257: Chapter 257 Iron Hooves Pressing Down on Eight Cities! Lu Chen Decisively Orders Fire

Day 74, 10:37 AM.

The Cockpit felt a bit stuffy.

Lu Chen was reviewing Greenhouse data with Lin Wan.

It was the sixth day since the fourth batch of Fast-growing Wheat had been sown; the roots were firmly established, the stalks had begun to sprout, and tomorrow would be the seventh day—harvest day.

"What's the estimated yield?"

"Seventeen to eighteen tons," Lin Wan said, flipping through her logbook and looking at the data. "It's on par with the third batch. The Shock-absorbing Layers are all installed, so traveling at full speed won't affect it."

"Good. Keep the harvest schedule as usual; we'll start at 6:00 AM tomorrow."

"Understood."

The communicator vibrated.

It wasn't on a standard frequency.

It was the shortwave reception frequency for the Reconnaissance Platoon.

Lu Chen's hand froze in mid-air.

Zhou Yuan sprang up from the console, his eyes fixed on the communicator's signal indicator light.

Beep.

A very short pulse, lasting less than a second.

Then, silence.

"Cheng Kui has sent a signal," Zhou Yuan said, his voice raspy.

Lu Chen walked over to the communicator.

The shortwave pulse lasted 0.7 seconds—a preset code.

"0.7 seconds." He recalled the code table in his mind. "Ground vibrations."

There were four types of anomaly standards: heat sources, engine noise, lights, and ground vibrations.

Cheng Kui was reporting ground vibrations.

"Direction?" Zhao Tiezhu asked.

"Shortwave pulses don't carry directional information," Zhou Yuan shook his head. "We can only confirm that Cheng Kui sensed ground vibrations."

"Ground vibrations." Lu Chen listed the possibilities. "There's only one source for ground vibrations that can be felt from six to seven kilometers away."

"A large Mobile City starting its engines," Zhou Yuan finished.

"Iron Hoof is starting to move."

The Cockpit fell silent for a moment, save for the hum of the ventilation fan.

"Wait," Lu Chen raised a hand to stop them. "It's not necessarily an all-out offensive. Cities in the Base Building stage also need to start their engines to adjust positions and deploy fire arrays. It's possible the ground vibrations are just Iron Hoof making final formation adjustments."

"How do we tell the difference?"

"Look at the radar." Lu Chen turned to the console. "If Iron Hoof is just adjusting its formation, the large cities will only move slightly and won't enter the eight-kilometer radar circle. If it's an all-out offensive, the main formation will push forward as a whole, and new signals will pop up soon."

He watched the console.

The scanning line completed a rotation.

The light dot from the Probe five kilometers to the north was still there.

There were no new signals on the eight-kilometer boundary.

Another rotation.

Still nothing.

"No new signals entering the eight-kilometer range for now," Zhou Yuan confirmed.

"Keep watching." Lu Chen didn't look away. "Report every five seconds."

"Understood."

Five seconds. The scanning line passed. Nothing.

Ten seconds. Nothing.

Fifteen seconds. Nothing.

Twenty seconds.

"We have something!" Zhou Yuan's voice rose.

Lu Chen's gaze fixed on the console.

North, three degrees west of true north, on the eight-kilometer boundary.

A new light dot appeared.

The signal strength was more than ten times stronger than that of the Probe.

"lv.3 Signal Cross-section," Zhou Yuan interpreted quickly. "An lv.3 fortress-class Mobile City just crossed the eight-kilometer line."

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes.

"Speed?"

"About fourteen kilometers per hour, and it's accelerating."

"Direction?"

"Directly toward Polaris."

"Just one?"

The scanning line completed another rotation.

"A second one," Zhou Yuan's speech quickened. "Seven degrees west of true north, eight-kilometer boundary, another lv.3."

Third rotation.

"Third one, one degree east of true north."

Fourth rotation.

"Fourth one, four degrees east of true north."

Four lv.3 cities had crossed the eight-kilometer line simultaneously in less than thirty seconds.

They fanned out, their front covering an eleven-degree sector from seven degrees west to four degrees east.

"More are popping up," Zhou Yuan's throat felt dry.

Fifth rotation.

"Fifth one, ten degrees west."

Sixth rotation.

"Sixth one, seven degrees east."

Six lv.3 cities.

The fan formation continued to expand.

"City Lord," Zhao Tiezhu's hand hovered near the Railway Gun's trigger. "Do we fire?"

"No," Lu Chen's tone remained unchanged. "The lv.3s aren't the targets. Wait for the Lv.4s."

Seventh rotation.

"New signal!" Zhou Yuan's tone changed. "The Signal Cross-section is more than three times larger than an lv.3's. Two degrees west of true north, eight-kilometer boundary."

"Lv.4."

"Lv.4 confirmed."

Eighth rotation.

"A second Lv.4, three degrees east of true north."

Two Lv.4s.

Six lv.3 cities.

All had crossed the eight-kilometer line, fanning out and heading directly for Polaris.

"There's more," Zhou Yuan said, his eyes glued to the console.

Ninth rotation.

Tenth rotation.

No more new signals.

"That's it for now," Zhou Yuan exhaled deeply. "Six lv.3s and two Lv.4s—eight Mobile Cities in total. They've fanned out and are advancing head-on."

"What about the crusher?" Lu Chen asked.

"Nothing," Zhou Yuan shook his head. "There's no Lv.5 Signal Cross-section within eight kilometers. The crusher is still behind them."

"How far behind?"

"I don't know; it's beyond radar range."

Lu Chen looked at the eight light dots slowly advancing on the console.

Six lv.3s and two Lv.4s—this was the Iron Hoof's Vanguard Formation.

The crusher was bringing up the rear.

A standard Iron Hoof offensive formation: the vanguard Probes while the main force stays back.

"Cheng Zheng," he pressed the direct communication button.

"I'm here," Cheng Zheng's voice sounded tense.

"Did you see it?"

"I saw it. My Passive Array captured everything. Eight cities, fanning out and advancing at fourteen to sixteen kilometers per hour."

"What about the crusher?"

"My Long-range Passive Monitoring captured a massive low-frequency vibration source fifteen kilometers away," Cheng Zheng provided the data. "It's judged to be an Lv.5 engine signature. The crusher is about seven to eight kilometers behind the vanguard, which puts it roughly fifteen kilometers from Polaris."

Fifteen kilometers.

The Railway Gun's effective range was thirty-eight kilometers.

It could reach.

"Cheng Zheng," Lu Chen said. "Joint Strike, starting now."

"Received," Cheng Zheng replied crisply. "The three lv.3s in the Vanguard Formation have entered combat status. Awaiting your coordinates."

"Coordinates coming right up." Lu Chen turned to Zhao Tiezhu. "Railway Gun, target is two degrees west of true north, distance 7.3 kilometers, Lv.4 signal source."

Zhao Tiezhu's fingers flew across the Fire Control Console.

"Target locked," he reported. "Electromagnetic Acceleration Rails preheated, ammunition loaded. Awaiting fire command."

Lu Chen glanced at the Lv.4 light dot closing in on the console.

7.3 kilometers.

1,200mm penetration.

800mm armor.

"Fire."