209: Chapter 209 All eleven piglets survived! The fifth signal exploded.

Day sixty-three, 2:08 AM.

There were squeals of piglets in the Livestock Farm.

Liao Dacheng squatted next to ZM07's farrowing pen, a dry towel in his hand, having just finished wiping the fluid from the umbilical area of the ninth piglet.

Sun Ke stood guard nearby, wearing disposable gloves, handling the afterbirth.

Ma Dong was recording stroke by stroke on the clipboard.

"Number nine, 2:06 AM, female, weight not yet measured."

ZM07's flanks were still heaving; her breathing had slowed a bit compared to an hour ago, but there were still signs of movement in her abdomen.

Liao Dacheng stood up, handed the towel to Ma Dong, and bent over to check ZM07's condition.

"There's one more," he said. "The fetal position is normal. Wait another ten to fifteen minutes."

Sun Ke nodded and tossed the processed afterbirth into the nearby waste bucket.

Ma Dong finished recording the data for the nine piglets and looked up at Liao Dacheng.

"Old Liao, how many can we get tonight?"

"Looking at ZM07's condition, eleven to twelve at most." Liao Dacheng walked back to the low stool and sat down again. "ZM06 had ten back then; this batch should be about the same."

"Last time with ZM06, I also stayed up until past three." Ma Dong wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "I'm beat."

Liao Dacheng didn't respond, his gaze falling on ZM07.

The Livestock Farm outside the Farrowing Room was quiet.

The climate control system hummed, and the occasional sound of cows ruminating came from the cattle pens.

It was past two in the morning, and on the entire Polaris, besides those few blue lights on the Cockpit panel, only their lights were still on.

Twenty minutes later, the tenth and eleventh piglets were born seven minutes apart, both surviving.

The last one came out at 2:37 AM; it was half a size smaller than the previous one, but its squeal was loud, drowning out the first ten.

Liao Dacheng finished processing all eleven piglets, recorded each one's birth time, and then leaned against the edge of the farrowing pen, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Ma Dong handed over the clipboard.

"Old Liao, this last one squeals louder than the first ten."

"A loud voice is a good thing; it means plenty of lung capacity." Liao Dacheng took the clipboard, flipped to a blank page, and began to write. "From now on, this one will be called Number Eleven."

"Good." Liao Dacheng pressed the communicator.

"City Lord."

A voice came from the Cockpit three seconds later, sounding raspy with sleepiness.

"Speak."

"ZM07 has finished farrowing. Eleven piglets, all alive. The smallest, Number Eleven, is underweight and needs constant monitoring; the other ten are fine."

"What about ZM07 herself?"

"She's exhausted and resting now. Drinking water normally, no postpartum abnormalities. She'll be able to eat tomorrow morning."

"Good, thank you for your hard work."

"City Lord, one more thing. ZM08 was moved into the Farrowing Room yesterday afternoon. Comparing the bellies of these two sows, ZM08 should also start tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Understood."

"Go back to sleep." Liao Dacheng hung up the communicator.

He sat on the low stool for a few minutes, listening to the faint squeals of the piglets in the Farrowing Room gradually soften into the sound of suckling.

Then he stood up and walked toward the cattle pens.

Four cows stood quietly, the automatic feed troughs humming.

Tomorrow would be the first day of reaching the full production of sixty liters.

Day sixty-three, 5:51 AM, Cockpit.

The first thing Lu Chen did after waking up was check the panel.

The signal log column.

Four dark red entries.

He looked away and pressed the communicator to call Chen Li.

"City Lord, morning." Chen Li's voice sounded rough from a night of poor sleep. "As of now, thirty-five signal scans have been completed today, all..."

Cut off.

The communication wasn't cut off; it was Chen Li's words that were.

The sound of a keyboard being slapped came from the other end, sounding like someone had propped their hands on the console.

"Chen Li."

"City Lord," Chen Li's voice rose half an octave, as if something was caught in his throat. "5:49 AM. The fifth one. It's appeared."

Lu Chen's gaze snapped back to the bottom right corner of the panel.

Five records.

The fifth one was light red, a shade brighter than the dark red of the first four. Timestamp: 05:49:07.

Just written.

The ink was still fresh.

"Duration?"

"2.8 seconds."

"Direction?"

"Seven degrees west of true north."

Seven degrees west of true north.

Two degrees narrower than the nine degrees of the fourth entry.

"Waveform?"

"The waveform data has been pushed to the panel." Chen Li spoke much faster than usual. "City Lord, Zhou Yuan has been watching all night. I'll patch him in now."

"Patch him in."

Three seconds later, Zhou Yuan's voice cut in.

"City Lord." Zhou Yuan's voice showed no trace of having just woken up.

He hadn't lain down all night.

"2.8 seconds, seven degrees west of true north. The waveform encoding is a Confirmation Pulse; no repeated pulses this time."

"What does that mean?"

"The Main Base's internal approval is complete. The scout vehicle received advance authorization, and this fifth signal sent out is a Position Confirmation Beacon." Zhou Yuan took a breath, the tension he had held for so long finally twanged. "The scout vehicle is in position. It's waiting for the main force to catch up."

"The main force has already set out."

"Most likely, yes." Zhou Yuan's speaking speed slowed down, words coming out one by one. "Based on the advance speed of the Iron Hoof Legion's main force, it takes about ten days from the southern entrance of the Roaring Ice Abyss to the Rustwind Wasteland. If today is the start, they'll arrive on the seventy-third day. But if they moved before the fifth signal appeared..."

"The seventy-first day at the earliest."

Correct.

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair.

The blue light on the panel made that light red fifth signal look particularly eye-catching.

"Eight days left until the seventy-first day."

"Yes."

The Cockpit went silent.

Four seconds.

"Zhou Yuan, send a communication to the Dawn Legion now. Tell Forge that the fifth signal appeared at 5:49 AM today, 2.8 seconds, seven degrees west of true north, Confirmation Pulse. The Iron Hoof Legion's main force has entered the Departure Window."

"I'll send it right away."

"Also tell him that Polaris will begin evacuation preparations today."

"Good."

"Zhou Yuan, 8:00 AM. You, Zhao Tiezhu, and Lin Xiao, come to the Cockpit."

"Understood."

The communicator hung up.

Lu Chen stared at the fifth signal on the panel.

Light red.

A shade brighter than the first four.

This brightly lit beacon was nailed at seven degrees west of true north, and behind it was the crushing sound of an entire iron legion.

The communicator rang again.

"City Lord."

Lin Wan.

"The 7:00 AM test today..."

"The test is postponed." Lu Chen cut her off. "The fifth signal has appeared."

The other end of the communicator went silent for three seconds.

"When?"

"5:49 AM. 2.8 seconds. Seven degrees west of true north."

"In other words," Lin Wan's voice was very flat, "they're coming."

"Most likely, yes."

"Are we still testing the Shock-absorbing Layer this morning?"

Lu Chen paused for a beat.

"Yes," he said. "At seven o'clock sharp. We'll have the meeting after the test. If there's a problem with the Shock-absorbing Layer, it has to be adjusted today; any further delay will be too late."

"Okay."

"Lin Wan."

"I'm here."

"No need to bring up the strawberries and milk for now. I need to move early today."

"I'll put the strawberries in the Greenhouse cold storage area; you can get them when you're free." Lin Wan paused for less than a second, her tone sharpened. "City Lord, you are not allowed to start the engine without eating breakfast."

"Who made that rule?"

"I did. At 6:20 AM, Song Ya will bring it up to you. Two bowls of Gruel; finish them in seven minutes, it won't delay the 7:00 AM matter."

Lu Chen didn't argue further.

"Alright."

The communicator hung up.

He reopened his notebook to today's page.

He wrote a line at the top.

Day sixty-three. Fifth signal appeared. 05:49:07. 2.8 seconds. Seven degrees west of true north. Confirmation Pulse. Iron Hoof Legion main force Departure Window open. Arriving on the seventy-first day at the earliest.

His pen tip left the paper, and he placed the pen on the console.

The radar scan line rotated round after round.

Within eight kilometers, clear.

But somewhere beyond the radar, an iron legion that had once crushed the Roaring Ice Abyss was moving in this direction.

Or, they had already been moving for a long time.

Eight days.