57: Chapter 57 Harpooning from Five Meters Away! The Veteran Harpooner Was Impressed.

The temporary metal table and chairs in the corner of the docking area had been rearranged.

Zhou Yuan had somehow found a clean piece of canvas to spread over the tabletop, which was now set with four tin dinner plates and an iron pot twice the size of the plates.

Steam rose from the iron pot, which contained the standard City-State canteen fare: salted meat and potato stew.

The soup was a murky color, but on the wasteland, being able to eat a hot bowl of salted meat and potato stew was considered a proper and decent meal.

Horton's tin flask sat at one corner of the table, flanked by five coarse ceramic bowls.

Lin Xiao took the seat of honor, while Zhou Yuan and Horton sat on either side of him.

Lu Chen walked over and sat in the spot closest to the Polaris, so close he could touch his own vehicle door just by leaning over.

Lin Wan sat between the two men, her hands resting on her knees, looking somewhat constrained.

"Come, come, don't be shy."

Lin Xiao ladled a spoonful of soup from the iron pot into the bowl in front of Lu Chen.

"The City-State canteen's cooking can't compare to that cabbage and wolf meat stew from your vehicle's boiler, but it'll have to do."

"It's enough."

Lu Chen picked up the bowl and took a sip.

The gamey scent of the salted meat was much stronger than that of Mutant Beast meat, and the potatoes weren't stewed soft enough, leaving a noticeable graininess.

But the warmth of the hot soup entering his stomach was very real.

"Oh, right."

Lin Xiao pulled a greaseproof paper bundle from his military uniform pocket and unfolded it on the table.

Inside was a palm-sized block of cheese, its surface glistening with a pale yellow oil.

"This is goat milk cheese produced in The City-State's ranching district; they only put out two batches a month. Use it to go with the cabbage."

Lin Wan's eyes lit up.

"Cheese! Brother, your ranching district can actually raise goats?"

"Only about twenty of them; they're entirely dependent on the greenhouses to stay alive."

Lin Xiao tore off a piece of cheese and handed it to her.

"The milk produced each month is pitifully little; most of it is made into cheese and kept as a strategic reserve."

"I only brought it out today for your sake."

Lu Chen took the small piece of cheese handed to him by Lin Wan and chewed it a few times.

The taste was slightly sour and the texture coarse, but the protein content was extremely high.

It was much more nutritionally balanced than eating nothing but beast meat.

He silently made a mental note: Black Rock City-State has live livestock, which means their Ecological Logistics level is at least high enough to maintain small-scale animal husbandry.

"Brother Lu Chen, do you drink?"

Horton leaned forward, clutching his flask.

"I don't."

"Aiyaya, how can a young man not drink?"

Horton looked disappointed.

"Then I'll drink by myself."

He poured himself a full bowl, tilted his head back, and drained half of it in one go, then wiped the liquor stains from his thick beard.

"Refreshing!"

Zhou Yuan shook his head and explained to Lu Chen in a low voice.

"Captain Horton is great in every way, he just likes his drink a bit too much."

"But don't worry, when a battle starts, he's steadier than anyone. The calibration and command of all one hundred and twenty main cannons depend entirely on his personal oversight."

"When has my cannon ever fired crooked?"

Horton glared at Zhou Yuan.

"Never, never, not once."

Zhou Yuan raised his hands in surrender.

Lin Xiao was amused by the pair's antics and patted the table.

"All right, all right, don't embarrass yourselves in front of our guest."

"Brother Lu Chen, these two are the people I trust most."

"Zhou Yuan is my second-in-command; he has a good head on his shoulders. All the tactical simulations from the staff department are his work."

"Horton is the combat captain; you won't find a second person in the entire Rustwind Wasteland with his gunnery skills."

"He's a bit rough and drinks a bit much, but he's dependable when it counts."

"The City Lord overpraises me."

Zhou Yuan bowed slightly in response.

"You make it sound like I'm so unreliable."

Horton took another swig of liquor.

Lu Chen watched the interaction between the three. He didn't join in, simply sipping the salted meat and potato soup in his bowl.

He was observing.

Lin Xiao's core team was very well-structured—one civil, one military, with the City Lord coordinating in the middle.

Zhou Yuan was the brain, Horton was the fist, and Lin Xiao was the decision-maker.

The chemistry between the three required years of working together to hone.

"Brother Lu Chen, there's something I've been wanting to ask."

Horton set down his flask and leaned forward, his eyes bright beneath his bushy beard.

"How did you, in a Lv.1 Miniature Snow Fortress, take out those two Lv.2 battle vehicles from the Snow Shard Gang?"

"Little Wan gave us the gist of it, but I want to hear it from your own mouth."

Lu Chen set down his bowl.

"What kind of details?"

"Everything."

Horton slapped his thigh.

"I've been a gunner on the wasteland for twenty years, from Lv.1 to Lv.4. I've fought plenty of battles where the small took on the large."

He propped his hands on his knees and leaned halfway across the table.

"But a Lv.1 taking a 75mm shell from a Lv.2 point-blank without its armor breaking? I've never even heard of such a thing."

"What material was your armor? How thick was it at the time?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment.

"At the time, it was ten centimeters of scrap steel sloped armor, with an angle between fifty-five and sixty degrees."

"The 75mm shell hit the sloped surface and ricocheted. Most of the armor-piercing kinetic energy was deflected, and the rest was absorbed by the armor's hardness."

"Ten centimeters of scrap steel could take a 75mm?"

Horton's brows knit together.

"The hardness and toughness of scrap steel vary greatly depending on the specific alloy composition."

Lu Chen paused.

"My armor is system-level reinforced scrap steel; its performance is more than a grade higher than ordinary scrap steel."

"System-level."

Zhou Yuan noted the phrasing but didn't press further.

"And then?"

Horton pressed on.

"Then I charged at full speed, used the Repeating Crossbow to disable the left vehicle's track drive wheel, and it flipped over after hitting an ice mound."

"The right vehicle tried to ram me at close range. At a distance of five meters, I used a Steam Spray Gun to blast the driver in the face with two-hundred-degree boiling water."

Lu Chen picked up his bowl and took another sip of soup, his tone no different than if he were describing what he'd eaten for dinner yesterday.

"Then, at extremely close range, I used the Harpoon Cannon to pierce his boiler."

"The boiler suffered a sympathetic detonation, and the entire vehicle was blown into scrap metal."

The docking area went silent for three seconds.

Horton held his flask mid-air, forgetting to drink.

"Firing a Harpoon Cannon at five meters?"

"Yes."

"A fifty-pound solid steel harpoon, at five meters, against a boiler?"

"Yes."

"Weren't you afraid of being caught in the explosion yourself?"

"The armor could handle it."

Horton's Adam's apple bobbed several times.

He looked down at the flask in his hand, then up at the Polaris's sharp, wedge-shaped armor.

The combat captain stood up, holding his bowl of liquor, and raised it toward Lu Chen.

"Brother, I, Horton, have lived on the wasteland for forty-five years. The number of people I truly respect can be counted on one hand."

"Today, there's one more."

"I toast you."

He drained the bowl of liquor in a single gulp.

Lin Xiao and Zhou Yuan exchanged a glance, and Zhou Yuan gave a small nod.

Lin Xiao patted the table.

"All right, Old Huo, don't go scaring the man."

"This is Brother Lu Chen's first time at Black Rock City-State, and you start trying to force drinks on him right away."

"I didn't force any drink on him; he didn't want any, so I drank it myself."

Horton plopped back into his seat.

Lin Wan sat nearby, suppressing a smile as she lowered her head to eat her cheese.

Lu Chen looked at the undisguised boldness and respect on Horton's bearded face, and the tension he had held for so long loosened slightly.

This man was genuine.

For a veteran gunner who had survived the wasteland for twenty years to say such things to a young man he had just met showed how straightforward he was.

"I'm honored by the praise."

Lu Chen picked up his bowl of salted meat soup and took a sip as a return gesture.

Zhou Yuan spoke up at the right moment, bringing the atmosphere back to business.

"City Lord Lu Chen, if you don't mind, the City Lord would like to take you for a tour around The City-State after we finish eating."

"He wants you to see the foundation of Black Rock City-State before you leave."

"Since we are partners, it's convenient for us to understand each other's assets for future coordination."

Lu Chen looked at Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao was chewing on a piece of potato and mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Basically, I'm letting you see our muscles."

"In a partnership, you need to know how much weight the other person can carry."

Lu Chen thought for two seconds.

Information on the internal structure and military configuration of a Lv.4 City-State level Mobile City was something that couldn't be bought for any amount of coal crystals on the wasteland.

Since Lin Xiao was taking the initiative to open the door and let him in, it would be foolish not to look.

"Fine."