204: Chapter 204 Anomaly in the Signal Reveals Clues! Lu Chen Deduces a New Crisis

2:38 PM.

Cockpit.

Lu Chen set the briefing in his hand down on the console and tapped his knuckles twice on the surface.

Flour production today was 1,030 kilograms, twenty kilograms less than Song Ya's estimate. The report included Song Ya's explanation: a batch of feed for the two Synthesizers had clumped in the afternoon, causing a four-minute delay; actual production capacity was unaffected, and grinding would continue tomorrow.

The second batch of 604 people from the Relocation Team had all been registered and settled. 380 were squeezed into the second-floor bunks, and the remaining 224 were all placed in the temporary settlement point on the north side of the Storage Area.

As of noon, the registration terminal had processed 619 people. Total registered residents: 9,085.

Lu Chen picked up a pen and transcribed this string of numbers into the logbook.

9,085. It was another jump of over six hundred toward the target set he had crossed out on the sixtieth day.

Lifting the pen from the paper, he looked up at the signal log column on the panel. Four dark red records were lined up there; the fifth had not arrived.

Today was the sixty-first day. The correction window Zhou Yuan had given was from this morning until the morning of the sixty-third day.

It was now 2:38 PM, and the morning of the sixty-first day had already passed. The fifth signal had not appeared in the morning.

Lu Chen pressed the button for Zhou Yuan's communication line.

"City Lord." Zhou Yuan picked up quickly.

"The fifth signal didn't come out this morning," Lu Chen went straight to the point. "What's your assessment now?"

There was a second or two of silence on the other end of the line.

"It's considered normal," Zhou Yuan replied. "The window I gave was three days, from the sixty-first to the morning of the sixty-third day. Today is only the first day."

He paused for half a second.

"The fact that it hasn't appeared doesn't mean it hasn't set out; it only means the scout vehicle hasn't received the internal confirmation signal yet."

"Or the main force has already moved," Lu Chen interjected. "While the scout vehicle is waiting for confirmation, the main force is already on the road."

"Correct. Both scenarios fall within the window period."

Lu Chen tapped his fingers twice on the edge of the console.

"Zhou Yuan, have you noticed a certain detail?"

"Regarding what?"

"There were only two days between the third and fourth signals." Lu Chen stared at the records on the panel. "But the direction change went from eleven degrees west to nine degrees west—a shift of only two degrees."

His speaking pace slowed down.

"From the first to the second, it was fifteen to thirteen degrees. From the second to the third, thirteen to eleven. Every time, it was two degrees. From the third to the fourth, it was still two degrees, but the interval shortened from seven days to two days. The speed is wrong."

On the other end of the communicator, Zhou Yuan was silent for a full five or six seconds.

"City Lord, you've spotted a detail I missed in my calculations."

"Explain."

"Based on the intervals and directional changes of the first three signals, the scout vehicle's movement speed was constantly increasing," Zhou Yuan followed the logic. "The direction shifts by two degrees each time, but the interval shrank from eight days to seven, then down to two. This indicates the scout vehicle was accelerating."

His speaking speed slowed down as well.

"But the directional difference between the fourth and third signals is still two degrees, yet the interval was forced down from seven days to two. This can only mean that the scout vehicle hasn't actually pushed much further south at all."

"Either the scout vehicle is waiting," Lu Chen added, "or it has already stopped."

"Yes." Zhou Yuan's voice tightened. "If the scout vehicle has truly stopped, positioned at exactly nine degrees west of north... that means the preliminary reconnaissance is completely finished. It's waiting in place for the main force to catch up; it's no longer scouting the path."

"In other words, the main base has received the summary report and is already going through the approval process," Lu Chen stated plainly. "They will be breaking camp immediately."

"That's exactly what it means."

The Cockpit fell silent for a moment.

"You just mentioned 'immediately'." Lu Chen picked up his pen again. "The seventy-first to seventy-third day—the earliest arrival time you gave before. Is that estimate still accurate?"

"It is, but I have to revise it toward the pessimistic side." Zhou Yuan's voice was dry. "If the main force moved today, based on the Iron Hoof Legion's advance speed, it takes ten days to get from the Roaring Ice Abyss to the Rustwind Wasteland. Arriving on the seventy-first day at the earliest—that was my original bottom line."

He added another sentence.

"But if the main force sets out today without even waiting for the fifth signal's confirmation... then the actual window we have is two to three days narrower than estimated."

Lu Chen broke these words down into dry numbers, line by line in the logbook.

Earliest arrival time: Day 71. If departing today: Day 71. If departing Day 63: Day 73. If already on the road: Sooner.

He stared at those lines of text for two seconds.

He put pen to paper and wrote a heavy sentence at the bottom.

Uncertain; can only be confirmed upon entering the 8km radar range.

"Zhou Yuan."

"Present."

"Send a communication to the Dawn Legion today," Lu Chen gave the command. "Tell Forge that the fifth signal didn't come this morning. However, the pattern of the scout vehicle's directional changes has revealed their hand; the preliminary reconnaissance has stopped. The window for the main force's departure is now at its highest risk period."

"Understood, I'll send it now."

"Also." Lu Chen paused for a beat. "Pass a message to Forge. If he wants to fight for more time in the Council, this analysis can serve as his technical support. Polaris is giving it for free, not counting it as a bargaining chip."

"Let him owe us a favor?"

"Let him owe a favor big enough for him to use."

The communication disconnected.

Lu Chen flipped the logbook to a new page.

He picked up his pen and began listing the tasks for the sixty-second day.