With the plan in place, several groups of spider robots soon set off, carrying supplies toward the mountains where the iron mine was located. Upon arrival, they quickly set up a temporary shelter to shield them from the rain, and construction began.
A few hours later, the drilling machine was fully assembled and slowly rolled into the mining area, cutting through the downpour. It would begin drilling and placing explosives in the iron-rich zone, breaking the ore into manageable chunks for the subsequent excavation machinery to collect.
This necessary blasting step in open-pit mining was made easy with the detailed exploration data provided by the micro-mecha, as well as the AI's calculations. The construction steps were straightforward and posed no particular difficulty.
As the drilling machine went to work, the other excavation machinery and transport vehicles were steadily assembled. Since the road to the mountain had not yet been constructed, these vehicles would, for the time being, stockpile the extracted iron ore in nearby areas with stable geological conditions. Once the road was finished, the ore would be transported to the Qingning Shelter for processing.
At the **Farmhouse Shelter**, the **manufacturing center** continued its operations without disruption, adhering to the original plan. It remained focused on the production of spider robots, which, after coming off the assembly line, would not be used in mining or road construction. Instead, they would be directed to transport supplies between shelters under the guidance of workers at the remote control center.
Although open-pit iron mining was relatively simple and yielded resources almost effortlessly, the underwater shelter's resources remained equally valuable. Moreover, because these materials were more accessible and some were long immersed in water, they could be subject to irreversible issues, such as damage to waterproof layers or contamination.
The urgency of securing these underwater resources was slightly higher than that of the iron mine. Therefore, there was no need to adjust the original production schedule. Su Wu decided it was best to proceed step-by-step, allowing the various tasks to unfold naturally.
However, while the manufacturing center's task schedule remained unchanged, Su Wu had not been idle. He had pulled an entire excavation team from the project expanding the **Farmhouse Shelter** to assist with the initial road construction in the mountains. Reducing the team by one excavation group would not significantly impact the shelter's overall progress. Meanwhile, the presence of an excavation team in the mountains would facilitate many tasks, and by the time Su Wu assembled a larger workforce, the road could already be close to completion.
"At this point, the production areas and subsidiary shelters are operating at near capacity," Su Wu thought. "It's best not to make any adjustments in the short term. We should wait until each task is fully processed before proceeding further."
He left the control console screen focused on the image of the drilling machine, which was now drilling into the earth amid the heavy rain at the iron mine.
What he lacked most now was time. If he could simply be given enough time to absorb the benefits brought on by the recent floods, he would truly emerge as a monumental force in Jianghe City—one that no one could challenge.
---
**Evening, surface level.**
The heavy rain continued as usual, flooding the ruins of Jianghe City. In the midst of it, a brightly lit medium-sized hovercraft slowly navigated through a deep-water zone. Su Wu, wearing a life jacket, opened the hatch. A cold gust of wind, mixed with raindrops, hit him immediately.
"It's getting cold," he muttered, feeling the first hint of winter's chill. "It feels like freezing rain is just around the corner."
Having spent most of his time in the comfortably regulated environment of the underground shelter, Su Wu found the atmosphere both novel and somewhat uncomfortable. Fortunately, he had prepared in advance, wearing a warm layer beneath his life jacket, so it wasn't unbearable.
He didn't step out onto the deck but instead stood in the open hatch, looking out into the storm. The powerful lights of the hovercraft illuminated the rain, which fell in delicate, sparkling threads from the sky, hitting the deck and splashing in great arcs. The noise of the downpour was deafening, so loud that even speaking at a normal volume would make it hard for others to hear.
Su Wu watched the rain for a while, when suddenly, a faint light appeared at the edge of his field of vision. It grew closer, revealing two kayaks, loaded with spider robots and supplies, heading back toward the Jingyuan Shelter. Against the backdrop of the endless floodwaters, the kayaks appeared incredibly fragile, as though they could be swallowed by the flood at any moment.
"This looks dangerous," Su Wu thought, a little shaken. "Watching from a screen is one thing, but seeing it in person is entirely different."
If it had been him in one of those kayaks, he doubted he would have had the courage to ride through such treacherous waters. Yet, countless survivors—weak women, children—had bravely navigated these very same waters, using kayaks to cross flood-ravaged regions. For them, this wasn't a casual game in a garden with a screen; it was a life-or-death struggle against nature. Success meant survival; failure meant drowning in the icy, unforgiving floodwaters.
Su Wu let out a quiet breath, starting to understand the feelings of those survivors and the many who, under his orders, had to leave the safety of the shelter and operate kayaks in the storm to rescue others.
Soon after, another bright light appeared in his field of view. The calm water of the area around his hovercraft, though seemingly ordinary, had become a crucial waterway, with nearly half the ships passing through here to reach the Jingyuan Shelter.
The light grew larger and took the shape of a ship—a vessel identical to the hovercraft Su Wu was aboard. The ship, carrying passengers, passed by, piloted by a human operator, and the two vessels crossed paths.
--Support me in Patreon for more chapters 35+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LegendaryTL
Thanks!