171: Chapter 171 Seven Blueprints for Seven Thousand Points! Omnidirectional Tracks Unlocked

2:23 PM.

A light dot jumped onto the radar panel.

Speed: 50 km/h, distance: 27 km to the north, direction: due south.

Lu Chen pressed the communicator.

"Zhao Tiezhu."

"Present."

"The iron wall has entered radar range, 27 kilometers away. Open the gates to the northern Docking Area."

"Understood."

The communicator hung up.

Twenty-two minutes later, the radar dot entered the 5-kilometer detection range.

Another nine minutes passed, and the communicator rang.

"City Lord, the iron wall has entered the port and is securely docked," Zhao Tiezhu reported.

"Where is Zhou Yuan?"

"The three of them are disembarking from the iron wall now."

"Tell him to come directly to the third-floor cockpit."

"Understood."

The communicator hung up.

Seven minutes later, the elevator doors opened.

Zhou Yuan strode in.

There was a dried mud stain on his deep blue military uniform, a mark left from traversing the edge of the Ash Rift Valley.

A ring of pale white salt crust clung to the bottom of his boots, crystals left behind after snowmelt evaporated in the low-temperature environment.

His expression was normal, showing no signs of fatigue, and his eyes were clear. In his hand, he carried a sealed metal box.

It had double latches and an anti-freeze coating on the surface.

"City Lord."

"Sit."

Zhou Yuan took a seat in the co-pilot's chair, placing the sealed box on his knees.

He unscrewed the double latches and lifted the lid.

Seven scroll-like blueprints were neatly arranged, each wrapped in an individual anti-freeze membrane.

Lu Chen reached out, took the first one, and placed it in the scanning area.

A blue light curtain enveloped it.

[Scanning...]

[High-density pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Energy category, Fusion Constraint Auxiliary Coil Winding Scheme, fragment, 71% completeness, Truth Density: 1240 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

One thousand two hundred and forty points.

Lu Chen's eyes swept over the number.

"Confirm decomposition."

The first blueprint dissolved completely in the blue light.

The second one.

[High-density pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Energy category, Supercritical Cooling Medium Circulation Scheme, 88% completeness, Truth Density: 1680 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

One thousand six hundred and eighty points.

Zhou Yuan sat beside him, eyes fixed on the panel, saying nothing.

"Confirm decomposition."

The third one.

[pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Materials category, High-density Manganese Alloy Hot Rolling Process, 94% completeness, Truth Density: 760 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

"Confirm."

The fourth one.

[pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Materials category, Composite Ceramic Thermal Insulation Coating Ratio Scheme, 82% completeness, Truth Density: 640 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

"Confirm."

The fifth one.

[pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Weapons category, Coil-type Electromagnetic Acceleration Basic Design Document, 63% completeness, obvious deficiencies present, information density damaged, Truth Density: 890 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

Eight hundred and ninety points.

The completeness of this one was quite low.

But for a weapon category draft to yield 890 points, the quality wasn't bad.

"Confirm."

The sixth one.

[pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Power category, Reciprocating Cylinder High-pressure Sealing Scheme, 91% completeness, Truth Density: 720 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

"Confirm."

The seventh one.

[pre-civilization Scientific Research Blueprint: Power category, Heavy-duty Crawler Drive Bearing Heat Dissipation Optimization, 87% completeness, Truth Density: 680 points. Execute High-dimensional Decomposition?]

"Confirm."

All seven blueprints dissolved into nothingness.

The numbers in the top right corner of the panel kept jumping, starting from 1212, accumulating step by step, and finally stopping at a certain figure.

7822.

Seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-two points.

Zhou Yuan stared at the number, his breathing quickening for a moment before he quickly steadied it.

"Seven thousand eight hundred," he spoke up. "Seven blueprints totaling 6610 points—that's twice my most conservative estimate."

"The two energy ones carried the weight," Lu Chen said without looking at Zhou Yuan, his gaze locked on the panel. "Items personally handled by Forge are indeed of good quality."

He opened the technology tree interface.

Lv.3.

Currently, 7/16 nodes were lit.

Balance: 7822 points.

The second batch of nodes for the four branches lay before him.

Power Engine lv.3 Node 2: Omni-directional Crawler Transmission Module, 5000 points.

Infrastructure Armor lv.3 Node 2: Radiation-proof Lead-lined Inner Shell, 5000 points.

Two nodes, totaling ten thousand points.

He was still short by 2178 points.

Zhou Yuan did the math in his head and spoke first.

"7822 points. Enough to unlock one 5000-point node, with 2822 points left over."

"Correct."

"Which one will you unlock?"

Lu Chen looked at the descriptions for the two nodes.

Omni-directional Crawler Transmission Module: Polaris can achieve a 360-degree turn on the spot on any terrain.

A qualitative change in mobility; enhanced battlefield adaptability.

Radiation-proof Lead-lined Inner Shell: Ignore high-radiation zones.

Provides complete protection against nuclear radiation-contaminated areas; resident radiation exposure drops to zero.

His finger hovered between the two nodes.

"City Lord," Zhou Yuan analyzed aloud, "from the perspective of dealing with the Iron Hoof Legion, the mobility of the Omni-directional Crawler is more valuable. A turn-on-the-spot means we can quickly break engagement in an encounter."

Lu Chen didn't answer; he glanced at the signal log column.

Two dark red records were still flashing.

The Iron Hoof Legion's direction was 13 degrees west of due north, advancing from the Roaring Ice Abyss toward the Rustwind Wasteland.

The Rustwind Wasteland contained a large number of pre-civilization heavy industrial ruins.

What did pre-civilization heavy industrial ruins mean?

Nuclear reactors, heavy metal pollution, and residual radiation sources.

If the Iron Hoof Legion's advance route passed through radiation-contaminated zones, the value of the Radiation-proof Lead-lined Inner Shell wouldn't just be for defending against nuclear strikes—it would be a survival shield in specific terrains.

But mobility was equally critical.

For the 206-meter-long Polaris, every second it took to turn meant seconds exposed on the battlefield.

"Omni-directional Crawler," Lu Chen made his decision. "System, unlock the Omni-directional Crawler Transmission Module."

[Consuming 5000 Truth Points. Unlocking Power Engine lv.3 Node 2: Omni-directional Crawler Transmission Module. Current balance: 2822 points.]

[Structural modification in progress. Estimated time: 4 minutes 30 seconds. The main crawlers will stop rotating briefly during this period.]

A low vibration came from the chassis of the Polaris. The sensation was slight, carrying an orderly rhythm.

The rhythmic tremors of gears engaging were transmitted up through the steel plates.

Zhou Yuan placed his hand on the armrest of the co-pilot's seat, feeling the movement in the chassis.

"This is the modification in progress?"

"Yes."

Four minutes and thirty seconds.

Lu Chen watched the timer countdown on the panel while Zhou Yuan remained quiet.

The countdown hit zero.

[Omni-directional Crawler Transmission Module installation complete. Polaris can now achieve a 360-degree turn on the spot on any terrain. Turning diameter is equal to the hull width of 82 meters. Total time: 18 seconds.]

Eighteen seconds.

For a 206-meter-long fortress, turning on the spot only took eighteen seconds.

Lu Chen wrote this number down in his notebook.

Zhou Yuan looked at the panel and let out a long breath.

"City Lord, current balance is 2822 points. We're still 2178 points short of the next node."

"The Patrol Car's last trip the day after tomorrow is estimated to bring in eight to ten pieces of coal crystal, about 400 to 500 points."

"Adding the coal crystal from the day after tomorrow, the balance will be 3200 to 3300 points. Still 1700 to 1800 points short."

"Black Rock City-State's auxiliary engines will be exhausted on the 73rd day, which is 22 days from now."

"After 22 days, we decompose the remains. Conservative estimate is over 30,000 points."

"But the Iron Hoof Legion will arrive within 20 to 25 days."

Both men fell silent.

Only the low hum of the panel remained in the cockpit. The wasteland outside stretched out in the grayish-white light of the afternoon.

Zhou Yuan broke the silence.

"City Lord, when I was with the Dawn Legion, Forge mentioned something to me."

"What was it?"

"He said the Iron Hoof Legion's Lv.5 wonder-class main unit, crusher, was last detected at the southern mouth of the Roaring Ice Abyss, 400 kilometers from the Rustwind Wasteland. Based on the Iron Hoof Legion's advance speed, it will enter the northern edge of the Rustwind Wasteland between 16 and 20 days from now."

Lu Chen's finger stopped on his notebook.

"That's faster than we originally estimated."

"Three to five days faster."