263: Chapter 263 Level Four Advancement! Polaris Devourer and Crusher

On the panel, the countdowns for the three modifications hit zero in the order of the Medium All-Weather Ecological Circle, the Heavy Mobile Fortress Base, and finally, the High-pressure Thunder Power Hub.

When the first two were completed, Polaris only vibrated slightly twice.

The moment the third one hit zero, the entire city emitted a low rumble.

The line of red text on the panel began to flash.

[ Lv.3 technology tree 16/16. All physical modifications complete. City upgrade evolution countdown started. ]

[ Lv.3 → Lv.4. Upgrade time: 360 seconds. ]

360 seconds.

Six minutes.

Twice as long as the 180 seconds it took for the last Lv.2 to Lv.3 upgrade.

"Everyone, hold on tight." Lu Chen's voice transmitted throughout the entire city via full-frequency communication.

More than 28,000 people were all inside Polaris.

The countdown began.

360.

359.

358.

The vibration beneath their feet changed.

This was different from the localized molecular-level trembling during the modifications; every steel beam, every armor plate, and every weld seam of the entire city was resonating simultaneously.

From the chassis to the dome.

From the bow to the stern.

The 206-meter-long steel behemoth was emitting creaking sounds of metal stretching from head to toe.

"It's growing." Zhao Tiezhu gripped the edge of the console, his gaze fixed outside.

He was right.

Polaris was growing.

Looking out from the Cockpit's observation window, the armor plates at the bow were extending forward at a speed visible to the naked eye.

New steel beams grew out from the old structure, like bones lengthening.

New armor plates spread out over the skeleton, like scales covering it.

300.

The city's length had already exceeded 300 meters.

280.

The position of the Cockpit was rising.

The entire city was getting taller.

New floors broke through the top of the third level, stacking one on top of the other.

Three levels.

Four levels.

Five levels.

"It's five levels now." Lin Wan stared at the dome structure rising outside the window.

260.

"Cheng Zheng." Lu Chen activated the communication link.

There was silence for three seconds before a reply came.

"City Lord Lu." Cheng Zheng's voice sounded strange, "Your city is getting bigger."

"Yes."

"My optical array is recording in real-time. Your city has already broken through 400 meters from its 200-meter length, and it's still growing."

240.

The city's length broke through 500 meters.

The width expanded from 82 meters to over 200 meters.

The height was pulled from 31 meters to 60 meters.

And it was still accelerating.

220.

600 meters.

200.

700 meters.

"City Lord." Lin Xiao's communication cut in, his voice trembling, "It's shaking down here, 30,000 people are all screaming."

"Tell them not to move." Lu Chen said into the communicator, "It will stop shaking after six minutes."

180.

800 meters.

The city's width broke through 300 meters.

The height approached 100 meters.

160.

900 meters.

140.

1,000 meters.

Polaris's length broke through one kilometer.

120.

"City Lord." Zhou Yuan's voice was already trembling, "Our radar array is regrowing, the detection range is increasing—8 kilometers, 10 kilometers, 15 kilometers, and it's still rising."

"The Radar-guided Fire Control Matrix is upgrading synchronously." Lu Chen explained the reason, "All nodes unlocked during the Lv.3 period are being recast according to the Lv.4 standard."

100.

1,100 meters.

"City Lord." Zhao Tiezhu's voice was pressed out from his chest, "On the fire control panel, the parameters for the Railway Gun are refreshing. The caliber hasn't changed, but the coil level has jumped from 32 to 64. The muzzle velocity is rising, the penetration depth is rising, and the range is rising."

80.

1,200 meters.

60.

1,300 meters.

40.

1,400 meters.

New weapon system icons were lighting up one by one on the fire control panel.

Lu Chen saw the gray reserved icon for the ion vector thrusters.

He saw the gray reserved icon for carbon nanotube composite armor.

He saw the gray reserved icon for the autonomous drone swarm.

He saw the gray reserved icon for the high-energy particle beam main cannon.

These were all nodes on the Lv.4 technology tree.

Gray meant locked, but the icons were already there.

20.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

0.

The vibration stopped.

All the metal stretching sounds, all the structural expansion sounds, and all the molecular-level resonances all fell silent in the same instant.

A line of golden text popped up on the panel.

[ City upgrade evolution complete. Polaris, Lv.4 City-State level Mobile City. ]

[ Dual super-specification bonuses continued: Initial area expanded by 240% compared to standard Lv.4, seven-layer structure, all equipment scaled proportionally by area, output efficiency of existing nodes increased by 80%. ]

Lu Chen stood up and walked to the observation window.

The world outside had changed.

The ice sheet hadn't changed; what had changed was the perspective.

The Cockpit was at the very top of the seventh level, nearly 150 meters from the ground.

Looking down from this height, the ice sheet looked like a sheet of white paper spread out.

The wreckage of the crusher was right at Polaris's feet; that 900-meter-long steel mountain range now looked like just a little over half the length of the city.

"Cheng Zheng." Lu Chen activated the communication link.

There was silence on the other end for five seconds.

"City Lord Lu." Cheng Zheng's voice had completely changed tone, "Your city is 1,520 meters long, 560 meters wide, 150 meters high, with a seven-layer structure—it's nearly twice as large as the Black Rock City-State."

"What about compared to the crusher?"

There was silence on the other end for another three seconds.

"The crusher is 2,200 meters long. You are now 1,500 meters. A difference of 700 meters."

A difference of 700 meters.

"But the crusher is gone." Lu Chen finished his sentence.

Cheng Zheng's breathing was clearly audible in the communication.

"City Lord." Lin Wan's voice came from behind him.

Lu Chen turned around.

Lin Wan was standing beside the console, clutching a notebook in her hand, her lips moving, her eyes red.

"What is the current balance?" She asked.

Lu Chen looked down at the panel.

The Degradation of the middle and rear sections of the crusher had automatically paused during the upgrade process; after the upgrade was complete, the system indicated it could continue.

The balance hadn't changed during the upgrade process.

52,341.

"52,341." He reported the number.

"How much of the middle and rear sections of the crusher is left to degrade?"

"About 40 percent." Lu Chen looked at the system's Degradation progress bar, "Plus the 500 meters of the front section and the 300 meters of the power core shell that haven't started to be gnawed on yet, once the Degradation of the entire crusher is complete, the total profit should be over 100,000."

100,000.

"Plus the wreckage of the four Lv.4s and the dozen or so Lv.3s." Zhou Yuan added from behind, his voice floating, "What the City Lord said about 150,000 to 200,000 might even be conservative."

"Continue the Degradation." Lu Chen sat back in the iron chair, "Finish eating the crusher first, then eat the four Lv.4s, and finally the Lv.3s. Not a single bite left."

He switched to the Lv.4 technology tree interface.

Four major branches, four nodes in each branch, totaling sixteen.

All gray.

Price display:

First batch of nodes, 20,000 each.

Second batch, 35,000 each.

Third batch, 50,000 each.

Top core, 80,000 each.

Total, sixteen nodes, 660,000.

660,000 Truth Points.

Lu Chen wrote this number down in his notebook.

Then he wrote the second line.

Estimated total profit from remaining Degradation of the crusher: 80,000+.

Estimated Degradation of four Lv.4s: 50,000.

Estimated Degradation of over ten Lv.3s: 80,000.

Total estimate: 210,000.

Shortfall: 450,000.

He stared at this shortfall for three seconds.

Then he wrote another line underneath.

Lv.4 Degradation efficiency increased by 80%, profit from the same mass of wreckage doubled.

He multiplied all the previous numbers by 1.8.

Remaining from the crusher: 144,000.

Four Lv.4s: 90,000.

Over ten Lv.3s: 144,000.

Total estimate: 378,000.

The shortfall narrowed to 280,000.

Still not enough.

"Cheng Zheng." Lu Chen activated the communication link.

"Here."

"Inside the crusher's wreckage, besides the coal crystal reserves, what else is of high value?"

"The military research institute." Cheng Zheng answered quickly, "Inside the crusher, there is the Iron Hoof Legion's core military research institute. It contains all the pre-civilization weapon blueprints and energy technology archives that they have accumulated over the past century. When Iron Hoof headed south, they brought all their assets inside the crusher."

Lu Chen's fingers paused on the desktop.

All pre-civilization weapon blueprints.

All energy technology archives.

The accumulation of the Iron Hoof Legion over the past century.

The truth logic density of the blueprints far exceeded that of metal structures.

If there was a complete pre-civilization military research institute archive inside the crusher, that wouldn't just be a few tens of thousands of points; that was a massive deal worth hundreds of thousands of points.

"Continue the Degradation." Lu Chen looked at the panel, "Not a single bite left."

On the panel, the Degradation of the middle and rear sections of the crusher restarted.

The balance continued to soar wildly.