43: Chapter 43 The radio explodes with news of death! At most five days later...

The morning light filtered through the thickened bulletproof glass porthole, casting a grayish-white band of light onto the metal floor of the cockpit.

Lu Chen rolled over and opened his eyes.

The metal mesh of the upper bunk pressed hard against his back, but the uniform warmth emanating from the heating pipes allowed his body to relax completely.

He lay there for three seconds before quickly regaining full alertness.

He rolled out of bed, his feet landing on the warm metal floor.

Lin Wan on the lower bunk was still curled up on the insulation mat, her breathing steady as she slept deeply.

Lu Chen did not wake her, heading straight for the cockpit.

The Polaris's boiler was still rumbling at a low idle, the steam hub distributing faint power to the heating pipes and air purification modules.

Everything was operating normally.

He sat in the pilot's seat, habitually scanning the various instruments.

The coal bunker was sufficiently stocked, the cold storage temperature was normal, and the track lubrication system was on standby.

His gaze fell upon the radio.

The old military hand-crank radio was still on, its volume having been turned to the minimum by him last night.

The fine crackle of radio static sounded, mingling with the noise of the boiler, making it extremely difficult to detect.

Lu Chen reached out and turned the volume knob up two notches.

The hiss of white noise filled the cockpit.

The Black Rock City-State's missing persons broadcast was still playing on a loop.

He could already recite that rigid announcer's voice by heart.

He was just about to change the frequency to look for new intelligence when his finger brushed the knob, and a short burst of radio waves pierced through the static.

Lu Chen's finger froze instantly.

He slowly dialed the knob back half a notch.

Amidst the crackling, a heavily compressed radio signal emerged intermittently.

The signal quality was extremely poor, with most of the content swallowed by interference.

But there were four words that Lu Chen captured clearly.

Target locked.

The cabin remained silent for a full five seconds.

Lu Chen sat with his back against the pilot's seat, his finger resting on the radio knob, motionless.

His facial muscles were pulled tight, and a terrifying chill condensed in the depths of his eyes.

"The Snow Shard Gang's channel," he said in a low, suppressed voice.

'Target locked' meant that a Geiger radar had already captured the radiation isotope signal from the Polaris; the positioning was complete.

That swarm of hornets was either already on the way or currently calculating an encirclement route.

Lu Chen turned the radio volume back down, but he didn't turn it off.

He needed to continue monitoring this frequency.

Any new leak of information would be key to judging the enemy's timing.

"City Lord?"

Lin Wan's voice came from behind him, the raspiness of someone just waking up not yet gone.

"When did you get up?"

"I was just woken up by the sound of you turning on the radio."

Lin Wan rubbed her eyes as she walked to the cockpit entrance, pausing slightly when she saw Lu Chen's posture in the pilot's seat.

"Did something happen?"

"A radio wave leaked from the Snow Shard Gang's encrypted channel," Lu Chen said without looking back. "Two words: target locked."

Lin Wan's hand, which was rubbing her eyes, stopped mid-air.

"They found us?"

"To be precise, they've locked onto the signal's direction," Lu Chen corrected. "The signal strength of radiation isotopes decays with distance; they must still be scanning from hundreds of kilometers away."

He paused. "But from locking the signal to organizing a convoy to set out, there will be a period of preparation. This time is our window."

Lin Wan stood there, the color draining completely from her face.

"City Lord, should we run for it?"

"Run?" Lu Chen looked back at her. "Run where? The radiation mark is still on us; they can track us to the ends of the earth."

"Then what do we do?"

"Two paths." Lu Chen held up two fingers. "First, wait nine days for the marker to naturally dissipate, and they'll lose their means of tracking. Second, before they catch up, arm the Polaris to the point where it can take on their vanguard head-on."

He retracted his fingers and turned his gaze to the pale ice fields outside the window. "These two paths are not contradictory; we can take both at once."

"Which means?"

"Which means, today we continue scavenging." Lu Chen stood up and walked to the boiler to add two coal crystals. "Truth Points won't fall from the sky; every day wasted is one less node unlocked. Go check on the Cabbage, then prepare to set out."

"Okay."

Lin Wan responded and walked quickly toward the starboard planting area.

Lu Chen pulled down the boiler's ventilation valve, and the flames leapt up two inches.

The steam hub sensed the change in heat and automatically increased the power distribution to each subsystem.

The engine shifted from idle to low-power operation, and the tracks made a dense, smooth clicking sound under the protection of the cold-resistant lubrication system.

The Polaris slowly moved away from the leeward side of the ice rock shelter.

The barrels of the Twin-Linked Six-Barreled Heavy Machine Gun on the roof swayed in the cold wind.

The tip of the manganese steel ram glinted coldly in the morning light.

The massive vehicle, over twenty meters long, crushed the snow, leaving behind two deep track marks.

Lu Chen held the steering wheel with one hand and rested the other on the fire control lever, the gray trigger right under his thumb.

"City Lord, the Cabbage is growing very well, and the Winter Wheat has sprouted too."

Lin Wan's voice came from the planting area.

"Understood."

Lu Chen stared at the ice fields ahead; his vision was filled with a lifeless expanse of white.

What he hadn't told Lin Wan was that those words had made him re-evaluate the timeline.

Nine days was not enough at all.

If the main force of the Snow Shard Gang marches at full speed, it will take them three to five days at the fastest from signal lock to arrival at the Pale Shoals.

The window of time left for him was narrower than expected.

"Accelerate."

Lu Chen stepped on the accelerator, and the roar of the Polaris's engine instantly intensified.

The heavy tracks crushed the ice, kicking up two white waves of snow.

This Lv.2 camp-level Mobile City advanced at full speed toward the heart of the Pale Shoals.