Chapter 48: Three Predatory Cities?!

“Yes, what is it?” Li Ye turned around. After a bit of conversation, he understood the meaning of the three community leaders. Their communities usually consisted of two to three hundred people, and the convoy numbers were limited, plus they needed to carry living supplies, firearms, food, fresh water, fuel... Convoy space was limited, and they couldn’t take everyone along. Therefore, the three leaders hoped that the Tomorrow would recruit some people from their own communities to take with them. Though the words had been spoken, the three wore expressions of deep reluctance. They had all lived under the same roof for so long, trusting and relying on one another; suddenly parting was hard to accept. But sometimes, in order to survive, one had to make choices. Li Ye thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright.” At this moment, the Tomorrow was short on manpower, whether combat personnel or ordinary residents working in the city. Following usual practice, Li Ye recruited more than seventy new people in one go. Since this recruitment was far larger than before—even exceeding the current population of the Tomorrow—he changed some of the recruitment conditions. Aside from lone wolves, every group of three people could bring one child, elderly person, disabled person, or pregnant woman onto the Tomorrow. The reason for this policy was to create ties with the newcomers; only by bringing along their families could they be more loyal to the Tomorrow. Otherwise, Li Ye truly wouldn’t be confident letting so many newcomers in at once. After bidding farewell to the community members, the newcomers brought their families aboard the Tomorrow. Seeing the several cannons and heavy machine guns on the Tomorrow, the parked convoy, the combat personnel equipped with level‐1 weapons, the two level‐1 cannons on deck, and the level‐1 crops planted in the fields and orchards, many people’s worries melted away and turned into delight. As a level‐1 city, the Tomorrow’s strength was considerable, providing them with significant security reassurance. With a rumble, the Tomorrow set off. Arranging rooms, assigning jobs, selecting combat personnel, distributing food and water, manufacturing ordinary furniture in the production workshop and handing it out... In the following hours, Li Ye and his deputy Old Zhou were extremely busy. “I’m exhausted, A‐Li, I really can’t handle this!” Old Zhou wiped the sweat from his brow. “Honestly, I just want to focus on being Combat Captain and lead the charge.” “How can that work?” Li Ye replied while handing out furniture. “I can’t trust anyone else in this deputy role except you.” “How about Lin Wu?” Old Zhou asked tentatively. Li Ye scratched his chin. Fairly speaking, Lin Wu was both a technical talent and intelligent—he could indeed serve as his deputy. He was disabled and ill, had his friend’s sister as a weak link, so he couldn’t leave the Tomorrow. Moreover, during this period, Lin Wu’s performance had been satisfactory, and Li Ye had gradually come to trust him. “Alright, I’ll give it careful thought,” he nodded. In the following time, Li Ye spent 300 iron ore to upgrade the Water Tower to level 1. This allowed it to store an additional 3,000 units of fresh water. After all, the Tomorrow’s population had already reached 142 people, and the demand for water had surged sharply. Now, an entirely new problem confronted Li Ye. As the population increased, the Tomorrow should also raise living standards. Currently, the main staple on the Tomorrow was Blueheart Potatoes harvested weekly. In a few more days, the Morning Wheat would mature, and the Tomorrow would have flour-based foods. In another two weeks, the Sunshine Apples upstairs would also be harvested. As for beverages, there was cola and iced tea. Plus, the Tomorrow occasionally purchased vegetables, meat, and eggs from survivor towns they passed by. If this were on Blue Star, these supplies might seem meager, but in the post‐apocalypse environment they were quite good. But Li Ye’s ideas didn’t stop there—he planned to set up a vegetable garden, breed poultry and fish, and work toward having vegetables, meat, and eggs every day. However, the level‐1 mobile city had limited space, and the room left for raising ordinary poultry, fish, and planting common vegetables was not much. While Li Ye was pondering, suddenly an alarm rang from the Watchtower—last night he had specifically asked Lin Wu to install a crude alarm to warn everyone on the Tomorrow in case of danger. Old Zhou immediately gathered the combat personnel, including the newcomers. Li Ye swiftly ran to the Watchtower. “What’s going on?” he asked Lin Xia. Lin Xia’s face was pale; she handed him the binoculars. Li Ye took the binoculars and his face immediately changed. Three kilometers away, in multiple directions, unfamiliar mobile cities had appeared. From their movement paths and the direction of their weapons, they were clearly traveling together. Li Ye also noticed that these mobile cities had flags and city paint. From the patterns, they were the Hanged Man, the Magician, the Chariot... “These are the characters from Tarot cards!” he suddenly realized. “They’re all Predatory Cities!” A bitter smile appeared on his lips. According to the original plan, the Tomorrow was supposed to leave the Ruined City today. But unexpectedly, shortly after departure, they encountered a hunt by members of the Tarot Alliance. The other side probably didn’t know that the mobile city they were hunting had just exchanged for the best spoils from a neutral boss. At this moment, the three mobile cities simultaneously blew their foghorns twice short, twice long, then lowered their convoys via lifting platforms, and accelerated toward the Tomorrow. Li Ye gave the order to turn the Tomorrow around and speed away. If they had encountered only one Predatory City, the Tomorrow could have handled it. But facing three at once, they could only flee. Thus began the pursuit between the two sides. The newcomers, watching the three mobile cities gradually closing in, paled. They had just departed with hope, only to encounter such misfortune. At that moment, Old Zhou let out a roar. “What are we afraid of! We’re strong!” he said, slowly clenching his fist. “Even if they want to hunt us, we’ll make them pay in blood!” As the Tomorrow slowly deployed its lowering platform, convoy Teams 1 and 2 reached the ground and accelerated into the nearby streets. On deck, combat personnel took positions by the heavy machine guns and cannons, while Gunner Ning Wen began calibrating the Lava Cannon. They had used up all the Frost Cannon ammo, but five rounds remained for the Lava Cannon. With another roar, a vehicle descended via the lifting platform and accelerated into the street. It was the Storm Infantry Vehicle that the Tomorrow had just acquired, with the vehicle crew Li Ye had just selected. Li Ye, atop the Watchtower, tracked its progress with his gaze. This time, they could only hope this level‐2 vehicle would perform.