Chapter 26: Goblins and Rolls‑Royce

He then looked at the second piece of intelligence. A small oilfield that hadn’t been discovered. Oilfields are rare resources in the wilderness, and the petroleum they produce can be processed into fuel in a production workshop, which is the most vital energy source for a Mobile City. Additionally, if oil can be processed into plastic. The premise is that you must have the blueprint for plastic. The third piece of intelligence surprised Li Ye a bit. “This Vanguard once defeated two Mobile Cities in a one‐on‐two fight, and now it’s easily beaten a Predatory City—their strength must have surged again.” he murmured. Even more unexpected to him was that the Vanguard had captured a tier‐2 item. For a tier‐1 Mobile City, acquiring a tier‐2 item meant a tremendous upgrade. Li Ye was intensely curious what that tier‐2 item was. The fourth piece of intelligence. A monster civilization had already emerged. Countless monsters roam the wasteland; some live together in human form and some even form entire monster civilizations. Typically, the strength of a monster civilization is terrifying. However, Li Ye didn’t care much about this—after all, his Tomorrow was only just getting started and he had no capacity to deal with a monster civilization. He then read the fifth piece of intelligence. Deep in Thunder Canyon, a bounty hunter accidentally obtained a tier‐1 flying vehicle. A tier‐1 flying vehicle! A flash of fanatic excitement appeared in Li Ye’s eyes. A flying vehicle is hugely useful—it can scout ahead, carry machine‐guns and bombs, and fire fiercely during combat. As for the sixth piece of intelligence, it made his heart pound wildly. He didn’t expect yet another wild BOSS to appear. Glos Mine—the same place where Azure had once fallen. More importantly...there was a tier‐1 city‐promotion blueprint in the storage room of Glos Mine! A heavy seriousness appeared in Li Ye’s eyes. No matter what, he had to seize it. But with Tomorrow’s current strength, a large resource point defended by monsters plus a wild BOSS—it was impossible to take it alone. They could only, as before, form a united assault with Azure and Conqueror. The tier‐2 item dropped by this wild BOSS wasn’t of interest to Li Ye, but the storage‐room key it dropped was something he absolutely needed! After all, the benefits of upgrading to a tier‐2 city were immense! First, a tier‐2 Mobile City has five times the space of a tier‐1 one, meaning far more living space and farmland, and can support a larger population. It can also store much more resources and sustain itself longer! Second, while a tier‐1 Mobile City can hold and use tier‐2 items, its production workshop cannot unlock or produce them—it must upgrade to tier‐2 to gain production rights for tier‐2 items. It’s much like a “prestige upgrade” in a game. As for the seventh piece—the epic‐grade intel—it would still require waiting, as always. Li Ye nodded involuntarily, acknowledging the value of such epic intelligence—it truly was very useful. He soon made his decision. First, he would rush to Thunder Canyon to claim that tier‐1 flying vehicle from the bounty hunter. Then he would head to the Rotting Lands to mine the small oilfield. After that, he’d join Azure and Conqueror in a combined assault on Glos Mine. A dozen minutes later, Tomorrow roared to life, passed through the opened giant gates of Roland Fortress, and headed toward Thunder Canyon. ...... “Finally found it.” Li Ye set aside his binoculars atop the lookout tower and wiped sweat from his forehead. By now, Tomorrow had reached the deep parts of Thunder Canyon and had been searching for some time. The target they were looking for lay just ahead. The bounty hunter, his off‐road vehicle, and that tier‐1 flying vehicle parked beside it. Li Ye focused his gaze and realized it was a rather retro‐styled small combat helicopter. Judging by its appearance, it didn’t look very advanced. Its body was pieced together from wood and metal plates, with only the main rotor and tail rotor made of pure metal. The combat helicopter was equipped with two machine guns and a bomb bay. With limited space, it could only carry two people. Though its structure was crude, it was still remarkably impressive in the wasteland. When the bounty hunter saw a Mobile City approaching, he too was astonished. “Damn... I don’t know if I’m lucky or unlucky...” he murmured to himself. Li Ye then led personnel down the lift onto the ground to speak with the bounty hunter. In the wasteland, some capable lone survivors choose to become bounty hunters. They purchase vehicles, equip tier‐1 weapons—even machine‐guns—and roam hunting monsters for kills. The advantage of solo action is that all monster drops belong to them. If they find tier‐1 crop seeds or plus‐blueprints, it’s huge profit. Hence, many people rush into this line of work eagerly. Li Ye glanced at the combat helicopter. He thought for a moment, then asked the question that most interested him. “How exactly did you get this loot?” The bounty hunter answered. According to him, this time he ventured deep into Thunder Canyon hoping to hunt elite monsters and collect their drops. While he drove in search of prey, he suddenly heard noise from the sky. When he rolled down the window to peek, he saw a helicopter wobbling in the air and suspected it had malfunctioned mid‐reconnaissance. Soon after, the helicopter was forced to land. The bounty hunter secretly followed it, and when he saw the cockpit open, he froze. There stood, shocking to behold—the pilot was a goblin. When this goblin pilot furrowed its brows and took out a wrench to begin repairs, the bounty hunter shot and killed it. Although acquiring a flying vehicle thrilled him, he now faced a significant problem. He was only driving an off‐roader—there was no way to transport this helicopter back to town for sale. And waiting around wasn’t an option, as this was deep in Thunder Canyon, where monsters roamed and might attack in groups at any moment. And “coincidentally,” Tomorrow arrived at just the right time. .... “A goblin pilot?” Li Ye was astonished. He knew that monsters in the wasteland had intelligence, but piloting a helicopter? That was surreal. Seeing his disbelief, the bounty hunter led him to the goblin’s corpse. In view of the pilot uniform and helmet on the goblin, Li Ye finally believed it. Amid his bewilderment, he suddenly recalled something and his heart skipped a beat. This intel report had mentioned that a monster civilization had risen in the Wasteland Zone...could this goblin and its helicopter be from that monster civilization? How terrifying is that civilization’s power, to be able to make helicopters? Just thinking about it gave him goosebumps. The bounty hunter looked at Li Ye. “You know, do you want a Rolls‐Royce?” he said. “Eh?” Li Ye stared in surprise as the bounty hunter pulled a blueprint from his pouch. It was the blueprint dropped by the goblin pilot. [Rolls‐Royce Phantom – Blueprint] [Item Name: Rolls‐Royce Phantom] [Item Tier: Common] [Attached Effects: None] [Crafting Requirements: 150 units of Iron Ore (Tier 1), 10 units of Auto Parts]