“Upgrade to Level Two?”
Qi Honglang was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t know. I was just in charge of logistics before.”
He felt it was too early to think about such things.
While he didn’t know the upgrade conditions, the fact that so many Mobile Cities had remained in this area for a decade without upgrading proved the requirements were anything but simple!
Jiang Zhixu nodded, asking no further questions.
Arriving at the control hub, Wei Ran and the others were preparing to activate the power furnace and start the Mobile City.
They had already lingered here too long.
From the start of the uprising to its success: three hours.
Integrating the resources of the Deep Blue and making personnel appointments: one hour.
Then another hour entangled with the raider city, the Roaring Fury.
Five hours in total.
Especially since their own location had been broadcast across this region, another Mobile City could appear at any moment now.
Jiang Zhixu planned to find a safe place to replenish their potable water reserves, then wait for his talent to refresh at midnight.
In this semi-gamified world, resource points were of two types.
One was fixed resource points; the other was refreshable resource points.
The former, like mountains, rivers, lakes, and city ruins, would exist permanently barring external interference.
The latter, including various mineral deposits, territories of other races, and wild monsters, had their own life cycles, ranging from one day to one month.
Of course, the two were actually overlapping circles, sharing some resources.
Whether a point was fixed or refreshable depended mainly on whether it would eventually disappear.
“Sun Cheng.” Jiang Zhixu called the deputy helmsman by name.
Sun Cheng, the former chief helmsman of the Deep Blue, surely knew routes to many fixed resource points.
“At your command, Brother Jiang!”
Sun Cheng hurried to Jiang Zhixu, eagerly mimicking Wei Ran’s form of address.
Jiang Zhixu pondered for a moment. “Any fixed water sources beyond a hundred kilometers?”
The reason for requiring over a hundred kilometers was mainly to temporarily distance themselves from this recently contested area.
Upon hearing this, Sun Cheng frowned in recollection, then his eyes lit up. “Yes!”
Jiang Zhixu gestured for him to continue.
Sun Cheng: “Roughly southeast of here, about 130 km away, there’s a small freshwater lake that’s unoccupied. We passed by there a month ago!”
Jiang Zhixu nodded. “Let’s head there then.”
130 km. At the Deep Blue’s speed, it would take roughly over four hours.
It was now 6 PM. They should arrive around 11 PM. Collecting freshwater reserves would take about an hour, so by the time his talent refreshed, they could immediately set off again.
Perfect!
But surprises always arrive swiftly.
Wei Ran, holding binoculars, reported urgently, “Brother Jiang, another situation! A new Mobile City!”
Jiang Zhixu instinctively frowned, but Wei Ran’s next words followed: “No Dragon Hunter flag. Probably not raiders.”
“Not necessarily.”
Sun Cheng refuted with a grave expression. “I encountered a raider city without the Dragon Hunter flag long ago. They used that exact method to approach us.
“After we let our guard down, they suddenly launched an attack and destroyed our city.”
Jiang Zhixu gave a slight nod. “They were likely drawn by the broadcast too.”
Seeing this, Qi Honglang, without waiting for Jiang Zhixu’s order, had already gone to notify the two team leaders in the artillery room.
He was growing increasingly accustomed to his new role—Jiang Zhixu’s assistant.
Jiang Zhixu watched the unfamiliar Mobile City churning up dust on the horizon, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. “Let’s hope they’re not here for trouble.”
He didn’t want a second battle right now.
That meant sustained consumption, and the other party’s raider allies might keep arriving.
They were like a pack of hyenas. Once one spotted prey, they’d call the pack to swarm, and the prey would inevitably be torn apart!
Fortunately, the Level One cannon, Thunder Cannon, was now successfully installed.
With the remaining 73 standard shells and two Thunder shells, Jiang Zhixu wasn’t afraid of a fight if it came to that!
Just as the Deep Blue was on high alert against the unfamiliar Mobile City…
The other party proactively slowed down 1.5 km away.
A prolonged horn blast followed.
“Woo—”
The horn sounded for ten seconds.
During those ten seconds, the other city continuously decelerated until coming to a complete stop, motionless.
The distance between them was now just one kilometer.
If the Deep Blue opened fire, the other city had absolutely no chance of restarting and evading within a few seconds; it would have to take the hit directly!
This was clearly an extremely dangerous move.
Therefore, in inter-city communication, the act of “sounding the horn, decelerating, and braking to a stop” was also considered a signal meaning “I mean no harm, requesting communication.”
“……”
Jiang Zhixu had no experience with this situation. He turned and asked, “What should we do now?”
Mobile Cities seemed to lack external communication methods… aside from horns and searchlights.
These two likely had a system of universal “language,” but Jiang Zhixu knew nothing about it.
“If you don’t wish to communicate with them, we can simply leave. Otherwise—”
It was Sun Cheng who spoke. As a former chief helmsman, he knew more than the others. “There are two ways to communicate with them.
“First, use the city broadcast, setting the coverage to ‘short-range.’ Then any Mobile City within ten kilometers can receive your message, like an open channel.”
Jiang Zhixu nodded. “And the second?”
Meanwhile, the Mobile City one kilometer away, as if aware of the Deep Blue’s inexperience, did not press, waiting quietly.
“The second is a ‘private chat.’ Each side dispatches a vehicle convoy towards the other, meeting at the midpoint to exchange communicators. That way, we can communicate within a one-kilometer range.”
The communicators produced by Level One Mobile Cities were the most basic, generally used only for internal city communication.
But actually, their range was also one kilometer.
So, the fact that the other party stopped at one kilometer without sending a broadcast first suggested they wanted to exchange communicators.
“In that case, let’s communicate.”
After some thought, Jiang Zhixu decided to seize this opportunity for his first interaction with another city.
But just as both sides simultaneously lowered their ramps, preparing to dispatch vehicle convoys…
A message came through the communicator from the watchtower.
“Brother Jiang! Two Mobile Cities approaching together from three kilometers out! Flying the Dragon Hunter flags!”
“Are they all coming here for a damn market day?!”
Jiang Zhixu finally couldn’t hold back a curse.