Ark Journey

"No."

"Okay, it's getting late, let's see what we can eat today."

The collective restaurants in this city have already started operating. With the help of several original chefs, those in the integration movement who were somewhat confident in their cooking skills quickly mastered the use of those large cooking machines.

On the way, he also met Frost Star who was leading the team to have a meal. The troops of the Integration Movement were now cleaning up the damage caused by the battles.

In the central control tower, Xue Zhi's voice suddenly came from a machine.

"Tallulah, we need to not only come up with rules and regulations, but also start thinking about the monetary system."

This was what he just thought of when he arrived at the cafeteria.

Upon hearing this, Tallulah, who was writing something, suddenly collapsed on the table.

"Oh, it feels like the work has gotten heavier. Help me, Alina."

Alina, standing by, was obviously helpless.

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about this. Helping you sort out the documents is the best I can do."

Chapter 48: Gathering Resources

On the afternoon of the seventh day after the successful capture of the mobile city, the blizzard surrounding it disappeared, and the huge mechanical construct had reached the edge of the forest. It and its passengers were about to step into the real Arctic ice field.

The mobile city plans to stay here for a few hours in order to collect some necessary resources. For a long time in the future, it will become extremely difficult to obtain various supplies from the outside world.

In a corner of the city, a group of people holding tools stood on a lifting platform. After counting the number of people and making sure everything was correct, they sent a signal of readiness to the controller next to them.

"Stand still, the lift platform might shake a bit."

After receiving the signal and giving a reminder through the loudspeaker, the young infected operator pressed the switch of the lifting platform.

Next to him, an older man spoke up:

"Slow down. The people on it may not be used to it because it's their first time riding it."

"Yes."

This is the current situation of the city, with a large number of captured personnel returning to their posts to train new members for the Integration Movement.

The relationship between the two is quite pleasant, although there are some frictions.

The most serious thing was that someone tried to kidnap a child to threaten the Integration Movement, but Xue Zhi's mental power happened to sweep over there at that time, and before the man could succeed, a lightning bolt suddenly appeared above his head and turned him into a human-shaped charcoal.

Moreover, the punishment for troublemakers is two-way. The Integration Movement also confiscated their own Originium and planned to give it to the engineers.

Upon learning the news, Tallulah convened a group discussion with the cadres of the Integration Movement, and finally came to the conclusion that the first crime should be punished more severely. Now this man is still in the confinement room. If there were no places with harsher environments now, his ending would not be so simple.

This actually indicates that the concept of the integration movement has changed to some extent.

The captives did not react to the verdict. When Xue Zhi asked Makarov about it afterwards, he felt that there was nothing wrong with it. Moreover, the group thought that Xue Zhi felt did not show any obvious changes.

As batches of people landed, Xue Zhi, who was sitting on the top floor of the central control tower, expanded the range of her mental perception and had to guard against betrayal and danger.

Lights were also lit on the walls of the mobile city to provide illumination for the people working around it, and those who walked a little further away carried a tethered drone and matching batteries.

The snow monsters that landed together were divided into two groups.

"Sister, let's separate for now. We will take these newcomers here to complete the escort mission."

"Well, always be cautious."

"Yes."

There are many talented people in the combat forces of the Integration Movement. They have all been assigned to learn various things, which has caused a shortage of manpower. In the past few days, each combat force has been recruiting new personnel.

The food for the combat troops is directly supplied by Xue Zhi, which is obviously more delicious and richer than the food in the cafeteria, so there is no need to worry about not having enough people sign up.

Today, we are taking these new recruits who have been training for a few days to the field to experience what it is like to carry out a mission.

Leaving the lifting platform where various tools made loud noises, Frost Star led the top trainees selected in the past few days into the depths of the dense forest.

Their mission on this trip was simple: to hunt some wild animals to supplement the limited meat food.

Yes, the supplies count was also completed in the past few days. The food and vegetables plus those they brought to the mobile city were enough to eat for a long time, but the more important meat stocks were not abundant.

Moreover, food and vegetables can be obtained from the farmland in the supporting layer. As for meat, Xue Zhi can only build a chicken coop to raise some chickens to provide some protein, which is better than nothing.

Walking in the gradually darkening forest, a hunter who had just joined the Snow Monsters said to Froststar:

"Big sister, I have no problem with hunting, but even with so many people here, we may not encounter any prey all night."

Frost Star did not doubt his words, because that was the fact. However, since the task was issued, there were naturally some wonderful tools that could be used.

"No rush, let's see if what Xue Zhi gave us works."

After saying that, Frost Star carefully took out a small sapling from his backpack. The sapling's roots were covered with soil and the sapling was emitting fluorescent light.

This is the Peace Tree, a new thing Xue Zhi found while flipping through the magic manual these days. Its function is to attract animals to come closer. It is because of finding this thing that the subsequent tasks were possible.

He tried it in the chicken coop in advance and put it into use after finding the effect was good.

Holding the Peace Tree in his hand, Froststar reminded:

"Everyone, be careful around you. Xue Zhi estimates that this thing may be very effective in attracting wild animals. Be careful not to get surrounded and injured by a herd of animals."

"I understand, big sister."

The snow monsters immediately changed their formation. They formed groups of three and protected Frost Star and the newcomers in the middle.

Frost Star adjusted his posture to make sure not to hurt the sapling. If this thing was really useful, it would definitely be a treasure.

"We will be in charge of the defense, and the attack will be left to you. There are not many opportunities, so make sure to seize them."

"Yes!"

The newcomers gripped their weapons tightly, knowing that it would not be easy to find opportunities to exercise during the mission.

They didn't have to wait long. After walking for a while in the dense forest, a rustling sound in the bushes nearby made everyone alert.

"Ow!"

A wild beast whose appearance could not be seen suddenly jumped out, but it encountered a ball of icy cold air which was not fatal while in the air. The extremely cold temperature made it lose most of its vitality in an instant, and even its movements in the air seemed to slow down. The arrow that followed took its life.

"Woo~"

After pulling out the arrows from its body and putting the first prey into the backpack, the newcomers said:

"You did a good job. Keep it up. I'll stew horned beast meat for you when we get back."

"Okay!"

Muffled cheers rang out, and this scene was not the only one happening. Other troops were also hunting wild beasts on the ground.

The Sarkaz troops, Mudrock who was good at earth-related Originium techniques, directly summoned a little man to serve the Peace Tree and walked in the middle of the team.

The Peace Tree here attracted a kind of gregarious creatures. Judging from their sharp teeth, they are predators. However, when they meet the battle-hardened mercenaries, they can only become food.

"Boss, hunting is much easier than fighting the Ursus, and it's more interesting."

"Ah."

Wood, beasts, stones, soil, and even fallen leaves are collected, and now the integration movement is no different from chewing the ground.

Plant elements can be extracted from leaves, and the plant elements can be placed under growth lamps to make crops grow quickly.

Chapter 49: Tracker

Near the mobile city, a lumberjack stopped his overheated chainsaw, wiped the sweat from his forehead and glanced at a bush with red wild berries nearby.

"I'm thinking that we can collect these bushes that grow wild fruits and plant them in the mobile city. This will enrich everyone's diet and won't take up much space."

"You're right. I'll put them away now. There's enough space in the backpack. We can't fill it up even if we chop trees until the mission is over. It's a good time to put some other things in it."

After hearing his words, his companion put down the chainsaw and let it rest for a while. He then took the backpack and other tools distributed by Xue Zhi and walked to the bushes. He then dug them out along with the soil covering the roots and stuffed them into the backpack.

In the early hours of the morning, people returned to the mobile city with great harvests.

After several counts to make sure no one was left on the ground, the city turned off many of its perimeter lights and set off again.

Xue Zhi, who was sitting on a plastic chair on the top floor of the control tower, was obviously in a good mood. He had just roughly counted the various supplies obtained this time.

"It's been quite rewarding."

After working for half a day, people went to bed soon after returning home.

According to the schedule, the mobile city turned off the lights inside and confirmed the direction and position with the help of the stars and the map. After making sure that all the data were correct, she slowly increased the speed and drove towards the target mine.

At the location where the Reunion Movement captured the mobile city, an internal guard came here following the slight footprints left by the Reunion Movement's large force.

If Xue Zhi knew about this, she would probably think that the snow was not heavy enough to cover all the traces around.

The inner guard leaned over to check the surroundings, but the traces left in the vicinity meant that even though he was good at tracking, he couldn't find anything useful.

"The traces disappeared... Was it completely covered by the snow?"

But he finally found something useful.

The compacted soil and fallen trees caused by the passing of the mobile city.

Recalling the information he had obtained when he came here, the internal security guard determined the cause of what he saw.

"There is indeed a mobile city passing by here. Could it be that those infected people boarded that city!?"

An idea suddenly popped into his mind, and he immediately began to search the snow around him, but after searching for a while he found nothing to prove that a battle had taken place here.

The inner guard stood up from the snow and began to think. Although the two predecessors had died quietly nearby, the assessment of the strength of the integration movement obtained from Black Snake did not increase much.

"Am I wrong? Those infected people are too powerful to climb a city quietly. But, what if that is the case?"

He was struggling over whether to go back and report the situation which he had half inferred and half guessed, or to continue tracking it for a while to determine the truth.

A lot of nearby troops had been transferred away in recent days. If he mobilized the few remaining troops to do something wrong, he would probably be punished by Black Snake, whose mood had become increasingly unstable these days.

Even the inner guards felt fear at the thought of being punished by the Black Snake.

"Let's chase them for a while. The mobile city doesn't travel very fast in this environment. I should be able to return within the limited time."

The inner guard who made the choice disappeared on the spot. He had the movement route of the city in his hand.

In the early morning, the bright but heatless sunlight unique to high latitudes shines into the mobile city, dyeing the originally dark and cold city with a layer of light gold.

The large amount of industrial equipment for refining originium on it can refine all of the originium within two or three days. These originiums are enough to keep the mobile city running for a long time. Currently, a large number of idle manpower are being put into the work of sorting out the materials obtained last night.

Some flat lands with destroyed buildings near the city walls have been turned into slaughterhouses for processing large numbers of wild beasts. Last night, a slight beast tide actually occurred in the slightly deeper dense forest. The effect of the Peace Tree was so strong that it attracted too many wild beasts.

Fortunately, no casualties were caused. Unintelligent beasts are much easier to deal with than well-trained soldiers, and stuffing the Peace Tree into the bag can isolate its effect.

In order to ensure the hygiene here, Xue Zhiyi sent a clone here and worked with several knowledgeable hunters to design a simple giant matchbox that could fully utilize every part of the beast's body and ensure that filth would not pollute the city.

Even a portion of the nearby city walls had been lowered to facilitate air circulation, and it was the first time Xue Zhi knew that these walls could be lowered.

Inside the house, Xue Zhi, who was maintaining ventilation, looked at the people standing in a row, wearing protective clothing and masks, constantly handling various beasts with their hands and feet, and sighed:

"After we process all these beasts through assembly-line operations, we should be able to achieve meat freedom within a period of time."

The time in the backpack was suspended because the beasts were still fresh, and blood was flowing out after a cut on their necks.

There are enough people who are good at this. After all, hunting is one of the few ways to obtain food in places where the weather is too cold.

The blood that flowed out was not wasted. Xue Zhi provided a large amount of salt to make food such as blood tofu. When adding salt, she also added a certain amount of purified water to deal with the source stone enriched in these organisms.

In fact, nothing was wasted from these beasts. The meat, fur, internal organs, and claws were all collected together, and there was enough space in the backpack.

The final step in processing the meat is to soak it in purified water and test the Originium content within it. There are many such instruments in the city responsible for refining Originium.

After the purified water became available to everyone, the condition of the infected people has improved a lot, and now they try not to get their condition worse.

Looking at the green numbers on the instrument, someone asked Xue Zhi:

"Leader, do you think those people will eat those beasts after seeing this?"

"It's up to you whether you want to eat or not. If they don't eat, we will."

"Yeah, so they don't have to compete with us."

There are still some grievances between the two sides. For example, those people never eat the food cooked by the infected chef. For this reason, even the kitchen in the collective canteen is divided into two almost completely isolated parts.

However, the impact of this incident was not significant, and the cadres did not care about it after a brief discussion. After all, it is better to be careful.

While they were working intensively here, the city finally approached the first planned mine. In order to build it as soon as possible, the city adjusted its position in advance so that the largest lifting platform was facing the direction of the mine.