196: Chapter 196 The Bounty List of the Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court

At the front of the Ghost Fortress, the horn on the skull of the Crystal-Armored Earth Dragon lit up with brownish-yellow light patterns.

Mio was cursing while connecting the wires.

"I've never done such a dirty job in my life."

Su Xiaoqi squatted nearby.

"I've got my eye on the leftover meat; it won't go to waste."

Mio couldn't take it anymore.

"The two of you—one tearing apart a skull, the other eyeing the meat—you're a perfect match!"

Copper Hammer laughed loudly and brought down his final hammer blow.

"The authorization is live!"

At the entrance of the underground beast path, the heavy crystal door sensed the Earth Dragon authorization and slowly opened.

The defenders of Meteor Crystal City were still adjusting their cannons on the city walls.

They never expected that someone would turn the skull of a dead hunting beast into a key.

The Ghost Fortress rushed into the underground, hugging the beast path.

As the vehicle body squeezed through the passage, sparks constantly burst from the crystal walls.

Jiang Jiuyou opened fire synchronously from the auxiliary command console.

"Sea Scale, suppress the outer city turrets."

"Firepower Overload, low-frequency armor-piercing."

Outside the city, the three main weapon wells of the Sea Scale lit up.

Blue-white pulses swept across the city wall.

The first row of crystal railguns had not yet turned before their gun bases were shattered.

Qin Hongye lay on the sniper tower, her dark brown pupils contracting.

"East wall commander, neutralized."

Bang.

"North wall adjutant, neutralized."

Bang.

"South side communications officer, neutralized."

The public channel of Meteor Crystal City fell into instant chaos.

"Enemy attack!"

"There's a giant ship outside the city!"

"The underground beast path has been opened!"

"Which Earth Dragon came back? Why wasn't the authorization revoked!"

The next second, the Ghost Fortress smashed open the bottom gate of the mineral vein.

Jiang Jiuyou cut into the internal fire control.

"Jiang Yanxue."

"Your elevator shaft is open."

Jiang Yanxue leapt out of the hatch with nineteen members of the Dark Department.

As she landed, she severed the leg of a Crystal-Armored Guard, then flicked her blade upward, slicing through both the neck guard and the head.

"Dark Department, push toward the inner city."

"Don't get bogged down in fighting; cut the nodes."

The Dark Department members advanced in silence.

Su Xiaoqi also jumped off the vehicle.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, the floor of the mining tunnel caved in.

"Brother, the floor here is sturdier than at home."

Mio roared from inside the vehicle.

"Stop using the mining tunnel for tests!"

Blood Rose did not rush out.

She stood before the main underground ventilation duct and raised her hand to slice her fingertip.

The pink toxin did not turn into mist.

Thin threads snaked from her fingertip into the ventilation duct.

Jiang Yanxue heard the commotion over the channel.

"What kind of fancy trick are you pulling?"

Blood Rose's voice was languid, but her breathing was heavy.

"You do your killing."

"I'm not using mist this time."

The pink toxic threads followed the air ducts into the Crystal-Armored barracks.

Inside the barracks, over a thousand Crystal-Armored soldiers were assembling.

Their filters lit up automatically.

But the toxic threads clung to the pipe walls, entered the gaps, passed through metal joints, and seeped directly into their skin.

The first batch of soldiers felt their knees go weak.

The second batch began pushing each other.

The third batch drew their blades and hacked at their comrades.

"The filters didn't trigger an alarm!"

"What came inside!"

"I can't control my hands!"

Blood Rose stood at the ventilation vent, her snow-white legs under her red dress planted firmly on the metal frame.

Sweat broke out on her forehead, but her smile only grew more vivid.

"Blocking my mist?"

"Then I'll just change how I feed."

Shen Wanbing looked at the barracks data and provided a conclusion.

"The Crystal-Armored barracks are seventy percent paralyzed."

Jiang Jiuyou spoke briefly.

"Nice."

Blood Rose paused slightly.

Jiang Jiuyou rarely praised people.

She immediately chuckled.

"Commander Jiang, your praise is truly expensive."

Jiang Jiuyou ignored her.

Chen Chen stood before the main passage of the mineral vein.

The crystal wall ahead began to glow.

The entire Meteor Crystal City seemed to be awakened as a large amount of brownish-yellow crystals rose from the ground and cannon muzzles flipped out from the walls.

An aged voice connected to the city-wide channel.

"Outsider."

"You have taken something you shouldn't have."

The lord of Meteor Crystal City, Yan Xiao, appeared.

Half of his body was embedded in the crystal wall, covered in meteorite crystal layers below the neck, with dozens of crystal pipelines connected to his back.

Tier 5 peak energy surged up from the depths of the mineral vein.

Compared to him, Shi Yan was a whole level behind.

Yan Xiao stared at Chen Chen.

"The Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court has issued a bounty."

"Your sea-sky fortress, sea-stabilizing needle, and the star fortress fragment are all in the top three of the list."

"All proxy city-states on the Tier 3 map will come for you."

Chen Chen raised his hand, and the sea-stabilizing needle fell into his palm.

"How much is the bounty?"

Yan Xiao paused.

Chen Chen walked forward.

"If it's too low, I'll feel like I've lost face."

The muscles on Yan Xiao's face twitched.

"Arrogant."

He raised his hand.

A projection of the lower level of the mineral vein popped up.

Densely packed mining slaves, exiles, and technical craftsmen were locked in the depths of the crystal vein.

There were old people, children, and maintenance technicians wearing work uniforms.

Yi Chang's voice immediately came over the channel.

"The population in the lower mining area exceeds 1.2 million."

"Among them, there are at least 30,000 usable technical personnel."

Upon hearing this, Yan Xiao's laughter was grating.

"Continue the attack, and I will detonate the crystal vein."

"You can kill me, but these over a million people will die with me."

"And the star core crystal sand mine."

"After it explodes, this crater won't be mineable for thirty years."

There was a commotion in the bottom warehouse channel.

"He's using hostages as shields!"

"How do we fight this?"

Iron Wall roared.

"Shut up and watch the Lord!"

Chen Chen did not stop.

"Shen Wanbing."

"Calculating."

Shen Wanbing operated her hands rapidly, golden light almost covering her pupils.

"The crystal vein explosion chain has twelve main nodes."

"Yan Xiao is connected to nodes four, six, and nine."

"The true detonation hub is in the main shaft at the bottom of the mining area."

Chen Chen continued forward.

"Yi Chang."

Yi Chang had already taken over the outer gate of the mining area.

"The lower gate is locked by the Lord's authorization."

"Give me thirty seconds."

Jiang Jiuyou added.

"I'll cut the city defense energy."

Yan Xiao's expression changed.

"How dare you!"

Outside the city wall, the main cannon of the Sea Scale suddenly turned; instead of hitting the wall, it blasted directly at the city defense energy tower.

Firepower Overload pierced through the crystal layer.

The energy tower's outer shell cracked.

Jiang Jiuyou's fingers tapped in succession.

"Tower two cut."

"Tower four cut."

"Tower six cut."

"Sixty percent of the city defense turrets are offline."

Yan Xiao roared, and the crystal pipelines on his back lit up frantically.

The lower level of the mineral vein began to shake.

Shen Wanbing's speaking speed suddenly increased.

"He is going to forcibly connect to the main shaft."

"Chen Chen, suppress the main node within four seconds."

Chen Chen raised his hand.

The sea-stabilizing needle surged from a one-meter short rod to thirty meters.

Yan Xiao raised his arms, and hundreds of crystal spikes shot out from both sides of the mining tunnel.

"You can't get through!"

Su Xiaoqi charged head-on and smashed half of the crystal spikes with one punch.

"Brother, the path!"

Jiang Yanxue swept past from the flank, her blade cutting off the crystal pipelines on Yan Xiao's left side.

Blood Rose's pink toxic threads drilled into the remaining guard formation, blocking the reinforcements.

Qin Hongye fired from the sniper tower outside the city.

Bang.

A Gauss projectile passed through a gap in the mining tunnel and blasted an energy relay crystal behind Yan Xiao.

Yan Xiao's body jerked to one side.

Chen Chen stepped into the main node area.

A twenty-five-fold Gravity Domain descended.

Boom.

The entire crystal vein main control console sank downward.

Half of Yan Xiao's crystal body was crushed, and blood and crystal sand splattered together.

He was still struggling, his back pipelines drilling deeper into the mineral vein.

"If I die, you won't get the mine either!"

Chen Chen slammed the sea-stabilizing needle into the main node.

Blue-gold light pierced through the crystal vein.

All the restless crystal sand instantly went quiet.

Yan Xiao's eyes widened.

"Pseudo-artifact anchor pin... You actually used it to suppress the mine?"

Chen Chen walked up to him, his five fingers gripping the neck embedded in the crystal wall.

"You talk too much."

Two hundred thirty-seven points of constitution erupted.

Crack, crack, crack.

Half of Yan Xiao's body, which was fused with the crystal vein, was pulled out of the crystal wall bit by bit by Chen Chen.

Yan Xiao's scream echoed throughout the city.

The mining slaves looked up and saw in the crystal vein main control projection that the city lord, who had suppressed Meteor Crystal City for over a decade, was being forcefully dragged out from the core of the crystal vein.

The last crystal pipeline snapped.

Yan Xiao slammed onto the ground, his Tier 5 peak aura dropping to rock bottom.

Chen Chen stepped on his chest.

"Meteor Crystal City is mine now."

A system prompt popped up.

[Meteor Crystal City main control authorization collapsed.]

[Star core crystal sand mineral vein has entered a takeover-ready state.]

[High-value strategic resource point detected.]

[Do you want to establish a territory branch node immediately?]

Yi Chang's voice came over the channel, suppressing excitement.

"Lord, the lower gate of the mining area is open."

"32,000 technical craftsmen, 1.07 million mining slaves."

"I suggest immediate hierarchical registration."

Jiang Jiuyou followed up immediately.

"Seventy percent of the remaining city defense troops have surrendered."

"Additionally, a team of Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court liaisons has been captured."

Shen Wanbing, however, did not relax.

She stared at the crystal key pulled from the back of Yan Xiao's neck.

"Chen Chen."

"There is a distress signal in this key that was just sent out."

Mio's projection popped up, her expression grim.

"The signal recipient is not Meteor Crystal City."

"It's the central area of the Tier 3 map."

Chen Chen looked down at Yan Xiao.

Yan Xiao's mouth was full of blood, yet he actually laughed.

"Do you think you've won just by taking Meteor Crystal City?"

"The Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court's bounty list has been updated."

"The first to take the order is a Tier 6 Hunter King from the central area."