"Wait, hold on a second?"
Yuan Mei, who had been full of anticipation, saw the information on the panel and his face instantly darkened.
When others started their empires, they either had fertile land with mountains and rivers, or a strategic location that was easy to defend and hard to attack.
But for him, not only did he start in a Prison, but among the few buildings and facilities he could bind, only his own system warehouse was in good condition; the others were either abandoned or damaged... He checked them and found that repairing these buildings required a large amount of minerals, which was good news, because according to his past memories, Prison No. 7 had no shortage of minerals.
"Then how do I unlock the tech tree?"
Yuan Mei quickly asked; this was of utmost importance, concerning how he would start and develop his empire.
"The system will automatically identify nearby facilities or technologies that can be bound or upgraded."
"When you acquire items, facilities, or blueprints with research value, you can unlock new tech trees."
"At the same time, the territory range can be expanded through binding, but it requires the consumption of corresponding energy."
Yuan Mei raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and asked:
"So, if I provide you with enough energy, you can infinitely expand the binding range?"
"Yes, and the land must be unclaimed."
"For example, these facilities in this Prison are already considered abandoned, so they can naturally be bound."
"But if they are already claimed, there are two methods: one, have the other party give them to you; two, take them by force."
The system's prompt echoed in his ears, and Yuan Mei was somewhat surprised; the system's functions after being repaired completely exceeded his expectations.
To say it was repaired wasn't entirely accurate; it was more like it had completed an upgrade.
His thoughts returned to reality, and Yuan Mei looked around. The facilities in the room were complete and luxurious, completely out of place with the harsh conditions of the Prison outside.
After some rummaging, he found a blueprint of the Prison in Greta's desk drawer.
Yuan Mei held the blueprint and looked out the window. Judging by the direction of the rising black smoke and flames, the explosion must have occurred in the hydropower area. As for the building he was currently in, it was located in the living quarters.
Most of the facilities in the Prison were damaged; the recent large explosion caused more destruction than he had imagined.
Since he couldn't escape anyway, he might as well take a gamble.
When people first encountered the Sand Field Mineral Bug, they suffered many losses due to their lack of understanding, but Yuan Mei, with his memories, knew that these bugs were not actually living creatures—they were ancient mining robots buried underground.
For others, this was a pure disaster, but for Yuan Mei, the Sand Field Mineral Bug presented both danger and opportunity.
If he could harness it for his own use, it would definitely be a huge asset.
Yuan Mei pondered for a moment and decided to head to the mining area first.
Not only to obtain the mineral materials needed to repair various facilities, but also because the abandoned mine exploration center displayed on the system was also there.
According to the information on the blueprint and his past memories, although this building was abandoned, it was very suitable as the initial territory for his empire.
As he was thinking, an electronic chime rang. Yuan Mei turned to look at Greta's trench coat on the floor. He squatted down and pulled out a watch-sized terminal from her pocket, displaying an incoming call.
With such a big commotion in the Prison, the caller was most likely one of Greta's subordinates. He examined the terminal, chose to mute it, and put it in his pocket.
Yuan Mei crouched down and took Greta's ID card from her pocket, putting it on. Then he opened the door, poked his head out to observe his surroundings. The lights in the corridor had gone out, leaving only a few emergency lights emitting a faint red glow. Unlike the chaotic scene downstairs, this corridor was utterly silent at the moment.
Yuan Mei closed the door and slowly, unhurriedly, made his way along the corridor.
The corridor wasn't very long; this floor seemed to have only Greta's room, and the small cubicle he had just passed was merely a pantry. He reached the end of the corridor when Yuan Mei's expression suddenly changed, and he pulled back the foot he had just stepped forward with.
A sudden burst of noisy footsteps came from the dark stairwell below; two people were walking up from downstairs.
He held his breath and slowly began to retreat. Two voices chatting came from downstairs:
"I'm exhausted. Why does the Commander's room have to be on the fifth floor?"
"Stop complaining, hurry up. I couldn't reach her on my terminal, something might have happened!"
Two figures jogged up from below, one after the other. One of them panted, saying:
"Didn't we just catch a pretty boy? Maybe the Commander is having a good time right now. Are we sure we should go?"
Yuan Mei, hiding in the pantry, raised an eyebrow. From the sound of it, these were the culprits who had brought him to Greta's room.
The leading guard spat, clearly lowering his voice as he cursed:
"That damn woman always relies on her connections to slack off, and whenever there's a problem, she blames me. With such a big mess in the camp, if I don't inform her... Have you forgotten what happened last time?"
"Besides," the leading guard tugged at his collar, disdainfully, "I only earn peanuts a month. Why should I risk my life?"
"You're right, Boss, you're smart." The follower behind him flattered him, and the two walked through the corridor, heading directly to Greta's room door.
Under the deep red light, a dark gun barrel extended from the shadows of the cubicle. The subordinate, who was happily trailing behind the leading guard, only heard a muffled thud, and the guard in front of him fell straight down.
He looked back in horror at the source of the gunshot, and another bullet greeted him.
Crimson blood soaked the floor. Yuan Mei stepped forward, unbuckled the belts from their waists, and took their guns and tasers.
Then he thoughtfully looked at the police uniforms on the bodies in front of him, then stood up and reopened Greta's room door.
Five minutes later, a well-built guard walked out of the door. The bloodstains and bodies in the corridor had disappeared.
He casually threw the trench coat he had just used to clean the floor back into the room, closed and locked the door, then inserted the pistol into its holster and quickly walked downstairs.
He had successfully escaped, but Yuan Mei knew this was only the first step; his imperial endeavor had just begun...