The Azure Sky-class Drone, with a wingspan of over ten meters, has been weaving through the cold currents at high altitude for more than half an hour.
It successfully landed near the communication signal tower in Tumen City, on a makeshift area quickly cleared by the soldiers and robots of the stationed Security Team.
As the drone came to a steady stop, two Spider Robots that had been waiting there moved forward.
They began to unload the supplies carried in the drone's cargo hold, piece by piece.
This time, the drone carried a total of 600 kilograms of supplies, all related to exploration equipment.
These were equipped and operated by ordinary Spider Robots, capable of detecting whether valuable mineral resources exist up to 50 meters deep underground.
According to Su Wu's plan, this small base centered around the communication signal tower would have an important task in the future: to explore the mountainous areas of Tumen City and other remote regions.
The goal is to find all undeveloped mines.
"Unlike the nearly barren mineral desert of Jianghe City."
"In the publicly available data before the apocalypse."
"Tumen City has relatively rich underground resources, with several already discovered potassium and copper mines."
"With careful exploration, there is a high probability of new discoveries."
In addition to the anticipation for those undiscovered mineral resources in the wild, Su Wu was also very interested in the few already discovered mines.
Especially the medium-sized potassium mine, which could be used to produce a large amount of fertilizer, addressing the deficit after Su Wu's extensive expansion of the plantations.
However, these already discovered and even currently exploited mines were deeply entangled with local forces in Tumen City.
As an outsider, it would not be easy to seize them directly in a short time.
In Su Wu's mind, it would be best to negotiate and obtain a portion of the mining rights.
Of course, if negotiations failed or the asking price was too high, he could consider armed occupation when the opportunity arose.
While he was thinking, he noticed that the Spider Robots responsible for unloading had already left the runway area.
Su Wu began to control the drone to turn and take off.
At this moment, through the drone's camera, he could clearly see the ground.
The area where the drone had landed had already left a clear imprint.
It was evident that this runway, primarily made of yellow earth, was of very poor quality.
Once the drone left, the soldiers responsible for guarding this area would have to repair the runway again.
"It seems necessary to transport another batch of Rapid-setting Cement."
"Specifically for runway repairs."
Su Wu added a new task for the Azure Sky-class Drone's upcoming transport in his mind.
"Then, since the tests have shown no issues."
"We can start mass production."
"Next, let's continue to produce nine more."
With the speed of the Azure Sky-class Drone, a round trip between Jianghe City and Tumen City would take about an hour.
Even when heading to the farthest seaside communication signal tower, a single trip would not exceed six hours.
Therefore, strictly speaking, even with just one drone, it would be sufficient to meet all daily transport needs for the twelve communication signal towers outside Jianghe City.
The additional nine drones were primarily for expanding the scale of the watchtowers next to those communication signal towers and for transporting a small amount of high-value goods.
Su Wu planned to use those communication signal towers as nodes to establish an aerial transport network.
This network would be specifically for trading some valuable items with the local shelters within the signal coverage area.
For example, exchanging self-produced mobile phones, medicines, etc., for local gold, silver, and other rare materials.
If it operates well, this aerial transport line could potentially earn thousands of times the investment cost in profit.
Shifting his attention back from the successfully returning Azure Sky-class Drone, Su Wu refocused on the surface of the farmhouse courtyard.
He surveyed the massive warehouses newly built near the flattened runway.
Building these warehouses was, in fact, a reluctant decision.
Due to the enormous size of the Azure Sky-class Drone, it could not pass through the shelter's exit passage normally.
All core components had to be manufactured in the shelter's manufacturing center first.
Then they were transported in batches to the surface, where the final assembly could be completed.
Considering the possibility of rain, snow, strong winds, and other harsh weather conditions on the surface, even the simplest assembly could not realistically be done outdoors.
As a compromise, these temporary warehouses were constructed.
"There's no need to worry about heating and safety."
"Plus, with wireless charging."
"There's no need to lay down basic power lines separately."
"The construction cost of the entire surface warehouse is low enough to be negligible."
"The most valuable items."
"Are those components transported from the shelter during assembly tasks."
"Calculating this way."
"Even if some unexpected disaster occurs and all surface warehouses are destroyed."
"There wouldn't be too much loss."
After reviewing the various construction costs of the warehouses and reassessing their value, Su Wu let out a sigh of relief but couldn't help but sigh lightly.
If he could, he naturally wouldn't want to go through such trouble.
But there was no choice.
The space in the underground shelter was limited.
For a considerable time in the future, these surface warehouses would likely continue to exist.
After inspecting the surface warehouses, Su Wu's gaze shifted back to the underground shelter.
With Su Wu continuously updating and optimizing various construction equipment for the engineering team, after more than half a month, the first phase of the second expansion project of the farmhouse courtyard shelter finally yielded results.
It completed the expansion of the lowest layer.
The seventh layer of the farmhouse courtyard underground was expanded from a diameter of 100 meters to a diameter of 500 meters.
Don't be fooled by the seemingly unremarkable number.
A diameter of 500 meters is just a bit longer than a standard sports field track.
In reality, the internal space underground is vast enough to be measured in millions of cubic meters.
The newly added space alone is three to four times larger than the original farmhouse courtyard shelter as a whole.
It could fit three aircraft carriers, qualifying it as a medium-sized shelter.
Unfortunately, while the engineering team was digging underground quickly, Su Wu's population expansion was even faster.
In just over half a month, the population had grown to the scale of tens of millions.
Now, the basic food consumption per month required over 100,000 to 200,000 tons.
The newly added medium-sized shelter space, even if entirely converted into a plantation, would not significantly impact the overall yield.
"Take it slow."
"After all, the space added each day is already quite sufficient."
"There's no need to rush for results."
As his gaze fell on the three-dimensional map of the shelter, next to the planning document for the newly added space, Su Wu deliberated for a long time.
In the end, he decided not to modify it.
The number of Fast-Growing Plantations being built in the Jianghe City affiliated shelters was already enough to meet the basic food needs of everyone.
There was no need to continue increasing their number here at the farmhouse courtyard.
On the contrary, according to the previous plan, building conventional plantations.
Although the yield would only be half that of the Fast-Growing Plantations, it would be a one-time solution.
No matter how the shelter develops in the future, there would be no need to keep changing plans.
This avoided wasting time and resources on redundant construction.
After completing the inspection, Su Wu began to handle today's affairs.
As the surface temperature dropped below zero and the heavy rain finally ceased, the water level across Jianghe City was visibly dropping rapidly.
The returning GardenCruise Ship and other vessels, upon docking at the deep-water port built on the foundation of a medium-sized shelter, soon showed signs of running aground.
By now, they were practically resting directly on land.
"They probably won't be needed anymore."
"Let's just dismantle them."
After taking one last look at the screen showing the Cruise Ship stranded on the already dried-up ground, resembling a steel city, Su Wu made the decision with a hint of regret.
Then, hundreds of Spider Robots and a dozen transport vehicles began to appear near the Cruise Ship.
They first removed everything that could be dismantled from the Cruise Ship, as well as various living supplies that could be taken away.
These items would not be destroyed and reverted to raw materials.
Instead, they would be temporarily stored in the warehouse of the affiliated shelter.
When there's a need in the future, they could be taken out for direct use, avoiding unnecessary losses in the meantime.
As for the remaining large items, they would all be cut down and recycled as scrap steel.
Since there was no rush, Su Wu didn't send too many robots for the task.
The entire dismantling process appeared somewhat leisurely, as if it would take ten days or half a month to complete.
Once Su Wu confirmed that the dismantling work was on track, he no longer paid attention to it.
Instead, he shifted his focus back to the manufacturing center on the second underground layer of the farmhouse courtyard.
Currently, the manufacturing center was still operating at full capacity.
It primarily produced mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets, various engineering vehicles and robots, as well as Exoskeleton Armor, among other things.
Mobile phones and Bluetooth headsets were basic equipment.
Due to the rapid population growth, even now, there were still over a million people in Jianghe City without these two devices.
Many times, the artificial intelligence had to assign a person with a Bluetooth headset as the leader and communicator to indirectly command others.
This inadvertently wasted a lot of time on relaying orders and confirming target statuses.
As a result, the actual work efficiency of those individuals was only about two-thirds of others.
Engineering vehicles and robots were the main mechanical devices that could enhance the productivity of Jianghe City.
For every engineering vehicle or robot produced, the artificial intelligence would select three individuals from the two million shelter residents working in the city ruins.
They would be dispatched back to the remote control center inside the shelter to take turns remotely operating the newly manufactured machinery.
For those selected individuals, it was akin to transitioning from manual laborers to office workers.
Their working environment and labor intensity improved significantly.
For Su Wu, this meant an increase of three labor forces whose efficiency had improved by more than ten times.
The last type of industrial product being mass-produced by the manufacturing center, Exoskeleton Armor, was also primarily distributed to ordinary shelter residents working in the city ruins.
Compared to the remotely operated robots, those residents equipped with Exoskeleton Armor still had to work on the surface.
Their labor intensity was relatively higher, and they had to face various dangers that could arise while working above ground.
However, at least it was much better than the ordinary shelter residents who had no protection and could barely run with primitive tools.
Their labor efficiency could average an increase of about seven times.
As these productivity-enhancing devices continued to roll off the production line and be transported to the city ruins, the overall efficiency of recycling construction waste was visibly increasing.
In just one day, the amount of construction waste processed per hour rose from 40,000 tons to 60,000 tons.
According to this growth curve, it was possible that before the surface environment deteriorated completely, a significant portion of the city ruins in Jianghe City could be digested.
"The situation is looking good."
Watching the production at the manufacturing center, the various substantial data increases it brought to Jianghe City every moment, Su Wu squinted his eyes slightly.
He enjoyed the satisfaction brought by this thriving growth.
In the afternoon, after handling all the internal affairs of the shelter, Su Wu finally had the energy to pay attention to the outside world.
Considering the population trading intentions sent by the official shelter in Tumen City and the rare safe environment on the surface, Su Wu quickly decided to form a merchant convoy to head to Tumen City.
Since the manufacturing center was already filled with production tasks, this merchant convoy would not undergo too many modifications.
It would primarily consist of ordinary vehicles.
After careful selection, Su Wu chose 20 buses capable of carrying 76 people, still using fuel, 20 ore transport vehicles, and 5 armored vehicles modified from ore transport vehicles, equipped with Electromagnetic Cannons (Railguns) and rocket launchers, as the main body of the convoy.
The buses, needless to say, were meant to transport people back.
Twenty buses would be enough to bring back over 1,500 people.
The ore transport vehicles would carry various supplies necessary for the journey.
For example, water, food, fuel, emergency medicines, various outdoor tools, and Rapid-setting Cement and steel that might be needed for repairing broken roads and bridges.
Additionally, they would also load 20 ordinary Spider Robots to accompany the convoy.
The armored vehicles would serve as the co
nvoy's armed escort.
The Electromagnetic Cannons (Railguns) and rocket launchers mounted on them were heavy weapons capable of dealing with most bandit threats.
"This is the first long-distance trip, and the biggest trouble should be the twisted and broken roads along the way."
"Relying solely on the vehicles in the current convoy."
"It should be quite challenging to handle."
(End of Chapter)