Why is my territory in a 2D anime art style?

Chapter 109 The Rift and the Secrets of Jiangcheng

"Xiao An, my dad said he won't bother you anymore; he'll just keep running the steamed bun shop and make a living."

Wang Hu pulled Sui An aside and said softly.

"Okay~"

Sui An was not surprised. Wang Hu's father was a person who preferred a comfortable life, so it was normal for him to be more nostalgic than Zhao Feng.

Erhu stared dumbfounded at the courtyard: "I wasn't back all night, how come there are three more stone statues?"

Although he was always amazed by Sui An, when he turned around and saw a bunch of new buildings in the courtyard, Erhu still couldn't get used to it.

"Inventory, inventory~"

Sui An ignored Erhu's teasing and counted the materials they had brought down.

Wang Zhen got out of the car, carrying a large bag, and walked towards Sui An.

"I've brought all the things you asked for. All three blueprints are green. Blue ones are almost impossible to buy on the market. However, I noticed that the reward for the blue wall blueprint that the He family posted seems to have been taken down. It seems that after almost two years, a nobody finally got it."

Erhu almost burst out laughing: "If no one makes any trades, He Chong will be moving to a mid-level territory soon. By then, even if he has low-level blue wall blueprints, they probably won't be of much use."

"That's true. Useful blueprints are really hard to find on the market."

Wang Zhen smiled and placed the large bag at Sui An's door. He then began to take out many things from it and explained them to Sui An one by one.

"I only found one green turret blueprint among these cannon and arrow tower blueprints; the rest are white and not very useful. You can see the specific effects for yourself later."

"As for the residential green building plans you requested, there are actually quite a few. I picked one out and brought it to you, called White Stone Flathouse."

"As for the water source building blueprints you requested, I only found three identical green blueprints, all of which are for wells, so I bought one and put it in this bag as well."

"There are ten sets of house core materials, eight sets of turret core materials, and one set of well core materials in the bag. I put them all in there."

The blueprints and materials cost 1050 Originium; you just need to give me 350 more.

"Okay, thanks!"

Sui An quickly took the bag and opened it one by one to examine the blueprints inside.

The first thing I saw was the green turret blueprint that Wang Zhen mentioned, named the "Shattered Gold Cannon".

[Building Effect]: The turret automatically gathers specific metallic energy projectiles that can attack targets within a certain range. Each time, it can fire one energy projectile. Upon hitting a target or being violently impacted, it will cause a small-area explosion damage and shoot out metal fragments that cause splash damage. It requires personnel to operate and aim at the target.

Cannons and arrow towers are the most common basic attack buildings in low-level territories, and the [Gold-Shattering Cannon] is a very practical one.

It deals both small-area explosion damage and metallic shard splash damage, making it extremely effective against flesh-and-blood source beasts.

Of course, there are also drawbacks. The explosion radius is much smaller compared to turrets with pure fire or pure lightning attributes, and the basic source material required to generate the Gold Shattering Shell is also consumed more.

The artillery emplacements after the invasion of the Origin Realm were not the modern cannons of the previous life, nor did they have corresponding guns.

Its essence is a kind of energy-aggregating cannon that does not rely on gunpowder for propulsion, but relies entirely on a special source energy propulsion mechanism.

As for the method of destruction, it mainly relies on the explosion effect, with additional damage from various elemental attributes.

For example, the fire attribute brings ignition, burning, and high temperature; the metal attribute brings sharpness and piercing; and even the paralyzing effect brought by Sui An's elemental stone statue.

What's the difference between the elemental statues and the cannon turrets?

The elemental statues can unleash spells, with lightning bolts being just one type. There are also elemental arrows, elemental creatures, and even spells that don't originate from the statues but instead draw upon external energy sources, causing various terrifying elements to descend from the sky and bring about disaster.

Moreover, elemental statues primarily consume energy and do not require additional materials.

But the turret is different. The turret fires projectiles made of source material combined with source energy. This thing is not pure energy in essence. It has a physical form and has an impact force when it hits the target. It can smash through a wall.

Some, like the gold-shattering shells, can cause secondary material damage after exploding.

The interval between the cannonballs generated by the turret is much slower than that of the crossbow bolts, so many territories are equipped with both.

However, Sui An only used this to replace the crossbow watchtower, so that the people in his territory wouldn't have anything to do. The crossbow's attack power had long been obsolete in Sui An's territory.

As for the house plans, they were a set of plans called "White Stone Flat House".

The building's function is also quite simple: to provide insulation, soundproofing, and slightly stronger defense.

Green building blueprints offer very few additional benefits.

The house is a square 6*4*4 square, which is taller than the initial wooden house. The walls, roof and floor of the house are made of white stone. The inside and outside are white with some fine patterns. It is smooth and flat, and you can even walk on the ground barefoot without hurting your feet.

Although the door is made of wood, it is much more solid than the door of the wooden house, and the windows are wooden frosted glass windows, which let in more light.

Unfortunately, because it's only of green quality, it doesn't come with various accessories like my kitchen and alchemy workshop, and I even have to make my own curtains and such.

The original wooden house was damp, drafty, had a rough surface, small windows, and poor lighting, so anyone with decent living conditions would want to replace it.

As for the green-quality wells, they are called "Stone Edge Shallow Wells," and their architectural effect has only one attribute: absorbing groundwater vapor and gathering it into water.

It can't be considered a true creation from nothing; a four-meter-deep pit has to be dug before use. However, the fact that water can emerge from a four-meter-deep pit in the wasteland is quite special, which is a unique feature of energy-based creations.

This is something most territories would normally prepare, but Sui An was never in a hurry because it was close to the river.

But things are different now. Sui An was worried that the ice fog tide would appear, and the small river 300 meters away might not be safe either. He decided to look for the remaining supplies, and unexpectedly, Wang Zhen actually found them.

You have to admit, big cities are great. Goods are widely available, and you can easily find many common items.

After handing over all the items, Wang Zhen, holding his erhu, walked into the courtyard with Sui An and said with a serious expression.

"Yesterday, the goods were delivered back to the city. Captain Zheng was surprised by the quantity, so he asked me about the situation in your territory. He asked how many times you had actively opened rifts in the last 30 days. I checked the records and it was the fourth time. Then he asked me to tell you that it's best not to actively open more than five rifts in 30 days, especially if you open them consecutively during a Blood Moon!"

"What do you mean?"

Sui An was a little confused. Was there some taboo about opening cracks?

Erhu was also a little confused. He had never heard of such a thing. When would the number of times a rift could be limited? Jiangcheng had rifts opening many times a year, and nothing serious had ever happened.

Seemingly aware that Sui An and Erhu would be puzzled, Wang Zhen continued to explain.

"I spoke with Captain Zheng separately later, and he said that a lord in Jiangcheng had done this a long time ago. He would equip his level 4 territory with a full load of professionals and open rifts every time there was a blood moon. Finally, in the middle of the month, a rift of unknown intensity erupted, and the territory was completely washed away."

"No one survived that night in that territory, so no one knows what happened that night. But when the caravan passed by the next day, they judged that a high-level source beast may have appeared, and the number of source beasts was five to six times greater than the usual size."

"But when everyone reviewed the incident later, there were actually signs. After the rifts were opened one after another, the intensity of the rifts would gradually increase starting from the third time. The scale of the Blood Moon Rift before the destruction was four or five times greater than the normal intensity. It was only because the source beasts were not of intermediate grade and the lord was very strong that it was able to withstand it."

"Similar things happened again later, so most of those people with a little status know this unwritten rule, while we ordinary professionals don't."

"Really?!" Erhu exclaimed in surprise. "The night before last, our event was about two or three times the size of the first one!"

"And I was wondering why the cracks seemed to be getting stronger each time."

Sui An didn't speak, but instead frowned silently. If this was true, would the difficulty increase if he continued to open the rift?

Actually, if it's just about increasing the scale, he's not too worried since he just made three new elemental statues. At worst, he can just use his remaining money to build a few more; it'll just be a waste of some money.

However, if a level 7 or even higher source beast appears in a level 4 territory, then you can't be kidding.

Even if he were to reach level 4 now, he probably wouldn't be very confident. Even if he could get his hands on a mid-level purple building blueprint with an initial level of 4, he still wouldn't be able to handle it.

After all, a level 1 swordsman is unlikely to be effective against a level 4 source beast, and intermediate and advanced barriers are only stronger than low- and mid-level barriers.

After thinking for a moment, Sui An turned to look at Wang Zhen and asked softly.

"Besides Captain Zheng, is there any other evidence within the Chamber of Commerce that corroborates this?"

"The highest-ranking person we can contact is Captain Zheng, who is at level 6. We basically can't get in touch with anyone higher up unless we have a personal relationship with him. Even Captain Zheng got this information from an elder."

Wang Zhen shook his head. After all, the method of continuously opening and developing rifts was not something that ordinary people could do. Why would anyone specifically tell a nobody like him such a relatively secret information?

However, Wang Zhen still made some new discoveries.

"I investigated the rift records for Jiangcheng over the past three months and found that the rifts in the territories of the three city lords are staggered, and the opening frequency is very low, basically only once a month for each!"

"We used to think that the frequent fissures in Jiangcheng were the problem, but we subconsciously overlooked the fact that these are three large territories that should be calculated separately."

"However, at the level of the three major territories of Jiangcheng, they are still very cautious about the rift. After all, they are not some second-generation rich kids who have higher-level people to help them. If they don't handle it well, it will be a disaster."

Sui An pondered, "Jiangcheng's level isn't very relevant to us. After all, it's much harder for them to actively open a rift than for us. Given their territory's level, how many high-level professionals would they need to gather to actively open a rift?"

In terms of the difficulty of opening the rift, the influence of 10 ordinary people is not as great as that of a level 1 professional. As for advanced professionals, one person can be worth hundreds or thousands of people.

Thinking of this, Sui An suddenly had an idea and quickly said it.

"You said that the three territories finally reached a peace agreement because, besides the fact that continuing to fight would only result in mutual destruction, it might also be because the three territories are located in the same area, making it easier for everyone to allocate high-level professionals. The population that comes with a territory is probably not enough to trigger a rift, but if the number of high-level professionals from the three territories is transferred to one territory, that would be a different story."

The erhu player next to him immediately understood, clapped his hands, and shared some of his thoughts.

"No wonder Jiangcheng has such strict control over advanced professionals. The previous captain had to step down after breaking through and enter a higher level of Jiangcheng's system. Is this also because of this?"

"So what should we say? Should we also go into hiding?"

Wang Zhen also turned his gaze to Sui An, for in the end, this matter still depended on Sui An's decision.

Sui An, however, didn't hesitate at all and decisively said, "Hide! Money can be earned anytime, but you only have one life!"

"Even if I'm not afraid of large-scale beast tides, if a source beast of too high a level appears, we're still doomed."

"Erhu, you and Fang Si need to arrange for one of you to go back to Jiangcheng for a few days. The first time I actively opened the crack was on September 30th, but that was a long time ago, so it shouldn't count. That was the 20th of last month."

"Come to think of it, opening five times in 17 days does seem a bit too frequent!"

"Erhu, you and Fang Si should discuss this. Come back after the 20th, and I'll still pay your basic salary!"

Erhu clicked his tongue. "If you want to do it this way, I'll just agree directly. Why bother discussing it?"

"Okay, I'll go talk to him about it later. If it doesn't work, I'll drive the truck to pay Old Wang's rent. As for the wages, don't pay them. Money shouldn't be wasted like this."

Seeing that the two had made their decision, Wang Zhen chimed in, "If it doesn't work out with the transport team, I'll go find Captain Zheng and get a temporary flag. I can put it under my name and run it for a few days straight. It shouldn't be a big problem. It's just that without Sui An's connections, business might be very poor."

Erhu turned and ran to the backyard: "I'm going to go find Fang Siwen now, wait for me."

Three or four minutes later, Erhu returned: "It's settled then, we'll take turns. I'll leave this month, and he'll leave next month. He's a little worried about his sister who just arrived here."

"You little rascal, you're fine without me, right? He—"

Erhu's words were pointed, and Sui An naturally understood what he meant: "He won't do anything to me. As for that workshop, even if you told his sister to leave, she wouldn't. Does he really think that blue alchemy-equipped building is as cheap as cabbage?"

"Okay, then I'll leave. When you move to your new place, help me move my things. It's nothing."

Erhu waved and then left with Wang Zhen.

Sui An looked at the two of them and ultimately decided not to reveal what happened in Crescent City last night. The fewer people who knew about this, the safer it would be. He decided to wait and see. The caravan left today, and the news of the disappearance of the Zhao family's territory would spread within a day or two at the latest.

By then, we'll roughly know what the wind is blowing in Jiangcheng. If the news hasn't been suppressed, then I'll find a way to leak it to the higher authorities.

If the news is still suppressed, it means that Crescent Moon City is definitely not simple. It might be cultivated by a certain city lord. In that case, the Grand City Lord would never go there even if it meant his death.

Once the issue is exposed, you'll be the first to suffer.

Moreover, under these circumstances, several days have passed and I haven't sent any messages out. Even if Zhao Yuanhuai harbors resentment and wants to drag me into this mess, I suppose New Moon City won't care.

Unless he wants to steal his own purple blueprint.

Sui An suddenly remembered the smokescreen the He family had thrown at him, which made many people think he had a special background, as if they had invisibly given him a layer of insurance.