223: Chapter 223 The Iron Hoof Outpost Turns Around! Lu Chen Orders the Wave to Be Cut Short

5:43 PM.

Cockpit.

Lin Xiao had gone to the bathroom two hours ago and hadn't moved since returning.

Zhao Tiezhu leaned against the wall to the right of the panel, arms crossed, eyes half-closed.

Zhou Yuan slumped in his chair, his communicator resting on his lap, checking it every few minutes for new messages.

Lin Wan had already flipped through two pages of her notebook, which was densely packed with directional coordinates.

Lu Chen hadn't left that iron chair since 2:17 PM.

The scanning line on the panel had completed over two hundred rotations.

The scout vehicle's signal bearing had shifted all the way from six degrees west of true north to one degree and three minutes east of true north.

Most of the first arc had already been drawn.

"Zhou Yuan," Lu Chen spoke up.

"Here."

"At the current rate of shift, how much is left of the first arc?"

Zhou Yuan calculated quickly in his head.

"From entering radar range until now, it's shifted seven degrees and three minutes in three and a half hours." Zhou Yuan sat up straight. "Assuming a total arc of ninety degrees, it needs to cover from forty-five degrees left of the target's front to forty-five degrees right, with the The City-State's true north as the central axis."

He drew two lines on the paper on his lap.

"The scout vehicle entered at six degrees west of true north and is drawing eastward, with the The City-State's true north as zero degrees." Zhou Yuan's pen tip tapped the paper. "Forty-five degrees to the right is forty-five degrees east of true north. It's now at one degree and three minutes east of true north, so there's still forty-four degrees left to the right end."

"At a rate of seven degrees and three minutes every three and a half hours?"

"That's a bit over two degrees per hour; it'll take another twenty-one or twenty-two hours to finish." As soon as Zhou Yuan spoke, he frowned.

"That's not right." Lu Chen had also noticed the problem.

"A scout vehicle wouldn't circle a target for an entire day," Zhou Yuan corrected himself. "The first arc doesn't have to be a full ninety degrees; it's adjusted based on the actual terrain and the size of the target. The The City-State is eight hundred meters long; at a distance of eight kilometers, the angular width is very small. The scout vehicle only needs to cover sixty degrees of the front; it doesn't need to go the full ninety."

"If it's sixty degrees, how much is left?"

"It's already covered seven degrees and three minutes from six degrees west to one degree and three minutes east. With sixty degrees centered on true north, that's thirty to the left and thirty to the right. It entered at six degrees west, so the right end is thirty degrees east." Zhou Yuan recalculated on the paper. "Total shift is thirty-six degrees. It's done seven degrees and three minutes, so twenty-nine degrees left."

He looked up.

"At two degrees an hour, that's still fourteen or fifteen hours. This still isn't right; it's too long."

"The scout vehicle is changing speed." Lu Chen flipped his notebook to the data page for the last half hour. "In the last thirty minutes, the shift speed has increased. It was one degree and seven minutes per hour for the first hour and a half, but it's been two degrees and four minutes per hour for the last thirty minutes."

"It's accelerating while drawing the arc?"

"It's not accelerating." Lu Chen made a mark on the arc in his notebook. "The radius of the arc is changing. The scout vehicle is moving inward, pushing in from the eight-kilometer arc."

The Cockpit fell silent for two seconds.

"The second arc." Zhao Tiezhu walked over from the wall and looked down at the diagram in the notebook.

"It started pushing inward before finishing the first arc," Lu Chen confirmed. "The signal strength is a level higher than it was thirty minutes ago. The distance is closing."

"How far is it from Polaris now?" Lin Xiao's voice tightened.

"Based on signal strength, seven to seven and a half kilometers," Zhou Yuan answered. "It's pushed in by half a kilometer to a kilometer."

"Seven kilometers," Lin Xiao repeated.

Lu Chen marked the new position on the map.

A bit over seven kilometers, still outside the range of all weapons.

"Why is it pushing inward early?" Lin Wan asked.

"Two possibilities." Zhou Yuan held up two fingers. "First, the scout vehicle operator decided the first arc had scanned enough, confirmed the outer perimeter was safe, and saw no need to finish the full path, so they started infiltrating inward directly."

"And the second?"

"Second, they detected something and need to get closer to see it clearly."

The Cockpit was silent again for a moment.

"What could they have detected?" Lin Xiao pressed.

"The The City-State," Lu Chen took over. "The The City-State's thermal radiation is much clearer at seven kilometers than at eight. The scout vehicle's passive thermal imaging can distinguish the The City-State's general outline at seven kilometers. They've seen the target's shape and size and want to get closer to confirm details."

"Like the gun barrels on the city walls," Zhao Tiezhu added.

"Correct. At a distance of five to six kilometers, thermal imaging can distinguish the outlines of large-caliber gun barrels," Zhou Yuan confirmed.

"So it's tightening the arc, preparing to take a panoramic thermal image of the The City-State at five or six kilometers to bring back to the main force." Lu Chen pieced together the scout vehicle's logic.

"For the The City-State, that's exposure." Lin Xiao rested his palms on his knees, his fingers tightening. "But for Polaris..."

"For Polaris, it makes no difference," Lu Chen interrupted him. "With passive thermal imaging at five kilometers, all they'll see is the thermal shadow of the The City-State plus an annex. Polaris's engine idle power is only eight percent; the thermal output is completely buried in the signal noise floor of the dispersal generator. They won't be able to distinguish it."

He glanced at the engine power display on the panel.

Eight percent.

Steady as a rock.

"City Lord," Lin Wan spoke up.

"Go ahead."

"The scout vehicle pushing inward means its scanning cycle is shortening. It was originally estimated at four to six hours, but now it will be faster."

"Shortened to what?"

Lin Wan flipped through the data in her notebook.

"It entered radar at 2:17 and began tightening the arc at 5:43. It spent three and a half hours drawing most of the first arc." Lin Wan pointed at the notebook. "If the second arc is drawn at a seven-kilometer radius, the arc length is shorter and the speed is faster. I calculate the second arc will take only one to two hours to complete."

"Total time, four and a half to five and a half hours."

"Correct. Which means, at the earliest 7:00 PM tonight, or 8:00 PM at the latest, it will turn back."

"That's consistent with our previous projections." Lu Chen noted the time.

He leaned back in his chair.

There were still one to two hours before the scout vehicle would turn back.

In these one or two hours, there was only one thing they could do.

Wait.

"Are you guys hungry?" he asked out of the blue.

None of the four reacted immediately.

"City Lord?" Lin Wan spoke first.

"No one has eaten since two this afternoon." Lu Chen pressed the communicator to call Chen Li. "Chen Li."

"City Lord."

"Have someone bring five bowls of gruel to the Cockpit."

"Understood, ten minutes."

The communication ended.

Lin Xiao let out a long breath and leaned back.

"City Lord, sitting in this iron chair of yours for four hours, my butt is about to split."

"You'll get used to it," Lu Chen said.

Zhao Tiezhu snorted nearby but didn't say anything.

6:03 PM.

Five bowls of gruel arrived.

Lu Chen held his bowl, his eyes never leaving the panel, drinking the soup mouthful by mouthful.

The gruel wasn't hot, just warm, and his stomach felt more comfortable after it went down.

He placed the empty bowl in a corner of the console.

The scout vehicle's signal on the panel had shifted to two degrees and seven minutes east of true north.

The signal strength rose by another notch.

A bit over six kilometers.

It was pushing inward.

Still drawing the arc.

Lu Chen turned to a new page in his notebook and continued recording point by point.

6:11 PM, two degrees and nine minutes east of true north.

6:22 PM, three degrees and three minutes east of true north.

6:33 PM, three degrees and eight minutes east of true north.

The arc's shift speed was increasing.

The inner arc is shorter than the outer arc; at the same travel speed, the angular shift is faster.

"It's almost finished drawing," Zhou Yuan said, staring at the data.

Lu Chen didn't respond.

6:44 PM.

The scout vehicle's signal bearing jumped.

It wasn't a shift; it was a jump in angle.

From four degrees and one minute east of true north, it became five degrees and nine minutes east after one scanning cycle.

A jump of one degree and eight minutes.

"The movement is significant," Lu Chen said.

"It's turning." Zhou Yuan stood up and leaned toward the panel. "It's not drawing an arc anymore; it's making a turn."

The next scan cycle.

The bearing jumped from five degrees and nine minutes east to three degrees and two minutes east.

It was heading back.

"It's turned back," Zhao Tiezhu's voice came from behind.

The pen in Lu Chen's hand stopped on the notebook.

He stared at the panel, waiting for the second cycle to confirm.

The bearing continued to decrease.

Two degrees and one minute east of true north.

Signal strength began to drop.

Distance was increasing.

It was heading north.

"City Lord," Zhou Yuan's Adam's apple bobbed. "The scout vehicle has turned back."

Lu Chen glanced at the clock on the panel.

Turned back at 6:44 PM.

Four hours and twenty-seven minutes from entering radar to turning back.

Within the estimated window.

He wrote a line in his notebook.

Day 67, 6:44 PM, scout vehicle completed scanning and turned back north.

He set the pen down.

"Zhou Yuan, from now on, keep a close eye on the communication channels."

"Understood."

"After the scout vehicle turns back and before it leaves our radar range, it will send a shortwave report." Lu Chen turned to Zhou Yuan. "The direction of that shortwave signal is the location of the main force."

"What if it doesn't send one while within radar range?"

"Then track it until its signal disappears."

Zhou Yuan grabbed the headset for the monitoring equipment and plugged it into his left ear.

Only the electronic beep of the radar scan and the sound of the ventilation vents remained in the Cockpit.

On the panel, those two light points were heading north along their original path, the signal weakening with every rotation.