In the city ruins, the Tomorrow slowly drove forward.
On the deck, Lin Wu led his men, busily repairing parts of the city.
In the middle level area, Old Zhou was urgently training newly recruited combat personnel.
Li Ye stood in the watchtower, holding binoculars and observing the nearby situation.
At the moment, the Tomorrow was slowly advancing toward the central area of the city and had encountered many situations along the way.
Two survivor convoys cautiously keeping their distance.
Several bounty hunters riding motorcycles or off-road vehicles, trying their luck in the city ruins.
A mobile city that seemed to have just set off, lacking in both personnel and heavy machine guns.
Boarmen, Serpentfolk, Goblins, and other monsters wandering the streets and alleys.
Although the current situation in the city ruins was unclear, Li Ye still planned to stay here for a while longer.
Overall, there were quite a few advantages to staying in the city ruins.
Gas stations could be seen everywhere in the city, where fuel could be collected.
Rebar from abandoned vehicles and buildings could be collected and re-smelted into iron ore.
One might even find usable motorcycles and cars in vehicle dealerships. In the wastelands, vehicles were highly practical.
In places like textile factories, it was possible to find hundreds or even thousands of pieces of fabric.
“Speaking of which, just how many years has the wasteland lasted by now?” he wondered. “What was this world like before the cataclysm occurred? Was its cultural history similar to Blue Star? Was the size of this planet the same as Blue Star? How many continents did it have? What was the proportion of oceans?”
All these remained questions, which could only be explored and uncovered slowly in the future.
To gather information about the city, Li Ye sent out two convoys under his command.
The newly formed Convoy One explored the outskirts, while Convoy Two explored the city center.
By around dusk, both convoys had returned and brought back their respective findings.
Convoy One discovered a survivor community called “Friday,” with an approximate population of 200.
Convoy Two brought back the news Li Ye most wanted—from the central area of the city.
“There are a lot of Goblins there, numbering in the hundreds or thousands,” said a member of Convoy Two. “They’re building fortresses, digging trenches, setting up machine gun points and artillery positions. They’ve almost completely taken control of the city center.”
“But that’s not even the craziest part...” he continued, his eyes showing a hint of astonishment. “There’s even a Level 1 Goblin Fortress there!”
It would’ve been one thing to encounter a monster mobile city, but a monster fortress too?
These Goblins were far too outrageous in strength!
However, thinking it over, the combination of “fortress + mobile city” actually made sense.
A fortress could provide personnel and supplies to a mobile city, allowing it to rest safely.
Meanwhile, a mobile city could venture out to gather resources and hunt enemies in return for the fortress’s support.
As he pondered, Li Ye slowly nodded.
Now, the speculation in his mind had been confirmed.
The monster civilization mentioned in the intelligence, the one that was rising, was undoubtedly the Goblin Civilization.
The Goblins wanted to occupy the city ruins because it was the central area of the Wasteland Zone, making it the best place for their forces to expand.
The Glos Mine that the Three-City Alliance attacked earlier was clearly a forward post for the Goblin Civilization's southern expansion.
Wait, from north to south...
Li Ye recalled the map of the Wasteland Zone shown in previous intelligence—the Tranquil Lake, which occupied 20% of the area.
“Perhaps, the Goblin Civilization is located there,” he thought.
A few minutes later, Li Ye encountered another unexpected situation.
An off-road vehicle appeared from the distance, occasionally honking at the Tomorrow to send signals, seemingly attempting to establish communication.
Li Ye thought for a moment, then made a decision.
"Then let's stop and talk to him. It won't take much time, and we might even gather some important intel."
The one who stepped out of the off-road vehicle was a capable-looking young man. He nodded toward Li Ye and the others, then introduced himself.
"I come from the Level 1 Mobile City Vanguard. I am a trusted aide of the Lord."
As the crowd murmured, Li Ye's expression subtly changed.
Everyone else was unaware, but he himself knew very well.
The Vanguard was precisely the city mentioned in the intelligence... the one that "defeated two Level 1 Mobile Cities during a chase" and "easily took down a Predatory City and captured a Level 2 item"!
At the time, he had already felt this mobile city was unusual, even somewhat intimidating.
Unexpectedly, now someone from that very city had approached him of their own accord.
"What do you want?" Li Ye asked.
The young man gently placed a hand on his chest and gave a slight bow.
"Lord, I am here to invite you to join the Mobile City Communication Channel."
Enter the cockpit, verify identity through the Lord’s wristband, and input the code “SA535921” on the screen to join Mobile City Communication Channel A4.
When Li Ye hesitantly entered the code, a screen appeared before him, resembling a chat room.
【Mobile City Communication Channel: A4】
【Current Number of Mobile Cities: 8】
【Administrator - Vanguard】
The chatroom was named “Vanguard Alliance,” which was likely the name of this city alliance.
Through the young man’s explanation, Li Ye learned the background.
Vanguard had accidentally obtained a rare Level 2 item — the City Radio.
The City Radio was perhaps the most valuable item in the wastelands.
A Level 1 City Radio could create a communication channel for four members, while a Level 2 City Radio could support a channel for twelve members.
With this Level 2 City Radio, Vanguard was able to create a communication channel and become its administrator, allowing it to invite other mobile cities via verification codes.
As a result, Vanguard sent out several trusted aides to drive around the Wasteland Zone and persuade other mobile cities to join.
As he listened, Li Ye’s hands couldn’t help but tremble slightly.
All along, mobile cities had been isolated islands in the wild.
Cut off from the world, fighting alone, and with limited intelligence sources, it was difficult to grasp real-time external conditions, resulting in slow responses.
Yet the existence of this Level 2 City Radio could bring about an extraordinary transformation!
It could break the isolation among mobile cities, uniting them together to exchange real-time intel from their respective regions, trade resources, and complement one another.
Even during battles, mobile cities could coordinate in real time, support each other, and produce even greater results.
It was essentially an alliance of mobile cities.
Astonished and reflective, Li Ye also frowned slightly.
Vanguard was the owner of this communication channel, and also the founder of this Mobile City Alliance.
This granted it an unimaginable advantage.
It could recruit or remove members at will as an administrator, coordinate the exchange of intelligence and resource trading among members, and even command joint operations like hunting Wild BOSSes or attacking enemy fortresses.
Thinking of this, Li Ye couldn’t help but silently remark to himself.
"This Vanguard was already incredibly powerful, and now with such a treasure in its hands, won’t its development skyrocket in the future?"