Apocalypse: Hero of Potato Fields-Chapter 371 - 357: Mecha Symbiotes
million, that’s not a small amount.
If Orianna had made such a suggestion a few days ago, Lin Yi would have been heartbroken.
But now with a Wandering Island on one side of the shelter and an Argon Ark on the other, there’s no point in saving money to upgrade the Second Level Dome.
So Lin Yi approved these changes.
The vending machines raking in profits was also a factor in his decision.
In just the past five days, they earned over 40 million Coins.
And he plans to make a big deal with the Rusted Fortress during lunch.
At least 7 million Coins can be earned!
After paying all these expenses, the shelter’s account still had 56.5 million Coins left.
But things weren’t over yet...
After quickly checking on the people moving into the new residential area, Lin Yi headed to the military headquarters.
Everyone there was extremely busy.
They were planning an operation against the vampires later that day.
There are fewer vampires than zombies, but these guys are more cunning and can pull off some very nasty tricks, especially when the zombies attack.
The operation had been planned, reviewed, modified, and re-examined, and now everyone was going all out in preparation for the battle.
The gunners were working overtime to enchant the bullets with magic.
Lin Yi found Solomon to check on the situation.
There were 24 Children of the Sun, two knights, and one Hilania person who died.
All the casualties happened during rescue operations.
"Casualties" refers to those who are gone forever and cannot be resurrected.
Children of the Sun... Su Alme led them deep into enemy territory, and somehow they fought their way back.
They tried to bring back the wounded and the dead but couldn’t take everyone.
They also lost nearly two thousand swords and over a thousand sets of legion soldier armor... the Children of the Sun turned them into irreparable scrap.
Su Alme has already been severely reprimanded by Hubert and Solomon for this, and now he’s going to get scolded by the boss again...
Lin Yi knew that the Children of the Sun had lost their sanity, completely going mad since they started believing in sunlight.
However, no one could deny that their sacrifice greatly eased the pressure on the main human forces, so they weren’t punished too harshly.
Next, Solomon reported on the troop upgrades.
Profession——Number——Average Level
Mages——283 people——Level 12.5 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
Archers——210 people——Level 12.2
Shapeshifters, Beastmen——2232 people——Level 9.0
Infantry, Gunners——468 people——Level 11.5
Beastmen——496 people——Level 10.4
Knights——5696 people——Level 7.3
Spearmen——2509 people——Level 5.1
Children of the Sun——5461 people——Level 5.0
Lin Yi was pleased to see all the Children of the Sun had reached Level 5, and the knights were close to reaching Level 10.
The heavy infantry of the Children of the Sun had all reached Level 5 and were steadily progressing towards Level 10.
After being mixed with the human and Hilania infantry, their average level dropped significantly, but after a few large-scale battles, they might catch up to their comrades.
About half of the Children of the Sun were actively practicing with firearms.
Now they have the "Precise Shooting" skill, at least they’re able to hit the target...
Shooting wasn’t their forte, but you can never have too much fire support from the army.
As long as they weren’t getting in the way on the walls, it was worth it.
After discussing the situation of the Children of the Sun, they started to discuss the upcoming operation.
The first phase is expected to take eleven days.
The artillery will slowly and steadily turn the enemy ark into a wasteland.
The giant dragons will provide support by bombing the vampires’ castle from high in the sky using magic.
The first phase has two mutually exclusive goals:
1) provoke the enemy into attacking;
2) force the enemy to huddle behind their defenses.
The second phase is basically a response to the enemy’s reaction; if the enemy is provoked into attacking, then it becomes straightforward.
They will meet the enemy at the walls and eliminate them.
The soldiers had set traps, distributed equipment, and the mages had rested.
But if the enemy decides to "huddle" and not come out, the shelter’s warriors will gradually begin to attack the enemy hiding behind the walls using guns, cannons, 300 mages, and mortars.
If the enemy adopts this strategy, they will eventually fall into the trap.
Those tanks will definitely come in handy.
Solomon had already scouted the enemy’s ark using reconnaissance drones.
That ark is a giant fortress, no civilians inside, only chimeras working in the fields, and chimeras guarding the walls.
Almost no one was on the streets of the fortress, so the soldiers speculated that there were either facilities built underground or the chimeras were sitting in their barracks waiting for orders to deploy.
This fortress is surrounded by two circular walls, one 20 meters thick, the other 30 meters thick.
There’s about a 600-meter space between the two walls, along with some stone buildings.
According to military analysts, these buildings are used for keeping the chimeras and storing equipment.
In other words, they are barracks and armories.
Behind the second wall is an even larger structure, with some places that look like large blacksmith shops.
What exactly are they manufacturing there? No one knows for sure, but from the large chimneys belching black smoke skyward, they’re clearly making something.
Near the center of the fortress are some residences that look rather comfortable, probably for the vampires, and at the very center is the main area, encircled by a circular wall 30 meters high.
After thoroughly discussing all situations with Hubert, Lin Yi identified the target for the artillery bombardment and then transported Solomon to the testing grounds.
The initial five symbiotes have adapted to their soldier hosts, so it was finally time to test the new First Level mechas.
"Quite beautiful," Lin Yi said, looking at the five small gray mechas.
Each mecha was about 8 meters tall.
They had no heads or necks, only a slightly elongated torso with a cockpit for the pilot, and two arms, one equipped with a laser gun and the other resembling a chainsaw.
With strong legs, these mechas were very fast and could jump 10 meters high.
"Boss, shall we begin?" Solomon asked.
"Begin," Lin Yi nodded.
The eager pilots climbed into the cockpits.
After a few agonizing moments of waiting, the first mecha took a step forward, followed by another step, and then the other mechas started moving as well.
A minute later, these machines were running around the testing grounds, leaping over obstacles and attacking targets.
The pilots had driven mechas before, so this wasn’t their first attempt, but previously they were strictly limited to 5 to 20 minutes and only allowed basic operations.
Now, however, they had to fully exert the mecha’s capabilities within half an hour.
Half an hour later, when they returned to their original positions and crawled out from the mechas, Lin Yi saw five happy faces, all the pilots were beaming.
"Soldiers, report your status!" Solomon commanded loudly, and the five pilots immediately stood at attention.
"Easy, sir! No more discomfort, feels like I am one with the machine, sir!" reported a Black soldier.
"Sir! I don’t even feel tired. I could drive this thing for hours, even days," said another soldier to his right.
They all reported and were very satisfied.
"The bug symbiotes didn’t give you any trouble, did they? Not the kind of wordplay trouble..." Lin Yi asked, a question that interested all the infantry.
"No, boss! On the contrary, they’re very useful! My reflexes were faster, shooting was more accurate, and my memory improved.
And if I asked the symbiote, it could remind me of important things, tell me what time it is... things like that."
"It can remind you? You mean... you can communicate with it?" asked the surprised Black pilot.
"Yeah... haven’t you ever tried?" the red-haired male countered.
"No... damn, you’re right! It responded to me!" the Hilania man said, panting.
"Hmm... it’s a bit like Siri! I mean... the original Siri, not our Siri. So cool!" another pilot added.
The mecha pilots dispersed, and Lin Yi and Solomon sat down to discuss what they had observed.
"What do you think?"
"Heh... I’m already thinking about getting, a symbiote for myself," Solomon replied with a smile.
"Really?"
"Yeah... as long as there are no side effects, I think there’s no reason not to equip the entire army with symbiotes. I believe they would also be useful for Mages and close combat Warriors."
"Agreed," Lin Yi nodded.
"But it must be 100% voluntary, and don’t forget the symbiotes absorb some of the host’s experience points.
We still don’t know what they’ll be like at the Second Level or Third Level."
"Boss, looks like I need to do my homework first."
"Order some more mechas, including a Second Level model, and you prepare more pilots."
After discussing the mechas, the pilots, and the roles these powerful metal warriors would play in the upcoming operations, Lin Yi headed to the Treasure Room.
This time the rewards they opened set a record: 250,000 white rewards, 4,500 green rewards, 2,000 blue rewards, 700 purple rewards.
But not all the white rewards. were from Annie, nearly 50,000 of them were empty.
Seeing these numbers, Lin Yi had a changed view of Annie.
He knew the girl was lucky, but he didn’t expect her luck to be this good...
[Total Rewards Acquired]:
[Weapons]:
First Level: 63,865 pieces,
Second Level: 21,157 pieces,
Third Level: 1,201 pieces,
Fourth Level: 277 pieces
[Armor (pieces)]
First Level: 35,324 pieces,
Second Level: 11,760 pieces,
Third Level: 625 pieces,
Fourth Level: 148 pieces
[Equipment]
First Level: 48,233 pieces,
Second Level: 15,700 pieces,
Third Level: 855 pieces,
Fourth Level: 175 pieces
[Skills]
Common: 8,256 items,
Rare: 104 items,
Unique: 4 items
