Next, the group entered the Mechanical Hive and, with practiced ease, forced the Queen Spider to surrender.
This place wasn't like the previous hive, which was filled with supplies; the supplies were likely used to strengthen the minions and the boss.
However, the good news was that the production line configuration was not only higher but also double!
As a result, including those produced in the past two weeks, Lu Yuan now had five automated production lines!
The underground mine tunnels beneath Red Iron Town had been excavated for hundreds of years, branching out in all directions. According to the records left by the miners, there were signs of Mechanical Desert Spider activity in at least three directions.
This meant that there might be multiple Mechanical Hives in this underground space, making it a rich and lucrative dungeon cluster!
If they could take down the remaining Mechanical Hives... well, the productivity at that point would be too beautiful to behold.
"Excellent, let's start dismantling the production lines. We'll build the factory directly in the sub-base and assemble them there!"
"Yes!"
Stepping out of the dungeon and arriving in Red Iron Town, Lu Yuan and his group instantly attracted the enthusiastic gazes of the young men and women.
The underground restricted area, which no one dared to venture deep into for hundreds of years, was actually opened up into a new underground mine under their 10-day offensive.
All the superstitions about the "Mech Guardians" were also shattered.
At this moment, wearing that white combat uniform was their lifelong dream.
Thinking of this, the mining pickaxe in their hands instantly lost its appeal.
Of course, no one had ever thought mining was enjoyable anyway.
Lu Yuan nodded slightly towards these young admirers, greeting them, and then turned to see Susan's newly built two-story house.
This small building had become a famous landmark in the town. Susan had to receive at least twenty townspeople daily who came to visit the "mansion." For the rest of the time, she was always bending over to clean the house again and again, afraid of getting even a speck of dust on it.
Seeing the Executive Officer, Susan bowed deeply, and Lu Yuan also nodded in return.
At this moment, Nan Guo de Xue jogged over from the back of the team and handed the pad to Lu Yuan.
"There's an emergency. The drone surveillance network just issued an alert. Please take a look."
Lu Yuan saw two all-terrain vehicles driving stealthily over the dunes about 100 kilometers west of the main camp.
This direction should be the Stormwind Gang's vehicles.
They had been holed up at home, waiting for a defensive battle, but the expected enemy never arrived. Now they finally couldn't sit still and had the illusion that they could control the western Desert again.
"It seems these guys are itching for trouble again."
Ye Xing also came closer.
"Hmm..." Xue Jie nodded. "We haven't bothered them for the past two weeks, so the Desert Bears must think they're capable again."
"Alright then, let's completely eliminate them."
Lu Yuan's tone was quite calm.
Just as production had peaked, he really wanted to know how strong Cangyuan was now.
Furthermore, the secret room beneath the Stormwind Gang's lair also greatly concerned him.
In the command center, after a brief thought, Lu Yuan issued tasks to everyone. The construction gameplay began to enjoy a 1.5x experience point bonus, and Engineers received an additional 1.3x multiplier on top of that.
The main camp and the Red Iron Town sub-base simultaneously entered a state of readiness. Large quantities of metal and organic materials were moved out of the warehouses, and a total of 14 3D printers and 5 production lines were all activated.
The beast of industry roared for the first time.
In just one afternoon, the reserves of weapons and ammunition had already surpassed those during the Red Iron Town defense battle.
Two days later, all players were equipped with military exoskeletons.
Three days after that, the number of drones reached three times that during the Red Iron Town defense battle!
Jubian, by transplanting Apollo's intelligent missile technology, designed and produced Cangyuan's own loitering munitions, using inexpensive turboprop engines with a range exceeding 30 kilometers.
Compared to FPV drones, loitering munitions were less flexible; they couldn't hover in the air or fly backward, but their advantage lay in their "large and sturdy" build, allowing them to carry larger warheads with sufficient power.
The power armor Guo Li Cheng had previously captured was repaired long ago. Based on this power armor, Engineer players also produced three identical replicas.
Although these power armors were just "blanks," their performance was significantly higher than exoskeletons. Their structural frames, outer armor, and heat dissipation/fire suppression systems could all have their production capacity shared by the production lines.
The 3D printers only needed to be responsible for producing the precisely structured power system, kinetic buffering system, sensors, and metal hydrogen battery packs.
Overall, although the power armor had a complex structure, its production cost was still within Cangyuan's acceptable range, making it a practical weapon that could withstand battle damage, definitely not some ceremonial armor that looked good but was useless.
"Let's stop weapon production here. Get a good night's rest, and we'll set off tomorrow."
On the evening of the 58th day since his arrival, Lu Yuan once again sounded the horn of departure.
"Before that, we need to allocate the four power armors to individuals."
At the unanimous call of the good employees, Lu Yuan himself became the first power armor player.
He didn't stand on ceremony.
With his current level, attributes, movement techniques, and exclusive main weapon, he was undoubtedly Cangyuan's top combat force. There was no need for modesty here.
The employees were quite perceptive.
The second one went to Guo Li Cheng. Besides her meritorious capture of the prototype, everyone unanimously agreed that this would help her unleash group fear effects on enemy troops in PVP without cooldown.
"Team Leader!"
Guo Li Cheng sent a raised-hand question emoji in the group chat.
【Executive Officer】: "What is it?"
【Nu He Guo Li Cheng】: "I want to customize this power armor. It will only take up a tiny bit of production capacity."
【Executive Officer】: "How do you want to customize it?"
【Nu He Guo Li Cheng】: "I'm very troubled. Many people seem to have serious misunderstandings about my image! So I've decided to paint my power armor deep red to reflect feminine elegance."
【Executive Officer】: "..."
【Jin Yi Ye Xing】: "No, where is the elegance?"
【Ma Lou】: "You should know that blood is also deep red, right?"
As the game artist, 'See you on the rooftop after school' couldn't help but want to complain.
"Um, are you sure painting it red won't make it look more bloody, more brutal, more chaotic?"
【Nu He Guo Li Cheng】: No, why? What a strange idea.
The group was powerless regarding Guo Li Cheng's aesthetics.
However, for the third and fourth power armors, everyone quickly reached a consensus.
Caoyuan and Ye Xing.
These two were well-deserved, whether in terms of combat skills or their reputation and prestige among the player base.
Of course, Lu Yuan had no intention of just giving away "rare equipment" directly to someone.
Power armor, like vehicles and laser cannons, was the highest-level heavy equipment at the current stage. Due to limited quantity, it temporarily belonged to company assets and was only assigned to specific personnel for operation during wartime, under unified dispatch, to achieve the best results. After this "Lion Hunt" campaign event ended, they would be returned.
Later, as production further increased, they could consider selling them as commodities or using them as rewards for completing tasks to guide player behavior.
Such good things that could motivate people should naturally be squeezed for all their value.
Early the next morning, the large force set off. The mighty convoy first arrived at Red Iron Town, picking up the extremely high-spirited militia.
Upon learning that they were going to completely eliminate the Stormwind Gang, the townsfolk gathered outside the town to send them off. Many insisted on giving away their already scarce dry food and fuel, and they simply couldn't be stopped.
While waiting, Lu Yuan reviewed the map of the Stormwind Gang's main camp area.
Ye Xing hadn't been idle these past few days; he had already used drones to photograph the entire area.
From a planar structure perspective, the main body of the camp was a black building from the pre-apocalypse period. Its appearance clearly indicated it was exceptionally sturdy, and according to previous captives, most of it was located deep underground, like a shelter.
Obviously, this thing could defend against nuclear weapons, and indiscriminate bombing wouldn't break its defense.
Outside the main building was the actual Soldier camp area, with numerous barracks and warehouses, surrounded by a triple defense line of high walls, barbed wire, and trenches. Further out were bunkers.
The defense was quite strict.
For the local natives.