Chapter 71: Chapter 62: Negotiation
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Under the cover of the setting sun, the Gobi Desert seemed to have been laid with a red carpet.
Jack drove the pickup truck around Las Vegas once again, returning to the highway.
“Can you make it or not? Didn’t you say we would definitely arrive by tonight?”
Tao Yu sat in the passenger seat, lazily speaking while eating a can of beef.
“How could I know we’d be so unlucky, with two flat tires.”
Jack had an expression of speechlessness.
Since they had come out of the base in the afternoon after resolving the ‘Corpse King’ issue, the two of them did not have enough time to climb out of the military camp and return, so Jack simply took Tao Yu back into Las Vegas to gather some supplies, and after resting outside for a night, they set off again.
It took a total of three days and two nights to solve the problem and bring back quite a lot of materials, which was already very efficient.
However, it was unfortunate that the environment on the Gobi Desert was not comparable to that of the highway. The continuous tire damage wasted a lot of time, causing them to bypass Las Vegas just at dusk, and finally returned to the highway.
There is a more complex road condition to enter Henderson, and it is unlikely that they will make it before dark.
Tao Yu was just speaking off the cuff while running the Breathing Technique to stimulate the Qi-Blood forces to complete some enhancements; he then raised his fully charged watch to listen to what information there was on the two channels today.
“…to the south there is another rainforest, preliminarily confirmed as the Alien 01 fragments stretching around two thousand kilometers north to south, it is roughly determined that the Rainforest 02 in the south far exceeds Rainforest 01 in size.
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“The air is toxic and lacks oxygen, posing a high threat to normal people. Individuals lacking strength need professional equipment to enter. In the sky, one can see a blue gaseous planet; the flora and fauna are very peculiar, presenting extreme danger to the Outsiders of the Development Zone.
“Primitive tribal civilization of tall humanoid creatures has been initially discovered; the world barrier at the same time restricts all interactions, causing minimal impact on the outside world…”
Obviously, the north-south distance of the Alien world was much shorter than the east-west direction, only two thousand kilometers, no wonder they had reached the south in just a few days.
With this information, an outline formed in Tao Yu’s mind.
The characteristics of that world they mentioned were so distinct, Tao Yu knew it must be the Pandora World, a special planet with room-temperature superconductive ore!
Thinking of the Floating City hanging above Starshine City, Tao Yu knew that the technological elements of his own world were not low.
However, judging from their regret of obtaining the spaceship wreckage previously, they must possess more of the ability to directly use things from world fragments, because the Miasma has divided all cities, and a single city clearly has already lost the capability for full industrialization, with too large a gap in the complete industry chain.
Perhaps they have unique insights into mutation, mechanical modification, and other aspects, but most likely, they are not comprehensive.
Based on actions brought from the Abyss, modification is stronger than manufacturing.
“But nevertheless, it is room-temperature superconductivity; even if it is used in some mechanical retrofit enhancement, it is quite strong…”
Tao Yu pondered silently. For the time being, it seemed they had not yet discovered those superconductors.
The combat capabilities of the creatures and the Na’vi people in the World of Avatar appeared to be quite formidable, posing much greater threats than the Python.
An individual Python might not be weak, but compared to the numbers, they are too few, and they are not capable of systemic combat like the Na’vi, not to mention that there are also human forces at play there.
All sorts of high-tech combat weapons are present, and the poisoned air, toxic for humans, is also trouble, requiring specialized equipment to enter.
Furthermore, there’s also a plant-based ‘Divine Spirit’ whose depth is unknown.
In terms of the overall power of the new Development Zone, it’s really not that strong. They rely entirely on the folks from the two Floating Cities.
It’s just unknown what the real limits of the two from the Floating City are, and in case they find Unobtainium, whether they would invest more resources here.
“What a pity, I wonder if there’s a complete financial system in Floating City. Wouldn’t it be a bloodbath if now’s the time to bottom-fish in the machinery sector?”
Tao Yu kept pondering how to bring benefits
“If we could really secure the Unobtainium of the Avatar World, then machinery might have the upper hand over alien implantation in the future… right?”
Tao Yu was not too sure himself. He wasn’t a financial expert; it was fine to talk strategy, but actually putting it into practice, he could blow his assets in minutes because ultimately, the rules were in the hands of others. What if they just disconnect your internet?
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However, the situation with the Avatars was neither a current issue for the settlement nor for Tao Yu.
“Even if I could get there now and seize the Unobtanium mine, I wouldn’t have the strength to hold onto it, and it might even cost me my life. Besides, that ‘Eva’ with the Heart of the World isn’t something I can covet in the short term.
“Better take care of the present first, process Cao Shaolin’s body properly, handle a simplified version in seven days, and look for a chance to upgrade later.
“Then I’ll return and sell this ‘Chosen One’ Jack, along with the base coordinates intelligence, the money should sustain me for a while…”
Tao Yu planned out his short-term goals.
The Jack who was driving beside him suddenly shivered, then turned back to Tao Yu and complained,
“Are you thinking about something bad?”
“Heh, let’s just think about how we’re going to get through tonight, shall we head back under the cover of night?”
Tao Yu didn’t really mind on his own since his vision wouldn’t be affected by the night, but he had to consider Jack, especially since night driving in the city was much more difficult. Unless necessary, it was better not to take the risk.
“I’ll try to get in contact first, we should be close enough.”
Jack adjusted the radio.
Both the pickup and the settlement were equipped with radios, not stations, but rather extended-range walkie-talkies. Now that they were close to the city, the internal frequency should be reachable.
“Is anyone there, who’s on duty today, can you hear me?”
Jack continued to drive towards the city.
After a while, a voice came through the walkie-talkie, but with quite a lot of noise, indicating they were probably at the limit of the communication range.
“Sss~ Brother Jack, are you guys back? Today Tommy’s on duty. Something came up, and he went to deal with it with Senke.”
“What happened?”
Jack glanced at the increasingly dim sky and frowned involuntarily.
“It’s about those three guys who disappeared last time; their companions have appeared and say they want to negotiate.”
Tao Yu had been somewhat indifferent beside him, but at this, he showed a bit of surprise, quickly coming to terms with the situation.
“They probably went to get help, maybe someone was planning to come in, and they happen to be nearby.”
Outsiders likely didn’t have the money to issue missions, so these so-called companions were probably just trying to lend a hand, to see if they could get them out or distract the focus to give them a chance to escape on their own.
The likelihood of them risking their lives was small.
Considering the timing, their cooldown periods haven’t even finished yet, so it’s probably just a probe.
“So what do we do?”
Jack thought of the dead Lizardman and looked a bit solemn.
“Don’t worry too much, they’re likely from the outside with limited strength; that’s why they’re thinking of negotiating. Otherwise, they would’ve come in fighting. But indeed, we ought to be cautious. Let’s try to return tonight. We Pioneers do have a rather low bottom line.”
Tao Yu was unbothered by revealing his shortcomings, as the environment dictated such outcomes.
When survival becomes problematic, there’s no point in talking about morals…”
…
Meanwhile, on another rooftop stood four scruffy figures donned in all sorts of weird gear, even including a frying pan, looking across the street at the hotel from where Tao Yu had crossed using the ropes.
On the opposite side stood Tommy and Senke, armed, along with two other adult males from the settlement, in a standoff.
As the street below was filled with zombies, neither party shouted across the street to each other.
Instead, Tommy and his group used the ropes, which had not been removed, to slide a walkie-talkie over.
However, creating an awkward and rather cold scene was the group on the other side, huddled together and fiddling with the device for quite a while without establishing communication.
This left Tommy and Senke exchanging glances, bewildered.
“Looks like we have four idiots over there…”