Chapter 116 Large-scale Construction

Spring departs and autumn arrives, the seasons alternate.

Two years, in the vast timeline of the universe, is nothing more than the vibration of an atom for an instant.

But for Earth, especially for that ancient nation in the east of the blue planet, these two years were two years named "Miracle."

Earth's geosynchronous orbit, zero-gravity zone.

This place was once a silent vacuum, with only a few satellites drifting like lonely ghosts.

But right now, it is as noisy as a vegetable market on a market day.

Thousands of "Xuanbird"-class space-to-ground shuttles, trailing blue exhaust flames like industrious worker bees, have built a busy "Sky Road" between Earth and that towering steel fortress.

The "Heavenly Court" fortress, this titan creation with a diameter of two thousand kilometers, is now covered in dense scaffolding (actually magnetic adsorption platforms) and engineering mechs.

If you look at it from the ground with a telescope, you will find that on that huge metal moon, sparks from electric welding are flashing at every moment; those sparks are even denser and more dazzling than the stars.

The Great Xia's soul of infrastructure construction has awakened to its limit at this moment.

Since it is the "Heavenly Court," how can it be dilapidated?

Repair! It must be repaired!

Not only repair, but also renovate!

The fortress's original cold, hard, and murderous Titan Heavy Industry style has begun to become… somewhat "amiable" in the hands of millions of Great Xia engineers and workers.

"A3 section outer armor installation complete! Airtightness test in progress!"

"C9 ecological zone water diversion project is connected! gaia, adjust the temperature to 25 degrees; Old Zhang says this batch of coconut saplings shipped from Hainan is afraid of the cold!"

"Who hung red lanterns on the main cannon barrel? Violation of regulations! …What? For the sake of festivity? Fine, hang them securely; don't let them get blown off when we fire."

This is a crazy era.

With the gradual decryption of the "Heavenly Court" fortress's internal database, the Great Xia's technology tree seems to have been doused with "Jin Kela," growing at an unreasonable, crazy speed.

Controlled nuclear fusion, which was regarded as "future energy" two years ago, has now become a cabbage-priced civilian technology.

The smog in the capital has completely disappeared, replaced by anti-gravity flying cars weaving between buildings.

That kind of holographic bracelet that once only existed in science fiction movies is now owned by even the auntie selling Jianbing Guozi on the side of the road, used for collecting payments and binge-watching shows.

As for the Eagle?

That once arrogant hegemon has now become completely "docile."

How could it not be docile?

When you wake up every morning, open the curtains, and see a steel death star hanging above your head that could turn you into ash at any moment, your temper will also become exceptionally good.

Any sanctions, any blockades, any freedom of navigation—in the huge shadow cast by the "Heavenly Court," all have become outdated jokes.

The current world situation is very simple: Great Xia is responsible for looking up at the starry sky and exploring the universe; other countries are responsible for looking up at Great Xia and shouting 666.

Heavenly Court fortress, top floor, "Lingxiao Treasure Hall."

This name was given by Lin Yuan; in fact, this place was originally the "Star Chart Observatory" of the titan fortress, located at the very top of the fortress, possessing a panoramic, blind-spot-free view.

At this moment, this prime location capable of overlooking the entire Earth is not conducting any serious strategic deployment.

Lin Yuan is wearing a loose cotton undershirt, his pant legs rolled up high, wearing a pair of thousand-layer sole cloth shoes, and in his hand… he is holding a hoe.

Yes, a hoe.

And it is a hoe forged from titan-grade memory alloy, equipped with a micro-vibration cutting function.

In front of him, the observatory, which should have been paved with polymer flooring, has been specially converted into a plot of black soil covering several acres.

This soil is not ordinary soil; it is premium black soil transported from thousands of miles away from Changbai Mountain and Heilongjiang, mixed with a special nutrient solution from the fortress's ecological zone.

"I say gaia, isn't the growth of these 'Purple Jade Sweet Potatoes' a bit slow?"

Lin Yuan straightened his back, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked at the few wilted purple vines in the field with a look of disgust.

Light and shadow distorted in the air, and that silver-haired little girl wearing a gothic lolita dress—gaia—appeared out of thin air.

Her expression was somewhat broken, and her eyes, composed of data streams, were filled with speechlessness.

"Commander," gaia's voice, though still cold, carried a hint of gritted teeth. "What you are planting is the high-energy crop 'Void Purple Potato' brought back from Relic No. 003. This crop is used to provide bio-energy for biological warships in its place of origin! You expect it to grow fully in a month like Earth sweet potatoes?"

"And…" gaia pointed to the hoe in Lin Yuan's hand, "You are using an S-class individual melee weapon capable of cutting through aircraft carrier armor—the 'Space-Rending' high-frequency vibration shovel—to loosen its soil. Don't you think this is a bit… a waste of a precious item?"

"What waste of a precious item?"

Lin Yuan rolled his eyes and waved the priceless "hoe" in his hand. "This is called 'to do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools.' Besides, farming is a talent skill engraved in the DNA of the Chinese people; even if it is a god-level fortress, I feel anxious if I don't plant something."

As he spoke, he pulled up a purple vine from the ground, on which hung several fist-sized, crystal-clear fruits resembling amethysts.

"Hey, it's done!"

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up; he casually wiped off the dirt and took a crunchy bite.

Juice overflowed, and a massive amount of energy rolled down his throat into his abdomen, causing the pores all over his body to open up.

"Hmm, although this thing was originally used as fuel, the taste is actually quite good—crispy and sweet."

Lin Yuan nodded with satisfaction and casually tossed one to gaia (although it was a holographic projection and she couldn't catch it).

"Have Old Wang study it later to see if it can be mass-produced; this thing would definitely be filling as military rations."

gaia sighed, her data form flickering slightly.

Ever since this Commander took over the fortress, the style here has completely gone off track.

The berths originally used for docking star-destroying ships have now become unloading ports for the Great Xia interstellar transport fleet; the production lines originally used to manufacture killing robots are now producing civilian anti-gravity engines at full speed; and that fearsome biochemical laboratory has even been converted into an agricultural breeding base...

But one has to admit, this "Heavenly Court" full of the hustle and bustle of life is much more vibrant than that cold "gate of hades."

"Commander."

gaia's expression suddenly became serious, and her originally playful loli voice instantly switched to a cold mechanical voice.

"Academician Wang has arrived. He is waiting for you in the core database."

Lin Yuan's chewing motion paused.

He swallowed the purple potato in his mouth, and that lazy, casual temperament instantly faded from him, replaced by a sharpness honed by life-and-death trials.

"That 'signal,' has it been cracked?"

"Yes."

Lin Yuan threw away the half-eaten purple potato in his hand and casually stuck the S-class hoe into the ridge of the field.

"Let's go."

Deep inside the Heavenly Court fortress, the core data center.

This is the brain of the entire fortress and also the most heavily guarded forbidden area.

Academician Wang seemed to have aged ten years; his originally gray hair was now completely white, but the light in his eyes was even more intense than two years ago, and also more… worried.

Seeing Lin Yuan walk in, Academician Wang did not exchange pleasantries and directly projected a complex star map on the big screen.

"Lin Yuan, do you know why we haven't dared to slack off for the past two years, upgrading our technology with all our might?"

Academician Wang's voice was a bit hoarse.

Lin Yuan nodded, his gaze falling on that star map.

"Because of the signal sent by Shura before he died."

Two years ago, the moment Lin Yuan destroyed Shura's core, gaia intercepted an encrypted band sent to deep space.

Over the past two years, Great Xia has assembled the top linguists, cryptographers, and mathematicians, working with gaia's computing power, to analyze this data of only a few KB day and night without stopping.

"We have deciphered it."

Academician Wang took a deep breath and tapped his finger on the virtual keyboard.

The star map on the big screen instantly zoomed in, locking onto a dark area at the edge of the Milky Way.

A line of blood-red Chinese character translation appeared in the center of the screen: [Coordinates: Orion Arm, third planet of the Solar System.] [Status: titan relic activated, indigenous civilization level: 0.7.] [Threat assessment: Very low.] [Suggestion: Dispatch "Cleaner" squadron, recover the fortress, erase the indigenous people.]

Lin Yuan looked at that line of text, especially the four words "erase the indigenous people," and the corner of his eye twitched slightly.

"Who is this… sent to?"

"The Mechanical Papacy."

gaia's figure appeared beside the screen, her voice as cold as ten-thousand-year ice, "That crazy sect that destroyed the Titan Civilization, regards flesh and blood as original sin, and vows to mechanically ascend the entire universe."

"Shura was just a dog they created. And now, the dog is dead, and the dog's owner is coming."

Academician Wang took off his glasses and rubbed his bloodshot eyes.

"Based on the signal transmission speed and the opponent's jump technology, their advance fleet may have already assembled in that star region."

"How long?" Lin Yuan asked, his voice terrifyingly calm.

"Optimistically, five years." Academician Wang held up five fingers and said tremblingly, "At most five years, their fleet will appear outside the orbit of Pluto. And with our current technological level… even with the 'Heavenly Court,' our chance of winning is not even one in ten."

One in ten.

This is a desperate number.

It means that the prosperity of Great Xia in these two years is nothing but a castle built on sand; when the tsunami comes, it will instantly vanish into nothingness.

The entire data center fell into a deathly silence.