Wasteland Development Diary

Emerald City would continue to expand, with new residences gradually rising along the coast until the full complement of 12 high-rise buildings was reached.

Zhou Yi initially intended to use these houses to attract talent.

In his era, many cities used this approach, creating talent apartments to allow recruited individuals to live for free, or even gifting the entire house after completing a certain number of years of service.

Emerald City had running water and heating, was spacious and bright, and even came with C-level security, making it a high-end residence in the wasteland era.

The only downside was the poor surrounding amenities.

The residential area was adjacent to the Dead Sea, nearly 30 kilometers from the nearest Chicken Head Town, and there were no shops or restaurants nearby, so residents had to bring everything they needed.

However, Emerald City's words completely changed this policy.

"Commissioner, Building 2 is a brand new machine body and urgently needs occupants. The higher the occupancy rate, the better."

"Now I have determined that occupants are of great significance to me. My machine body structure is closed, and it is difficult to gain and grow knowledge and judgment of the outside world. Only when communicating with you can I be updated. More importantly, I need occupants to help me further improve."

"The dialogues and actions within me will provide important assistance for my improvement, even breaking through the existing structure and entering a higher level of machine body."

Zhou Yi then realized that after a building's life consciousness took shape, it could continue to grow and evolve through symbiosis with human residents.

Just like the reason for their birth, the residents within the building's life were like the red blood cells of their metabolism, driving their inherently fixed consciousness, like plant cells, to move, accumulating and increasing capacity.

The activities of the occupants—especially continuous movement—were nutrients that promoted the growth of Emerald City.

Emerald City added, "This initial machine body is difficult to change its existing functions. This is the consciousness structure left by the earliest occupants. Whether it is pricing or occupants, it must be based on the original rules."

"Building 2 is different. It is a brand new machine body expanded based on the resources you provided, Commissioner. No rules have been established. Whether it is access control requirements, the identity of the occupants, or the house prices and supporting requirements, new standards can be established…"

Although Emerald City's expression was still awkward and stiff, Zhou Yi grasped the key point.

The initial building had its administrator privileges locked.

Building 2, however, was a brand new program. As the administrator, he could even open it to the outside world without restrictions, offering a great deal of operational space.

So Zhou Yi decisively changed the [Talent Introduction Plan] to [Emerald City Trial Stay Promotion].

Occupants were the engine of Emerald City's evolution!

Therefore, he first let the residents of Mao Gu Town move into Building 2, and then had them promote the under-construction Building 3.

The light-blocking device and supporting antifreeze oil purchased from Qian Su played an important role. One medium-sized and five small light-blocking devices operated simultaneously, allowing Emerald City to fully power the construction of Building 3—also an 11-story low-rise.

Emerald City stated, "The daily charging rate is 8%, and it can be built within 33 days."

The advantage of low-rise buildings was that they could be built quickly.

Potential residents also needed time to observe and consider. For the long winter, a month was not long.

Zhou Yi learned from former real estate developers and first drew a small cake.

Advertising that residents could move in within a week.

…

Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Zhou Yi called Rat King Nemo to inquire about the situation: "How is the communication with the sand rats going?"

"Chairman, they are actually very familiar with humans. Guiding routes and reminding of dangers, some simple actions are enough."

"As long as humans don't catch and eat them, a sand rat can safely guide a person to Chicken Head Town, and return in at most one day. Sending them to the more distant Sand Port and returning only takes 3 days."

Red Falcon repeated in a synthesized mechanical voice.

This was said for Gong Zheng next to him to hear.

Nemo lacked a voice module and could only communicate with Zhou Yi through mind frequency.

The drone acted as a temporary repeater.

Zhou Yi turned his face: "How is your progress?"

Gong Zheng also said with a smile: "Chairman, everyone is actively signing up for this job. I led the residents of Mao Gu Town through the Death Sand Dune, allowing them to experience firsthand that it has become safe."

"Working with sand rats is not new. Scavengers used to raise sand rats to find good things in hidden places."

"The main thing is that moving into Building 2 is too attractive to them. Being able to live in such a luxurious house, they are really willing to do anything."

He took out a stack of papers from his bag.

"Chairman, these are some sample pictures I made."

Zhou Yi selected one and shook the paper in his hand.

"This is it."

This paper had a simple drawing style, depicting Emerald City bombarding the Dead Sea monsters, causing them to scatter and flee. Below Emerald City, several little people were building a snowman.

Next to it were two advertising slogans.

[Buy a house with peace of mind, renting is even more worry-free.]

[Live in Emerald City, no fear day or night.]

This picture was simple and easy to understand, even for people who couldn't read.

"Then I will ask Brother Yuan Tong to draw more leaflets with me."

The entire plan was prepared for half a month and was officially launched.

On this day, Zhou Yi saw residents of Mao Gu Town, each carrying broken bags and covered in dirt, lining up to walk out of Emerald City Building 2.

Each of them had dried mushrooms and leaflets in their bags, and was equipped with a sand rat assistant. The fur of these sand rats was painted with specific numbers to facilitate pairing with the townsfolk with the same number.

They were divided into 10 batches, each batch of 12 to 20 people, traveling together.

Ridge Hunters patrolled, preventing the Dead Sea monsters from daring to emerge.

Claw Pigs contracted, and Thorn Ant Lions were wiped out, making the road from here to Chicken Head Town unobstructed.

Relying on the local vast underground intelligence system, sand rats could obtain assistance and reminders from sand rats in different regions, mainly to guard against looters, adding another layer of insurance.

This was also the first time that the residents of Mao Gu Town went out to work in groups during the day. They had to arrive at Chicken Head Town before night, as that was when the residents of the town there were active. They needed to promote and shout when there were the most people.

The people of Mao Gu Town were more or less unaccustomed. Some were afraid of the light, some were nervous, and some looked around, but soon, they relaxed in each other's conversations and fantasies about a new life, and rushed to Chicken Head Town all the way.

Taking advantage of this time, Red Falcon also took Rat King Nemo all the way to Recursive City for modification and upgrades.

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…

Zhou Yi sat on the sofa and suddenly felt a burst of emptiness.

When busy, it was day and night, and when idle, it was a bit boring.

Go out for a snowmobile ride?

Or go hunting in the Dead Sea?

Zhou Yi finally decided to surf the Internet.

He picked up the drone remote control, clicked on the screen to enter the Recursive City's machine station network platform, and found [Entertainment] in a series of columns.

I still don’t know the entertainment methods of electromechanical life.

After opening it, a bunch of news popped up.

"S17 Winter Rally Officially Kicks Off, Our City's Inspection Stations Are Running Well"

"MR. Bean Sprout Releases Latest Music Album, Debuting in the Top Three of the Digital Music Bestseller List"

"Electromechanical Masters Countdown: 29"

…

Zhou Yi clicked on each one from top to bottom.

The Winter Rally was divided into sea, land, and air groups, with a total length of more than 31,100 kilometers, and was grouped according to the weight and volume of different electromechanical lives. It seemed to be a perennial sports project.

The second Mr. Bean Sprout, his image reminded Zhou Yi of a pea shooter, but he had a bean sprout-like braid. He seemed to be a popular musician.

The Electromechanical Masters was the part that Zhou Yi was more interested in.

This was a fighting competition involving electromechanical life, including 1v1 singles and team competitions, and was very popular.

The event also had a 15-second promotional video.

Inside, a strong mechanical boxer was fighting a slender cyber warrior. The high-frequency bombardment caused sparks to fly from the metal armor of both sides.

Finally, the two pulled away. A fire dragon rose from the fist waved by the mechanical boxer, and the cyber warrior rose into the air with ripples surrounding his body. The screen stopped when the two's ultimate moves were about to be triggered, and the Electromechanical Masters logo was marked.

There was still a month before the start of the game.

Zhou Yi couldn't help thinking.

Recursive City didn't seem to be any different from past human cities, except that the prehistoric humans of flesh and blood had become the electromechanical citizens of the wasteland era.

Compared to the new humans, electromechanical life seemed more like the inheritors of human civilization.

Inadvertently, he saw an inconspicuous small tofu block.

[Fundraising for Help]

Below it was written "Every life desires to be continued."

Waterdrop Crowdfunding?

Zhou Yi clicked to take a look.

There were indeed some electromechanical lives whose machine bodies were damaged or on the verge of collapse for various reasons. They were all citizens of Recursive City and hoped to receive help through the city platform.

However, these citizens also promised various reports, mainly selling their labor, willing to sign labor service agreements for decades or even hundreds of years, and binding the procedures after notarization by Recursive City.

The fundraising amounts were not small, with a minimum of 1,000 light seeds and a maximum of tens of thousands.

Zhou Yi thought of this.

This seemed to be a way to obtain cost-effective employees.

There were still more than 10,000 light seeds in the account, so hiring a special employee should not be a problem.

He immediately started researching.