276: Chapter 276 Global Zero-Yuan Purchase, Even the Vault Door is Teared Down!

Lu Chen slowly pressed his index finger along the deep blue start button. The console emitted a crisp locking alert sound. Behind the blast-proof wall of the control room, the silver giant spatial ring erupted with blinding blue light.

A powerful energy field burst forth instantly, shaking the air.

Da Biao didn't look back; he shouldered his battle blade with one hand and strode into the twisting spatial vortex. Five hundred Cangqiong Mecha formed a neat square formation, following closely behind with heavy footsteps.

Half a minute later, the light converged, and the spatial ring returned to calm.

On the large screen on the other side of the command cabin, the connection feed from Old Zhou was still shaking; he was standing on the dispatch tower of the Jiangcheng Deepwater Port.

"Boss, the cargo holds of the five freighters are all open, and the unloading belts are running at full power."

Old Zhou shouted at the top of his lungs into the communicator.

In the background of the screen, a dense crowd of dock workers was working desperately.

Wei Jianguo supported himself on the console with both hands, staring fixedly at the real-time data stream; his eye sockets were red, and his voice trembled violently.

"Quartz sand has entered the site, the temperature is under control, and the heavy-duty blast furnaces at Bases 1 through 12 are all operational."

Wu Dong switched the internal surveillance footage of the heavy industry base to the main screen.

Those workers who had drunk the Genetic Enhancement Fluid were bare-chested, running back and forth in the high-temperature workshops reaching several tens of degrees.

Two workers didn't use a crane; instead, each grabbed one end and forcibly lifted a two-ton steel plate, shoving it into the molding machine.

Not a single person complained of fatigue.

The productivity of millions of people completely transcended the limits of human flesh at this moment, and the production capacity of the twelve national-level bases soared.

Lu Chen heard a series of crisp electronic notification sounds in his mind.

"Ding. Cross-sea robbery operation settlement complete."

"Detected that the host has successfully resolved the industrial supply chain crisis."

"Reward: 3 billion tech points. Unlocked Epic-grade blueprint: Material Molecular Micro-Reconstruction Chamber."

Lu Chen shifted his gaze away from the panel; 3 billion tech points had arrived. This sum was enough for him to build a few more Aerospace Carriers.

"Old Wei, take a look at the blueprint I just sent you." Lu Chen spoke.

Wei Jianguo opened the file on his sub-control panel. After just a glance, he froze, his breathing instantly becoming extremely heavy.

"A reconstruction chamber... It can take ordinary iron ore and, through molecular reorganization, compress it directly into high-dimensional material capable of withstanding a nuclear explosion."

Wei Jianguo looked up at Lu Chen abruptly.

"Boss, with this, we won't be picky when building the Great Wall Dome base; any scrap iron will do."

"Don't get too happy too soon. The conversion rate for ordinary ore is low. If we really use ordinary iron ore to fill it, we'd have to hollow out all the mines in Asia."

Lu Chen took out another double happiness cigarette and lit it.

"Wu Dong, project what you wanted to show me."

Wu Dong smashed his hands on the keyboard.

The central screen switched, and a 3D projection titled "Global Scarce Industrial Bloodline Distribution Map" hovered in mid-air.

The map was densely packed with deep red coordinate dots.

Wu Dong stood up and took out a laser pointer, pointing at the screen.

"Boss, these are the core resource reserves held by Freemasons and those old-money conglomerates."

Wu Dong's cursor hit the African continent.

"This is the underground cobalt mine belt in Africa. They have kept three mercenary groups stationed there year-round. They buy the ore dug up by the locals for a few hundred bucks a ton."

The cursor moved to the Australian continent.

"This is the Australian rare earth basin. The British Royal Family has monopolized it for three hundred years. Anti-aircraft missiles are on standby twenty-four hours a day, and anyone who approaches is shot on sight."

Wu Dong threw the laser pointer on the table.

"These are all forbidden zones they have circled off. The Great Wall Dome project needs to accelerate, and we need massive amounts of special ores. If we go through formal international trade channels and pay for them, they will definitely block us at the port under the name of inspection. Following the procedures would take at least half a year."

Lu Chen bit the cigarette filter and exhaled a puff of blue smoke. He leaned back in his leather chair, his fingers tapping slowly on the armrest.

"They just united to blockade our shipping, and this mental damage compensation hasn't been settled yet."

Lu Chen's tone was cold, without any inflection.

Wei Jianguo was stunned for a moment.

"Boss, do you mean..."

Lu Chen raised his eyes to look at the red dots on the big screen.

"We aren't buying anymore. Buying things requires following procedures and looking at people's faces. I hate looking at people's faces the most."

Lu Chen flicked the ash onto the floor.

"Announce it immediately: the material shortage for the twelve bases will be calculated directly as breach-of-contract penalties for the fourteen Western nations. We will collect the full amount. From today on, all overseas mines are subject to a 'Zero-Yuan Purchase'."

Wu Dong's eyes widened.

"Da Biao is responsible for leading the team to enforce this. Anyone who dares to stop them, eliminate them on the spot. Load the goods and leave once full."

Lu Chen gave the final conclusion.

The control room was silent for a full three seconds.

Wei Jianguo slammed a fist onto the metal tabletop.

"Satisfying! We should have used this set of rules to deal with them long ago."

Wei Jianguo's face turned red.

The red secure hotline phone suddenly rang.

The harsh ringing broke the atmosphere.

Wu Dong glanced at the caller ID.

"Boss, it's the Old Chief from the capital."

Lu Chen pressed the speakerphone.

"Lu Chen, your Aerospace Carrier went out to sea and dragged two million tons of supplies along with the ships back. This matter has already scared the leaders of the fourteen nations out of their wits."

The Old Chief's voice came through, filled with extreme gravity.

"They should pay the toll."

Lu Chen replied casually.

The Old Chief paused for a moment.

"I saw the global resource liquidation plan you just synchronized. You want to go around the world and rob their core mining areas. These mines are the last lifeline for those oligarchs. If you send people to smash their tables directly, they will jump over the wall in desperation. All the underground armed forces and black market powers globally will be mobilized to fight you to the death."

The Old Chief's worry was very straightforward; this was a total war against global capital.

Lu Chen picked up the tea mug beside him and took a sip of water.

"Old Chief, they united to create an embargo act to choke me without ever talking about rules with me. Now that I lack things, I'm going to get them myself; this is also a rule I've set."

Lu Chen put down the tea mug, his gaze fixed on the holographic map.

"Whoever has the harder fist, the rules are written by them. If they feel heartbroken, let them drive all the remaining scrap metal they have to Jiangcheng. No matter how many come, I will bury them all."

The other end of the phone was very quiet.

After quite a while.

"Go ahead and do it. Domestic public opinion and border pressure will be handled by the capital. If there's trouble, the country will cover for you."

The Old Chief hung up the phone.

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair and gestured to Old Zhou.

"Old Zhou, select another 200,000 young and strong people from the four heavy industry bases and prepare for the second batch of Genetic Enhancement Fluid injections. Da Biao is too tired running around the world alone; we need to form more collection teams."

"Understood, I'll arrange it immediately."

Old Zhou turned and ran out of the control room.

At the same time, at the Jiangcheng No. 1 radiation mine pit.

The sun was scorching, and the temperature was approaching forty degrees.

Smith was wearing an extremely heavy yellow radiation-proof work suit. His legs were shaking, and he was holding a piece of special waste ore weighing over thirty pounds in both hands, walking step by step toward the landfill pit.

His lungs ached, and his respiratory tract was full of the smell of blood.

Smith lost his footing and fell face-first into the gravel pile full of black mud; the ore smashed onto his lower leg.

He opened his mouth wide, and a mouthful of sour water mixed with blood streaks was spat directly inside his transparent mask, making the mask blurry.

His left hand was completely welded to the nuclear button briefcase; the heavy metal box pulled his arm downward, hurting him to the core.

Two Chenguang Factory security guards wearing black training uniforms walked over, carrying rubber batons.

A baton struck Smith's back heavily.

"Dead dog, what are you playing dead for? Get up."

The security guard cursed.

Smith convulsed with pain. He tried to argue in English, but only a weak whimper came from his throat.

"Read the words on the board clearly."

The security guard tapped the memo board next to them with his baton.

"You still have three tons left to move today. For every pound short of the ten-ton quota, we'll chop off one of your fingers tonight. That commander of yours from France moved two pounds less yesterday; he's still in the infirmary reattaching his fingers."

Smith completely broke down, tears streaming down mixed with sweat.

He struggled to turn over and lay on his back in the mud.

Through the blurry mask, he saw the huge blast-proof dome above Jiangcheng open, and that terrifying Aerospace Carrier was hovering in mid-air, thousands of blue engine nozzles emitting a despairing light.

Batches of Death Squad Soldiers in heavy armor were boarding the ship; it was the posture of another expedition.

The last line of defense in Smith's heart completely collapsed.

He had been counting on The White House and The Pentagon to send Navy SEALs or ace agents to save him; now he understood he was wrong.

That most powerful joint fleet of fourteen nations of the US military hadn't even had a chance to fire before being completely paralyzed on the sea surface, and the nuclear reactors of the US military's forward bases were drained in an instant.

No one dared to come to Jiangcheng to save him. He, this Secretary of Defense, was not even as good as a dog here.

Smith hugged his head in despair and lay in the mud pit crying. The security guard was annoyed and struck him with the baton again. Smith immediately closed his mouth, crawled up using his hands and feet, and went to pick up the stones.

Jiangcheng control room.

Wu Dong's fingers left afterimages on the keyboard.

A long string of jumping garbled code suddenly popped up on the screen.

Wu Dong's face lit up, and he smashed the Enter key with both hands.

"Boss, I've intercepted it."

Wu Dong turned his head to look at Lu Chen, his tone excited.

Lu Chen raised his eyelids.

"Speak."

"A set of dark web instructions encrypted with six layers, done by the three largest military-industrial consortia in Europe."

Wu Dong quickly deciphered the content.

A structural diagram of a giant deep-sea building made entirely of steel immediately appeared on the big screen.

"They secretly built a resource vault codenamed 'Abyss' 800 meters below the Arctic Ocean ice. These people must have received intelligence that we were going to make a move, so they moved nearly half of the top-grade scarce materials from all over Europe and North America into it overnight."

Wu Dong zoomed in on one of the shipping list items.

"Just the world's top ultra-precision machine tool bearings in here account for 40% of the world's total, all of which are materials we urgently need to build interstellar frigates."

Lu Chen sat up straight, his gaze fixed on the blueprint of the deep-sea building.

"How are they defending it?" Lu Chen asked.

"The intelligence instructions show that the periphery of the vault is installed with six sets of fully automatic anti-missile matrices controlled by AI, and the shell uses composite armor, claiming absolute defense, capable of withstanding a direct hit from a ten-million-ton equivalent nuclear bomb."

Wu Dong replied.

Lu Chen sneered and stubbed out his cigarette butt in the ashtray.

"Absolute defense."

Lu Chen grabbed the red communication microphone in front of him.

Da Biao's rough voice came through immediately.

"Boss, that piece of land in Australia has been cleared. The Royal Guards are all lying on the ground, and the supplies are being packed."

Lu Chen stood up from his chair and straightened his collar.

"Leave the goods for the logistics team to haul. You take the brothers and go to the Arctic Ocean immediately. I'll have Wu Dong send you the coordinates."

Da Biao breathed heavily in the communicator.

"Boss, who are we smashing over there?"

"We're going to raid the nests of several European conglomerates. They've built an 'absolute defense' vault."

Lu Chen's eyes revealed terrifying ruthlessness.

"Tear that broken shell apart for me. Empty out everything inside. Their vault door looks like it's made of good material—tear it down, ship it back to Jiangcheng, melt it down, and make iron."