146: Make money! Make money!

A multi-fold increase in lethality meant that Li Xiao's troops could deal massive damage to enemies with limited ammunition, which to some extent alleviated the problem of strength expansion limited by his troop cap.

"Besides that, heavy machine guns, tank main guns, rocket launchers, and many other support weapons can also be modified!"

"Then let's start the modifications today? The Black Hawk Empire is putting increasing pressure on our territory now."

Li Xiao could hardly wait.

Mavis, however, unhurriedly handed over a USB drive and said, "Don't be in such a rush. To modify weapons and equipment, we first need the equipment. This USB drive contains the construction blueprints I designed for the Mo Jing Laboratory. Once you build the laboratory, the modification process will be very fast!"

Li Xiao took the USB drive, immediately plugged it into his laptop, and was stunned by the blueprint data that opened.

"Ten million steel! Ten million Rare Ore! Two million Star Coins! And one million ink crystal?"

Seeing these construction requirements, Li Xiao suddenly felt like he was instantly going bankrupt. One million ink crystal was fine; the five million ink crystal he had gotten for free from the Canyon Base could cover it for a while.

But ten million steel and ten million Rare Ore were simply too much. He still hadn't figured out how to gather the nine million in three types of resources needed to upgrade his base to level twelve.

"Dr. Ma, I'm afraid I can't gather the resources and funds required for this laboratory for the time being..."

Mavis smiled, "That's alright. After all, you aren't as wealthy as the Black Hawk Empire or those arms conglomerates. However, I can afford to wait; I'm just worried you can't..."

"Money, money... I must find a way to make money..."

Li Xiao currently had twenty to thirty million points of health in his Life Pool, but his durability was only six or seven million.

The Xiaoyao Squad was not currently in conflict with surrounding squads. The three to four hundred thousand durability gained daily was collected from various cities dealing with Black Hawk Empire patrols, as well as from Chang Zhan and Wang Si.

Up until now, there was only about six or seven million. Taking this amount of durability to Nangong Yan would yield a profit of about 2.8 to 2.9 million Star Coins.

After deducting the two million Star Coins for upgrade costs, the remaining 800,000 to 900,000 Star Coins would only be enough to buy the steel at the trading center.

"No, I have to think of a way!"

Li Xiao returned to his bedroom, lay on the bed, and began to rack his brain for ways to get rich.

However, ways to make money weren't that easy to find. In the morning, Li Xiao arrived at the cafeteria with dark circles under his eyes.

Seeing Li Xiao looking listless, Du Ziteng brought over a bowl of soy milk and two fried dough sticks.

"Boss, what are you thinking about that's keeping you up at night?"

"Nothing much... I'm just worried about not having money."

Li Xiao took the soy milk and took a sip; it was very fresh and sweet. Du Ziteng's soy milk was freshly ground. Now, with four or five soldiers with the chef profession under his command, preparing meals for four or five hundred soldiers every day had become second nature to him.

"Is it that new Dr. Ma? He looks like a man with great technical skills. His wife and daughter are also polite and courteous. They were chatting and laughing while eating breakfast this morning."

"Is that so?"

This was a good thing, as it meant they had started to integrate into life at this base.

"What about Miss Yi Ling?" Li Xiao remembered the military industry expert sent by Chang Zhan, that very beautiful girl.

He had been busy with Mavis's affairs during this time and had forgotten to go see her after returning.

"Miss Yi is rather taciturn. She stays in the military factory every day and sometimes forgets to come over for meals. I often have people deliver food to her."

"Mm, well done. Old Du, you are the backbone of our logistics now. Thank you for your hard work." Li Xiao saluted Du Ziteng.

"I await your command!"

Du Ziteng was a bit excited, hurriedly stood straight, and also saluted back.

After eating a few bites, he prepared to go to the Xi City command post to take a look; he hadn't been there in two weeks.

Liu Nian and Yun Dongliu had been handling various matters for the squad twenty-four hours a day, and he couldn't just keep being an absentee boss.

He walked out of the cafeteria, intending to have Li Le bring the car over, but saw Mavis's wife and daughter learning to drive an all-terrain vehicle.

He smiled and turned to leave, but a thought suddenly flashed through his mind.

Li Xiao suddenly remembered that at Miyun's villa, he had added 10,000 points of health to this mother and daughter.

Since he could add health to such civilians who hadn't allied with him, could he also add health to the troops of Chang Zhan or Wang Si, who were already allied?

And if he could add health, could it be used to cash out?

To verify this idea, Li Xiao immediately drove to the Dark Soul Mercenary Group camp.

Ever since they wiped out the Lan Bo Mercenary Group, the Dark Soul Mercenary Group had become famous overnight. The number of mercenaries in the group surged, and in just one or two weeks, the headcount soared to 20,000.

Furthermore, when Nangong Yan learned that the logistics force they had wiped out was backed by Tianma Technology, she was very happy and ran to sign a contract with Wang Si, only to find out that Li Xiao had been the one mediating behind the scenes.

Nowadays, Wang Si had become a logistics support armed force under Nangong. By escorting equipment for Nangong Technology across Yun City every week, he could earn a large sum of money.

Not only that, Nangong Technology also provided some second-hand Armored Personnel Carriers and a large amount of ammunition, instantly turning the Dark Soul Mercenary Group from a third-rate mercenary force into a first-rate one.

Although they still couldn't catch up to those super mercenary groups that numbered in the hundreds of thousands, they would be able to catch up in time.

"Haha! Brother Li Xiao, I really owe this to you. I never thought our Dark Soul Mercenary Group would have a day where we prospered."

"Brother Wang, you must work twice as hard. Strive to become an international super mercenary force; then no one will dare to steal your business again."

"That's a must. But all of this was facilitated by you, Brother Li Xiao. The Dark Soul Mercenary Group will never forget your kindness."

Li Xiao waved his hand, "Let's not talk about that. I came today because I have an important matter to discuss with you."

Seeing Li Xiao become serious, Wang Si stopped joking around. He patted his chest and said, "Brother, tell me. I will definitely do whatever it takes!"

"It's like this: I have recently mastered a technique that can quickly improve soldiers' physical fitness and enhance their vitality. The improvement process is fast, painless, and has no side effects! So I want to ask you to help me check and see if there are any wealthy mercenary groups willing to try it out?"

"Enhance vitality?"

Wang Si exclaimed, "Brother Li Xiao, you really are an all-around talent! Before, you could increase vehicle durability, and now you can even enhance vitality. Are you some kind of immortal?"

Li Xiao knew this would be even more intriguing than increasing vehicle durability, but he was so poor he couldn't even put food on the table. He had to find a way to sell blood... That's right, selling vitality was basically equivalent to selling blood.