Technological advancement begins with devouring.

After five days of continuous fighting, the mech squad finally left City 003 and returned to the base city.

On the three transport vehicles, there were already eleven more lord-level monsters and over a hundred beast general-level monsters.

Of course, apart from the complete corpses of the Lord-level monsters being taken away, the other Beast General-level monsters were only taken from their well-preserved and relatively valuable core materials. Otherwise, even a heavy transport vehicle with an amazing carrying capacity would not have been able to carry so much stuff.

It's not that the load capacity is insufficient, but rather that there isn't enough space.

After another half day, the mech team successfully returned to the forward base and was transported by military vehicles to the 'Jiang's Industry' factory for repairs.

Only then did the 'live stream' come to an end.

Jia Yi and others were not the only ones watching the live broadcast of the mech squad's battle.

Representatives from other forces, including the HR Alliance, also received Jiang Chen's invitation and watched the entire process of this mecha team's conquest of City 003 and elimination of high-level monsters via online live stream.

The first batch of [Boxer] mechs has already been delivered to various factions and put into actual combat for testing.

However, the 'machine gunners' simply equipped with the [Ripper] rifle are clearly far inferior to this 'multi-soldier' ​​mech squad in their performance against monsters; the two are simply not in the same league.

The leaders of the various factions who had realized what was happening immediately contacted Jiang Chen, hoping to obtain the core technologies of equipment such as the 'Guardian' and 'Firebat', or at the very least, to secure a supply of such equipment.

Jiang Chen would certainly not agree to the former.

Apart from the 'Firebat', the other core equipment is simply beyond the technology of these forces on Earth to mass-produce.

As for the 'Fire Bat', Jiang Chen has authorized the Chinese military to sell it to no one else.

As a Chinese person, as long as my own interests are not affected, I will naturally prioritize supplying good things to my own people.

However, Jiang Chen did agree to the equipment supply.

Regardless of which faction purchases the stronger the mechs, the greater their significance to humanity as a whole.

Even if things were to turn sour in the future, with the 'backdoor' left by Jarvis, these things would not cause Jiang Chen any loss at all. On the contrary, they might become landmines planted inside the enemy's ranks.

Of course, for Jiang Chen, the main purpose of selling the [Boxer] was to make money and obtain some precious resources that were difficult to buy with money from various forces.

Compared to the mechs themselves, the additional equipment such as the 'Firebat' involved less significant interests, so there was less haggling during the negotiations, and an agreement was quickly reached.

To demonstrate his sincerity in the cooperation, after the letter of intent was signed, Jiang Chen also sent two sets of experimental 'Guardian' and two sets of 'Firebat' prototypes to each of the major factions, allowing them to conduct practical tests in conjunction with the already equipped 'Boxer'.

As expected, after the actual combat test, all parties attached greater importance to the [Boxer] mech and placed additional orders, bringing Jiang Chen another huge sum of money into his account.

If we only consider the amount of money on paper, Jiang Chen could probably be considered the richest man on Earth.

However, in this world with extraordinary power, money is not the whole of wealth. The treasures that money cannot buy are the truly precious things and the true foundation of the major powers.

-

As the new year arrived, Luo Feng, just like in the original story, became trapped in Ruins No. 9 and disappeared without a trace.

Jiang Chen happened to have nowhere else to go, so he went to Luo Feng's house and spent the New Year with Luo Feng's family, while also comforting them.

After the New Year, Jiang Chen returned to his busy work.

With the launch of the first "Boxer" production line, a steady stream of mechs were delivered to various factions, assembled on the front lines, and became the backbone of the monster-slaying effort.

Jiang Chen's mecha squad was also dispatched, and under Jarvis's control, they swept away the monsters, bringing back a large number of monster corpses.

The value of these monster corpses isn't much compared to the profits from selling mechs and weapons, but it's not a small amount either.

Even if a Beast General-level monster is severely damaged and its value is greatly reduced, it can often still yield materials worth tens or even hundreds of millions.

As for lord-level monsters, no matter how severely damaged they are, the price of a single corpse will not be less than one billion, and the price of a high-level lord-level monster corpse is even more than ten billion.

Given the efficiency with which mech squads hunt monsters, a mech squad of twelve can generate hundreds of billions in revenue per month and recoup its costs in just a few months.

This is why all the major forces have placed additional orders.

However, it is foreseeable that as the size of the mech squad increases, the price of monster materials will gradually decline until it reaches a point of equilibrium.

Or perhaps, as more and more monsters are hunted, it may cause some unknown changes.

However, Jiang Chen didn't care much about these things. After receiving the deposit for the second order, Jiang Chen began to set up a second production line for the "Boxer" to further increase production capacity.

At the same time, Jiang Chen is also considering establishing a new base outside of the base city.

The skill level of a boxer is nothing special in the base city.

However, the base city is a mixed community, and if Jiang Chen wants to develop more advanced technologies and build a more powerful mechanical army in the future, it would be better to have his own territory.

Now, with most of the world's land occupied by monsters and the spheres of influence of the major powers shrinking to their limits, it is the best opportunity for Jiang Chen to expand his own power.

However, establishing one's own 'base' is a long-term plan.

Even with the help of the system, it would still take several years to complete.

Whether it's funding, resources, manpower, or even technology, it all takes time to accumulate.

With the help of the system, Jiang Chen's expertise in several fields has far surpassed the current technological level of Earth, but this is not the case in all fields.

In areas where Jiang Chen is not particularly skilled, such as biotechnology and medicine, an ordinary professor specializing in these fields might be far more advanced than Jiang Chen.

Building a fully equipped and functional base is not just about being a leader in one aspect; it requires comprehensiveness.

Furthermore, according to Jiang Chen's envisioned model, to achieve this, the technology in any aspect must far surpass the level of Earth.

Just addressing these shortcomings alone requires spending a significant amount of time immersed in the system library.

Fortunately, with the improvement of his attributes, the effect of the [High Focus] feat is stronger. In addition, with the new feat [Scholar's Mindset], Jiang Chen's efficiency in mastering new knowledge is many times faster than before.

Furthermore, as Jiang Chen's level increases, his attributes will also improve, so the time required to reach the next stage goal may not be as long as imagined.

However, before that, Jiang Chen still had a 'payment' to collect from several major forces.