233: Chapter 233 Dawn Squad Breaks Camp! Lu Chen Opens a New Passage

Day 69, 9:23 AM.

Cockpit.

Lu Chen had just taken a cup of hot milk from Lin Wan's hand, and the rim hadn't even touched his lips when the communicator on the console vibrated.

It was Zhou Yuan's channel.

"City Lord."

"Speak."

"News from Forge. The formation broke camp from the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea at eight o'clock sharp this morning."

Lu Chen pushed the milk cup toward the corner of the table.

"Eight o'clock."

"Yes." Zhou Yuan's voice wasn't as raspy as yesterday; it sounded like he'd managed to catch a few hours of sleep. "Forge gave us the detailed composition."

"Read it."

"The vanguard formation consists of three lv.3 fortress-class cities. Their designations are Iron Spear, Starshatter, and Magma. Each is equipped with six 180mm main guns and twenty-four medium-caliber rapid-fire guns. The three are positioned in a triangular support formation, spaced two kilometers apart, advancing in a fan shape."

Lu Chen grabbed a pencil stub and scribbled the details into his notebook.

"The main formation consists of two lv.4 City-State-class cities: the Observer and the Furnace. The Observer focuses on radar early warning and electronic countermeasures, while the Furnace focuses on heavy firepower projection. They are spaced five kilometers apart, ten kilometers behind the vanguard formation."

"Bringing up the rear is the Polaris, a lv.5 wonder-class city. It's trailing twenty kilometers behind the main formation."

"A total of six mobile cities," Zhou Yuan finished the count. "The straight-line distance from the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea to the Rustwind Wasteland is four hundred and eighty kilometers. The formation's travel speed is calculated based on the slowest lv.3 cities, at twelve to fifteen kilometers per hour. Estimated travel time is thirty-two to forty hours."

"Thirty-two to forty hours." Lu Chen's pencil tip scratched across the paper twice. "At the earliest, 4:00 PM tomorrow; at the latest, the early hours of the day after tomorrow."

"Correct. From the afternoon of Day 70 to the early morning of Day 71."

"That matches our previous calculations."

"Forge also made a request." Zhou Yuan took a breath. "He wants Polaris to report its radar status every six hours from now on. His formation hasn't deployed a reconnaissance net on the way, so Polaris has to act as his eyes."

"Once every six hours."

"Yes."

"Fine," Lu Chen agreed immediately. "Have Chen Li handle it. Use the usual format: timestamp, radar status, and whether there are any signals within eight kilometers. Send it as is."

"Understood."

"Zhou Yuan."

"Sir."

"Regarding the specific tactics for the Joint Strike, did Forge reveal anything? How exactly are we going to fight when Polaris first makes contact?"

"He didn't say in detail," Zhou Yuan answered quickly. "The old fox just left one sentence: 'Decide upon arrival.'"

"'Decide upon arrival.'" Lu Chen rolled the four words on the tip of his tongue.

"His meaning is that since we haven't fully grasped the battlefield situation, arranging troops in advance is pure nonsense. How the Iron Hoof's formation is set up, where the base is established, and which piece of the expansion to bite off first—all of that has to be decided once we're on the ground."

Lu Chen quickly ran through the logic in his head.

It made sense.

The main force of the Iron Hoof might still be taking a detour through the Ice Rift Zone right now, and their landing point was nowhere in sight. It was indeed a bit early to talk tactics.

"Alright, let's set the tactics aside for now." Lu Chen brought the conversation back. "Pass the news of Forge breaking camp at eight o'clock to Lin Xiao."

"Directly?"

"Directly." Lu Chen tapped the tabletop with his knuckles. "But tell him to keep his mouth shut. This matter stays buried in his gut; don't let him start shouting about it in The City-State."

"Got it."

"And Zhao Tiezhu."

"Inform Old Zhao as well?"

"Inform him. The Dawn people are on the move; the window for the Reconnaissance Platoon to deploy needs to be rescheduled."

"Understood."

The communication was cut.

Lu Chen picked up the cup from the corner of the table and took a gulp.

As the hot milk entered his stomach, the chill in his gut finally dissipated a bit.

He picked up his pen and scribbled a line in his notebook.

Day 69, 8:00 AM. The Dawn Legion's six-city formation departed from the Iron Curtain Frozen Sea. Earliest arrival at the outskirts of the Rustwind Wasteland: Day 70 at 4:00 PM.

He moved the pen tip down an inch.

The main force of Iron Hoof arrives today at the earliest. At the latest, Day 71 to 73.

The Dawn formation arrives tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

The gap caught between these two lines was the window that Polaris would have to hold on its own.

In a generous calculation, if the Iron Hoof was slow and didn't show up until Day 71, and Dawn ran fast and was in position by the afternoon of Day 70, the difference between them would be less than a day.

In a lethal calculation, if the Iron Hoof pressed the border today and Dawn was delayed until the early hours of Day 71, this empty window would last a full two days.

"City Lord," Lin Wan spoke up suddenly from beside him.

Lu Chen turned his head.

Lin Wan was curled up in a folding chair, her notebook spread across her knees and a pen in her hand.

"The numbers for the fifth batch of relocation have been reported by Lin Xiao's side."

"How many?"

"He said he can squeeze another eleven hundred people over today."

"Eleven hundred." Lu Chen filled the number into a table. "Adding that to the base count of ten thousand seven hundred and fifty, we can reach eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty tonight."

"There are still over nineteen thousand people left in The City-State."

"Nineteen thousand, spread over four days." The mental abacus in Lu Chen's head clicked rapidly. "That's nearly five thousand people a day."

"They won't make it," Lin Wan shook her head directly. "That passage can only cram three hundred people at a time, and a round trip takes an hour and a half. Even working around the clock for twelve double-hours, running ten trips, three thousand people is the absolute limit."

"Then we must find another way." Lu Chen tossed his pen onto the table.

He stared at the floor plan of The City-State on the console and didn't respond.

"Sticking to one path won't work," he said. "Can we squeeze out a second route between Polaris and The City-State?"

"The main entrance is the only one." Lin Wan knew the ship's structure inside out. "That door on the right wall is four meters wide and three meters high. There are no other openings."

"What about going around the outside?"

"Outside?"

"The City-State is a hundred meters away from us, and it's minus sixty degrees out there." Lu Chen traced a straight line on the diagram with his pen tip. "If they come out of The City-State's side hatch and walk along the outer hull to our main entrance, it's a five-minute walk if they're quick."

"Minus sixty degrees for five minutes," Lin Wan calculated. "Without cold-weather gear, an ordinary person would freeze stiff halfway there."

"Does The City-State have cold-weather gear in its stores?"

"Yes." Lin Wan flipped through the supply list Lin Xiao had given her. "There's a batch of old military greatcoats sitting in the Storage Area. Lin Xiao mentioned them once; there are about two thousand of them."

"Two thousand." Lu Chen circled the number. "One greatcoat, one person puts it on and walks for five minutes, takes it off once they arrive, and it's sent back for the next person to wear. If two thousand coats are rotated, how many trips can be made in a day?"

Lin Wan lowered her head, her pen quickly writing out equations on the paper.

"Assuming fifteen minutes for one round trip per coat, including time for dressing, undressing, and queuing, one coat can make forty to fifty trips in a day. Two thousand coats times forty is eighty thousand person-trips."

"Eighty thousand is just a theoretical figure," Lu Chen interrupted her. "In practice, cut it in half and round down the remainder. Five thousand people a day is steady."

"Understood, a two-pronged approach." Lin Wan organized the logic. "The main entrance uses the enclosed passage, and the snowy ground outside uses the greatcoat passage. Move people from both sides simultaneously."

"That's the plan." Lu Chen made the final decision. "Go find Lin Xiao and have him dig out those two thousand greatcoats today. The second passage opens tomorrow morning."

"Got it."

Lin Wan pulled out her communicator and switched to Lin Xiao's channel.

Lu Chen turned his gaze back to the operation panel.

9:41 AM.

The radar scanning line rotated unhurriedly.

Within eight kilometers, it was completely clear.

He added a note to his book.

Second passage opens tomorrow morning; relocation to accelerate.

Then, he turned a page and, in the blank space, laid out the accounts for the phased Degradation, entry by entry, fitting them together perfectly.

Day 69: Fifth batch of eleven hundred people relocated. Internal transfer within The City-State begins. Master Wu Bingde produces blueprints for the diagonal braces. Dawn formation is on the way.

Day 70: Relocation accelerates. Second passage opens. Dawn formation arrives in the afternoon at the earliest.

Day 71: Relocation continues as usual. Reconnaissance Platoon deployed at the opportune moment.

Day 72: Relocation concludes. The rear half is completely cleared. Hot-work welding on diagonal braces.

Day 73: Rear half cleared and settled. Inspection at 2:00 PM. Engines burn dry at 8:00 PM. First round of Degradation starts at 9:00 PM.

He stared at the page full of words for a full minute.

All in all, five days.