"Today, the commander of the Sixth Fleet announced entry into Level Three combat readiness."
"The Ministry of Defense has established an automated robotic combat force under the direct authority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Ellis stated that this move is intended to secure the Gulf of Aden and surrounding sea lanes, while strongly condemning the African Union's support for terrorist organizations."
"Critics argue that this action bypasses congressional approval and runs counter to the legislative direction shown in the AMF-13 bill."
"General Ross has returned to his homeland. Local voters welcomed the hero's return, lining the streets—who knows what treatment he endured at the hands of terrorists?"
"To date, General Ross has not explained the videos showing attacks on civilians, nor has he accepted interviews. The military has maintained silence."
"Some international relations scholars believe the African Union's actions were meant to de-escalate the situation. Clearly, our president disagrees. This will affect traffic through the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Suez Canal, and western Indian Ocean routes."
"It is estimated that 10% of global trade supply will be affected, especially oil and natural gas shipments from the Middle East to Europe and North America."
"Large-scale supply-chain disruption will slow economic growth in major economies, potentially worsening the crisis."
Robots walked through Galkayo Port.
The African Union had released Ross. That might have eased tensions to some extent—but no one knew by how much.
Because in practical terms, the situation was still deteriorating.
As a country that had lacked stable governance and security for decades, Somalia's buildings were already in ruins. The so-called port existed purely by virtue of natural geography.
Now the situation demanded that it become a modern port.
Engineering robots and exoskeleton-equipped workers operated side by side. Several berths had already been completed, their gray-white outlines sharply defined.
Large numbers of robots and heavy equipment worked in orderly coordination. Towering cranes rose like the arms of giant beasts, steadily lifting massive prefabricated structures and placing them precisely onto foundations.
Convoys of concrete trucks moved along the dock lines, linking individual berths into a network.
Gantry cranes, bulldozers, wheel loaders, dump trucks, cranes—
All construction machinery had been fully electrified. Electrically powered equipment was structurally far simpler than internal-combustion designs.
And the designers of these machines weren't only scientists and researchers from Atlas Group, but also university research teams recruited extensively in recent months.
Rising oil fuel prices and the formation of massive monopolistic conglomerates had made people uneasy. Those with foresight had already turned their attention to this kind of technology.
Electric systems had long been constrained by battery energy density. Graphene solid-state batteries greatly alleviated this issue, and combined with the pressure of the current situation, even Roxxon likely hadn't expected developments to accelerate this quickly.
Compared to Juya City, Galkayo's short-term construction goal was a frontline, military-grade base. The atmosphere here was correspondingly more hard-edged.
Leo walked through the port, estimating progress.
[Little Octopus: Boss, electrification progress for common siege and construction equipment has exceeded expectations.]
[Little Octopus: Engineering machinery: 76 types. Transport equipment: 26 types. Lifting and hoisting equipment: 20 types. Support and drone equipment: 70 types. Resource extraction and smelting facilities: 70 sets.]
[Little Octopus: Boss, honestly, collective power is incredible. We currently have 150 research teams publicly backing us and directly collaborating, with many more providing indirect support.]
[Little Octopus: We estimate we'll need to consider adding additional reactors.]
Electrifying equipment wasn't particularly difficult at the design level—but engineering problems always consumed vast amounts of time and energy.
Such large-scale international support gave Atlas Group enormous momentum.
The world was vast. Some wanted to rule it by resting on old advantages; others wanted to carve new paths.
The efficiency and environmental performance of SCFR reactors were astonishing. Atlas Group relied solely on nuclear and other clean energy to sustain city construction and keep African economies moving forward—enough to convince almost anyone.
That said, SCFR reactors were not yet operating at their true limits.
Current performance was primarily constrained by Africa's underdeveloped industrial base.
If material strength and density across the system were improved, and higher-yield radioactive elements such as plutonium-239 and californium-252 were introduced, raising fuel purity beyond 5%, a ten-hectare SCFR power station could easily deliver over 2,000 megawatts.
As for the most powerful SCFR core Leo remembered—that was something else entirely.
The core could be considered a super-reactor undergoing continuous micro-nuclear detonations.
Such designs had only been used a handful of times in ultra-large projects—because they were never intended for long-term operation.
[Leo: Wait—why haven't you mentioned the money problem?]
[Little Octopus: Boss, don't we have plenty of money?]
Little Octopus appeared in the air, wearing a thick gold chain and sunglasses.
Leo suspiciously opened the financial interface.
His instincts—sharpened by management experience—proved correct.
Atlas Group was wealthy, backed by the full credit of the African Union, plus debt wrung out of the New York City mayor.
But that money wasn't infinite.
With Atlas's current mission load, monthly operating and project costs easily exceeded ten billion USD.
This month wasn't even halfway through—and they'd already passed that mark.
And this was with top-tier research teams. If ordinary researchers tried to tackle projects on the level of Marvel-tier scientists, funding might multiply tenfold—and the time cost would be even worse.
Looking only at Atlas's core businesses, profits were guaranteed. But with expansion projects added in, deficits would appear soon enough.
Still, these investments were worth it.
[Industrial transformation in progress]
[Engineering electrification, large-scale neural-interface deployment, unmanned construction, energy revolution…]
[Multiple sectors undergoing transformation.]
[Technology points awarded: 4,000]
[Current technology points: 13,500]
For Leo, electrifying a single piece of equipment might take only an afternoon—but changes on this scale had clearly crossed the threshold for system rewards.
It seemed that pushing non-overpowered technology into an entire industry could also trigger system bonuses.
The robot approached the harbor, where three ships were docked.
The African Union had released the personnel—but not the vessels.
Three former U.S. Sixth Fleet frigates and small destroyers were now almost unrecognizable.
Two frigates had been expanded into full destroyers.
And the original destroyer had been rebuilt into a true cruiser.
To be fair, the U.S. Navy had been generous—ships sent to Somalia were all relatively new.
Hard, angular hull lines reflected sunlight. Newly promoted Black sailors—half excited, half nervous—familiarized themselves with the ships.
These three vessels were the reason Leo's brain had been "burning" nonstop lately.
His scientists were brilliant; new inventions came easily.
But when it came to designing weapons, they hesitated.
Leo didn't.
Designing nuclear-powered military hardware had once been part of his job.
Now, he could design monsters like these on his own.