56: Chapter 56 Three More Heavy Weapons in One Night! Lin Xiao Was Stunned

When the departure announcement played for the third time, the industrial elevator in the docking area rang again.

Through the porthole, Lu Chen saw Lin Xiao striding out of the elevator, followed by two people he hadn't seen before.

One was a lean young man wearing a deep blue City-State military uniform, with a bronze badge on his left chest that was larger than those of ordinary guards.

The other was a large middle-aged man with a full beard, carrying a tin flask in his right hand; the liquid inside sloshed audibly as he walked.

Lin Xiao stopped ten meters in front of the Polaris and looked it over.

His footsteps came to a sudden halt.

"Huo."

This exclamation escaped from his nose, carrying a heavy sense of confusion.

The Polaris he had touched with his own hands yesterday no longer matched the appearance of the one today.

Outside the originally flat scrap steel sloped armor of the vehicle body, a layer of sharp-edged wedge-shaped modules had been added.

Those wedge-shaped surfaces reflected a cold, hard metallic luster under the docking area's lights, cutting the entire vehicle's silhouette into a steel hedgehog covered in sharp angles.

A set of six-barreled launchers had been added to each side of the vehicle body, their thick muzzles neatly arranged like two rows of cannon barrels pressed into the hull.

A new turret stood prominently at the rear of the roof, its short, thick barrel wrapped in dark red Energy-Conducting Coils, echoing the Twin-Linked Six-Barreled Heavy Machine Gun at the front.

With the front and rear turrets, the grenade launcher arrays on both sides, the Steam Spray Guns at the four corners, and that rugged Harpoon Cannon barrel...

The firepower density of this twenty-meter-long Lv.2 Base Vehicle had already caught up to that of a small fortress.

"City Lord, did this vehicle look like this yesterday?" the lean youth behind him stepped forward and whispered.

"Of course not." Lin Xiao stood with his hands on his hips and broke into a grin.

He walked halfway around the Polaris, stopped in front of the set of Fragment Grenade Launchers on the right side, and reached out to tap twice on the edge of the launcher muzzles.

"This thing wasn't here yesterday."

The City Lord then walked to the rear of the vehicle and looked up at the newly appeared Ray Cannon turret.

"This one also popped up today."

His gaze swept over the additional layer of wedge-shaped armor modules on the vehicle's surface.

"There wasn't even a shadow of this shell yesterday."

Lin Xiao turned around to face the Polaris's communicator.

"Brother Lu Chen."

"Here," Lu Chen's voice came through the speaker.

"What did you do in the vehicle last night? Did you do an all-night renovation?"

The communicator went silent for two seconds.

"Just some minor repairs."

Lin Xiao stared at the Ray Cannon turret at the rear of the roof for three seconds.

No military factory on the wasteland could produce the material and craftsmanship of the dark red coils wrapped around that thick barrel.

"Minor repairs," Lin Xiao repeated those four words, his tone carrying a hint of amusement.

He could very well have pressed further.

An Lv.2 Base Vehicle gaining three sets of brand-new weapons and armor systems out of thin air overnight—the secrets involved here were much deeper than he had imagined.

He cut off his line of questioning.

Some secrets didn't need to be exposed.

If exposed, the relationship would instead become difficult to manage.

"Alright." Lin Xiao patted the dust off his hands.

"You obsessive-compulsive driver, you really do have quite some skill."

He turned his head and beckoned to the two people behind him.

"Come over, let me introduce you."

The lean youth stepped forward quickly and stood at attention beside Lin Xiao.

"This is Zhou Yuan, my deputy, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Black Rock City-State Military Staff Department."

Zhou Yuan nodded toward the Polaris's communicator, his voice crisp.

"Zhou Yuan. I have long heard of City Lord Lu Chen's great name."

"You're too kind," Lu Chen's voice came from the speaker.

Lin Xiao then pointed at the bearded man holding the wine flask.

"This is Horton, the Black Rock City-State Combat Captain and Master Gunner."

"The calibration and command of The City-State's main battery array of one hundred and twenty cannons are all under his management."

The bearded man named Horton took a step forward; he was around forty-five years old, and the weathered lines on his face were even deeper than Lin Xiao's.

He looked up at the Twin-Linked Six-Barreled Heavy Machine Gun turret on the roof of the Polaris, then at the newly appeared Ray Cannon turret, and clicked his tongue.

"Lin Xiao, you weren't bragging to me."

"The firepower density of this small vehicle is indeed ridiculous."

Horton unscrewed the tin flask and took a swig, his voice even louder than Lin Xiao's.

"Brother Lu Chen! I'm Horton! I've been a gunner for twenty years!"

"I only took a distant look at that six-barreled rotary gun on your roof yesterday, and I told the City Lord right then that the barrel rotation bearings of that gun are definitely not made of ordinary steel."

"Taking another look today, good heavens, there are two more sets of side launchers and a rear turret."

"Where on earth did you get these things?"

"Assembled them myself," Lu Chen replied.

Horton froze for a beat, then burst into a laugh even louder than Lin Xiao's.

"Hahaha! Assembled them yourself!"

"What a 'assembled them yourself'!"

He took another swig of wine and gave a thumbs-up to the communicator.

"You've got guts!"

Lin Xiao shook his head, looking at Horton's 'can't-move-on-after-seeing-a-good-weapon' appearance.

"Alright, stop howling."

He walked to the communicator and lowered his voice.

"Brother Lu Chen, I have one more thing to tell you."

"Speak."

"Black Rock City-State will depart in three hours to return to the Rustwind Wasteland."

Lin Xiao's tone switched from the previous teasing to seriousness.

"The Pale Shoals is not my home turf; fighting the Snow Shard Gang here does me no good."

"The Rustwind Wasteland is the territory Black Rock City-State has operated in for five years. I know the terrain, the supply lines are short, and the outposts and resource points are all there."

"If the Snow Shard Gang wants to fight, I'll be waiting for them in the Rustwind Wasteland."

Lu Chen nodded inside the cabin.

"Then what about the Polaris?"

"I've already given orders regarding your docking berth. Whether The City-State leaves or not, this spot is reserved for you for eight days."

Lin Xiao paused.

"However, my personal suggestion is that you don't need to stay in the docking area all the time."

"Before the mark dissipates, if the Snow Shard Gang's vanguard arrives at the Pale Shoals, what they will face is no Lv.2 Base Vehicle."

"It's a steel monster with a firepower density catching up to an Lv.3 fortress."

"I took a look at your vehicle before I came out," Lin Xiao said in a hushed voice.

"To be honest, if I were the captain of the Snow Shard Gang's vanguard and saw this vehicle, I'd turn around and run."

Lu Chen did not respond to this evaluation.

"I received the blueprints," he changed the subject.

"Mm, are those scraps of paper useful?"

"They're useful."

"That's good." Lin Xiao clapped his hands.

"Brother Lu Chen, The City-State is about to move out. Before we go, I'd like to chat with you some more."

"How?"

"Come out for a meal."

Lin Xiao grinned broadly.

"Horton specifically brought a flask of good wine down from the city, and Zhou Yuan went to the canteen to get a few plates of hot food."

"Right here in the docking area, we'll set up a table. You, me, plus Xiao Wan—the five of us will have a simple meal."

Lu Chen was silent for three seconds.

"Alright."

The hydraulic lock of the vehicle door clicked.