During the meeting, the three Mobile Cities did not move; Li Ye dispatched Black Hawk Helicopters to bring the two over.
As Lords, Zhou Xing and Fang Yong were also very fond of this Tier 2 vehicle.
However, they still abandoned the idea of outsourcing the processing to Tomorrow.
As a member of the Alliance, Tomorrow carried combat duties. Its helicopters, infantry vehicles, and convoys could, in a sense, be considered part of Engineer and Iron Whale.
"What are your thoughts on the upcoming City Auction House in the Western Wasteland Continent three days from now?" Li Ye asked.
"This is undoubtedly a huge development opportunity," Fang Yong said decisively. "If we can seize this chance, the Tomorrow Alliance can develop rapidly!"
"This Sedimentary Basin seems to contain a lot of oil fields," Zhou Xing said excitedly. "Our Alliance can generate revenue by selling oil."
Li Ye nodded and then proposed his plan.
He intended to take control of this large Sedimentary Basin; in doing so, all oil field resources here would belong to the Tomorrow Alliance.
But implementing the plan was far from simple.The Sedimentary Basin was massive, with a large population of dinosaurs, and Mobile Cities frequently passed through. Trying to control it was no easy feat.
Therefore, Li Ye decided to recruit a few Tier 2 Mobile Cities to form a temporary City Alliance.
As for the promised reward, it would be a share of the oil fields exploited by the Tomorrow Alliance.
Upon hearing Li Ye’s plan, Zhou Xing and Fang Yong were first shocked, then nodded repeatedly after some thought.
"This is indeed a good idea," Zhou Xing said. "So, Alliance Leader, how many Mobile Cities do you intend to recruit?"
Li Ye pondered for a moment and then presented his recruitment plan.
He planned to recruit three Assault-type Mobile Cities and one Fire-support Mobile City.
Including the Tomorrow Alliance, that would make seven Tier 2 Mobile Cities—enough to roam the Sedimentary Basin freely.
A few hours later, this large oil field was fully exploited, with a total of 3,052 units of oil extracted.
This was already equivalent to tens of thousands of Crystal Coins.
Engineer activated the crane and loaded the giant oil tanks onto Tomorrow.
During this time, the Petroleum Survey Vehicles discovered two more oil fields.
This time, Zhou Xing and Fang Yong were completely overwhelmed.
"We’ve struck it rich! This time, we’re really going to make it!" The two were ecstatic.
Li Ye was equally thrilled. At this rate, the Tomorrow Alliance would earn at least hundreds of thousands of Crystal Coins from oil sales.
While extracting oil, he did not remain idle. Instead, he dispatched three Black Hawk Helicopters in different directions to search for Tier 2 Mobile Cities.
Upon locating Tier 2 Mobile Cities, the personnel aboard the Black Hawk Helicopters would signal and communicate. Once confirming the other side was non-hostile and open to talks, a representative would share an invitation code to the K1 City Channel.
The three Mobile Cities continued moving toward the new oil fields to extract oil.
Li Ye, meanwhile, opened the K1 City Channel.
In the following period, three Mobile Cities joined the K1 City Channel.
Through exchanges, it was learned they were Conqueror, Gray Hound, and Twilight.
Conqueror and Gray Hound were already acquaintances—they had once traversed the Rift Valley together and engaged in territorial trade.
"So easily recruited a Fire-support Mobile City!" Li Ye was pleasantly surprised.
He had previously observed Conqueror when they crossed the Rift Valley as a team.
This Tier 2 Mobile City had thirty to forty Regular Cannons, twelve Level 1 Cannons, and six Tier 2 Cannons—its firepower was astonishing.
As long as it opened fire, it could flatten a small city.
【Conqueror: Is what your people said true? You’re extracting oil fields?】
【Gray Hound: That said, even if the Sedimentary Basin has many oil fields, how do you plan to extract them on a large scale?】
【Tomorrow: Our Alliance has a Tier 2 Engineer-type Mobile City; it’s capable of the job.】
【Conqueror: Really envy your luck.】
【Twilight: We’re willing to help you control the Sedimentary Basin, but how much compensation can you offer?】
Li Ye then entered price negotiations with the three Lords.
After some bargaining, Gray Hound and Twilight received a 9% share of the oil extraction. The heavily armed Conqueror was given a bit more—11%.
All three Lords readily agreed.
In truth, they hardly had to do anything—just serve as bodyguards.
So far, the Tomorrow Alliance had extracted about 4,000 units of oil, equivalent to forty to fifty thousand Crystal Coins.
This meant each of them had already earned a starting share of four to five thousand Crystal Coins—and that was just the beginning.
Based on this scale, after full extraction, each would receive tens of thousands of Crystal Coins—a very profitable deal.
【Conqueror: We’ll be there soon.】
【Twilight: Wait, didn’t you say one more is needed? I have a Lord friend who happens to be in the Cretaceous Zone. His city is a fully equipped land-based Assault-type Mobile City.】
【Tomorrow: Alright, let him come. Since it’s fully equipped for land combat, I’ll give him an 11% share.】
In the time that followed, four Tier 2 Mobile Cities joined forces with the Tomorrow Alliance.
The Tier 2 Mobile City mentioned by Twilight also arrived.
It was named "Burning Steel". This Tier 2 Mobile City had six Tier 2 Cannons, eight land combat convoys, and four Tier 2 infantry vehicles.
"Such impressive firepower!"
Amazed, Li Ye nodded in sincere approval.
It had to be said—money talks. As long as the payment was sufficient, powerful thugs could be hired.
Now, the Tomorrow Alliance could begin the plan to control the Sedimentary Basin.
The seven Tier 2 Mobile Cities set off, patrolling the Sedimentary Basin and driving away any incoming Mobile Cities.
Li Ye adopted a courteous-before-forceful strategy. When encountering unfamiliar Mobile Cities, he would whistle, using Flute Signals to politely request their departure.
If the other party chose to refuse, then there was no choice but to open fire.
In fact, upon seeing seven Tier 2 Mobile Cities approaching in grand formation, nearly all Mobile Cities tactfully chose to leave.
One had to know—this was seven in total!
If these Tier 2 Mobile Cities focused their firepower, they could level an entire city.
Even the dinosaurs became significantly more obedient at the sight.
These dinosaurs appeared to be highly intelligent. After realizing that the human forces in this area were not to be trifled with, they departed in herds.
Naturally, this was exactly what Li Ye had hoped for.
By the end of the day, the entire Sedimentary Basin had quieted significantly.
During this period, Li Ye took a glance at the system.
At this moment, the system cooldown had reset.
【Time until next Intelligence Refresh: 7 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds】
【Number of Intelligence Reports: 5】
"Only 8 hours?" Li Ye stroked his chin.
It seemed this round of intelligence would have limited value.
Still, he wasn’t too disappointed—after all, the immediate priority was oil extraction.
During this time, yet another oil field was discovered.
And this one was a Giant Oil Field.
"My goodness! This is the first time in all these years I’ve seen a Giant Oil Field!" Zhou Xing exclaimed excitedly. "It can produce over ten thousand units of oil!"
Immediately afterward, he informed Li Ye of another matter.
Giant Oil Fields were slow to extract. To speed things up, Engineer planned to construct two drilling platforms.
In addition, it needed to build four Giant Oil Storage Tanks to store the oil.
Engineer had the Level 1 Giant Oil Tank project, and constructing it required 100 units of Level 1 Iron Ore.
As of now, the Level 1 Iron Ore on Engineer had been depleted.
Even if Li Ye handed over all of Tomorrow’s remaining iron ore, there would still be a shortfall.
However, he still had ways to acquire Level 1 Iron Ore.
Conqueror, Twilight, Burning Steel, Gray Hound.
These four Tier 2 Mobile Cities naturally possessed Level 1 Iron Ore.
Since the Tomorrow Alliance didn’t have many Crystal Coins on hand, Li Ye decided to settle the deal with freshly extracted oil.
The four Lords readily agreed.
The four cities gathered over 2,600 units of Level 1 Iron Ore in total and delivered them to Engineer.
By the end of the first day, Li Ye quickly tallied up the day’s oil extraction.
A total of 9,842 units of oil.
If the oil used to trade for Level 1 Iron Ore was excluded, the amount would be even higher.
This batch of oil was worth around 120,000 Crystal Coins.
After deducting the bonuses for the four Tier 2 cities, the remaining 60% naturally belonged to the Tomorrow Alliance—about seventy to eighty thousand Crystal Coins.
As nightfall approached, Engineer still did not rest.
Under its operation, multiple drilling platforms were successively completed, continuously extracting oil and storing it in nearby Giant Oil Storage Tanks.
"Alliance Leader, do you still have Level 2 Iron Ore?" Zhou Xing asked.
"That, I can’t ask them for on your behalf," Li Ye waved his hand. "Once we sell the oil, I’ll give you funds to purchase Level 2 Iron Ore."
When Li Ye opened his eyes, a new day had already arrived.
Without bothering to dress, he immediately opened the system.
At that moment, the intelligence had already refreshed.
One Normal, two Excellent, and two Rare.
【1. Last night, the Tier 2 Mobile City "Dawn" was attacked by a herd of dinosaurs. Although Dawn had strong firepower, the dinosaur group included a Thunder Tyrant. After the Thunder Tyrant launched an Electromagnetic Pulse, Dawn was immediately paralyzed and lost its mobility. Surrounded by the dinosaurs, Dawn eventually fell, and its Lord was carried off and torn to pieces by Pterosaurs. (Intelligence Value: Normal)】
【2. The human Eastern, Western, and Northern fronts have begun evacuation operations. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)】
【3. In the coming week, the weather in the Sedimentary Basin area will be: three days of clear skies, one day of overcast, two days of light rain, and one day of heavy rain. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)】
【4. There are traces of a Tier 2 Wild BOSS in the Sedimentary Basin, track with caution. (Intelligence Value: Rare)】
【5. Nature L3 has successfully captured several Velociraptors, one of which was moved by Professor Annie’s sincerity and is willing to provide some important intelligence. (Intelligence Value: Rare)】
Li Ye quickly processed all the intelligence.
"Hmm, overall not bad—at least not totally worthless like mosquito meat," he thought.
Among the intelligence, what surprised him the most was the third report—it actually listed the weather conditions for the upcoming week in detail.
Li Ye thought for a moment and made a decision.
He contacted Twilight and Gray Hound, assigning them to explore the Sedimentary Basin and see if they could locate the Tier 2 Wild BOSS.
Next, Li Ye piloted a Goblin Helicopter himself and went straight to find Nature L3.
The reason for doing so was naturally to glean some of Nature L3’s intelligence.
Tomorrow remained stationed in the Sedimentary Basin area as a precaution.
Since Li Ye was going out, decision-making authority was temporarily handed over to Lin Wu.
At this stage, the system of Tomorrow had gradually taken shape.
According to Li Ye’s estimation, a mature Mobile City system should be able to operate normally even in the absence of its decision-maker.
In fact, the skies of the Cretaceous Zone were considered quite safe.
Unless one was unlucky enough to encounter a swarm of Pterosaurs—or a Predatory City with anti-air firepower.
Despite that, Lin Wu still dispatched two Black Hawk Helicopters to escort Li Ye.
Currently, there was enough fuel, so there was no need to worry about oil consumption.
Very soon, Li Ye found Nature L3 on the Giant Plains, and the three helicopters landed on the upper deck.
"You’re here again!"
Nils enthusiastically welcomed Li Ye.
"Among all the Lords, you visit us the most frequently!" he said. "So what brings you here this time?"
Li Ye chuckled, then casually asked.
"How’s your operation going on the Giant Plains?"
The other party gave a helpless bitter smile.
"Honestly, not very well. The dinosaurs keep trying to attack us."
In just over a day of being stationed on the Giant Plains, Nature L3 had already faced several attacks from dinosaurs.
Just as Li Ye was about to speak, he suddenly heard a commotion in the distance.
Turning his head, he saw a massive herd of dinosaurs charging toward them from the horizon.
He immediately frowned and prepared to lead the group back to the helicopters to take off.
However, Nils held his shoulder.
"Don’t be afraid. We have a solution."
Several parts of Nature L3’s deck opened up, revealing sound-emitting devices of various sizes.
Immediately, they emitted a series of strange sound waves.
Upon hearing them, the dinosaurs all froze, their faces showing expressions of fear.
They looked at each other and growled lowly, seemingly discussing their unease.
Next, they each began slowly backing away and then turned to leave.
A catastrophe that could have destroyed a Mobile City ended silently.
"What the heck is that? That effective?" Li Ye exclaimed in astonishment.
Nils gave a slight smile.
"It’s the sound of an Emperor Beast," he explained. "As the apex predator in the Wasteland food chain, the presence and sound of an Emperor Beast instills fear and trembling in monsters. Our organization has cleverly utilized this."
"If you’d like, I can apply to Professor Annie to have some Emperor Beast dung dispatched from storage for you."
"That way, when you’re moving in the wild, you can smear it on yourself. The nearby monsters will be scared away, and you’ll be much safer."
Facing the enthusiastic Nils, Li Ye’s mouth twitched as he repeatedly shook his head.
"No need, thanks."
As he spoke, he unintentionally turned his head and noticed something in the distance.
He picked up the binoculars for a better look.
After clearly seeing the scene, his expression changed slightly.
"Nils."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"I think… your method is about to stop working."