Chapter 85: Eternal Night Zone

Boundless darkness. This was what Li Ye felt at the moment. The Tomorrow had already been traveling in the Eternal Night Zone for over an hour. It was pitch black here, with little movement, making one feel uneasy. No light fell from above—only thick, impenetrable lead-gray clouds loomed overhead. The Mobile City, with its searchlights on, moved forward in the silence, like a lone boat adrift in the deep sea. Through the glow of the searchlight, Li Ye saw the scene ahead. Twisted car wreckage, long-abandoned town ruins, forests with utterly withered trees, rotting rivers... He watched and couldn’t help but shake his head. He still didn’t know what exactly this place was. The Tomorrow didn’t actually have many choices. The Wasteland Zone was about to be destroyed and could not be stayed in for long. To its west was the Level 1 zone, Basin Region; to the south, the Level 1 Desert Zone; to the east, it was still unexplored—if that, too, was a Level 1 zone, then there wouldn’t be much point in heading there. In that case, the Eternal Night Zone became one of the few available options. With that thought, Li Ye opened the System Panel. 【Time until next Intelligence Refresh: 4 hours 23 minutes 15 seconds】 【Number of Intelligence: 5】 This Intelligence Refresh lasted a total of 2 days, which likely meant it was of good value. During this period, Li Ye certainly couldn’t remain idle. He needed to think of ways to gather some resources. As a Level 2 zone, the Eternal Night Zone could widely produce resources like Level 2 Iron Ore, Level 2 Saltpeter, Level 2 Coal, and Level 2 Blueprints. What Li Ye most hoped for at the moment was to quickly find more Level 2 Iron Ore. After all, the Tomorrow had just been promoted to Level 2, and the Production Workshop still had a series of Level 2 projects urgently waiting to be built. Whether it was the Bloodtear Ripper Heavy Machine Gun, the Black Hawk Helicopter, or the Iron Dome City Armor... all required a large amount of Level 2 Iron Ore. Furthermore, the Tomorrow's current energy consumption had also increased. After all, its size was much larger than before, and maintaining the city’s daily operations required more City Energy. Li Ye glanced at his watch. It was now 8:43 a.m. Logically speaking, it should have been a bright and sunny moment, yet all he saw before him was darkness. And it wasn’t just today. In the Eternal Night Zone, every day looked like this. Li Ye then headed to the fields in the mid-tier district, where residents were busily planting a batch of Level 1 Crop Seeds. They would grow over the next week or two, enriching the dining tables aboard the Tomorrow. To provide lighting for the crops, Li Ye had specifically built a batch of regular fluorescent lamps in the Production Workshop and had the residents construct greenhouses to install them. This regular item, fluorescent lamps, was loot from the Tarot Alliance. Li Ye had casually picked it at the time, not expecting it to turn out to be so useful now. For a long time to come, the greenhouses would keep the lamps on, which would further increase the Tomorrow’s energy consumption. City electricity. Li Ye couldn’t help but think of this term. Even though it had been promoted to a Level 2 City, the Tomorrow’s current energy supply was still far from being able to provide electricity for daily life. Each resident’s daily usable electricity: 0. It was something unavoidable. At present, the Tomorrow’s energy consumption had to be prioritized for regular mobility, greenhouse crop lighting, as well as City Camouflage and Energy Shield. “When it’s promoted to Level 3 or a higher level, maybe then the City Energy will have surplus,” Li Ye thought. To better investigate the surroundings, he had specially crafted a searchlight through the Production Workshop and installed it atop the Watchtower. Lin Wu had even mounted a rotating base beneath the searchlight to allow it to swivel 360 degrees. At that moment, the lookout Lin Xia was controlling the searchlight, sweeping the distant roads back and forth to scout the situation. “A-Li, should we send out a convoy to explore the area?” Old Zhou walked over and offered a suggestion. “See if there are any mines or oil fields nearby. That way we can start extracting resources too.” As the Tomorrow resumed land-based travel mode, the speedboats within the fleet were retrieved one by one and placed in the lower shipborne area. The Storm Infantry Vehicle and Convoy One and Two could now be reactivated. At present, both the parking zone and the shipborne zone of the Tomorrow had expanded considerably, able to accommodate as many as forty to fifty Off-road Vehicles or speedboats. Once it reached a higher level and its internal space further increased, it might even be able to house an entire fleet. “You mean external exploration?” Li Ye thought for a moment and nodded. “Alright, then let’s...” “Report! Emergency situation three kilometers ahead!” came Lin Xia’s voice from the Watchtower. “A large-scale Zombie Swarm is incoming! And they appear to be... Level 2 Zombie Swarm!” “What?” Li Ye and Old Zhou exchanged glances, their expressions changing simultaneously. Li Ye immediately rushed to the Watchtower at full speed and took the binoculars from Lin Xia. As Lin Xia directed the searchlight toward the distance, he too saw the scene several kilometers away. Zombies! Densely packed zombies! Numbering in the tens of thousands! They surged toward the Tomorrow like a boundless sea of decay. In addition to the usual Level 1 zombies, Li Ye also saw many different forms of zombies. Towering four to five meters tall, with hardened keratin armor-like skin — massive Brute Zombies. Slender and skeletal, with grotesquely expanded rib cages and throats mutated like amplifiers — female Screeching Banshees. Oozing pus from rotting bodies, secreting corrosive fluid that eroded the ground — Corroders. Limbs mutated into spider-like appendages, crawling with the agility of spiders and seemingly capable of spraying webs — Webweavers. There was no doubt — these were all Level 2 zombies. “Brutes, Screeching Banshees, Corroders, Webweavers... they really are coming in strong this time.” In the cockpit, Lin Wu picked up a pair of binoculars and muttered. “When I heard the Bounty Hunters in Field Town talk about these things, I was still wondering what kind of monsters they were. Turns out they’re Level 2 zombies.” Li Ye then raised his hand and gave orders. “All combat personnel to the deck, prepare for battle!” “Ning Wen, ready the Lava Cannon and Frost Cannon for immediate fire!” “Tang Fang, turn around and outrun the Zombie Swarm at full speed!” “Old Zhou, get the Storm Infantry Vehicle out of the garage!” The zombies had already sensed the Tomorrow from afar and began charging forward at a frenzied pace. While retreating and changing direction, the Tomorrow’s Level 1 Cannons began firing in succession. Huge explosions erupted into the sky, and hundreds of zombies were instantly blasted into ashes! But this did little to stop the advance of the Zombie Swarm, for their numbers were simply too vast! Through the binoculars, Li Ye noticed that those Level 2 zombies took minimal damage from the cannon bombardment and still retained mobility. He couldn’t help but shake his head. Level 1 Cannons were practically unstoppable in the Wasteland Zone, but against Level 2 creatures, their damage was reduced. The zombies themselves were already incredibly fast, and it didn’t take long for the first wave to catch up to the Tomorrow. The zombies at the very front were immediately sucked into the Treaded Wheels. The cracking of bones was drowned in the roar of the engines, and flesh was crushed into pulp by the wheels. But the zombies still came on in droves. After all, they were emotionless and mindless bloodthirsty monsters.