The two enhancers visiting Jade City rode the same four-wheeled motorcycle and stopped outside the low wall of the gate.

Ye Zhao now wore a translation device transmitter at all times and inquired about them.

"This is Wasteland Development Company, whom are you looking for?"

The bald man among them said, "I am a messenger of the sea lord 'Steel Refining Lord', Gang Fu."

The other young man with braids also spoke up, "I am a messenger of the sea lord 'Duke Beidu', Bei Jianxin."

The two briefly stated their purpose.

Zhou Yi watched everything from the high-altitude surveillance of the Red Kestrel.

These two sea lords were once Duke Baili's two deputies.

Now they had split the north and south, occupying Shell City and henceforth called themselves 'Duke Beidu', while the other who controlled Steel Refining City also came out with the title of 'Steel Refining Lord'.

After dividing the benefits, they sent messengers to visit Jade City together.

Their purpose was one.

"The lords say, as new sea lords, they still have much to learn and experience to accumulate. In this region, Mr. Zhou's support is crucial, and both lords hope to gain your and Wasteland Development Company's recognition. They also warmly welcome you to their side for guidance, visiting, and trading."

"This is a small token of appreciation from both lords."

Inside room 3101, the two messengers each presented a Guangna Box.

Zhou Yi's face twitched.

This was obviously them coming to pay tribute.

Probably his own sudden move that made Duke Baili disappear before put pressure on these successors, so they came forward to show their stance first in hopes of getting on good terms with him.

Fine.

It seemed his cross-sea raid had indeed had a deterrent effect, and it could bring some stability to the development of Jade City for a while.

Zhou Yi accepted the Guangna Box.

Each box contained 2000 Light Seeds, which together amounted to 40% of the annual output of Sand Port City, a number that showed sincere intent.

Zhou Yi immediately said, "I surely support both sea lords."

The messengers visibly relaxed.

"However."

Their expressions tensed again.

Zhou Yi continued, "This region needs long-term stability, we should resolve conflicts through negotiation and discussion more often rather than resorting to fighting and killing that affects the order and production of the entire area."

The two messengers nodded in agreement.

These newly self-proclaimed sea lords had no other demands; they were just over to foster friendly relations. After formalities, they took their leave.

...

After this small episode, Zhou Yi continued purchasing songs for the mic master while reaching out to Duke Baili.

He had been curious before, as it seemed Duke Baili collected quite a few Half-Enlightened Electromechanical Life forms.

There were breeding platforms beforehand, followed by a dozen modified Mechanical Thugs.

Zhou Yi was quite interested.

Jade City's farms, Mushroom Forest, Guangtai Dam, and marine breeding were gradually taking shape, necessitating corresponding transportation vehicles. The two previous vehicles ran well and could absorb Dead Light Energy on their own, with virtually no daily wear and tear.

He asked Duke Baili if there was a special channel.

"The Breeding Platform is a special case. Half-Enlightened Bodies can be bought on the black market. However, their quality is generally poor. They are typically those with defects or severe wear and have only a few years left of use before being sold off."

Duke Baili explained, "Cost-wise, they are more expensive than ordinary vehicles with Light Imprint assembly. Because they require repair before use, the initial investment is substantial, and there are uncontrollable factors later on."

"To be transformed into weapons for harassment and attack, they are an excellent choice, and they can even be modified into suicide weapons, causing widespread casualties in the target area."

"If it's just for transportation, ordinary enhanced vehicles or ships are a better choice. This is what I think."

Zhou Yi thought it made sense and decided to take the advice.

He checked the Chuneng City page and found indeed vehicles and equipment for sale.

These enhanced vehicles were all fitted with 'propulsion,' 'Shock Absorption,' and 'body control' Light Imprints.

Propulsion for speeding up and slowing down is standard on enhanced ships, Shock Absorption for safety and stability during travel, and body control for vehicle controllability, making starts, stops, and steering very responsive.

The difference in vehicle prices mainly depended on the grade levels of the Light Imprints.

Zhou Yi then found out that Mechanical City had very detailed gradings for each type of Light Imprint.

Apart from the general division from E to A grade, each grade was further detailed into generations 1 to 5.

The higher the generation, the more precise the Light Imprint, the better the performance reflected in the device, and the prices skyrocketed accordingly.

An E-1 grade vehicle, for example, used first-generation Light Imprint, E-2 grade used the second generation. Just that each vehicle uniformly used the same generation of Light Imprint for manufacturing and assembly.

After some deliberation, Zhou Yi decided on two targets.

"E-1 grade small transport vehicle: 5.74 meters long, 1.83 meters wide, 2.025 meters high, rated cargo weight 1.495 tons, maximum speed 55 kilometers/hour, 50 Light Seeds."

"E-2 grade small passenger vehicle: 6.54 meters long, 2.10 meters wide, 2.980 meters high, 10-17 seats, maximum speed 60 kilometers/hour, 75 Light Seeds."

"These two will be enough."

After calculating with the Red Kestrel, Zhou Yi placed an order in Chuneng City for two transport vehicles and two small cars. Due to the Wasteland Development Company's B-grade credit rating, the transportation cost was only 10 Light Seeds, which was quite inexpensive.

In addition, he also purchased a 1-year insurance service for the vehicles. E-1 grade was 1 Light Seed per year, while E-2 grade was 2 Light Seeds per year, and if there were repairs and damages, insurance could cover 50% of the expenses.

The total expenditure was 266 Light Seeds.

Five days later.

Four large trucks arrived outside Jade City, each towing a containerized trailer that extended several meters long. The doors of their trailers opened, and one after another car slowly drove out from within.

Under the sunlight, the four brand-new enhanced cars were spotless.

Zhou Yi chose a red and black color scheme consistent with the Agricultural Machinery Brothers, and their exteriors all had the city logo of [Chuneng] with various texts to indicate their origin.

Yuan Tong test-drove each one, finding the vehicles to run very smoothly.

"Good, good."

He touched the hood of the car with some excitement and said, "Chairman, I've also driven enhanced cars before, but none as good as this. They must not be cheap, right?"

Zhou Yi said, "It's just the basic model."

Hearing the actual price, Yuan Tong hissed, "That's expensive! The enhanced cars made by craftsmen in Human City are only one-third of this price."

However, he also admitted, "You get what you pay for, the cars produced in Mechanical City are indeed different, especially in terms of workmanship and control. Particularly in parking and steering, there's absolutely no delay, unlike those from Human City where you need to adjust a bit in advance. A good car really is different."

After confirming, Zhou Yi proceeded with the reception, and a voice came from the transport vehicle.

"Thank you for your purchase and welcome again. If you have any questions, please visit the Chuneng City after-sales page."

Then these Electromechanical Lives turned around and headed towards their next destination.

The advantage of the enhanced cars lay in their easy operation and user-friendliness. Yuan Tong's subordinates were mostly capable of driving; he selected four to be drivers and had them gradually teach the workers how to drive.

In this way, drivers could operate the vehicles day and night and take shifts, preparing more driver reserves for when the number of vehicles increased.

The inclusion of the four enhanced cars increased the number of company shuttle buses to six, linking several major industries of the company with wheels.

Farmers working with the Agricultural Machinery Brothers to observe and care for young plants, the Guangtai workers at the Guangtai Dam, and the breeding workers on the Zhanjiang Bay No.1... Employees could swiftly commute between locations daily.

This saved a considerable amount of time and energy for the laborers, enabling their travels to cover a much wider range.

The transport vehicles also relieved the Black Hand Mushrooms and samurai crabs responsible for transport, as just one vehicle could carry tons of mushrooms, making trips to buy and transport manure to Sand Port City and the surrounding markets much easier.

In the time that followed, Zhou Yi focused on constructing the extension of the dam. This dam stretched along the Breeding Platform, heading north from the southwest and formally connecting with the docks outside of Sand Port City.

The Jade Avenue provided direct access between the two locations.

People from Sand Port City, Oasis Town, Chicken Head Town, and Green Onion Town came to Jade City in droves. They earned relatively high wages working as Guangtai workers and then took the vehicles back to Sand Port to spend, drawing even more people in.

The number of Guangtai workers quickly surged to a thousand, and Yuan Tong accordingly partitioned the dam, officially appointing 30 section heads to manage these 1,000 individuals.

Amid the hustle and bustle, a month passed by.

A message arrived from the Red Kestrel.

"Zhou, last month's bill has arrived. You haven't checked the bill in the last two months. You should take a look."

The bill?

Zhou Yi immediately looked at the remote control screen.

An account popped up.

[Wasteland Development Company]

Account Overview: 26,757.04

Eh?

Why has the patent royalty from Holy Mountain suddenly increased so much?

Zhou Yi clicked on the transaction details next to it.

The latest entry displayed.

「03 period royalty: 19,542.35」

He flipped further back.

「02 period royalty: 5,938.11」

Zhou Yi remembered, the first month's royalty was just 1277.

The royalty from Holy Mountain had suddenly skyrocketed.

The Red Kestrel said, "I consulted Da Vinci, and it said this is normal."

"Because the bonus period of new drugs has a very apparent long tail effect, the initial phase involves scale cultivation and selling, which will result in the first small peak. As the drugs are progressively employed and launched, it will reach a second small peak... until similarly similar drugs appear, which will then lead to a gradual decline."

"As the drug applications mature, the supply of medicines on the market will rise rapidly, and the profits derived from raw materials will also be quite substantial."

The drone said, "Regarding the growth of the Wise Mushroom, Da Vinci actually finds this increase lower than its expectations. After contacting Holy Mountain, it confirmed this was due to the special cultivation conditions required, as no other cultivation methods have been discovered yet. The shortage in the clawed pig manure is severe, and efforts are being made to artificially breed and expand the clawed pig population to increase the number of Wise Mushrooms."

"Spring is a season of frequent infections, and many places with clawed pigs have seen periodic outbreaks similar to foot-and-mouth disease, so the increase wasn't as expected. It's anticipated that there will be a small increase by summer."

Zhou Yi was quite satisfied in his heart.

This patent royalty was indeed a fast and convenient source of steady income.

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