31: Chapter 31 The Dragon Kingdom in Dire Straits

Had no copper mines been found even at such a great distance?

A faint sense of worry stirred in Su Yang's heart.

Resources in the Bug Swarm Tide were inherently scarce, and copper was a mineral with low reserves.

The combination of these two factors made finding copper difficult.

If luck were poor, it was possible that the entire Insect Hive Forest might not contain any copper.

If that were the case, without relocating, the development of the base would come to a standstill!

Stop thinking about it.

Su Yang cleared his mind.

There was no point in speculating about things that hadn't happened yet; focusing on the present was the right choice.

He switched to the barracks panel.

The most important task right now was to capture the Insect Swarm Ranch and solve the food problem.

After the new batch of troops joined, the food reserves were quickly depleted.

If the Insect Swarm Ranch wasn't captured today, the territory would fall into a food crisis.

But as long as it was captured, there would be no need to worry about food for a long time.

All Armored Elite Soldiers had been upgraded to Level 2, and a new group of Crossbowmen had been added.

The army for attacking the Insect Swarm Ranch was fully equipped.

The only remaining issue was energy; last night's battle had completely exhausted the fuel resources.

Half of the soldiers still needed their power replenished.

In the past, this might have taken a long time, but now there were two mining machines working simultaneously.

It was estimated that power for all soldiers would be restored by noon.

Another issue was the ammunition for the Armored Crossbowmen.

Half of the Crossbowmen had exhausted their ammunition, and among the other half, only a few had sufficient arrows.

This problem could not be solved until a copper mine was found.

Su Yang had no choice but to redistribute the ammunition reserves among the soldiers before setting out.

He would let 10 Crossbowmen accompany the expeditionary force and equip them with relatively sufficient arrows.

The Crossbowmen remaining to guard the base would be allocated fewer arrows.

This should ensure the capture of the Insect Swarm Ranch.

However, the ammunition issue after capturing the Insect Swarm Ranch would be a bit troublesome.

If the Crossbowmen ran out of arrows, the difficulty of defending at night would increase exponentially.

Should he ask England to buy copper ore again?

But now that oil resources were unlocked, she would surely do her utmost to form an alliance with Afghanistan.

Expecting her to commit factories to copper production was unrealistic.

Look for other countries?

Other countries also had...

Ding---

As Su Yang's thoughts swirled, a notification sound rang out.

[Reconnaissance unit has discovered a mineral vein]

Another coal mine found?

There was quite a lot of coal in the Bug Swarm Tide.

Su Yang casually clicked on the message.

[Reconnaissance unit has discovered a mineral vein]

[Mineral: Copper Ore]

[Reserves: Abundant]

Copper ore!!

...

Dragon Country Official Headquarters.

"Large-scale mudslides have occurred in Jiangdong Province, several newly built roads have collapsed, and rescue convoys are blocked."

"Due to resource transportation issues, multiple power stations in Donghai Province have shut down, causing widespread blackouts."

"Food reserves are critical; the typhoon has affected crop production nationwide."

"Air transport has been adopted to deliver supplies to the four southeastern provinces..."

...

Emergency messages from all over the country converged here.

Personnel from various departments were going all out, doing their best to mobilize national resources to deal with the disaster.

Even though a year had passed since the last typhoon, "Crimson."

But the impact of these two devastating natural disasters on the Dragon Country was continuous and irreversible.

The natural disasters destroyed nearly 40% of the country's farmland, and more than half the population was affected.

The central and western plateaus had completely disappeared, and rescue efforts in the four southeastern provinces had yielded little effect after a whole year.

A series of disasters, including landslides, mudslides, and heavy rains, made rescue efforts in the four eastern provinces extremely difficult.

Having experienced two painful failures, the entire Dragon Country had completely despaired of the Forbidden Area Trial.

This time, they didn't want to obtain any resource manifestations from it; they just hoped to survive until the end and no longer suffer from natural disasters.

However, the appearance of Su Yang changed everyone's thinking, allowing them to see hope.

That resource manifestation, which could be called Divine Power, was far more effective than human rescue efforts.

If Su Yang could win the Forbidden Area Trial, perhaps it would allow the Dragon Country to escape this plight.

"How much longer until the Forbidden Ground livestream?"

The General of the Military Department closed his eyes and rubbed his temples hard.

The various bad news before him left him physically and mentally exhausted.

"It starts immediately, General."

The General sighed heavily and took out a red-headed document from the side.

"The Dongying naval fleet has already assembled off our southeastern coast..."

This document had been sent over a month ago.

The intentions of the Dongying people could not be more obvious; they were waiting for the Dragon Country to suffer from natural disasters.

As soon as the natural disaster arrived and the Dragon Country completely collapsed.

They would be able to land without any pressure and seize large swaths of territory.

In the past, the Dragon Country would never have tolerated such brazen behavior.

But given the current situation of the Dragon Country, they were simply powerless to wage war.

The military department could only swallow its pride and pretend not to see Dongying's actions.

"Sigh."

The General sighed heavily and shoved the document back into its place.

"Everyone gather in the conference room; handle affairs after the livestream ends."

...

As the livestream approached, the conference room was quickly packed with people.

For everyone, watching the livestream was the only time they could get a little relaxation.

The livestream turned on, and the panoramic view of the territory appeared before everyone's eyes.

The most eye-catching among them was the newly unlocked unit—the Great Qin Armored Crossbowmen.

As soon as the heavy crossbows equipped with steam assistance appeared, the eyes of the experts lit up, and exclamations of admiration erupted in the conference room.

The resource production experts noticed that there were now four mining machines in the territory.

This meant that the development of the territory was on the right track.

"It seems we withstood the bug race offensive last night!"

"With unlocked ranged units plus the Old Ancestor's city walls, we can definitely hold out!"

"Three days later, the Arrival Night will usher in the largest Bug Swarm Tide; I hope we can hold out as well!"

"More than just holding out, we will also participate in the subsequent territory rankings and bring back a few rankings..."

The lord ranking announcement was a global announcement, and people all over the world received the news.

Although the citizens of the Dragon Country dared not ask for too much, they still had some expectations in their hearts.

Su Yang was currently on a roll; perhaps he could really secure a ranking?

Not asking for first place, as long as a ranking was secured, it would be of great help to the future.

"Keep it up, kid."

The General of the Military Department watched the livestream.

...

Dragon Country Territory.

Su Yang's reaction to seeing the copper mine could simply be described as ecstatic.

If not for the soldiers present, he would surely have done something crazy.

With the appearance of the long-awaited copper ore resources.

All the problems plaguing the development of the territory would be solved!!