75: Chapter 75 Construction Accelerates, Rapid Changes

As the morning light just crept up onto the rammed earth foundation of the Eastern Wasteland Alliance joint base, Chen Wuwang was already standing on the first level of the high platform.

He was not wearing his usual Family head robes, but only a dark grey work outer robe, with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, revealing a section of the Mechanical Prosthetic Eye's connection wires shimmering with a cold blue in the sunlight.

Below, the disciples of the Seven Clans were gathering in twos and threes; some were moving modules, others were checking blueprints, their movements sluggish, their gazes drifting.

The "Development Charter" that they had pressed their blood seals onto just last night was still tucked inside their robes, yet the work under their feet seemed frozen, and no one was willing to be the first to move.

"Zhao Clan's seventeenth metal structure group has been accounted for at 12.3% of the total progress."

He suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, yet it channeled directly into everyone's ear bones via the spiritual network broadcast, "Sun Clan's ecological power supply node, zero work started. Li Family's spirit-conducting pipe calibration, zero entries."

The crowd went silent.

"The Honor Roll is not just for show."

He raised his right hand, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye flashed with blue light, and a translucent data screen floated in the air, "Consolidating resources by the end of the first quarter—today is the first day. Whoever drags their feet will have contribution points automatically deducted by the System. If not made up within three days, their qualification for this season's technical training will be cancelled."

As his voice fell, several Li Family members who had been standing around lazily immediately turned and ran toward the North District.

Someone on the Sun Clan's side cursed under their breath, but they also began to direct their clansmen to pull the ground piles.

Chen Wuwang didn't speak again. He stared at the screen, his fingers tapping gently three times on the hilt of the dagger at his waist—this was an old habit of his when thinking.

Five minutes later, three work areas with deviation values exceeding 5% were locked in red frames, and the coordinates were synchronously pushed to the Jade Slips of each clan's on-site person-in-charge.

"Zhao the Third!" a young deacon from the Lin Family suddenly roared, "Your people have driven the resonance anchor pile crooked again! The frequency doesn't match, the tower foundation will collapse!"

The Zhao Clan side immediately retorted: "What the hell do you know! We are using our ancestral earth-vein nailing method!"

"Ancestral?" the deacon sneered, "We signed the unified construction standards last night! We aren't here to hold a clan exhibition!"

The argument exploded. Seeing that both sides were about to fight, Chen Wuwang stepped forward, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye shot out a scanning beam, instantly projecting the data of the two sets of pile foundations superimposed in mid-air.

"Look clearly." He pointed at the overlapping diagram, "Your 'ancestral nailing method' deviates from the main frequency by 0.7 Hertz and will definitely crack within three days. Use the resonance anchor pile, and the error will be controlled within ±0.1. Which one do you choose?"

The two were stunned.

"I..." Zhao the Third swallowed his saliva, "Stop work first, recalibrate."

"Not 'you'." Chen Wuwang interrupted, "It is 'your clan'. From now on, all engineering nodes will be connected to the dynamic tracking System, publicly displayed in real-time. Do well, the whole clan gains face; mess it up, the whole clan bears responsibility."

The crowd went completely silent. Some lowered their heads to look at their Jade Slips, others quietly retreated.

But no one mentioned "ancestral laws" or "old rules" anymore.

Half an hour later, the foundation of the first cross-clan joint defense tower finally closed.

When the last anchor pile sank into the ground, emitting a dull resonant sound, someone shouted: "It worked! It's really stable!"

Several people gathered around to touch the tower foundation, their faces showing expressions of disbelief.

Chen Wuwang only then relaxed his shoulders slightly.

He turned and walked toward the resource scheduling tower, not stopping his pace along the way.

As soon as the tower door opened, an alarm popped up—three families still hadn't uploaded their inventory data, and the System displayed "Resource chain breakage risk: Medium."

"Still afraid?" he sneered in his heart.

Ascending to the second-floor hub, he pulled up the spiritual network communication interface, tapped his finger, and brought up the "Contribution Point Advance" agreement template.

"Xu Family is short three tons of cold iron ore? Put it on the tab, deduct it from the patrol missions over the next three months."

"Lin Family's Medicinal Field lacks irrigation? The Chen Family's water purification Formation will supply five hundred cubic meters daily, recorded as a resource loan."

"Li Family needs spirit-conducting crystals? The Sun Clan warehouse has surplus, borrow it now, repay with double the labor within half a year."

The three orders were sent out, and in less than a quarter of an hour, all three families had confirmed.

"It's not that they don't believe, it's that they have no retreat," he whispered.

Just as he was speaking, the scheduling screen suddenly lit up with three green lights.

Sun Clan reported: The alloy used to repair the earth-vein chain came from re-refined waste from the Zhao Clan; the source and consumption records have been noted.

Xu Family feedback: Today's water for the Medicinal Field was supplied by the Chen Family's Formation, the water quality met the standard, and the data is publicly verifiable.

Li Family uploaded: The spirit-conducting crystal borrowing voucher was generated, and the debt accounts were updated synchronously.

"It's done." The corners of his mouth lifted.

This was not charity, nor was it coercion. It was letting everyone see—cooperation can truly save lives.

Just past noon, he took two guards and headed straight for the three pilot villages on the southern line.

At the first village, a circle of people surrounded the entrance of an abandoned mine.

A rusty excavator squatted at the cave entrance, and two Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators were clumsily operating the control levers.

The machine roared a few times, the tracks moved, and it actually drilled into the rock layer.

"Before, ten people digging for a day could only get out two carts of ore." The village chief squeezed into the crowd, his voice trembling, "This iron lump does the work of two days in half an hour!"

"It... won't run away on its own, will it?" an old craftsman muttered.

"Just register it." Chen Wuwang walked over and patted the machine body, "The template is open, anyone can copy it. As long as you don't go to the battlefield or build lethal weapons, use it as you please."

The crowd became restless.

At the second village, a small purification Formation was placed at the entrance of a medicine workshop; water flowed in, came out clear, and Impurities automatically settled.

The workshop owner was a man in his fifties who tried it three times and finally grinned: "It's cleaner than the well water my wife has filtered for thirty years!"

The third village was even livelier.

A group of children were chasing an automatic irrigation machine, which sprinkled water as it moved, its route as precise as if it had been drawn with a line.

A teenager reached out to touch it but was yanked back by an adult: "Don't touch it! That's the Chen Family's stuff!"

"Touch it." Chen Wuwang stepped out, "It is a tool, not a deity statue. The more people who use it, the less there is to fear."

The teenager hesitated for a moment, then inched forward half a step, and lightly touched the machine body with his fingertip.

The machine hummed, the nozzle turned toward him, and sprayed him with water droplets.

The whole crowd burst into laughter.

The teenager wiped his face and started laughing along foolishly.

In the evening, Chen Wuwang returned to the top floor of the scheduling tower.

The setting sun dyed the Eastern Wasteland earth a golden red, and the lights of the distant construction site lit up one by one, like stars scattered across the mountains.

He stood by the railing, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye continuously receiving progress feedback from various regions.

Zhao Clan completed the first batch of metal nesting.

Lin Family ecological node start rate 87%.

Sun Clan earth-vein chain reinforcement more than half complete.

Li Family spirit-conducting pipe calibration started.

The Honor Roll scrolled and refreshed, names lighting up one by one.

He didn't move.

The wind blew a strand of silver hair from his high ponytail, and the three claw marks on his right cheek appeared and disappeared in the twilight.

He knew this was just the beginning.

The real tough battle was still ahead—the resistance to technology dissemination, the game of resource allocation, the guardedness deep in people's hearts—none of it would be lacking.

But he knew even better that the fire had already been lit.

As long as there are people who dare to use it, people willing to try, and things that can be accomplished, this momentum will not break.

Footsteps came from below the tower. A young clansman hurried up holding a Jade Slip, his voice excited:

"Family Head! The Sun Clan requests two additional technicians! They say... they don't want to fall behind the others!"

Chen Wuwang nodded slowly.

"Granted." He said.

The person turned to leave, and he added: "Notify all clans, tomorrow morning at eight, the first monthly evaluation meeting. Those who are late will have points deducted from the Honor Roll."

"Understood!"

The wind grew stronger.

The Alliance flag at the top of the scheduling tower unfurled with a snap, the Seven Clans' emblems surrounding the four characters "Eastern Wasteland Alliance" in the center, flapping loudly in the evening glow.

He gazed into the distance, his fingers tapping the hilt of his dagger unconsciously once more.

At the base of the tower, a new batch of modular machine frames was being hoisted.

The sound of metal colliding was crisp and powerful, like some kind of rhythmic heartbeat.

One beat, then another.