Chapter 57: Sir, interested in learning about Dagon? (4.2K)

Upon catching sight of the bazaar, Liye's eyes instantly lit up.

"Time for some trade again!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Right now, his crystal coin balance was practically zero, making this the perfect opportunity to make some money while restocking resources for the Tomorrow.

When the people on the plains saw the Tomorrow approaching, a wave of panic and nervousness swept through them. It was only after the Tomorrow sounded its steam whistle to signal peaceful intentions that they gradually grew at ease.

As he descended to the ground via the elevator platform, Liye took a glance at the mobile cities.

There were three mobile cities in total.

One of them was particularly striking.

This mobile city was painted entirely in white, with a massive banner flying from its upper deck.

The emblem on the banner depicted a shattered bronze crucifix, with a wide-open eye at the center of the cross, surrounded by twelve asymmetrical radiant blade rays floating in the air.

"That's a mobile city belonging to the Apocalypse Cult. Their influence is massive, spreading across almost the entire world," Lin Wu explained to Liye.

Liye glanced toward the upper level and spotted a pristine white cathedral standing tall.

In front of the cathedral stood several colossal statues.

These likely represented the wasteland deities worshipped by the Apocalypse Cult.

Their forms were bizarre and varied; some were grim and grotesque figures seated alone upon thrones, while others were bloated and covered in pustules and sores.

Just then, a voice came from behind him.

"Sir, would you be interested in learning about the God Dagon?"

Liye turned his head and noticed a fellow clad in white robes had appeared beside him out of nowhere.

According to him, his name was Jack, and he was a missionary deacon of the Apocalypse Cult.

"The God Dagon?" Liye asked, surprised.

"Indeed," the man replied with a smile.

"He is the Slumbering God, the Master of R'lyeh, and our Heavenly Father and Savior in the wasteland."

Following Jack's pointing finger, Liye saw a statue of a wasteland deity.

It was a humanoid monster with an octopus-like head and tentacles sprouting from its back. Its torso was covered in slippery, gelatinous scales, and its skin was a grayish-green, resembling a rotting deep-sea creature.

"Sorry, not interested," he shook his head.

Looking around, he discovered that quite a few missionary deacons were wandering about nearby.

They evidently all hailed from that Apocalypse Cult mobile city.

"This mobile city is called the Believer, one of the mobile cities sent out by our Apocalypse Cult to preach."

"In fact, every year we dispatch numerous mobile cities to cruise across the globe, recruiting believers and spreading the faith."

"Our influence is vast; even those predatory cities wouldn't dare provoke us lightly."

Jack spoke eloquently.

With that, he even showed Liye the thick book he held in his arms.

Titled The Apocalypse Gospel, the book had a cold-rolled steel cover nearly ten centimeters thick, embedded with seven delicate small brass gears arranged in a cross shape.

Its spine was constructed of interlocking piston rods, emitting a rhythmic hissing sound of exhaust whenever the pages were turned.

Listening and watching, a trace of surprise flickered in Liye's eyes.

This cult certainly looked the part.

However, he had zero interest in it; right now, all he wanted was to head to the bazaar and do business.

At that moment, Jack noticed the lord's bracelet on Liye's arm.

"Oh? You are actually a lord of a mobile city. Would you be interested in visiting the Believer?"

Liye pondered for a moment and nodded gently.

While he had no desire to understand these wasteland deities, he was quite curious about a religion-themed mobile city.

Led by Jack, he boarded the elevator platform and reached the deck of the Believer.

The scene aboard this Apocalypse Cult mobile city was quite similar to the Tomorrow.

At that moment, mechanical deacons and their apprentices were carrying out a series of maintenance and troubleshooting tasks, while ordinary residents were either working in the fields or performing city cleaning duties. Armed discipline deacons patrolled in neat, disciplined formations.

A few children chasing each other and playing ran past occasionally.

The only difference was that everyone was dressed in white.

According to Jack, the Believer had a total population of 159 people, comprising 69 cult personnel and 90 ordinary residents.

Just as Liye was about to say something, a roaring sound echoed from above.

He looked up and saw that the commotion came from the massive bronze steam clock atop the upper cathedral's spire.

The clicking sound of the precision machinery's gears meshing echoed among the structures of steel and glass.

The exhaust valves on the deck instantly puffed out black smoke mixed with burning incense, and deacons holding mechanical censers walked slowly along pipelines engraved with The Apocalypse Gospel, weaving a devout fog net behind them.

When Liye turned back, he saw that everyone on the deck had stopped what they were doing and was devoutly making the sign of the cross on their chests.

Even Jack, who had brought him here, was no exception.

"This is our routine prayer time. Please, follow me," Jack smiled.

Guided by Jack, Liye arrived at the core area in the middle level of the Believer.

There lay a sprawling plaza.

Its ground was paved with thousands of steel plates painted pure white, each engraved with prayers and blessings.

At the very center of the plaza stood a massive steam altar, where a high-ranking deacon was reciting scripture.

People knelt on cushions patterned with a bronze cross, closing their eyes as they began to chant in unison...

"To our revered and immortal deities."

"Your gaze illuminates the stars."

"Your hands sustain the heavenly realm."

"Direct my path, and let me walk in your will."

"Strengthen my faith, and be my strength in times of weakness."

"Cleanse my heart, and root out all unrighteousness within me."

"Absolve our jammed souls, lubricate our rusted souls; may our faith burn as hot as the boiler, and may our willpower remain as indomitable as refined steel!"

"Amen!"

As the prayers concluded, the crowd stood up one after another without leaving.

"What else are they going to do?" Liye asked, puzzled.

Jack remained silent, merely smiling.

Just as Liye was about to press further, he heard the cry of an infant.

Following the sound, he saw a couple of residents approaching slowly, cradling their newborn baby.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but feel deeply moved.

In the apocalyptic era, a newborn baby was like a small flower blooming before the tombstone of human civilization.

Yet his expression changed swiftly a moment later.

The high-ranking deacon took the child from the parents' hands and began the baptism ceremony.

The infant was placed inside a small, airtight bronze chamber, subjected to a burst of steam, and left with a permanent bronze cross emblem burned onto its forearm.

Cheers erupted instantly from the gathered crowd, and the parents' eyes welled up with tears.

Liye's expression was an intricate mix of complex emotions.

Over the time that followed, guided by Jack, he began touring the mobile city.

To his utter astonishment, the Believer featured many unique facilities.

The "Penitence Furnace"—a dark, furnace-shaped chamber embedded with "Truth Irons." Wrongdoers were required to manually crank the built-in handle to heat it up and brand the Apocalypse doctrines onto their skin to prove their sincere repentance.

The "Gear Cemetery"—a graveyard where gears served as tombstones. Generally, space within mobile cities was limited, and the deceased were usually cremated in furnaces. However, the Apocalypse Cult believed that the dignity of the dead could not be violated, and thus built Gear Cemeteries on every mobile city they owned.

Each grave was extremely small, and the skull of every deceased person was stored within it, with their life story recorded on the gear tombstone.

Meanwhile, their physical bodies were cremated.

The "Temple Academy"—an ivory-white mechanical structure located on the upper level, used to indoctrinate ordinary residents into the cult and screen out the devout to join the religious order. The entire academy featured a spiral staircase structure, divided sequentially into the Sanctuary, the Hall of Enlightenment, and the Scholasticate, with each tier representing a different stage of knowledge, symbolizing ascending levels of enlightenment.

Finally, Liye was led by Jack into the upper cathedral and introduced to the lord of the Believer.

That person was also a member of the clergy, a low-ranking bishop in his sixties.

"Welcome, young lord," he said, giving Liye a gentle embrace.

After pondering for a moment, Liye posed a question.

"How can you be certain that the wasteland deities you worship harbor no malice toward humanity and will truly save us?"

The bishop smiled.

"Our past Holy Sees and Cardinals have long since planned everything out, and the Apocalypse Cult is steadily moving forward according to their blueprint."

When Liye pressed further, the bishop gently shook his head.

"Only when you bring your mobile city and convert to our faith will you be able to learn more."

Liye shook his head promptly.

As he was preparing to leave, a thought crossed his mind, and he turned back to ask.

"Do you know what the situation is like in the Eternal Night Zone?"

The bishop's expression turned solemn.

"Do not go to the Eternal Night Zone!" he said in a deep voice. "The monster civilization there has grown to an unimaginable degree; humanity simply cannot survive there!"

Liye's expression shifted slightly.

"Is the situation in that region really that bad?"

The other man nodded gravely.

Watching Liye depart, the bishop wore a heavy expression as he slowly pulled a document from his robes.

It was none other than a notice issued just yesterday by the College of Cardinals.

The content written upon it read...

"Within one month, evacuate human forces in the regions surrounding the Eternal Night Zone as much as possible, making them retreat to take refuge."

"That monster civilization is about to expand."

...

Leaving the Believer behind, Liye headed into the bazaar.

Just like in Roland Fortress, a notice board stood inside the bazaar as well.

[This Week's Material Prices]

[Timber: 0.5 crystal coins/unit]

[Iron Ore: 3 crystal coins/unit]

[Coal: 4 crystal coins/unit]

[Fuel: 6 crystal coins/unit]

[Rare Ore Vein Minerals: 15-35 crystal coins/unit]

[Rare Ore Vein Crystals: 2000-3000 crystal coins/piece]

"They're actually quite a bit cheaper compared to Roland Fortress!" Liye was surprised.

He couldn't help but glance toward the forest not far away, deep in thought.

This was likely due to the abundant resource output of this particular forest.

However, compared to common resources like iron ore, timber, and coal, rare ores and vein crystals maintained stable prices, presumably because their drop rates in the forest remained quite scarce.

Falcon Assault Rifle.

Tempest Rocket Launcher.

Tier 1 Off-road Vehicle.

Blue Heart Potato Seeds.

Morning Light Wheat Seeds.

Instant Cup Noodles.

Whole Wheat Biscuits.

Smoke Artillery Shells.

Cola and Iced Black Tea.

Liye picked a spot in the bazaar, set up a sign, and listed the primary business offerings of the Tomorrow.

While running the stall, Liye didn't let the residents back on the deck sit idle either.

He divided the remaining personnel of the Tomorrow into two groups: one was responsible for repairing the city and vehicles and caring for the wounded, while the other took axes to the edge of the forest to cut down trees and gather timber.

After all, upgrading the city required a full 2,000 units of timber, and the Tomorrow also regularly used it to craft furniture.

Here, timber was practically the least valuable resource of all.

Soon, the stall was crowded with people.

Liye wasn't surprised by this, as the items he had put out were quite competitive.

Among them, the most popular items were undoubtedly the Falcon Assault Rifle, the Tempest Rocket Launcher, smoke shells, and cola.

By evening, Liye tallied up his earnings with satisfaction.

10,389 crystal coins and 2,315 units of iron ore.

Since the forest yielded an abundance of iron ore, survivors often preferred to settle their bills using iron ore.

Liye, naturally, turned no one away. After all, iron ore was far too useful a commodity; one could never have enough of it.

With money earned, the next step was to procure supplies.

Leaving a companion to watch the stall, Liye strolled through the bazaar.

Before long, his eyes landed on several choice items.

Tier 1 Heavy Machine Gun Blueprint, priced at 3,500 crystal coins.

168 units of Frost Ore, priced at 27 crystal coins per unit.

Tier 1 Crop—Emerald Cabbage Seeds, priced at 1,100 crystal coins.

Common Food—Sachima Recipe Blueprint, priced at 500 crystal coins.

Without a moment of hesitation, Liye purchased them all.

During the acquisition of the Frost Ore, he engaged in some thorough bargaining with the seller, ultimately driving the price down to 25 crystal coins per unit.

At that moment, the residents of the Tomorrow whom he had dispatched to log timber also wrapped up their work for the day.

After a busy day of labor, they had harvested 1,720 units of timber.

During this time, Liye had also taken the opportunity to have Tang Fang steer the Tomorrow toward a freshwater lake to replenish their freshwater supplies.

This freshwater lake served as a public resource, and with its bottom connected to underground water channels providing a continuous, inexhaustible supply, it was virtually limitless, allowing anyone to draw from it freely.

Everyone marked off their respective plots of land, cutting trees nearby to gather timber for building houses and cultivating farmland.

According to Liye's current plan, he wasn't in a rush to rendezvous with the Moonlight and the others; instead, he intended to rest and recuperate here for another two to three days to earn more money and acquire supplies.

However, when he casually opened his system interface, he discovered that the epic-tier intel had refreshed.

Upon reading the details, he froze in place.

[6. The following are Tier 2 items possessed by the Tarot Alliance (Intel Value: Epic)]

[City Radio: Can create a communication channel for mobile cities to communicate with one another, accommodating up to 12 members. Each activation consumes 5% energy, with an hourly consumption of 6%.]

[Goblin General-Purpose Engineering Mechanical Arm: Can rapidly repair target buildings, vehicles, and mobile cities, and quickly construct bastions, fortresses, and vehicles with a 20% reduction in energy consumption.]

[Energy Shield: Automatically generates a translucent barrier when an attack approaches, absorbing all incoming damage. Energy consumption varies based on the severity of the damage. In standby mode, it consumes 0.1 energy per hour.]

[Sawtooth Shark Autonomous Target-Acquiring Machine Gun: 1. Auto-targeting. 2. Deals +15% damage when targeting vehicles, buildings, mobile cities, and similar targets.]

[Protector City Armor: 1. Reduces damage originating from artillery by 15%. 2. Reduces the iron ore consumed during repairs by 20%.]

[Aerospace Light Combat Drone Combat Platform: 1. Initially equipped with 12 combat drones capable of mounting heavy machine guns and light missiles. 2. Repairs and ammunition for the combat drones can be replenished using Tier 1 iron ore, but constructing new combat drones requires Tier 2 iron ore.]

[Firmament City Radar System: Capable of detecting towns, convoys, and mobile cities within a 200-kilometer radius, scouting the environment, setting navigation routes, and sharing data with other mobile cities via the city radio. Each activation of the Firmament City Radar System consumes 20% energy, with an hourly consumption of 40%.]