Chapter 4

A new day, a new beginning. When Li Lan got up from her comfortable bed, it was just dawn.

After a quick wash, Li Lan eagerly went to the control room and sat down at the control panel.

Before Li Lan could even touch the control interface, the base assistant, devoid of emotion, spoke up:

"Congratulations, Commander. Since you have successfully survived for five days in Somalia, the base is now officially activated. You can start building your kingdom and recruiting a loyal guard dedicated solely to you."

Li Lan, still a bit groggy from sleep, instantly became fully alert upon hearing the assistant's words. Ignoring the assistant, she excitedly opened the control panel and clicked on the building units. The first icon, "Magnetic Reactor," was no longer in black and white, and there was a detailed description below it.

Not only that, the icons for the ore refinery, barracks, and tank factory, which were different from yesterday, also had detailed descriptions, even though they were still gray.

However, the icons for the shipyard, radar, air force command, and others remained the same as before, gray and pixelated, with no descriptions.

"Why is only the power plant available for construction, and not the others?" Li Lan, who was initially very excited, saw that only the power plant, which had turned colorful, had a construction button, and her smile faded.

"The base operates on the principle of considering everything for the commander. Any unit with a description is within the commander's construction authority. Although the base itself has basic power usage, there is no excess power to supply other units. To ensure the base's functions are not affected, please ensure there is sufficient power supply when constructing units."

"Damn, that scared me." Hearing the assistant's response, Li Lan understood that it was similar to a game, where you can't build the ore refinery first; you must build the power plant first.

Through the assistant's response, Li Lan also basically understood that with her current basic authority, she could only build up to the tank factory. However, this was enough for the initial operation.

Li Lan did not rush into her ambitious first step but carefully read through the descriptions of the four units that could be built.

Magnetic Reactor:

Energy unit, construction cost 600 base funds, power output 150,000 kilowatts, area 10,000 square meters. Construction time six hours. (The power output is purely fictional; data experts and knowledge experts, please don't question it.)

Description: A magnetic engine that converts magnetic energy into mechanical energy. Its components include a shell, rotor sleeve, rotor shaft, rare earth neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets, cover, and end cap. It mainly uses a magnetic reactor, aluminum alloy pad, magnetic tube, and fixed bracket, spring bracket, and spring support. By attaching magnets around the magnetic reactor, they interact with the rare earth neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets to produce a repulsive or attractive force. The spring support hooks onto the brake hook, causing the rotor sleeve and rotor shaft to produce a mechanical torque, driving other machinery.

Special Note: Using magnetic energy instead of gasoline or diesel to create a magnetic engine undoubtedly solves the problem of energy shortage, efficiently utilizes resources, is odorless, safe, and environmentally friendly, has a simple structure, is easy to manufacture, and is low-cost, making it an essential unit for production development.

Suggestion: During the initial construction, as all building units consume a large amount of electricity, please build more power plants.

Barracks:

Recruitment unit, construction cost 1,000 base funds, area 50,000 square meters. Construction time six hours.

Description: By paying a certain amount of base funds, you can recruit clone soldiers without any other consumption. Newly recruited soldiers are generally level one, but occasionally there are a few surprises. Each soldier will be unconditionally and forever loyal to Commander Li Lan. In combination with the combat laboratory and training center, you can recruit higher-level or special units.

Special Note: Although the soldiers are clones, they have their own lives and stories.

Suggestion: Each soldier can shield you from bullets, so please cherish your soldiers. Soldiers are the foundation of the three armed forces, and you should carefully allocate their abilities.

Ore Refinery:

Collection and processing unit, construction cost 2,000 base funds, area 20,000 square meters. Construction time twelve hours.

Description: It can collect all mineral elements from the periodic table and convert them into base funds, which is the only source of base funds. Each ore refinery comes with an armed mining vehicle and an ore extraction well. Each mining vehicle has a mineral recovery interval of six hours. Building more ore refineries can shorten the mineral recovery time. Each ore refinery can serve up to three mining vehicles.

Note: Only the first ore refinery comes with a free ore extraction well and mining vehicle.

Special Note: The commander can decide whether to convert all collected minerals into base funds. You can categorize and retain minerals you do not want to convert. The ore refinery is not limited to minerals from mining vehicles and can process minerals from other sources.

Suggestion: To speed up the commander's development, build more mining vehicles and ore extraction wells, or obtain more minerals from other sources.

After reading through the descriptions and suggestions for the three building units, Li Lan had a basic understanding. The power plant was straightforward, but she had many questions about the barracks and the ore refinery.

"Assistant, how exactly do the soldiers in the barracks get recruited? What are they like when recruited?"

"As a super-temporal technology, the Red Alert base has its unique aspects. Each soldier recruited in the barracks has their own personality, thoughts, and emotions, and they will age, get sick, and reproduce. The commander can treat them as normal Earth humans.

Each soldier recruited in the barracks will unconditionally follow the commander's orders. They live for you and die for you. Even if the commander orders them to commit suicide, they will execute it without hesitation.

When recruiting soldiers, the base will endow them with basic combat skills, so each soldier will be a qualified soldier with basic combat skills upon recruitment. They can use various weapons and form the foundation of the commander's future land, sea, and air forces.

Newly recruited soldiers are generally level one, but their abilities can be improved through training and combat. The highest level is level three elite, and higher-level soldiers can control lower-level soldiers. Some soldiers with great talent may advance to become officers with command capabilities and stronger individual combat abilities."

As the assistant answered, a row of text appeared on the large screen in front of Li Lan, as if to ensure she understood clearly.

"Your point is that if I produce weapons like warships and tanks in the future, I will need to recruit soldiers to operate them, right?" Li Lan asked.

"Yes. When the commander starts recruiting soldiers, there will be options for soldier abilities, which the commander can experience after the barracks are built."

Understanding a bit more, Li Lan quickly focused on the ore refinery, as there was something in the description she wanted to confirm.

"Where does the base's funding come from? You should have an answer now, right!"

"I apologize for not being able to answer this question before. The assistant only learned this after the commander reached the condition for the base's full activation.

The source of base funds must go through the ore refinery. The ore refinery can convert minerals into equivalent base funds, and through the accumulation of funds, the commander can build various base units.

Minerals are not limited to those obtained from mining vehicles. As long as minerals enter the decomposition pool, they can be converted. For example, if the commander puts one ton of gold into the ore refinery's decomposition pool, with the commander's consent, the ore refinery will immediately convert that one ton of gold into equivalent base funds.

However, please remember: base funds cannot be converted back into minerals."

"Oh, oh." With these two "ohs," Li Lan began to have some plans and ideas for the future.

However, there was still one thing she didn't understand, so she asked, "What is the ore extraction well mentioned in the ore refinery's description?"

The assistant did not answer, but a video appeared on the screen in front of Li Lan, showing a familiar game scene.

It was a very ordinary Red Alert map, but there were no base vehicles or other forces. In the center of the map, there was a drilling rig continuously rotating, and yellow minerals were constantly being brought up. The area around the drilling rig was already covered with yellow minerals.

"That's it! Without this, the mining vehicles can't extract minerals." The image disappeared, and Li Lan muttered to herself.

"Why is only one given? Isn't that not enough? If there are more mining vehicles in the future, won't they have to queue up?" Li Lan's greed began to show.

"In the last page of the building units in the control panel, there is an icon for the ore extraction well."

Receiving the assistant's response, Li Lan flipped through the control panel and found that the building units, which previously had only two pages, now had four pages. Flipping to the last page, the first icon was the ore extraction well. The icon was colorful, and the description was simple, but the construction cost made Li Lan hesitate.

PS: Red Alert is a game of imagination, and so is this novel. Please don't take it too seriously.

Don't think that these descriptions are just for padding. If you think that, I would be very hurt. If I didn't write these descriptions, I could write at least a thousand more words each day.

Since the first of the month, I have spent three days preparing these descriptions, typing each word, not copying and pasting. So, please understand.

Many people complained about the previous book, saying that it didn't have much to do with Red Alert beyond the name. I will improve this in this book, maximizing the functionality of the Red Alert base.

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