binnovel Chapter 150 Dawn City Upgrade
Chapter 150 Dawn City Upgrade
On October 20th, the autumn harvest was basically complete. These past few days, the Organization and Publicity Department had been busy promoting the expansion of Dawn City, aiming to ensure every resident was aware of the plans and avoid panic. The Organization and Publicity Department has two main responsibilities: personnel appointments and personnel management. Each department head must submit a written report to the Organization and Publicity Department before appointing cadres. The department members then compile the report and submit it to their head, Ma Tiancheng. Ma Tiancheng then submits it to the General Committee, which is convened by Li Chenglong for discussion and decision. The Dawn City People's Representative Committee is responsible for overseeing the decision and can raise objections and suggestions.
However, the above only pertains to the appointment of high-ranking officials. The appointments of lower-ranking officials are less complicated, decided by the respective department heads, but subject to oversight by the Ministry of Supervision and the People's Representative Committee of Dawn City. The second responsibility of the Organization and Propaganda Department is to publicize the resolutions and policies of the Dawn City government, to publicize organizational appointments, and to publicize the performance of each department, subject to oversight by all the people of Dawn City.
Li Chenglong arrived at the central computer room. Everyone who worked there today was there to witness this historic moment. Many city defense and public security personnel were also present in the various residential areas to prevent any accidents. The guards on the city walls and the soldiers had already left. Li Chenglong took out 10 blue crystals and 30 cyan crystals, placing them one by one into the slots of the main control computer. Immediately, an electronic voice rang out; this was the true artificial intelligence of the central computer room, though it couldn't walk out like Alice.
A female figure appeared on the main computer screen. Alice had introduced her before; she was designed based on Miss Erica's mother. The woman slowly said, "Upgrade conditions detected. Upgrade?" Li Chenglong replied, "Yes." Immediately, the crystals gradually disappeared from the grooves. The virtual image then said, "The expansion of the city wall requires a large amount of materials. Please specify the material selection location." Without hesitation, Li Chenglong said, "Set the material selection location to the former Dawn Base." This was something he had decided on long ago, and he had already had it cleared out beforehand.
Immediately, all the computers in the central computer room started up simultaneously, emitting bursts of light centered on the Dawn Building. A deafening rumbling sound echoed in the distance. Those closer to the city wall were astonished to find it gradually moving away from them. Simultaneously, the ground trembled due to the wall's movement, the closer one was to the wall, the more intense the tremors. This lasted for a full half hour before gradually subsiding in the distance.
Li Chenglong observed through the monitoring computer that the entire city wall had changed from a circle to a square, and while maintaining the same height, its thickness had increased from 1.5 meters to 2 meters, making it much more sturdy. Simultaneously, significant changes had occurred within Shuguang City itself. Every two kilometers, a wide road now ran through the center. This resulted in seven roads running horizontally and vertically across the 16-kilometer-long and 7-kilometer-wide Shuguang City, greatly facilitating the travel of its citizens. However, these roads were not mandatory; they would disappear in certain special locations, such as military camps and factories, to facilitate internal construction.
Meanwhile, Dawn City also has a complete underground pipeline system after the upgrade. The electrical wires that were originally laid on the ground have all been moved underground. Because the underground pipeline is very spacious, there won't be any problems with future construction. After happily seeing these changes, Li Chenglong quickly opened the exchange shop to see what he could exchange for in Dawn City at level two. However, he was somewhat disappointed that there weren't many items available. The best one was a second-generation Crystal Communicator, which required one yellow crystal. Based on the previous Crystal Communicator, it allowed for real-time calls, video chat, and taking photos, almost exactly like a mobile phone. Each Crystal Communicator had a unique number, and a month's standby time only required one red crystal. However, after obtaining it, it needed to be bound to an identity card and used exclusively by one person. In case of loss or damage, the identity card could be used at the crystal computer to unbind the communicator and log in to a different number.
Li Chenglong thought this was quite good, and since it only required one yellow crystal, he immediately exchanged for 400 units, which he then had distributed. The only downside was that because the communication device needed to go through the central computer room for relay communication, its coverage range wasn't very large, only 600km. But for now, that was sufficient. He even gave the device a name: Crystal Phone. The signal base station problem wasn't difficult to solve; it could be implemented using signal vehicles. However, each signal vehicle cost one cyan crystal, which was too expensive for Li Chenglong at his current level.
Besides the crystal phone, there's also crystal rice, but that's just the name it gets after being translated into Chinese characters by the main control computer. In reality, it doesn't look much like rice, and the plant itself doesn't resemble it either. This crystal rice requires an environment with supernatural or psychic abilities to grow, but it has a high yield and can increase the experience of supernatural or awakened individuals. Li Chenglong exchanged 10 green crystals for 200 kg, planning to plant it in his psychic space.
Another valuable item was the Crystal Rifle Manufacturing Machine, a name given by Li Chenglong because the original text was in Meral script, which even the main control computer couldn't translate into Chinese. This machine was almost the size of a room, and it manufactured firearms fully automatically, requiring only crystals, steel, and other materials. The Crystal Rifle, with its folding stock, was 920 mm long, weighed 3.5 kg unloaded, and 4 kg fully equipped. It had three firing modes: single shot, three-round burst, and fully automatic, capable of firing up to 800 rounds per minute at full speed. Its effective range was 750 meters, with a maximum range of 1000 meters. It could be equipped with accessories such as bayonets, flashlights, scopes, bipods, and grenade launchers, and fired both 5.56 mm standard and crystal bullets, demonstrating excellent performance in various environments.
Li Chenglong was very impressed by the gun's excellent performance and immediately used 80 green crystals to exchange for a crystal rifle manufacturing machine. He planned to place it in the Joint Logistics Support Force to manufacture a batch and distribute them evenly among the various combat regiments to see how well they performed before deciding whether to continue production. This gun was much better than the standard rifle he had enhanced at the crystal factory and should be well-received. Since he had a gun, he needed bullets, so he used the main control computer to exchange 50 green crystals for a crystal bullet manufacturing machine. However, he didn't plan to send this machine to the Joint Logistics Support Department but instead to Shen Menghua. Crystal bullets could be manufactured using white and red crystals; each white crystal could produce 5 crystal bullets, and each red crystal could produce 20 crystal bullets.
After the exchange was completed, Li Chenglong first distributed the crystal phones to several girls working there. Then, he called Yun Qian via computer, asking her to come over shortly to receive the 200+ crystal phones and distribute them according to the list. The girls directly bound their identity cards to the crystal computer and then saved the phone numbers of several other people.
After finishing these tasks, Li Chenglong went to the military camp. His main purpose this time was to deliver the crystal rifle manufacturing machine. He originally wanted to send someone to pick it up, but firstly, the thing was really huge, weighing at least fifteen tons, and secondly, he wanted to see the current state of the army, so he decided to deliver it himself. Before going, he even made one out of yellow crystals, intending to show it off to Wu Gang and make the kid envious.
He arrived at the Joint Logistics Support Department and saw Qin Fangyu leading some soldiers in inventorying the warehouse. Upon seeing Li Chenglong, she welcomed him into her office. After Li Chenglong explained his purpose, Qin Fangyu's eyes lit up; she hadn't expected to find such a valuable item. She then led him to a relatively large room. Li Chenglong looked around and thought it was quite good. He then took out a crystal rifle manufacturing machine from his psionic space and slowly placed it down. Qin Fangyu was surprised to see how large the machine was.
Li Chenglong taught Qin Fangyu how to operate the system and left her eight crystal phones. After helping her bind them, he left, giving the other phones to other administrators in the Joint Logistics Support Department. Then he strode towards the training ground of the First Regiment, where new recruits were undergoing shooting training, with Wu Gang personally instructing them on shooting techniques. Seeing Li Chenglong arrive, everyone saluted in unison. Li Chenglong returned the salute and said with a smile, "You should learn a lot from your regimental commander; he used to be our base's shooting champion. But I guess not anymore, haha."
Wu Gang replied with a smile, "Captain, how about a shooting contest? Let's see if I'm still number one in shooting." Li Chenglong had been waiting for this, so he immediately said, "Alright, 300-meter fixed and moving target shooting, are you in?" Wu Gang snorted, "Why wouldn't I be? The guards will arrange the 300-meter fixed and moving targets right away. I want to practice with the division commander." When everyone heard that the regimental commander was going to have a one-on-one shooting contest with the division commander, they all gathered around, and soon there were seven or eight hundred people. Wu Gang took out his reinforced rifle, loaded the bullets, and began shooting first. In just one minute, he had finished shooting at 10 fixed targets and 10 moving targets. The guards and several other people came over with the target paper and said, "A total of 180 rings." Hearing this excellent result, the soldiers of the regiment couldn't help but cheer.
He smiled and said to Li Chenglong, "Commander, I think you should just admit defeat. After all, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and you can't be an expert in everything." Li Chenglong smiled, then magically produced a crystal rifle from his psionic space and began firing rapidly. To his satisfaction, the crystal rifle was even better than described; it had a comfortable grip, low recoil, and high ergonomics, finishing its shot in just 45 seconds. Everyone present widened their eyes in disbelief. A moment later, several soldiers came over with target paper: "20 bullets, all 10 rings. A total of 200 rings. Commander, you win!"
Wu Gang's jaw nearly dropped to the floor, but he said nothing. Instead, he took a rifle he'd never seen before from the smug-looking Li Chenglong, examined it closely, and fired a few shots before exclaiming in surprise, "What kind of gun is this? It's so good! It's much better than the reinforced rifles you gave us before." Li Chenglong then told him about the crystal rifle and the crystal bullet manufacturing machine. Wu Gang was overjoyed: "I want it, I want it, I want them all! Please equip our battalion with 500 immediately, no, we want 1000!" Li Chenglong smiled and said, "Don't worry, we'll have them all. I've already put them in the Joint Logistics Support Department. Once they've produced them, they'll be distributed equally." Wu Gang nodded and then said, "This one's mine first," before handing the crystal rifle to his guard.
Li Chenglong didn't mind, but Wu Gang said, "I feel that calling it the Crystal Rifle doesn't sound very good. How about changing the name? Today is October 20th, so how about calling it the Type 20 Assault Rifle?" Li Chenglong thought it was acceptable, so he said, "That works too. I still have the Crystal Bullet Manufacturing Machine to deal with, so I'll be going now." After saying goodbye to the soldiers, he went to Production Area One. However, Shen Menghua had gone to Production Area Two today and wasn't there. Li Chenglong put the Crystal Bullet Manufacturing Machine in a safe place and asked someone to notify Shen Menghua, instructing her to take good care of it when she returned.
In the afternoon, a new map of Dawn City was also created. Due to its increased overall size, Dawn City is now divided into more than a dozen areas. From top to bottom on the left, Dawn City is divided into Military Zone 1, Industrial Manufacturing Zone, Residential Zone 1, Education Zone 1, and Research Zone. On the right, from top to bottom, are Light Industrial Zone, Residential Zone 2, Education and Entertainment Zone, and Military Zone 2. In addition, north of the Dawn Building are Residential Zone 3 and Commercial Zone 1, while to the south are Commercial Zone 2 and Residential Zone 4. The area near the Dawn Building's central entrance is the office area. This detailed classification facilitates infrastructure construction and the management of each area. Dawn City also promulgated commercial development regulations, encouraging ordinary residents to conduct commercial activities legally and compliantly.
However, the locations of commercial areas are not entirely fixed. For example, to facilitate the daily lives of residents of Dawn City, there are shops and supply distribution points for the Ministry of Logistics in various residential areas and the two industrial zones. As the locations become more specific, various departments begin to cooperate and start constructing various buildings and related facilities. However, Li Chenglong does not want too tall buildings, requiring that the maximum height be no more than 12 stories, and that the buildings be of high quality. The Ministry of Transportation has also recently launched intercity buses, which can be ridden simply by swiping an ID card. The ID card can be recharged, and except for the elderly and children who do not need to recharge, others can exchange crystals or points for recharge points. Basically, one white crystal is enough for half a month, which is very cheap.