185: Chapter 185 Territory Inspection, Results of Each Line (2)

Lu Changyuan took the shift schedule—he pressed his finger on the two characters for "Anomaly." Then, he returned the schedule to Old Mai Liu.

"Patrols in the Fourth Sector—increase from two shifts a day to four. Equip the observers with observation mirrors. If you see a second shadow—do not tear the warning talisman, light the emergency talisman directly."

Old Mai Liu nodded. He folded the schedule—then jumped from the Pier's jetty onto the sampan. The sampan left the shore—the oars cut through the water as it headed toward the Fourth Sector.

Evening. The Lords Mansion.

Su Qingli spread the account book out on the table. Piled before her were all the accounts from the past three months—the military contract repayments, Jubao Pavilion's civil prepayment, the monthly supply payments for blood awakening pills from the Fourth Battalion of the Left Wing, and the settlement for the fish catch from the outer fishing teams. Attached to every entry was an original voucher—Manager Wei's acceptance slip, Manager Song Yuan's prepayment contract, and the final payment receipt from the Left Wing's Quartermaster. She arranged the vouchers chronologically from earliest to latest—once she finished, the entire tabletop was covered in vouchers.

"Public Treasury balance—" She turned the account book to the last page. On the last page was a curve trending upward from three months ago—after the conscription order, the curve had plummeted to a very steep valley (less than two thousand Spirit Stones), then climbed up step by step from the bottom. First step: eight thousand two hundred and fifty Spirit Stones from monthly military contract repayments. Second step: three thousand six hundred Spirit Stones from Jubao Pavilion's monthly civil prepayment. Third step: monthly supply payments for blood awakening pills from the Fourth Battalion of the Left Wing. Fourth step: settlement of the fish catch from the fishing teams for the Public Treasury. With the four steps stacked together—the Public Treasury balance had climbed from the valley floor to nearly thirty thousand Spirit Stones.

"Nearly thirty thousand—" Su Qingli turned the account book back to the first page. The first page was the expenditure column—doubled wartime allowances, supply rations for the Sin Battalion, Materials for sensor array plates, the third phase of the third-tier Killing Array installation, stone chiseling for the outer outpost platforms—each item listed the actual expenditure figure. The total expenditure amounted to approximately twelve thousand Spirit Stones—the monthly surplus was nearly eighteen thousand. "A surplus of eighteen thousand. A monthly surplus—this isn't a windfall, it's a fixed monthly increase."

She closed the account book. After closing it, she pressed her hand on the cover—the pressure wasn't heavy, but her fingers lingered on the cover for three breaths.

"purification liquid—production capacity will exceed five hundred bottles next month." She pushed the account book toward Lu Changyuan. The cover of the account book had a label for the Blue Moon Island Public Treasury—the label was worn, its edges curling upward. She picked up a wolf-hair brush from the brush rack—and added a line of text to the last page of the account book. The characters were written very small—the brush tip pressed onto the paper, occupying less than half a line. "Three hundred bottles for the military, eighty bottles for civil use, one hundred and twenty bottles for stockpiling. Five hundred bottles—at fifty-five Spirit Stones per bottle, the military side brings in sixteen thousand five hundred per month. The civil side brings in three thousand six hundred. Adding the two together—Blue Moon Island doesn't need to wait for another windfall. Whatever you want to expand on the island—you have your own money now."

Lu Changyuan looked at the cover of the account book. This was the first time since Blue Moon Island was founded—that it didn't need to rely on external Spirit Stones to survive. The first time—the one hundred thousand Spirit Stones Patriarch Lu Yunshen allocated when founding the island were start-up capital. The second time—the one hundred thousand in compensation from the Chen family was a windfall. The third time—Demon General Fuhai's treasury was a windfall. The fourth time—the trade with Elder Tianji was a windfall. Every windfall was followed by a period of tightening the belt—once the Spirit Stones were spent, they had to wait for the next Opportunity. Now, there was no need to wait—the purification liquid, Silver-Scaled Moon Fish, earth vein jade spike, and cold marrow jade shell produced on the island itself—the Spirit Stones fixedly entering the Public Treasury every month now exceeded the fixed expenditures. Windfalls had turned into a steady stream of income.

He moved his hand away from the account book—then took the incomplete map from the corner of the table. On the map, Leng Feng had already marked the rubbings from the third abyss exploration—the third newly added fluctuation source was marked right between the red circle and the altar. The distance between the three nodes was equidistant—one every twenty-five li. The red circle was at the easternmost end, the altar at the southernmost end, and the middle node was due north. The three nodes happened to form an equilateral triangle on the map—there were no markings at the very center of the triangle. The depth there was two thousand five hundred zhang—the thickest Sealing Pattern that Leng Feng had seen on the altar stone surface three months ago extended outward from that location.

"Three nodes—" Leng Feng stood across from the table. He pressed his finger onto the center of the triangle—the pressure was just enough to make the animal hide on the map sink down a layer. "The lid, the Lock Core, the Connection Node. Once all three places are activated—the main hub at the center of the triangle will be forced open from the outside."

"What is sealed beneath the main hub?"

"I don't know." Leng Feng moved his finger away from the map. "But three years ago, not a single person from the entire exploration team came out alive—the Grain Supervision Office's intelligence section searched through all the old files and only found one sentence: 'Something is sealed underneath.' As for what specifically—it's something we'll only know once it opens."

The morning of the second day after Su Qingli closed the account book—Commander Tie Zhan's message arrived.

The message Jade Slip was sent directly from the Zhenhai Fortress to the Receiving Formation at the Blue Moon Island Lords Mansion—using the official military order channel of the Command Headquarters. The front of the Jade Slip was engraved with the military seal of the Zhenhai Fortress Command Headquarters, and the edge of the seal was surrounded by a circle of dark gold urgent markings. The color of the urgent markings was a shade deeper than standard urgent markings—meaning that all relay stations between the message being sent from the fortress and received at Blue Moon Island had been skipped. A direct transmission.

Lu Changyuan was in the Workshop area at the time—watching the production of the pot-4 military-standard stockpiling pots. The five circles of temperature control Array Patterns on the pot surface dimmed one by one from the outer circle to the inner circle—the spiritual liquid in the cooling tank transitioned from rolling steam to calm. An apprentice standing by the pot used a wooden ladle to scoop some from the cooling tank—the spiritual liquid in the ladle was a very pale silver-gray, with no sediment at the bottom of the ladle. The old craftsman nodded from the side—the concentration of this batch of military-grade items met the standard.

Su Qingli walked over from the direction of the Lords Mansion—her walking speed was nearly twice as fast as usual. She was clutching that message Jade Slip in her hand—the urgent markings on the Jade Slip were still seeping out a very faint golden light.

"Commander Tie Zhan—a military combat readiness upgrade order." She handed the Jade Slip to Lu Changyuan. Lu Changyuan took it—the surface of the Jade Slip was still warm, the residual heat of the array power after the message's Array Pattern had been activated.

He pressed the Jade Slip against his palm to read it. He read for about twenty breaths—then moved the Jade Slip away from his palm and glanced at Su Qingli.

"Zhenhai Fortress has been upgraded from Level 3 combat readiness to Level 1."

Su Qingli did not speak. She was waiting for the words that would follow—Commander Tie Zhan's messages were never just to announce a public military order.