112: Chapter 112 Death Countdown! The Ultimate Collision of Six Tons of Circulating Explosives

"Ice Thorn!"

Lin Xiao's roar echoed across the public frequency.

"You're crazy! You stuffed six tons of explosives into your own walls! What about your people? What about the North Ice Group? What about your four thousand men?"

Ice Thorn's reply carried no inflection.

"The combatants of the North Ice Group were all evacuated two hours ago."

"Inside this Ice Thorn Lv.4 Main City, only the engine operators and the detonators for the piercing ram remain."

He paused for a moment.

"Thirty-two people."

"Thirty-two people who volunteered to stay behind."

The communicator went silent for two seconds.

"You damn lunatic, you're even sacrificing your own people!"

Battalion Commander Zhao's rough voice came through on the side frequency.

"I gave them a choice."

Ice Thorn spoke slowly.

"Those who stayed behind knew exactly what they were doing."

"You don't understand."

"When the Iron Hoof Legion crushed us, it was ten thousand times more cruel than this."

"Six tons of explosives is a quick way to die."

Ice Thorn's laughter drifted up from the bottom of the frequency.

"Much quicker than being skinned alive."

Lu Chen's fingers remained still on the steering wheel, his gaze locked onto the radar screen.

The light signature of the Ice Thorn Lv.4 Main City was 1.2 kilometers from the front of the Black Rock City-State.

Speed: 25 km/h.

The City-State's speed: 13 km/h.

Relative speed: 12 km/h.

At a closing speed of 12 km/h, it would only take six minutes to cover 1.2 kilometers.

"City Lord Lin Xiao, if those six tons of explosives were just standard industrial explosives, The City-State could withstand it."

"But Ice Thorn is talking about the front ram."

Lu Chen stared intently at the changing data on the screen.

"His ram will detonate the moment it hits the front wall of The City-State."

"The blast will expand in a conical, shaped-charge pattern."

Lin Xiao's breathing skipped a beat.

"Shaped charge blast?"

"Correct."

Lu Chen spoke with the speed of reading a mechanical manual.

"Six tons of explosives fashioned into a conical shaped-charge piercing ram; the blast energy will be concentrated within a sixty-degree cone directly in front."

"The effective penetration depth will exceed one hundred meters, reaching two hundred meters."

"Your City-State is four hundred meters wide; after the front two hundred meters are penetrated, two hundred meters will remain."

"Is two hundred meters enough for a buffer?"

Lin Xiao's voice dropped to its lowest register.

"Yes."

"Two hundred meters of steel and cabin structures are enough to buffer over ninety percent of the blast shockwave."

"But all cabins within the front two hundred meters will be completely destroyed."

He paused for two seconds.

"Everything gone."

"How many people are within the front two hundred meters?"

"The bottom-level Docking Area and the main engine compartment are slightly behind the front."

Zhou Yuan's voice cut in.

"Within the front two hundred meters, it's mainly the outer wall structure and parts of the industrial zones on the first to third levels."

Lu Chen quickly got to the point.

"Are there currently people in the industrial zones?"

"Under combat readiness, industrial personnel have already evacuated to the fourth-level residential area! But there are still over seventy logistics personnel and mobile spare parts teams in the first-level Docking Area!"

"Make them evacuate!"

Lin Xiao ordered immediately.

"Evacuate everyone to the fifth level or above!"

"City Lord! Evacuation takes time! The elevator needs three and a half minutes to get from the bottom level to the fifth level!"

Three and a half minutes.

Subtracting three and a half minutes from six minutes.

There's enough time.

"Zhou Yuan! Order the entire city to transfer to the rear cabins! All personnel in the front half must immediately evacuate to the rear depth of The City-State!"

"Received!"

The emergency evacuation broadcast inside The City-State rang out in the background of the communicator, with harsh sirens mixed with the chaotic sounds of people running.

Thirty thousand people.

Evacuating all personnel from the front half to the rear half within six minutes.

"Brother Lu Chen."

Lin Xiao's voice dropped to an extremely low frequency.

"I'm here."

"You are 1.5 kilometers behind The City-State."

"Correct."

"Is that far enough?"

Lu Chen glanced at the radar. After the six tons of shaped-charge explosives detonated at the front, the conical shockwave would penetrate the first two hundred meters of The City-State, and the remaining energy would be absorbed and attenuated by the cabin structures in the rear two hundred meters. He calculated the effective lethal radius of the residual shockwave leaking from the rear wall of The City-State, completing a rough estimation within three seconds.

"Not enough."

"What?"

"If the six tons of shaped charge penetrates the first two hundred meters of The City-State, the residual shockwave leaking from the rear wall will have an effective lethal radius of five hundred meters."

"1.5 kilometers should be enough."

Lin Xiao's speech speed quickened by half.

"It's enough for ordinary vehicles."

Lu Chen responded quickly.

"But the shockwave will carry out a large amount of debris."

"The armor fragments flying out when the rear wall of The City-State collapses will still be lethal at a distance of 1.5 kilometers."

"You need at least three kilometers to be safe."

Lu Chen slammed the supercharger to the floor, maxing out Polaris's engine output, and began to put distance between them.

"Battalion Commander Zhao! Keep retreating with me!"

"How far?"

"At least three kilometers."

The iron wall's engine ran at full speed, and both vehicles retreated backward at maximum speed simultaneously.

Polaris was doing 85 km/h, while the iron wall was doing 30 km/h; the speed difference was too great.

"Battalion Commander Zhao, your iron wall's 30 km/h isn't enough."

"The supercharger is already at its limit!"

Zhao Tiezhu's voice was laced with the metallic rattling of an engine about to fall apart.

"If I push it any harder, the cylinder will blow!"

"The front of your wall is already damaged; you won't be able to withstand the shockwave after it leaks from the rear wall of The City-State."

"I know!"

"Drive to the due east of The City-State; don't stay on the axis directly behind it."

"Axis?"

Lu Chen quickly explained the tactical principle.

"The shockwave cone angle of a shaped-charge blast is sixty degrees; the residual wave leaking out after penetrating The City-State will also spread along this cone angle."

"If you deviate more than thirty degrees from the axis directly behind, you can escape the coverage of the cone."

Zhao Tiezhu reacted quickly.

"Understood! The iron wall is turning thirty degrees east by north!"

The massive body of the iron wall began to turn, while Polaris continued to retreat at full speed along the axis directly behind The City-State.

Lu Chen did not deviate from the axis because he needed the four hundred meters of depth from The City-State as a full buffer; deviating would mean the shielding area of The City-State would inevitably become smaller.

"Lin Wan."

"I'm here."

"There will be a violent vibration in a moment."

"How violent?"

"One hundred times greater than when the ram hit the drive shaft."

Lin Wan was silent for two seconds.

"I'm holding on tight."

The distance on the radar screen was shrinking.

Ice Thorn was 800 meters from the front of The City-State, moving at 25 km/h.

Polaris was 2.1 kilometers from the rear wall of The City-State, not stopping, and still accelerating to pull away.

"City Lord Lin Xiao, five hundred meters left! Has everyone been evacuated?"

"There are still fifteen people in the elevator on the first level! They'll reach the fifth level in twenty seconds!"

"Will there be enough time?"

"There has to be enough time, even if there isn't!"

Ice Thorn's voice came through the communicator, announcing for the last time.

"Three hundred meters."

"Two hundred meters."

"One hundred meters."

"Goodbye."

"Lin Xiao."