MDT Chapter 269 Part 2 (Patreon)

Chapter 269 Part 2: From Cola to the Sky

Uncle Li hurriedly nodded, then looked down at the A4 paper in his hand and continued, "18.49 million units of Iron Ore are the net profit. However, manufacturing goods still consumed some Iron Ore. The total manufacturing cost for all sold goods was 488,000 units of Iron Ore and 8,900 units of Wood."

"This expense isn't on Neon City's books. It's from the Stellar train..."

"Mm."

Chen Mang nodded, quite satisfied. "Then I'll take all 1.08 million units of Titanium Crystal Ore.. Bring the remaining 17.41 million units of Iron Ore out to me later. I need them."

"Yes!"

Uncle Li nodded in agreement, then braced himself and continued, "Boss Mang, yesterday was the first day of Neon City's operation. Many restaurants are also busiest when they first open, as people nearby will try them out."

"It might be difficult to maintain such high profits later on."

"For example, the Brothels. People go once to try it out, and that's usually enough. They won't keep going, especially since there are free options on the train. They won't keep spending money to play at the Brothels. Also, many things like Space Pouches, refrigerators, clothes, etc., are not consumables. When we open again next week, people who've already bought them definitely won't buy again in the short term. Revenue will drop significantly."

Though the results of the first day's operation were gratifying, there were many factors involved. He had to tell Boss Mang this. Because when they opened next Monday, they definitely wouldn't have such high revenue. Never mind 18.49 million Stellar Vouchers—they might not even reach 8.49 million.

He had to make it clear to Boss Mang, lest Boss Mang have overly high expectations and be disappointed next week.

Chen Mang smiled and waved his hand. "You can go first. I understand."

He watched Uncle Li's retreating back, eyes narrowing slightly without speaking.

Theoretically, that was indeed the case.

But next Monday, after Neon City reopened, it would welcome more Train Captains. After all, he'd given Mundo many Neon City Free Admission Tickets to distribute.

Mundo was perhaps one of the few creatures on the entire planet that could travel between different regions. Even if he could only randomly teleport 10 times a day, that was completely enough for Mundo to bring him more users.

And in the coming week, his first batch of 208 users could also recruit new users during this time, thereby concentrating traffic heavily on Monday.

This time in Neon City, there wasn't a single instance of free trade between Train Captains. Neon City had mandatory rules—Train Captains could trade freely, but settlement had to be in Stellar Vouchers.

Next time Neon City opened, as the number of people gradually increased, this part of the ecosystem could also be established.

High-level trains were still necessary. Their spending power was fierce enough.

But low-level trains were also important. For example, boosting popularity.

Though low-level trains were poor, there were many of them. And low-level trains would grow in the future. As long as a train wasn't destroyed, it would definitely become a high-level train. The environment would force you to grow quickly.

Before long, Chen Mang looked at the resources on the train panel and smiled.

[29.97 million units of Iron Ore, 2.56 million units of Wood, 16.74 million units of Copper Ore, 2.32 million units of Crimson Heart Ore, 3.67 million units of Titanium Crystal Ore.]

Things were looking up again.

He felt like his resource count was like a roller coaster—sometimes high, sometimes low, and the fluctuations were particularly large.

He took a look. Upgrading from Level 14 to 15 cost 5 million per carriage. And upgrading from Level 15 to 16 cost 10 million units of Iron Ore per carriage.

A total of 16 carriages required 160 million units of Iron Ore. With consumption halved, that was 80 million.

80 million. That wasn't a small number. He'd save up slowly. This week's mining plus next Monday's Neon City opening should basically be enough to gather that 80 million.

Neon City's two strongest points—profitability and lending.

Taking this time as an example, the profit was the revenue of 18.49 million Stellar Vouchers, while the lending was the remaining 2.01 million Stellar Vouchers that Train Captains chose not to exchange.

Both were equally important.

Those 2.01 million Stellar Vouchers were equivalent to an interest-free loan from other trains to the Stellar train. If he encountered any emergency, he could directly use this loan to tide him over.

When the number of trains in Neon City increased in the future, and its credibility strengthened, the number of Stellar Vouchers people chose to keep would also increase.

It was equivalent to the Stellar, through Neon City, borrowing billions, even tens of billions, in interest-free loans from countless trains.

Using global power to sustain the Stellar train.

This was the charm of Neon City.

As long as it developed slowly, the resources the Stellar enjoyed would be extremely terrifying. By then, the resources brought by mining might account for a very small proportion. Most resources would come from Neon City.

And this was a completely incremental monopoly market.

Incremental and monopoly—either one of these was an absolute trump card. Both together were an absolute royal flush.

Unstoppable.

As long as others didn't have something similar to Neon City that allowed cross-regional free trade, his Neon City would occupy the sole ecological niche—an irreplaceable niche, a niche like Eden that held a crucial position in the apocalypse.

"Pretty good."

Chen Mang couldn't help but lean back in his chair and smile, resting his arm on the armrest, signaling Xiao Fang to massage his shoulders.

The most perverse thing was that Neon City didn't need to pay any employee wages, rent, property management fees, city management fees, utility fees, or even... The goods were almost zero-cost. The only consumption was the Level 8 Energy Stone with 37% capacity remaining that came with Neon City.

There was absolutely no need to worry about depletion. Under unlimited use, it could last continuously for over 200 years. That was enough.

There were very few industries in this world where revenue was almost equivalent to net profit.

Even those so-called high-profit industries, like eyeglasses, where lenses costing a few yuan could sell for hundreds, still had to pay massive costs upstream and downstream, for store locations, and customer acquisition, thereby infinitely raising the product's cost and making it not so high-profit after all. Most of the profit actually came from other points, not just selling lenses.

Uncle Li's good news had dissipated some of his anger from this morning. His mood was quite good now.

He turned his gaze to the control console screen and immediately chose to consume 2.5 million units of Titanium Crystal Ore to manufacture a Level 20 Viper Unmanned Fighter to test its effects and see how it performed.

He also spent 100,000 units of Iron Ore to build another Spatial Door in Carriage #10.

"Xiao Ai."

"I'm here."

"Clear all active residents from Carriage #10 onwards."

"Yes!"

Carriage #10 now had two Spatial Doors—the Film and Television Base and the Entertainment Space. Now there was a new Spatial Door, the Fighter Jet Hangar.

Accompanied by a buzzing sound, a rather large Viper Unmanned Fighter slowly drove out of this brand-new Spatial Door and parked steadily inside Carriage #10, its nose pointing toward Carriage #11.

This was a small to medium-sized fighter jet.

But that was compared to other fighter jets. With a length of 11.2 meters and a wingspan of 6.5 meters, it occupied almost a third of the entire carriage, sitting there like a behemoth.

Extremely intimidating.

"Perfect aerodynamics."

Standing beside it, Chen Mang looked at the Level 20 unmanned fighter before him, his eyes gradually heating up. No man could refuse the allure of excavators and fighter jets.

Completely pitch-black.

The fuselage lines were sharp like a shark's dorsal fin. The matte black coating gave it an extremely strong sense of oppression.

The huge single nozzle is beneath the twin vertical stabilizers.

The almost invisible solar panel coating on the fuselage, without affecting its aesthetics, gave this Viper Unmanned Fighter super endurance. Theoretically, it could stay airborne forever, as long as it wasn't damaged.

And the four large-caliber machine cannons suspended under the wings.

Two words—perfect.

"Hoo..."

Chen Mang exhaled lightly, looking at the fighter jet before him, a sense of satisfaction welling up in his heart. The strongest point of this drone wasn't its Level 20 attack strength, but its infinite endurance.

Once it took off, it could never land again.

If such a thing existed in his previous world, and if the cost were cheaper, he couldn't imagine how fierce the fighting would be...

The next moment—

[Warning, warning...]

Piercing alarms echoed through the entire Stellar carriage. From Carriage #10 onwards, the incandescent lights on both sides and the ceiling began flashing red warning lights rapidly.

This was a lifestyle accessory he'd just built with the Heart of the Machine.

This way, when the fighter jet took off in the future, the residents would know to leave the carriage quickly.

The next few carriages had also been cleared to create a runway.

The two Cosmic Receivers in Carriage #12 were placed on either side of the carriage. The 40-Barrel Sakura-Fall Rocket Launcher in Carriage #13 was also positioned similarly. As for the Ground-Burst Missile in Carriage #14, there was only a launch frame.

No missile.

Missiles could be built when needed. No rush. They were instantly built anyway, no need to stockpile.

Even the No. 15 Breeding Carriage had cleared its shells, moving refrigerators and other items to the sides, and opened its rear door.

"Boom!"

Accompanied by a faint burst of blue tail flame, the air distorted in the heatwave, like Satan's sneer.

This Level 20 Viper Unmanned Fighter began to accelerate rapidly, gradually picking up speed inside the carriage, quickly passing through Carriage #11, Carriage #12, Carriage #13, right up until it reached Carriage #15.

The nose began to lift. Speed reached its maximum. The sound of breaking wind echoed inside the Stellar.

Amidst a piercing sonic boom, it quickly flew out of the Stellar train. After leaving the Stellar, it began to climb rapidly at an almost 90-degree angle.

The advantage of having no pilot was that many difficult maneuvers could be performed without considering the pilot's physical tolerance.

The disadvantage was that it was rather rigid, only able to follow programmed instructions, and unable to react adequately in the first instance.

On the wasteland, Chen Mang stood beside the Stellar train, looking up at the Viper Unmanned Fighter constantly circling overhead. As long as it wasn't shot down, this unmanned fighter would circle in the air forever from now on.

Of course, provided it didn't encounter polar night or eternal night.

Level 20 attack strength could pose a threat to many high-level trains and monsters.

If there were hundreds of such fighter jets hovering in the air, what more could be said? It would provide maximum security. Especially since this thing's speed was shared with the train—a maximum speed of 5040 km/h, plus infinite endurance. Calling it the sovereign of the sky was no exaggeration.

He'd embedded two Level 4 Energy Stones that he'd just manufactured with 1 million units of Iron Ore.

To maintain Level 20 attack strength, the Level 4 Energy Stones could supply those four machine cannons for 30 seconds of continuous firing. After all, with the advanced effect of halved ammunition consumption, it was quite energy-efficient to use.

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