106: Chapter 106 Three-Way Cooperation! Icethorn's Lv.4, 7 kilometers from the main city.

The Polaris rumbled toward the direction of the Black Rock City-State at eighty-five kilometers per hour.

The iron wall followed behind at thirty kilometers per hour.

The supercharger shuddered the whole way, but it did not stop.

The supercharger, which had not been maintained for a month, performed a meritorious service tonight.

Five minutes later.

The Polaris bypassed the south wall of the Black Rock City-State and cut from the south to the southwest.

The full view of the frontal battlefield unfolded before its eyes.

The Black Rock City-State and the Ice Thorn Lv.4 Main City were bombarding each other from a distance of seven kilometers.

One hundred and twenty cannons against one hundred and eighty.

The firelight burned the entire southwestern sky into a dark red.

The walls of the Black Rock City-State were already riddled with scars.

Large areas of the outer armor had peeled off, exposing the second layer of reinforced rib structure underneath.

The second layer of ribs was covered in cracks and deformations.

Thirty-six places had penetrated the outer layer.

Seven places had penetrated the second layer.

The one hundred and twenty cannons on the wall were still firing incessantly, but seventeen had already stopped; their turret rotation mechanisms had jammed after being hit repeatedly.

One hundred and three cannons against one hundred and eighty.

The gap in firepower was growing wider.

"City-State Lord Lin Xiao!"

"You've returned!" Lin Xiao's voice revealed the heavy gasps of someone who had survived a disaster.

"The Lv.3 in the south?"

"Stopped. Engine scrapped, wall collapsed; the iron wall and I worked together to take it out."

"Both Lv.3s were taken care of?"

"All taken care of."

From the other end of the communicator came the sound of Lin Xiao slamming the table heavily.

"Good! The threats on the north and south flanks have been cleared! Now only the Ice Thorn on the front remains!"

"How much longer can you hold out on the front?"

"The outer armor is done for!" Lin Xiao's voice was half drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

"The second layer is still holding, but there are more and more cracks! Horton says the second layer can hold for twenty minutes at most!"

"What about after twenty minutes?"

"After the second layer is breached, it's the core defensive wall of the third layer! That is the last line of defense for the Black Rock City-State! If that's breached, it's over!"

Twenty minutes.

Lu Chen glanced at his balance.

Five thousand four hundred and twenty-four Truth Points.

Power Engine top core: four thousand Truth Points.

Should he upgrade now?

He hesitated for a second.

[Power Engine Lv2 (Top Core): Fuel-Electric Hybrid Engine (The city is officially powered, bidding farewell to gas lamp lighting)]

If the modification required stopping, even if it was just for three minutes, those three minutes would be the three minutes the Black Rock City-State's walls collapsed.

Don't upgrade. Currently, this top core doesn't offer much improvement for combat.

Keep the four thousand Truth Points to buy ammunition.

Four thousand Truth Points equals eighty rounds of fragmentation grenades, or forty thousand rounds of Heavy Machine Gun ammunition, or four hundred harpoons.

Unlimited ammunition is what is needed most right now.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, where are you?"

"The iron wall has just bypassed the south side of The City-State and is rushing toward the southwest!"

"How much damage has the front of your wall taken?"

"Two places penetrated the outer layer, and three ribs of the second layer are broken." Zhao Tiezhu took a breath.

"The front cannot take the full brunt of the Ice Thorn's one hundred and eighty cannons."

"You don't need to take the front head-on."

"Then what should I do?"

"The iron wall will bypass the west side of The City-State and approach from the right flank of the Ice Thorn. All one hundred and eighty cannons of the Ice Thorn are focused on the frontal bombardment of The City-State; the firepower configuration on the right flank won't be as heavy as the front."

"Flank attack?"

"Yes. You attack from the right flank, I'll attack from the left flank, and The City-State will continue to bombard from the front—a three-sided pincer attack."

"Three sides?"

"If the Ice Thorn's one hundred and eighty cannons want to deal with firepower from three directions simultaneously, they must split their fire."

"If they split their fire, their frontal firepower won't be enough!"

"Correct."

He glanced at the vehicle width.

Retract the hydraulic expansion frame, or keep it deployed?

Eleven meters.

In the deployed hydraulic expansion state, the target area increases by nearly forty percent.

Under the firepower density of the Ice Thorn's one hundred and eighty cannons, the larger the target area, the more dangerous it is.

But retracting the frame meant sacrificing 60% of the interior space.

The planting area would be compressed.

Lin Wan's safety space would become smaller.

"Lin Wan, I'm going to retract the hydraulic expansion frame. The vehicle width will shrink from eleven meters to eight meters, and the planting area will be compressed. Is there enough room for you?"

"Enough! I'll just crouch between the cold storage and the main structure of the original carriage; the part that retracts won't crush me!"

"What about the hydroponic racks?"

"The main body of the three-tier racks is within the original carriage range; the space in the expansion area only holds some spare nutrient solution buckets and tools, so retracting it won't affect the crops!"

"Good."

Lu Chen pulled the control lever for the hydraulic expansion frame to the retracted position.

A low hydraulic hiss came from both sides of the vehicle body.

The expansion structure began to fold inward.

The left wall moved inward by one point five meters, and the right wall moved inward by one point five meters.

After sixty seconds, the retraction was complete.

The vehicle width had shrunk from eleven meters to eight meters.

From the outside, the Polaris looked a circle thinner.

The target area was reduced by nearly thirty percent.

"It's retracted." Lin Wan's voice came from the planting area.

"Is there enough space?"

"Enough, it's just a bit cramped."

"Cramp for a while. We'll expand it again after the fight."

Lu Chen glanced at the armor status.

The expansion modules of the angled anti-ballistic outer armor automatically folded after the frame was retracted, and the armor coverage area shrank simultaneously, but the armor thickness of the main carriage remained unchanged.

An eight-meter-wide target is nearly thirty percent harder to hit than an eleven-meter-wide target.

In a barrage of one hundred and eighty cannons, that thirty percent is life itself.

"System, load the eleventh round of fragmentation grenades."

[Consumed 50 Truth Points. fragmentation grenade: 11th round 12 pieces pre-loaded. Current balance: 5374 Truth Points.]

"System, replenish Heavy Machine Gun ammunition to full load."

[Consumed 3 Truth Points. Heavy Machine Gun ammunition: 500 / 500. Current balance: 5369 Truth Points.]

The Polaris moved toward the left flank of the Ice Thorn Lv.4 Main City at a speed of sixty kilometers per hour.

On the radar screen, the light cluster of the Ice Thorn was advancing steadily seven kilometers away.

The firepower of one hundred and eighty cannons poured down on the front.

The City-State's one hundred and three cannons returned fire.

The artillery fire was incessant.

"City-State Lord Lin Xiao, the iron wall and I are flanking from both sides."

"Good!"

"Hold on for another ten minutes before we reach our positions."

"Ten minutes is no problem! Horton says the second layer can still hold!"

The searchlights of the Polaris cut into the flank zone in the twilight.

In the direction of the left flank, the outline of the Ice Thorn Lv.4 Main City was faintly discernible under the illumination of the artillery fire.

It was a steel behemoth of the same size as the Black Rock City-State.

One kilometer long.

Four hundred meters wide.

One hundred and fifty meters high.

One hundred and eighty cannons arranged in three tiers.

The blood-red skull paint on the wall appeared and disappeared in the firelight.

Lu Chen watched for two seconds.

He placed his finger on the trigger for the fragmentation grenade.

The three-sided pincer battle was about to begin.