44: Chapter 44: Seventy bullets clear the field! Just one step away from 500 points.

The Polaris advanced across the ice field at cruising speed for forty minutes.

Lu Chen scanned the terrain ahead with his tactical binoculars and discovered three early-stage Mutated Icefield Wolves fighting over food at the edge of a shallow valley leveled by an ice storm.

The prey were slightly larger than those encountered before, and their cuticles were darker in color, indicating they had survived at least more than one ice storm cycle in this area.

"Three of them, early-stage, distance two hundred meters," Lu Chen reported the data, sounding no different than if he were reading a weather forecast.

He didn't slow down, moving his right hand from the steering wheel to the fire-control joystick.

"City Lord, are we using the crossbow or the gun?" Lin Wan asked without looking up, squatting next to the cultivation boxes in the planting area.

"The gun." Lu Chen rested his thumb on the gray trigger. "Using crossbow bolts to kill early-stage wolves is too wasteful; save those for hard targets. The heavy machine gun takes fifteen rounds to finish an early-stage wolf. One truth point gets you ten rounds of ammo, so three wolves will consume four to five points' worth of ammo, but three beast cores can be converted into sixty to ninety points. No matter how you calculate it, it's a profit."

The crosshairs of the brass periscope sight locked onto the nearest wolf.

One hundred and fifty meters.

One hundred meters.

Lu Chen pulled the trigger.

Rat-tat-tat!

The six barrels rotated at high speed, and a string of golden shell casings flew out.

Over a dozen rounds poured out in less than a second and a half, turning the target's upper body into a sieve.

The remaining two wolves were startled and instinctively fled in two different directions.

Lu Chen made a slight adjustment to the joystick, the crosshairs tracking the one on the left.

Rat-tat-tat!

A short burst. Eight rounds bit into the target's lower back, snapping its spine and killing it on the spot.

The third wolf had run thirty meters, but Lu Chen didn't pursue it.

He released the trigger and turned the steering wheel at an angle. The Polaris carved an arc across the ice, using its massive body to block the escape path.

Terrified by the massive vehicle, the wolf's front legs buckled, and it collapsed onto the ice.

Bang-bang!

Two shots, and its head vanished.

"Ammo consumption: thirty-five rounds," Lu Chen quickly calculated. After yesterday's testing, seventy rounds were left; this round had used up half, leaving only about thirty. At this rate of consumption, the current ammunition wouldn't last through the next encounter of a similar scale. "Need to replenish ammo."

He summoned the system panel in his mind.

"System, consume 5 Truth Points to exchange for 50 rounds of standard ammunition."

[Ding! 5 Truth Points deducted. Standard caliber ammunition × 50 rounds generated. Automatically loaded into the ammunition box. Current ammunition: 85/500.]

[Current truth point balance: 85 points.]

The heavy clinking of shell casings came from the roof as the newly generated ammunition was automatically linked by the feed belt.

Lu Chen nodded and parked the Polaris next to the three wolf carcasses. He gripped the mechanical arm control lever with his right hand. With a hiss, the hydraulic mechanical arm extended from the right armor plate, its claws opening in the cold wind.

For the first wolf carcass, the claws bit into the chest cavity, and hydraulic pressure was applied.

Crack.

The frozen ribcage was pried open, revealing the primary beast core inside, still glowing with a faint blue light.

The claws firmly gripped the beast core, stripped it from the heart tissue, and sent it into the cabin through the external collection port.

The beast core rolled into the tray next to the dashboard with a crisp clinking sound.

The second and third followed the same process, clean and efficient.

Three primary beast cores were neatly arranged in the tray.

Adding the two saved from yesterday, there were five in total.

"Five primary beast cores, calculated at a minimum of twenty points each, is one hundred points," Lu Chen calculated mentally. "Plus the balance of eighty-five points, that's a total of one hundred and eighty-five points. Still three hundred and fifteen points short."

He also used the mechanical arm to recover the usable meat into the vehicle, never leaving the driver's seat the entire time.

"City Lord, you hunted three more?" Lin Wan walked over from the planting area, her eyes lighting up when she saw the beast cores in the tray.

"Yeah." Lu Chen took a sip of warm water from his thermos. "Efficiency is good today. If I hunt another five to eight this morning, it'll be enough to reach five hundred points."

"Then which node do you plan to unlock today?"

"Haven't decided yet." Lu Chen leaned back in his seat, his fingers unconsciously tapping twice on the metal handle of the fire-control joystick.

The four words from the radio this morning were still weighing on his mind.

Target locked.

The time window was narrowing; every single truth point had to be spent with careful consideration.

"The fuel conversion function of the Power Engine can refine animal fat into diesel, reducing dependence on coal crystals. You'd definitely want the hydroponic garden—eight times the planting area." He paused, his tone dropping slightly. "But for now, the most useful things are those related to combat."

Lin Wan bit her lip and didn't argue.

She knew better than anyone that under the shadow of the Snow Shard Gang, the priority of growing vegetables would always come after survival.

"City Lord, that encrypted radio wave... how long do you estimate it will take for them to arrive?"

"Three days at the earliest." Lu Chen glanced out the window at the empty, heart-stoppingly white horizon. "It depends on where their main force is and how many troops they've deployed. If they just send a vanguard to test the waters—just a few Lv.2 chariots—the Polaris's current firepower can handle it. If the main force comes out in full strength..."

He didn't finish the sentence.

His fingers paused on the joystick for a beat, then he gripped the steering wheel again.

Lin Wan was silent for a few seconds before walking back to the planting area and squatting down to check the germination of the winter wheat.

Lu Chen restarted the engine and continued to push deeper into the Pale Shoals.

Over the next two hours, he successively hunted four more early-stage Icefield Wolves and one Mutated Ice-Rock Pig that had just crossed the threshold into the mid-stage.

The quality of the Ice-Rock Pig's beast core was significantly higher than that of the early-stage wolves; the system scan showed a single-core conversion rate of eighty points.

Plus the four early-stage wolf cores, this wave brought in another one hundred and sixty to two hundred points.

Adding to the previous stockpile, the total available Truth Points were now approaching the four-hundred-point threshold.

"Still one hundred points short." Lu Chen brought the last beast core into the cabin, his gaze crossing the distant horizon.

The density of Mutant Beasts in the Pale Shoals was visibly decreasing.

Multiple days of high-intensity sweeping had already cut down most of the ecological chain in this area.

The refresh frequency of early-stage wolves was starting to fall behind his hunting speed.

"Either go deeper, or wait a couple of days for the prey to naturally replenish."

Lu Chen weighed his options and decided to convert all the existing beast cores first to see the specific numbers before making a decision.

"System, full scan. Calculate the value of all unconverted beast cores."

[Ding! Scan complete.]

[Primary Icefield Wolf beast cores × 7. Quality varies. Total conversion value: 230 Truth Points.]

[mid-stage Ice-Rock Pig beast core × 1. Good quality. Conversion value: 180 Truth Points.]

[Total conversion can yield 410 Truth Points.]

"Convert all."

[Ding! Conversion starting. Consuming primary beast cores × 7, mid-stage beast core × 1.]

[Conversion successful! Obtained 380 Truth Points.]

[Current account balance: 465 points.]

"Four hundred and sixty-five points."

Thirty-five points away from five hundred.

Lu Chen looked at the number, his fingers tapping rhythmically three times on the steering wheel.

"If I hunt two or three more early-stage prey this afternoon, I can reach it today."

He turned the vehicle around, preparing to head toward a group of ice hills to the west that had not yet been swept.

The Polaris's heavy tracks crushed the ice, and the manganese steel ram in front split a block of ice rubble blocking the way.

Broken ice splashed to both sides, and the vehicle's speed didn't decrease in the slightest.