211: Chapter 211 The Hunter King wasn't fooled; he turned the tables and used bait to trap him.

Everyone in the mine shaft paused for half a second.

Shen Wanxing clutched her blanket, just about to shrink behind Chen Chen, when the chip vibrated again.

"Run, then."

"Whether you dismantle the city, split your forces, or use disguises."

"Every time you move, I have one less guess to make."

"When I find the real one, your city, your mines, and the women by your side will all be my spoils of war."

Su Xiaoqi's cheeks puffed up.

"Is it swearing?"

Mio's projection froze in mid-air, her electronic pupils shrinking to the minimum.

"It's not swearing."

"It wasn't completely fooled."

Jiang Jiuyou's remote channel immediately cut in.

"The Hunter King knows there's a problem with the scent chain, yet he intentionally let his main force chase toward the northwest?"

Shen Wanbing was already squatting in front of the blood-red chip, her data needle inserted into a crack on its edge.

The gray-white algorithm and the blood-red hunting marker were intertwined, and rows of tracking routes popped up on the screen.

She stared for three seconds, her speaking speed quickening.

"It's playing psychological warfare."

"It will chase the fake target in the northwest, but it won't let Meteor Crystal City go either."

"It wants us to misjudge."

"If we flee, dismantling the city is slow."

"If we fight, we can't take the resources."

"If we split our forces, our core combat power will be torn apart."

Blood Rose leaned against the mine wall, her red dress stained with dust, her tone still lazy.

"This dog king is quite good at setting traps."

Jiang Yanxue shook the machine oil off her blade.

"So what if it can set traps? Before the noose tightens, we'll chop off its paws first."

Chen Chen raised his hand and picked the blood-red chip up from the ground.

The chip was still scalding hot.

The Hunter King's final sentence came from the other end.

"Holder of the remnant scroll, do not disappoint me."

Snap.

Chen Chen squeezed with two fingers.

The chip shattered into red powder.

"So much nonsense."

Shen Wanbing looked up.

"Chen Chen, the Hunter King's main body has been misled, but the vanguard reconnaissance team hasn't completely changed course."

"There are still seven peak Tier 5 pursuit vehicles on the outer perimeter, closing in on the edge of Meteor Crystal City."

Jiang Jiuyou quickly chimed in.

"Then don't just put on one act."

"Put on two."

Chen Chen looked at the communication screen.

Jiang Jiuyou had already reconfigured the Meteor Crystal City demolition plan into two routes.

In the northwest direction, a batch of empty convoys was marked in red.

The real mine core transport line was diverted to the underground main track.

Her voice was steady.

"Keep pretending to evacuate in a panic on the outer perimeter."

"Send all the low-value empty vehicles, waste thruster shells, and a few crates of leaking crystal sand to the northwest."

"Make the Hunter King think our resource transfer has scattered."

"Accelerate the stripping of the mine core on the inner layer, and have everything go through the lower level of the main shaft."

Yi Chang also joined the channel.

She stood before the main shaft console, her white shirt sleeves rolled up, her silver vertical pupils fixed on the glaring red structure map.

"I can compress the mine core stripping time to two hours and forty minutes."

Mio immediately exploded.

"Two hours and forty minutes?"

"You've already cut sixty-eight percent of this main vein; if you compress it any further, the mine's structural load will go directly into a collapse countdown!"

Yi Chang tapped to confirm.

[Miracle Creator linking.]

[Cutting array temporarily reinforced.]

[Mine structure stability time: 02:43:17]

"That's enough."

Mio flickered erratically in mid-air.

"Do you have to clean a place out completely and then blow it up everywhere you go?"

The proprietress happened to pass by the upper transport line, holding several space bags in her arms, her fox ears twitching.

"It's not professional if you don't blow the pot up."

She added seriously, "And you have to keep accounts after blowing it up."

Mio: "..."

"I'll be angered into scrap metal by you all sooner or later."

Chen Chen glanced at the wreckage of the hound mecha.

"Loot the bodies first."

Shen Wanxing froze.

"Loot again?"

Su Xiaoqi had already dragged over the half-spine of the semi-step Tier 6 hound mecha, the metal joints scraping against the ground with a harsh sound.

"Sister Wanxing, this dog is already dead."

Shen Wanxing looked at the smashed mechanical dog head, her face falling.

"I thank you for the reminder."

Chen Chen hauled her in front of the wreckage.

"Hurry up, there are still guests outside."

Shen Wanxing closed her eyes and reached out a finger to poke it.

[Lucky Critical triggered.]

[Obtained: Semi-step Tier 6 Hound Spine × 1.]

Second poke.

[Five-fold Critical triggered.]

[Obtained: Gray-white Tracking Algorithm Fragment × 50, Tier 5 Crystal Core × 120.]

Shen Wanxing muttered under her breath.

"I really hate dogs."

On the third poke, she touched the remnants of the blood-red chip that had shattered earlier.

Hum!

A golden light jumped violently, then turned into a large expanse of purple-gold.

[Lucky Critical triggered.]

[Fifty-fold multiplier activated.]

[Obtained: SS-Grade Anti-Hunting Marker.]

A thin red and black sheet hovered in mid-air, with a symbol of a biting dog's tooth carved in the center.

Shen Wanbing almost snatched it away.

She connected it to the holographic console, and just as she read the first layer of data, the golden light in her eyes brightened.

"Good stuff."

Jiang Jiuyou immediately pressed, "What can it do?"

"Briefly lock onto the coordinates of the Hunter King's vanguard reconnaissance team."

Shen Wanbing inserted the thin sheet into the fire control interface.

"More importantly, it can predict the impact point 0.5 seconds before they fire."

Qin Hongye's voice cut in from the upper sniper tower.

"Give me the coordinates."

Chen Chen looked up.

"Your shoulder isn't healed yet."

Qin Hongye stood on the temporary scaffold, the bandage on her right shoulder already stained red.

The Meteor Orbit Sniper Cannon was mounted in front of her, the barrel still steaming from the modifications.

"I can pull the trigger."

Chen Chen glanced at the external Radar.

Seven peak Tier 5 pursuit vehicles had already forced their way to the periphery of Meteor Crystal City.

They did not open fire.

The underbellies of the vehicles opened, and hundreds of small positioning bugs scattered like gray dots, pouncing toward the evacuation convoy, the mine core transport vehicles, and the refugee queues.

Shen Wanbing's expression darkened.

"They want to stick to the living beings and resources."

"Once they succeed, the Hunter King will be able to distinguish between the fake targets and the real ones."

Jiang Jiuyou directly connected the Anti-Hunting Marker to Qin Hongye's sniper assist.

"Seven mother bug cores."

"Hongye, thirty seconds."

Qin Hongye braced the stock against her shoulder mount.

"Twenty seconds."

First shot.

Boom!

The Meteor projectile passed through the gap between two suspension cables, blasting the first mother bug.

Second shot, the trajectory grazed the edge of a mining vehicle and dipped into the low altitude.

The second mother bug exploded into fragments.

Third shot.

Fourth shot.

Fifth shot.

After every shot, the bandage on her shoulder grew redder.

Copper Hammer shouted in the channel.

"If you keep shooting like this, your shoulder bone will really crack!"

Qin Hongye didn't reply.

When the sixth shot roared out, she pressed her left knee against the scaffold, her body only swaying slightly.

The seventh mother bug had already burrowed to the bottom of the mine core transport vehicle.

The Anti-Hunting Marker popped up a trajectory correction.

[Prediction window: 0.5 seconds.]

Qin Hongye pulled the trigger for the seventh shot.

Bang!

The mother bug core exploded under the vehicle, not even damaging the wheels.

Shen Wanbing let out a breath.

"All seven mother bugs destroyed."

Chen Chen's voice came over the comms.

"I'll mark you down for the second achievement."

Qin Hongye lowered the gun barrel, her breathing a bit heavy, yet she still refused to show weakness.

"You owe me two extra training sessions tonight."

Blood Rose leaned against the main shaft entrance, clicking her tongue after hearing that.

"Sister Qin calculates accounts even more accurately than the proprietress."

The proprietress replied from afar.

"Don't try to pin it on me, I charge interest."

Blood Rose raised her fingertips.

The backlash from earlier hadn't fully faded, and her pink venom threads were much thinner than usual.

But those positioning bug swarms were in a state of brief chaos after losing their mother bugs.

The venom threads drilled into the swarm's protocol layer.

A few seconds later, a large number of positioning bugs changed direction and flew toward the penal collars on the necks of the forced laborers.

Shen Wanbing reacted immediately.

"They've misjudged the penal collars as remnant scroll fluctuations."

Jiang Jiuyou didn't hesitate for a second.

"Remove the collars."

"Load them into empty vehicles."

"Send them to the abandoned mine pit in the southeast."

Iron Wall roared in the bottom hold channel.

"Forced laborers, line up to have your collars removed!"

"Don't get happy, you'll get handcuffs after they're off!"

"Whoever dares to run during the chaos, Qin Hongye just finished warming up her gun!"

A batch of contaminated penal collars was quickly loaded into empty vehicles.

The old thrusters ignited, and the convoy wobbled toward the southeast.

Mio looked at the newly added decoy routes on the screen, already numb.

"A pile of junk in the northwest."

"A batch of empty vehicles with penal collars in the southeast."

"Are you walking the Hunter King like a dog?"

Su Xiaoqi was moving the hound wreckage and, upon hearing this, corrected her seriously.

"He is the Hunter King, after all; he will definitely sniff them out."

She looked down at the semi-step Tier 6 mechanical bone in her hand.

"Can this be chewed?"

"No!" Mio and Shen Wanbing spoke simultaneously.

The Pig-Faced Butcher reached over and tapped the bone joint; a muffled voice came from beneath the pig bone mask.

"After removing the contamination, it might be able to make soup."

Mio's projection went black, almost disconnecting.

"I declare that sooner or later I will be angered into scrap metal soup by you all."

The main shaft suddenly shook.

The red countdown on Yi Chang's side ticked faster.

[Mine core stripping progress: 91%.]

[Main vein runaway risk increasing.]

The ground cracked, and several streams of crystal sand sprayed out from the fissures.

The outer layer of mine slave teams instantly went into chaos.

"The mine is going to blow!"

"Run!"

"They want to bury us here!"

Yi Chang opened the city-wide projection.

In the image, Chen Chen stood in the center of the main shaft, the sea-stabilizing needle inserted into the crystal vein, blue-gold light pressing down along the main vein.

Her voice spread throughout all registration areas.

"Those who board the vehicles first will have food, oxygen, and new identities."

"Troublemakers will be thrown into the collapse zone."

"Before the mine core leaves the ground, no queue is allowed to stop."

Jiang Yanxue stood at the registration entrance, clicking her blade against the ground.

Several people who wanted to rush the queue knelt back down on the spot.

Iron Wall bellowed at the top of his lungs, adding,

"Listen to the Vice City Lord!"

"The path to survival is in front, the path to death is to the side!"

The queues started moving again.

Chen Chen didn't pay attention to the outside.

He stood at the deepest part of the main shaft, his left hand pressing on the sea-stabilizing needle, his right hand gripping the Space-Shattering Gravity Anti-Ship Sword.

The last crystal vein root was terrifyingly thick, and the star core crystal sand inside had already started to surge chaotically.

Shen Wanbing stood outside the safety line, her speaking speed as fast as possible.

"If you don't cut now, the mine core will undergo a secondary subsidence."

"If you cut too early, it will explode."

Yi Chang accessed the main control.

"I'll open a three-second window for you."

Jiang Jiuyou's fire control was fully engaged.

"The pursuit vehicles on the outer perimeter show signs of firing."

"Anti-Hunting Marker is predicting the impact point."

Chen Chen raised his hand.

Two hundred and seventy-six points of Mental Power spread out, silver threads drilling into the cracks of the crystal vein, pressing back the runaway crystal sand flow section by section.

His body temperature evaporated the condensation mist around him.

The sea-stabilizing needle sank down.

The entire main shaft paused for a beat.

"Open."

Yi Chang pressed the cutting array.

The three-second window popped up.

Chen Chen slashed down.

The golden blade light severed the last root.

The crystal sand tide surged back violently, nearly blowing the cut open.

Chen Chen pressed down with his left hand on the sea-stabilizing needle, forcing his Mental Power in.

"Get back."

Boom!

The runaway energy was forced back into the interior of the mine core.

The next second, the entire star core main mine core detached from the ground layer.

It was a dark-gold crystal core with a diameter of one hundred meters, with unstable crystal sand flows still swirling on its surface.

The twelve mechanical arms of the Sea Scale hung down from above the main shaft, gripping the shell of the mine core and dragging it inch by inch toward the external dock.

[System Prompt: Obtained Meteor Crystal City Star Core Main Mine Core.]

[Can be used for: Repairing the Interstellar Fortress remnant scroll.]

[Can be used for: Upgrading the main cannon of the Sea Scale.]

[Can be used for: Constructing a Level 3 Map mobile mining ecosystem.]

Mio stared at that mine core, her voice becoming softer.

"You actually pulled it out by the roots..."

The proprietress immediately wrote furiously in her ledger.

"Record it: one main mine core, value tentatively set as priceless."

Su Xiaoqi raised her hand.

"Can we set aside a little bit for a soup base?"

Mio turned around, on the verge of a breakdown.

"This is a mine core!"