Chapter 194.1: New Residents Moving In
Why had the promised single reward suddenly turned into three?
Of course, Cheng Qisheng was delighted to receive two extra [Heaven’s Punishments].
However, the incident had also made her realize that the rules governing Safe Cities were not set in stone.
Her first instinct was to figure out what had caused the change.
She made a note of the matter, planning to see if she could get an answer from the Truth Stone later—provided the price wasn’t exorbitant.
As for whether the real [Ota]’s weapons depot had been similar to the Science and Technology Institute weapons depot, how many precious supplies it had contained, and how much of it had been completely obliterated by the [Heaven’s Punishment], none of that mattered.
Cheng Qisheng wanted plenty of supplies and weapons, but only on the condition that Blue Sea remained safe.
When Blue Sea faced off directly against the Three Major Companies, the worst that could happen was that one side would prove stronger than the other.
But the real [Ota] was different. It had the [Heaven’s Punishment].
As long as Blue Sea came into conflict with it, there was a chance it could be hit by one or even several [Heaven’s Punishments]. That was why Blue Sea had never intended to confront [Ota] head-on in the first place.
No matter what tricks [Ota] had up its sleeve, once Blue Sea obtained its coordinates, it could simply unleash a [Heaven’s Punishment] on it and put an end to everything.
The worst-case scenario Blue Sea had considered earlier was that the real [Ota] was indeed still around, but had concealed itself somewhere no one could find. Then, without warning, it might suddenly emerge and catch Blue Sea completely off guard.
Now, things had turned out as well as they possibly could.
And with the three [Heaven’s Punishments] awarded as a reward, the outcome was better still.
—Thanks to Coriander.
Cheng Qisheng realized that his ability of [Fortune Comes from Taking Risks] translated into [Fight One Battle, Get Rich Overnight] for Blue Sea.
After all, Coriander was a Tier-5 Safe City. Anyone or anything capable of posing a threat to him was bound to be extremely valuable in the first place.
By the time it was all added up, Coriander had only activated his ability twice on Moon Silk.
The first time, the Sanluo Safe City used a Safe City Locator to pinpoint his coordinates.
Blue Sea had happened to arrive right then and there, immediately stepped in, and eliminated the Safe City, gaining nearly 20,000 square kilometers of additional territory.
—Blue Sea made a fortune.
Then came the second time, which directly increased Blue Sea’s stockpile of [Heaven’s Punishments] from three to five.
—Blue Sea made an absolute fortune.
This was practically exploiting a bug in the system!
Cheng Qisheng hoped she would encounter Coriander again in the next world. That way, she could help her little brother resolve his problems while making another fortune on the side. It was practically the perfect arrangement.
While she reviewed the events on her end, the other City Lords in the group chat were already thoroughly bewildered.
Wait a minute. Hadn’t the battles with the Three Major Companies already ended?
How had Blue Sea completed another World Mission?
And it had done so independently, too.
Some City Lords didn’t dare to ask Blue Sea directly, so they opened private chats and went around asking for information instead. The [Heaven’s Punishment]’s power was astonishing, and some Safe Cities located above the clouds had naturally noticed the commotion in that dead zone.
The Tier 5 and 6 City Lords were all shrewd people. After exchanging information with one another, they quickly pieced together the general situation.
By general situation, that meant they still didn’t know which of the [Companies] Blue Sea had eliminated, but they did know one thing: Blue Sea had used a [Heaven’s Punishment].
The City Lords: “……”
If they remembered correctly, Blue Sea hadn’t obtained the [Heaven’s Punishment] all that long ago, had it?
A weapon with such devastating power, one capable of bringing any battle to an end, wasn’t something you were supposed to keep tightly under wraps and save for when it was absolutely necessary?
The [Heaven’s Punishment] was an exceptionally powerful and rare weapon, one capable of damaging an enemy Safe City even while the two cities were traveling through the vast universe.
Blue Sea’s military strength was already so formidable that it could take on all three Companies at once. And yet, it had still gone ahead and used the [Heaven’s Punishment] directly against the locals?
Was Blue Sea really that casual about using such a weapon?!
The City Lords, who had gotten a little too carried away with their mining operations, once again grew nervous and apprehensive over the matter.
After all, if Blue Sea could use the [Heaven’s Punishment] against a local [Company] without the slightest hesitation, then it could certainly use it just as readily against another Safe City.
Having a gun wasn’t frightening. What was frightening was having a gun and liking to shoot it.
The group chat was soon filled with another round of warm and heartfelt congratulations. Everyone was overflowing with enthusiasm, as though seeing Blue Sea was like seeing a beloved family member—or no, someone even closer than family.
When Blue Sea once again suggested that the other City Lords come and collect their residents, every one of them responded with warmth and eagerness. In an atmosphere of perfect harmony and mutual affection, they all said:
[No, no, there’s no need! It’s their good fortune to be able to stay with Blue Sea. We won’t get in the way!]
[Blue Sea Safe City: Some residents still want to return to their original Safe Cities. How about this? I’ll have my people take those residents to a designated area. If any of you want to come and collect them, you can decide for yourselves whether to come.]
The City Lords all burst into laughter, outwardly praising her thoughtfulness and consideration.
In their hearts, however, they were thinking: Anyone who actually goes is an idiot.
Cheng Qisheng knew that was exactly what they were thinking, so she added another sentence.
[Blue Sea Safe City: Also, if any residents want to join my Safe City, and their family members are still living under your care, I hope you’ll be willing to make an exception and accommodate them~]
At those words, the City Lords began to hesitate.
If they were being asked to go and claim benefits, they wouldn’t dare take them. But if they were being asked to pay tribute, then of course they’d obediently do as they were told.
They had already given up their ability user residents. Their family members were most likely ordinary people, so what was there to be reluctant about?
Cheng Qisheng quickly followed up with another message.
[Blue Sea Safe City: After all, these residents originally belonged to you. If more than 200,000 residents sent out by your Safe Cities end up staying with me, send me a private message and I’ll give you the coordinates of an underground mine for free. If the number exceeds 400,000, I’ll give you two sets of coordinates, and so on. Consider it compensation.]
After all, the Great Annihilation was imminent, and everyone could only remain on Moon Silk for another six months.
Blue Sea had more mines than it could ever finish excavating. Cheng Qisheng found it remarkably easy to use them to do others a favor.
[Blue Sea Safe City: If enough ability user residents choose to stay in Blue Sea, I can even increase the number of underground mines I give you =v=]
The City Lords in the group chat: !!!
[Of course! No problem!! Please send me a list, and I’ll immediately arrange for those residents’ family members to be delivered to you!]
[@Blue Sea Safe City, boss, I sent too few residents over earlier. I actually still have some pretty good residents here. Would you like more?]
The group chat was clearly much livelier than it had been just moments ago. Some City Lords even tried to promote additional residents to her.
However, Cheng Qisheng politely declined each offer.
The main reason she had kept the batch of residents sent over by the other Safe Cities was that they had been sent there specifically to serve as combatants.
This meant that these residents had already undergone a round of talent screening. They possessed combat capabilities, yet their own Safe Cities had refused to protect them. In other words, they had effectively been sent out as a s**cide squad.
Therefore, once they entered Blue Sea, the likelihood that they would voluntarily stay and become believers would be much higher than that of ordinary residents.
As for the residents who had taken the initiative to go on the offensive, hoping to obtain weapons or earn military merits through warfare, they were even more valuable to Blue Sea. They were exactly the kind of talent it needed, and their style fit right in with Old Eighth’s.
Now that the war was over, any residents the other City Lords sent over would certainly be of nowhere near the same caliber.
Moreover, Blue Sea Safe City was gradually bringing the Moon Silk people from various regions under its wing.
After a century of radiation exposure, combined with their short lifespans and the decline in people’s desire to reproduce under such harsh living conditions, the total population of the Moon Silk people had dwindled to a mere fraction of what it had been during the planet’s prosperous days.
Even so, this was still an entire planet. The combined population of all the Moon Silk people undoubtedly exceeded seventy million.
Accommodating more residents in a Safe City wasn’t as simple as making sure there was enough living space. Blue Sea also had to consider the space needed for food and drink supplies, residents moving around outside, and workplaces.
Blue Sea Safe City had only recently become spacious again, but now it was running out of room once more.
So Blue Sea needed to advance to the next tier yet again.
The blueprints for the expanded city had already been prepared, and [Ota] had been dealt with. With the residents all busy mining outside, the Safe City itself had become conveniently quiet. Cheng Qisheng decided not to put it off any longer and took out fifty million nuclear crystals.
“Aether, begin the upgrade.”
Aether, who had been ready and waiting, immediately responded, “Yes, City Lord.”
It was time to start building and renovating again.
The large quantity of miscellaneous construction materials Old Eighth and the others had brought back could finally be put to use as well.
Furthermore, Blue Sea had now taken in several hundred researchers, including dozens of Black Researchers. Its technological capabilities had increased dramatically, and with its ample reserves of nuclear crystals, many facilities could be upgraded alongside the city itself this time.
Cheng Qisheng tapped away at the virtual projection of Blue Sea Safe City.
“First, let’s work on the roads again. Extend them, add more of them, and keep stacking them upward.”
“Do you think we might have the hovercars developed by next year?”
Aether floated over to her shoulder, its beautiful white, luminescent tentacles swaying gently.
“Yes, City Lord. The 451 researchers who recently joined Blue Sea have informed us that they possess complete hovercar technology. However, having the technology alone isn’t enough. Building the hovercars and their elevated tracks will both take time. The earliest estimated completion date is within a year. The blueprints have already reserved space for the public hovercar transit network.”
Cheng Qisheng nodded. Because of the passwords they had been given, those researchers had maintained an attitude of unquestioning obedience toward Blue Sea, doing whatever Blue Sea told them to do.
Although not all of them had converted into believers, well over half had smoothly come to believe in Cheng Qisheng after entering Blue Sea.
Based on her experience, all she needed to do now was let them work at the Science and Technology Institute. Regardless of which planet these researchers came from, as long as they stayed in Blue Sea long enough and had work to occupy them, they would inevitably come to believe in her eventually.
—If only it were that easy to get Lu Song to believe in her, too.
Cheng Qisheng put those thoughts aside and instructed Aether, “Enlarge the blueprints. I’ll take over from here.”
“Yes, City Lord.”
Aether had become quite good at organizing its own tasks by now. As soon as it saw the City Lord reserve space for the public hovercar transit network, it demonstrated a strong sense of initiative and moved on to the next item.
“The blueprints for the floating airship docking platforms have been brought up for you, City Lord—”
That’s right. Blue Sea was going to make airships part of its everyday transportation system.
At present, one thing was certain: having obtained Moon Silk’s airship technology, Blue Sea could now build two different types of airships.
One type would be Moon Silk airships.
The other would be giant eyeball virus airships, with a style entirely unique to Blue Sea.
As Cheng Qisheng studied the blueprints, she installed airship docking platforms throughout the city’s public areas.
“Residential buildings, apartment blocks, government buildings… Excellent, excellent! Residents with flight wings will be able to dock in midair, too.”
Just imagining the future made the Great Creator God of Blue Sea grin. She pictured the Old Eighths flying all over Blue Sea aboard all kinds of airships, zipping around above the city, darting out of one building and straight into another.
It sounded ridiculously fun.
“Done!”
Cheng Qisheng had been so engrossed in meticulously molding the airship docking platforms that she finally straightened up and rolled her neck.
Aether immediately picked up where she left off, displaying an impressive sense of timing.
“City Lord, the next stage is to renovate the crustal area surrounding the small ocean. Blue Sea’s construction department has already completed the design for an underground city. According to the current plan, the underground city can be used for normal work and daily life under ordinary circumstances. In an emergency—for example, if the surface is destroyed for any reason—the underground city will still be able to function normally.”
“This underground city will also include a small vertical farming complex to ensure that even in critical circumstances, we can maintain the most basic food supply.”
Cheng Qisheng remembered this. She had glanced over the proposal earlier. Now all that remained was building the place, and that was something she was familiar with.
A little construction material here, some timber there, then add some glass and sand. Check the pipeline routes…
“Finished!!”
Looking at the little underground city, which seemed exquisitely compact compared with the vast expanse of Blue Sea as a whole, Cheng Qisheng was reminded of the days when Blue Sea Safe City had first opened.
Back then, it had been the same. Everything had to be crammed together, and the Old Eights spent their days swinging around on iron chains like monkeys. With food reserves running low, they had eaten coarse grains for quite some time. When they needed to find an agricultural expert, they had practically wanted to mobilize the entire population.
Life really had gotten better.
Humming a tune, Cheng Qisheng continued building and upgrading other parts of the city.
“Upgrade the city walls to Tier 7.”
“Upgrade the protective shield to Tier 7.”
“The air circulation system, water supply system, medical district, and storage facilities. Buy another atmospheric regulation pipeline network, too, and make sure we have emergency provisions both aboveground and underground…”
“The aboveground vertical farming complex needs to be expanded as well. Aether, bring up the blueprints for the agricultural towers. Yes, list all the internal facilities they require, too. Let me see if I can use these construction materials to have the rules generate the facilities.”
This time, Cheng Qisheng worked for a full twenty-three hours.
Only when she felt that things were more or less complete did she clap her hands and look over Blue Sea Safe City, which had been transformed once again. A satisfied expression spread across her face.
“All right, Aether. Help me run through an inspection. Is there anything else we need to build? Or are there any construction materials left over from the miscellaneous supplies the residents prepared?”
Aether quickly scanned the area.
“All construction materials have been used up.”
“City Lord, there’s still one thing missing: landscaping.”
Cheng Qisheng, who had been admiring her own handiwork with satisfaction, froze.
“…Landscaping?”
“Yes. The residents of Blue Sea uprooted all the greenery from the [Norn Company]’s premises and gathered it all in one place.”
Cheng Qisheng swept the area with her mental power. Sure enough, in an open section of the Safe City, countless trees of various kinds had been planted in tight clusters. It was obvious that many residents had worked together to transplant them there.
She had a vague idea of what was going on.
She located a believer who was at the former site of the [Norn Company] and looked at the surrounding area through his eyes.
The [Norn Company], which had once been magnificent, with numerous building complexes that made it look like a complete city in its own right, now looked as though it had just undergone a massive demolition.
Not only had every single one of the ornamental trees been removed, but countless bottomless-looking pits had also been dug into the ground where the trees had once stood.
Clearly, the residents of Blue Sea had hauled back every bit of soil they could get their hands on.
Cheng Qisheng: No wonder we had so many materials to work with during this round of upgrades and renovations.
She enveloped the trees in her mental power and began looking for places to plant this landscaping all over the city.
The residential districts definitely needed trees. She would plant some in the government compound, too, and add a few to the Temple.
Oh, right!
The playgrounds of elementary schools and schools below that level could use more trees. Blue Sea’s children at that age loved climbing trees more than anything.
There was no need to do the same for middle school students and older, though. By that age, they weren’t as interested in climbing trees anymore. Instead, they preferred signing up for training camp courses or playing offline war games during their holidays.
After finding places to plant the overwhelming number of ornamental trees—so many that she couldn’t see them all at a glance—Cheng Qisheng finally stopped and opened the Safe City panel.
[Safe City — Tier 7]
[Actual Land Area: 165,350 square kilometers]
[Land Area Upon Arrival: 1,033 square kilometers]
[Resident Capacity: 470 million]
Excellent! As expected, the Safe City had become much more spacious after advancing to the next tier.
The population was still in the four-hundred-million range for now. By the time they left Moon Silk, it would probably surpass five hundred million.
Blue Sea was truly flourishing more and more with each passing day.
Cheng Qisheng signaled for Aether to open the city gates wide, allowing the residents outside to return to the Safe City. She was in an excellent mood.
Now, they could finally focus on mining without a care in the world.
