Chapter 155 Titan Armory

Behind that hundred-kilometer-high crystal gate, there was no palace, but a dead and silent metal graveyard.

The air filtration system had probably been down for tens of thousands of years; as soon as they stepped inside, the smell of stale machine oil drilled into their noses, but to Academician Wang, this scent was more intoxicating than top-tier perfume.

The searchlight beams swept through the darkness, and the uniform, orderly reflections made one's scalp tingle.

There stood the soldiers.

Not hundreds, not tens of thousands. They were mechanical guards, their eye sockets extinguished, arranged neatly on conveyor belts. Unlike human mechs, which were bulky and crude, these had a streamlined, teardrop shape. There were no exposed hydraulic rods at the joints, only deep blue energy conduits buried beneath semi-transparent armor plating.

"Star Spirit Warriors." gaia's voice rang out on the channel with a rare data tremor. "Mass-produced individual combat units of the Titan Civilization. They stand 3.2 meters tall, equipped with micro anti-gravity engines, and their main weapons are plasma light blades and shoulder-mounted micro-fusion cannons. They don't need to eat or sleep; as long as they have enough energy, they can plow through the entire universe."

Academician Wang crouched at the feet of a dust-covered machine soldier, his eyes looking no different than if he were staring at his newborn grandson; he even wanted to stick out his tongue and lick that smooth titanium alloy.

"Commander! We've hit the jackpot! We've really hit it this time!" The old man was incoherent with excitement, waving his detector. "The craftsmanship of this thing is at least two eras ahead of ours! As soon as we activate the central control system, our pitiful troop shortage will be immediately filled!"

Lin Yuan walked with his hands behind his back along the endless production line, casually wiping away the dust on the conveyor belt.

"Don't just stand there drooling." He looked up at the factory dome, where countless massive robotic arms hung like a swarm of sleeping steel spiders. "gaia, can that core we just pulled out of the Leviathan's belly match the power supply interface here?"

"Interface protocol compatibility is 99%. That Leviathan was originally the 'biological battery' for this factory."

"Then plug it in." Lin Yuan snapped his fingers. "Since we're already here, we have to hear something go off."

Ten minutes later, a massive roar broke the dead silence of the Boulder Starfield that had lasted for billions of years.

The titan energy matrix, forcibly recovered from the Leviathan's body, was shoved into the Armory's main reactor by engineering mechs. With a low hum, the lights on the dome lit up one by one, and the originally pitch-black, massive space instantly became as bright as day.

Immediately after, those sleeping assembly lines began to move.

Screech—

That was the sound of metal grinding, and also the prelude to the Great Xia truly gaining a foothold in this universe. Tens of thousands of semi-finished machine soldiers that hadn't finished assembly began to slide along the conveyor belts. Robotic arms descended with precision, and amidst flying sparks, brand-new killing machines were taking shape.

Lin Yuan watched this scene, and the stone that had been hanging in his heart finally settled halfway.

The people of Great Xia lacked neither backbone nor brains; the only things they lacked were time and human lives. Every elite human soldier who died was one less; no matter how strong the genetic agents were, cultivation still required a cycle.

But this thing was different.

As long as there was enough ore, this would be an endless torrent of steel. In future battles, Great Xia's soldiers would only be responsible for drinking tea in the back and pressing remote controls; the rough work of charging into battle could be left to these piles of iron.

"Mass-production strategy..." Lin Yuan muttered to himself. "This is what it should look like when a poor man suddenly gets rich."

"Commander, come look at this." Academician Wang popped out from somewhere, holding a data pad he had ripped from the main control computer, his expression a mix of terror and excitement. "I found a blueprint encrypted three times in the Armory's underlying database."

Lin Yuan took it and glanced at it; it was all garbled code and complex geometric figures.

"Speak plain human."

"Gravitational wave bomb." Academician Wang swallowed. "This thing isn't an explosive. When it detonates, it creates a powerful gravitational collapse point and then instantly rebounds. Simply put, it can knead a piece of space repeatedly like dough. Even if you are a ghost ship hiding in phase space, it can shake your internal organs into slag."

Lin Yuan's eyes narrowed.

This was exactly what he needed. Although they had won the previous battles, most were due to surprise sneak attacks and personal strength. Facing a real interstellar fleet, especially one with the scale of the Mechanical Papacy, conventional weapons were just tickling them.

"Can we build it?"

"The principle is understood, and the production line is ready-made." Academician Wang gave a wry smile. "It's just a bit expensive. The heavy elements needed to build one of these are enough for us to build ten frigates."

"Then go rob someone." Lin Yuan tossed the data pad back to Academician Wang, his tone matter-of-fact. "We are an interstellar civilization now, don't keep staring at Earth's meager assets. Look around; the Boulder Starfield may be chaotic, but it has plenty of rocks."

He waved his hand, and a massive star map projected into mid-air.

With the Armory as the center, the uninhabited star systems within a few dozen light-years were marked in red.

"Pass on my order." Lin Yuan's voice transmitted through full-band broadcast to every warship. "All engineering ships and mining ships are to be deployed. Any mineral planet that radar can scan, as long as there are no intelligent life forms on it, go and plant our Great Xia flag."

"What if there are intelligent life forms?" Chen Weiguo asked over the comms.

"Then ask them if they are willing to become vassals of Great Xia." Lin Yuan sneered. "If they are unwilling, then reason with them. If they are still unwilling... then let the Star Spirit Warriors have an 'in-depth exchange' with them."

In the following half-month, the Great Xia Longque Fleet transformed into the craziest locusts.

Hundreds of engineering ships shuttled through the surrounding star systems like madmen. Mining, refining, transporting, and then feeding the raw materials into that never-stopping titan Armory.

One by one, Star Spirit Warriors walked off the assembly line and were incorporated into the combat sequence.

Watching the constantly jumping military strength values in the system, Lin Yuan even had the illusion that he was playing a real-time strategy game.

On the sixteenth day, when the prototype of the first gravitational wave bomb was assembled, the system that had been silent for a long time in Lin Yuan's mind suddenly popped up a golden notification.

【Ding! Detected that the starfield area controlled by the host's civilization has met the standard.】

【Detected that military power reserves have met the standard.】

【Detected that core technology mastery has met the standard.】

【Congratulations to the host: Earth human civilization's comprehensive index has broken through level 1.0! Officially promoted to a Level 1 interstellar civilization!】

Lin Yuan only felt a buzz in his brain, as if some invisible shackle had been broken.

This promotion was not just a number; it was a qualitative change.

【Reward issued: Primary Dimensional Vision.】

【Description: You will see the more authentic appearance of this universe. Invisible units, phase folding, and even low-dimensional space traps will have nowhere to hide in your eyes.】

Lin Yuan blinked.

The world had changed.

In the corner of the command room, which had been empty in his eyes before, some strange lines now appeared. Those were the textures of space itself, and behind Academician Wang, faint thermal imaging trails remained in the air—the traces left by his movements just moments ago.

Looking out at the universe through the porthole, the originally dark starry sky was now filled with dense gravitational ripples and energy turbulence.

"Is this the world in the eyes of high-dimensional beings?" Lin Yuan rubbed his throbbing temples. This ability was a bit brain-draining, but it was absolutely a divine skill.

Before he could adapt to this new vision, gaia's alarm sound suddenly pulled him back to reality.

"Boss, we have guests."

"Guests?"

"A small merchant fleet, flying the banner of the 'Andromeda Free Trade Alliance', is requesting to enter our alert zone." gaia switched the screen over.

On the screen, five elegantly shaped, colorfully painted spaceships were parked tens of thousands of kilometers away. They appeared to have no armament, and the hulls were painted with olive branch patterns symbolizing peace and trade.

The communication connected, and a humanoid creature with two antennae and a face full of smiles appeared on the screen.

"Respected Commander of the Earth civilization, we are passing merchants. We detected massive energy fluctuations here and came specifically to see if you need supplies. We have high-quality energy blocks and repair robots, with fair prices and no cheating."

The guy smiled very sincerely, and his posture was very low.

The staff in the command room breathed a sigh of relief; some even suggested that since they were doing business, they might as well make contact and explore the situation outside.

Lin Yuan didn't speak.

He just activated the newly acquired 【Primary Dimensional Vision】.

In that instant, those seemingly harmless merchant ships were stripped bare in his eyes.

Beneath that layer of seemingly peaceful camouflage coating, heavy phase armor was hidden. And in that cargo hold full of goods, there were no energy blocks at all, but rather it was stuffed with dense reconnaissance beacons and several interference transmitters in standby mode.

Most importantly, behind that smiling merchant, in the shadows covered by the holographic projection, Lin Yuan saw a familiar emblem.

It was a coiling dragon.

It was exactly the same as the family crest of the "Moran Dynasty" Third Prince, who almost fought him at the Sin Starport black market auction.

"Fair prices?" A cruel smile curled on the corner of Lin Yuan's mouth; it was the expression of a hunter seeing a fox show its tail.

He turned off the 【Dimensional Vision】, put on an equally enthusiastic smile, and said to the screen: "Great, we happen to be short on things. Since you are international friends, please come in. We just opened, and we are lacking people to... warm up the venue."

The antennaed merchant clearly didn't expect the other party to be so easy to talk to; a flicker of imperceptible contempt flashed in his eyes, and he immediately nodded and bowed, agreeing, and commanded the fleet to sail toward the Armory's port.

Lin Yuan cut off the communication, and the smile on his face instantly vanished.

"gaia."

"Present."

"Have all Star Spirit Warriors enter the port for an ambush, and mount the gravitational wave bombs onto the launch racks." Lin Yuan straightened his collar and turned to walk outside. "Close the door tight; don't let these 'kind' guests run away."

"Since they came to probe our bottom line, let them leave their lives behind as the base material."

In the cosmic forest, there is no such thing as a business deal delivered to your doorstep.

There are only hunters and traps.

Only this time, those self-righteous hunters didn't know that what they were knocking on was the door of death.