The true value of many things can only be seen after the test of time.

Lord Sha Hai had always wanted to apply for a Jade City, which would effectively intimidate the various factions with ulterior motives within the city. However, Zhou Yi did not agree.

Unexpectedly, a Big Buddha appeared sitting outside the city.

This stone Buddha looked solemn and majestic. It neither raised its hand nor moved its foot to destroy formidable enemies with force, nor did it have practical value for living, making it quite superfluous.

But as time went on, Lord Sha Hai gradually discovered.

The Big Buddha had a magical ability to attract various residents towards it, especially those filled with hatred and murderous intent.

These individuals would involuntarily come to the side of the Big Buddha, among them were not a few criminals who had fled from other cities, and local residents planning crimes—all under the surveillance of Mayor Chen Jiadong.

Once they arrived at the side of the Big Buddha, they became calmer and more peaceful, significantly reducing their aggressive behavior.

According to statistics from Mayor Chen Jiadong,

"Last year, the per capita crime cost in our city was 2221 mushrooms, with the per capita loss cost for violent crimes exceeding 2000 mushrooms, and the per capita loss cost for property crime at 198 mushrooms. Violent crimes accounted for 15% of the total number of crimes and caused the highest amount of loss in our city."

"Since the Big Buddha came to the outskirts of Sand Port City, in these half-year, the city's per capita crime cost has dropped to 88 mushrooms per month, which is equivalent to an annual per capita crime loss cost of 1056 mushrooms, a 50% reduction from before. During the entire six months, the number of violent crimes was less than 10% of last year's."

"In short, our city's crime rate has decreased by 50%, and the security situation has greatly improved."

"Among them, there is certainly the positive impact of the sustained economic development, but the reduction in violent crime cannot be separated from the role of the Big Buddha. Many of the captured criminals believe that they should repent more at the side of the Big Buddha and not persist in their solitary ways."

Chen Jiadong continued, "By filtering the crowd that regularly gathers around the Big Buddha, we have identified 7 internal spies who are counterinsurgent agents of Duke Destructive, including merchants, craftsmen, scavengers, ship workers, and farming team farmers. They have been continuously providing various intelligence about Sand Port City."

"They go to the Big Buddha to seek comfort and peace of mind."

"Now the citizens are accustomed to strolling and praying around the Big Buddha, it is very safe there, and they can also see the Buddha's light."

The Leshan Buddha merely sitting there has the power to influence and radiate into Sand Port City, reducing crime rates and enhancing the confidence of the people.

Lord Sha Hai was completely convinced.

No wonder Zhou Yi arranged for a stone Buddha to be placed there.

Compared to Jade City, which intimidated petty criminals, the Big Buddha fundamentally reduced security risks.

Especially after the war started, Shell City and Steel Refining City were heavily bombed, and the sea was also blocked by Duke Destructive's fleet, reducing the range of activities. The Sand Port Region behind the lines was not quiet either.

Infiltration, penetration, and counterinsurgency had become a covert battle in Sand Port City without the smoke of gunpowder.

Among the immigrants who came by boat, there were spies sent by Duke Destructive.

The merchants who had been swaying before now included a part that had turned into the capitulating faction, which had early connections with the more powerful Duke Destructive Army and acted as internal accomplices on this side.

A minority of human soldiers were also turned by the enemy, ready to provide help at critical moments.

Chen Jiadong's "Drum Snails" had heard much of such secret dealings.

Lord Sha Hai's strategy was to execute those in extreme circumstances directly, and the rest were thrown into prison—after all, labor was precious, and these people still had to continue building new prison holes.

But it was clear that they could never catch them all.

As long as this battle wasn't over, Duke Destructive would continue to turn and plant agents.

After all, most lifeforms have a trait of admiring strength; they always tend to side with the strong as just.

Only by defeating the opponent can this problem be fundamentally solved.

Just win.

All problems could be solved easily.

...

However, now there was a slight problem with this security Big Buddha.

Its Buddha light was rapidly fading, with many Light Absorption Monsters flying into the Dead Sea, and the light on the protectors was also disappearing—a very odd situation.

Lord Sha Hai gazed at the dim Big Buddha in the distance and asked Chen Guodong beside him, "How is the progress with the bridge over at the company?"

Chen Guodong bowed his head and said, "That bridge extends from Jade City toward the farmland. Two days ago, I went there to talk about the refugee issue and asked Cao Dayuan."

"Cao Dayuan said, the bridge is for vehicle use. The first phase plans to connect to Chicken Head Town, and the second phase will extend from Chicken Head Town to our side of Sand Port City."

Lord Sha Hai, tugging at his beard with his claw, mused, "With Jade Avenue, why spend a large amount of resources to build a land bridge? But since Mr. Zhou is personally handling this matter, it must not be simple. I'll make a trip to the company. Take care of things here."

"Yes, my lord."

Now that Lord Sha Hai had recovered his health, it plunged into the Dead Sea and quickly headed for its destination.

Before long,

Yalong Bay, on the pier.

Lord Sha Hai stood upright again on land, then walked past this coastal structure and saw from afar, behind the buildings of Jade City, a tall and wide bridge stretching out from the housing complex.

Arriving outside the elevated bridge, it found Zhou Yi eating a pot of steaming food under the bridge, accompanied by Cao Dayuan, Gong Zheng, Zheng Tao, and Yuan Tong.

They were engaged in conversation.

Lord Sha Hai suddenly found himself in a bit of a dilemma.

Should it join them, it might intrude on a private company discussion, but waiting around seemed awkward.

Zhou Yi, however, noticed it from a distance.

He stood up and enthusiastically smiled, "Lord Sha Hai, come, join us for hot pot. Come on, one more set of bowls and chopsticks is no trouble."

So Lord Sha Hai nodded and joined them.

Zhou Yi handed it a bowl and a long fork, "Help yourself with the dipping sauce, we have both strong and mild flavors. Actually, this hot pot tastes quite good even without the dips."

Lord Sha Hai, imitating the others, fished out a chunk of meat with the fork from the big pot, stirred it in a little red dish, and took a big bite.

After a few gulps, it found tears streaming down its face, feeling as if its mouth was on fire, and its vision began to blur.

It was finished.

"There's poison in it!"

The Lord Sha Hai began to cough violently.

Zhou Yi immediately handed him a can of drink, "Here, have some plum juice, it helps with the spice."

After chugging the drink for a while, the Lord Sha Hai came back to life, but his rear end was still burning in pain.

"What kind of food is this... It's terrifying."

It eyed the hot pot with bubbling red oil, its voice hoarse.

"Hot pot is like this, actually, this is just mildly spicy."

Zhou Yi said with a smile, "You should eat from the white pot, the one over there."

With his guidance, the Lord Sha Hai noticed another pot nearby. The soup inside was much clearer, stewed with mushrooms and bones.

It tried to pick up a piece of the bone with a fork, dipped it in some salt and spice powder, and tasted a small bite.

This is good!

So, everyone started to enjoy the hot pot together, talking about this culinary culture from the Divine Era.

After eating for a while, the Lord Sha Hai suddenly remembered the official business it had come for and immediately stated its purpose.

Zhou Yi was scalding a slice of meat, and he said, "The road built by the dam itself has quite a few flaws. For example, it's too close to the Dead Sea, and when the load increases further, the structure is likely to suffer damage and instability, and there's also the problem with the narrowness of the road."

"When the transportation volume goes up, we will still need specialized road traffic."

He explained, "Wuhu Elevated Bridge is a living structure, as you can see, it has the ability to self-repair and extend, a professional in transportation functions."

"It can boost various vehicles, keeping their speed within a certain range... even the slowest car can accelerate to 50 kilometers per hour with its features."

The Lord Sha Hai asked, "All vehicles can?"

"Everything goes. Theoretically, even a camel cart would work, but that would break the camel. A continual 50 kilometers per hour speed demands specific quality from the wheels, so it's best to choose enhanced cars. The enhanced cars from Human Cities should have no problem."

The Lord Sha Hai finally heard the key point, its eyes suddenly widening, "Energy, it practically doesn't use energy!"

"Right."

Zhou Yi chuckled, "Think about it, if enhanced cars almost don't use Energy Packs on this road... isn't that quite appealing?"

That's extremely appealing!

The Lord Sha Hai's mind raced with calculations.

Every sea lord knew, buying a car is cheap, but maintaining it is difficult.

Take the small enhanced car for example, just like a small boat, it consumes 1 Energy Pack per 12 hours. Convenient, yes, but the ongoing expense is significant.

Thus, the vehicle reserves in the cities were very limited.

On the same length of road, if the road condition is poor, the Energy Pack consumption would be even greater.

A small enhanced car made by the Craftsmen Light Seal was at least 10 Light Seeds at its cheapest.

That is to say, if a car runs for 6 hours a day, it would consume the cost of the car itself in 200 days.

Besides that, enhanced cars also need to be driven out regularly, or issues with aging Light Seals and malfunctions could occur.

Running on the elevated bridge between Sand Port City and Jade City, that expense could be almost entirely spared.

The transportation cost could save 10 Light Seeds per year for each car!

Cars can run as much as they like, completely for free!

This meant all goods could be circulated in the Sand Port Region with almost zero transportation cost.

For a moment, the Lord Sha Hai found its breathing quicken.

"Mr. Zhou, how soon can the elevated bridge be finished?"

Zhou Yi, nibbling on a chicken carcass, mumbled indistinctly, "Given the current progress, we can connect to Chicken Head Town within a month, and to extend further to Sand Port City will take about two and a half more months."

"Can it be done any faster? The sooner this facility is completed, the bigger the advantage."

The other party said helplessly, "A living structure also needs time to repair and expand; this is already as fast as it gets."

The Lord Sha Hai also came to its senses.

Indeed.

If it were building a road, it may not be done from Chicken Head Town to Jade City even in one or two years.

The construction and expansion of the elevated bridge was already miraculously fast.

The Lord Sha Hai asked, "Should I start buying enhanced cars now?"

"Mhm, I will also order some vehicles on my end."

Zhou Yi nodded, "But not too many, we should still go by the actual situation, after all, there are only 40,000 people in our area."

"I understand."

The Lord Sha Hai couldn't help but smile, "Actually, the population of the Sand Port Region is currently increasing significantly. According to the latest statistics from Sand Port City, there are already over 47,000 residents... but the frontline battles are still very challenging."

"Old Sha, this war relies on logistics support; it's not something that can be concluded in a short time. We have to ensure that Shell City and Steel Refining City have plenty of basic materials. The better our development, the more stable our front-line warriors will be, the more confident they are, the more boldly they will fight."

The Lord Sha Hai profoundly agreed.

Zhou Yi was about to say something else, but suddenly his face showed a strange expression.

"I need to take care of something first, you guys continue to enjoy."

The Hunter descended rapidly, and Zhou Yi boarded it and soared up into the air.

Only then did the Lord Sha Hai remember, it had forgotten to mention the anomaly of the Big Buddha.

Feeling annoyed with itself, it could only continue eating hot pot while waiting for Zhou Yi's return.

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