Wasteland Development Diary

Chen Ruixiang's understanding of the Mechanical City's imitation hearts was limited to the technical aspects.

The old engineer couldn't elaborate on the associated reactions.

Zhou Yi called 703 to inquire.

The robot dog said, "Chairman, we are still observing this matter and are currently uncertain whether its impact is beneficial or harmful."

"The material cost of a D-1 grade [Modified Floating Heart] is no less than 6 light seeds, plus the amortization of technical costs and relatively expensive labor costs. The total adds up to even more."

"In terms of final pricing, large cities with strong economies have special subsidies and can reach 12 light seeds/unit. Smaller cities are not so lucky; without sufficient subsidies, the price is at least 15 light seeds/unit."

Zhou Yi was puzzled, "Why are their costs so high? I remember our costs are less than 1 light seed."

"Chairman, the reason lies in the plankton."

"Their cost of collecting plankton is very high, using traditional laboratory plankton nets and plankton tanks. Mechanical City centralizes production, greatly amortizing the cost of these tools, but each heart requires 2 billion plankton, which also requires a lot of repetitive labor. After collection, they also need special containers for storage."

703 said, "But we rely on the caves of Yalong Bay for collection. A large number of plankton naturally converge here, making the collection process simple and inexpensive. This technology is not available to the outside world."

Zhou Yi suddenly understood.

Mechanical City indeed lacks alien labor.

This is one of the advantages of Wasteland Company.

"They sell it even more expensively than us. Will the residents of Mechanical City buy it?"

Zhou Yi asked, "The first-generation floating heart has already been widely rolled out, and there shouldn't be any difficulty in purchasing it."

He had seen the latest financial report.

The sales of [Sihe Brand] first-generation hearts have covered more than 200 cities. Even if a city's heart inventory is insufficient, goods can be quickly transferred from other cities. From customer order to receipt and use, the time does not exceed three days.

"What you said is also a key point we are observing."

The robot dog squatted on the ground, its electronic eyes glowing slightly, "Different cities have different decisions given by the Law."

"Small and medium-sized cities are still purchasing our first-generation hearts in large quantities because our products are cheaper, the technology is more mature, and they can reduce unnecessary public spending."

"But some large cities, as well as some strong economic medium-sized cities, use both types of hearts."

"Only Mirror City completely uses independently developed hearts within the city and prohibits residents from carrying our hearts to work, the reason being to ensure city safety."

Large cities are not short of money, so it is normal to pursue independent research and development.

Zhou Yi asked, "What about Holy Mountain?"

"Holy Mountain is quite special; they only use our Sihe Brand hearts."

703 said, "We have repeatedly confirmed this matter. Holy Mountain is the world's medical center, and the Law there determines that the stability of medical and medical research must be maintained."

"Our hearts have been tested and are considered stable and usable, and they have been widely fitted there by hospitals and doctors. The Mechanical City's independently developed modified heart has fewer clinical trials, and it is new, so there will inevitably be problems of one kind or another, just like when we first launched our hearts."

"So Holy Mountain only uses hearts produced by us."

Zhou Yi looked strange.

He never expected that the company could technically surpass Mechanical City one day, forcing Holy Mountain to vote with its feet.

The robot dog continued, "Chairman, from the results, the Law is indeed superior to the old general agreement. Although its specific parameters are not made public, the logic is to safeguard the interests of the vast majority of residents and promote the city's existing development to return dividends to every resident."

"After several months of large-scale reforms, the Law faction has seen a small-scale return of residents and has repaid all external debts of two small Mechanical Cities."

"In the production field, the Law faction has also harvested the first batch of crops after the reform. Vegetable oil and grease processed from rapeseed, soybeans, and peanuts have entered the market in large quantities, making market oil prices more stable."

"For crop rotation, they also planted other types of crops, such as sugar-producing beets and sugarcane, as well as cabbage, corn, and other crops."

Zhou Yi raised his own question, "The planting of sugar-producing and oil-producing crops is easy to understand, but why does the Law faction plant other non-economic crops? Their agricultural costs are so high."

"To compete for the market and expand influence."

703 said, "In the past, they basically abandoned flesh and blood life forms and only revolved around mechanical life."

"Now, the Law faction is clearly advancing into various livelihood fields, even if the profits are meager. Their main purpose is to increase the number of various commodities, and a week ago, they passed the [Talent Introduction Act], formally recruiting and attracting talents from other ethnic groups, including but not limited to ordinary humans, enhancers, light nano-species... and even mutants."

"As long as these talents meet the introduction standards and possess abilities that the city lacks in certain fields, such as agricultural development, agricultural product processing, weapon use and maintenance technology, combat capabilities and experience, and tax and audit experience."

Zhou Yi thought, they are really fast.

They have already started snatching talent everywhere.

"With sufficient agricultural products, a large number of flesh and blood lives can live in Mechanical City for a long time."

703 said, "The [Talent Introduction Act] clearly states the standards. Each Mechanical City is allowed to have 15% of foreign ethnic immigrants, granting them the same official resident status and enjoying all legitimate rights of residents."

Zhou Yi stroked his chin as he listened.

The wasteland era's biggest shortages are land and people.

Land is non-renewable, but people are an extremely important renewable resource.

In the past, Mechanical Cities did not lack people because their manufacturing, processing, scientific research, mineral development, and bulk trade were all done by mechanical life and machines.

Now that the Law has come to power and many cities are transforming, they have opened up to introduce external talent.

As long as the welfare of residents can be guaranteed, Mechanical Cities, with their convenience, standardization, efficiency, and abundant commodities, will be no less attractive than Heaven.

Various thoughts flashed through Zhou Yi's mind, and he looked at the robot dog again, "In terms of military affairs, has the Law faction taken any action?"

"No military actions have been carried out externally."

703 replied, "However, each Mechanical City has formed a professional army. The armies also conduct regular exercises and combat confrontations, and military equipment and facilities continue to increase. With the high-level machine stack sub-machine service as the core, the number of enhanced ships and drones produced is still increasing, and their patrol range is becoming larger and larger."

"There are also rumors that Mechanical Cities have activated new weapons and are testing them."

"Because of the replacement of new energy sources, some of them have adopted modified hearts, but the vast majority continue to use our first-generation hearts, and the purchase volume has increased significantly instead."

"Judging from the transaction volume alone, the Mechanical City has now become our largest customer. To date, they have purchased a total of more than 410,000 floating hearts, bringing our company a profit share of nearly a million light seeds. This income is currently with Red Falcon, but it is still auditing the accounts, so it has not yet formally reported to you."

The robot dog paused for a moment.

"In addition, the Law faction has started diplomatic negotiations, wanting to take back the Mechanical Cities that were seized by force."

"They have already redeemed two small cities. But for those territorial lords who are unwilling to give up their cities, they are still trying to take them back through various resource transactions."

Zhou Yi felt vigilant.

This is more like buying more time for the agricultural and military development of Mechanical Cities.

Perhaps when preparations are mature, a new round of military offensive will begin.

...

Just as Zhou Yi was closely monitoring the movements of the Law faction, an old friend arrived late.

"I'm late this year."

The visitor was a clay shadow without facial features or arms, its lower body shrouded in clouds.

The Land God came to Emerald City again.

Zhou Yi said with a smile, "It's good that you're resurrected. I was surprised when Ye Shen told me that you were killed. I didn't expect that the conflicts between conceptual beings would be so sharp."

"Conceptual beings are also life, and life is born in contradictions and conflicts."

The Land God said woodenly, "According to the agreement, I am here to seal the land."

"Okay."

Zhou Yi immediately went to the suspended layer area with it and also called Wu Yi to accompany them.

"In one year, you have built such a large-scale suspended layer... almost encircling the entire Sandport area."

The Land God exclaimed after observing, "The scale of land expansion here is the largest in nearly fifty years."

Zhou Yi was quite proud of this.

The suspended layer is not what it used to be.

After the Wuhu Elevated Road connected the suspended layers, Wu Yi proposed to expand the scale and surround the entire Sandport area with suspended layers.

This has two advantages.

First, it can maximize the use of Sandport's continental shelf, using the continental shelf to build the most stable suspended layer. The further it expands outward, the more difficult it becomes, so it is better to use the surrounding area completely.

Second, the elevated road can build an island ring road, completely connecting this layer and using it as outer ring agricultural land.

The Land God's voice also became cheerful, "Good, very good."

"You are steadily opening up new land."

"The growth of land makes people feel happy!"

Bone Man Wu Yi put his hands on his hips and said, "This is just the beginning."

"The chairman told me to increase our efforts. We are currently building the first ring road of the Sandport ring road, and there will be second and third rings in the future."

"In addition, it is no longer just me building it alone, but with the cooperation of factories and workers."

The Land God was puzzled, "How can you rely on factories for this?"

Zhou Yi raised his hand to signal, "You'll know when you see it."

The group then came to a large factory outside Yalong Bay.

It was bustling with activity.

The workers included ordinary new humans and bone men.

They filled semi-solid mixtures of mud and sand into square molds, demolded them after natural drying and ventilation, and then sent them to high-temperature kilns on the other side for firing.

Zhou Yi introduced to the Land God, "Because it was too hard for Wu Yi to do these things alone, I discussed it with him and asked the manufacturing department to do it."

"We have learned from the model of firing bricks and making cold coal, mixing seabed silt and clay to make special mud boards."

"Using old human buildings in the Dead Sea as support piles, Wu Yi builds the basic framework, covers it with light film, and then our workers complete the remaining mud board installation and fill it with soil."

"This can greatly reduce Wu Yi's workload, allowing him to focus on the main body and film covering, and direct the workers to participate in the entire project."

"With the addition of factories and workers, the efficiency of building the suspended layer is ten times that of the past, so we can build a suspended ring road around the entire Sandport. This brings us an additional 75,000 acres of land, equivalent to the area of a city."

Zhou Yi raised his hand and pointed to the ring of artificial land, "The first ring road will be used entirely as agricultural land."

"Assuming that each acre produces 250 kilograms of grain per year, and each person needs 200 kilograms of grain per year, these 75,000 acres of land will produce 18,750 tons of grain, enough to feed 93,750 people. This is still the most conservative estimate. If your land sealing can be applied to them, increasing grain production by 2 times, then it can feed 180,000 people."

The Land God was stunned for a moment.

"...You cherish the land very much."

Zhou Yi took the opportunity to say, "Of course. You see, we are really managing and expanding the land well, so I sincerely hope that you can reside here permanently."

"Not only do we need your land sealing ability, but you are a professional in land. We are expanding the land area, but how to maintain the activity of the land and how to ensure that it is not eroded by the Dead Sea, we also need to ask you for professional guidance."

"..."

"I sincerely invite you to become our company's land consultant, helping us to further expand and consolidate the suspended layer, which is of great significance to both of us."

The Land God was silent for a long time.

"...I do not participate in battles or unrelated matters, only manage land matters."

"Of course, the Land God's expertise is land."

Zhou Yi was overjoyed, "Then welcome to join us. Let us work together to turn out the land covered by the Dead Sea and let more land see the light of day again!"