Chapter 12: Riverside International Building Materials City

The acid rain finally stopped.

Under the gray-green sky, the whole world seemed to have been washed, but not cleaned; instead, the rot and decay were soaked even more thoroughly.

The stagnant water in the depressions gleamed with an oily sheen, giving off a stench that could knock a person over.

Inside the supermarket's ruins, Wang Gongtou seemed completely oblivious to this smell.

His eyes lit up; he grabbed a piece of charcoal from the ground, ignoring the pain in his back, and quickly sketched on the small cleared patch.

"Look!"

He pointed at the rough sketch on the ground, his eyes flashing with the light of a creator,

"Our current area is twenty meters long, about fifteen meters wide at its widest, totaling over three hundred square meters! In such a space, not an inch can be wasted!"

Lin Yue stepped closer and saw Wang Gongtou quickly sketching with charcoal a plan full of whimsical ideas yet extremely rigorous.

"The most troublesome thing right now is the foundation problem!"

Wang Gongtou drew and drew, then got stuck,

"We can't just drill holes in the turtle shell; that would hurt Black Tortoise. If we don't build a foundation, the whole fortress will be unstable, and when Black Tortoise moves, these buildings will easily run into trouble!"

Lin Yue immediately recalled the fourth new ability Black Tortoise gained in this evolution: Earth Control.

"Black Tortoise, control the surrounding soil and rubble to form a one-meter-thick protective layer on your back!"

Thus Lin Yue immediately ordered Black Tortoise to use Earth Control.

Instantly, dust flew around; after about ten minutes, Black Tortoise's back had formed a one-meter-thick protective layer.

"Old Wang, look, the foundation is now here!"

Lin Yue laughed and said to Wang Gongtou.

Wang Gongtou was also dumbfounded, is this even possible?

However, he didn't dwell on it further.

"With the foundation, next is functional zoning!"

Wang Gongtou's charcoal danced on the diagram, quickly delineating each area.

Lin Yue listened, entranced; he had only thought about building a house on the turtle's back, never considering these details.

As expected, professional matters should be left to professionals!

"Here, the central position must be the 'Core Cabin'!"

He drew a square heavily,

"Combining living, command, and rest in one! Walls need double-layer steel plates, filled with soundproof and heat-insulating material. Windows shouldn't use glass; they need bulletproof high-strength organic material, plus steel armor that can be closed from inside!"

"On top of the Core Cabin, a watchtower must be built!"

His pen tip extended upward,

"At least five meters above the turtle's back, with 360-degree blind-spot-free vision, equipped with a high-magnification telescope!"

"Then comes the defense system!"

Wang Gongtou's voice grew increasingly shrill,

"Build a half-person-high defense perimeter along the edge of the turtle's back! Reserve a shooting port every three meters! Key positions can also mount our captured weapons! That way, even if monsters get past Black Tortoise, we won't be completely helpless!"

"And water!"

He pointed at several points on the turtle shell's edge,

"Although acid rain is deadly, it's also a resource! We'll design a water collection and filtration system here! Using the turtle shell's curvature, we'll channel rainwater into collection tanks, physically filter it through multiple layers of activated carbon and quartz sand, then boil it! This way we'll have a constant supply of clean water!"

A perfect prototype of a mobile base on the turtle's back came vividly to life before Lin Yue's eyes beneath those crude charcoal lines.

He almost saw a steel fortress rising from the giant turtle's back.

"Of course, this is just the first phase."

Wang Gongtou wiped sweat from his forehead; though his body was weak, his spirit was extremely excited,

"After Black Tortoise evolves again and grows larger, we can expand! Add independent planting areas, use soilless cultivation to solve food problems! Build an energy room, power it with energy crystals or solar panels! Set up a weapon workshop to maintain and produce our own gear! Even… even shelter more survivors!"

"Old Wang…"

Lin Yue's Adam's eye rolled with difficulty; he was utterly stunned by this grand blueprint, his voice trembling a bit,

"We… can we really do this?"

Although he had previously said he wanted to build a huge mobile fortress city, that had just been idle talk.

But if Lin Yue actually had to do it, he'd instead feel a lack of confidence!

"Can! How could we not!"

Wang Gongtou threw the charcoal onto the ground and said firmly,

"Everything is ready; all we need is a gust of east wind!"

He gazed intensely at Lin Yue:

"Lin kid, in this world you have a unique 'foundation,' and I happen to have the blueprints and technology to build it! Together, we are a perfect match!"

"However… the 'Binjiang International Building Materials City' we're heading to next is extremely dangerous."

He furrowed his brow, a hint of apprehension appearing on his face,

"In my scattered squad, a teammate wanted to go there to scavenge, and never came back."

"According to the sole survivor who brought back news, that building materials city seems to have been occupied by a group of extremely vicious mutant birds."

"Mutant birds?"

Lin Yue's heart tightened.

Threats from the sky have always been the hardest to defend against.

"Yes."

Wang Gongtou nodded, his expression solemn,

It is said that although those mutant birds are huge in size, their speed is indeed extremely fast; many survivor squads didn't even see their shadows before being torn to pieces by claws falling from the sky.

Lin Yue fell silent; this is indeed a formidable enemy.

But after Black Tortoise was promoted to level 2, its size ballooned to twenty meters, its defense became incomparable to before, and it also gained a powerful Energy Shield.

He was worried about not finding a suitable opponent to test its true strength.

Moreover, those mutant birds, in Lin Yue's eyes, are not merely a threat.

They are walking energy points; if luck is good, this time we might be able to gather enough energy points for Black Tortoise to reach level 3.

Let's do it!

Old Wang, put your heart back in your belly!

He grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth,

For the current Black Tortoise, those petty mutant birds pose no threat. If they don't come looking for trouble, fine; if they dare to come, it's perfect—Black Tortoise still lacks many energy points to reach level 3!

Seeing Lin Yue's confident smile, Wang Gongtou was first taken aback, then burst out laughing as well.

Black Tortoise, let's set out!

At Lin Yue's command, the twenty-meter-long beast let out a low roar, and the deployed Energy Shield slowly retracted into its body.

It carried an old man and a youngster, heading toward the west of the city.

Meanwhile, several hundred meters behind them, under the shadow of a collapsed overpass, the scar-faced 'Feng Ge' slowly lowered his binoculars, his eyes flashing with a complex light of greed and astonishment.

Beside him, a thin, monkey-like man's voice trembled:

Feng... Feng Ge, that turtle... how did it get bigger again? And... does it also glow?

Shut up!

Feng Ge let out a low growl, fixed his gaze on the receding massive silhouette of Black Tortoise, and licked his chapped lips.

Follow it.

He lowered his voice and ordered the few subordinates behind him,

All of you, stay alert and keep your distance! I want to see just where this kid riding that treasure intends to go!