, hoping to start long-term extraterrestrial development cooperation."

"Our current goal is to make the extraterrestrial project truly profitable. If we can't achieve that in this phase, then everything is just empty talk."

"The first step to success is the most important."

The Old King's attitude was clear and pragmatic.

The two sides quickly reached a major agreement.

The Light Core entity Zhou Yi sent was Curling, whose Alchemy form could operate in various star environments.

The first batch of work Electro-Cats heading to Mars was led by Pikachu, including Scavenger Team's Electro-Bao and a total of 8 members.

The space bubble connected to Mars was in the Beiyang region, so the company's Mars team traveled directly with Ding Ye. After Curling transformed and grew in size, it carried him to the destination at high speed. Ding Ye was now an Iron Guardian, so he wasn't afraid of being unable to withstand the high speed.

The Old King activated a dedicated satellite channel and connected with Red Falcon to facilitate mutual communication.

Zhou Yi felt a sense of unreality for a moment.

Even he hadn't expected it.

The first place to develop an otherworld wasn't the Moon, which they contacted first, nor the Mud Tree World, which brought many benefits, but suddenly, Mars.

Life is sometimes so unpredictable.

With extraterrestrial development underway, there were also important matters to handle back home.

The Clockwork City destruction incident began to ferment, and several Domain Lords from the Development Alliance sent messages inquiring about the details.

Zhou Yi simply released a formal announcement to the outside world through Recursive City.

"The Lawful Alignment has long been stealing and using the Wasteland Development Company's unique patents, ignoring the company's protests and legitimate requests, and openly plundering the knowledge and achievements researched by the company at great cost and effort through blacklists and sanctions. This is completely inconsistent with the fairness, impartiality, and procedural transparency that Mechanical Cities have always shown to the outside world."

"The company has launched armed rights protection to destroy Clockwork City. If the infringement continues, the company's rights protection actions will also continue, and it will never compromise with the forces of darkness!"

As soon as the announcement came out, Recursive City immediately received private messages from all parties.

The most concerning question for everyone was which city would be the next to be subject to armed rights protection.

Some expressed clear support for Wasteland Company's rights protection, saying they wanted to join in and also protect their legitimate rights.

Others suggested attacking a certain city, and also provided some secret intelligence and weaknesses of the Mechanical City there, obviously wanting to get a share of the pie.

The Lawful Alignment was still in a state of pretending to be dead.

Zhou Yi waited patiently.

Before he received any news from them, the Lord of Soldiers sent a message through Bai Bi's communicator.

"The battle at Clockwork City was quite something; you're truly known by everyone now."

The Lord of Soldiers joked, "How does it feel?"

"It feels like Mechanical Cities are indeed strong."

Zhou Yi also spoke honestly, "They made the Light Core Giant's arm into a Giant Slayer, controlled by a David. I suspect there may be other Celestial weapons; they control more diverse and powerful forces than expected."

"Not surprising. Anything they come into contact with, as long as they deem it to have high value, they will explore and research it. Plus, Mechanical Cities have accumulated hundreds of years of wealth and resources, enough to support trial and error in various fields."

The Lord of Soldiers wasn't surprised, "Then I'll tell you another piece of news. Although few people know, Mechanical Cities have captured Atmospheric Creatures and are conducting domestication experiments, wanting to replicate warriors like Curling."

Zhou Yi was shocked.

Damn it.

The Lawful Alignment was completely staring at him and copying his homework.

It was as if there was a pair of cold electronic eyes in the dark, watching him at all times, and recording his every move on an electronic notepad...

"Do they have a base in the outer sea?"

"Yes."

The Lord of Soldiers said, "As long as you pay enough, you can hire Light Core entities. Although Atmospheric Creatures are extremely dangerous for Skywalkers, Light Core entities can capture them."

Zhou Yi was puzzled, "Why are they always staring at my path and replicating it?"

The Lord of Soldiers laughed, "This shows that they have a very high opinion of you. Mechanical Cities have their own calculation models; they concentrate the computing power of data centers in various places to quickly learn the technical methods of the leaders, so as to complete rapid catching up."

"In their assessment, your model and technical system are superior to the existing Mechanical Cities'."

"They regard your side as a high-quality and advanced template."

Zhou Yi wasn't happy at all.

The Lawful Alignment was learning things too quickly.

In terms of production and construction, they were replicating Floating Hearts and Electro-Cat systems; in terms of combat, they wanted to create Atmospheric Creature weapons, plus their existing technical reserves and Celestial weapons like the Giant Slayer...

He understood the Lord of Soldiers' fear of them.

Mechanical life is a ruthless learning machine; although its independent innovation ability is relatively limited, replicating existing technologies and cultivating individuals is within their comfort zone.

No wonder the Celestials are wary.

But Zhou Yi wasn't worried either.

Because the company's core competitiveness is innovation.

Humans and flesh and blood life have an innate advantage in this regard.

Moreover, the learning and replication ability of mechanical life is also limited. For example, Celestial's Gemstone Cells, they obviously cannot replicate, because the knowledge and information in them are not in their database.

Curling's Alchemy form was also a fusion achieved by chance.

It is almost impossible to replicate.

Zhou Yi also told the Lord of Soldiers about the Black Emperor's invitation and the Old King's visit.

"It's also a good thing for you to visit the Black Emperor, after all, the Heavenly Kingdom has the largest population and the largest territory in this world, and it is also a ruling country recognized by the Celestials."

The Lord of Soldiers said, "The Black Emperor focuses on the development and expansion of the consciousness side, in order to expand the influence of the 'Heavenly Kingdom' and its strength on the consciousness side. On the material side, its style has long tended to be stable and conservative."

"It is also because it has become conservative that a country of this size can remain stable for a long time."

"As for Star Cluster..."

It paused for a moment, "I have a superficial understanding of extraterrestrial development and cannot comment. However, the Old King has always advocated breaking the situation outside the existing system. Going forward along the system set by others, the upper limit is the other party, and you will be restricted step by step."

"When dealing with the Celestials, he planned to interfere with satellite signals and control the Light Core Giants that landed on the ground, turning them into usable helpers. Unfortunately, it failed."

"Developing extraterrestrial Mars is indeed a decision he would make."

"Good luck to you."

"For many things, luck is the most important thing."

Zhou Yi said, "Thank you, I will handle it carefully."

He was still grateful to the Lord of Soldiers.

Without the other party's guidance and help, there would be no Witch Hunter.

It was impossible for Curling to break through the existing mist state in the form of alchemy, let alone become a Light Core.

The Lord of Soldiers asked, "How is the Witch Hunter?"

"She cooperates well with me, she is very focused and responsible in her work, she has high aspirations, and she also has high standards for herself. It's just that she is prone to red heat and smoke during high-intensity battles. She has a cold personality and likes to finish off powerful creatures.

After the bullets ran out, she returned to the form of a gun that didn't move much. But when Zhou Yi talked to her, she also answered.

"That's good."

The Lord of Soldiers said, "It seems that she is growing smoothly and has not developed feelings of disgust and weariness towards you."

At the end, he reminded again: "You only need to wait quietly for the Mechanical Cities. At present, they are unable to deal with the security threats faced by large cities and will give you an explanation. It's just that there are many variables this time, the amount of calculation is very large, and it will take a long time to get what they think is the optimal result."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, so that's how it is.

In other words.

The Lawful Alignment is calculating the amount of compensation.

...

In the data center of Mirror City, a large amount of information is synchronized and calculated rapidly, projected on the crystal screens on all sides.

[Analysis of the ruins of Clockwork City is in progress... Current progress 77.1%]

["Giant Slayer" confirmed dead.]

["David" No. 21, confirmed dead.]

[The final number of dead residents is determined to be: 17912]

[The total estimated value of urban losses is: 75.342 million Light Seeds.]

[The estimated energy level of the attack is between LV3-LV4 Light Cores. Currently, only Mirror City in Mechanical Cities can defend against this energy level attack.]

[The safety rating of Holy Mountain is lowered to: A]

[The safety rating of Snow County is lowered to: A]

...

[The threat assessment of Wasteland Development Company has been raised, danger level: EX]

[Holding extremely dangerous Light Core Atmospheric Creatures.]

[Holding LV3 and above Light Core-level explosives.]

[Holding an unknown number of A-level Electro-Cats.]

[All Mechanical Cities are prohibited from taking any action against Wasteland Development Company and the Development Alliance before the final assessment result is obtained, waiting for subsequent simulation.]

[Legal reasoning is being corrected.]

[Legal calculation error.]

[Legal reasoning is being corrected.]

[Legal calculation error.]

...

[The legal calculation error is too large, restarting.]

[Legal reasoning is restarting...]

[Legal reasoning is restarting...]

[Program correction.]

[Enable external information collection and manual intervention mechanisms.]