Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland.

In fact, Tian Xinli had already taken action early. With Lady Grace of Colons going to Kaiton City to offer her sword, and Watcher Qin reaching an agreement with him in private, the general of the United City put on his armor and led his troops to battle again after a long absence.

They moved into Ai Mine Town, which was considered a chaotic place by Shi Cha and others.

In fact, Kaiton City undoubtedly had a place in the coalition that suppressed the Bloody Rebellion; as the city-state closest to Ai Mine Town, they also contributed a large part of the subsequent blockade.

But later, even if the coalition forces no longer blockaded the Ai Mine Town, the chaos that had formed there was enough to keep outsiders away.

During this period, Kaiton City took advantage of the local gang forces to control a small area of ​​high-quality mineral output to supply raw materials for the Scrap Master's military forging - just like the Technology Hunter only controlled the border between the Sorrowful Mine Town and the Depression Lagoon to screen fresh blood for himself.

But strictly speaking, the combined control area of ​​the two forces only occupies a very small part of Ai Mine Town, located in two opposite corners.

The once prosperous inner city, the castle-like imperial palace...are now still buried in ruins, controlled by local forces that have survived several generations of battle royale.

Not to mention the rock walls and mines deep in the mountains.

After many years, the regular army of the United City, led by Tian Xin Lizheng, once again set foot on this imperial city. It is still unknown how much shock it will cause. The time is roughly the same as Lu Meng's departure from Shandi to the Depression Lagoon.

Tian Xinli is a man who keeps his promises.

This action of his not only expressed his support for Qin, the guardian of Lake Town, but also tore up the tacit agreement established between the major city-states, mainly the north and the south, that no matter what happened, the top priority would be to fight against the bloody remnants until the Ai Mine Town was completely destroyed.

Now that the conflict between the two sides has been exposed, there is naturally no need to abide by this tacit understanding.

Moreover, the situation has changed a lot during this period: the Bloody Rebellion at that time was the only uprising, so it had to be strictly guarded against. But now a new round of peasant uprisings broke out in the north of the United City. Its leader is called Lord Simon, who leads the Swordsman Resistance to defend the Xinkun Peninsula. Because it is blocked by the brutal Bast front and the range of the cannibal tribe's activities, the Imperial Army itself is overwhelmed and allowed them to successfully secede.

On the other hand, the rise of anti-slavers has become a major concern for Long En. Their assassination activities against nobles can, to some extent, even cause greater damage than the killing between the resistance group and the lower-level imperial army.

Under such circumstances, the threat of the Bloody Remnants had long been forgotten by the Northern Alliance nobles. It was unimaginable that even after they stopped providing material support and their own city-states such as Colons and Wandering End withdrew, Tian Xinli was still able to use Kaidun City as a single entity and maintain the agreement until now.

This also fulfilled Grace's request.

They knew that the North United City would not watch Kaiton City control the Mine Town alone - the horror of the merger of the Forging City and the Mining City was self-evident.

I'm afraid even the overlords of the other two southern city-states would not want to see this result.

At a time when their influence cannot be directly penetrated, the northern nobles can only promote the project of acquiring the Sorrow Mine Town among the technology hunters through the Gray Desert Relay Station.

This creates a check and balance.

This echoes Qin's plan.

"It can be said that this achieves three goals at once." Lin Ji said to Lu Meng, "Under the balance of multiple parties, Kaidun City can also obtain its share of benefits and take the initiative in the game."

Tian Xinli is alone in commanding the south, and what he relies on is definitely not just his bravery.

Just a slight move showed his superb political skills.

"'What a pity'..." The examiner paused and looked at Lu Meng, "He didn't expect you to come."

And so quickly.

Now the situation in the Depression Lagoon Town has changed drastically. One of Tian Xinlizheng's allies has died, which means that his win-win-win situation has collapsed directly.

Just as Lu Meng was unable to stop Tian Xinli from entering Ai Mine Town, the other party was also unable to stop the Red King, who set out almost at the same time, from doing things in the Depression Lagoon.

Now that the Black Claw faction controls Lake Town, Gray Desert may not continue to push forward the handling of Sorrow Mine Town as he expected, which will undoubtedly aid the enemy.

It was through the Black Scratches and Black Claws, with whom Lu Meng was on good terms, that he learned about the developments within the Tech Hunters.

The gain and loss situation of both sides has roughly returned to a 50-50 situation.

"But..." Lin Ji hesitated and didn't continue, but she understood that Lu Beiyou knew what she meant.

Tian Xinli was stationed in Ai Mine Town, so of course it couldn't be that smooth. Even if he was the general of United City and a famous warrior in the whole South, it was impossible for him to clear the entire ruins with ease.

This was something that the entire coalition had failed to do. Even though Ai Mine Town was no longer what it used to be, the power that Kaidun City could rely on was limited to that of the city.

This city-state, famous for its weapon forging, actually does not have a very strong military force. The number of soldiers is not even one-third of that of the Wandering End. It only relies on its strong city walls, powerful artillery, excellent equipment, and Tian Xinli Zheng's personal power.

As the adopted son of the Tenshin family, Li Zheng is nominally an elder brother but is actually a retainer. When he leads the army to war, he has to leave behind a lot of soldiers and hooded guards to protect the head of the family, which further weakens the family.

——But compared to the warriors that the Red King brought from the Flash Land, their numbers were still overwhelming, and Tian Xinli needed to spend time to reorganize the Ai Mine Town, and Lu Meng's operation in the Depression Lagoon also took some time.

By the time he arrives at Ai Mine Town, the other party will definitely have a greater advantage.

But it was not convenient for Lin Ji to say these words because of her identity - it had nothing to do with her personal inclinations. After all, the United City and the Tech Hunters still had a cooperative relationship.

Even unlike the competitive relationship between Gray Desert and Black Claw, there is no conflict of interest between Kaiton City and the Black Claw faction.

As an individual, Lin Ji can have her own selfish desires, but as a member of the Tech Hunter and the Black Claw, for the sake of the entire faction, she cannot express a clear attitude or participate.

Being able to do some conveniences in secret is already the limit.

After the waves calmed down and the heavy rain stopped, the water level of the depression lagoon stabilized again and began a gradual downward trend.

It won't be long before it returns to its former state of thousands of ponds. But this time, with the closure of the drug factories in the lower city, the lake will no longer be inexplicably injected with pollutants of unknown origin. Even if the water quality is still not much better, at least it is safe to swim in the water again.

A group of people were waiting on the lifting platform of the depression lagoon, some were ready, and some were busy.

Shi Cha shouted orders loudly, giving instructions to his caravan, demonstrating his command skills - the young noble finally made up his mind to go all the way, he was just worried that the other party was unaware of the situation and the risks.

However, just like all the newcomers who were nervously preparing for their first trip, he replaced all the gorgeous luxury gadgets carried by the pack animals in the caravan with various supplies and equipment for survival in the wild, focusing on the stationery of a poor student.

Those who know him say he is going to the Mine Town, while those who don’t know him might think he is an adventurer exploring the Evil Land or even the Ash Land.

Su Cheng had been guarding on the side. He was not good at math, but after a rough estimate, he found that even with such temporary preparations, the total value of the goods, as his master had done some trading on the spot, actually increased instead of decreased... Is this a businessman?
The warrior could only sigh like this.

I have to say that Shi Cha is indeed talented.

The mechanic apprentice with pigtails was holding a dictionary, muttering to himself with a dull look in his eyes, like a heartless repeating machine.

During this period, Lu Meng activated the Chinese translation module and corrected several errors and omissions in the traditional translation for Lu Dai. At least this helped to calm the little girl down and made her feel that the trip was worthwhile.

The other party has been studying with Wolfe and has never left the Depression Lagoon: growing up in the technology hunter's relay station is, to some extent, the closest living environment to Lu Meng's "past".

In other words, she is essentially just a school-going child - she is familiar with raising children.

Don't seek to be outstanding.

Isn't it the best thing to not make any noise or quarrel?

Another point is that Lu Meng originally planned to establish a relay station in Shandi and then seek opportunities for communication and cooperation with the resident mechanics there.

Now I carry a pendant with me.

It has become much more convenient.

Even though Lu Dai is nominally only an apprentice and has not yet gone to the Mechanic Headquarters for further training, with her current strength, let alone those fakes who just got a diploma from the End of the World and became consultants, even a regular mechanic who graduated may not be able to guarantee that he can surpass her.

It is definitely not a degraded version of the Mechanic.

Judging from the two skills of [Scientific Research] and [Robotics] alone, Lu Dai is far superior to Nan Ding at present; however, the latter may not be the case once Nan Ding has mastered it.

Lu Meng had heard that Wolfe had intended to recommend the other party to study at the end of the world. He personally had no objection. He was aware of Nanding's enthusiasm (or fanaticism...), and it would be beneficial for him to be able to help his subordinates improve their skills.

However, the other party has her persistence and has now found a more suitable path.

That would be great.

As the cooperation with technology hunters and mechanics gradually deepens, Lu Meng's shortcomings are constantly being made up. It can be said that he is no longer in a tight spot like before, with a gold mine but no way to develop it.

But, this is not enough.

He now has talents such as Dr. Zhong, Nan Ding, Wall-lover Warman, and Pastor Meyer. They are at the top of their respective fields. Even Xiao Huo has demonstrated his talent in project management. Now he can also borrow the power of Lu Dai, the "mechanic".

But the only thing missing is a versatile person, someone who can take the lead and lead everyone to break through.

A true genius like Wolfe, or even like his senior scholar.

Of course, such geniuses are extremely rare. Even among mechanics, they can be ranked among the best. As for other forces, if they saw Lu Meng’s current talent pool, they would have been envious.

He doesn't know about others.

At least Bayan certainly would.

As for superpowers like the Holy Empire and the United Cities, even if someone chooses to live in the former, by the time he grows up, he will have become a priest who is familiar with the Oakland Scriptures. Although he has reached the peak of his life, he is no longer useful to Lu Meng.

Although the cultural atmosphere in the latter is more relaxed, the opportunity to be sent to study as a mechanic is monopolized by the aristocratic families and their affiliates... If ordinary civilians miss the opportunity, even if you could have been a genius ahead of your time, you will end up being mediocre and have no chance of standing out and being discovered.

Unlike the practice of martial arts, grassroots heroes often appear on the road of the former, and even Lu Meng himself is regarded as one of the representatives by some people; when it comes to the improvement of scientific research and technology, one must receive a good education, and take one step at a time with the support of numerous research materials, experimental instruments, teamwork...

This is the soil in which genius emerges.

There aren't so many myths.

When Lu Meng designed the Order of Embers, he actually had the original intention of promoting knowledge and education in a way that ordinary people could understand. Judging from the example of Nightingale, they did have the initial conditions.

"It seems that, instead of waiting for the other party to come to me on their own or for a 'strong man' to fall from the sky..." Lu Meng thought, "it's better to find a good seedling and train him from scratch."

At this time, a petite figure appeared silently beside Lu Meng, and even Lu Dai, who was very close, did not notice why there was an extra person here.

"Long time no see," Lu Meng saw her and asked with a smile, "What have you been doing?"

The face of the person was hidden in the hood of his uniform windbreaker, but he knew that she was none other than Bo, the female mentor among the anti-slavery forces.

(End of this chapter)