249: Chapter 249 Truth Points Gathered! The Train Cannon is Finally Online

Day 74, 12:11 AM.

Cockpit.

Truth Points balance: 16,847.

Lu Chen's gaze was fixed on that number; he was still one hundred and fifty-three short.

16,889.

16,934.

16,971.

17,003.

It broke through. Seventeen thousand.

Without any hesitation, Lu Chen reached out and expanded the Truth Tech Tree system interface in his field of vision.

Armament and Weaponry branch, Lv.3.

Third Node: 155mm Electromagnetic Railgun.

Requirement: 10,000 Truth Points.

Unlock.

He pressed confirm.

The system interface flashed, the node turned from gray to gold, and the balance dropped from 17,003 to 7,003.

Immediately after, his finger moved to the Infrastructure Armor branch.

Lv.3, Second Node: Radiation-proof Lead-lined Inner Shell.

Requirement: 7,000 Truth Points.

Unlock.

Confirm.

The balance dropped from 7,003 to 3.

Three points. Only three Truth Points remained in his pocket.

The muscles on Lu Chen's face tensed as he stared at the two golden nodes that had just lit up on the system interface. Two lines of prompts popped up on the panel.

[Armament and Weaponry Lv.3 Node 3 unlocked: 155mm Electromagnetic Railgun. Physical modification initiated. Estimated time: 27 minutes.]

[Infrastructure Armor Lv.3 Node 2 unlocked: Radiation-proof Lead-lined Inner Shell. Physical modification initiated. Estimated time: 34 minutes.]

Two modifications were being carried out simultaneously. In thirty-four minutes, two major components would come online at the same time.

“City Lord,” Lin Wan's voice carried an uncontrollable tremor, “you clicked it?”

“I clicked it.” Lu Chen leaned back into his chair. “The Railway Gun plus the lead-lined inner shell, seventeen thousand, cleared out.”

“What's the balance?”

“Three.”

Lin Wan was stunned for a moment, then immediately wrote down the number in her notebook.

Three. From two thousand six hundred and twenty-two to seventeen thousand, and then down to three. It was a massive rollercoaster in a single night. What they got in exchange was an electromagnetic gun capable of piercing Lv.5 armor.

“How long will the modification take?” Zhou Yuan asked.

“Thirty-four minutes.” Lu Chen glanced at the clock. “At 12:45 AM, both major components will be online.”

“That's half the time we promised the Forge.”

“The faster, the better.”

Lu Chen stood up and walked to the observation window. Outside, in the darkness, the hull of the Polaris was undergoing changes. He couldn't see the details clearly, but a subtle vibration traveled up from beneath his feet. This wasn't the engine's vibration; it was the sound of metal growing.

The physical modifications of the Truth Tech Tree never created things out of thin air; they relied entirely on reorganization. Existing materials were rearranged at the molecular level to grow new structures.

At this moment, on the rear part of the Polaris's roof, a brand-new turret was growing out of the armor plating. The electromagnetic acceleration rails, superconducting coils, ammunition loading mechanism, and fire control interface were appearing inch by inch from nothing.

Simultaneously, every inch of the metal surface on the interior of the vehicle was being covered by a dense layer of lead compound. The Radiation-proof Lead-lined Inner Shell was wrapping the entire city from the inside out.

Lu Chen pressed his palm against the glass of the observation window. It felt cold to the touch, but the metal frame beneath the glass was slightly warm—evidence that the modification was underway.

“City Lord,” Zhao Tiezhu spoke from the weapon control console, “a new icon has appeared in the fire control system.”

Lu Chen turned and walked back to the console. On the weapon control panel, next to the icons for the Ray Cannon, Phalanx CIWS, and Napalm Tower, a gray silhouette had appeared. It was the shape of a gun barrel, extremely long and thin, with obvious electromagnetic rail characteristics. Below the icon, it displayed: Modifying. Remaining time: 22 minutes 14 seconds.

“Twenty-two minutes.” Zhao Tiezhu stared at the countdown. “In twenty-two minutes, this gun will be ready to fire.”

“Wait for it to turn green.” Lu Chen sat back in the iron chair. “When it turns green, it's online.”

He clicked on the communicator.

“Cheng Zheng.”

“Here.” Cheng Zheng's voice was raspy from a lack of sleep.

“The Railway Gun modification has started. It will be online in twenty-two minutes.”

There was two seconds of silence on the other end.

“That's half the time you said.”

“The faster, the better.” Lu Chen repeated the same phrase. “Once it's online, I need a test target. Can your radar find a piece of wreckage in the north, at least ten kilometers away?”

“You want to test the gun?”

“Yes.”

“The Rustwind Wasteland is covered in pre-civilization ruins.” Cheng Zheng searched through the records on his end. “At twelve degrees north-northeast, fourteen kilometers away, there's a collapsed Pre-civilization Factory Framework. It's about thirty meters high with a clear radar cross-section.”

“Fourteen kilometers.” Lu Chen noted the number. “That's enough.”

“City Lord Lu,” Cheng Zheng added, “the Iron Hoof's probes will see the commotion from the test fire.”

“Let them see.” Lu Chen's tone carried the scent of rusted iron. “Let the Iron Hoof know that there isn't just a sitting duck next to The City-State.”

The communication was cut.

On the panel, the countdown beneath the Railway Gun icon continued to tick. 19:47. 18:33. 17:21. The Degradation was still continuing, with only the last few dozen meters of the rear half left to be consumed.

The Truth Points balance began to climb again from 3. 3... 17... 34... 56. Those last few dozen meters were the area adjacent to the Ninth Framework, where the structural density was extremely high, causing the Degradation rate to slow down instead. The major components had already been selected, the modification was underway, and the Railway Gun was about to go online.

Lu Chen picked up his empty milk cup, set it down, and looked at Master Wu Bingde.

The old man stood in the corner, his gaze fixed outside the observation window. In the darkness outside, the silhouette of The City-State had been shortened by nearly half, with only a blurry afterimage of the rear half remaining.

“Master Wu,” Lu Chen spoke.

Master Wu Bingde turned his head.

“The front half is still standing,” Lu Chen said.

The old man's lips moved slightly.

“1.38.” His voice was very soft. “It's enough.”

On the panel, the countdown beneath the Railway Gun icon jumped to the final minute. 00:57. 00:43. 00:31. 00:18. 00:07. 00:00. The icon turned from gray to green, and a new line of text lit up on the weapon control panel.

[155mm Electromagnetic Railgun: Online. Energy Storage: Full.]

Zhao Tiezhu stared at the green text, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Lu Chen stood up, walked to the weapon control console, and pressed his finger onto the Railway Gun icon. A set of brand-new parameters expanded on the panel.

Caliber: 155mm.

Acceleration Method: 32-stage electromagnetic coil progressive acceleration.

Muzzle Velocity: 2400 meters per second.

Effective Range: 38 kilometers.

Maximum Range: 52 kilometers.

Armor Penetration (RHA): 1200mm.

Reload Time: 90 seconds.

Ammunition Type: Kinetic Energy Armor-Piercing Shell and High-Explosive Shell (Exchange with Truth Points, 50 points per round).

Lu Chen stared at that number. An armor penetration of one thousand two hundred millimeters. The frontal armor thickness of an Iron Hoof crusher was eight hundred millimeters. One thousand two hundred versus eight hundred. Complete penetration.

He withdrew his finger from the panel, turned, and looked at everyone in the Cockpit. Lin Wan, Zhou Yuan, Zhao Tiezhu, Master Wu Bingde. No one spoke, but the same light shone in everyone's eyes.

Lu Chen returned to his iron chair and sat down, picking up a pencil to write a line in his notebook.

Day 74, 12:45 AM.

155mm Electromagnetic Railgun online.

Effective range 38km. Armor penetration 1200mm.

The Polaris is no longer bait.