3: primitive accumulation of capital

No sooner had the first night's terror settled than new system prompts injected a hint of "life" into this silent world.

"Ding! Regional Channel has been activated! Survivors can communicate freely."

"Ding! Trading Market has been activated! Survivors can freely trade items and resources."

Almost as soon as the prompts ended, the silent 8888 War Zone public channel was flooded with countless messages, like a dam breaking.

"I survived! I finally survived! I was so scared just now; my city wall's durability was less than 200!"

"[Video Replay] One-shot kill, is that all Elite Wave is?"

"Holy crap! Did you guys see the leaderboard? That Dragon Aotian big shot in first place is a true immortal! I watched his shared replay; a golden dragon flew out of his fortress and cleared the field with a single breath!"

"You can even share battle replays?" Lin Feng's heart stirred, and he immediately found the message with the video link in the channel, clicking on it.

In the video, Dragon Aotian's fortress platform was empty, without even a basic Initial Arrow Tower.

Facing the charging Elite Goblin tide, a golden light flashed from his fortress, and a massive, sacred giant dragon soared into the sky, spewing a scorching breath of dragon fire at the ground!

"-100!" "-100!" "-100!"...

Dense damage numbers instantly flooded the screen, and Elite Goblins were killed in swathes.

After the dragon breath, a patch of continuously burning golden flames remained on the ground; any monsters that miraculously survived and stepped into it were quickly incinerated to ashes.

Lin Feng gasped, his expression grave.

Not placing a single defense tower, yet relying solely on summoned creatures to deal 100 area damage with a continuous burning effect. This was truly overpowered.

The heated discussion in the chat channel continued.

"Phoenix Empress is the GOAT! Sounds like a big beauty just from the name, begging to cling to her leg!"

"Is anyone else curious about what's going on with 'Heaven's Choice' in 29th place?"

"Yeah! An S-rank talent, why is he getting the same points as a bunch of SS-rank big shots? He even surpassed several SS-ranks! Is the system bugged?"

A message filled with extreme resentment and unwillingness instantly caught everyone's attention.

The sender's nickname was [Three Arrows to Seal the Soul], and his talent information was clearly SS-rank!

"My SS-rank talent [Triple Shot Archer] makes all archer-type buildings attack three times faster, and I only got 9 points after exhausting myself! How can an S-rank get 11 points? I'm not convinced! This isn't fair!"

This message pushed the channel's questioning to a climax, with everyone chattering, though some said it was just making a fuss over nothing, simply good luck.

Lin Feng quickly scanned the chaotic channel, filtering out the myriad of information, a faint, imperceptible sneer playing on his lips.

Not convinced?

Debating?

None of this would bring him a single cent of actual profit.

In this cruel world, the clamor of the weak was the most meaningless noise.

Only the strength and resources held in one's hand were the eternal truth.

What he needed to do now was to use his unique advantage to snowball as quickly as possible, trampling those so-called "immortals" one by one.

Lin Feng calmly opened his construction list, carefully studying the rules.

"[Main Base Level: 1]"

"[Defense Tower Slots: 2/4 (2 used, 2 free)]"

"[Resource Building Slots: 0/2 (2 free)]"

"[Buildable]:"

"[Initial Arrow Tower]: 50 Gold"

"[Gold Mine]: 100 Gold (Effect: Produces 10 Gold per hour. Occupies 1 Resource Building Slot)"

"[Upgrade Main Base to Level 2]: 500 Gold"

"Defense and resource slots are indeed separate."

Lin Feng's eyes flashed with brilliance, instantly grasping the mystery behind this rule.

This setting, for ordinary people, was a shackle on their development path.

To develop the economy, one must build resource-type buildings; to enhance defense, one must convert all gold into defense towers.

This was an open strategy forcing everyone to choose between survival and development.

But for Lin Feng, beneath this seemingly fair rule lay a huge, "unfair" advantage that belonged only to him.

Without hesitation, he used all 400 gold obtained from last night's defense.

"Purchase four [Gold Mines]."

"[Gold consumed x400, remaining gold 0.]"

"Build [Gold Mines] in both resource slots!"

"Ding! Gold Mine successfully built! It will produce 10 Gold for you per hour."

"Ding! Gold Mine successfully built! It will produce 10 Gold for you per hour."

Two buildings with simple minecarts and tracks appeared behind the fortress, beginning to operate with a creaking sound.

This meant that Lin Feng now had a stable income of 20 gold per hour.

For any ordinary player, this was already the economic limit a Level 1 fortress could achieve.

But a curve of knowing control played on Lin Feng's lips.

Who said resource buildings couldn't be synthesized?

"System!"

His will was like a precise command.

"Select those two newly built Gold Mines and perform a same-type synthesis!"

"Ding! Resource-type buildings detected. Do you wish to perform a same-type synthesis?"

"[Gold Mine] + [Gold Mine] = ?"

"Yes!"

As soon as Lin Feng finished speaking, the ethereal images of the two Gold Mines were extracted from the resource slots, merging in mid-air into a golden light more brilliant than before, then plummeting back into one of the resource slots, perfectly embedding itself!

"Synthesis successful! You have obtained a rare building — Refined Gold Mine!"

Lin Feng immediately opened its attribute panel.

"[Refined Gold Mine]"

"Quality: White (Rare)"

"Effect: Produces 20 Gold per hour."

"Skill: [Midas Touch] (Passive) — When producing Gold, there is a 10% chance to trigger a critical hit, gaining double the yield."

"Occupies: 1 Resource Building Slot."

Lin Feng's breathing hitched slightly, followed by uncontrollable ecstasy.

This was too heaven-defying!

Two ordinary Gold Mines should have occupied both of his two resource slots, producing a total of 20 Gold per hour.

After he synthesized them, this brand new Refined Gold Mine only occupied one slot, and its base production was still 20 Gold per hour!

He had gained a precious extra resource slot out of thin air!

What was even more critical was the additional "critical hit" skill!

Lin Feng didn't hesitate, immediately building the remaining two Gold Mines from his inventory into the now-empty resource slot, then issued the command again.

"Synthesize!"

A flash of light, and the second Refined Gold Mine appeared as expected, with attributes identical to the first.

After completing all of this, Lin Feng checked his economic panel again, and a clear data chain, enough to drive any survivor mad, appeared before him.

"[Current Gold Production Rate]: 40 Gold/hour! (With a 10% chance to trigger double production)"

On the very first day of the game, while all other players' economicUpper limit were firmly locked by system rules at 20 Gold/hour, Lin Feng's economic income was already a full two times theirs!

And this was under the premise of having the same level of defensive power!

This was the dimensionality reduction strike brought by the S-rank unique talent!

Lin Feng's gaze swept over the glaring message on the construction list — "[Upgrade Main Base to Level 2]: 500 Gold."

For others, this might be an astronomical figure that required tightening their belts and enduring for a day or two.

But for Lin Feng...

A confident curve played on his lips.

40 Gold/hour, factoring in the occasional critical hits, would only take less than 13 hours.

This meant that by tomorrow morning at the latest, before the second wave of monsters arrived, he would have accumulated all the gold needed to upgrade to a Level 2 fortress!

"Very good."

Lin Feng nodded in satisfaction, his eyes sparkling with anticipation.

On the defensive end, he had the Double-shot Heavy Crossbow Tower as stable as a mountain. On the economic end, he had the Refined Gold Mine bringing in vast sums.

Now, he was eager to know what powerful buildings and permissions a prematurely upgraded Level 2 Main Base would unlock, while others were still struggling for survival with Level 1 fortresses.

This was the true beginning of leaving everyone else far behind.