Zhang Shi stepped forward to check the specific attributes of the steel heavy crossbow.

[Steel Heavy Crossbow (Green): A refined-level weapon with astonishing destructive power and a maximum range of 1500 meters.]

Zhang Shi fixed the heavy crossbow to the ground and tentatively pulled the bowstring, only to find that it did not budge. Zhang Shi was secretly surprised and immediately gritted his teeth and used all his strength to barely pull it.

"It's so difficult to work with a high-grade heavy crossbow?"

After releasing the bowstring, Zhang Shi stretched his wrists and marveled at the crossbow's power. He then sent men to place the heavy crossbow on top of the wall.

Gong Yi leaned down and whispered.

"Reporting to the lord, this heavy steel crossbow is powerful and has a long range. When paired with excellent crossbow bolts, it is enough to kill a large beast of the same level in one shot. However, it consumes too much steel and the success rate is not high."

Zhang Shi nodded, knowing that this thing could not be mass-produced for the time being. He then took out the muskets and flintlock pistols he had obtained from the mercenaries and handed them to Gong Yi.

"Let's take a look and see if we can replicate it. If we do well, there will be a big reward."

Gong Yi took the two firearms, glanced at them briefly, and nodded in affirmation.

"Please rest assured, my lord, I will study the structure of this machine as soon as possible and replicate it at the earliest opportunity."

Hearing about the reward, Gong Er and Gong San swung their hammers even more vigorously, which pleased Zhang Shi greatly. However, it was a pity that he still did not have a source of gunpowder. With only a tiny amount of gunpowder flowing from the trading market, it was still unrealistic to assemble firearms on a large scale.

As Wu Qing passed by the farmland, she immediately noticed the golden rice being sown. Her eyes were drawn to it, and she grabbed a handful of rice grains, discovering that they were all of high grade, with even a small portion being of exquisite grade.

"Where did you get so much high-grade rice?"

Seeing Wu Qing's incredulous expression, Zhang Shi felt secretly pleased and then told her about Jin Guangdao.

"If you are interested, you can take care of all the farmland in the shelter from now on."

Wu Qing stared intently at Jin Guangdao, nodded in response, and Zhang Shi breathed a sigh of relief.

"We've found another free laborer."

...

Dinner was held in the fortress, where the air conditioning kept the temperature very comfortable. The four of them were old friends, and they gathered together to talk about the development of the shelter in various directions and share interesting things they had seen in the chat channel.

Zhao Feng shared the system panel and pointed to a chat log, shouting.

"Did you see that? Liu Yu exposed the fact that the Mutual Aid Association colluded with the Eagle Gang to rob individual members. Now the Mutual Aid Association is like a rat crossing the street in our district, hated by everyone. Chen Beipan is like a coward, too scared to show his face. It's really satisfying."

Ge Dalong was quite indignant when he learned about what had happened that night from Zhang Shi and Wu Qing.

"This Chen Beipan, for his own personal vendetta, actually colluded with foreigners to harm Zhang Shi. This time he lost both his wife and his army. Those mutual aid society members scattered in the dense forest were either eaten by wild beasts or fainted from the heat. The mutual aid society was severely weakened, which can be regarded as retribution for their heinous acts."

"After this incident, the Light Alliance is about to rise. Hopefully, their people will be more organized in their actions."

Zhang Shi drank the beverage in his cup in one gulp.

Meanwhile, chaos erupted at the Light Alliance stronghold, with more than half of its members exhibiting symptoms of poisoning, some collapsing, others vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. Leader Liu Yu was also dizzy and disoriented, only managing to stay upright thanks to medication.

"What happened? Has someone poisoned the water source?"

Liu Yu's face was gloomy as he swept a stack of parchment from the table to the ground, losing his temper in front of everyone for the first time.

Vice President Tang Hao's legs went weak, and he didn't even have the strength to stand up. He could only sit to the side and answer weakly.

“The water source has always been guarded and there have been no abnormalities. Moreover, the reactions to the poisoning varied among the individuals, and not all members were affected. I suspect that the transmission route was not the water source.”

Liu Yu pondered for a moment, then remembered the two mercenaries who were being held captive, and quickly sent someone to check on them. Before the men could even leave, his subordinates rushed into the conference room to report.

"Boss, something's happened! The guard has been poisoned and collapsed, and the two mercenaries escaped in the chaos."

Liu Yu was getting a bit carried away by the series of unexpected events, and angrily pointed at his subordinates and shouted.

"Go after them! Their watches are all in our hands. It's so dark and hot outside, they can't escape!"

...

Zhang Shi planned to maximize the effect of the resource acceleration card to save time in recruiting soldiers, and prepared two large cups of coffee for himself to stay alert.

At midnight, the extreme heatwave entered its fifth day, and the temperature showed no signs of abating. Zhang Shi completed another round of soldier recruitment, bringing the guard team to 37 men, including 5 special forces soldiers and 5 special forces soldiers. The remaining recruitment slots were used by Zhang Shi for assault troops. The current size of the shelter didn't require too many special forces soldiers; focusing on immediate combat capability was the optimal choice.

As the daily check-in count refreshed, Zhang Shi clicked the cheat code to check in.

The system notifies you that you have received the following rewards for checking in:

[Resource Generation Card (Purple) x2]

Knowing that rare quality resource generation cards could generate some novel things, Zhang Shi couldn't help but feel a little happy, and even the slight drowsiness completely disappeared.

Zhang Shi couldn't wait to pick up the resource generation card and check it. He went straight to the mineral resource category and then searched for the two key minerals he needed.

Sure enough, the items produced by the system did not disappoint him. Sulfur ore and saltpeter ore both appeared in the generated list, and the two most crucial ingredients in the gunpowder formula he obtained from Liu Yu were saltpeter and sulfur.

"Great! With this, the gunpowder problem is solved."

If all goes well, the manufacturing process of muskets will be replicated, and mass production will follow. Zhang Shi will then be able to equip himself with a firearms-equipped unit, and at that time, he will truly be able to roam freely in this wilderness world.

Bathed in the light of the giant sunflower, the area around the shelter was as bright as day, even in the dead of night. On the walls, the Black Mist Guards and the escort team were diligently patrolling, guarding against any intruders. Upon seeing Zhang Shi, the escort team bowed respectfully. Zhang Shi waved his hand and then called the Black Mist Guards to leave the shelter.

Using the territory control module, Zhang Shi observed the layout around the shelter and finally decided to place the sulfur ore and saltpeter ore in the open space between the shelter and the mine, right next to the iron ore.

In order to obtain gunpowder as soon as possible, Zhang Shi deliberately sneaked into the iron mine under cover of darkness, took away the mining machine, and placed it in the sulfur mine and saltpeter mine respectively.

After fussing around for a while, Zhang Shi was full of energy, so he went to Lao Bai's room to discuss the details of the shelter's resource reserves. They talked until dawn.

As dawn broke, Zhang Shi realized it was already past sunrise. After gathering a new batch of soldiers, he handed over all the work to Lao Bai and instructed him to inform Ge Dalong about the gunpowder and arrange for people to go mining. He then rubbed his groggy head and returned to his bedroom, falling asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.