18: Chapter 18 Industrial Zone

"...I'm not exactly a student of architectural planning; I simply feel that centralizing these production facilities will lead to higher efficiency." Once again boarding the Destroyer, Li Ming's goal this time was to head to another island with a pre-selected location, which he had designated as the Industrial Zone.

"What do you think, Hu Jian?" He leaned against the railing, completely handing over the command of the Bridge to Fujian, who was accompanying him.

"I don't know," Fujian answered truthfully—she really didn't know about such things.

Li Ming sighed towards the sky; it was indeed a bit of a stretch for an amateur like him to do this work, and he could only rely on his intuition.

Fortunately, red alert technology could directly convert various resources into the required raw materials; otherwise, the complexity would have increased several times over.

"Commander, we're almost there."

"That was fast," Li Ming remarked with emotion. "It hasn't even been two hours, has it?"

"It's not that far, only thirty nautical miles."

"True..."

Turning his head outward, an island was already very close.

Huge factory buildings had been established along the coast, and the rolling black smoke indicated that they were already at work.

What? Pollution? That concept isn't needed right now.

Gathering a large number of military factories to form economies of scale would effectively relieve the pressure on the Shipyard and equipment assembly plants, thereby increasing productivity.

As the Destroyer docked at the newly built temporary pier, watching the rolling thick smoke, Li Ming marveled at the power of technology for the first time—this was his first time visiting a dense Industrial Zone and witnessing the great power that could change the world.

"Commander?"

"Hmm? What is it?" Li Ming snapped out of it, seeing the way Fujian was gazing at him.

"So the Commander still likes this kind of style?" Fujian shifted her gaze from him to the smoke-filled cluster of buildings.

"Me? Indeed." Li Ming didn't deny it. "I like this feeling."

This sense of power, the sense of power held in his own hands.

But it wasn't enough; he had to keep progressing.

"Commander! Look, there's also..."

"What's this? A sea turtle?"

"Not a sea turtle, it's a hermit crab!"

"Huh?" Li Ming looked at Fujian squatting on the ground, then at a strange cylindrical object on the ground. "Are you sure? A hermit crab would live in something like that?"

"Why wouldn't it?" Fujian picked up the object. "Look..."

She pointed the opening of the object at Li Ming, frightening him into quickly backing away two steps.

No joke, these kinds of creatures were what Li Ming feared most, second only to various bugs and eight-legged spiders as big as half a hand.

Quickly telling her to put the thing down, Li Ming turned his gaze back to the Industrial Zone.

This Industrial Zone was built over a rich ore deposit on the island; unexpectedly, the island had a rare earth deposit, and according to the engineering drones' estimates, the reserves were massive, from the island's rocks to underwater.

Considering the proximity to raw materials, Li Ming decided to establish the Industrial Zone here—anyway, the base's resource extraction required canning, so it was better to simply save on transportation costs and, in passing, improve the environment around the main base so the Destroyers wouldn't have to live in industrial exhaust all day.

This Industrial Zone centralized three major production blocks: the Munitions Factory, the Shipyard, and manpower replenishment, where manpower replenishment mainly functioned to produce technicians to maintain the Industrial Zone's operations.

Upon entering the Industrial Zone, the first things seen were the strictly planned production buildings.

Unlike the Industrial Revolution era, the Industrial Zone Li Ming designed took sewage and drainage into account; although it inevitably polluted the ocean, on land, there was nothing dirty or messy except for the somewhat choking exhaust fumes, and Li Ming believed that after technological progress, this choking black smoke would also soon vanish without a trace.

Technical Drones went back and forth, operating and maintaining the Industrial Zone's machinery to keep it running at full power; it was also fortunate that resources could be mined nearby, otherwise they really wouldn't be able to supply such large-scale production.

Since the speed of technological advancement was limited, Li Ming could only constantly use quantity to make up for quality. The Industrial Zone continuously produced various aircraft to expand the scale of the flight wings, and the Marines were also formed to prepare for possible ground combat.

Five 5,000-ton docks were under construction simultaneously, with the adjacent factories directly providing the installation of key components to reduce wastage and extra man-hours from one-time forming.

With the Destroyers trusting him implicitly, Li Ming obtained the design blueprints and technical details for the Allen M. Sumner-class Destroyer, allowing him to refit into this more advanced type of Destroyer.

A batch of five ships, even without counting the number of docks, was the maximum limit Li Ming could currently maintain to balance his budget, and that wasn't even counting logistical maintenance and the actual replenishment of ship crews.

After completely controlling the several surrounding islands, Li Ming intended to spread military and production facilities over them, expanding his actual control and Alert range as much as possible to leave a sufficient safety distance for his fleet's maneuvering space, so as to avoid an encounter turning into a land and sea battle at his own doorstep.

Following the guidance of the engineering drones, Li Ming took Fujian for a tour around the Industrial Zone; after Fujian confirmed that the Industrial Zone's defenses had reached the limit of their capabilities, he took her to the Central Control Center to familiarize themselves with the equipment and maps (as the Commander-in-Chief and Deputy Commander, they couldn't both be completely unfamiliar with the internal structure of their own controlled area).

Of course, bringing her here was also to avoid The Big Three; regarding the awkward Fujian, there were some things he wanted to ask her privately.

Two fellows who weren't straightforward enough needed an entry point to shift the conversation to the real questions he wanted to mention.

Understanding what the Ship Girls are thinking and satisfying their needs is the Commander's duty.

Just consider it a test of becoming a Commander, Li Ming thought to himself.

"The Commander has been thoughtful; these operating systems are already foolproof..." Fujian said to him half-jokingly while fiddling with the central control system.

Li Ming nodded. "I'm not an expert either; if it were made deliberately profound, I wouldn't understand it either."

"But you clearly laid these circuits yourself."

"Because I was afraid you wouldn't understand," Li Ming hesitated for a moment, then added, "If I'm incapacitated, you'll need to control these devices."

"Don't say such unlucky things, Commander!" Fujian reacted strongly, leaving Li Ming a bit at a loss. "It's enough that the Commander stays healthy; leave things like charging into battle to me!"

"So I'm curious, what exactly was the situation with the me from that world?"

Fujian was as if struck by lightning, unable to say anything more.

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