146: Chapter 146 Intercepting the Iron Hoof Signal! Zhou Yuan's Mission

6:00 AM.

Lu Chen opened his eyes.

The radar panel's scanning line rotated at a steady speed; no abnormalities within an eight-kilometer radius.

He looked at a line of small text in the bottom right corner of the panel.

It was a frequency scanning log automatically recorded by the radio.

At 3:17 AM last night, an extremely short encrypted radio signal had swept past from the north.

The duration was less than 0.3 seconds.

The frequency did not belong to the Snow Shard Gang, the Black Rock City-State, or the Winter Trade Alliance.

A completely unfamiliar encrypted code.

It came from the north.

Lu Chen pressed the communicator.

"Zhou Yuan."

Two seconds later.

"City Lord Lu Chen, so early?"

"At 3:17 AM last night, an encrypted radio wave swept past our radio frequency from the north."

"I received it."

Zhou Yuan's tone was alert.

"The City-State's communication tower also received it. I've already had the technicians perform a waveform analysis."

"What were the results?"

"The encoding format doesn't belong to any known faction, but the waveform modulation has a specific characteristic."

"What characteristic?"

"The high-frequency pulse width is constant at 0.04 milliseconds. Only military-grade communication equipment can achieve this level of precision."

"Military-grade."

"Yes. And the signal source direction is fifteen degrees west of true north."

Lu Chen's fingers stopped on the armrest.

Fifteen degrees west of true north.

The direction of the Roaring Ice Abyss.

The direction of the Iron Hoof Legion.

"Are you sure about the direction?"

"Triangulation was performed twice; the margin of error is within plus or minus five degrees."

"Can the signal content be cracked?"

"No, the encryption level is too high. We don't have the corresponding decoding protocol."

"How much information can a 0.3-second signal convey?"

"If it's high-density compressed encoding, 0.3 seconds is enough to transmit a set of coordinates or a brief command."

Lu Chen closed his eyes, calculating rapidly in his mind.

A communication signal from the Iron Hoof Legion.

Sweeping across the Rustwind Wasteland from the direction of the Roaring Ice Abyss.

0.3 seconds.

A set of coordinates or a command.

"Who was this signal sent to?"

"Uncertain. There are two hypotheses."

"First, an advance scout unit of the Iron Hoof Legion. They have likely sent small scout vehicles deep into the edge of the Central Ice Field for reconnaissance. This signal would be a command from headquarters to the scouts."

"And the second?"

"Second, the signal was sent to equipment. The Iron Hoof Legion has likely pre-buried automated beacons along their advance route, which periodically receive timing pulses from headquarters to maintain synchronization."

"What does that mean?"

"It means their advance is more systematic than we estimated. They have a pre-positioned layout."

"What does a pre-positioned layout imply?"

"It means they will arrive at the Rustwind Wasteland earlier than estimated."

The cockpit was silent for five seconds.

"Zhou Yuan."

"Here."

"What was the previous estimate?"

"Based on the Iron Hoof Legion's average advance speed after crushing the Roaring Ice Abyss, they were estimated to reach the edge of the Central Ice Field in sixty days—meaning forty to forty-five days from now."

"If they have a pre-positioned layout, how much will that time be shortened?"

"Hard to say. If the scout vehicles have already advanced to within two or three hundred kilometers of us, the main force will arrive a week to ten days earlier than estimated."

"Meaning thirty to thirty-five days."

"In the fastest case."

Lu Chen stood up and walked to the windshield.

The distant ice field stretched to the horizon under the grayish-white sky.

Nothing could be seen to the north.

But the signal had come.

The shadow had come.

"Is Lin Xiao aware of this?"

"I just notified him."

"What did he say?"

"He said he needs to speak with you."

"Patch him in."

The communicator switched frequencies.

"Brother Lu Chen."

Lin Xiao's loud voice was kept very low.

"Did you hear?"

"I heard. A signal from the Iron Hoof Legion swept in from the north."

"What do you think?"

"A scout signal."

Lin Xiao spoke.

"Iron Crown never does things recklessly. He will inevitably send scout forces ahead to map out the distribution of powers and resource points on the edge of the Central Ice Field."

"Have you fought the Iron Hoof Legion before?"

"Not directly, but I remember clearly what Ice Thorn said before he died. When Iron Crown crushed the Roaring Ice Abyss, Ice Thorn's entire Snow Shard Gang didn't even last a week."

"A week."

"One lv.4 plus two lv.3s fighting the Iron Hoof Legion's lv.5—they didn't even last a week."

"So you're even more determined to find the Dawn Legion."

"Yes."

Lin Xiao's tone was decisive.

"The matter of the Dawn Legion can't be delayed any longer."

"When do you plan to send someone?"

"The sooner the better."

"It's a seven-hundred-kilometer journey. What will they use?"

"The iron wall. The engine and tracks are intact. With a cruising speed of forty kilometers, it can reach there in eighteen hours of continuous travel."

"If the iron wall leaves, what about transport?"

"The transport demand won't be high in the short term. The seedling transfer will be completed today, and there are only three days' worth of steel recovery left. In three days, Han Zhengqing's materials will be ready, and the iron wall can set off."

"Who's going?"

"I plan to have Zhou Yuan take two people."

"If Zhou Yuan leaves, who will take over the intelligence and staff work?"

"His deputy can cover for a while. The migration progress has entered a state of inertia; it doesn't need daily oversight anymore."

"What does Zhou Yuan say?"

"I haven't officially talked to him yet. I'll talk to him once you give the nod."

Lu Chen stood leaning against the windshield for ten seconds.

"Have Zhou Yuan come up."

"Now?"

"Now."

Five minutes later, the sound of elevator doors opening and closing came through the communicator.

Zhou Yuan walked into the cockpit.

Lean build, deep blue military uniform, with dark circles under his eyes.

"City Lord Lu Chen."

"Sit."

Zhou Yuan sat down on a folding chair.

"Did City Lord Lin Xiao tell you?"

"He did. The Dawn Legion."

Lu Chen cut straight to the point.

"If you go, what can you negotiate?"

"It depends on where their bottom line is."

Zhou Yuan slowed his speech.

"The Dawn Legion's core interests are the research stations and resources of the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea. If the Iron Hoof Legion's advance route threatens their core interests, they will have a motive to join forces."

"What if Iron Crown's goal is limited to the peripheral areas?"

"It won't be."

Zhou Yuan shook his head.

"The reason Iron Crown is moving south is the exhaustion of the northern coal crystal veins. The largest coal crystal veins in the Central Ice Field are around the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea; this is public information."

"Iron Crown won't stop at the periphery. He will eventually go to the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea."

"Is the Dawn Legion aware of this?"

"They should be. The Dawn Legion's intelligence capabilities are the strongest in the Central Ice Field."

"But being aware and taking it seriously are two different things."

Lu Chen spoke.

"What is their current Council Chairman called?"

"Evening Bell, the Chief Researcher in energy. According to City Lord Lin Xiao, this person acts conservatively and tends to contract the defensive lines to preserve strength."

"Conservative people aren't easy to bring in."

"So the key to the negotiation lies in providing the Dawn Legion with something they lack."

"What do they lack?"

"Front-line intelligence."

Zhou Yuan leaned forward.

"From the time the Iron Hoof Legion moved south from the Roaring Ice Abyss until now, the Dawn Legion has been over seven hundred kilometers away in the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea. They can't get first-hand intelligence on the Iron Hoof Legion's advance speed and troop deployment."

"We have it."

"Yes. The content of Ice Thorn's broadcasts, the process of the Snow Shard Gang's destruction, and the waveform data of the Iron Hoof Legion's vanguard signals—these are all things the Dawn Legion urgently needs."

"You plan to trade intelligence for cooperation?"

"Trade intelligence for a ticket to the negotiation table."

Zhou Yuan answered.

"Once we're in the door, what can truly move them is the Polaris itself."

"What do you mean?"

"A Mobile City that upgraded from lv.1 to lv.3 in thirty-nine days, fast-growing crops that ripen in a week, a livestock farm, reactive explosive armor, and the Ray Cannon."

"I'm not sure if the Dawn Legion has these things, but if they don't, they will want them very much."

Lu Chen tapped the armrest twice.

"You want to reveal the technical details of the Polaris to them?"

"Not the details, only the results."

Zhou Yuan replied.

"Let them know what we have, but don't let them understand how we achieved it."

"Whet their appetite."

"Exactly."

The cockpit was silent for five seconds.

"Setting off in three days?"

"Three days."

Zhou Yuan nodded.

"The iron wall will leave as soon as it's filled with diesel after transporting the last batch of steel."

"How many people will you take?"

"I'll take two signalmen. More people would only attract attention."

"What if you encounter danger on the road?"

"Although the iron wall has been downgraded, its engine and tracks are intact and it can run. Two sections of the seven-hundred-kilometer road are on the edge of the Ash Rift Valley, where there are Mutant Beasts and Raiders, but the iron wall's size is enough to scare off small threats."

"And large threats?"

"We'll take a detour."

Lu Chen looked at him.

"Zhou Yuan."

"Here."

"Come back alive."

Zhou Yuan sat up straight in the folding chair.

"I promise."

The communicator rang.

Lin Wan's voice came through.

"City Lord, the last batch of ten agricultural technicians and fifteen crates of seedlings have all arrived and are registered. The greenhouse agricultural technology team is now at its full strength of forty people."

"Good."

"There's one more thing."

"What?"

"The leaves of the first crop of fast-growing wheat began to sprout ears this morning."

"Sprouting ears? Only the second day?"

"The system said it ripens in seven days, but the ear-sprouting speed is faster than I expected. At this rate, the first crop will be ready for harvest on the sixth day."

Lu Chen's expression remained calm.

"The sixth day."

"One day ahead of schedule."

"The bowls of thirty thousand people would be filled one day earlier."

He stood up and walked toward the greenhouse.

On the panel, the record of that encrypted signal from the north was still glowing with a faint red prompt.

The shadow of the Iron Hoof Legion was beginning to cast its shadow here.