Chapter 164: Chapter 164 Beastman Mercenaries
The border between the two tribes.
A piece of information emerged.
[Terghai, the ruler of the Ter Tribe of the Taru Race, hereby provides 2,155 warriors as mercenaries, for a period not exceeding one week, no less than two days]
[Mercenaries should]:
- Fully obey the employer
- Be allowed to work and earn remuneration
- Receive food and care
- Be equipped by the provider
[If there are any deaths among the mercenaries, the employer should provide appropriate compensation, to be discussed then!]
Lin Yi stroked his chin and asked, "Hmm... where will they live?"
"In your area?" Terghai thought for a moment before answering.
"Then they need to bring their own tents."
"Alright, I agree!"
"I agree too!"
[You have successfully hired mercenaries]
The Beastman Lord smiled with satisfaction.
He replied, "Um... can you give us some ore first? Otherwise, our Blacksmith will have nothing to do..."
"I’ll arrange for your young people to work today. Of the things they scavenge, one-tenth will go to you. There will be plenty to scavenge, don’t worry."
"Great!"
Lin Yi and Terghai finalized the details, and soon after, an orc army arrived...
To be precise, this was an army composed of young Beastmen.
They were shorter and slimmer than full-grown Beastman Warriors, about 2 meters tall, with shoulders broader than those of ordinary humans, eyes filled with innocence and endless curiosity.
None of them wore Armor, dressed in tattered rags, wielding basic swords and axes.
But all their Weapons were System Equipment forged by Beastman Blacksmiths, mostly at Level 2.
Leading them was an elite warrior clad in Fine Steel Armor. He also had a Negotiation Board, allowing Beastmen and humans to communicate with each other.
"Lord Lin Yi! I am Ter Liu, now at your command!" the Beastman replied in writing, placing his right hand on the center of his chest as a gesture of greeting.
Lin Yi nodded, "Welcome, you and your mercenaries, set up the tents and then start working."
"Yes!"
The Beastman Ter Liu shouted something, and the young Beastmen immediately began setting up tents, digging toilets, hauling things, busy with various chores.
Soon after, Solomon appeared.
Lin Yi handed him the Negotiation Board and explained the situation, then returned to Laon.
The old leader of the camp had been waiting there for half an hour, his hair looking messed up.
Lin Yi appeared out of thin air, smiling awkwardly.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, something very important just came up."
"Oh, it’s alright, old people are usually very patient, and I am no exception." The old man smiled courteously, showing great composure.
But according to Melanie’s report, she had been observing him, and the old man clearly hated waiting...
During the past half hour, he had been nervously tapping his fingers, silently cursing for fifteen minutes.
"My newly hired subordinates will be here soon, you need to make sure people don’t get scared. In the meantime, take me to see those shipping companies you told me about."
The old man nodded in confusion and led Lin Yi to the nearest shipping company.
There was a pile of — trucks!
These trucks were used to transport agricultural products since the town was once surrounded by farms.
However, now, the once vast fields of wheat and grain have turned into wilderness overgrown with tall wild grass.
At this point, the old man extended an invitation.
"Would you like to see the town’s most famous landmark, the world-famous Laon Cathedral?"
"No thanks, I’m never interested in that kind of thing, you’d better take me to see the airport?"
"Alright then..."
The two quickly arrived at the airport.
But Lin Yi found it was a wasted effort.
This didn’t count as a real airport, just a small runway for parachuting planes and agricultural planes to take off and land.
There weren’t even planes, just some parts and a pile of scrap metal.
"Let’s go to the railway station!"
"Okay." The old man nodded.
Then the two boarded the expensive Mercedes and headed to the railway station.
On the way, they passed an observation post.
This was a converted signal tower, with a sharp-eyed person holding a pair of binoculars on top.
There were several of these towers in this area.
Their primary function was to alert the people of Laon to the approach of outsiders or Zombie hordes.
At this moment, Solomon said over the radio.
"We’re ready, boss."
"As soon as I’m in place, I’ll teleport you over."
Twenty minutes later.
Inside the railway station.
Lin Yi asked with a smile, "What do you think?"
"Boss, this is amazing!" Solomon replied with a beaming smile.
The railway station had four trains, roughly sixty freight carriages, and a large number of freight containers, all made of metal.
And most importantly, there were tracks!
At this moment, two thousand frenzied Beastman are dismantling these iron tracks.
Before being sent to this unfamiliar world, the young ones had been told that a tenth of what they scavenged would belong to the tribe.
Initially, they were a bit uneasy, but upon seeing the vast iron tracks and hearing they were made of ore, they were almost delirious with excitement.
These mercenaries can temporarily be granted certain functions of the Shelter, so they can transport scavenged items to designated locations.
The old leader of Laon silently watched all this, finally mustering the courage to speak.
"Sir... what are these... creatures? Mutants?"
"Hmm... maybe they are mutants, or they may have just naturally evolved this way. They are not Earth creatures, but they will do as I say."
"Alright then..."
While the Beastman busied themselves dismantling the tracks, people from the Shelter’s "Recycler" organization moved around the town.
More precisely, they were active in specific critical areas—
the construction company, shipping company, prison, and several other valuable places.
They didn’t touch anything outside these areas, so progress was swift.
The harvest was also quite impressive!
Over two hundred trucks, more than twenty tractors, other farming machinery, over six hundred metal containers, sixty freight carriages, four trains.
There was also an entire warehouse of construction materials and countless small items.
The Beastman worked tirelessly, as if possessed, because after all, this steel could make their tribe stronger.
To them, it was more important than life itself.
For this reason, they worked madly, until the sun set...
Hmm, they also looked utterly exhausted.
It’s not surprising—they scavenged twenty-nine thousand tons of pure steel in one day!
Lin Yi never imagined how heavy the tracks were. But a 12-meter long track weighs about 1500 jin, in other words, one and a half tons.
A few Beastman could run up to the tracks, pull them out from the ground, and then transport them to the base in less than five minutes...
The total weight of all trains and containers was also astonishing, not to mention the trucks...
But these were all pure steel, which could be welded into whatever they wanted. If not for the Beastman, Lin Yi would never have considered scavenging the tracks.
While the Beastman worked, Lin Yi took a trip southeast, about 120 kilometers away to Champagne Chalon.
On the way, he passed a relatively large city, Lance, but according to the Angel Gang, it was a dead city.
A Zombie leader had appeared there, killing all survivors, and its zombie horde still haunted the city.
No one knew why these undead refused to leave, but Lin Yi had no interest in finding out, so he bypassed the devastated city.
On the way to Champagne Chalon.
He encountered a large group of zombies.
Bum rush mode was extremely useful here!
He cut through the zombie horde like a hot knife through butter, gaining 27 Experience Points in addition to dismembering fifty other infected.
However, in the process, his Shield lost 38 units of energy, dashing his hopes of farming Experience with this method...
Upon reaching his destination, under Melanie’s guidance, Lin Yi quickly found some vineyards and grapevines.
Immanuel and several people with relevant Skills were transported over.
They easily found high-quality grapevines overgrown with weeds, brewing equipment, and intact wine barrels, though empty.
Everyone began to replant the grapes with cautious enthusiasm.
But Lin Yi, upon receiving a system notification, immediately stopped them.
[Grapes have been received and successfully acclimatized, grape seeds will now appear in the store!]
Grapes weren’t even expensive, a small bag was 50 Coin, a large bag 800 Coin.
After selecting a suitable place for his new vineyard, Lin Yi constructed 40 plots, each six acres large.
Then he and Louis and the engineers managed to transport usable equipment over, but...
Only biological entities could work in these fields.
[Unless the Shelter Level is raised...]
This system notification instantly shattered his hopes of establishing a factory farm in the short term...
However, the French love wine, and many people approached the foreman, expressing their willingness to drop everything and start planting grapes immediately.
Lin Yi was amazed by their enthusiasm.
The grape fields were plowed and planted in no time.
Lin Yi spent 64,000 Coin on the fields and 32,000 Coin on seeds, only to find it wasn’t as cheap as he thought.
The seed instructions were lengthy, but the experienced winemakers knew what to do...
[Field 9]
-Crop: Special Grapes
-Planting Efficiency: 100%
-Irrigation Efficiency: 100%
-Crops will mature in: 7.3 days
...
After handling the grape matters, Lin Yi went to find the Beastman Lord and elders, who were overjoyed with the precious ores they collected.
Lin Yi thought about it and showed them the Space-Time Filter, asking for their opinion.
[Space-Time Filter, First Level]
A unique device not sold in the store, only found in treasure chests or received as a reward for completing quests.
The device can extract energy from the Sea of Space-Time and channel it into the Shelter.
[It has three modes]:
Mode 1: Increases mana recovery speed within a certain area, this mode increases the Space-Time detection radius by 10-1000%.
Mode 2: Supplies energy to the Shelter, enhancing the Life Force of springs and soil, this mode increases the Space-Time detection radius by 50-2000%.
Mode 3: Generates an Energy Core, this mode increases the Space-Time detection radius by 10-200%.
[After installing the device, you can view detailed descriptions of each mode]...