Chapter 92: Chapter 90: Roasting the Mother-Zombie
Chapter 90: Roasting the Mother-Zombie
Chen Ruoxue jumped down from the gate, pointing at a few scattered zombies in the distance and instructing her team:
"One group, clear out the nearby zombies. The rest of you, finish off any that are still alive and collect the crystals and cards from their heads."
"Yes, Captain!"
Injured ordinary team members quickly took out detoxification agents to mitigate the risk of turning into zombies.
Ye Zian addressed the search team:
"Be careful not to get scratched by the zombies' last-ditch efforts. Hand over any dropped cards to your team leaders. For the crystals, just submit 50% as a welfare benefit. The more you work, the more you'll earn. Now hurry and collect them!"
"Long live the City Lord!" the team members shouted joyfully, immediately beginning to search for zombie crystals and mutated zombie cores on the ground.
There were at least hundreds of thousands of zombies scattered about, with around a hundred mutated zombies, meaning there were over 400,000 crystals to collect. Not to mention the value of the mutated zombie cores, each worth 5,000 points in the fortress.
5,000 points was equivalent to several months' wages before the apocalypse, enough to rent a residence on the third floor of the Tower of Heaven for a year, or buy a year's worth of snacks. The number of cores was limited, and those who were slow would miss out.
The crystals and cards lay untouched amidst the flames, quietly waiting for team members to pick them up.
Ye Zian wasn't concerned; fifty percent of 400,000 crystals meant 200,000 for the team, giving each member an additional 1,000 points.
After all, these crystals would ultimately be used to enhance the team's strength. Although cutting out the middleman for distribution might reduce his influence slightly, it would still improve his favorability ratings.
Moreover, the cards were the main prize. Ye Zian could now upgrade cards of blue quality or lower an unlimited number of times. Those less useful cards could be recycled back into the Tyrant System for extra points.
Green cards could be recycled for 100 points, while blue ones were worth 1,000, and so on.
The synergy of the two systems was seamless; this battle alone had earned Ye Zian at least 400,000 points from killing zombies, not counting the value of the crystals and cards.
Conservatively estimating, the fortress had reaped no less than 4 million points from this battle.
After deducting the daily operational costs for maintaining the fortress, Ye Zian figured he would at least net 2 million points.
A smile spread across Ye Zian's face; it seemed the future was looking brighter. Four million points was something he hadn't dared to imagine before.
However, he quickly remembered that moving the fortress to the Empire of the East would cost at least a million points for the power system alone. Not to mention the astronomical costs required for building the defense and weapon systems.
It seemed he had miscalculated; while the team members were raking in points, he was becoming a mere laborer.
Ye Zian's earlier excitement quickly faded, but it was too late to change his words. He could only hope the team members would spend more points upon returning to the fortress, allowing him to earn some back.
Returning to the sixth level of the Tower of Heaven, Ye Zian began exploring the newly activated defense system.
The sixth level now resembled a command center, but aside from a central electronic panel, everything else was empty and would require a substantial investment of points to build.
Alright, I'm collecting points from the team, and the Tower of Heaven is collecting from me.
Opening the electronic panel, several upgrade options appeared.
**Shield Tower, 500,000 points:** Create a spherical light shield that covers the entire fortress, with durability equal to the host's stamina*. Restores 10 stamina per second. Points can be consumed to double the recovery rate, costing 100 points per second.
**Search Tower: 100,000 points:** Continuously scans for any life forms within a 3-kilometer radius around the fortress. The detection range expands based on the operator's mental strength.
If Ye Zian operated it personally, 200 points of mental strength could extend the range by 2 kilometers.
**High Hardness Walls Level 1, 400,000 points.**
**Tower Foundation Strength Level 1, 100,000 points.**
...
The other functions were not immediately needed.
Ye Zian frowned slightly; each function appeared extremely powerful, but the costs were astronomical.
Before today, all the points Ye Zian had accumulated combined didn't even total 100,000.
While the Shield Tower seemed to offer over a million in durability, the fortress's defense range was too vast. For example, if tens of thousands of zombies swarmed without the team to hold them back, they could easily shatter the shield in a matter of seconds.
However, the benefits were clear: the Shield Tower didn't require energy to maintain. It would only consume points for repairs during heavy attacks, alleviating concerns about sudden nighttime assaults from mutated zombies.
Moreover, the durability and recovery speed would increase as Ye Zian's strength improved. Even if the shield were breached, it would automatically restore its durability in under 17 minutes. If Ye Zian chose to spend points for repairs, it could be ready for use again in just 8 minutes.
As Ye Zian contemplated which functions to prioritize for upgrades, system points began to flow in, totaling 2.17 million.
It appeared most of the team members had finished collecting the zombie crystals, and the recycling system at the gate had processed their transactions.
Fine, I can't save this money; let's upgrade all four functions.
Ye Zian activated the functions on the panel.
**Total Cost: 1.1 million points.**
At the center of the Tower of Heaven, a basketball-sized blue orb suddenly appeared at the tower's peak, radiating a soft blue light. A pale blue barrier gradually spread from the Tower to the fortress walls, enveloping the corners.
After the entire fortress was shrouded in this light, a tranquil atmosphere replaced the usual chaos of the apocalypse.
The residents within the fortress were accustomed to these transformations; several bold team members began to test the barrier's edges, moving in and out.
The barrier functioned similarly to the membrane at the Tower's entrance, allowing residents to pass freely while blocking intruders.
Other changes were evident, too; four radar-like devices emerged atop the sixth level of the Tower.
The once-grey walls now shimmered with a silvery glow, and many bricks that had been damaged by zombies were restored to new condition.
The hardness of the walls had increased tenfold.
As for the foundation of the Tower, it now resembled solid bronze metal, showing no signs of being assembled from separate pieces.
With the fortress's current defenses, Ye Zian felt confident enough to challenge any faction on the Blue Star.
---
𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚!
𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼:
• 𝘽𝙤𝙜𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙋𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙪
• 𝙅𝙘𝟭𝟮𝟬𝟮
• 𝘼𝙝𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙟𝙖𝙝
𝗔𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸:
• 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝟯𝟱+ 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚.
• 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁-𝗢𝘂𝘁: 𝙍𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩!
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝘁, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀!
👉 𝙅𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙬: 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣.𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙊𝙛𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧