Central Desert Oasis, New Steel City

The Beast Tide will not attack just one place. The reason the main direction is toward Automobile City is because it's too close to the Metropolitan Area and can easily break into the Radiation Beast's base camp.

But aside from Automobile City, there are also three other oases, all within this Beast Tide's attack range.

Once these four oases are breached, the next time, the Beast Tide will target the surrounding eight oases, and the time after that, it will be the entire Central Desert.

It's like the spread of cancer cells, if blocked early, a life can be saved, but if not blocked, it becomes difficult to save in the late stage.

If the entire central area becomes Genetic Territory, needless to say, those two A-level Radiation Beasts will undoubtedly upgrade to S-level.

At that time, our Major General Xiao Tong will only be able to flee by plane, just like the normal timeline.

...

What's different about New Steel City compared to the other oases is that other oases are just place names, at most with some landmark buildings; but New Steel City is a bona fide fortified city.

It's not a rapid-build architectural cluster printed with 3D printing technology, but a small steel fortress that has been passed down from the Civilization Era.

This fortress is the Empire's legacy, and within it is the Empire's arsenal.

In front of a helipad in the fortress, Dong Li, along with a group of oasis officials, were waiting, each with a complex expression.

At this moment, a nuclear-powered helicopter was slowly descending onto the helipad.

As the cabin door slowly opened, a man and two women walked out. The man had a strong aura; with a single glance, everyone felt as if they were being stared down by a prehistoric beast, as if life was in danger at any moment.

The last time they had this feeling was with the Demon Mountain.

Dong Li approached with a complex look on his face, "Welcome to your inspection, Consultant.

That's right, Gao Gong had been promoted again, leaping from an ordinary military consultant, crossing Intermediate and Advanced, directly to a special military consultant, rank — Quasi-General.

Simply put, Gao Gong was now in the position previously held by the Demon Mountain.

"Chief of Staff Dong, we meet again," Gao Gong gracefully helped the ponytail girl down before speaking.

"Yes, we meet again," Dong Li replied with a sighing tone.

As the saying goes, after three days of not seeing someone, you should take a fresh look at them; he had perfected this.

The first meeting, he thought of the other as a green rookie, the second meeting, he felt the other had potential, and by the third meeting, the other had parachuted in as his superior.

Gao Gong smiled and pushed Du Zhaodi forward, "From now on, Director Du is my plenipotentiary representative; she will be responsible for all defense work of New Steel City, including military production."

Du Zhaodi was unceremonious, "I will transfer some technical backbones from the Equipment Research Institute to help. I must say, compared to the factories, your production efficiency is really too low."

Dong Li was slightly taken aback.

A new official takes charge; it's not surprising for them to let people monitor the work.

However, from her words, it seemed he didn't plan to stay here?

As if seeing through the other's thoughts, Gao Gong candidly stated, "I have to inspect another oasis later, no time to linger in one place for long."

"What, any objections?"

"No, no dare."

What followed was a series of inspection work. Du Zhaodi's gaze was sharp, and she was firing on all cylinders. There was no room for small actions; even on many technical issues, these mid-high level supervisors gradually couldn't answer.

As one of the few oases with weapon production capability, New Steel City inherited the Empire's military industry. However, the military standards of the past and the current weapon standards differ, causing many machines to shut down, leading to a great waste of production.

Dong Li's face gradually turned grim.

According to Director Du's statement, even if a bit of effort was spent to repurpose these devices, production capacity could at least double.

How foolish!

Dong Li completely ignored that he was also part of the foolishness, the largest part in fact.

Watching the managers being scolded like grandchildren by Du Zhaodi, Gao Gong quietly pulled Chief of Staff Dong aside to a place where they could talk quietly.

"Director Dong, how are those two new pieces of equipment working out?"

"Very good," even though his feelings were complex toward Gao Gong, Dong Li only had praise for the [Open Virtual Projection] and [Manual Nerve Disruptor] equipment.

"I have plenty more equipment like these; have you considered collaborating?" Gao Gong paused. "I mean privately, are you interested?"

Dong Li perked up, quickly said: "Interested, very interested, please tell me more."

Working for others is never as good as being your own boss.

The reason why New Steel City's military production is so poor is, firstly, the managers' indeed low competence, and secondly, Director Dong is busy making money for himself and barely manages.

Gao Gong did hold many quality blueprints. [Quadruped Robot], [Microcomputer Tiger], [Tactile Nerve Flow Enhancer], such weapon equipment was gradually not keeping pace with him.

And there was a category of equipment with a peculiar style, [Happy Shaking Stick], [Advanced Neural Massage Chair], [Human Pleasure Manipulator].

Though their names seem odd, their technology content is not low, and if these could be sold in Nightless City, the money earned might even exceed weapon blueprints.

No matter how large the weapon market is, it's still niche; no one likes constant warfare, the LSP market is the real mainstream.

These retired, quirky pieces of equipment, Gao Gong plans to outsource them, and invest the earned money in the development of high-tech products.

After all, even if a high-level blueprint were achieved, without the corresponding advanced equipment and production line, nothing could be made.

In his eyes, New Steel City is an excellent outsourcing candidate.

As for sales channels, he intends to use the Dark Net.

A philosopher once said that the world isn't about fighting and killing; it's about human relations.

When Dong Li and Gao Gong returned together, Director Dong was all smiles, with a spring in his step and joy in his heart, as if he'd just been to a spa.

His attitude towards Gao Gong changed as well, no longer mixed with fearful apprehension, but overly attentive, like a simp.

This surprised the other high-level executives, as Director Dong was known for his temper and strictness.

Du Zhaodi did not notice the strange behavior of these two men, as she had shed her indifference and was warmly chatting with an old worker.

Judging by his appearance, this mechanical worker was at least over 60 years old. His right hand was an old-fashioned mechanical hand, without fingers, replaced by a dozen precision machining tools implanted.

He must be a worker from the Imperial Era, as most precision machining in factories is now done by unmanned robotic arms.

From Du Zhaodi's attitude, the old worker's technical skills must be quite high.

The old worker stood upright, neither servile nor overbearing, exuding a rare civilized aura.

Such an aura is seldom seen in the frenzied, brutal Radiation Zone.

"That old stubborn one again. If only they weren't the only ones who knew how to handle those old machines, we would've fired them long ago," complained a manager.

"Are there many such old stubborn ones?" Gao Gong touched his chin, suddenly very interested.

"Consultant, you're not planning to recruit them, are you?" the middle manager was startled. "These people are single-minded, proud of their skills, and we can't even convince them."

"Is that so."

Ordinary people can't persuade them, but what about me, an 'Imperial Descendant'?

With the blood of the former emperor, determined to restore the nation, recruiting some technicians to accomplish this feat sounds plausible, right?

What was the former emperor's name again?

...

Pressed for time, Gao Gong only conducted a brief inspection before preparing to leave.

The real work would have to be done by the ponytail girl.

At the helipad, Gao Gong looked at Du Zhaodi, then at Daisila, and said very seriously, "Protect her well."

"Unless I die first!" Daisila replied in a deep voice.

The nuclear-powered helicopter quickly turned into a small black dot in the sky.

Du Zhaodi, with a spirited and valiant demeanor, rolled up her sleeves.

"Let's go, Daisila, we must get into work mode."

...

Gao Gong's next target was an oasis called "Entertainment City," a name not suitable for children. In its Civilization Era, it was a red-light district.

Like in New Steel City, Gao Gong conducted a brief inspection and left, not staying to learn foreign languages, but instead requisitioning a large amount of sensory equipment.

These devices were to be sent to his next destination.

This place was not the final Horse Field Oasis.

As a rare oasis where the Scavenger tribe and Mechanical Hunter coexisted harmoniously, Gao Gong found that sending Little Woman, a tribe elder, was more convincing.

Cowboy Apu would assist her. He was the son of a major ranch owner in Horse Field and quite famous locally.

Their task was simple, recruit soldiers.

Countering the Beast Tide was one aspect, but using the pretext of combating the Beast Tide to expand his forces was what Gao Gong was more focused on.

Gao Gong soon arrived at his destination.

A very unremarkable motel, surrounded by barbed wire, about five football fields in size. In front was a gas station, behind, a flea market.

In front, five dirty large trucks were parked, with bloodstains on the tires.

These oasis stopovers between oases were generally operated by independent owners with some force, the better ones having weapon shops, bars, prosthetic modification salons, the latter humorously referred to by Mechanical Hunters as "hair salons."

The lesser ones only offered basic food and drink services.

This "Wilder Motel" was mid-range, with a car repair point and a weapons shop, but no entertainment facilities.

Since the war began, it has housed many Radiation Beast carcass remnants.

The deranged Biological Warriors also were transported here after the battle.

Including members of the Biological Mutation Association, who arrived even before Gao Gong.

Oh, and there's an orange cat too.

The orange cat was even fatter than when last seen.

Since Gao Gong killed Demon Mountain and news spread, the orange cat felt the sky was falling.

How could such a wealthy patron suddenly turn into a rebel?

It hadn't even been paid yet!!

Feeling life was void of hope, it turned its grief into appetite, binge eating and drinking, gaining over a dozen pounds in just a few days.

It waddled over to Gao Gong, trembling and jiggling with fat, distilling all its myriad emotions into one word.

"Meow~~"

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