237: Chapter 237 Relocation Opens Three Channels! Lu Chen Waits for the Iron Hoof to Appear

Day 70, 7:10 AM.

First-floor main entrance.

The fifth batch of the Relocation Team squeezed inside through the main channel; meanwhile, the second channel on the side of The City-State opened its gates.

This so-called second channel was actually Hatch No. 3 on the side of The City-State.

Outside the door lay an ice field at minus sixty degrees Celsius. Coming out of Hatch No. 3, one had to walk eighty meters south against the wind and turn a corner to reach the exterior of Polaris's main entrance.

Lin Xiao had dispatched eight soldiers, stationed four at each end. Along that eighty-meter stretch of open road, a makeshift shelter had been cobbled together from old iron plates and scrap canvas. It leaked air terribly, but at least it could block the direct blast of ice shards.

Two thousand old military winter coats were piled inside Hatch No. 3. A person would put one on, walk the eighty meters in five minutes, take it off at the Polaris entrance, and then the staff there would gather them up and ferry them back in trips.

It was a continuous cycle.

One trip every five minutes.

A single coat could make forty to fifty round trips a day. With two thousand coats in constant rotation, the theoretical throughput was staggering.

Even with the inevitable delays in practice, by 10:00 AM, the second channel had managed to funnel in four hundred people.

Combined with the base count of eleven hundred from the main channel, today's total intake into the ship was heading straight for twenty-five hundred.

Chen Li had rushed back and forth behind the registration desk three times, his voice severely raspy.

"City Lord." Through the communicator, Chen Li's voice sounded as rough as sandpaper on a wall. "We just tallied the numbers at 10:00 AM; 1,437 people have already come in today. At this rate, we'll definitely break twenty-five hundred by the afternoon."

"Good." Lu Chen sat in his iron chair, his gaze sweeping over the data page. "Can the three terminals handle it?"

"They can. We've placed two at the main entrance and one in the Storage Area. All three are running non-stop."

"Where is the bottleneck in the registration speed?"

The sound of pages flipping came from Chen Li's end.

"It's the process. It takes forty to forty-five seconds to process one person. With all three terminals working together, we only get four done a minute. That's 240 an hour. Even if we run for fourteen hours a day, that's only 3,360 people at most."

"If twenty-five hundred come in today, the registration can handle it," Lu Chen calculated quickly.

"Whatever we can't handle will be pushed to tomorrow."

"Got it."

The communication cut off.

Lu Chen picked up a pen and crossed out the relocation data in his notebook to rewrite it. Day 69: 1,100 people entered, total registered 11,850. Day 70: estimated 2,500. By the time they finished tonight, the total on board would reach 14,350. Inside The City-State, there were still 16,650 people huddled.

At most, three days remained.

To process those sixteen thousand-plus people in three days, they'd need to do over five thousand a day—the math didn't add up. Even if the two channels ran until they smoked, they could only handle three or four thousand a day. There was still a gap of one or two thousand.

"Lin Wan." He pressed the communicator.

"Here." On Lin Wan's end, a water pump was humming.

"The relocation is too slow. With two channels at full capacity, we're at three to four thousand a day, leaving a gap of over a thousand."

"Does the City Lord intend to... carve out another path?"

"Can we?"

"Polaris only has one proper door." Lin Wan stopped her work. "Unless we use the emergency escape hatches."

"We have those?"

"Yes. There's one on each side of the first floor. But those are for escaping; they're only 1.2 meters wide, so only one person can squeeze through at a time."

"1.2 meters is enough." Lu Chen made the decision. "Open the one on the left. How far is the walk in the open from The City-State to the left escape hatch?"

Lin Wan tilted her head to pin the communicator with her shoulder, freeing her hands to flip open Polaris's floor plan.

"The ship is 206 meters long. The main door is at the front right. The left escape hatch is at the back left. From Hatch No. 3 of The City-State, going south and then circling around to our left side, it's about 130 meters."

"One hundred and thirty meters."

"That's fifty meters more than the second channel. Walking that distance in minus sixty degrees will take seven or eight minutes. The coats will save their lives, but they'll definitely be freezing."

"The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled won't make it." Lu Chen drew the line immediately. "The third channel will only be for the young and fit."

"That works."

"Go and coordinate with Lin Xiao. The third channel opens this afternoon; pick only the strong ones to go through it."

"Got it."

The communication ended.

Lu Chen tossed the communicator back onto the desk, lifted his eyelids, and scanned the panel.

10:14 AM.

The radar scan line rotated unhurriedly.

Within eight kilometers, there wasn't even a ghost of a signal.

The Dawn Formation had broken camp at 8:00 AM yesterday; they had been on the move for twenty-six hours now. Calculating by the fastest time of thirty-two hours, in another six hours—by 4:00 PM—they should appear.

What about the main force of Iron Hoof?

He stared fixedly at the empty sector to the north-northwest on the panel.

When would another blip pop up on the eight-kilometer boundary?

This time, it wouldn't be a weak, half-dead signal like those from two light reconnaissance vehicles. It would be a massive cluster of signals comprised of dozens of lv.3 fortresses, four Lv.4 City-States, plus a Lv.5 crusher capable of crushing the very earth.

Once that signal cluster appeared on the radar, the cards Lu Chen held would have to be played in an entirely different way.

The communicator vibrated.

It was Zhou Yuan's channel.

"City Lord."

"Speak."

"Forge sent over a new bulletin."

"Read it."

"The Old Fox's exact words: the fleet's progress is smooth. The three leading lv.3 fortresses have already covered two-thirds of the distance. The vanguard is estimated to reach the southern edge of Rustwind Wasteland by 3:00 or 4:00 PM today. The main force will be fully in position by 8:00 or 9:00 PM tonight."

"3:00 or 4:00 PM."

"An hour earlier than Lu Chen had calculated."

"How will they be deployed once in position?"

"They didn't disclose the details." Zhou Yuan clicked his tongue. "They just said that once they arrive at the destination, they'll establish a direct communication line with us. The frequency and password will be provided later."

"Alright."

Lu Chen picked up his pen and scribbled in his notebook: Dawn vanguard, 3:00-4:00 PM. Main force, 8:00-9:00 PM.

He turned a page and added two heavy strokes to the timeline. Day 70, 3:00-4:00 PM: the Dawn vanguard arrives south of Rustwind Wasteland. Day 70, 8:00-9:00 PM: all the Six Cities of Dawn in position.

This date collided head-on with the estimated arrival of Iron Hoof's main force. Two great armies, one from the south and one from the north, were converging on this palm-sized patch of land known as Rustwind Wasteland. Polaris and the remains of The City-State just happened to be stuck right in the eye of this storm.

He tossed the pen onto the desk.

On the panel, the radar scan line continued its leisurely circles.

It was so quiet it made his teeth itch.