8: Waste-to-energy and tower defense are taking shape.

Five minutes! Three stronger enemies! Power emergency! Funds bottomed out!

The multiple crises weighed down like a mountain, making Sun Zheng feel like it was hard to breathe. He stared fixedly at the control interface; the Combat Laboratory was only half-built and completely useless. With his current assets—one damaged grizzly tank and ten GIs—he absolutely couldn't withstand a siege by three enhanced versions of the "Reaper"!

The only way out was electricity! He had to get more power immediately, either to support defenses or... accelerate construction?

His gaze swept across the base, finally landing on those Scrin remains in the homeworld space. Could these alien things carry energy themselves? Could the system exchange them for money?

A desperate gamble!

Sun Zheng dashed to the entrance of the homeworld space, locked onto the largest piece of "Reaper" leg armor, and thought: "System, recycle this!"

[Detected metal wreckage containing unknown technological components. Can be recycled and converted into funds: $800. Confirm?]

It worked! Sun Zheng shouted in his heart. $800! Although it couldn't compare to proper mining, this was life-saving money!

"Confirm recycling!"

The large piece of wreckage in the space vanished instantly, and the funds on the UI jumped from a measly few dozen to [Funds: $880]!

Not enough! A Power Plant costs $1000!

Without hesitation, he selected all the Scrin remains he had previously collected in the space, even the fragments of those mechanical spiders, for recycling!

[Recycled "Reaper" joint components, obtained funds: $450.]

[Recycled "Seeker" core fragments, obtained funds: $300.]

[Recycled unknown metal x10, obtained funds: $150.]

The funding numbers jumped rapidly, finally stopping at [Funds: $1780]!

Enough! Not only enough to build a Power Plant, but there was a surplus!

"Build the fourth Allied Power Plant immediately! Place it right next to the existing Power Plant!" Sun Zheng almost roared the command. The laser printer lit up again, and the new Power Plant began to take shape. Time required: 10 minutes.

But the enemies would arrive in only four minutes!

He definitely couldn't hold out during this ten-minute gap with his current forces! Sun Zheng's mind raced. The Air Command Post was already built, and he could produce Rocket Troopers for $600 each; they could attack air and ground and had high mobility. But training took time, and distant water couldn't quench a nearby fire.

His gaze suddenly stopped on the defense tab of the building list. Because of power and funding issues, he hadn't bothered with defensive structures before.

[Allied Pillbox] - Cost: $500 (Requires Power Plant)

[Allied patriot missile] - Cost: $1000 (Requires Air Command Post)

[prism tower] - Cost: $2000 (Requires Combat Laboratory)

He couldn't afford any of these, or didn't meet the requirements. But there was one most basic option he had almost forgotten:

[Sandbags/Wall] - Cost: $100/segment (No requirements)

[Function: Provides a simple obstacle to block infantry and light vehicles.]

Sandbags? Walls? Would they be useful against those Scrin mechanical scorpions? They'd probably shatter on impact.

Wait!

Sun Zheng turned his gaze back to the homeworld space. Since he could put things in and take them out, could he... directly "place" roadblocks?

He rushed out of the Command Center and spotted a giant lunar rock blown out by the previous battle. This rock was half the size of a grizzly tank and incredibly heavy. He tried to collect it with his mind, but it was indeed extremely difficult, and he couldn't do it at all.

But what about smaller rocks? What if... he took out those heavy Scrin remains from the homeworld space that couldn't be recycled, or that he had specifically kept, and used them directly as roadblocks?

This idea flashed through his mind like lightning!

No sooner said than done. He first took out the thick "Reaper" chest plate he had kept for research—roughly the size of a door—from the homeworld space and placed it directly in front of the base entrance, spikes facing outward, looking like a giant steel chevaux-de-frise!

Next, he continuously took out several smaller pieces of wreckage and hard lunar rocks, quickly piling up a crude but spike-filled obstacle zone around the main wreckage!

This process consumed a huge amount of mental energy. By the time he barely finished laying out a ten-meter-wide obstacle belt, he was dizzy and couldn't stand steadily. But this simple defensive line created in just one minute was much sturdier than sandbags! It even had the sharp edges of Scrin armor, enough to give any enemy trying to pass through a hard time!

"All units, attention! Organize defense based on the obstacle belt! grizzly tank, take the rear firing position! Infantry, spread out to the sides, concentrate fire on the enemy's leg joints!" Sun Zheng dragged his nearly exhausted body back to the Command Center and issued the final orders.

Only one minute left! The fourth Power Plant had just started construction.

Just then, violent spatial distortions appeared simultaneously in the sky directly above and to the northwest of the base! Purple electric arcs tore through the vacuum, and three modified "Reapers"—larger, more heavily armored, and with more complex weapon platforms on their backs—appeared at once!

Two of them appeared directly one kilometer in front of the base, while the other appeared at the previous wreckage site to the northwest, seemingly inspecting the scene.

"Roar—!" The two modified versions attacking from the front let out low growls. Their compound eyes locked onto the base and that abrupt metal obstacle belt. They seemed to pause for a moment, but the killing directive overrode everything, and they charged with their eight thick legs! Their speed was even faster than before!

"Fire!"

The grizzly tank's cannon thundered again! The infantry's machine guns also began firing frantically!

"Bang!" "Da da da—"

The modified Reaper in front didn't dodge or flinch, taking a direct hit from the grizzly tank's shell. It only swayed slightly, and the cracks were much smaller than before! The phase rays fired from its back weapon platform were thicker and had a higher frequency!

The other one tried to bypass the obstacle belt from the side.

"Don't even think about it!" Sun Zheng gritted his teeth, concentrated his last bit of mental energy, and precisely dropped the last few pieces of wreckage from the homeworld space in front of that Reaper's side, blocking its path again!

The Reaper was forced to slow down, angrily waving its limbs to smash the wreckage, buying the defensive forces a few precious seconds of concentrated fire time!

The battle instantly reached a fever pitch! The grizzly tank constantly maneuvered and fired from behind the obstacle belt, attracting most of the fire, and its armor value plummeted. Although the infantry's attacks had limited effect, they successfully interfered with the enemy's sensors.

Just as the grizzly tank was about to be blown up by continuous rays at the critical moment—

[Construction complete: Allied Power Plant!]

The fourth Power Plant was connected to the grid! The base's total power reached [Power: 400/400]!

Almost the moment the power reached the standard, the half-built Combat Laboratory seemed to receive a shot of adrenaline, and its construction speed visibly increased! But more importantly, the opportunity Sun Zheng had been waiting for had arrived!

He still had $780 in reserved funds, and that most crucial basic defensive building could finally be built now! It didn't need a Combat Laboratory, only a Power Plant and an Air Command Post!

"Immediately build a patriot missile at the base entrance, behind the obstacle belt!"

$1000 in funds was instantly deducted (the system allowed a small overdraft), and an anti-aircraft missile tower with vertical launch silos began to take shape at full speed! Although primarily for air defense, the high-speed missiles it fired also had considerable lethality against ground-based light armored units!

"Fast! Fast! Fast!" Sun Zheng stared intently at the patriot missile's construction progress bar and the precariously positioned grizzly tank on the screen.

When the patriot missile was finally completed and the launch silo covers opened, Sun Zheng almost shouted out loud!

"Lock onto the frontal enemy, fire!"

Whoosh—! Whoosh—!

Two surface-to-air missiles trailed white smoke into the sky, traced an arc in the air, and then suddenly dove, precisely slamming into the back of the modified Reaper that was fiercely attacking the grizzly tank!

"Boom! Boom!"

The explosive power far exceeded machine gun bullets! The Reaper's thick back armor was blown open with two large holes, and its movements suddenly stiffened!

"Good chance! Grizzly, aim for the wound, fire!"

"Boom—!"

The 90mm armor-piercing shell precisely drilled into the breach caused by the explosion, disintegrating the energy core of the ray weapon inside!

A violent explosion from the inside out blew this steel behemoth into fragments!

Only one left! The pressure was greatly reduced!

The scales of victory began to tilt.