250: Chapter 250 Testing the Cannon to Establish Authority! One Shot Shatters the Steel Debris

Seventy-fourth day, 0:47 AM.

Cockpit.

Lu Chen's fingers left the weapon control panel, and he turned to sit back in the iron chair.

On the panel, the Railway Gun icon was steadily glowing green.

Energy storage full.

“Cheng Zheng.”

“Present.”

“Target confirmed. Twelve degrees northeast, fourteen kilometers away—the collapsed pre-civilization factory frame.”

“Confirmed.” Cheng Zheng flipped through records on his end. “The target is approximately thirty meters high and forty-five meters wide, with a clear radar cross-section. Coordinates locked.”

“Good.” Lu Chen turned his gaze toward Zhao Tiezhu. “Railway Gun aiming sequence.”

Zhao Tiezhu’s hands were already on the fire control console, his rough fingers moving rapidly over the keys.

“Target bearing entered. Electromagnetic acceleration rails preheated. Auto-lock auxiliary has mounted the target.” He paused, his voice tight. “City Lord, the first shot?”

“First shot.”

Lin Wan stood by the side of the console, her notebook open and her pen tip hovering motionless.

Zhou Yuan stared at the radar scan line sweeping across the north. The probe signal remained unchanged. The six light points to the south remained unchanged.

Master Wu Bingde was huddled in the corner, his back against the metal wall, his aged eyes wide and round.

“Zhao Tiezhu.”

“Present.”

“Fire.”

Zhao Tiezhu’s thumb pressed the red trigger button.

In an instant.

The lights in the Cockpit flickered.

This wasn't a power failure. Within that half-second, the entire city's Superconducting Energy Storage Matrix released a high-current pulse, flooding into the thirty-two-stage electromagnetic coils at the rear of the roof.

The vibration coming up from beneath their feet was unlike anything before.

This movement was different from the low-frequency hum of the engines or the molecular-layer trembling of Degradation.

It was an extremely brief, bone-deep jolt that vibrated through the entire body.

Something was being ejected from the vehicle body at an incredible speed.

Immediately after, a dull thunderclap came from the rear of the roof—so heavy and deep that it made the teacup in the Cockpit jump on the table.

And then, it was gone.

Silence.

“Muzzle exit.” Zhao Tiezhu stared at the fire control panel, his voice dry. “Projectile muzzle velocity two thousand four hundred meters per second. Flight time...”

He stopped speaking.

“Five point eight seconds.”

Fourteen kilometers. Two thousand four hundred meters per second. Five point eight seconds.

No one in the Cockpit spoke; they were all counting silently in their hearts.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

On the panel, the tracking marker of the target lock auxiliary system flickered.

The words 'Hit Confirmed' popped up in the bottom-right corner of the fire control console.

Cheng Zheng’s communication cut in almost simultaneously.

“Hit.” Cheng Zheng’s voice was half a pitch higher than before. “My Passive Optical Array caught it. Twelve degrees northeast, fourteen kilometers away—a large-scale thermal flash and structural collapse have occurred in the target area.”

“Specific effects,” Lu Chen said.

“That thirty-meter-high pre-civilization factory frame...” Cheng Zheng paused for two seconds, confirming the image he was seeing. “It's gone.”

“Gone?”

“It snapped into three sections from the middle. The upper half simply vanished, likely shattered into fragments by the kinetic shockwave. The lower half collapsed to both sides, kicking up a massive amount of metal debris and ice crystal dust. Thermal imaging shows the instantaneous temperature at the impact point soared to over one thousand two hundred degrees.”

Inside the Cockpit.

Master Wu Bingde’s back slid half an inch down the wall; the old man’s knees were going soft.

The pen in Lin Wan’s hand stopped on the paper, its tip bleeding out an ink spot.

Zhou Yuan turned his head and glanced at Lu Chen.

Zhao Tiezhu’s hands were still resting on the fire control console, his ten fingers trembling slightly.

“Fourteen kilometers,” he spoke, his throat feeling parched. “One shot. A thirty-meter-high steel frame. Gone.”

Lu Chen didn't respond.

He was looking at the ammunition status on the panel.

155mm Electromagnetic Railgun energy storage recovering. Reload time 90 seconds. Current ammunition remaining: 0 rounds. Insufficient Truth Points, unable to exchange.

Zero rounds.

Balance: three points. Exchanging one round requires fifty points.

This shot was currently the only shot.

But this one shot was enough.

“Cheng Zheng.” He pressed the comms.

“Present.”

“Did Iron Hoof’s probe see it?”

The other side was silent for three seconds.

“It saw it.” Cheng Zheng’s tone became more restrained. “Seven seconds after you fired, my Passive Monitoring Array captured the probe transmitting a short-wave pulse. Duration: zero point four seconds, direction: due north. Data backhaul.”

“What did it send back?”

“An optical image compression package,” Cheng Zheng analyzed. “The probe’s sensors are at the eight-kilometer boundary. Your shell’s flight path spanned fourteen kilometers; the middle six kilometers of the trajectory were right within the probe’s observation range.”

“In other words.” Lu Chen extrapolated the conclusion.

“Iron Hoof knows now,” Cheng Zheng finished the thought. “That two-hundred-meter iron lump next to The City-State is equipped with an electromagnetic railgun with a range exceeding fourteen kilometers. Kinetic Armor-Piercing. One shot to shatter a thirty-meter steel structure.”

In the Cockpit, Lin Wan’s pen finally touched down, writing a line in her notebook.

0:47:31 AM, first shot hit.

Her hand was shaking.

It wasn't fear.

“City Lord.” Zhou Yuan turned around from the panel. “After the probe’s backhaul, how will Iron Hoof judge this?”

“Judge what?” Lu Chen asked back.

“Judge the range of this gun.” Zhou Yuan laid out his analysis. “The probe only saw fourteen kilometers of the trajectory. It doesn't know this gun can hit thirty-eight kilometers.”

“Correct.” Lu Chen nodded. “Let Iron Hoof believe this is a medium-range gun with a fifteen to twenty-kilometer range. Only when they truly charge over will they discover that shells are flying in from thirty-eight kilometers away.”

Information gap.

“Information gap,” Lu Chen repeated. “Iron Hoof knows I have a gun, but they don't know my gun outranges all of theirs.”

Zhao Tiezhu pulled his hands back from the fire control console and rubbed his palms hard.

“City Lord.”

“Speak.”

“This gun. One thousand two hundred millimeters of penetration. The crusher’s front is eight hundred millimeters.” The glimmer of the green text on the panel reflected in his eyes. “One shot to penetrate.”

“One shot to penetrate,” Lu Chen looked at him. “Provided we have ammunition.”

Zhao Tiezhu’s expression tightened slightly.

“Current balance: three points,” Lu Chen laid out the reality. “Fifty points per round. The last few dozen meters of the rear section are still undergoing Degradation; it's crawling slow. The front section hasn't even started.”

“When does Degradation of the front section begin?” Zhao Tiezhu asked.

“After the Great Evacuation is complete.” Lu Chen glanced at the clock. “Lin Xiao’s latest report says that as of 0:45 AM, there are still about two thousand people queuing in the front section of The City-State. At the current speed, it should be cleared between 1:30 and 2:00 AM. Once cleared, the front section will be an empty shell.”

“How many points for decomposing the front section?”

“Master Wu Bingde calculated it.” Lu Chen glanced at the old man in the corner. “The front section is three hundred and sixty meters long, and its structure is denser than the rear. Estimated fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand Truth Points.”

Fifteen thousand to eighteen thousand.

Divided by fifty.

Three hundred to three hundred and sixty rounds.

Zhao Tiezhu ran the math through his head, and the breath held in his chest slowly released.

“That’s enough.”

“Enough.” Lu Chen set down his pen. “Before Iron Hoof completes its Base Building, the front section will be decomposed. By then, the Railway Gun will have ample ammunition, and the Phalanx CIWS interception count will be maxed out. Polaris will no longer be bait.”

The communicator vibrated. It was Lin Xiao’s channel.

“City Lord.”

“Speak.”

“That noise just now.” Lin Xiao’s voice carried an irrepressible tension. “The entire front section of The City-State heard it. The crowd waiting for evacuation has exploded into a frenzy. They're asking all sorts of things.”

“Tell them,” Lu Chen’s tone was flat, “Polaris is test-firing its gun.”

The other end went silent for a beat.

“Test-firing.” Lin Xiao repeated, his voice gaining a different quality. “Good. I'll tell them Polaris is test-firing its gun.”

“Say exactly that.”

“City Lord,” Lin Xiao lowered his voice.

“Speak.”

“Can it hit Iron Hoof?”

Lu Chen looked at the faint point of light on the panel at the eight-kilometer boundary to the north, neither advancing nor retreating.

“It can penetrate them.”

Communication cut.

On the panel, the Degradation of the last few dozen meters of the rear section continued.

The Truth Points balance slowly ticked up from 3.

56.

78.

103.

Railway Gun reload countdown: 47 seconds.

Lu Chen leaned back into the iron chair, his gaze falling on that rising number.

To the north, within the Iron Hoof Legion’s Base Building site, a data package containing the electromagnetic acceleration trajectory images was being dismantled and analyzed by Iron Crown’s Staff Team.

What would they see?

A two-hundred-meter fortress-class Mobile City. A medium-range electromagnetic railgun. A range of fourteen to twenty kilometers.

And what would they not see?

A thirty-eight-kilometer effective range. One thousand two hundred millimeters of penetration.

And a technology tree that was frantically recovering points from a balance of three.