Wasteland Development Diary

The enthusiasm for chat from the architectural life forms waxed and waned quickly.

Jade City was a residential area, Maria was a maternity hospital, and Yalong Bay was a submarine base.

Eventually, they all reverted to their respective professional topics.

However, architectural life forms were at a very rudimentary stage in terms of communication, completely lacking in the art of business flattery and boosting each other's morale, which led to a quick lull and a return to silence.

Zhou Yi, for one, breathed a sigh of relief.

Social interactions weren't as simple as they seemed.

Youngsters still needed to observe closely and learn.

…

Next, Zhou Yi began the transformation of the Sea God.

His plan was to turn it into an auxiliary of Red Kestrel; just purchasing and installing a set of transmitters would enable the activation of auxiliary services.

It was a well-established technology.

The drone also said, "In Mechanical City, many electromechanical life forms rent themselves out using auxiliary technology."

Electromechanical life forms came with inherent work attributes, so each had its own domain to shine.

Unfortunately, employers tended to favor workers with advanced technology or those who provided cheap labor. Many electromechanical life forms, like the Agricultural Machinery Brothers, faced difficulties finding work.

Thus, sometimes, they had no choice but to rent themselves out cheaply, commodifying and tooling themselves to earn Light Seeds or Energy Packs, to address their economic crises first.

Just like some of the nautical and automotive electromechanical life forms in Chuneng City, which after being controlled by an employer, were resold to others.

"Auxiliary technology is one of the important services exported by Mechanical City,"

Red Kestrel explained. "Apart from amongst electromechanical life forms, Flesh Guangna Species, and even some humans, make use of this service."

Zhou Yi immediately realized, "You mean remote operation using Light Imprint Devices?"

"Yes. All you need is to purchase an auxiliary control device to do it,"

said Red Kestrel. "My controller also has this function, but it's for emergencies, to ensure that in case of malfunction and loss of contact, my main body can still be located through the controller."

Zhou Yi looked at the black remote on hand, "Is the main advantage of an auxiliary being cost-effective?"

"And secrecy,"

Red Kestrel emphasized. "The protocol authority level of an electromechanical life is very high, enough to ensure confidentiality of the employer's information. Mechanical City puts the core consciousness of the body's lessee into forced dormancy until the end of the agreed transaction period."

Zhou Yi frowned. "What if the employer takes the opportunity to perform some special operations, such as seriously damaging the body, engaging in criminal activities, or causing the death of the electromechanical life, how are they held accountable and dealt with?"

"Although the operation itself cannot be interfered with, the running data of the body is synchronized and recorded in real-time with the city providing the service. If there is a breach of agreement, an emergency termination is initiated, and the backend directly takes over control, bringing the body back."

"Regular auxiliary and body rental services require the recording mode to be turned on throughout the entire process, which is for the purpose of keeping records. The high-risk and uncontrollable aspect lies in private auxiliary modifications."

With that explanation from Red Kestrel, Zhou Yi understood.

It was similar to the mechanism of autonomous vehicles, with backend takeover in emergencies and real-time surveillance being maintained, allowing users only to issue commands within the scope of their functions.

The situation with Sea God was straightforward – just purchasing a no-installation Advanced Signal Transmitter and establishing a connection was sufficient.

The service fee for an auxiliary for one year was 5 Light Seeds, but the high cost of the Advanced Signal Transmitter, at 70 Light Seeds, was nearly three times that of regular equipment.

These expenses were acceptable to Zhou Yi.

Given Red Kestrel's fragile nature, having Sea God as an auxiliary provided an additional safety net.

Mainly, he was too lazy to pilot Sea God to Recursive City himself.

In the dead of winter, with wars raging around that area and a 1700-kilometer voyage from Dead Sea, it was time-consuming and laborious.

Unnecessary.

Just a matter of spending a bit more Light Seeds.

Red Kestrel promptly went to Recursive City to handle the related procedures.

…

Meanwhile, Zhou Yi re-entered Dead Sea and made his way to the Dark Domain.

More than a month had passed since his last visit, and it was time to collect a new installment payment.

Upon seeing Zhou Yi, Black Hand swam over, dragging behind it a long black tether.

As they touched, Breaker Haruk said, "Zhou Yi, I have been looking all over for you. The situation has changed, the Boundary Gate is rejecting me, and I'll soon be unable to use it."

The closing of the Dark Domain signaled that winter was nearing its end.

Zhou Yi calculated in his mind.

This winter lasted just over four months, not particularly long.

"These are the Life Charts I've created, all of them are here."

The large black hand squeezed out one glowing Light Seed after another.

Zhou Yi gathered them all into the Guangna Box.

A total of 32,004.

Zhou Yi said, "You still owe me 50,000 Light Seeds."

"I understand, I do,"

Haruk explained. "I should have been able to create more, but there's not enough time now. The Boundary Gate is about to forcibly expel me, and I can only come back during the next tidal period."

"Once I return, I'll use a Life Core to evolve myself and break out of the destructive cycle. The next time I come, I'll be able to create more Life Charts in a single tidal period."

Zhou Yi also said, "As long as you give enough Light Seeds, I can find you new Life Cores."

The other party immediately cheered up. "I will come back as soon as possible."

Breaker's body receded into the Dark Domain, and the overpass's hole returned to calm.

Zhou Yi didn't understand Haruk's world,

but he welcomed this diligent foreigner who earned and spent locally and sincerely hoped everything would go smoothly for him.

...

Red Kestrel had stayed in Recursive City for an entire day.

It was said that because it was winter, Recursive City had strict regulations. Technological goods that could easily be transformed into weapons, such as Advanced Signal Transmitters and extensions, required strict scrutiny.

It said, "Normally, an on-site inspection and evaluation must be performed before the transmitter can be installed."

"Fortunately, the company's credit rating is a B, which allows us to use the express channel, but we still need to go through a series of procedures. I and others who are processing are waiting outside to be assigned a number."

"It's estimated to take another 4 hours for my turn."

"Zhou, why don't you see if there's anything you need to buy? I can bring it back with me."

Zhou Yi was not one to lose his temper.

The characteristic of Mechanical City was its complicated procedures.

He opened the Recursive City page and scanned through the product catalog.

Previously, the item in highest demand had been the Light Blocker, but Yalong Bay had already become a perfect superior substitute, and the few existing Light Blockers were sufficient as backup.

One item caught Zhou Yi's attention.

[Combat Species]

Although a body could only hold one combat species, it was possible to switch them out, and once replaced, the previous combat species would become invalid and dissipate.

Zhou Yi immediately noticed a familiar name.

...

「C-level Combat Species · Long-necked Crocodile: Holds [Stretching] and [Alert] / 203 Light Seeds.」

...

Although Stretching Fist was weaker, the [Alert] capability was very useful.

Thanks to this ability, Zhou Yi had discovered that Red Kestrel was sealed in a containment chamber, and he wanted to find a replacement with greater strength, mainly because stretching wasn't much use to him.

But as he browsed through the offerings, he found that combat species on the market were pitifully scarce, and even if he wanted to buy, there were hardly any for sale.

Red Kestrel explained, "Combat species with high strategic value and strong survival ability are snapped up by various parties as soon as they hit the market. There are very few combat species with advanced reconnaissance abilities available, and the long-necked crocodile is already a good choice."

Zhou Yi felt somewhat disheartened.

Then he had another thought.

If a body could hold a combat species, and now he had a second body, could Xiao Fu also get one?

Reverse Flow spoke in his mind, "Although this can indeed be done... is it really necessary to use such a backward mechanism?"

"It would be better to find some Fire Sparks and transform them into Fire Seed Life. When a large number of Fire Seed Life forms make up a Fire Civilization, you can then summon their power at will, which is much simpler than this. For now, it is still important to continue with the body modifications and to quickly build the [Light Wheel Well] and [Circumference Light Device]."

"How long will the modifications take?"

"Not much time, based on the progress at the Sea God, only about one hundred and fifty years."

"..."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, well that's a useless piece of information.

Distant waters won't quench a near fire.

Zhou Yi immediately sifted through the few available combat species.

Then he found two targets.

...

「C-level Combat Species · Black Soul: Holds [Berserk] and [Life Strike] / 345 Light Seeds.」

...

The details below described these two abilities.

[Berserk]: A short-term, comprehensive enhancement of the body's strength and significant enlargement, followed by a period of weakness after use.

[Life Strike]: Consumes a large amount of vitality to break through limits, dealing massive damage that penetrates defenses.

...

Apart from these, there was also another direction.

...

「C-level Combat Species · Illusion Fish: Holds [Life Bubble] and [Death Bubble] / 230 Light Seeds.」

...

[Life Bubble]: Deceptive structures made of Death Light that can hide oneself within.

[Death Bubble]: High-energy bubble structures created with Death Light that detonate upon contact, causing high damage.

...

It looked like the skill set of a Bubble Fish.

But why was it called Illusion Fish?

Red Kestrel said, "The C-level Illusion Fish evolved from Bubble Fish. Black Soul was produced by the mutation of Red Monster, with no change in its rating, but its ability to inflict damage is stronger."

Since it was a combat species, it had to be well-equipped for battle.

Zhou Yi also sought Red Kestrel's opinion.

The drone analyzed, "[Life Strike] is a life-for-life attack method, its biggest flaw being limited to close combat."

"It is extremely potent, able to disregard defenses entirely, and without specific containment mechanisms, the consumption and damage conversion rate is 1:1. If used in close quarters, the threat of Black Soul is immense. Life Strike will cause a serious decrease in one's own life value, making it a highly risky double-edged sword ability."

Zhou Yi listened with fervent eyes.

A 1:1 conversion rate.

With Xiao Fu's life value, he could instantly deal 100,000 damage!

It's you then.