Chapter 70: Floating Town on the Tranquil Lake

On the deck, everyone aboard the Tomorrow was fulfilling their respective duties, tense and busy. After all, this was their first time sailing on water. Everyone was both excited and a little uneasy. Many ordinary residents, after finishing their work, came to the edge of the deck, gripping the railing while surveying the surrounding scenery. Li Ye had come up to the watchtower. Today happened to be Lin Xia’s day off, and the one on duty was Another Girl. He nodded and greeted her before picking up the binoculars. The number of islands on the outskirts of Serene Lake far exceeded his expectations—he could already see several of them from here. In the distance, ripples of various sizes occasionally appeared on the water’s surface, as if something was swimming beneath. The lake surface was not as peaceful as imagined. Monsters would occasionally appear. Some were groups of Boarmen gathering by the lake, some were Goblin squads patrolling in small boats, and others were fishfolk wandering in the water. Li Ye put down the binoculars and swept his gaze across the newly-installed water navigation City Accessories on the Tomorrow, shaking his head slightly. These ordinary-grade City Accessories could at most meet the basic requirements for the Tomorrow's navigation on water. They offered no additional bonuses and were somewhat lacking. At present, the Tomorrow’s water cruising speed ranged between 12-15 knots, equivalent to 22-27 kilometers per hour. If accelerated, the speed could reach 35-40 kilometers. Compared to land travel, it was much slower. To improve the Tomorrow’s water navigation capabilities, it was naturally necessary to gather a series of Level 1 Blueprints or Level 1 City Accessories for installation. Li Ye then stroked his chin and began evaluating the Tomorrow’s combat capability on water. After entering Serene Lake, the Convoy and Storm Infantry Vehicle could no longer perform—they had to remain quietly in the parking area. Although the Storm Infantry Vehicle was amphibious, it couldn’t fire underwater. The weapons available to the Tomorrow included the cannons and heavy machine guns on the deck, as well as rocket launchers. Overall, it still had a degree of self-defense. Li Ye even thought about equipping a torpedo system to give the Tomorrow an additional weapon. According to his vision, even when navigating water, the Tomorrow needed to have mobile squads like the Convoy. This way, they could serve as the frontline shield in battle or break through to enemy Mobile Cities, using rockets to destroy their propellers and hulls, rendering them immobile. On land, the mobile squad was the Convoy; naturally, on water, the mobile squad would be the Fleet. He could get a few motorboats, equip them with Gale Rocket Launchers and Peregrine Falcon Assault Rifles, and they would serve the same function as the Convoy. If conditions allowed, he could even acquire speedboats and equip them with heavy machine guns. When the Tomorrow’s level increased and unlocked higher-level production projects, perhaps it could even manufacture submarines, frigates, littoral combat ships, amphibious assault ships, and battleships... In that case, it would become an aircraft carrier. Li Ye couldn’t help but let his imagination run wild. However, that vision was still a long way off. He once again surveyed the surrounding waters, lost in thought. "This Serene Lake can’t possibly have only the Tomorrow as a Mobile City, right?" If that were really the case, the Tomorrow would get to enjoy the resources without competition. In fact, Li Ye was very curious about the ecosystem of Serene Lake. After all, it took up 20% of the Wasteland Zone. Its resources must be abundant, and there would certainly be many Mobile Cities heading here. Correspondingly, the types and number of monsters appearing here would also be large—there might even be Predatory Cities. The main presence in Serene Lake was essentially Mobile Cities. He thought for a moment and opened the System Panel. At this moment, the system had just finished updating. 【Cooldown completed.】 【Time until next Intelligence Refresh: 4 days, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 15 seconds】 【Number of Intelligence Reports: 6】 "This refresh took five days, so the intelligence quality shouldn’t be too bad," he muttered to himself. "I’ll just wander around the outskirts during this time and see if I can gather any resources." Half an hour later, Li Ye unexpectedly discovered a survivor gathering point. It was a Survivor Town floating on the water. This town was pieced together from wooden planks, iron sheets, and waterproof tarps, containing nearly a hundred sheds of varying sizes. The sheds were connected by wooden planks forming walkways. At the edges of the houses, small boats or motorboats were moored, and the more well-off even had speedboats. "Truly amazing," Li Ye couldn't help but sigh. Even on water, people could still figure out ways to survive. During this time, he also noticed the weapons this town was equipped with: heavy machine guns and large crossbows. These were sufficient for dealing with ordinary monsters, but completely inadequate when faced with a Mobile City like the Tomorrow. He thought for a moment and then had Tang Fang sound two long and one short blast on the horn, indicating a desire to communicate peacefully. This Survivor Town wasn't very large and likely couldn't offer many resources. Li Ye mainly wanted to gather intelligence here and try to understand the conditions around the outskirts of Serene Lake. The residents of the town initially appeared alarmed upon seeing a Mobile City approach, but gradually relaxed after understanding the horn signals. A few minutes later, the Mayor of the town rode a motorboat over to the Tomorrow and ascended the deck using the lift platform. He was a dark-skinned man in his forties, known to everyone in the town as Old Zhang. According to Old Zhang, there were actually many survivors on Serene Lake. This floating town on the lake was called "Floating Town", a common form of residence for survivors on Serene Lake. Compared to the land, Floating Towns rarely experienced monster invasions, let alone dangerous Zombie Swarms. However, every few days some monsters would still come by small boats to attack the town. In addition, there were also many Survivor Fleets on Serene Lake. These were typically composed of several speedboats that traveled between islands to collect resources and maintain their livelihoods. The number of islands on Serene Lake was vast—hundreds or even thousands—and they were rich in resources. However, correspondingly, monsters were often stationed on the islands. Just as Li Ye had anticipated, the resources for sale in this Floating Town were limited and couldn't meet the Tomorrow’s procurement needs. But he was still able to purchase one valuable item—fish. Li Ye bought a batch of fish from the town and designated an area in the mid-level section of the Tomorrow specifically for fish farming. Once the fish population gradually grew, fish meat would become a regular supply on the Tomorrow’s dining table. Seeing the formidable strength of the Tomorrow, Old Zhang’s eyes gleamed as if he had an idea. He then told Li Ye a piece of information. Thirty-five kilometers to the northwest, there was an island occupied by Minotaurs. There were several hundred Minotaurs stationed on that island. They had set up camps and occasionally dispatched squads to attack the Floating Town. Most importantly, the leader of the Minotaurs was a Wild BOSS—a giant Minotaur beast standing thirty to forty meters tall. Li Ye was instantly intrigued upon hearing this. He hadn’t expected a Wild BOSS to appear so nearby. Naturally, he was interested in the Level 2 item dropped by a Wild BOSS. Given the current strength of the Tomorrow, it was now feasible to attempt a solo challenge against a Wild BOSS. He immediately made up his mind. "Let’s go. We’re going to take down that Wild BOSS."