137: Chapter 137 Steel, wreckage, and a two-centimeter-long strawberry sprout

The Polaris headed north at forty kilometers per hour, with the iron wall following a kilometer behind.

Lu Chen's right hand rested on the steering wheel, while his left index finger tapped rhythmically on the edge of the armrest.

The balance of Truth Points flashed in the top right corner of the control panel screen.

13,035.

The communicator rang.

"City Lord Lu Chen," Zhao Tiezhu's gruff voice came through.

"Both lv.3 fortresses have been completely picked clean. Not a single scrap of iron remains; there are just two pits left on the ice."

"How many points did we get in total?"

"11,390."

The sound of Zhao Tiezhu sucking in a breath of cold air came from the other end of the communicator.

"Good heavens, two fortresses for eleven thousand."

"It's not an exchange, it's degradation."

"Yes, yes, yes, degradation." Zhao Tiezhu chuckled. "City Lord Lu Chen, I have something to ask."

"Ask."

"After that madman from Ice Thorn blew himself up, the fragments scattered over a square kilometer."

"How do you plan to handle that pile of debris?"

Lu Chen's finger paused for a moment.

The wreckage of the Ice Thorn Lv.4 Main City was scattered in fragments across a square kilometer of the ice surface.

He had scanned the metal echoes of that area on the radar yesterday; the signals from the dense fragments covered the entire region.

"We'll scan it first after we get back."

"Can you consume it?"

"The degree of fragmentation doesn't affect the degradation function," Lu Chen said at a steady pace. "But the distribution area is too large to swallow in one go. It has to be cleared piece by piece."

"Will it take a lot of time?"

"Estimated four to five hours."

"And how many points will those four or five hours get us?"

"The total mass of an Lv.4 main city far exceeds an lv.3 fortress. Even if it's blown to bits, the total amount of metal is still there." Lu Chen glanced at the direction of the Black Rock City-State on the radar panel. "Conservatively estimated, it won't be less than ten thousand."

"Ten thousand?"

"A conservative estimate."

Zhao Tiezhu sucked in another breath.

"Two lv.3 fortresses plus one Lv.4, consuming it all means over twenty thousand points."

"Adding that to the previous balance, it's nearly twenty-four thousand."

"What can twenty-four thousand points do?"

"It can unlock the second and third batches of nodes in the Lv.3 Tech Tree." Lu Chen's index finger resumed its rhythmic tapping. "As for which specific ones to unlock, I'll calculate that after we return."

"Alright, you call the shots." Zhao Tiezhu's loud voice carried an irrepressible excitement. "The iron wall is following you; you set the speed."

The communicator hung up.

The Polaris continued to head north.

Fifteen minutes later.

A massive signal representing the paralyzed remains of the Black Rock City-State appeared on the radar panel; the eight-hundred-meter-long steel wreckage lay prone on the ice.

The collapsed area of the front city wall showed up as a dark red fracture signal in the system's annotations.

The Polaris bypassed the eastern side of The City-State's remains and came to a steady stop at its original designated position.

The snow-free zone with a two-hundred-meter radius spread out again, melting the snow in the docking area.

Time: 9:40 AM.

The communicator rang.

"City Lord," Lin Wan's voice said.

"I've arrived."

"I saw. The Polaris's signal is back on the radar."

"Status of the greenhouse."

"Everything is normal. Song Ya has arrived with the first batch of six Agricultural Technicians. They are currently familiarizing themselves with the operating procedures of the Hydroponic Racks."

"Six people? What happened to the thirty-eight we agreed on?"

"They're coming in batches. Six today, twelve tomorrow, and the remaining twenty the day after."

"Why in batches?"

"The transfer of seedlings from the sixth level of The City-State needs to be synchronized," Lin Wan's speaking pace quickened slightly. "Song Ya suggested that the technicians be transferred along with the seedlings. Each batch of people brings a batch of seedlings. This way, as soon as the seedlings arrive at the greenhouse, someone is there to take over, ensuring no gap in management."

"Reasonable."

"There's one more thing."

"The Snow Bear meat has been sliced—one and a half catties—and is currently stewing."

"What about the Cabbage?"

"Twenty tender leaves from the fifth harvest of Cabbage have been picked and are stewing in the pot as well."

"Where is Han Zhengqing's engineering team eating lunch?"

"In the kitchen of the second-level public living area. I had people move two folding tables and push them together."

"Is there enough room to sit?"

"It's a squeeze for forty people, but it's enough. The rest of the main engineering team will eat in the second round."

"Make sure there's plenty of soup."

"I've already added an extra half-pot of water."

"Good."

Lu Chen put the communicator back on the rack, stood up, and walked toward the third-level greenhouse area.

The full-spectrum LED strips in the Dome Greenhouse were simulating the sunlight intensity of ten in the morning, with warm yellow light filling the fourteen-thousand-square-meter space.

Ten sets of the nine-level Hydroponic Racks had completed seeding, while the remaining two sets of empty racks waited in the deepest part of the greenhouse.

Lin Wan was squatting on the top level of the third set of Hydroponic Racks, using a bamboo skewer to check the root systems of the cream strawberries.

Song Ya stood at the middle level of the eighth set, surrounded by six Agricultural Technicians in grayish-blue jumpsuits.

"The Nutrient Solution concentration readings are on this panel; record them every four hours." Song Ya's finger pointed to a small LCD screen on the side of the Hydroponic Rack. "If the temperature deviation exceeds 0.3 degrees, notify me or Lin Wan immediately."

The six people nodded.

One of them, a man in his forties, squatted down and reached out to touch the dark brown Nutrient Substrate in the planting trough.

"The grain size of this substrate is nearly twice as fine as what we used on the sixth level of The City-State."

"Correct." Song Ya glanced at him. "This is a system-generated standard substrate. Its water retention and breathability are both better than The City-State's."

"System?"

"Don't ask." Song Ya lowered her voice. "We don't pry into the City Lord's business. Just do your job well."

The man pulled his hand back and stopped asking.

Lu Chen stood at the greenhouse entrance without making a sound.

He watched as the six people dispersed to their respective assigned Hydroponic Racks under Song Ya's direction, skillfully beginning to inspect the planting troughs and Nutrient Solution pipelines.

Lin Wan noticed him and stood up to walk over.

"City Lord, the strawberry root systems are developing very well."

"Have they sprouted?"

"All five plants have sprouted. The tallest one has already grown to two centimeters."

"What about the Watermelons?"

"All three plants have also sprouted. They're slightly slower than the strawberries, currently at one point five centimeters."

"Has the estimated maturity time changed?"

"Eighty-two to eighty-five days for the Watermelons, and eighty-eight days for the strawberries." Lin Wan calculated. "The new Agricultural Technicians can share the management pressure of the conventional crops, allowing me to focus more energy on the fine management of the Watermelons and strawberries. We might be able to move it forward by another three to five days."

"Good."

Lu Chen turned and walked toward the elevator.

"City Lord."

"What is it?"

"Are you coming to eat at noon?"

"I am."

"Is it true that Engineer Han and his team welded one hundred and twenty beds in eleven hours?"

"I checked the registration logs. The number of beds in the second-level residential area changed from sixty to one hundred and eighty. The timestamp was 1:00 AM."

"Then they must be exhausted today."

"That's why we're having meat for lunch."

The elevator doors closed.

Lu Chen returned to the cockpit and sat back in the pilot's seat.

The total number of registered residents on the panel was slowly ticking up.

4,583 people, 322 more than yesterday.

The communicator rang again.

"City Lord Lu Chen," Zhou Yuan's voice said.

"Reporting on the migration progress for this morning."

"The fourth migration group of six hundred people set out at 8:30 AM and is expected to have all entered the first level of the Polaris by 9:50 AM."

"Including the previous ones, we plan to move in two thousand people during the day today."

"Where will two thousand people stay?"

"The one hundred and twenty beds Han Zhengqing welded last night can accommodate four hundred and eighty people, calculating two people per bed."

"The rest will sleep on the floor in the first-level storage area."

"Are there enough floor mats?"

"The storage area has plenty of space. We've transferred three hundred new Insulation Mats from The City-State."

"Thickness of the Insulation Mats?"

"Three centimeters of foam layer plus one centimeter of aluminum foil reflective layer."

"The indoor temperature is twenty degrees; three centimeters is enough."

"There's one more thing."

"City Lord Lin Xiao wants to have a word with you regarding the food gap and subsequent plans."

"When?"

"He said anytime this afternoon that's convenient for you."

"2:00 PM."

"Alright, I'll pass it on."

Lu Chen leaned back in the pilot's seat, his gaze falling on the Lv.3 Tech Tree icon on the panel.

Four nodes glowing green, twelve gray unlocked icons.

13,035 points.

Plus the estimated ten thousand from the Ice Thorn wreckage, that's twenty-three thousand.

His finger tapped three times on the armrest as he closed his eyes, calculating the accounts in his mind.