Ark, I became a mobile city, but the moon city

When the fresh food died, a dozen or so bugs would instantly leap out from around the corpse and start chewing on it. Blood, flesh, and juices would splatter everywhere before being devoured by more bugs. In just half a second, the corpse would disappear...

Cannibalism?

Texas was suddenly horrified. She couldn't help but look up at the pioneer, but she saw that the pioneer's expression was not surprised, but it seemed that he had just sighed.

"It's pretty much what I thought..."

He murmured as he squatted down, his body making crackling sounds. Then, he pressed Texas's shoulders and whispered to her:

"Okay, now comes our mission..."

As he spoke, he pointed to the insect swarm over there:

"Seize some fresh food and corpses from them."

"?"

Texas was stunned, a confused look on his face.

"me?"

)

Chapter 16: 16 There is madness in our family!

Texas felt her scalp tingle as she listened to the pioneer's words. She glanced at the insect swarm a little further away, and then, once again, she was convinced of their ferocity.

Then she raised her head and looked at the Pioneer, and re-confirmed her thoughts behind the Pioneer's unchanged mechanical face.

Obviously he was not joking at all, but was seriously suggesting that Texas do so.

"...But what should I do?"

Texas couldn't help but ask, frowning and asking in confusion.

"Those guys will devour their companions' bodies in just half a second after they die. If I approach them rashly, I'll be attacked again."

"I don't have the confidence to defeat them in close combat, and I have to take the body in such a short time... not to mention that there are more than one body required."

These were the questions that lingered in Texas' mind. After all, in her opinion, the pioneer's words were simply a joke... However, listening to the pioneer's tone, she felt that this didn't seem to be a joke.

The pioneers always spoke in this way, and there was no emotion in their electronic synthesized voice. Therefore, Texas was completely unsure of what the pioneers meant.

"Oh, indeed, that's the difficulty of the problem. How to obtain the corpse is indeed a big problem..."

The pioneer said calmly, "That's why I asked two questions when I first came out. Now, we should be almost there, right?"

As the pioneer spoke, Texas turned around and saw two question marks walking slowly from a distance. It seemed that they entered their sight while the two were chatting.

“…Is there a way?”

"Of course, you can follow my instructions if you wish."

The pioneer said this, and then Texas was silent for a moment, and finally nodded.

So the pioneer waved his hand without hesitation, and the two questioners quickly walked forward, and then walked towards the insects.

"First, there are two things you need to know. First, their diet includes some inorganic substances. Although soil is not among them, steel is. Second, their consciousness is not clustered."

The pioneer led Texas to follow the two questions from a distance and said so.

"The former means they feed on questions. The latter means that when food appears before them, individual instincts are likely to override the needs of the group."

Texas listened to the pioneer's words and nodded as if he understood.

Then, the pioneer narrowed his eyes and slowly snapped his fingers.

"It's like this."

He spoke slowly. When Texas turned his head, he saw two people running back like crazy, and behind them, a large amount of fresh food...

At first glance, each question was followed by nearly fifteen. However, to Texas's surprise, after these bugs caught up, no more bugs came forward...

"They are monsters that follow their instincts. So, saving energy is definitely their top priority. Therefore, to conserve energy, when hunting, they will determine whether there are enough predators out there. If there are enough predators, the remaining ones will continue on in a group to avoid wasting energy."

The pioneer spoke calmly, then waved towards Texas:

"Let's go, lure them out of sight of the insect swarm... As long as we're careful not to distract the food chain, we can slowly kill a few bugs this way. It might not have much effect on the insect swarm, but at least it's enough for us."

At this moment, Texas finally understood what the pioneer meant. So, she took up her gun without hesitation and followed the pioneer back step by step.

So, the next process is quite simple.

Lure all the bugs away, make sure the others can't come to reinforce, then kill them one by one and collect their bodies. Then return to the bug swarm to lure them back... and repeat the cycle. Doubt serves as bait, low risk, high reward.

In just two hours, the two killed hundreds of insects in this way. After doing all this, the pioneer stopped and slowly shook his head.

"That's enough. Any more will be useless. Our killing spree is nothing compared to the insect swarm. Let's go back."

Texas obediently stopped. And so, the two of them calmly returned to the safe zone. Throughout the entire process, the pioneer remained the same, showing no signs of emotion, but Texas, however, became increasingly worried.

Just now, she truly witnessed the horrifying monster called the food chain.

And it was precisely because of this meeting that a deep sadness arose in Texas' heart...

Is there really a way to defeat a monster like that?

.....................

Unlike the pioneers who pretended to be calm and the worried Texas, Lin Yi was now lying in his cabin.

He was almost going crazy with joy at this moment.

"We're rich! We're rich! We're finally rich!"

He muttered to himself jubilantly, his excitement evident beyond words. Then, he sat up suddenly and pumped his fist vigorously.

I finally have money!

He had already recovered over a hundred fresh corpses. Lin Yi calculated that, including the bonus from the first corpse, these corpses were enough to generate at least seven hundred Madness!

Continuing to kill would not be very effective in gaining madness. Therefore, Lin Yi simply stopped killing.

This really makes me feel crazy.

Lin Yi thought to himself.

After five full draws, including the remaining Madness, he still had 60 Madness left. When had Lin Yi ever been so wealthy?

"Let's try it out with two draws first."

After a moment of hesitation, Lin Yi threw two hundred and sixty madness into the well. As expected, five spindles appeared, and then another second-level product appeared.

"I've been lucky lately... I drew 7 and got 1 gold, 3 and lanterns."

Lin Yi muttered to himself, looking at the thing in front of him, and couldn't help but be stunned.

【Food Converter】.

Based on the panels that Lin Yi had made recently, he roughly understood how to use this thing.

【Category: Medium-sized equipment】

[Effect: Provides a small amount of energy to transform soil and rocks into edible organic matter.]

The moment he saw the device, Lin Yi's mind became active for a moment, but when he saw that it needed to be supplied with energy, his face fell.

There's no L company in this city right now, and secondly, it doesn't even have a basic power generation industry chain. Where can I get energy for you?

No, wait?

Looking at the person who provided a small amount of energy, Lin Yi was suddenly stunned. Then, the figure of the pioneer appeared in his mind...

...I remember that the pioneer's prosthetic body has a built-in solar device that can generate energy on its own, right?

This thought flashed through his mind, and Lin Yi slapped his thigh and shouted:

"Who said there was no electricity?"

"Isn't there a generator?"

Chapter 17: The Final Battle with the Food Chain Begins

At that moment, Lin Yi had a sudden enlightenment in his heart.

They are strung together. They are all strung together.

This time, I really don't have to worry about running out of power. While the production efficiency isn't high, it's better than nothing. This food converter doesn't consume much energy either, so I'll let the Pioneer run it for now.

Even the plan to leave the city in five days will have to be postponed for the time being.

Lin Yi thought to himself. He had originally planned to have the pioneers promote the city and see if they could recruit some people to join the fight against the food chain. But now, looking at the food converter, Lin Yi had some new ideas.

Some ideas to serve as a backup.

Originally, Lin Yi hadn't thought of this plan, but now, seeing the food chain's thirst for food and this food converter, Lin Yi had this idea. After all, finding someone was too vague, but at least for now, this method could really help Lin Yi survive.

"Let's just hide for now. If we can't win, we can just keep fighting... What else can we do?"

Lin Yi muttered to himself and slowly closed his eyes.

Damn it, if I had Singularity Technology, I would have killed them all long ago.

But to be honest, Lin Yi was really lacking in development right now. There was no one to help him, no electricity, and even no stable source of food and water.

Even the subsequent technological advancements were not worth mentioning. Until now, Linyi's wood and steel were all imported and collected from within its own territory.

Unfortunately, the production lines for these materials are not completed that quickly. In the end, we still have to rely on the almighty well to give us something.

After placing the food converter outside the safe area, Lin Yi then had Pioneer sneak out after confirming Texas had returned to his room. Pioneer then set out alone, followed by a few Questions. They connected the solar generator's connector to the food converter, while Questions dug up dirt and stuffed it into the converter's hopper.

He regained consciousness, temporarily shut down the Pioneer, and focused on supplying power. Lin Yi also began to think.

His plan was a backup plan. If he couldn't defeat the food chain, it could at least delay his own death. However, even so, he still needed to consider how to deal with the food chain in the future.

Moreover, even if the food chain was defeated, the matter was not over at all. There were still a large number of monsters that could invade Lin Yi's side at any time.

Not to mention the highest level "Urban Star" monster, now even a lower level "Urban Nightmare" can take Lin Yi's life.

"Once we've dealt with the food chain, we'll need to find the first wave of laborers to start working there. If the food converter is efficient enough, we'll need to consider this as soon as possible. Once the population increases, we can begin to slowly develop infrastructure."

Lin Yi closed his eyes and murmured softly. In his imagination, the residents of the city could only go through the following process.

First, refugees, because they're the easiest to recruit. Then, once the city develops, we can attract other residents to migrate here. This is Lin Yi's current plan. While directly recruiting ordinary immigrants would be more stable, given the current state of the city, I'm afraid most people wouldn't be willing to come...

However, mercenaries were a good choice. They were quite suitable for the role of finisher. As for whether they would be willing, if Lin Yi offered naturalization without any barriers, he believed some would come.

"We'll take it one step at a time. The immediate challenge is to survive the food chain. Once we do, we need to make the city attractive enough... That requires a lot of madness."

Lin Yi shook his head and couldn't help but sigh.

With such thoughts in mind, he threw the remaining madness into the well, waiting for the remaining three draws to give a result.

This time, there was no splash. Ten more spindles appeared, and besides that, there was one more small prop, which made Lin Yi take a closer look.

【Woodcarving】

【Category: Artwork】

This work belongs to a certain Ring Finger commentator. It has a very unique style among the Ring Finger works. Unfortunately, it was rated as a D.

Lin Yi looked at the wood carving in his hands and played with it for a moment. Objectively speaking, the carving was exquisitely crafted, vividly depicting the final struggle of a deceased person, down to the last detail. That despair, that agony… Seeing it, one felt as if one were experiencing a death by a thousand cuts. If this were an ordinary work of art, Lin Yi would have been impressed by the mastery of this carving artist.

But this is a ring finger work, and Lin Yi can only say that he still needs to practice.

The gang of mourners in the ring are all Heba brothers among Heba brothers. They don't even look down on ordinary and bizarre works like this, so it's no wonder that this work was rated D.

Lin Yi put the thing away and didn't think about it anymore. Maybe it would be useful in the future, but definitely not now.

At that moment, the Emperor's steel also arrived. Lin Yi brought a truckload of steel to the city and sent it off to the courier. He then started the city again, sending this mobile city further afield.

There are fifteen days left. After fifteen days, we will face the food chain.

Lin Yi thought so in his heart.

After dealing with the food chain, the city should be almost at the border of Kazdel... There, Lin Yi hopes to harvest the first batch of urban immigrants.

After all, the Sarkaz are the easiest group of people to abduct.

After this, Lin Yi began a long period of growth.

Questions began to arise one after another, and the food began to transform continuously. Gradually, Lin Yi realized that the efficiency of this food conversion machine was quite high.

Due to limited production efficiency, it can only produce about one ton of food per day. If it is running at full efficiency, this machine could produce up to ten tons of food, but the power consumption is terrible.

Holding the toothpaste-like organic substance on the plate, Lin Yi pondered for a moment and put it aside.

The taste was definitely not good, most likely tasteless. But the advantage was that it was easy to obtain. Moreover, Lin Yi believed that the people who were about to eat this food would not mind this.