238: Chapter 238 The Dawn Breaks Through! Lu Chen Connects to Direct Communication

Day 70, 3:47 PM.

Cockpit.

Lu Chen sat on the iron chair, his left hand resting on the edge of the console, his right hand holding a half-length pencil.

The radar scanning line on the panel rotated in circles as usual.

From 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, for five whole hours, not a single signal had appeared within eight kilometers.

The north was empty.

The east was empty.

The west was empty.

To the south, as the scanning line swept past due south, the signal strength indicator light flickered once.

Lu Chen's fingertips paused, and he turned the signal gain knob all the way to the top.

The scanning line rotated another circle.

Ten seconds.

Sweeping past three degrees east of due south, the indicator light lit up again.

This time it didn't flicker or go out; it was of medium strength, steady above the threshold line.

It was completely different from the half-dead weak flicker of a scout vehicle.

This signal was full and solid.

"Zhou Yuan," Lu Chen spoke.

Zhou Yuan had just been woken up from three hours of forced sleep and was sitting nearby rubbing the corners of his eyes. Hearing the noise, he leaned in front of the panel.

"South," he saw it.

The signal strength indicator light was steadily lit, without attenuation or drift.

"Three degrees east of due south," Lu Chen reported the bearing. "Eight-kilometer boundary."

Third rotation of the scanning line.

The signal was still there, and it had changed.

One point of light had become three.

Three echoes were lined up close together, with spacing much wider than that of the scout vehicle.

"Three signal sources," Zhou Yuan's voice tightened. "Spaced about one kilometer apart. Moving in formation."

"lv.3 level radar cross-section," Lu Chen looked at the signal strength reading. "More than ten times larger than the cross-section of a scout vehicle."

"Big guys." Zhou Yuan stood up from his chair, leaned down close to the panel, and pointed at the three light spots with his finger. "Three lv.3 fortress-class Mobile Cities, formation spacing of one kilometer, due south, entering the eight-kilometer radar range."

"Forge's lead formation," Lu Chen added.

"Iron Spear, Star Shatterer, Lava," Zhou Yuan called out the designations of the three lv.3s. "He said they'd arrive between three and four in the afternoon. 3:47 PM, they're right on time."

The Cockpit was silent for two seconds.

Zhao Tiezhu had entered the room at some point and stood to the right of the panel, staring straight at the three light spots.

"Coming from the south," he spoke, his throat dry.

"Allies," Lu Chen gave a definitive answer.

Another scan.

The three light spots advanced steadily in the due south direction.

Signal strength was increasing, distance was shortening, they were approaching.

"City Lord," Zhou Yuan turned around. "Should we establish communication?"

"Wait for him to contact us first," Lu Chen wasn't in a hurry. "Forge said he'd provide the direct frequency after arriving. Let him speak first."

Just as he finished speaking, the communicator vibrated.

It didn't go through Zhou Yuan's channel, nor Lin Wan's or Chen Li's.

A brand new frequency, seen for the first time.

Lu Chen glanced at the frequency code jumping on the communicator screen.

42.7 MHz, a military encrypted band.

He pressed answer.

A burst of low-frequency static noise came from the communicator, lasting for two seconds, then replaced by a man's voice.

"Polaris," the person said.

Unhurried, the voice was coarse, with the texture of a grinding wheel on metal.

"This is the flagship of the Dawn Legion's lead formation, the Iron Spear. Calling Polaris City Lord Lu Chen."

Lu Chen placed the communicator on the console and pressed the speakerphone.

All three people in the Cockpit heard it.

"Polaris receiving," Lu Chen spoke. "I am Lu Chen."

The other side was silent for a second.

"Forge let me arrive first," the man's voice said. "I'm Cheng Zheng, captain of the Iron Spear. Forge asked me to pass on a message."

"Speak."

"He said, the cannons are already on the way. Your even bigger cannon should be ready too."

Lu Chen looked at the three light spots on the panel that were getting brighter and brighter.

To the south, the allies had arrived.

He took a pen and wrote a line in his logbook.

Day 70, 3:47 PM. Three lv.3s of the Dawn Vanguard Formation entered the eight-kilometer radar. Direct communication established.

The pen tip moved down a line.

The north was still empty.

But it wouldn't be empty for long.