48: Chapter 48 Entering the 800-meter-tall megacity!

As the distance closed, the full view of the Black Rock City-State unfolded inch by inch before the windshield.

Lu Chen had to constantly tilt his head back to see the top of the city walls.

When the Polaris drove within five hundred meters of the giant city, the walls completely occupied his entire field of vision.

That colossal wall of steel hung down from the sky, utterly cutting off the light from ahead.

Shadows enveloped the entire body of the Polaris. Under the shelter of the city walls, the temperature actually rose by a few degrees; it was the industrial waste heat leaking out from inside the giant city.

The open armored gate at the base was just two hundred meters ahead. The gateway was at least fifteen meters high and over thirty meters wide.

The Polaris's length of over twenty meters and width of eight meters took up less than a quarter of the space in front of this gate.

Warm yellow industrial lighting glowed inside the gateway, outlining a broad metal ramp that extended upward into the depths of the city.

Parked on both sides of the ramp were over a dozen Lv.1 and Lv.2 vehicles of various models, ranging from armed off-road vehicles to medium transport crawlers, all lined up neatly.

Beside each vehicle stood City-State Guards in full uniform, holding standard-issue rifles with their muzzles uniformly pointed down.

“No hostility.”

Lu Chen quickly scanned the layout inside the gateway.

The guards were in a welcoming formation, completely devoid of defensive postures. Everyone's attention was focused on the front of the Polaris, necks craned as they watched, showing no signs of alertness.

“City Lord, we're about to drive in,” Lin Wan said from the cockpit entrance, her voice tight with tension.

“Mm.”

Lu Chen dropped the speed to the lowest crawling gear.

The heavy treads of the Polaris ground onto the metal ramp at an extremely slow pace.

The surface of the ramp was covered with a layer of anti-slip steel plates, etched with dense horizontal patterns that exuded a rugged industrial feel.

The treads bit into the steel plates with a rhythmic clacking sound that echoed within the gateway.

The City-State Guards on both sides sized up this slowly entering Lv.2 Base Vehicle-class Mobile City.

Their gazes were first pinned by the shiny manganese steel ram at the front, then swept over the ten-centimeter-thick sloped scrap steel armor, followed the line up to the turret of the Twin-Linked Six-Barreled Heavy Machine Gun on the roof, and finally settled on the hydraulic Mechanical Arms in their retracted state on the sides of the vehicle.

Several guards' mouths hung wide open.

A Lv.2 Base Vehicle equipped like this?

Among all the Lv.2 vehicles they had ever seen, the firepower configuration mounted on the Polaris was at least a level and a half higher.

Lu Chen didn't even glance outside the vehicle; his entire attention was fixed on the passage ahead.

After extending upward for fifty meters, the metal ramp entered a broader internal space.

The lower Docking Area of the Black Rock City-State.

The area was surprisingly vast. Lu Chen took a glance; just the section within his field of vision could simultaneously accommodate fifty Lv.2 vehicles.

The floor was made of polished, thick steel plates, marked with white parking lines and driving guide symbols. Overhead was a crisscross of steel beams and steam pipes, with high-power industrial lighting hanging every few meters.

The air was thick with the mixed scent of engine oil and coal smoke, along with the scorched smell emitted by metal that had been repeatedly heated.

When the Polaris, that iron box just over twenty meters long, drove in, it seemed as small as a rivet dropped onto a factory floor by comparison.

“Attention to the Lv.2 vehicle ahead, please turn right into the third docking bay,” the voice of a city-state guide came through the Docking Area's broadcast system.

Lu Chen turned the steering wheel at an angle, and the Polaris slowly pulled into a spacious independent docking bay following the guidance markers.

The docking bay was at least three times the footprint of the Polaris, separated by metal railings, with a standard city-state configuration Lv.2 transport vehicle parked on either side.

Compared to the Polaris, those two vehicles were like bare-bones cargo trucks without any armor.

He switched the engine to idle and pulled the parking brake lever.

The Polaris came to a steady stop within the belly of the Black Rock City-State.

He sat firmly in the driver's seat. Through the bulletproof glass, he could see that over a dozen city-state members had already gathered outside the docking bay. There were guards, technicians in work clothes, and a few clerical staff in gray uniforms.

Everyone was curiously eyeing the Polaris.

A middle-aged woman in a gray uniform walked to the front of the vehicle, holding a communicator.

“City Lord of the Polaris, I am the duty administrator of the Docking Area.” Her voice came through the radio inside the cabin via the communicator. “City Lord Lin Xiao is already waiting in the upper-level reception area. May I ask if you need...”

“I'm not getting out.”

Lu Chen pressed the talk button, his words blunt.

“Nor do I wish for anyone to enter my vehicle. If it is convenient for City Lord Lin Xiao, please have him come to the Docking Area. My person will come out of the vehicle to meet him.”

He released the talk button, cutting off any room for the other party to bargain.

The administrator outside paused, then nodded and turned to say something into the communicator.

“City Lord, you're not going out?” Lin Wan was stunned for a moment.

“Inside the vehicle, I have the system's city management authority, and the City Lord's authorized shield is also active,” Lu Chen glanced at the Polaris's status interface on the holographic panel.

“In the vehicle, both you and I have full security. Once out of the vehicle, we're just ordinary people.”

He paused for a beat.

“I'll be responsible for guarding the vehicle; you go out to see your brother.”

Lu Chen pulled a Folding Short Sword from under the seat and handed it to Lin Wan.

“Take this.”

“City Lord, I don't need a blade in front of my brother...”

“Rules,” Lu Chen glared at her.

Lin Wan obediently took the short sword and tucked it into her waist.

“Once outside, regarding the internal equipment of the Polaris, only speak of generalities,” Lu Chen added.

“You can mention the number of Cultivation Boxes, the insulation system, the water purifiers, and such. But the system, the technology tree, and Truth Points—not a single word about those.”

“Understood.”

Lin Wan gripped the hilt and pushed open the vehicle door.

The outside air rushed in. The temperature was around fifteen degrees, five degrees lower than inside the Polaris, but it was heaven compared to the minus sixty degrees on the ice plains.

The air was thick with industrial odors; the smell of metal and coal smoke hit her nose directly.

The moment Lin Wan stepped out of the door, the gazes of the dozen or so city-state members nearby all snapped toward her.

Her feet touched the steel floor of the Docking Area, the residual heat of the Polaris's constant twenty-degree temperature still on her back.

A heavy click sounded behind her.

Lu Chen had already relocked the door from the inside.