Chapter 20: Enjoying the Resources All to Myself!
After carefully reading the announcement board, Li Ye led Old Zhou and the others toward the city center of Spore Town.
A few minutes later, the town’s administrative officer appeared.
It was a tall red mushroom person dressed in formal attire, walking with graceful steps, a quill pen tucked into its chest.
“Welcome to Spore Town, human. I hope you can make outstanding contributions to Spore Town,” it said. “Of course, I will certainly not treat you unfairly.”
With that, it displayed the goods available for exchange in Spore Town.
Upon seeing the list of items, everyone present was stunned.
[Level 1 Crop – Sunshine Apple Tree Seed: 1000 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 1 City Component – Mushroom Wheel Blueprint: 700 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 1 Rocket Launcher Blueprint: 800 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 1 City Component – Spore Armor Blueprint: 900 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 1 City Component – Mycelium Tracks Blueprint: 500 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 1 Firearm – Spore Submachine Gun: 600 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 1 Frost Ore: 10 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 450]
[Level 1 Frost Crystal: 2000 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
[Level 2 City Component – Repair Mechanical Arm: 8000 Contribution Points, Purchase Limit: 1]
Additionally, the administrative officer also sold blueprints for ordinary items such as electric fans, motorcycles, and cleaning robots, priced between 50 and 200 points. There were also food and beverages like spore biscuits, mushroom stew, and Spore Town’s special honey brew.
Resources like iron ore, coal, and fuel were also available, priced at 1 to 5 contribution points per unit, with a maximum purchase limit of 1000 units.
Li Ye’s eyes remained fixed on the list of goods before him.
Spore armor, mushroom wheels, Level 1 rocket launcher... these were all genuinely valuable items!
What surprised him most was the presence of frost ore and frost crystals—resources he desperately needed to craft the frost cannon!
Even more unbelievable was the inclusion of a Level 2 item.
The Level 2 City Component—Repair Mechanical Arm. This component could fully automate the maintenance of the mobile city and provided an additional 15% kinetic energy, while only consuming iron ore for repairs. Possessing it was tantamount to having a professional mechanic team.
Moreover, it was not a blueprint but a finished product—meaning the lords wouldn’t have to painstakingly gather resources to build it. As long as they could accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for it, they could use it immediately!
Despite this, Li Ye frowned as he continued to look over the list.
For a Level 1 city, the most useful Level 2 items were heavy machine guns, artillery, city armor, or Level 2 vehicles.
The mechanical repair arm was good, but it still lacked a certain appeal.
The mushroom person officer then handed Li Ye a commission badge. Whenever Li Ye and his team killed ant people or captured strongholds in the wild, the badge would automatically record their contribution points.
As Li Ye accepted the badge, he glanced at the other two lords.
Both of them stared fixedly at the Level 2 mechanical arm, clearly desiring it.
After a moment of thought, Li Ye made up his mind.
Instead of exhausting themselves competing fiercely with the other two rivals to gather 8000 points for the Level 2 mechanical arm, it was better to prioritize exchanging for resources to build the Level 1 artillery and, in the process, also acquire the Level 1 crop, Level 1 city armor, and Level 1 rocket launcher.
After all, the Level 1 artillery would significantly enhance the mobile city’s capabilities!
The highest priority for exchange was the frost crystal—since frost ore veins did not necessarily produce crystals.
That said, Li Ye still cast a lingering look at the mechanical arm—it was a Level 2 item, rare and precious! The more Level 2 items a Level 1 city possessed, the greater its advantage in the wild!
He then issued an emergency mobilization on the Tomorrow.
Among the 25 people on the mobile city, excluding two helmsmen, mechanic Lin Wu, his friend’s sister, and the lookout, the rest—including the injured—were all called upon by Li Ye.
All the iron ore stored on the Tomorrow was used by Li Ye to craft bullets and shells, with the majority used for the Peregrine Assault Rifle.
Including Li Ye himself, twenty people were divided into three shifts, setting out into the Rotting Lands to hunt ant people like mad.
Before long, Li Ye spotted a group of ant people.
They were about the size of humans, with sharp joints, tall figures, and hard exoskeletons.
At that moment, the group was resting around a campfire.
With a wave of Li Ye’s hand, a shell screamed sharply through the air and exploded among the ant people.
Since it was a standard shell, its lethality against these Level 1 monsters was limited, so the ant people only suffered minor injuries.
However, a barrage of Peregrine Assault Rifle fire swiftly turned their forms to ash and dust.
The Tomorrow quickly rolled over their campfire and accelerated forward.
...
By evening, the Tomorrow returned to Spore Town.
Li Ye, standing on the lookout tower, lowered his rifle and wiped the sweat from his forehead wearily.
Since morning, he had led the team in relentless raids on ant people and their small outposts within a dozen kilometers of Spore Town, hardly stopping like a spinning top.
So far, he had accumulated a total of 3,080 contribution points.
Li Ye immediately exchanged for the frost crystal and the Level 1 rocket launcher blueprint.
During this, he quietly glanced around Spore Town, deep in thought.
There were so many valuable items in Spore Town; a single city like the Tomorrow wouldn’t even consume all the resources. If he could successfully plunder it...
That said, Spore Town’s armed forces were not to be underestimated.
The town had over 500 mushroom person residents, all starting at elite level, with many elite captains among them. Their weapons were all Level 1, and worse still, the town was equipped with Level 1 heavy machine guns and Level 1 artillery.
This clearly meant that attempting to plunder the town would not be a walk in the park.
Or... unless you had the strength to do so.
“Forget it, better just honestly accumulate contribution points,” Li Ye scratched his head.
A new day dawned.
Upon waking, Li Ye immediately grabbed the Peregrine Assault Rifle placed beside his bed.
The previous night’s haul was not much—only 350 points.
There were two main reasons.
First, the ant people and their strongholds within dozens of miles of Spore Town had been wiped out by three mobile cities. Now they had to venture deeper into the Rotting Lands, which was more time-consuming and arduous.
Second, fewer ant people appeared at night, and with only spotlights on the mobile cities, it was difficult to locate them.
As he got up, Li Ye briefly opened the system panel.
The system cooldown had just reset.
[Time until next intelligence update: 4 days 23 hours 55 seconds]
[Intelligence reports available: 7]
Li Ye merely glanced at it before closing it. For now, all he wanted was to kill monsters and capture strongholds to gather contribution points.