116: Chapter 116 Devouring Debris to Replenish Truth Points! The North Star Immediately Advances in Rank

Sounds of firefighting and personnel shouting intermingled within the communicator.

These five seconds passed exceptionally slowly.

Lu Chen leaned back in the driver's seat.

His gaze was cast straight ahead at the flames rising from the ruins of the Black Rock City-State.

He finally spoke.

"You are wrong."

"What?"

"You said you are homeless."

Lu Chen's tone was steady.

"You are wrong."

"You have a home to go to."

Lin Xiao was silent on the other end for two seconds.

"Are you talking about the Polaris?"

"Yes."

"Brother Lu Chen," Lin Xiao's voice was hoarse, "Your Polaris is over twenty meters long and eight meters wide; even with hydraulic expansion, it's only about a hundred square meters."

He gasped heavily.

"I have thirty thousand people here."

"If you cram thirty thousand people into your vehicle, each person wouldn't even have enough standing room the size of a piece of paper."

"And you're telling me now that we have a home to go to?"

"I am not talking about the current Polaris."

He spoke without any excess emotion.

"It is the one after upgrading."

The other end of the communicator went quiet again.

Lin Xiao's breathing rose and fell amidst the static for three seconds.

"Upgrading?"

"City-State Lord Lin Xiao," Lu Chen stared at the ruins, "Do you remember what I told you happened when the Polaris upgraded from Lv.1 to Lv.2?"

He took a breath.

"Your vehicle transformed from a small tracked vehicle into a mobile fortress of over one hundred square meters."

"Yes."

"The area increased more than fivefold."

"Yes."

"What do you mean?"

"The leap from Lv.2 to Lv.3 will be much greater than the previous stage."

Lu Chen tapped lightly on the system panel.

The Truth Tech Tree interface unfolded before his eyes.

The Lv.2 Technology Tree had 12/16 nodes lit up.

Infrastructure Armor was fully maxed out.

Armament and Weaponry was fully maxed out.

Power Engine was at 3/4.

It lacked four thousand points for the top core.

Ecological Logistics was at 1/4.

It lacked three nodes.

One thousand, two thousand, and four thousand added up to seven thousand points.

The total deficit was eleven thousand points.

The current balance was just over five thousand one hundred points.

It was short by five thousand nine hundred points.

"But I don't have enough points to upgrade right now."

He calmly restated.

"So I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor?"

"The Black Rock City-State and the iron wall."

A faint gasp came from Lin Xiao on the other end of the communicator.

"What do you mean?"

"City-State Lord Lin Xiao, the front wall of the Black Rock City-State is gone, the first three levels are totaled, and the main engine is broken—this can't be repaired."

"I know, you don't need to remind me again."

"But to me, these ruins are not just scrap metal."

Lu Chen shifted his gaze toward the mountain of piled metal.

"Every fragment, every section of broken steel beam, every piece of collapsed armor plating."

"To me, these are all raw materials for upgrading."

Lin Xiao was silent on the other end for five seconds.

After five seconds, his voice sounded again.

Deep and slow.

The despairing gloom had faded.

"You want to absorb the wreckage of the Black Rock City-State?"

"Yes."

"Just like you absorbed the wreckage of the Snow Shard Gang's combat vehicles?"

"Yes, but on a much larger scale."

"How much can the wreckage of a Lv.4 City-State give you?"

"Roughly estimating," he glanced at the panel, "the total amount of biodegradable wreckage in the collapsed area of the Black Rock City-State is not less than twelve thousand points."

"Twelve thousand?"

"Adding the destroyed front wall area of the iron wall, it's about two thousand to two thousand five hundred points."

"A total of fourteen thousand to fourteen thousand five hundred."

He continued to report the numbers.

"Plus my existing balance of five thousand one hundred points."

"It's approaching twenty thousand points."

"Is twenty thousand points enough?"

"The total cost for me to ascend to Lv.3 is sixteen thousand one hundred points."

His voice revealed determination.

"Twenty thousand points minus the cost, and I'll still have nearly four thousand points left to equip new nodes."

A sound of Lin Xiao gasping heavily came through the communicator.

That was the reaction of someone seeing a glimmer of hope in a desperate situation.

"Are you saying your Polaris will ascend to Lv.3?"

Lin Xiao's speech speed increased.

"Fortress class."

"Fortress-class Mobile City."

"Yes."

Lin Wan stood at the doorway behind the cockpit.

She had heard the entire conversation.

The young girl's lips parted slightly.

"City-State Lord," she leaned forward half a step, "how many people can a lv.3 fortress class hold?"

"The iron wall is Lv.3; Zhao Tiezhu's iron wall held three hundred people."

He did not turn back.

"But the Polaris received an over-spec bonus when it fully maxed out during its Lv.1 ascension."

"If it can trigger the over-spec bonus while fully maxed out in the Lv.2 stage as well, the area of the Lv.3 Polaris will be several times that of the standard level."

"City-State Lord Lin Xiao, did you hear that clearly?"

"I heard it clearly."

His voice sounded heavy in the communicator.

"You want the wreckage of the Black Rock City-State."

"Yes."

"What will happen to The City-State after you take it?"

"I will only absorb the collapsed areas and the parts that are already totaled. I won't touch the intact structure above the fourth level. Your thirty thousand people can continue to live on the fourth to seventh levels, and the auxiliary engines will maintain heating and lighting."

"But The City-State won't be able to move."

"It couldn't move to begin with," he said, his speed as steady as before, "the three main drive shafts are broken, and you said yourself it couldn't be repaired."

"Even if I don't absorb the wreckage, The City-State is still a dead city that can't move."

"The difference is that after I absorb it, your thirty thousand people will have a lv.3 fortress-class Mobile City to rely on."

He threw out his final trump card.

"If I don't absorb it, your thirty thousand people will only have a dead city that can't move and an iron wall with a destroyed front wall."

"Two months later, the Iron Hoof Legion arrives."

"Which one do you choose?"

Lin Xiao gave a short laugh on the other end of the communicator.

The sound was completely different.

It was the snort of a gambler who, after placing the biggest bet, saw a shocking winning hand turned up.

"Brother Lu Chen, before you, I had never made this kind of deal with anyone."

"Tearing apart my own city to feed someone else's vehicle."

His voice revealed a reckless boldness.

"This deal is not a loss."

"I know it's not a loss."

He coughed hard.

"Above the fourth level of the Black Rock City-State, there is still a complete technical archive. All the pre-civilization drawings, design blueprints, and process documents are in the safe in the Staff Department on the fifth level."

"When you absorb the wreckage, I will have people move all the files out."

"You mean?"

"Yes." His voice regained the confidence a City-State Lord should have.

"All the drawings go to you."

"Including those I kept and didn't give you before."

"Including those few best ones I promised."

"All of them go to you."

He gritted his teeth and placed his bet.

"In exchange for the lives of my thirty thousand people."

Lu Chen relaxed his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Deal."