The disaster relief teams returned in two batches.

The first batch to return included the Scavenger Team, Doctor Feng Ying, and the samurai crabs.

Sun Chonglai and the Black Hand Mushrooms were still delayed on site, as it was necessary to further determine if there were any issues with the Mushroom Houses. Shell City was different from Jade City; without the people of the Mushroom Forest watching over, if the giant mushrooms underwent any abnormal changes or anything else unusual occurred, no one could accurately assess and manage the situation.

After confirming that the local soil and water would not affect the giant mushrooms and that the local residents were unimped over, Sun Chonglai further instructed the local mayor, Bei Jianxin, about the precautions regarding the mushrooms and continued to observe the situation.

Duke Beidu eventually provided Zhou Yi with the data that this typhoon disaster had caused 292 deaths, 41 people missing, more than 1,800 injuries, and over a quarter of the city's residences were unusable.

The port needed to be repaired, but the marine shellfish dams were intact, with only less than one-tenth of the shellfish remaining.

Both people and the economy suffered heavy losses.

After the disaster, continued heavy rain led to drainage blockages, causing backflow of wastewater and excrement, which resulted in secondary pollution and the spread of diseases. Fortunately, the city had doctors and medicines, quickly curbing the momentum of the infectious diseases.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Zhou, for your timely assistance."

Duke Beidu conveyed through Red Kestrel, "Facing such a level of natural disaster, quick responses can effectively reduce casualties. Shell City lacks experience in dealing with disasters of this scale, and severe weather conditions made it impossible to deliver supplies to our city. Thanks to Wasteland Development Company's full-scale support of personnel, technology, and materials this time."

"Doctor Feng Ying's experience played a significant role, enabling us to perform several emergency surgeries in a limited environment, saving the lives of 12 residents."

"Weapon Master and the samurai crabs went deep into the most dangerous areas, rescuing many people and giving them a new lease on life."

"And of course, Mr. Sun Chonglai. The Mushroom Forest team he led was an eye-opener for me. The technology of the Mushroom Houses stabilized the unrest in Shell City in a short time. The Mushroom Houses made post-disaster reconstruction much simpler and also prevented the public from panicking, avoiding secondary disasters."

"Just a token of appreciation, nothing significant."

Zhou Yi saw that Wasteland Development Company's account directly received an additional 20,000 Light Seeds.

Duke Beidu is so wealthy after all?

The other party said, "Mr. Zhou, this typhoon caused huge damage to Shell City, but it also triggered a natural geyser of Light Amber from the ocean..."

"So during the typhoon disaster, we were very short on manpower because we needed to stabilize and cover the Light Amber Mine, waiting for the Chuneng City Engineering Department members to arrive to avoid complications and massive losses. Your rescue team provided us with great help."

"Now Shell City has reached a formal agreement with Chuneng City to create mining operations and mineral lease trades at sea platforms. The Light Amber extracted from the sea floor will be purchased entirely by them."

"The agreement is set for 10 years, and after its expiration, a new agreement will be drawn up based on the mining situation."

"Although it's only a small mine, it's also enough for Shell City to solve its basic economic problems."

Only then did Zhou Yi realize.

So Duke Beidu had struck a mine and benefited from the disaster.

Light Amber and Light Soot are both core materials in Light Imprint Skill, but their values differ vastly.

The market price of Light Soot Sand is 1 gram/1 copper (5 grams), while the extracted Light Amber Oil is 1 milliliter/100 coppers, comparable to a gold mine, with a unit price 100 times that of the former.

Manufactured Light Amber requires a large amount of Light Amber Oil for purification and has high wastage, with a consistently high demand on the market.

Red Kestrel said, "Chuneng City's direct involvement in the mining operations indicates that the total output value of the mine exceeds 2 million Light Seeds."

"Excluding various losses and mining costs, Shell City can earn at least 30% profit from this Light Amber mine, which is a revenue of 600,000 Light Seeds. Converted to each year, that would be 60,000 Light Seeds in the account, and this is the most conservative estimate."

"The actual situation will only be higher. Usually, Chuneng City only directly purchases mining rights for the duration of the agreement, and the willingness to offer a bilateral contract indicates that this mine has either high quality or good yield."

Zhou Yi sighed internally.

He thought he was just supporting the disaster area, but the sea lord of the disaster area suddenly turned into a wealthy person.

Duke Beidu laid his cards out and dropped all pretenses.

I'm rich.

No wonder he issued disaster relief funds to everyone and even performed prosthetic replacement surgeries for the disaster victims for free.

With just under 50,000 people in Shell City, covering this level of welfare is too easy.

Not to mention anything else.

In terms of planning expenses, electromechanical life indeed has a knack for it.

From a positive point of view.

Now that Duke Beidu has this mine to replenish funds, he can last longer and be more motivated to fight desperately on the frontlines of the Honor War during the winter.

Eventually, Duke Beidu also said, "Mr. Zhou, I would like to purchase a large number of Mushroom Houses to use as backup housing and small storage facilities."

This posed a bit of a problem for Zhou Yi.

The pricing of the giant mushrooms was an issue.

For such a novel item, even Red Kestrel could not find a comparable standard.

Ultimately, Zhou Yi simply said, "I will have Sun Chonglai plant another batch of giant mushrooms there. However, these mushrooms require specific spatial requirements; they cannot be too densely planted and also have specific soil and water requirements."

"Mushroom Houses were originally developed to address disaster situations and meet basic housing needs. This is still a new technology under internal testing, and we hadn't considered profit issues."

"Don't worry about purchasing them; consider it our support in testing their real-life housing effectiveness."

Duke Beidu was silent for a moment.

"Mr. Zhou, this kind of unilateral gift does not comply with the principle of equivalent exchange."

The standards of electromechanical life still influenced him.

"Duke Beidu is ready to offer 300,000 Light Seeds." This was not a small sum.

The other party said, "I am a combat-class electromechanical life, having served in multiple cities. Wars destroy cities and towns, making such rapidly growing housing immensely valuable, especially in extreme environments."

"I have channels for this and can manage external sales."

"Furthermore, I believe Mushroom Houses hold great potential as a brand-new way to build cities, even just for Shell City's own use, it's extremely worthwhile."

Zhou Yi thought for a moment.

Expanding the cake together was also a good thing.

The Wasteland Development Company's projects were continuously increasing, yet manpower was stretched thin, necessitating more upstream and downstream follow-up, much like Jade Soup was to Coral Port. It was essential to expand the industrial chain and have more stakeholders involved for better focus on core areas.

Zhou Yi immediately nodded: "Okay."

"If that's the case, let's sign the agreement."

The other party was eager.

The electronic agreement stated, Shell City had obtained a long-term exclusive sales contract.

However, the final 50% ownership of the Light Pearl Mine that went to Zhou Yi was somewhat surprising.

This was linked to a confidentiality agreement—between Duke Beidu and the Chuneng City Mineral Department. It noted that Shell City's discovered Light Pearl Mine was estimated to produce 5.8 million Light Seeds in value.

Duke Beidu could take 30% of it as profit, accumulating 1.74 million Light Seeds over ten years.

Each year he could collect 174,000 Light Seeds.

Zhou Yi would receive 87,000 Light Seeds each year, the first year's share was immediately transferred to his account.

Duke Beidu said, "When the time is right, I will fully promote the Mushroom Houses. But let's start with Shell City first. I plan to build a new Mushroom City right next to the old Shell City, to first see how it goes. After optimizing and correcting it, we can gradually start selling externally."

Zhou Yi found this idea very pragmatic.

He immediately contacted Sun Chonglai through Duke Beidu to lead the construction there.

Bone Man said no problem but also requested more manpower.

Thus, Sea God sent another batch of Black Hand Mushrooms for support.

The rebuilding and transformation of Shell City had entered a new path.

...

Half a month passed.

After the initial craze for Mushroom Houses in Shell City, some of their flaws became evident.

Firstly, the giant mushrooms continued to grow, causing the Mushroom Houses to become taller and taller, leading residents to fall from heights if they were not careful when exiting.

Secondly, there was the issue of visibility. There was always no vent to see outside from within the houses, making them very enclosed, causing discomfort for many people and making it difficult for the city to notify every household.

Sun Chonglai addressed these issues one by one.

He had rope ladders added outside each Mushroom House to manage their height.

Where there were no windows, holes were dug into the giant mushroom surfaces and fitted with stone slabs. When needed, people inside could open the stone to look out, serving as a makeshift window. For those who could afford it, rhombic stones or glass were directly fitted.

Another problem was the uneven growth.

Some giant mushrooms were majestic and tower-like, even growing into small castles 20 meters high. However, others were feeble, stopping growth around 4 or 5 meters.

People always envy better conditions in others, looking at others' excellent Mushroom Houses with envy, feeling their own to be underdeveloped.

"This situation was beyond my expectations."

Bone Man Sun Chonglai scratched his head, using Duke Beidu's camera to report to Zhou Yi: "Chairman, locals are feeding the giant mushrooms all kinds of bizarre things."

"Some feed them shells, some feed them feces, others feed them seaweed and sludge... This also causes the varied growth in giant mushrooms, differing in color, height, and shape. The largest giant mushroom fortress houses an enhancer, who feeds it plenty of Energy Packs... Its size is big, it grows quickly, and its strength is high."

"They have a peculiar competitive mentality, which I can't manage."

Zhou Yi, however, considered it normal: "No worries, as long as the basic residential functions are proven fine."

"In that aspect, there are no problems."

Bone Man said, "Among the cultivated giant mushrooms, 4566 Mushroom Houses have confirmed owners and have been officially inhabited by local residents."

"The next step is to improve comfort and convenience."

With the promotion and testing in Shell City, the Mushroom House solutions became clearer and more complete.

...

Zhou Yi looked at the controller's screen.

The company's account now had over 250,000 Light Seeds.

The surge in profits from the logistics center, United City's spring operation advance payment, Wise Mushroom patents, Jade Soup dividends, Light Soot Sand sales, Mushroom Forest yields, and the half-mine from Duke Beidu all added up to a substantial amount.

As Zhou Yi pondered how to allocate this money, news came from the electromechanical mouse Nemo.

"Chairman, after 21 days, the sand rats and coal shell bugs have successfully produced a batch of offspring, all of them healthy."

"These mixed-breed offspring can operate on land and in the Dead Sea, are sensitive to Death Light, have some intelligence, and have very strong endurance, very premium!"

Amphibious mice?

Zhou Yi immediately rushed over.

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