[Thanks to darthseer, full-time angel, 2000 started reading a few big monthly passes!]

It was a week after the capture of Canon.

The outer walls of the fortress are being rebuilt, and the original inner and outer walls have been reduced to ruins in the previous battle, and only the two sides barely retain about ten meters each. It will take at least nearly a month to restore it to the previous level, but there is no point in doing so. The reason for this is that the design of the fortress was created twenty years ago, and under the threat of today's high-level abilities and various heavy firepower, the concrete façade is dispensable.

Originally, Zero was intended to use local materials to build a 10-meter-high wall of mixed materials using the wood of the Emerald Forest and the stone from the ruins. The main function of this high wall is to support heavy firepower equipment, including heavy artillery, and replace the defensive capability of the city wall with a powerful firepower network.

But now, the fortress has brought pieces of metal armor plates up to twenty meters high. They were erected precisely in the position of the city walls under the lifting of cranes, and workers were welding, welding pieces of armor plate into a section of metal wall walls. Billy and his Jishu team were directing near the construction site, and Franklin was even on hand to help the workers speed up the work.

Thirty centimeters wide steel brackets connected the armor plates to the walls at an angle, and as thick screws locked the brackets, they were like arms of giants reaching diagonally from the ground to the sky, supporting the armoured walls. These brackets will strengthen the impact resistance of the armored walls, and with them, it will be difficult to blow up all the walls at the same time, even if the missiles are fired, as they did last time.

The original gates were replaced by two armor plates up to 20 centimeters thick, and the mechanism for activating them was replaced by a hydromechanical system, which was to be installed in Zuihou, and now the materials and machinery were temporarily parked in the open space outside the fortress.

Once the entire exterior wall has been updated, the defense of Fort Canon will jump several levels in a row. The ability to obtain these materials is also thanks to the fact that Zero swept through several towns near the fortress with Manshan and two hundred warriors a few days ago.

On the afternoon of the second day after the capture of Canon, Zero led the mountain and his soldiers north along the bloodstained road, and found two towns at a distance of about 100 kilometers, namely the towns of Möngke and Marley. As expected, these two towns were actually the supply bases of the fortress, but over the years, due to the increase of factories and workers, a small town of about 2,000 people gradually formed.

At that time, Esin's fleeing party came to the two towns to recuperate, and a battle broke out with Zero. The situation of the battle was naturally one-sided, and Zero did not even make a move, and Manshan and his team crushed the deserter in a crushing attitude. The battle took place just outside the town of Marley, and it lasted only half an hour. By the time they entered the town, the corpses of three or four hundred Knights had been left outside the town.

The next went well, with Zero taking over two small towns. The two towns are home to a food processing plant, a water purification plant and a steel mill. The steelworks were a complete accident, and a whole batch of armor plates and steel brackets were found in the factory warehouse, and upon inquiry, it turned out that they were intended to be used to update the outer walls of the fortress next spring.

If it weren't for Zero, they attacked the fortress first, and after Canon updated his defense system, the attack would not have been so smooth.

Two days after taking over the two towns, a force of the Order of Knights headed for the town of Mönggo. It's a team of 1,000 people, and two trucks are carrying more than ten paladin mechs. Outside the town of Mönggo, the Zero side came under intense artillery fire. In the end, Zero destroyed those paladin mechs first, disintegrated the heavy firepower of the knights, and then combined forces with the Brute Mountain to defeat this force.

That night, after the Knights had left behind the bodies of more than half of their soldiers, they did not hurry back. Zero immediately brought in a force of five hundred men from Canona, and Berrion came with him. It was night, and after converging with Zero, he entered at full speed, and ran 200 kilometers in the middle of the night, sneaking up on another town, Tucson. Tucson is strictly a military base, and on weekdays it is garrisoned by a thousand-strong force under the command of the 2nd Army Corps.

The commander is Mesa, the deputy commander of the 2nd Legion, a seventh-order ability. After receiving the fall of Canon, it is learned that the two towns of Mönggo have also fallen into Zero's hands. Importantly, when the soldiers who had escaped from Marley Town learned that Zero had only brought two hundred soldiers with him, Mesa immediately mobilized nearly ninety percent of the soldiers in the base to Mongo Town, hoping to retake both towns in one fell swoop.

However, Mesa was still afraid of the opponent's ability, so he sent only one major to take command. But when he learned the results of the battle, he was still shocked, all ten paladin mechs were destroyed, and even most of the troops were killed or wounded. You must know that the enemy army is only two hundred people!

When Zero entered the base with Berrien, Manshan, and a force of 500 men, Mesa didn't even have the heart to resist, and fled from the base overnight with his personal guards. So the battle at the base ended before it was 10 minutes, thanks to Berrien's powerful thunder ability, under the ability of the high-level elemental domain, the army composed of ordinary people was no different from a lamb to the slaughter.

In such a situation, the commander of the base fled again, and the soldiers soon lost the heart to resist. Two hundred soldiers eventually surrendered, and they allowed Zero to be temporarily interned, and Tucson, a special town of military bases and outlying dwellings, fell into Zero's pocket.

There were no factories in Tucson, and its supply was supplied by the towns of Montgo and Marley. There are about a thousand residents in Tucson, four or five hundred of whom are laborers, and the rest are responsible for simple tasks. For example, the cleaning of towns and the maintenance of facilities, etc., workers usually go to work in a military base, which has an arsenal.

Most of the work of the arsenal is the production of spare parts for the second generation of griffin knights, and the rest is rifles, grenades, missiles and other equipment for the knights. Zero stocks of one unit were collected, mainly in the area of ammunition. A batch of armor pieces that I don't know what to do with were also found in the warehouse, and under the explanation of the director, I learned that these were special mecha for the fourth-generation mecha "Sky Angel".

From this point, it can be seen that the fourth-generation mecha studied by the Pope Hall, the UAV "Sky Angel", has reached the stage of approaching mass production. However, the external mecha required by the empty angel is very special, and in addition to the rarity of the materials, the requirements for refining and metal processing jishu are also quite strict. Even if it can be mass-produced, the amount of output is probably very limited.

It's just that no matter how limited it is, a fourth-generation mecha that can have the movement ability of a griffin knight and the firepower of a paladin is also a big threat to high-level.

Even if it is still not comparable to the ninth order, the number of ninth orders is limited, and the empty angel can be mass-produced.

Mass production is both an advantage and a threat!

After capturing Tucson, Zero had the Director and the information about the Empty Angels taken back to Canon. The director and the data are handed over to Billy to deal with, and in the hands of Billy, an expert, these materials will become an important basis for studying the strategy of countering the empty angels. As for the Arsenal, all production of the Griffin Knight armor was discontinued from the date of zero control, and all of it was put into the production of other equipment.

It can be said that because of this arsenal, the value of Tucson Town is only less than that of Canon.

At this point, with Canon as the starting point and Tucson as the ending point, the area of nearly 500 kilometers south of the Bloodstained Road is under Zero's control. Zero left only a small number of soldiers stationed in the towns of Marley and Mönggo, whose most important task was to maintain law and order on a day-to-day basis. Here in Tucson, Zero was transferred to replace Manshan, and five hundred soldiers remained.

The two hundred surrendered Knights scattered them and sent them to work in the wood mines of the Emerald Forest and the cloud iron mines of the Eternal Mountains.

Zero returned to Canon Fortress with the Wild Mountain, and most of the slaves who had fled into the Emerald Forest had heeded the call. There were more than 5,000 slaves in number, and Zero announced on the spot that they were no longer slaves, but workers, and each of them received a reward of 2 gold coins. In the face of gold and food, these slaves finally knew that they had a chance to change their fate, and they all embraced Zero.

With workers, three oil well platforms can be started. It's just that only half of the workers have returned, and Zero has to give priority to the platform work of the oil well. As for the wood and cloud iron mines, a small number of workers were assigned. A few days later, however, the first group of 2,000 workers recruited from the outer islands arrived at the fort, and were soon assigned to work in the two deposits.

Then, workers and soldiers recruited from the outer islands arrived, and the Canon fortress became lively and full of life.

Standing under the rooftop of the main building of the fortress, looking down at the busy scene below. The workers who came in and out were like dense worker ants, and the fortress was the nest. Worker ants work hard, using their actions to make their nests stronger and stronger. In another week, the armor walls will be basically installed. Then there was the installation of the city gates and hydraulic machines, and the zuihou was the configuration of the addition of heavy fire points.

After all this is done, the defense of the important case will jump several levels in a row. Seeing this, Hook was calm on the surface, but there were waves in his heart.

"Can't believe it, huh?"

There was the sound of Manshan behind him, and when he turned around, Hook saw Manshan's small mountain-like fat body moving with difficulty. Sitting down on the edge of the rooftop, Manshan put his hands on his chest, looked down and said, "We are really capable, to be honest, I never thought that one day I would be able to sit on the rooftop of Canon Fortress." ”

"That man will lead us into a new era. No, to be exact, we are already in a new era. Hook muttered.

"Yes, it's only been a long time since the Seagod Order, and we've stepped into this continent with one foot. I thought that I would never have a chance again in this life. Manshan scratched his head and said, "Actually, I'm wondering if if we had united earlier, we would have already hit this continent now, instead of relying on an outsider." ”

"Outsiders?" Hook said with a squint of eyes as he looked at the mountain, "That's a dangerous name." ”

Manshan Haha smiled and said, "Come on, Hook." Don't pretend, don't tell me, are you really willing to be his subordinate?"

"Oh, so you're not willing to be Luo. ”

Manshan was silent for a moment and said, "Are you willing?"

Hook was silent.

Manshan added: "A few days ago we laid down a military base called Tucson. You know what. ”

"Hmm. ”

"We'll soon get the female swordsman, Su. Hey, swapped me out with this woman and brought me back. At the end of the day, he still doesn't trust us. Manshan touched his bald head and said lightly.

"It's normal. Hook said calmly: "And that is always a high-level, if the Pope's Hall calls, Tucson will immediately become the front line." I don't think there's anything wrong with having a Ninth Order sitting there. As for the issue of trust, like you said, it has only been a long time since the Poseidon Order, and I don't think enough trust can be built in this little time. Like you think he's not an outsider yet?"

"Then in the future, if we take the city of Rome one day, people will treat us as pirates, after all, we have a criminal record. ”

Hook glanced at him and said, "You may not be thinking too much, Manshan, I have to warn you. This kind of thinking of yours is very dangerous. ”

Hook silently turned and left the rooftop.

Manshan still touched his bald head and muttered, "Danger?" I don't think so, but I feel the need to plan for myself. ”

At this time, several off-road vehicles drove out from the side of the Emerald Forest. There was a woman sitting in one of the cars, it was Oran. Manshan whistled, and disappeared on the rooftop with a smile.

In the main building of the fortress, a room on the fifth floor has been converted into a laboratory. The Destiny, which arrived at Fracture Bay a few days ago, not only brought Billy and his head Jishu over, but also the doctor Ji Ya. This female student brought out by Victor has low-level perceptual abilities, which cannot be used on the battlefield, but they are of great help to Ji Ya's research.

At least some of the links like X-rays can be seen by Dr. Ji Ya with his eyes, and a lot of time is omitted. I can't see anything locally, but in the long run, the time saved by Ji Ya cannot be ignored.

Those who are capable, no matter what level they are, have an incomparable advantage.

Upon arriving at Canon Fortress, Zero has cleared a room to serve as her lab. At the same time, some of the necessary equipment on the Destiny was also brought in, and the issuance of the room was completed in half a day. Now there is a surgical operation here, and some simple equipment and facilities. For more complete equipment, it will take time to add it.

In any case, with this laboratory, Lei Ming's corpse can already be routinely analyzed.

At that time, Lei Ming's corpse was preserved by Kaiton with ice flames, and under the equipment in Ji Ya's hands, the corpse of this legion leader had been turned into some parts. His ribcage was fully opened, stretched open by a chest extender, and there was already a cavity inside. As for the original organs, they have been raised one after another in the past two days, and soaked in vessels filled with nutrient liquid to keep them alive.

Lei Ming is dead, but his organs are still incredibly vigorous, according to Ji Ya's words, they are all living lives. And the preliminary report on Thunder has been compiled and passed on to Zero.

Zero was sitting in the command room of the main building, and in the brain in his hand was a report about thunder.

Dr. Ji Ya preliminarily judged that Thunder was not human, but something similar to an artificial human. Artificial humans are not clones, the latter is a life born of cloning a human gene, and it can be regarded as a copy of the original gene owner. However, androids are created out of thin air, and in fact thunder is just that.

Despite the appearance of a man, when the skin is torn off, it reveals a variety of high-tech biological organs and artificial fiber pipes. Even Thundering's brain has 20 percent of its tissues abiotic. That is the core processor of the thundering brain, and Ji Ya's evaluation of it is no less than a super intelligent brain.

As for the rest, whether it is the heart or other internal organs, it is a living organ. They are both independent individuals, but they skillfully form a subject. Their entire role is to supply Thunder with Order-8 energy and convert it into high-frequency pulse current, which can disguise Thunder as a high-level Elemental Domain Ability.

In fact, Thunder is more like a humanoid weapon.

In general, thunder is not human, not even life. In addition to the internal organs of the brain, his musculature is just a kind of bionic base, connecting the internal organs and the body is not blood vessels but energy tubes, and even those eyes are a pair of electronic eyes, with remote vision, precise positioning, multi-mode vision, screenshots and other functions.

In this way, Zero can explain that Weishenme can't get evolution points for killing Thunder. I haven't heard of an example of destroying non-living forms that can give them evolution points, but that's because non-living beings don't have the ability to evolve on their own, so they can't give them evolution points to destroyers.

However, Lei Ming was still valuable, and his biological organs touched Ji Ya a lot. The doctor had locked herself in the lab for days and hadn't shown up, except for the occasional food being brought to her, and at the same time she had the results of the study report thrown to zero, and Ji Ya seemed to have evaporated from the world.

Looking at these reports, Zero tapped his fingers lightly on the table. Twenty years ago, there was an eighth-order android like Lei Ming, so the achievements of the Pope's Hall in the field of science and technology really cannot be ignored. But it seems that the entire Pope Hall is just such an artificial person as Lei Ming, and since Lei Ming, the Pope Hall has still focused its research on mechas.

In other words, the resources used by a high-level android like Thunder must be huge, so the Pope's Hall did not continue on this path. From the perspective of visitors from the Central Continent, the Pope's Hall had actually touched the threshold of biological weapons a long time ago, and it was a very high-level threshold. It's a pity that he didn't continue his research due to limited resources, but this doesn't seem to be a big problem for Zero, in addition to an entire alien federation, there is also the Dawning City under construction, and a powerful ally like Asgard.

Lei Ming's body may be able to serve as a reference, and after improving and perfecting the use of materials, it is not impossible for a person with an eighth-order ability to mass-produce it. Zero doesn't need to produce an eighth-order artificial human out of thin air, as long as the heart that is enough to provide eighth-order energy can be suitable for a living person, then by implanting an external organ, Zero can make a fifth- or sixth-order capable person fall to a high-level.

Even if they have no possibility of continuing to evolve, an eighth-order army that can be mass-produced is a terrifying liliang that sweeps across the continent!

So on Ji Ya's feedback column, Zero lightly typed down some of his thoughts.