Jade City officially announced, "30% energy recharge has already supported large-scale reconstruction."

The buildings' lives started a new phase.

Zhou Yi didn't feel much change indoors, just continuous trembling and sounds like when he used to live in an apartment building, always hearing inexplicable drilling noises and bangs.

But through the perspective of Red Kestrel, he could clearly see that Jade City was performing a self-transformation akin to surgical operations.

The 30-story building's leftmost square structure was neatly cut away and slowly extruded, and then a rebar arm captured it, securely placing it in the nearby materials area (the place where Zhou Yi piled up concrete bricks and other building materials).

Then the steel arm picked up a new grey-brown building embryo structure from the ground and inserted it into the freshly made gap, its myriad metal fingers reinforcing and correcting the joints, aligning and connecting parts of the touching surfaces. The whole process flashed with bright white light like welding.

Finally, a complete fusion was achieved, seamless, as if it had always been a single entity.

Through such a process, resembling a game of pulling out and replacing building blocks, Jade City was repairing its own body.

For some parts of the building severely damaged, Jade City directly crushed them into rubble and dumped them into the materials area. The gaps were filled with rebar as the framework, then fleshed out with a combination of concrete and broken bricks growing along the steel structure, completing the repair and coverage.

Jade City explained, "Cutting and replacing consumes less material and energy, and only specific structures can be directly replaced."

"Localized remolding consumes more, but the advantage is a higher degree of fit."

"Committee member, does your house also need to be rebuilt?"

Zhou Yi remained wary, "Are there any reconstruction or repair fees?"

"Only 100 Light Seeds."

"No need."

"That's a pity."

Zhou Yi recently felt a financial pinch.

He wouldn't waste Light Seeds on something like this.

As long as the house was livable, that was enough.

There was no need to waste expenses on a new house at this stage.

What made Zhou Yi pay attention was that Jade City seemed to express a rare sense of self-emotion. It felt regretful that he didn't want a newly renovated house, which was much more lively than the previously cold and detached expression of a floor manager.

Perhaps it was due to the energy recovery.

Zhou Yi brought up the main topic, "Can the energy pool in Mushroom Forest still be sensed?"

"Yes."

Jade City was unable to provide a precise and detailed description.

However, Red Kestrel, based on characteristics and the structure of the natural environment, found the answer.

The drone said, "It encountered a 'Dead Light Deposit Belt,' a highly valuable rare natural resource."

"Dead Light infiltrates geological layers of this world and, upon reacting with underground minerals and water, forms deposits. Due to the action of Dead Light, these deposits connect into belts, which, after long periods of evolutionary accumulation, become deeply buried underground deposit belts."

"Deposit belts can be considered another form of micro Dead Light accumulation zones. Unlike the Dead Sea, deposit belts are stable due to absorption by the geological layers and almost never experience disasters like rapids or Light Bursts."

Zhou Yi thought to himself.

He could understand the Dead Light Deposit Belt as Dead Light's version of oil or coal.

A mineable solid or liquid form of Dead Light.

He then asked, "How can it be collected and refined?"

Jade City had directly absorbed Dead Light from the deposit belts before. From personal experience, the impurities were too many, and the absorption efficiency was low. Ingesting it even caused blurry consciousness and confusion – it was like a toxin in the energy.

If refining was not possible, it produced strong side effects and a buzz, not to mention what would happen to ordinary Guangna Species.

Red Kestrel's feedback was, "The Dead Light Deposit Belt requires professional excavation, collection, and refining equipment to finally be transformed into energy packs, supplied for use by Electromechanical Life or Light Imprint Devices."

"Recursive City supports itself on services without delving into construction and mining sectors. If necessary, I can make contact with another Mechanical City, 'Chuneng City,' which engages in energy technology and related collection and manufacturing services."

"If the project is left to Chuneng City, whether you rent the deposit belt to them for a rental fee or commission them to produce and sell energy packs, it could create vast wealth."

Red Kestrel's position was clear.

Small workshops couldn't handle it; professionals were needed.

"Never heard of any life form being able to directly convert deposit belts."

The drone expressed skepticism, "This requires verification."

…

Zhou Yi took a samurai crab and arrived at Mushroom Forest.

The neighborhood's farmland development was showing early results; the soil was turned over, loose and smooth, and there were small ditches dug along the edges of the fields, connecting to the water from the Oasis Side, convenient for irrigation.

On the well-prepared ridges, tender green seedlings were already planted.

Tie Ma's body extended two nozzles outward, watering the soil. Tong Niu was slowly moving along the edge of the fields, using a device resembling a carbon or iron rod, continuously probing into the soil, checking something.

They were engrossed in their work, and Zhou Yi didn't disturb them.

Coming to the edge of the Mushroom Forest, two Black Hand Mushrooms approached and stood up straight, "Hello, Chairman!"

"How are you all?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Everything is very good in the Mushroom Forest."

Then the two Mushroom People started to talk one after the other.

"You are so powerful! We saw it all, monsters causing trouble near the Dead Sea were blown to shreds by your fire rain! Everyone climbed up the giant mushrooms to watch, it was an invigorating battle!"

"It's unbelievable that someone would dare to challenge you, seeking death."

"Chairman, though we watched, we did not slack off; everyone has been diligently growing mushrooms!"

"Right, right, right! We've grown a lot of mushrooms; the Lord said it's enough to feed the people of two Mao Valley Towns."

....

The Black Hand Mushrooms were still chatty and full of life, incessantly talking. Considering their short stature and lifespan, they really were like a group of children, nearly grown.

Zhou Yi listened patiently.

Soon, Sun Chonglai, the Bone Man with a red scarf, came running over.

"Chairman."

He, too, stood rigid as if at attention.

This seemed to be some sort of etiquette in the Mushroom Forest.

Zhou Yi asked Sun Chonglai about the sediment zone and Stone Bag Mushrooms.

"This is the first time I'm hearing what you've mentioned."

The Bone Man pondered for a while: "However, this land is indeed different from the surrounding area. The central region mushrooms grow very quickly, much slower on the outskirts. The Black Hand Mushrooms also originate from the central region; very few awaken from the fringe areas. It seems to be directly related to the Dead Light deposits underground."

"The Stone Bag Mushroom is indeed nutritious... but it can only temporarily boost energy and strength, causing short-term excitement, not a direct increase in energy. Of this, I can assure you."

Not the Stone Bag Mushrooms?

Zhou Yi suddenly thought of a mushroom as earthy as the soil...

It's the explosive mushroom that Jade City spoke of!

"Explosive mushrooms, you say? They indeed contain high-intensity energy that condenses. Unlike the Stone Bag Mushrooms' conventional method, their energy continues to concentrate and compress further until it explodes upon triggering."

Sun Chonglai's voice held some doubt: "But the energy inside them cannot be extracted directly. At most, we can cut them out from the ground to use as a defensive line for the Mushroom Forest."

Zhou Yi immediately began to experiment.

He had the Black Hand Mushrooms bring a few explosive mushrooms down to the company building, with Jade City attempting tests.

The mushrooms, flat like dirt clods, were attached to the skyscraper and Jade City easily extracted from them a Light Seed, which was placed into Zhou Yi's Guangna Box.

Then came the second trial, and it likewise resulted in a Light Seed.

Third, fourth...

Numerous tests proved that the output of explosive mushrooms was very stable; depending on the volume of each one, Jade City could extract one to three Light Seeds.

The explosive mushrooms, after extraction, became wrinkled and deflated, like dehydrated, dry moss.

The Bone Man collected them and made a further discovery.

"They've become Carpet Fungus!"

Sun Chonglai gesticulated excitedly with his slender arms: "Chairman, I understand now, I understand everything."

"The foundation of the Mushroom Forest is the Carpet Fungus; it has two branches."

"The first branch becomes Stone Bag Mushrooms. Then either they connect with the ground, absorbing from the sediment zone to become explosive mushrooms, or they continue to grow upwards, drawing in the Death Light existing in the outside air, eventually evolving into the Angel of Death with a small chance."

"The second branch evolves into Black Hand Mushrooms, gaining a larger range of mobility, and further expanding the overall range of radiation and growth of their entire species."

The Bone Man said excitedly: "I never understood in the past. Why only the Black Hand Mushrooms could safely detach the explosive mushrooms from the ground. If replaced by other life forms or people, even with the utmost care, it wouldn't be possible. Turns out they are all from the same family!"

Zhou Yi also had an epiphany.

The Carpet Fungus is the core of the Mushroom Forest.

Now that he knew the lineage and growth requirements of the explosive mushrooms, the next step was to cultivate and plant them in large quantities.

"The cultivation of explosive mushrooms isn't difficult at all; as long as it's in the central area, they grow rapidly and just need water. From the appearance of the mushroom bud to initial maturity only takes 10 days. However, to further grow to a transplantable stage totals one month. To reach the larger complete form, an additional one to three months are needed, the longest being four months."

The Bone Man pointed behind him at the Mushroom Forest: "However, only the central region can foster the growth of explosive mushrooms; each needs a certain independent ground space to grow, or else none can flourish. So, we transplant the mature explosive mushrooms to the outskirts for defensive arrangements."

"The soil of the central region can sustain about 5,000 explosive mushrooms in one growth cycle."

Zhou Yi listened, elated.

Even by conservative estimates, the Mushroom Forest could yield 5,000 Light Seeds every month. As long as the Dead Light sediment zone hasn't dried up, profits will continue!

Now his home really had become a mine.