Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 70: Is It Trustworthy?

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Is It Trustworthy?

After returning to Yellow Stone City, Chen Jian’s emotions still couldn’t calm down for a long time.

He was one step closer to the truth of human civilization’s destruction, but one step further from the truth of the catastrophe.

Judging just from the tombstones here, human civilization seemed to have experienced a rapid recovery period of several decades after the catastrophe.

Although it couldn’t return to the technological level before the catastrophe, relying on various disaster relief supplies and the population that had not been completely wiped out, the technological level had already improved to a threshold sufficient to support human society re-entering a virtuous cycle.

But unfortunately, secondary disasters triggered by the catastrophe destroyed everything once again.

This might explain why, 330 years later, human civilization has developed along such a seemingly "distorted" path.

The reason is simple: the destruction of knowledge.

The education system, which was painstakingly built, was destroyed, and the "knowledge bearers" accumulated over two generations also perished in the disaster.

Moreover, because the population was already small and productivity was limited, humans before the secondary disasters couldn’t achieve a high degree of organization, and what they could pass on also plummeted dramatically.

From quantum mechanics to "pottery making," this shocking gap undoubtedly shows the suffering humanity has endured.

Even now, the aftermath of the suffering has not completely dissipated.

Watching the residents busy cleaning up the houses destroyed by the previous shelling, rescuing food and daily necessities from inside, Chen Jian took a deep breath.

Forget it.

What is past is amendable.

As Huang Yu said, the residents who have already left Yellow Stone City were deeply infiltrated by the Mechanical God Sect, while those who remain still believe in their ancestors.

Although the change in thinking isn’t so quick, their cultural commonality is very beneficial to building a brand-new Yellow Stone City!

Thinking of this, Chen Jian decisively composed himself, regrouped his squad of seven, and added the already tested Huang Yu to start discussing the next plan.

"...Now we mainly have three tasks to do."

"First, we need some people to continue transporting weapons, ammunition, and equipment from the 7025 works."

"This task will still be handled by Lei Jie. Li Shi’s recovery is going well, so he will assist."

"As for the rest, we can select from the remaining residents."

"During the process, Lei Jie, you can provide them with some basic guidance to let them understand the history of the catastrophe and their ancestors."

"You understand what I mean?"

"Understood. Field education is more useful than anything."

Lei Jie immediately replied, and Chen Jian nodded, continuing:

"The second task is to quickly restore production and order in Yellow Stone City to ensure sufficient food supply and achieve self-sufficiency."

"This task will be entrusted to Huang Yu—you’re familiar with Yellow Stone City, so you decide how to arrange it."

"Understood."

Huang Yu quickly nodded and then said:

"There’s no problem with that, we were already self-sufficient."

"If it weren’t for having to supply those scoundrels of the Mechanical God Sect, we wouldn’t even have insufficient grain to eat..."

Hearing this, Chen Jian couldn’t help but frown:

"The fishing resources here are rich, even if they take the lion’s share, how could there be not enough food to eat?"

"Most of the fish we catch are transported to the Huangzhou Ruins to supply the monsters... They need to use food to appease them to control the monsters."

"When food is insufficient, they’ll even use human corpses directly."

Huang Yu paused and finally added:

"Sometimes, they even use live people."

"I can guess that."

Chen Jian didn’t pursue this topic further but instead turned to the third plan.

"The third task concerns the security of the external environment."

"We know Mongolia is associated with the Mechanical God Sect, being cultivated as a weapon, and now that their strongest weapon has been destroyed, it’s foreseeable they will seek revenge against us."

"Moreover, this retaliation may not only come from Han Shui City."

"All surrounding Mechanical God Sect forces might attack us... Aside from Han Shui City, where is the largest settlement of Mechanical God Sect nearby?"

Huang Yu looked bewildered, while Zeng Yi answered:

"The nearest is Xishui City, almost completely controlled by the Mechanical God Sect, but with a small population of a few hundred people."

"Farther away is Xianning City, with about 3,000 people, Mechanical God Sect’s combat personnel should be around 400, quite a strong force. Even Han Shui City only has about 800 usable combatants."

"800, 400, plus about a hundred in Xishui City, we might be facing a siege of 1,300 people."

Chen Jian frowned, pondering for a moment before saying:

"We can’t let these people approach Yellow Stone City’s vicinity, being surrounded would put us in a very difficult position."

"Even if they don’t attack, just besieging us would be enough to exhaust us."

As he finished speaking, Xie Liu, standing beside him, suddenly said:

"Don’t forget the refugees who escaped from Yellow Stone City, they might be coerced by the Mechanical God Sect to attack us."

"Could they?"

Chen Jian looked at Huang Yu, the latter’s expression was heavy, but he still nodded slowly and replied:

"Very possible."

"That makes it even more troublesome."

Chen Jian instinctively scratched his head and then said:

"We need to spread people out."

"At least within 10 kilometers around Yellow Stone City, we need to establish a circular warning line."

"The number doesn’t have to be large, their role is just to alert at the first sign of enemy discovery and then guide and assist in attacking, hitting the intruders one by one."

"But if we do this, their weapons must be upgraded a bit."

"Going on reconnaissance with sticks is too laughable—distribute the weapons seized from the Church Protection Army to the Castle Defense Team, and select the best from other collected weapons, prioritizing the allocation to the outer reconnaissance personnel."

"This is not feasible...."

Zeng Yi shook his head and tentatively asked:

"Do you really think these residents are trustworthy? Without restrictions, they might use the weapons they get from us to attack us..."

"The reason why the Mechanical God Sect is at ease letting civilians hold weapons is that they’ve already been controlled by faith."

"What about us? We just conquered this city, and the residents’ trust in us is also limited."

"In this world, trust is a valuable thing."

"The reason Xie Liu, Li Shi, and I chose you is because we’ve seen and experienced certain things."

"But them... they haven’t."

"Let’s reconsider. If it doesn’t work, we’re fast enough to monitor most areas without much problem."

"No need."

Chen Jian decisively said:

"Just let them go."

"But before sending them out, we need to let them know what they’re fighting for."

"Huang Yu, in the shortest time possible, inventory all the resources in Yellow Stone City."

"Then distribute them to everyone."

"Tell them, standing with us means the resources belong to them."

"If they side with the Mechanical God Sect, the resources belong to the Mechanical God Sect!"