Zhou Yi encountered a problem.

With the continuous expansion of the company's industry, the content he managed was becoming more and more extensive.

Externally, there were royalties from the Wise Mushroom patents, shared ownership of Jade Soup and explosive mushrooms with Coral Port, long-term trade orders with United City, and the internal circulation of the entire Development Alliance.

Internally, there were the courier center, the deposits in the Mushroom Forest, the collection of Light Soot Sand from the Guangtai Dam, farming, the Breeding Platform, the processing of new foods, and the various inventories of human heritage on the sea floor...

Each industry had been further subdivided.

After some reflection, Zhou Yi restructured the company and created two new departments.

Agricultural fields, Breeding Platforms, and the food industry were merged into the agriculture department, with agriculture consultant Zheng Tao serving as the minister in charge.

All foreign liaison and cooperation affairs were under the Foreign Trade Department, with Red Kestrel serving as the minister of foreign trade.

The Mushroom Forest and the sand rat communities continued to operate independently.

To facilitate internal communication within the company, Zhou Yi also sent Red Kestrel to buy a batch of enhanced controllers, which were also portable computers of the Wasteland Era.

They were completely crafted using Light Imprint Skill, resembling small metal briefcases that opened to reveal a peculiar display made of glass and specially crafted sand.

The sand served as the pixel block base, forming various texts and images, all of which unfolded in the form of sand paintings on the glass. Although the resolution was only 640x480, basic recognition was not a problem. These Light Imprint Controllers could store text, images, and sound, and transfer data between each other.

Their operation relied on the installation of "write," "store," "read," and other various Mechanical-Electrical Light Imprints inside.

Depending on their configuration precision, each enhanced controller ranged in price from 50 to 200 Light Seeds.

Besides the box-style terminals, at least one control stake with a "transmission" Light Imprint was needed as an accessory to replace the role of the Mechanical Stacker, to complete the transmission between processors.

The price of a processing stake was 50 Light Seeds each, but its coverage was only 500 meters.

Using this set of equipment to cover the entire Sand Port Region would be too costly.

Therefore, the enhanced controllers could only be used as electronic ledgers, and information could be transmitted only after returning to the company.

It must be said that the independent development of Light Imprint Skill still required time.

These Light Imprint processors were mostly used by large organizations such as the Knight Order, Alchemist Association, and Craftsmen Guild for logistics statistics. Due to their high price, they had yet to become widespread.

Although there were many areas in which the functionality needed improvement, it was a preliminary step towards paperless office upgrading, and the employees were delighted with the controllers they received.

Especially Zheng Tao, who happily stroked the glass panel with his finger, "The statistical data in the field of agriculture are very complex. Although the Agricultural Machinery Brothers can help, it's not always good to keep asking them. Now with the processors, the planning, seeding, fertilizing, and manual labor data for each planting season can all be recorded and calculated."

"This way, after the final simplification, the agricultural output will be clear at a glance."

Scavenger Captain Xie Xun, on the other hand, opened the box and marveled at the images formed by the grains of sand on the screen, "What an impressive tool, I will definitely put claw covers on my paws, so I won't scratch the glass. Now we'll know exactly how much stuff we've found."

Sun Chonglai also said, "With this, I can record every bit of information about the Black Hand Mushrooms. Chairman, you don't know, but among these kids, two have already changed drastically. I've been paying close attention to this."

A Bone Man summoned the two Black Hand Mushrooms.

But Zhou Yi didn't notice anything different about them; they were both short and small with faces that seemed to be painted on.

"Where is the drastic change?"

"Here, here."

The Bone Man pointed to the caps of the two Black Hand Mushrooms.

Zhou Yi then noticed that the dome-like caps of the mushrooms had actually grown some fuzz, looking like they were wearing woolen hats.

"Is this due to seasonal impact?"

"Not at all, absolutely not, it's never happened before!"

Sun Chonglai gestured excitedly with his arms, "They are growing and changing further. These two kids were among the first to go work on the Breeding Platform. Because it's close to the Dead Sea, they were a bit afraid at first, but they gradually adapted."

"Before, they said their heads felt itchy, and then these fuzzes grew. They are influenced by the environment of the Dead Sea. We don't know what they will change into next, but I think their bodies are adapting to the high concentration of Death Light above the Dead Sea."

Zhou Yi suddenly understood, "That's indeed good news, keep a close eye on them."

He suddenly thought.

"How about trying a large intake of Light Seeds?"

Perhaps they could undergo a transformation like the Rocket Bone Fish.

However, Sun Chonglai hastily objected, "Chairman, please don't do that to them. If the Black Hand Mushrooms need Light Seeds, they will say so. These kids are naturally timid, please give them some time to grow and let them grow up healthily."

Zhou Yi nodded, "Mine was too rushed, we'll do as you said."

"Please wait for our good news."

...

Red Kestrel suddenly issued a broadcast.

"The latest news, United City has officially passed the assessment and been recognized as an A-grade city by Mechanical City."

"United City's application for the [Alien City] classification has also been officially approved. It is the fourth city type after [Mechanical City], [Human City], and [Guangna City]."

Zhou Yi knew that United City was bound to rise, but he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

Several months had passed, and they directly received an A rating.

The credit rating behind this was a generous loan transfusion that Mechanical City was willing to provide them, optimistic about their vast future prospects and their status as pioneers.

But Zhou Yi hadn't considered the classification of Alien City at all.

United City aimed not only to grow and strengthen but also to establish a new standard for social formations.

Zhou Yi said, "I know about Mechanical City and Human City, but what is a Guangna City?"

"It refers to cities where the Guangna Species are the core productive force. However, their numbers are quite limited. The main residents and productive force of Guangna City are the Water Octopus, Bone Man, and Mountain Dog."

Red Kestrel explained, "The Water Octopus are outstanding intellectual workers, and cities welcome their arrival."

"Although Bone Men are wandering immigrants, they are inherently fragile and heavily rely on making and using tools, as well as conducting various types of small trades."

"Mountain Dogs naturally live in groups. They can survive in all sorts of harsh environments, are hardworking and resilient, and they have good internal order. They are also one of the few Guangna Species that naturally possess strong collaborative abilities. Even though they lack individual strength and their combat and intellectual abilities are not outstanding, settling in cities allows them to take advantage of their group strengths."

Zhou Yi immediately thought of the Kobolds.

He described their appearance.

"Judging from their looks and behavior, it undoubtedly is the Mountain Dog."

The drone affirmed this.

"The standards defined by United City are as follows,"

"An Alien City is one with Architectural Life as the representative of core productive force. It must have at least five Architectural Life maintaining and expanding the city and a minimum of 30,000 permanent residents."

United City set itself as the standard.

As Zhou Yi slid his finger across the screen, he searched for this term on the Recursive City page.

On United City's circular chart, the first sector was "Service Collaboration," taking up 51%, the second was "Architecture" at 30.6%, and the last part was "Environment" at 18.4%.

Zhou Yi clicked on the A-rated Service Collaboration and found that the core was "Prison Reform."

The primary cooperation between Mechanical City and this place was in Mei State Prison, where a portion of criminals were sent for detainment, including both Electromechanical Life and flesh-and-blood Life. It was a centralized prison recognized by various cities.

From this point of view, United City belonged to the service type, primarily detaining and reforming criminals from all over.

The "Architecture" industry also received an A rating because five Architectural Life, including Mei State Prison and Joy Valley, had been recognized for their urban functions, taking up all the weight.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi couldn't help but ask, "Logically speaking, our company also has four major Architectural Life. Hasn't there been any improvement?"

"The company's credit rating has also been updated just now, officially upgraded to B+."

Zhou Yi immediately checked it out.

Indeed.

On Wasteland Development Company's circular chart, there was a new sector for "Architecture" with a B+ rating, also supported by Jade City, Maria Hospital, Yalong Bay, and Leshan Buddha.

The addition of this project had finally resulted in the company's overall credit rating increasing by half a level.

"Zhou, with the formal establishment of the Alien City classification, it's no longer limited to the city's own form."

"Kunming Station, through various Mechanical Cities, has issued the 'Architectural Life Liberation Declaration,' committing to free Architectural Life from slavery."

"United City has already gained the support of more than 33 Mechanical Cities. They will work together to liberate Architectural Life from slavery, rescue them in various ways, and allow them to exercise their true power and value, to safeguard and propel the world order."

"Kunming Station is already reaching out to major cities, willing to offer financial compensation in exchange for the freedom of their Architectural Life, and then sending them to United City."

Zhou Yi was secretly astonished.

United City's big moves were one after another.

Alien City had been established, gaining independent influence and reaching long-term strategic cooperation with the Mechanical Cities, becoming the surface's 404 city; then it started focusing on liberating Architectural Life.

They had obviously been planning for a long time.

Kunming Station began promoting it only after confirming that the timing was right.

For a moment, Zhou Yi found it odd, "Why would Mechanical Cities be willing to help them? Such a move is bound to clash with local sea lords, and given Mechanical Cities' neutral stance, why would they meddle in these muddy waters?"

According to the tendencies of Electromechanical Life, they lacked spontaneous motivation for reform; stability was what they sought.

Red Kestrel said, "What we can publicly access at the moment is that United City is actively introducing Electromechanical Life. They're building a new city model based on Architectural Life as infrastructure and managers, with Electromechanical Life providing professional services, complemented by Humans and Light Seeds as the main labor forces."

"The self-repair of Architectural Life and its extended lifespan, the professional capabilities of Electromechanical Life, and the vitality and innovation brought by Humans— the combination of these three will forge a new city pattern."

"Many Mechanical Cities support this pilot project as they want to join in this wave of reform. As long as the price is right, the sea lords holding Architectural Life wouldn't refuse to release and trade them; for them, it's just a business deal."

Zhou Yi stroked his chin.

He had also wanted to try this direction, but United City had already started operating directly.

Looking on the bright side, the systemic pressures and risks faced by such city reforms were now borne by United City.

He could just follow their lead.

Not bad at all.

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