The demon tide came and went as quickly as a diligent courier, leaving behind love and warmth.
Fortunately, Source Crystal, as a universal currency of the new era, was surprisingly robust in ways Tang Yu hadn't expected. Even under the relentless assault of cannons and arrow towers, these Source Crystals remained intact. In fact, because the demonized beasts' bodies were either destroyed or shattered, collecting Source Crystals became quite convenient.
Could it always be ... what nonsense!
He still felt a twinge of pain for those materials. Not only could they be used to craft equipment, but more importantly, soon he would be heading to Lindong. With such a large sanctuary in Lindong, there must be a marketplace, right? Tang Yu was looking forward to making a profit.
Additionally, some of the material from the more powerful demonized beasts was relatively well-preserved, so Tang Yu ordered his men to collect these materials while he calculated the earnings from this battle.
The demonized beasts brought so many Source Crystals; the profits were certain. Nevertheless, this wave did incur some losses.
Merely constructing these defense structures alone cost two thousand Source Crystals, not even counting the materials. Moreover, the defense structures consumed energy when attacking.
Where did this energy come from? Of course, it came from Source Crystals. Tang Yu stored some Source Crystals in a small warehouse in his castle, intended for the energy consumption of the defense structures. Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until now to build them.
Tang Yu remembered there was a structure at Territory Level 3 called the Energy Patio, which could absorb free-floating Source Energy in the air to replenish the defensive structures' energy. Until this building was constructed, these defense structures were indeed big consumers of crystals.
At least money was made, leaving Tang Yu in a delighted mood. Adding to that the previous plundering at the Source Crystal Mine, he had accumulated quite a lot of Source Crystals. Before heading to Lindong, he intended to spend them wisely.
Other survivors were also in high spirits.
They had survived the calamity.
The city gate had reopened, and some bolder survivors went up to closely inspect the demonized beast corpses.
"Oh my, they're huge! Even such large demonized beasts were killed!"
Ordinary survivors had never come so close to demonized beasts before. Immediately, some poked them and found that they were quite hard.
So many terrifying demonized beasts attacked, yet the sanctuary managed to take care of them successfully.
And it was a sanctuary with fewer than a hundred people.
Who would believe such battle achievements if word got out? Although most of the credit went to Director Tang, it didn't stop it from becoming a bragging right for them!
In the past, many ordinary survivors could only muddle through life day by day, but things were different now. As long as they made an effort, they could eat well every day. Moreover, knowing the sanctuary's capabilities, even the demon tide couldn't harm them. In this apocalyptic world, except for large sanctuaries, was there any place safer?
Unconsciously, survivors began to feel a sense of belonging to the sanctuary, genuinely feeling lucky to have come here.
After the demon tide ended, Tang Yu didn't slow down. He handed the tasks outside to Chen Haiping and Luo Zhe, while he made his way alone to the rear of the castle, to the area for constructing system buildings.
Among the core suite, the tavern, workshop, and market had already been built, leaving only the research institute.
Tang Yu had Units One and Two transport materials back and forth until he finally saw the panel indicate that the construction conditions were met.
"Construct Research Institute, consuming one thousand units of Source Crystal, one hundred units of wood, three hundred units of stone, and three hundred units of iron."
As with previous times, a three-story building quickly appeared before Tang Yu.
The research institute contained all kinds of research equipment. Looking around, Tang Yu found that he recognized very few of them—perhaps just one or two, like a beaker which he recalled from high school experiments... or maybe it just looked similar; after all, it was just a cup.
None of that mattered. What mattered was the research institute's function.
As an important functional building, the research institute held an indispensable position.
It included features like blueprint research, blueprint enhancement, and blueprint modification. Theoretically, as long as the institute had enough knowledge and Source Crystals, it could independently develop any blueprint it desired.
Though that seemed far off.
For now, with the research institute at a low level, Tang Yu did not plan to invest too many Source Crystals. Mainly, he wanted to use its blueprint modification function.
For example, the basic longsword, the only blueprint included with the workshop, was very limiting. What if someone wanted a saber or a different weapon altogether?!
The blueprint modification function could convert a longsword blueprint into a combat saber blueprint. The level remained unchanged—it was still basic equipment with a rune, just more versatile in its applicability.
Moreover, the basic materials for the longsword blueprint were iron materials. After blueprint modification, demonized beast materials could be added, like demonized beast claws, bones, etc. Although the blueprint level wouldn't change, the better materials used would naturally result in more effective weapons.
Tang Yu first modified a combat saber blueprint, then designed a whiteboard shield blueprint and a firearm ammunition blueprint, all lacking runes. With blueprints available, the workshop could mass-produce them.
Having finished at the research institute, he didn't proceed with any more construction. Instead, he headed to the market.
He didn't choose to construct more system buildings, not because they weren't needed... but because he felt too fragile.
To go to Lindong Sanctuary, he first had to refresh and draw the Return City Scroll. Logically, the refresh rate was quite high in the initial period, yet somehow he never managed to draw it. Yesterday, in fact, he upgraded the market to Level 2, increasing the counter's refresh slots from ten to twenty. But even after several tries, he still couldn't draw the Return City Scroll.
Each refresh cost five hundred units of Source Crystal. Even though he was a big shot with over ten thousand Source Crystals, after a few attempts, he didn't dare to continue. This was no longer just consuming crystals; it was gambling with his life...
Tang Yu felt that yesterday's luck had been against him. After dealing with the parasites in the sanctuary and tackling another wave of demonized beasts today, his luck should have turned around. As long as he drew a Return City Scroll and did some preparations, he could set off for Lindong.
First, he glanced at today's refreshed items; some had quite high value, albeit beyond his budget. Those zeros following the price made him think he'd need to become a true magnate with over a billion Source Crystals to consider those items. Otherwise, both his heart and eyes would ache.
Simply couldn't afford it.
Starting from the first slot, items refreshed one by one.
Intermediate Wood Resource Pack (five hundred units) Price: forty-nine Source Crystals.
Remaining quantity: five.
Fei Lian (Weapon) Production Blueprint Price: three thousand Source Crystals.
Remaining quantity: one.
Otherworldly Fruit Price: one hundred Source Crystals.
Remark: A very delicious fruit.
Remaining quantity: fifty.
Skill Rune Stone (Burning Sky and Boiling Sea) Price: one million high-purity Source Crystals.
Remaining quantity: one.
On the first refresh, as expected, even the shadow of a Return City Scroll wasn't seen. However, there were some decent items like the Fei Lian weapon production blueprint... As for blueprints, if his supply of Source Crystals allowed, Tang Yu would have bought plenty of them. You never lose when buying them—they can retain value, and at worst, the research institute could use them to synthesize new blueprints.
Regrettably, his Source Crystals were very limited.
Other items, like Otherworldly Fruit, just showed how bizarre the items from the upgraded market were becoming. However, the probability of high-grade items appearing increased significantly as well, like the skill rune stone... It was the market's first appearance of a skill rune stone, but Tang Yu remained unfazed and ignored it.
One million? And high-purity Source Crystals at that?
He couldn't even come close to affording a million, let alone such a thing as high-purity Source Crystals—he hadn't even heard of it!
The first attempt yielded nothing, so Tang Yu took a deep breath. "Don't panic, don't panic. Even something worth a million appeared, which means I'm essentially lucky. A few Return City Scrolls are nothing to worry about!"
A few minutes later, Tang Yu was pale, breathing heavily, and sweat was clearly visible on his face.
He no longer remembered how many times he had refreshed, but those few little Return City Scrolls refused to appear. Could it be that their value was so low that they fell into the domain of luckless players, unreachable even by luck?
More frustratingly, in all these refreshes, he managed to get some good items by sheer luck. The prices were reasonable, and they were highly beneficial to him at this stage. To put it simply, the temptation was great, and he couldn't resist, so he... kept buying.
Refresh after unknown refresh, with many purchases in between, within mere minutes, the Source Crystals in his hands had shrunk by half or more.
This was even worse than online shopping!
At least online shopping involved buying what you most wanted, but this wretched market? It constantly paraded glamorous products to tempt him. At this rate, without buying the Return City Scroll, he feared he'd have to return to his previous impoverished state.
Tang Yu returned to the castle, bathed, changed clothes, and burnt... paper, lacking incense. He could only use a piece of paper rolled into an incense-like shape for now.
Once again, he came to the market.
"Sanqing, Lord Buddha, goddess of fortune, king of luck, Senior Bai... whoever it is, I beg for the power to draw the Return City Scroll!"
Tang Yu closed his eyes and then opened them.
His fingers formed a sword shape as they came together.
Starting from the first item slot, a white brilliance flashed, and the items transformed into entirely new appearances.
Advanced demonized beast bone.
Spring water brimming with tremendous life force.
Basic knowledge about practical applications of Source Energy.
High-level Beam Gun blueprint.
Scroll to enhance summoning probability...
Tang Yu sorrowfully realized it seemed to be time for significant trouble again.