Asking Cheng Ye's opinion was nothing more than an unintentional act by Towns.

From the very beginning, he never hoped to get any constructive advice from this Intern Inspector, who had been sheltered in the Inner City since birth and had never set foot in the Wilderness.

But Cheng Ye's response at the moment brought him some surprise, some unexpectedness, and a bit of...

Being in a dilemma.

Instinctively, he felt that if he gave Cheng Ye more information and showed him all the intelligence gathered so far, perhaps he could come up with a more actionable plan.

But rules are rules; the information in hand is only accessible to Second-Phase Inspectors, let alone Cheng Ye, the Intern Inspector.

It was only because Ding Yishan had already pushed him into the spotlight that he was even allowed to know about this issue.

"Have a seat over there; there's black tea and coffee on the table. Feel free to make yourself a drink."

Towns pointed to the guest area, indicating Cheng Ye to sit down.

Then he stared at the documents on the table for more than ten minutes, sometimes writing furiously, sometimes pausing in thought.

In the end, he crumpled the written sheet into a ball and tossed it angrily into the trash bin beside him.

It wouldn't work.

Dazhang dared to poach Double Moon Lake because they had Rainbow Light Shelter City backing them.

It is an industrial-type Shelter City, no weaker in size than Happiness City, but it took the wrong path in its early years, focusing solely on the development of new forms of energy, abandoning the industrial foundation of the old era completely to carve out a new path.

It wasn't until recent years that it realized its missteps and started frantically mending its shortcomings, grabbing people and technology everywhere, and drawing in small and large settlements as raw material bases.

Behind this was the impending shift in the entire Wasteland's dynamics.

During the first ten years of the New Era, humanity could only tremble within Shelter Cities, sealing off everything, trying to develop the basics as much as possible.

From ten to twenty-eight years, expansion began gradually.

Pioneering teams, exploration camps, and various small and large regiments emerged like weeds, scrambling for all available territories and marking all scavengeable resources.

All local Shelter Cities began to develop rapidly, but as time passed, they exhausted almost all new forces and were forced to enter a rest period.

So far, the rest period has lasted seven years.

If nothing unexpected occurs, it will take at least another five to ten years to start the next round of major expansion.

However, some Shelter Cities could not resist jumping the gun early, hoping to pave the way for a new round of expansion before other Shelter Cities catch on.

If Happiness City responds in the way Cheng Ye suggested, Rainbow Light Shelter City will not sit idly by.

At that time, the two Shelter Cities would inevitably clash at Double Moon Lake.

This is not the outcome the top echelons of Happiness City currently wish to see; continuing to accumulate strength is what the rest period should actually focus on.

After all, losing one Double Moon Lake, Happiness City still has hundreds of other settlements capable of supplying nutrient paste raw materials.

Even if all these settlements defected, the accumulated foundation of Happiness City is sufficient to maintain supplies for at least one million people for over two years.

These two years would be more than enough for the troops to sweep through the surrounding defected settlements.

"Your response was excellent; you can score 80 points."

Towns leaned back in his chair, turned to face Cheng Ye head-on.

"And this excellence is not just based on an Intern Inspector's standards. Even if you were a Second-Phase Inspector, eligible to see more intelligence, and you reached these conclusions, I'd still give you this score."

This was an old man who loved to give people scores.

But it wasn't exactly an annoying habit.

At least in Cheng Ye's eyes, Towns had a clear set of standards, far better than those who practiced double standards.

"However, as I said, it's impossible to show you, an Intern Inspector, the specific intelligence, but I can tell you, your idea just now won't work."

"It won't work, but in fact, we don't need to do anything; we just need to stall for some time, and Double Moon Lake will fail on its own," Cheng Ye responded.

"Hmm?"

Towns paused, raised an eyebrow, and put on an expression that said, go on, I'm listening.

"I don't know the exact process of how nutrient paste raw materials are produced, but when an agricultural-type settlement reaches a certain stage, it will inevitably transition towards an industrial settlement, bearing dreams of becoming a Shelter City. But as a trading partner, we surely don't want to see another Shelter City rising, which means the stakes we need to invest would only keep increasing."

"The longer they remain in the agricultural stage, the more advantageous it is for us."

Cheng Ye tentatively said, his gaze unconsciously falling on Towns' face, yet he couldn't catch any extraneous expression.

Combining this with the promise Towns made earlier, he immediately had a judgment in his heart, growing bolder.

"In the absence of being able to offer more stakes from our side, at this moment, Double Moon Lake will need to face a tough decision."

"Seeking internal solutions, continuing cooperation with us at Happiness City while finding ways to develop its own industry, not pinning hopes on non-existent support, and stabilizing its foundation."

"Seeking external solutions, trying to turn an output initially valued at 1 into a value of 10 by hopping back and forth between various forces, thereby developing to the same level as these forces."

Once Cheng Ye finished speaking, Towns' expression indeed changed slightly, growing more solemn and heavy.

Though he concealed it well, in the blink of an eye, he returned to tranquility again.

"Continue."

"Double Moon Lake chose to seek external solutions, fully exposing its ambition; they don't want to be trapped in the agricultural stage and crave further advancement. At this point, Dazhang approached them, telling Double Moon Lake that we can support you, not only offering better prices for your nutrient paste but also providing what you want, helping you develop to our scale."

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