Chapter 45: The Ants on the Move

For a while, Li Ye couldn’t bear to take his eyes off it.

High defense, amphibious capabilities, self-repairing, and equipped with built-in weapons.

This Level 2 vehicle was simply magnificent!

The best part was that it was a finished product—once exchanged, it could be used immediately.

If it had been just a blueprint, the Tomorrow would not have been able to build it anytime soon.

“No matter what, I must exchange this Level 2 item!” Li Ye thought to himself. “By the way, this intel is really quite valuable.”

In battles against enemy mobile cities, this Storm Infantry Fighting Vehicle would undoubtedly play an unimaginable role.

It could serve as a crucial combat asset; its strong defense would allow it to withstand enemy machine gun fire and artillery shells while advancing, and its amphibious capabilities would make it even more versatile on the battlefield.

Then, reluctantly, he glanced at the Level 1 items.

As expected of a neutral wilderness BOSS, the value of the Level 1 items it offered far surpassed those from neutral trade caravans or monster towns.

The Level 1 defensive building—Goblin Fortress—required only 100 units of iron ore and could be constructed nearby with a mechanical arm into a sturdy fortress equipped with heavy machine guns and cannons. This would be extremely useful when the mobile city wanted to defend a position and engage in trench warfare.

The Level 1 firearm—the Goblin Bandit Machine Gun—crafted from 60 units of iron ore, was devastating against hordes of corpses and monsters, though still slightly inferior to the heavy machine gun.

The Level 1 City Sail and Level 1 Steam Crossbow were even more impressive, and this time it even provided a blueprint for a Level 1 cannon.

As for Level 1 alloy and Level 1 mineral vein crystals, these were exactly what Li Ye desired.

Though tempted, Li Ye sighed.

These items were valuable but also quite expensive.

Especially the Storm Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which required a whopping 28,000 contribution points.

Sir Henry had cheerfully reminded him that this event would only last three days.

Li Ye suddenly felt overwhelmed.

When he was in Spore Town, he had toiled hard for three days and managed to accumulate only eight or nine thousand contribution points. How could he possibly gather 28,000 points?

“Sigh, if I can’t get that much, I’ll just exchange as much Level 1 alloy as possible for now,” he sighed.

After all, Level 1 alloy was necessary for upgrading to a Level 2 city.

As he left, Li Ye cast a worried glance at the wilderness BOSS.

There was no doubt that others would soon discover this BOSS and frantically gather the coins and artworks.

But the Storm Infantry Fighting Vehicle was only available to him, as Sir Henry had exclusively opened that option for him, so there was no competition there.

Still, the pressure on Li Ye was immense; he had to collect 28,000 contribution points within three days.

The ruins of the city were chaotic, inhabited not only by goblin forces and the Predatory Cities Alliance but also numerous lone-wolf mobile cities, survivor convoys, bounty hunters, and communities.

With so many competitors and so few resources, the competition would become brutally fierce. Everyone would fight tooth and nail for the coins, potentially erupting into bloody battles.

Li Ye had no illusions about exchanging even one or two other items; he could only hope to gather what he could.

Upon returning to the Tomorrow, Li Ye immediately gathered everyone.

Except for the helmsman and lookout, all others were mobilized to scour the city ruins for goblin coins and precious artworks.

With the arrival of Sir Henry, a large number of goblin coins were scattered throughout the city.

These coins were about the size of human currency, but bore the image of a goblin wearing a top hat, smiling broadly with a mouthful of white teeth.

As for precious artworks—such as valuable calligraphy, antiques, and collectibles—these had been largely disregarded in the post-apocalyptic world, with almost no one paying attention to them, let alone collecting them.

But now, they had become especially valuable.

Li Ye sent out all available personnel to pick up goblin coins in the nearby streets and alleys.

Meanwhile, the First and Second Convoys were dispatched to search museums and collections in the city to see if they could find any valuable artworks.

An hour later, Li Ye tallied their findings.

The number of goblin coins scattered around the city was decent; every few minutes, they could find one or two. If lucky, they could even find goblin coin pouches containing five to ten coins.

So far, Li Ye had collected 58 goblin coins in total. As for the First and Second Convoys, they had discovered a rusty knight’s helmet in a wealthy villa.

One member brought it on a motorcycle to Sir Henry and exchanged it for 50 goblin coins.

Li Ye frowned slightly.

Assuming they could gather fifty to sixty goblin coins per hour, plus one stable artwork find, an hourly intake of 100 coins would be excellent.

If the manpower was divided into three shifts for 24-hour rotations, after three days they could at best collect 7,200 goblin coins.

This was assuming they could consistently find one artwork per hour; in reality, the number of coins they could gather was far less.

What troubled him even more was that, according to information gathered by the Second Convoy, many people in the city had already discovered Sir Henry’s arrival, and the news was spreading.

According to convoy members, convoys, mobile cities, and bounty hunters they encountered along the way had already begun frantically searching for coins and artworks.

Li Ye’s expression grew serious.

If he thought carefully, the most formidable rivals among these competitors were undoubtedly the “Tarot Card” Predatory Cities Alliance.

They had as many as seven predatory cities here, with ample manpower and resources, able to search freely for coins, assault goblin strongholds, and annihilate goblin mobile cities and fortresses.

Most of the valuable goods Sir Henry was selling would inevitably be snatched away by them.

Three hours later.

Li Ye counted the goblin coins he had gathered, feeling dejected.

Only 143 coins.

And during that time, his luck had been terrible—he had not found a single artwork.

Additionally, the Second Convoy brought back news.

The goblin fortress standing in the city had fallen, and the goblin mobile city had been wiped out.

“That must be the work of the Tarot Card Alliance,” Li Ye said.

For the united Predatory Cities Alliance, such feats were effortless.

They not only gained resources like iron ore, coal, and fuel from the fortress and mobile city but also earned a total of 4,000 contribution points as rewards—enough to exchange for two or three Level 1 items.

Moreover, the goblins, fortresses, machine gun nests, and artillery positions destroyed in battle would yield a large amount of contribution points.

Just as Li Ye was sighing in despair, a voice came from behind.

“Perhaps, we have a chance to gather the full 28,000 contribution points.”

Li Ye turned to see Lin Wu.

“You seem to have an idea. Do share,” he raised an eyebrow.

Lin Wu adjusted his glasses and spoke softly.

“The method I have in mind... is like ants moving house.”