Chapter 420: Research base
When the first order was announced.
Green City was filled with a stir again.
This was basically cutting off a large part of one’s foundation, this was an unbelievable matter in any city, not to mention that Green City was already in a bad situation. If they cut off the revenue from the merchant caravans, what would the city rely on to support themselves?
Clark quickly looked for Chu Tian to confirm this matter.
Chu Tian did not explain his actions and instead arrogantly said, “You must look a little further into the future. Green City already has too few people, so what use is this tiny bit of taxes? It would be better to create the first tax free city in the Forest of Chaos and instead increase our popularity first. You can be assured, I will personally give the gnomes’ living expenses and expenditures, there will not be a single source stone missing.”
A fool has more money and those who have money speak loudly.
This made the gnomes feel confused.
Could it be there was another influence supporting this human? Otherwise how can he support such a large hole of wealth without even changing expressions? If they could fill this hole, that influence was not simple!
But seeing Chu Tian give this solemn vow.
Although the gnomes were dissatisfied with him, they couldn’t do anything.
“Clark, you came right on time.” Chu Tian said to him, “I am prepared to see visit the gnome constructed city and research lab, I wonder if this is convenient or not?”
These couldn’t be shown to outsiders.
But Chu Tian was the acting City Lord now. If the acting City Lord did not understand the situation inside the city, how could he govern it?
Clark and the other gnome elders discussed this for a few minutes, “Of course this is no problem, please come with us.”
The gnomes’ research lab has always been a secret and one of the most mysterious places of the area. Being able to stay with Chu Tian, Delores had a chance to widen her world.
The gnomes walked while giving an introduction, “The gnome research lab was established the same time as Green City. It has a very glorious history and is the most perfect research lab in the entire forest.”
A Green Religion temple constructed into the wall of a mountain was the entrance to the gnome research labs. After walking through a tunnel in the mountain, a rectangular lift appeared in front of them. Chu Tian and Delores stood in the lift and the lift immediately began to sink down. There was transparent crystal stone windows around them and when they were heading down, they could see the different layers of rocks through the window.
Very deep, very deep.
Around four-five hundred meters underground.
Finally a giant underground world appeared in front of them.
Delores lost all control of her muscles as her chin fell down and her eyes popped out. She found it very hard to believe that there was such a large space underneath Green City, this was simply unthinkable.
The gnomes explained, “The Forest of Chaos geological structure is very special. Our ancestors have studied this and were surprised to find that there were many empty spaces underneath the Forest of Chaos, with a few deep underground worlds inside. There were many devils, dark spirits, and some places where the bottom couldn’t be seen. There were also the possibility of a secret from the great ancient era.”
“There are no demons under Green City?”
“It isn’t that there isn’t the possibility, but up to this point, we haven’t found any.”
When the lift was about to arrive at its destination, Chu Tian looked down from above. He could see that near a gnome warehouse, there was a set of iron tracks that had a train parked on it. Each train had a steam engine cart at the front and end, with over thirty carts in between them.
It was actually an underground station!
In front of them, there were many palaces, looking very impressive. It seemed like several hundred thousand people could live in these underground palaces. The palaces were all crafted out of metal and had a very modern look to them.
There were many metal pipes here that were several meters thick which needed several people to hold them. The small ones were several centimeters and were around the size of a finger. They were intricately overlapped and was very condensed, with many of these small and large pipes connected all over the research lab.
There was not only a single underground palace.
If they looked in the distance, there were several lights shining from other palaces. There were seemingly bottomless abysses between the palaces and the underground palaces were lights shining in this dark world. There were floating rail tracks connecting them.
The underground world was not as dark or sinister as imagined. Actually in addition to the lights on the palaces, there were also glowing crystals in the surrounding cliffs and various strange glowing plants.
Delores even saw glowing mushrooms that were at least thirty meters wide and were like giant bulbs illuminating a large area. Water flowed down from the rocks and turned into a thin waterfall, falling into the bottomless abyss.
There were strange lizards, bats, and other beings that were living in the cliff. This place that did not see the light of the sun had actually formed such a strange ecosystem. It made one sigh at the thought of its mysterious creator.
“This underground space is immeasurably deep and it has never been explored to the bottom before, but this underground world is rich in resources and the deeper it is, the richer the resources. Of course, the deeper we go, the more likely it is we will meet a dangerous being that could attack us.”
Chu Tian stared into the bottomless pit while being lost in thought.
Concerning the world underneath the Forest of Chaos, of course he had some understanding.
This was a very complex place, especially in this era. There were many unknown dangers hidden here, but there were also many hidden treasures.
If there was a chance in the future, he had to properly explore it.
Of course, there was no opportunity now since he did not have the strength.
Clark said in a proud voice, “The gnomes have used an entire two hundred years to complete this transport network!”
The gnomes’ transport system was made of trains and cable cars.
When they came out of the lift, there was a station in front of them. There were several carts together on the train, densely packed together. This was the gnomes’ underground train.
“The gnomes have a total of seven underground research labs and we have discovered over a hundred precious minerals.” Clark proudly said, “These underground railroads are like blood vessels that connect each laboratory, mine, breeding field, and living quarters together. All together, it forms a highly effective network.”
“This really is a complicated and difficult assignment, a normal person could not have done it!” Delores said to Clark, “How do you start these trains?”
“Come with me into the power room and you’ll see.” Clark opened the power room of a train and there was a honeycomb shaped energy storage inside. Each chamber was filled with a red powder and the entire thing had a source energy array on it, with many large source stones embedded inside to give it power, “The train’s energy source is stable fire attributed crystal powder. This powder release a large amount of flames and energy, which is ultimately absorbed by the source energy array, forming a complex energy system. This energy is then used to move the three hundred ton train, allowing it to have a max speed of three hundred kilometers.”
Chu Tian was a bit surprised by this.
Although the gnomes’ technology did not enter his eyes.
It could be considered quite advanced for this era.
The cost of the flame crystals was not high and with the crystals powering the train, the cost was reduced quite a bit. However, the source energy array needed to consume source energy to run.
The consumption of source stones was not a small amount!
Clark explained, “For the basic operations of this system, it requires at least one thousand low grade source stones each month.”
Too fucking wasteful.
This was a completely unnecessary consumption!
Miracle Commerce’s Source Energy Batteries were a lasting and cheap source of source energy. Chu Tian only needed to make a simple changes to save a large amount of source stones.
“Now we ask sir acting City Lord to enter the gnomes’ laboratory!”
The gnome train thundered off, moving towards the palace in front of them. There were train tracks all over the palace and they could clearly see everything while riding through on the train.
“This is the fire energy research room.”
“This is the water energy research room.”
“This is the Water of Life creation room!”
“This is……”
Chu Tian passed through the research laboratory on the gnome train and it could be considered that he had experienced how luxurious the gnome laboratory was.
The gnomes by nature loved to explore.
It was no wonder they could give away Green City so easily. This was because to the gnome, as long as they had the underground laboratory and the resources needed for it, it was more than enough.
“Why is this place so big?” Delores looked at the large empty space in front of her, “What is this place?”
“This is the underground being research lab.”
“Underground beings?”
Clark opened the door to the laboratory and large prison cells arranged in rows appeared in front of them. There was a strange monster being locked up inside each prison cell.
Delores looked at the insides of the first prison cell. It looked a bit strange, with an evil and thin looking body which was supported by a few antennas. It had a head as big as a bulls with a single glowing eye in the middle.
Suddenly.
With a peng sound!
Delores was shocked.
This being sent out a beam of light from its eye and if it wasn’t for the gnomes’ barrier, this light beam was fast enough to melt steel. Delores would not have been able to avoid it.
Delores asked, “What is this monster?”
“Truly ignorant.” Chu Tian did not wait for the gnomes to explain, “This thing is called an Evil Eye, a common being that lives in the dark underground. Its main ability is to shoot beams of light from its eye.”
Clark and the other gnomes looked at Chu Tian with looks of admiration.
“This thing is rarely seen in the above world, this shows that the City Lord is truly knowledgeable!”
“Che, what does this count for?”
Chu Tian revealed a disdainful grin. He immediately went to look at the other beings, but he had to praise the gnomes, being able to gather all these dark creatures together. This was simply like a museum.
He also finally understood why the gnomes spent so much money on these laboratories.
The scale, equipment, and level of theses laboratories were at peak level in this era. Only spending several tens of thousands of low grade source stones on this each month was already very thrifty.
Clark asked, “The gnomes do not have any other things we’re fond of, we just like seeking the truth. Although most of what’s studied in the gnome laboratory does not have much use, this is where the gnomes’ joy for life comes from. So if you really want to become the City Lord, this laboratory…..”
“You’re thinking too much. You need to understand, I am a scholar.” Chu Tian patted the gnome’s shoulder, “This laboratory is the true treasure of Green City, those castles on the surface are nothing compared to this. Not only am I not closing this laboratory, I want to invest ten times, no a hundred times the resources, talents, and technology, making this laboratory even more magnificent.”
The mouth of Delores nearby popped open, but she couldn’t say a word.
Clark led the gnomes to reveal a look of gratitude and admiration.
