"Congratulations! You have received 1000 funds."
"Congratulations! You have received 2000 funds."
"Congratulations! You have received 500 funds."
"Congratulations! You have received 800 Blueprint Energy."
"Congratulations! You have received 1000 funds."
A total of 4500 funds, plus 800 Blueprint Energy.
Although no high-tech unit blueprints or direct high-tech units were obtained,
these funds and Blueprint Energy were a godsend for Cinder at the moment.
With 4500 funds, plus the 700 funds remaining from before, he summoned another 32 good brothers.
Only 2000 funds were left for the construction of the ore refinery.
Including the Brute, Military Dogs, and chariots, Cinder now commanded a total of 90 Soldiers, five Military Dogs, two chariots, and one Brute. This added up to the strength of a company.
In the game, unless it was for a quick rush, summoning so many good brothers at once was a big no-no, because summoning so many Soldiers would leave no extra funds to build other advanced units and structures.
But Cinder had no choice.
Over the past two days, the Hilichurls of Dadupa Valley had noticed the massive War Factory spanning the center of the valley.
Now, Hilichurls attacked the base daily, with numbers ranging from 20 to 30.
This number of Hilichurls could still be handled by his good brothers.
The troublesome part was that Abyss Mages had already noticed them.
This afternoon, Sophia, through the base's built-in radar surveillance, saw a small figure secretly observing the situation inside the base from about a kilometer away.
No matter what, ensuring the safety of the base was the most important thing right now.
The day's defense quickly ended.
Now, what Cinder cared about most every day was 12 AM, when the wooden crates refreshed.
As soon as the time came and he received the map, Cinder sent the Brute to pick up the crates.
Overnight, the Brute brought good news.
"Congratulations! You have received Enhanced Firepower Lv.1 x 1."
"Congratulations! You have received 500 Blueprint Energy."
"Congratulations! You have received 1000 funds."
"Congratulations! You have received Allied Forces Soldiers x 2."
"Congratulations! You have received Heavy Trooper x 1."
It was a good haul: 1000 funds plus 500 Blueprint Energy. Building the ore refinery was within reach, just 200 Blueprint Energy short of unlocking it.
However, Cinder's luck suddenly took a turn for the worse during the following period.
It was as if he was being checked by customs; for a full ten days, he couldn't find those 200 Blueprint Energy no matter what.
He did pick up a lot of other things, though.
A quick tally:
Total temporary buffs: 13.
Total funds: 7000.
Grizzly Tank x 2.
Allied Forces Soldier x 4.
Good brothers x 8.
Besides these, Cinder also found a very unexpected item—an Allied Forces spy.
His base was a Soviet Army base; under normal circumstances, he couldn't build Grizzly Tanks, nor could he build Allied Forces Soldiers and spies.
Spies were one of the upgrade units, and only by building a radar could spies be built.
In the game, spies were very powerful. They could infiltrate other people's bases, power plants, barracks, and even War Factories.
The benefits of infiltration also varied greatly.
But this wasn't a game, and spies couldn't directly gain benefits from infiltration here.
Cinder spent a morning chatting with this spy.
He discovered a particularly amazing ability of the spy.
His disguise was almost to the point of transformation; ordinary people couldn't see through his disguise at all.
For this, he specifically conducted an exercise, having his good brothers play hide-and-seek with him.
If anyone caught the spy, their military rank would increase by one level. Conversely, if the spy wasn't caught, his military rank would increase by one level.
It was stipulated that Military Dogs could be used.
After a day of searching, no one found the spy. Finally, Cinder was surprised to discover that he had disguised himself as Sophia.
As for the original Sophia, he had sent her away with a fake order.
The result was quite unexpected for Cinder. In the original game, spies could be discovered by Police Dogs.
But this spy was able to evade the Police Dog's search. Clearly, his abilities had been enhanced.
"Kevin, your abilities have earned my recognition. I now have a very important mission for you."
"What mission, Commander?"
"Go undercover into the Hilichurl tribes."
Kevin: ?
He had thought that after he displayed his strength, Cinder would send him to infiltrate the governing organizations of the Seven Nations or something.
He had even prepared to infiltrate the Fatui.
Now Cinder was actually telling him to infiltrate a Hilichurl tribe???
Wasn't this like using a star-destroying cannon to swat a mosquito?
Cinder saw Kevin's disdain and explained, "Don't underestimate these Hilichurls. They have an organization called the Abyss Order behind them. This organization poses a great threat to us. If we're not careful, our base could be destroyed in an instant."
Kevin listened absentmindedly.
He was very confident in his own abilities.
He was currently wondering when he had offended this young Commander.
To actually make him disguise himself as a Hilichurl who only babbled 'aba aba'.
Cinder knew that his words wouldn't convince the powerful spy in front of him. He stopped wasting words and directly ordered, "Soldier, here you only have absolute obedience to orders. Do you have any dissatisfaction with my decision?"
"No, Commander!" Kevin saluted, his expression serious. "Commander, what is my mission? Is it to poison their food or…?"
"Poisoning can be put on hold for now. I need you to help me find out how many Hilichurls there are in the three Hilichurl tribes, including investigating their combat force composition, night patrols, sentry posts, and so on. The more detailed this information, the better. Additionally, I need you to keep an eye on the movements of these types of creatures."
Cinder handed two portraits to Kevin.
Kevin took them and looked at them in detail, muttering to himself, "This artwork is truly amazing, almost reaching the quality of a photograph."
Of course, Cinder didn't have such amazing skills; if he were to draw, he could at most draw a stick figure.
The portraits were drawn by Sophia, the all-rounder Second Lieutenant, at his request.
"These two creatures are the Abyss Mage and the Abyss Herald. I need you to closely monitor their movements. In the future, when we clear the Hilichurls from Dadupa Valley, they will be our biggest obstacle."
Kevin memorized the portraits and said, "Commander, I've noted it down."
"I look forward to your performance. The future operations of our Red Alert base will all be based on the data you provide. It's no exaggeration to say that the lives of hundreds of Soldiers in the base, along with my own, are all tied to your success. Don't disappoint me."
Kevin saluted again, saying, "Mission accomplished, guaranteed."
"Very good, go."
As Kevin walked out of the operations room, Cinder's worries intensified.
It had been too quiet lately!
Dadupa Valley was the place with the most Hilichurls in the entire Mondstadt region.
For the Abyss Order to assimilate cannon fodder, this was the most suitable place.
Would they allow him to establish a military base in such an important location?
The answer, of course, was no.
"I hope I can quickly get enough Blueprint Energy to build the ore refinery and the War Factory."