"I originally recruited 60 people, but due to the sudden invasion of the Zombie Swarm, I had no choice but to bring in the additional 240-plus candidates scheduled for interviews as well."
Lin Wu explained.
Li Ye nodded.
With this, Tomorrow had essentially “recruited” more than 300 people—double the original target.
However, this wasn’t exactly bad news.
At present, the food aboard Tomorrow was enough to support these people, and they were in urgent need of manpower.
"Call Old Zhou, and gather a group of armed Combat Personnel to maintain order."
He patted Lin Wu on the shoulder.
"You’re in charge of explaining the rules aboard Tomorrow to them. Let them decide whether to stay or leave."
"After that, register each person’s information, assign housing, and distribute furniture, food, and freshwater.""Also, tell Old Zhou to select another 100 residents to train as Combat Personnel."
Moreover, both the Engineer and Iron Whale had taken in a considerable number of temporary refugee Survivors—over a hundred each.
Just like Tomorrow, they also needed time to gradually integrate and absorb this population.
After Lin Wu nodded, he headed straight toward the Production Workshop.
"Now, it’s time to build a batch of new gear,"he muttered to himself.
But what Li Ye didn’t know was that two important events were occurring at this very moment.
The first was that the Survivors, Caravans, and Mobile Cities that had fled from the Fortress had mostly chosen to retreat from the Eternal Night Zone and return to the Wasteland Zone or Basin Region.
Everyone had already felt the pressure of trying to develop in the Eternal Night Zone, and now that Safe Harbor was gone, the pressure had reached its peak—thus, they chose to leave.
Being a scalper might be profitable, but you had to be alive to enjoy it.
Three Mobile Cities, however, were exceptions.
They were the three Level 2 cities under the Gospel of Apocalypse.
The person commanding these three City Lords was a Low-ranking Bishop in the sect named Wilson.
At this moment, this Bishop was giving orders to the Lord of the city he was in.
"Use flute signals to notify the other two Lords. Proceed with the original plan as scheduled," he said slowly. "Even though our strength is weak, we must complete the mission!"
All present nodded in agreement.
One Disciplinary Deacon hesitated for a moment, then spoke up uncertainly.
"Lord Wilson, can we really do it?"
To this, Wilson responded coldly.
"We must do it."
The second matter concerned that Level 2 Fortress.
Inside the fallen Level 2 Fortress, Zombie Mobile Cities docked one after another.
As the Zombie Commander inserted his arm into the socket in the Cockpit, several melodious and rhythmic flute notes sounded, instantly calming the once-raging Zombie Swarm within the Fortress.
Next, one Zombie Mobile City slowly began its operation.
Unlike its companions, this Zombie Mobile City was outfitted with numerous Mechanical Arms, Work Claws, and Cranes on its Armor Plating—clearly a combat-engineer type city.
On closer inspection, these devices appeared to be wriggling.
Centered around this Zombie City, waves of Flesh Tides spread outward, beginning to remodel the streets and buildings along the way.
The entire Level 2 Fortress began transforming into a fusion of flesh and machinery.
With the blare of a steam whistle, the Zombies threw themselves into “work”.
Before long, a Level 2 Fortress reconstructed with Flesh Technology had emerged.
The Zombie Commander nodded in satisfaction upon seeing it.
He waved over his deputy and spoke in a hoarse, low voice.
This voice was obscure and hard to decipher.
But when translated, it was...
"To His Majesty the Emperor, his loyal Crimson Baron has successfully taken the human fortress in the Forest of Death. It has already been transformed into a bridgehead for attacking the new region."
......
In the Production Workshop, Li Ye slowly picked up a list—the quantity of Level 2 Iron Ore that Lin Wu had just compiled for him.
At present, Tomorrow possessed more than 1000 units of Level 2 Iron Ore.
Considering that Lin Wu, now serving as his deputy, was already very busy, it wasn’t ideal to keep having him tally warehouse supplies.
Thus, Li Ye intended to select a few Warehouse Managers aboard Tomorrow.
As for their compensation, it would follow the T6 grade.
These Level 2 Iron Ore units would be prioritized to enhance the combat power of Tomorrow.
After all, as a member of the Alliance, Iron Whale was a defensive-type city, and Engineer was a combat-engineer-type city—meaning the task of fighting externally and protecting the others naturally fell to Tomorrow.
This was also why Tomorrow had priority access to so much Level 2 Iron Ore—but even so, it was still far from enough.
Li Ye spent 400 units of Level 2 Iron Ore to manufacture two Bloodtear Rippers.
It must be said, its characteristic of “+30% damage to non-building, non-vehicle targets” made it extremely effective against Zombies.
Next, Li Ye spent another 300 units of Level 2 Iron Ore to produce six Scorcher Flame Throwers.
Since Engineer could process fuel, its supply would be continuous.
These Level 2 Flame Throwers were very useful—whether it was cleaning up Zombies invading the Armor Plating or launching offensive operations at Zombie-occupied resource points.
Not only for Tomorrow itself, Li Ye also planned to manufacture another batch for Engineer.
After all, Iron Whale could defend against Zombie invasions by closing its City Armor, but Engineer could not.
As for the remaining 348 units of Iron Ore, Li Ye planned to build a Black Hawk Helicopter.
Constructing a Black Hawk Helicopter required 200 units of Level 2 Iron Ore and 50 units of Level 2 Precision Flying Vehicle Components.
Once any type of Vehicle Blueprint was input into the Production Workshop, its corresponding vehicle components would automatically be unlocked.
Creating 1 unit of Level 2 Precision Flying Vehicle Component required 1 unit of Level 2 Iron Ore and 1 unit of Copper Ore.
A single helicopter totaled 250 units of Level 2 Iron Ore and 50 units of Copper Ore.
Compared to Cannons or Heavy Machine Guns, manufacturing and assembling a Black Hawk Helicopter took more time. A Level 2 Production Workshop was sufficient to build regular vehicles.
But for vehicles on the scale of a destroyer, a higher-level, larger Production Workshop would be required.
After quite some time, a brand-new Black Hawk Helicopter was completed.
With its streamlined rectangular cross-section design, sharply defined fuselage, tilted rotor swashplate, cross-shaped tail rotor, sliding side doors combined with a tail ramp, and upward-facing engine exhaust vents...
These eye-catching features left everyone marveling.
Even Old Zhou and the others, who had come to watch the fun, were utterly fascinated and itching to take a ride.
Li Ye briefly checked the basic performance specifications of the Black Hawk Helicopter.
It could accommodate 2 pilots and 11–14 fully armed personnel, with a maximum speed of approximately 357 kilometers per hour.
Without aerial refueling, its range was about 600 kilometers; with auxiliary fuel tanks, it could extend to 2200 kilometers.
Both sides of its wings were mounted with two mini autocannons, and it was equipped with a Hellfire Missile Launcher—essentially an aerial version of the Storm Infantry Vehicle.
The bullets required for the machine guns and the missiles for the launcher both needed Iron Ore and Gunpowder to manufacture.
"This performance is outstanding!"Li Ye exclaimed.
Compared to the wobbly-flying Goblin Helicopter, this was truly a world apart.