novelraw Chapter 232 : Are There High-Level Convoys and Towns in the Wasteland?
Chapter 232 : Are There High-Level Convoys and Towns in the Wasteland?
Chapter 232: Are There High-Level Convoys and Towns in the Wasteland?
When initiating Core Overload, the Alchemical Werewolves began accelerating the destruction of their enemies—and themselves.
At this moment, the Alchemical Werewolves started collapsing one after another.
The vast majority of them would fall into slumber from this point on.
At the same time, the Blood Clan Civilization, Ghoul Civilization, and Alchemical Werewolf Civilization were advancing in unison.
The Ghouls dispatched a special Level 3 Vehicle from their civilization—the Bloodbone Earth Dragon.
In appearance, the Bloodbone Earth Dragon resembled a slender sandworm. Its surface was covered in armor plates composed of flesh and machinery, with corrosive, glowing green mucus seeping from the gaps. Each vertebra was a precisely forged alloy column, embedded with rotating gears and pistons.
Its head had no eyes, only a spirulina-shaped expanded maw, lined with seven rings of rotating hydraulic jaw teeth—each tooth equivalent to a small drill. When moving through subterranean rock layers, the pressure from each bite was enough to crush granite. Deep in its throat, it housed an ultra-frequency vibrating strata-shattering device; when it roared, the sonic waves could directly destroy rock within a hundred meters ahead.
The Bloodbone Earth Dragon was not an offensive vehicle but a transport vehicle.
Each Bloodbone Earth Dragon could carry approximately 5,000 Ghouls.
All Ghouls were stored inside in a highly compressed state—these creatures possessed greater tolerance than humans.
Upon reaching the underground cities guarded by the Arachnid Demons, the Bloodbone Earth Dragons would open their massive mouths and eject the Ghouls like a fountain.
The Blood Clan Civilization dispatched their own soldier units.
Vampires naturally possessed extraordinary vitality and physical strength.
Most importantly, the underground world lacked their greatest nemesis—sunlight.
Relying on their immense vitality and regenerative powers, even when severely wounded, the vampire soldiers could rapidly recover and continue battling the Arachnid Demons.
What was most astonishing was that the vampires could even revert to their primal form.
That is, into terrifying creatures resembling giant bats—forms in which their combat capabilities were significantly enhanced.
At first, the Arachnid Demons found it extremely difficult to deal with the vampires. Even when most of their bodies or even their hearts were destroyed, they would still resurrect—unless their entire bodies were obliterated from head to toe, which was nearly impossible in battle.
But soon enough, the Arachnid Demons found a solution.
They sent companions to carve a tunnel to the surface and deployed a special type of silk—Mirror Silk.
Using Mirror Silk, they wove enormous flat panels and cleverly installed them at multiple tunnel exits, channeling sunlight directly into the underground cities.
This tactic drastically limited the vampires.
What they didn’t expect even more was—
In over two hundred years, the Arachnid Demons had collected a vast amount of mineral resources from both underground and surface realms, including silver ore.
They devoured silver ore in large quantities, then digested and secreted it into a new kind of silk—Silver Silk.
Vampires, being creatures vulnerable to silver, suffered devastating harm from Silver Silk.
Thus, the Blood Clan Civilization's advancement in the underground world came to a severe halt.
As for the Hyenafolk Civilization...
Among the many Monstrous Civilizations tasked with subjugation, they seemed to be there just to make up the numbers.
The Hyenafolk Civilization lacked the specialization of other monstrous races. At best, individual Hyenafolk were strong—but they had no particular traits.
As a result, they had to rely on Mobile Cities, vehicles, and firearms.
To combat the Arachnid Demon Civilization, the Hyenafolk Civilization dispatched large numbers of soldiers into the underground world.
Not only that, the Hyenafolk even had special forces units.
However, due to the complex terrain and the webbing arrangements of the Arachnid Demons, the Hyenafolk simply could not withstand the pressure.
Even when launching fierce assaults on a single underground city, they still failed to conquer it.
Noticing this weakness among their enemies, the Arachnid Demons launched a counterattack.
And so, within just one day, the Hyenafolk Civilization suffered heavy casualties.
Inside the research base, Li Ye focused intently on the screen.
At this moment, the Human Forces were already fully advancing toward the underground world.
From Heath's words, he learned that the 500 Level 0.5 Mobile Cities were not the entirety of the Human Forces.
More Level 0.5 Mobile Cities were still in production and would be continuously dispatched to the Polar Continent.
“Quite a deep pocket indeed,” Li Ye couldn’t help but remark.
Then he realized another issue.
“Archbishop Heath, but wouldn’t the cost be too high this way?” he couldn’t help asking.
After all, these Level 0.5 Mobile Cities were custom-designed for the underground world, shaped like tunnel-compatible trucks.
Once the war in the underground world ended, these Mobile Cities would likely be difficult to repurpose.
Upon hearing Li Ye’s concern, Heath gently shook his head.
“The cost is far lower than you think.”
He explained to Li Ye that recycling Level 0.5 Mobile Cities was quite easy. One only needed to sequentially dismantle their weapons, city accessories, power engines, and treaded wheels for reuse.
As for the remaining truck chassis, it could be entirely discarded—or even sent back to the steel mills to be reforged into steel.
“So, do you understand now? Compared to continent-level wars involving Level 1 or 2 Mobile Cities, the cost of this war is relatively low,” Heath said.
Li Ye suddenly understood.
“Thank you for the insight. By the way, do Level 0.5 Mobile Cities have Production Workshops?”
Heath continued his explanation.
Level 0.5 Mobile Cities did have Production Workshops, but due to their city level limitations, they could only manufacture ordinary-grade items—which were far from sufficient on a monster-infested wasteland.
The Level 0.5 Mobile Cities deployed by the Human Forces this time were purely combat-oriented, so installing Production Workshops was unnecessary.
As he listened, Li Ye suddenly had a novel idea.
The Production Workshop was arguably the core building of any Mobile City. As long as one input blueprints, it could craft ordinary and graded items.
So what if… a Production Workshop could be installed on base vehicles or towns within Survivor Caravans?
That way, even without a Mobile City, they could gain production capabilities.
If that were possible, using blueprints and resources obtained from hunting wasteland monsters, Survivor Caravans and towns could also gradually enhance and even upgrade themselves.
Upon learning of Li Ye’s idea, Heath wasn’t surprised at all—instead, he simply smiled faintly.
“That idea is indeed feasible.”
However, he emphasized one crucial point.
The Production Workshop was not an independent unit—it was fully linked to the core of a Mobile City.
If one wanted to install a Production Workshop on a target town and enable it to gain production capabilities, it would require not only the workshop itself but also the City Core of a Mobile City.
The Production Workshop and City Core could only be manufactured by organizations capable of producing Mobile Cities—namely, the Apocalypse Sect, Titan Throne, and the Iron Oath Brotherhood.
“So that means, there really are high-level convoys and high-level towns in the Wasteland?” Li Ye was astonished.
Heath slowly nodded.
“There are indeed, but they’re extremely rare.”
Ultimately, not all humans in the Wasteland preferred to live aboard Mobile Cities.
After gathering enough Crystal Coins and resources, some would outfit their base vehicles with a Production Workshop and a City Core. Some towns would also be upgraded with these components, thus gaining the same production capability as a Mobile City.
But just like with Mobile Cities, to upgrade the Production Workshop and City Core, one would still need corresponding levels of City Upgrade Blueprints, City Structure Blueprints, and City Crystals. As for resources like iron ore and coal, due to the smaller scale of base vehicles and towns compared to Mobile Cities, their resource consumption would also be lower.
“Though they exist, Survivor Caravans and towns still can’t become the mainstream in the Wasteland,” Heath concluded. “The functions of a Mobile City far surpass the former two—especially after upgrades.”
Li Ye nodded slightly.
In the end, it was that same old saying—everyone had their own way of survival.
In the Wasteland, each person had their own means of staying alive.
Once the conversation ended, the two resumed commanding their respective forces.
The 65 Mobile Cities under Heath’s command had already begun advancing deeper into the underground world, currently reaching a depth of 1,052 meters.
Li Ye’s 15 Mobile Cities had been split into five squads, hunting stray Arachnid Demons nearby.
Major campaigns like conquering the underground world were best left to the bigshots—he was content just scooping up some resources in their wake.
“In just over ten minutes, the next round of intelligence will refresh,” he thought.
It had been two days. During that time, the system’s cooldown had completed.
This round’s intelligence window was very short—only 8 hours.
【1. After fleeing the Southern Continent, the Frankenstein Monsters Civilization chose to settle on the archipelago in the seas of the Polar Continent. The Monstrous Forces did not enlist them in the campaign against the Arachnid Demon Civilization. (Intelligence Value: Ordinary)】
【2. In the Underground World of the Polar Continent, the fastest advancing monstrous force has reached a depth of 5,312 meters so far. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)】
【3. The Iron Oath Brotherhood has dispatched multiple Mobile Warriors to clear out nuclear submarines roaming the seas of the Polar Continent. (Intelligence Value: Excellent)】
【4. The Arachnid Demon Civilization possesses an ultimate plan called “Web of the End,” a project on the scale of a continent-level construction. Proceed with caution. (Intelligence Value: Rare)】
【5. Under the military pressure of both human and monstrous world-class organizations, the Emperor Beast Jörmungandr chose to compromise. She stated her intention to enter hibernation within the mantle layer. However, both factions responded that if she dared to descend even a step, they would launch an all-out attack regardless of cost. Weighing the consequences, Jörmungandr ultimately chose to enter hibernation in the fractured seas of the Oceanic Continent. (Intelligence Value: Rare)】
“The information is solid. Why does it feel like the intelligence in each 8-hour window keeps getting richer?” Li Ye mused.
As he pondered, his eyes quickly locked onto the fifth intel.
“So they finally reached a deal.”
After all that fuss, that giant serpent had finally quieted down.
During this, he noticed a particular keyword.
Regardless of cost.
Even world-class organizations found it extremely difficult to handle Jörmungandr?
After thinking for a moment, his eyes turned to the second intel.
“Why is the Monstrous Forces advancing so quickly?” he wondered aloud.
Li Ye had observed Heath’s progress, and the latter was already impressively efficient—yet had only reached 1,052 meters deep.
In contrast, the Monstrous Forces had reached 5,312 meters—a full third of the total underground world’s depth.
In an instant, the realization struck him.
“It’s the Wind Element Civilization!”
At the 5,312-meter depth of the underground world—
A massive Arachnid Demon fortress-city.
Tens of thousands of Arachnid Demons stood on high alert.
Some were visibly tense.
“They’re coming. They’re coming…” muttered one Arachnid Demon in a daze.
Under the watchful gaze of the Arachnid Demons, the many tunnels surrounding the underground city began to tremble.
It wasn’t from digging or collapse, but something older, more violent.
The first to arrive was a Wind Blade.
It howled down one of the tunnels—formless yet deadly—tearing through the carefully laid spider silk barriers like paper.
The Arachnid Demons lurking in the tunnels using Camouflage Silk hadn’t even reacted before hairline cracks began spreading across their carapaces.
Then, under the successive cuts of the second and third Wind Blades, they exploded.
The invader that launched the Wind Blades slowly revealed itself.
It was a Wind Element.
It had no fixed body of flesh and blood—its form oscillated between material and immaterial, a manifestation of a storm, as if the air itself had will.
The Wind Element would sometimes take the shape of a whirling miniature tornado, sometimes a humanoid form, and at times, a flowing stream of wind. At its center was a faintly glowing Elemental Core.
That was its soul—the source of its stored energy.
As the Arachnid Demons watched, countless Wind Elements began to emerge.
Each Wind Element was about 1–2 meters tall, moving with an elegance that defied physics.
They didn’t walk or fly—instead, they moved by warping local air pressure.
As they advanced, they left behind spiral air trails—like invisible staircases.
The leading Wind Element general spoke coldly.
“Tell your king—the judgment of the Arachnid Demon Civilization has arrived!”
At its command, the Wind Elements surged from the tunnels toward the underground city.
The spider silk launched by the Arachnid Demons had no effect on them whatsoever.
As they moved, the Wind Elements shifted into various combat forms.
Some became high-speed rotating drills, spiraling through the city in wild destruction.
Some stretched their arms into dozens-of-meters-long wind whips, lashing at the Arachnid Demons along the way.
Others gathered together to form a Giant Wind Dragon, spreading its hundred-meter-wide wings made of compressed hurricanes. Each flap unleashed a storm of slicing blades.
The Arachnid Demons tried to fight back, only to realize in terror that nothing they did worked.
Wind Elements had no physical form—their strikes and silk projectiles passed through without hitting anything!
Some Arachnid Demons targeted the Elemental Cores—but even those turned out to be intangible, immune to attacks.
“How is this possible?! This makes no sense at all!” one Arachnid Demon shrieked.
In truth, there was a way to defeat Wind Elements—by completely exhausting their energy.
But as Level 3 monsters, the Arachnid Demons had no means to do that.
And so, they were left to be slaughtered.