Wasteland Border Inspector

Chapter 264: Severing Limbs, A Major Shift in Development!

The sky was nearing dusk. By the time they finished visiting the eight satellite cities in the east, it was already four in the afternoon.To tour all twenty-three satellite cities would take at least two or three days, and even then, it would just be a superficial glance, like viewing flowers on horseback.

"Let's go. We are changing directions and heading straight to Li Matai's East Peace Town!" Cheng Ye decided promptly.

"Are we not going to look at the remaining towns?"

"No, there is no need to see them," Cheng Ye shook his head. "The rest are basically copy-and-paste constructions. The only difference is the speed of their progress. We will not find anything new even if we keep looking."

Looking back at their journey so far, only Beachhead Town, managed by the Fourth-stage Inspector Forbes Jain, had shown some consideration for its economy. He wanted to rely on the local shoal terrain to develop a specialized breeding economy and planned to introduce Flowing Firefly Algae.

This was a special plant that could only survive in a shallow, slow-flowing environment. At night, the algae would secrete a slimy fluorescent liquid. After simple purification, it could be made into Luminous Paste. Packaged in sealed copper tubes, it would emit a soft white light when unscrewed and exposed to the air.

Luminous Paste required no additional energy source and could glow continuously for a week. The brightness was soft and not dazzling, making it one of the safest lighting materials in the wasteland.

More importantly, this light source would not attract Infection Sources and Infected Bodies in the wilderness; it even had a weak repellent effect. Thus, the demand for it was massive across the entire wasteland.

Unfortunately, Forbes Jain was a veteran Fourth-stage Inspector who had traveled extensively and gained vast experience. While not exactly arrogant, he had formed a fixed, closed-loop set of cognition.

Even though the Inspection Station had issued a reception notice, he only hosted them amiably according to the rules, taking the group on a brief tour of Beachhead Town and barely scratching the surface of any topic.

As for the core details of the town's economic construction and architectural planning, he had absolutely no intention of discussing them in depth.

Even when Cheng Ye deliberately brought up several valuable topics, Forbes only tentatively mentioned two products with high external demand. When Cheng Ye failed to provide concrete details upon further questioning, the older man completely dropped the subject.

He simply smiled and changed the subject. No matter how Cheng Ye tried to guide the conversation afterward, he refused to take the bait.

Clearly, as a Trainee Inspector, even if he had officially contained a Ruin-level Infection Source, he still could not catch the eye of a Fourth-stage Inspector.

After all, among those who managed to climb to the fourth stage, who hadn't contained an Infection Source of that level?

As for the matter of the Immortal Object, it was currently under strict confidentiality. Even if it were announced later, the full details would basically never be revealed to ordinary inspectors.

"It really does come down to solid achievements and true insight."

Cheng Ye leaned back in his seat, watching the rapidly retreating shadows of trees outside the window, sighing inwardly. 'For the current generation of inspectors, having just professional skills is far from enough. To break the barriers brought by status and hierarchy, one must employ more forceful methods.'

As a Trainee Inspector who had barely left Happiness City a few times, trying to discuss economic development and give pointers to a veteran Fourth-stage Inspector right off the bat was presumptuous. Only Ding Yishan would be willing to listen to him.

After all, the two of them considered things from a strategic level and did not get tangled up in the specific implementation details.

But Forbes was a true pragmatist who only recognized results and valued details, completely ignoring empty concepts.

Talking about economic development was indeed easy. Anyone could spout a few lines like "adapt to local conditions" and "find distinctive industries," but how should they specifically develop them?

How could they combine the local terrain and resources to find a breakthrough? How would they solve the issues of technology, channels, and sales?

These elements had to be broken down and studied meticulously; they absolutely could not be explained in just a few words.

What he lacked right now was exactly this kind of practical experience and solid track record to back him up.

Beyond that, there was an even more important discovery that made Cheng Ye's heart sink slightly.

Belief, or rather... ideology!

Upon reaching the level of a Fourth-stage Inspector, even if Forbes's talent was not outstanding, he had already touched the edges of the Heaven-Man Unity Realm. More importantly, he had faintly formed a complete set of beliefs that he could put into practice.

This set of beliefs could support him to grit his teeth and persevere through the hardships and dangers of the wasteland. Conversely, it also made it difficult for him to easily accept other ideas, and he would certainly not casually change his established direction.

This was very troublesome.

The Second and Third-stage Inspectors below them had no fully formed beliefs and were relatively easy to guide and change. However, their cognition was limited, their thinking was conservative, and they lacked adaptability, making it difficult for them to keep up with new development concepts.

On the other hand, the Fourth-stage Inspectors above them had sufficiently broad cognition, along with their own thoughts and persistence. Yet, their respective beliefs were already deeply rooted. Trying to sway them and integrate them together would be incredibly difficult.

The more Cheng Ye thought about it, the more difficult he found it. The deviation in the development concepts of the satellite cities was just the surface. The deeper problem was the barrier of beliefs and cognition between these different levels of inspectors.

Getting all the satellite cities to form a unified force, rather than fighting independent battles, was likely even harder than solving the economic problems of a single satellite city.

For Ding Yishan to hand such a difficult task to a trainee, he was truly treating him like the Station Master of Yueye Shelter City ahead of schedule.

He pondered the entire way.

The convoy sped along the national highway. It was not until the road signs indicated they were only three kilometers away from the Industrial Zone and they slowly rolled to a stop at a guard post that Cheng Ye realized something in hindsight. The road they had traveled on had almost no damage or unevenness, allowing the vehicles to run exceptionally smoothly.

Looking up in the direction pointed out by the road signs, the sky was still bright. Under the clear daylight, the silhouette of the Industrial Zone stretched out at the end of his vision, massive beyond imagination.

Unlike a well-organized cluster of city buildings, it looked more like an endless, grey behemoth sprawling in the distance, almost merging with the skyline.

Countless factory buildings were arranged in a dense, scale-like pattern. Profiles of varying heights were stacked together without any superfluous decoration, relying entirely on the heaviness of reinforced concrete to project an imposing aura that blotted out the sky.

In the distance, the tallest steel structures pierced the clouds, while the enormous factory domes connected into a seamless expanse.

Looking closely, one could faintly see zones connecting to one another. Countless vehicles the size of ants moved between them, busy transporting materials and finished products. The entire Industrial Zone was operating at high speed.

"Is this the Industrial Zone of Happiness City?"

Cheng Ye pushed open the car door and stood by the edge of the elevated bridge, gazing into the distance, his heart filled with shock.

Come to think of it, this was his first time seeing the Industrial Zone with his own eyes. It was entirely different from the organized blueprints and pictures shown by the Industrial Department.

The entire Industrial Zone stretched for a full fifteen kilometers. What was revealed before his eyes right now was only Zone E at the very front. Further ahead lay Zones A, B, C, and D, as well as the core Hydroelectric Station area.

'Perhaps Happiness City never needed the various satellite cities to have their own industries in the first place, and keeping people alive safely is enough?'

This thought suddenly popped into Cheng Ye's mind, but he quickly shook his head to dispel it.

No matter how large the Industrial Zone was, it could only accommodate employment for a hundred thousand people—not even half the scale of a single Foxconn factory in their country during the Old Era.

Moreover, industrial production would only become more precise and automated. The number of workers needed in the future would strictly decrease.

With so many drifters, they couldn't all just stay in the shelter city doing nothing and eating away their resources, right?

Of course not. Besides large-scale industrial production, they had to develop more pillar industries to support the long-term development of Happiness City and its cluster of satellite cities.

What's more, the manufactured industrial goods had to be sold in order to be exchanged for the resources needed for survival.

Exchanging resources...

Cheng Ye pondered deeply. Scattered thoughts surfaced from the bottom of his heart, gradually forming a coherent thread.

"Inspector Cheng, do you wish to visit the Industrial Zone?" Mu Shuang walked over with an application form. "Currently, aside from the Hydroelectric Station and Zones A and B, which are undergoing closed production and allow only exits, the other areas can be freely accessed."

"No, it is getting dark. After looking at East Peace Town, we will return to the Buffer Zone."

Cheng Ye shook his head and declined. The situation in the Industrial Zone was already detailed extensively in the tablet provided by Old Sun. A field inspection wouldn't hold much meaning. Plus, the core areas were in Zones A and B; if they couldn't enter, looking around would be pointless.

The vehicle drove past the guard post and turned toward Lower Sand County at a Y-Intersection.

Proceeding forward for a dozen kilometers, they turned onto a dilapidated county road. This was the route leading to East Peace Town.

Compared to the sections they had traveled earlier, the road conditions here were visibly much worse. The artillery craters on the ground had not yet been fully repaired, falling far short of the development speed in Wenlu County.

What was even more bizarre was that as the car drove forward, a few Ant-wolves suddenly dashed out from the side of the road.

The escort team, which had been tagging along all day, finally had some work to do. Before Cheng Ye could raise his hand to shoot, Wu Rui directly led his team members out of the car. Grabbing their machetes, they hacked the Ant-wolves into minced meat in a few quick strokes.

"Having left the core area of Happiness City, it finally feels like the Wilderness again..."

Cheng Ye narrowed his eyes. Once off the county road, the wild grass outside had already grown waist-high. No one knew what was hiding inside; there might very well be bizarre Infection Sources lurking about.

And to fully clear out and pioneer all these places, it would take until next spring, or even summer, to complete.

Driving further ahead, they also had to pass through a section of Township Road.

What left them even more speechless was that the dilapidation of this stretch of road was completely on par with the one leading to Dabo Town.

Covered in potholes and rolling with loose gravel, the vehicle bumped along the whole way until it felt like it would fall apart. It struggled forward for about five kilometers before they finally spotted the faint outline of East Peace Town.

At first glance, Cheng Ye almost thought the Industrial Zone had relocated here.

The sprawling factory buildings at the edge of his vision were cut from the same cloth as the Industrial Zone he had seen from the elevated bridge; even the grey hue of the outer walls was virtually identical.

What surprised him even more was that, heading from East Peace Town toward the Industrial Zone, rows of utility poles had actually been erected across the Wilderness.

To save on the losses caused by winding routes, these poles ran almost perfectly straight toward the Industrial Zone, completely ignoring the layout of Old Era roads.

"Good heavens, it hasn't even been that long for East Peace Town, and they've already managed to leech off the Industrial Zone's electricity?"

Cheng Ye was instantly taken aback!

Getting closer, a perimeter fence made of iron wire, similar to the Xingfu Defense Line, tightly enclosed the entire town, standing at a height of about two and a half meters.

Almost every two hundred meters, there was a Sentry Tower used for observation, scattered along the perimeter.

'Could it be that Li Matai actually listened to my suggestion, completely dedicating himself to taking on the Industrial Zone's industries, treating them as East Peace Town's pillar, and then selling the products to other satellite cities?'

Just as Cheng Ye was pondering, the sentries on the towers spotted the convoy and immediately sounded a warning.

A flurry of figures shifted inside the town, and soon, a familiar, slightly plump silhouette was seen walking at the forefront of the crowd.

It was none other than Li Matai!

Finally seeing an acquaintance he could have a proper conversation with, Cheng Ye suddenly felt a wave of emotion. He hurriedly pushed open the car door and stepped forward.

"Cheng Ye, you finally made it!" Li Matai seemed unusually excited, walking briskly to greet him. The two couldn't help but shake hands and even shared a quick hug. "It's almost dark. I thought you weren't coming to my place today!"

After pulling away, Li Matai looked him up and down, muttering with a face full of wonder, "Although you have gotten taller and more robust, no matter how I look at you, you do not seem like someone who could contain a Ruin-level Infection Source, do you?"

"You don't believe it?" Cheng Ye smiled and shook his head. "If I had partnered with you to take charge of Dabo Town back then, you probably would have been scared to death by now."

"Then it is a good thing I didn't go with you." Li Matai patted his chest, then sighed and changed the subject. "But my side hasn't been peaceful either. We get attacked by Infection Sources every few days... Damn it, my luck is just too rotten!"

After venting, he immediately shifted the topic again, "Having driven around all day, the vehicles must be out of power, right? We have connected the power lines from the Industrial Zone and installed charging piles. They are all 120kw high-voltage ones. Hurry up and drive the cars inside to charge."

As his voice trailed off.

Cheng Ye paused for a moment. In the previous satellite cities he visited, the hosts would always offer water and a place to rest first.

He hadn't expected that upon arriving in East Peace Town, Li Matai's first instinct would be to invite him to charge his vehicles. It was quite amusing.

But upon second thought, he jokingly teased, "Wait, these charging piles of yours, they couldn't possibly be prepared specifically for our merchant caravan, could they?"

"Hehe." Li Matai's smile was somewhat sly. "On our own turf, construction naturally has to prioritize serving our own development, otherwise, it would be a huge waste of resources."

"Song Hai actually agreed to this?" Cheng Ye gave him a thumbs up.

"He had no choice even if he disagreed," Li Matai chuckled sideways. "I split the funding right down the middle with him, The northern half of East Peace Town belongs to me, and the southern half to him. We each do our own thing, and no one interferes with the other."

"North and south?" Cheng Ye looked through the crude town gate and only then noticed that East Peace Town was indeed distinctly divided.

Li Matai's side was entirely modeled after the large warehouse designs of the Industrial Zone, tidy and expansive. Meanwhile, Song Hai's area to the south was just like the other satellite cities he had seen earlier, building concrete structures. The tallest had already reached three stories. Construction sites were spread out everywhere. The contrasting styles of the two sides were truly an eye-opening sight.

Walking through the town gate, Cheng Ye was stunned once again.

The ground beneath his feet was entirely paved with cement, and careful drainage slopes had been built in. It was completely unlike the other satellite cities that were still using muddy gravel paths or relying on residual road infrastructure from the Old Era.

"The very first thing I did upon arriving here was to build the underground pipeline network and pave the roads."

Li Matai explained as they walked, his tone filled with lament. "I was honestly sick to my stomach from the awful odor of sewage in the Buffer Zone. Over the past month or so, I mainly did three things: first, connecting the power lines to the Industrial Zone; second, prioritizing the layout of basic infrastructure; and third, negotiating with the people in the Industrial Zone to divert some of their industries over to my side."

As they reached the interior of the town, another wave of familiarity washed over him.

In the open space at one end of the town, swathes of prefabricated houses were neatly arranged, row after row, looking exceptionally orderly.

The smugness on Li Matai's face grew even more prominent. "Prefabricated houses are cheap and practical. The over two thousand people following me, All received a place to live within ten days of arriving. They don't have to suffer by squeezing into tents. It rained a few times recently, and no one got sick from getting wet."

"Then what are you planning to do for winter?"

"For that, of course, I will have to figure out a way with you." Li Matai raised his eyebrows, looking as if it were a matter of course. "Isn't your Dabo Town also using prefabricated houses? If you can solve the heating problem, I will just copy your methods here."

"Awesome!" Cheng Ye was genuinely somewhat impressed.

Compared to other conservative Third-stage Inspectors, Li Matai was absolutely an anomaly.

If one called him pragmatic, the things he was doing didn't look like honestly building a satellite city at all.

If one called him agile, his construction of factory buildings and the use of prefabricated houses showed he hadn't considered the consequences at all.

However, it had to be said that Li Matai's actions genuinely gave him a mixed feeling of surprise and delight. Especially after touring the previous towns, standing here now made him feel exceptionally refreshed.

Leaving the residential area, the two arrived at a factory district.

Twelve charging piles were lined up in a row. All had been fully installed and calibrated, ready to charge as soon as they were plugged in.

"Right now, my place is supported by the Industrial Zone. Before winter arrives, charging has massive discounts—only about five points per hundred kilowatt-hours. Charge as much as you want! If the convoy runs out of power, just come straight here to top up. It saves money!" Li Matai invited enthusiastically.

Since he had put it that way, Cheng Ye naturally wouldn't waste his good intentions. He immediately instructed Wu Rui and the others to drive the off-road vehicles and pickup trucks over to charge.

He took out his Pendant and also found an interface to plug it in.

The Recharge Value gauge, which had dropped to zero, began to blink, and the numbers slowly started ticking upward.

Based on the 120kw charging efficiency, it would take at least six and a half hours to replenish the current eight hundred units required.

Cheng Ye thought for a moment. Glancing at the sun that was already starting to set, he straightforwardly proposed, "I won't return to the Buffer Zone tonight. I'll stay here for the night."

Li Matai readily agreed. "That's great! We brothers can have a good chat tonight. I was also hoping to ask about your development plans for Dabo Town!"

Although it hadn't reached the tearful reunion of old townsmen, having been apart for over a month, they both had a bellyful of things they wanted to discuss.

However, before delving into deep conversations, Cheng Ye first followed Li Matai to take a stroll around the southern area, which was under Song Hai's jurisdiction.

Even with Li Matai trailing behind, Song Hai still managed a forced smile upon seeing him, but he couldn't hide his pervasive air of frustration and unrealized ambition.

As they strolled through the southern area of East Peace Town, Song Hai seemed somewhat absent-minded when introducing the construction progress, let alone showing any initiative to discuss future developments.

"Inspector Song's side has been attacked by Infection Sources several times in succession. Casualties are nearing three hundred people."

Walking back to the northern area, Li Matai lowered his voice and said, "Although I haven't carried out large-scale pioneering in the surrounding areas, I've still lost over a hundred people..."

"Are there no plans to continue pioneering around Lower Sand County?" Cheng Ye asked.

"We can't," Li Matai shook his head. He pointed eastward from East Peace Town, where another boundless stretch of the Wilderness lay. "This is already an area that Happiness City hasn't swept through. If we expand outward, we simply don't have the stamina to look after it. Now, new Infection Sources and Infected Bodies pop up almost every day to attack the town."

Heading downward from East Peace Town wasn't the path toward Yueye Shelter City, but rather the direction leading to Guang Province.

Shi Province and Guang Province appeared to border each other, but contact between the two regions had basically been severed years ago.

For one, a competitive relationship existed between the two regions. For another, Guang Province did not have a huge demand for ore.

Light Rainbow Shelter City had already occupied the resource points on the border. Being able to both farm and mine, they lived a comfortable life. Transporting minerals from Shi Province to Guang Province yielded prices that weren't even as profitable as selling them to the more distant Sha Province.

"Since you have stopped pioneering for now, are casualties under control?" Cheng Ye pressed.

"They are temporarily stabilized. It can only be like this for now." Li Matai sighed helplessly. "Spreading things out too far means we can't look after everything. We can only seal everyone inside the town for development first, and slowly extend outward later."

The construction of satellite cities was not an overnight endeavor. Even Happiness City was built piecemeal over nearly fifteen years before stabilizing to its current scale.

With his prior experience dealing with other inspectors, Cheng Ye didn't hastily voice his opinions.

While Li Matai was certainly willing to listen to him, his line of thought might not perfectly suit the actual conditions of East Peace Town.

"Don't worry too much. Once my Dabo Town develops, our two regions can link up and look out for each other," Cheng Ye comforted him first. He then changed the subject, cutting to the chase, "How did your negotiations with the Industrial Zone go? Have you secured any sustainable industries for development?"

"It is a done deal! The power lines have already been laid down, so they definitely have to allocate some industries to me."

At the mention of industries, Li Matai's eyes lit up. He quickly waved for Cheng Ye to follow. "I will take you to have a look!"

As one of the first batches of satellite cities, East Peace Town's pioneering efforts had expanded its core area to roughly three times the size of Dabo Town.

Even split evenly between Li Matai and Song Hai, the northern area in his hands was still significantly larger than Dabo Town's core area.

"Because we don't have skilled workers here, the Industrial Zone is only willing to relocate two industries: Metal processing and the manufacturing of small mechanical equipment," Li Matai explained as they walked, taking the lead to push open the massive doors of the metal processing warehouse.

The moment the doors opened, Cheng Ye was instantly stunned.

Inside, the place was packed with people. The buzzing of machinery and the clashing sounds of Metal blended together, with at least a thousand people bustling about.

So many people engaged in production all at once?

Cheng Ye was taken aback at first, but upon closer inspection, he realized that of the thousand-plus people, less than a third were actually operating machinery. The rest were standing behind them, observing and learning.

"This is the industry with the highest demand right now. We simply take recycled scrap Metal and process it into various common tools." Li Matai enthusiastically ticked them off on his fingers. "For instance, agricultural and hand tools like hoes, shovels, saws, hammers, and files, along with fasteners like nuts, bolts, and iron nails."

He paused briefly before continuing, "In addition to those, we are also making daily necessities like iron woks, iron basins, and kettles, as well as Metal brackets, door locks, and connectors. To get this running, I bought a whole batch of shears, smelting furnaces, iron molds, air hammers, bench drills, and bending machines from the Industrial Zone in one go..."

As Li Matai listed over a dozen types of processing equipment, Cheng Ye mentally checked them off while listening.

They were all small-scale processing machines that were not difficult to operate. It was indeed an industry that couldn't bring in massive profits, but one that could resolve a large amount of employment.

Leaving them in the Industrial Zone would be a waste of skilled workers, so transferring them to the satellite cities was incredibly fitting.

However, after taking a walk around and reaching the finished products section, Cheng Ye was stunned to see a triangular mark stamped on the tail ends of the tools.

"These marks, do they signify that they are produced in East Peace Town?"

"That's right!" Li Matai nodded immediately, his tone laced with a bit of pride. "Didn't you say before that we needed to build brand reputation? I followed that idea and stamped the mark on them first, so everyone gets familiar with it."

"Then do you know what this mark means in other satellite cities?" Cheng Ye picked up a wrench, his tone slightly strange.

"Huh?" Li Matai blanked for a second before shaking his head, his face full of confusion.

"Defective goods," Cheng Ye stated bluntly.

The handle of the wrench in his hand was crooked, and the adjustment roller was exceptionally stiff, requiring a fair bit of effort to turn while emitting an unpleasant creak.

He casually picked up a few more Metal connectors. Almost all of them had visible manufacturing deviations, and their dimensions were irregular.

When he visited the other satellite cities that morning, he had seen plenty of tools bearing this triangular mark.

He originally assumed they were produced by the Industrial Zone and that the mark indicated they were defective items. To think they were actually manufactured by Li Matai's East Peace Town?

Good heavens!

If people really found out this brand was produced in East Peace Town, they would probably come knocking on their door to hurl insults.

"Uh..."

Li Matai's eyes flickered a few times, his tone slightly uncertain. "Are they... that bad?"

"What do you think?"

Cheng Ye shook his head helplessly. He simply dumped out a freshly packed box of five hundred connectors in the finished products area.

Sorting them out by their degree of deviation, less than fifteen of them could be considered uniform. The rest were either crooked or had uneven thicknesses; they were all somewhat oddly shaped.

Logically speaking, these were all cast in iron molds. How could there be such massive deviations?

With doubts in his mind, he traced them back to the source. Although he had only inherited some mechanical knowledge from Master Yi and had not touched upon specific production processes, the keen eye he developed allowed him to quickly spot the issues in the production line.

A clear layer of oxide scale was stuck to the inner walls of the mold cavities, formed by iron shavings that hadn't been cleaned out for a long time sintering under high temperatures, This directly resulted in uneven surfaces on the castings.

The diversion channels of the pouring gates were deformed, causing an uneven flow rate when molten iron was injected. Localized whirlpools were generated, leading to an imbalance of internal stress.

The most critical issue was the cooling system. Circulation in the cooling pipes was poor, causing the high-temperature castings to cool at different rates. When shrinking, they naturally turned out deformed and ugly.

"Didn't the Industrial Zone send master workers to be stationed here for guidance? Producing so many defective goods, didn't anyone investigate the source of the problem?"

"Yes, they did! I will call them over right now." Li Matai was slightly dumbfounded, entirely unexpecting Cheng Ye to pinpoint so many flaws at a glance.

Soon, the fifteen skilled workers sent by the Industrial Zone were called over.

After questioning them carefully, Cheng Ye's heart sank, arriving at an unexpected conclusion.

"Are you saying that the production of these small tools and simple parts has long been fully automated in the Industrial Zone? And now, they've been forcibly diverted here to resume manual production?"

"Yes, yes!" The lead master worker's forehead was dripping with cold sweat as he hurriedly explained. "Inspector Cheng, there is something you don't know. We haven't touched this set of manual equipment lines in a long time. Right now, we are also learning as we go, following the instruction manuals. Also, the quality you are seeing is already much better than it was ten days ago. We have constantly been making improvements and looking for where the problems lie."

Wasn't this just pure nonsense?

Cheng Ye wanted to complain. Giving up on stable and highly efficient automated production just for the sake of forced diversion, bringing back manual modes—in the end, wouldn't they just have to switch back to automation anyway?

He didn't know who had made this decision, but it was akin to severing one's own limbs.

Thinking this, he moved over to the neighboring "small mechanical equipment manufacturing" warehouse, and finally let out a breath of relief.

Production hadn't officially started here yet. Li Matai had merely purchased the equipment and was currently having the drifters learn from the skilled workers.

Lathes, milling machines, and welding equipment were all readily available. Developing along these specifications would be enough to produce simple mechanical devices, though their durability would vary.

"How should I say this... it feels like you're very disappointed after seeing all this?"

The two walked out of the warehouse. Li Matai, noting the worried look on Cheng Ye's face, took the initiative to speak up.

"It is not disappointment. It is that our current line of thought hasn't been reoriented; we've gone astray."

Cheng Ye furrowed his brows, his tone entirely serious. "The endgame of industrial production is high-precision automation. Only with quality and speed can one establish a foothold and maintain competitiveness. Now, we are forcibly diverting established industries from the Industrial Zone and replacing automation with manual labor. Isn't this moving backward? It is completely unnecessary."

"Then how are we going to resolve the employment problem for the millions of drifters?"

Li Matai pressed him subconsciously, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness. "After building the prefabricated houses, the industries from the Industrial Zone still haven't fully relocated, and we can't pioneer outside. I could only give them two days off for now. They have only just started getting busy again. We can't let everyone sit idle, right?"

"No, how could they stay idle? The path to resolving the employment issue is actually right before our eyes."

Cheng Ye exhaled softly. Following the afterglow of the setting sun, he cast his gaze toward the Wilderness outside East Peace Town.

In the endless grassy plains, weeds grew vigorously, spreading across the earth like a lush green carpet.

Ding Yishan had indeed given him a good question, and he had used a day's time to find the answer.

What exactly was the purpose of the satellite cities?

It wasn't just to fight independent battles and divert the population. It was to allow Happiness City's sphere of influence to continue expanding outward, seizing control of more land and resources.

But what about now?

The major satellite cities cordoned off a piece of land and began a turtling style of development, formulating plans for several years or even over a decade.

The idea itself wasn't wrong. It could control casualties to the greatest extent. However, times had changed!

The satellite cities were not the lone wolves that Happiness City once was. They had the massive Industrial Zone backing them up, as well as nearly one hundred thousand troops from the Blood Dragon and Cross Legions acting as guarantees for sweeping and pioneering operations.

This leisurely approach wasn't considered wrong, but it was wasting time for nothing.

They could connect all the satellite cities at top speed, first forging a unified defensive perimeter.

If they could center around Happiness City and bring the surrounding hundred kilometers into their zone of control, would farming still be difficult?

Would there still be obstacles to resident mobility? Even the undeveloped ruins of Chuanshi could be explored by dispatching personnel.

"Previously, without Tan Ming opening up farming permissions, developing the Wilderness outside wouldn't have held much meaning. But now that we can farm, leaving these vast tracts of Wilderness empty is far too much of a waste."

"Initiating work relief programs and industry transfers isn't wrong in itself. But rather than throwing money into self-crippling endeavors like swapping automation for manual labor, it is better to burn it all at once. Bring out everything we have and pile it entirely onto environmental transformation and pioneering. This is the truly worthwhile path."

"As long as we can sweep all the surrounding Wilderness clean and organize it into shape before winter arrives, once next spring comes, this stretch of land alone could solve the employment of hundreds of thousands of people!"

When that time arrived, some people would reclaim the wasteland, some would build irrigation canals, and others would cultivate crops. They could even build supporting industries around agriculture. Whether it was processing agricultural products or managing the entire upstream and downstream operations, they could form a complete industrial chain.

This way, not only would they avoid snatching the rice bowls of the Industrial Zone, but they would also allow the satellite cities to have their own closed-loop industries. Most importantly, it would allow Happiness City to thoroughly put down roots in this land. They would never have to worry about food and resources again.

Thinking of this, Cheng Ye's eyes suddenly became resolute. Ding Yishan sending him out for this tour was probably exactly for this purpose.

As the manipulator of the chessboard, taking a new direction meant having to plan three steps ahead. Before the current trajectory of development thoroughly solidified, He must kick off a new round of sweeping changes as soon as possible!

Happiness City and all the satellite cities could not fight independent battles and turtle their way through development. They had to ride the tailwind of the open farming policies, use the land as their foundation, and use their linkage as the bond. By truly forming a unified force, they would carve out a brand new world on the outside.

Only in this way could they seize a true advantage before the next era completely dawned!