Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 173 - 62: The City of Radiation

Chapter 173: Chapter 62: The City of Radiation

After receiving the gold from the Ring Chamber of Commerce, Chen Jian’s squad’s gold reserves reached 60,000 grams.

If we convert it according to the basic price level of essential living materials in this world, this amount of money is roughly equivalent to about 6 million in the old world.

However, if calculated in terms of industrial products like bullets, the money they have only amounts to a mere 60,000 or so.

The disconnection between industry and agriculture is vividly reflected in the price levels, so although it seems a lot, the things this money can buy are actually not much.

On the way to Tongling, Chen Jian made a detailed plan for this fund.

He carefully studied the functional attributes and resource environments of various settlements, selling food in settlements lacking food resources to exchange for scrap, and then selling in settlements lacking scrap and resources to exchange for handmade earth-made weapons and tools.

Finally, he exchanged these tools for relatively stable-priced food at the next settlement as a risk-hedging measure.

By relying on this not-so-sophisticated management method, the squad had already earned over 100 grams of gold by the time they reached Tongling.

This amount is certainly not much, but the real significance lies in running the trade route and understanding the transaction system in this world.

In this regard, Chen Jian gained a lot.

"...The closer to larger settlements, the lower the food prices."

"Conversely, the prices of weapons and tools are much higher than in the surrounding smaller settlements."

"This situation is quite counterintuitive; theoretically, the smaller settlements, lacking protection from large forces, should have higher security demands."

"But the current situation is entirely opposite."

"This implies that smaller settlements do not possess long-term self-sustaining attributes; it’s not that they don’t need tools and weapons, but rather they don’t use them most of the time."

"Except for some important nodes on trade routes, like Wuxue Town, most smaller settlements should be in continuous migration."

"This aligns with their residential style as well."

"In that case, our strategy could also be adjusted based on this point."

"We could use abundant food resources to attract smaller settlements to migrate towards Yellow Stone City, expanding our population."

"And during the migration, the civilians in these small settlements would also bring along a small number of production tools."

"As long as they can sustain themselves to a certain extent, a virtuous cycle will soon form around Yellow Stone City."

"When the population and military level develop to the point of driving away monsters, our stronghold would be relatively stable."

As Chen Jian spoke, he updated his assessment on the PDA, and He Shuo made corrections to some of the details. After the entire team reviewed it, they finally included it in their intelligence archive.

Ji Xing looked at their actions with curiosity. When she noticed the complicated records displayed on the PDA screen, she couldn’t help but comment:

"What you’re doing is akin to what the historians of the Mechanical God Sect are doing."

"They also record such things, but... their purpose seems different from yours."

"So what is their purpose?"

Chen Jian asked.

"I don’t know, maybe just to record their achievements?"

"That can’t be."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

"The fact that the Mechanical God Sect has developed to this scale proves they are definitely not a name without substance."

"Though they often appear quite foolish in their external expressions, you can never doubt the intelligence of their core level."

"The creation of the ’Historian’ position alone indicates they have realized the importance of archives and records."

"This alone already reflects their level..."

"...That does seem reasonable, but I can’t understand."

Ji Xing shrugged and pointed to the faintly visible city in the distance:

"Up ahead is Tongling City, we’re about to arrive."

"Tongling City?"

Chen Jian asked in surprise:

"Are you sure that’s not the Tongling Ruins?"

Before Ji Xing could respond, Zeng Yi, standing by, interjected:

"Tongling City is different from other cities; it’s built directly on the ruins."

"The monsters here were cleared out early on, and although monsters still migrate towards Tongling City later on, they generally bypass this city."

"So, the environment in Tongling City is relatively safe."

"It’s just that..."

Zeng Yi hesitated, and Chen Jian immediately prompted:

"Just what?"

"It’s just that the people there aren’t quite normal."

Ji Xing straightforwardly explained:

"Though they’re not monsters, they possess monstrous traits."

"You could say monstrous traits, but they’re also different from the monstrous characteristics we’re familiar with."

"More accurately, the people there have a particularly high rate of deformities and short lifespans."

"Nonetheless, this is still a normal city under human influence."

High deformity rate and short lifespan?

Chen Jian was full of questions.

These two keywords only made him think of one thing.

That is, radiation.

But Tongling doesn’t have a nuclear power plant. Where is the radiation coming from?

Perhaps only after entering Tongling City could he find the answers he sought.

Thus, the squad of eight didn’t hesitate further, crossing the bridge and heading straight for Tongling.

The vegetation around here was quite lush, but the road bore clear signs of having been cleared, allowing the cat car to advance rapidly.

An hour later, the group arrived at the outskirts of Tongling City’s residential area. After hiding the cat car well and leaving He Shuo, Shen Yue, Li Shi, and Zeng Yi to guard it, Chen Jian led the other three into the city area.