58: Chapter 58 Ascending the Hundred-Meter City Wall! He Sees Through the Flaws of 30,000 People at a Glance.

After the meal, Zhou Yuan efficiently cleared away the leftovers from the table.

Horton's flask was already empty, but he walked as steadily as an old pine, showing no signs of intoxication.

Twenty years of drinking experience wasn't for nothing.

Lin Xiao led the way, with Zhou Yuan following on the right and Horton on the left.

Lu Chen was sandwiched in the middle, while Lin Wan followed half a step behind him.

The five of them walked toward the industrial elevator at the end of the docking area.

The lift platform rose slowly on the coarse guide rails, the steel cables tightening with a creaking sound.

Through the iron bars on the side of the elevator, Lu Chen saw the cross-sectional structure of the Black Rock City-State.

Above the bottom docking area were layers upon layers of industrial space.

Pipes crisscrossed, and the hiss of steam valves came from all directions.

Technicians in work uniforms hurried back and forth in the corridors, all paying their respects to Lin Xiao as they passed the elevator.

"The Black Rock City-State has seven floors in total." Lin Xiao leaned against the elevator railing and pointed upward.

"You've already seen the bottom floor—the docking area and the main engine room."

"The second floor is the Industrial Zone; the smelter, munitions factory, and parts processing workshop are all on this floor."

"The third floor is the Storage Area."

He counted on his fingers.

"Food, coal crystals, ammunition, spare parts—everything that can be stuffed in is kept here."

"The fourth floor is the Residential Area; housing for thirty thousand people, schools, medical stations, and markets are all packed onto this floor."

"The fifth floor is the military zone; the command center, Staff Department, communication towers, and radar arrays are here."

"The sixth floor is the agricultural zone; greenhouses, pastures, and the water recycling plant."

"The seventh floor is the city wall and the artillery array—Horton's territory."

The elevator stopped at the second floor.

As the doors opened, a blast of scorching metallic air rushed in.

The temperature in the Industrial Zone was at least ten degrees higher than in the docking area, with red-hot steel ingots and flying sparks everywhere.

Lin Xiao led Lu Chen along the main passage for a distance.

In the workshops on both sides, furnaces were running at full power, and hydraulic forge hammers let out an ear-splitting boom every few seconds.

The workers were shirtless, their sweat glistening under the lights.

"This is our main smelting workshop, producing forty tons of steel a day."

Lin Xiao casually pointed to a very wide crucible furnace on the left.

"The munitions factory is up ahead, specializing in the production of standard ammunition for the wall turrets and spare track parts."

Lu Chen's gaze swept over the equipment in the workshop.

The equipment models were inconsistent; some were modified relics of the former civilization, while others were cobbled together from the wasteland.

The overall operational efficiency wasn't low, and the workers' operations were quite skilled.

For a Lv.4 City-State-class Mobile City, this industrial capacity was enough to maintain daily consumption and basic battle loss replenishment.

In his mind, Lu Chen assigned a valuation to this production line.

If he could get the blueprints for this equipment and convert them into Truth Points, they would be worth at least several thousand points.

"Brother Lu Chen, any thoughts?" Zhou Yuan asked from the side.

"The capacity is good, but the equipment is aging quite severely," Lu Chen said honestly.

"The seals on those hydraulic forge hammers are badly worn; if they aren't replaced, the forging precision will drop."

Zhou Yuan's eyes widened.

"You can tell?"

"I studied mechanical engineering before."

Lu Chen didn't explain further after saying that.

Lin Xiao glanced back at him from the front but didn't press for more details.

The elevator continued to rise. When they passed the Storage Area, the City Lord specifically had the lift platform slow down.

Through the bars, Lu Chen saw rows upon rows of metal shelves stacked with standardized supply crates.

coal crystal crates and ammunition crates were lined up on the left, while food crates and spare parts crates were stacked on the right, with clear classifications and conspicuous labels.

Looking closely, nearly a third of the shelves in the food crate section were empty.

Lin Xiao noticed Lu Chen's gaze.

"You noticed, didn't you?" He sighed.

"Food reserves are the Black Rock City-State's biggest weakness."

"With over thirty thousand mouths to feed, the daily consumption is an astronomical figure."

"The greenhouses in the agricultural zone can only cover forty percent of the demand; the rest relies entirely on foreign trade and raiding."

"But in the past six months, the Snow Shard Gang has blockaded several trade routes, causing the trade volume to plummet by half."

"If this continues, we'll have to start rationing in three months."

Lu Chen made a note of this data.

Thirty thousand people, three months of food.

In this context, the value of the grade a seed vault and Lin Wan's cultivation techniques became even more prominent.

Lin Xiao took him on a brief tour of the residential and military zones, not entering the core command center but merely passing through the outer corridor of the Staff Department.

Lu Chen noticed a hand-drawn map covering an entire wall, marking the terrain and distribution of forces within a few hundred kilometers of the Black Rock City-State.

The activity areas of the Snow Shard Gang, marked in red, had woven into a web, surrounding the periphery of the Rustwind Wasteland.

"We're here. This is the place I most wanted you to see."

Lin Xiao stopped at the exit of the seventh floor.

Lu Chen stepped over the threshold, and cold wind rushed into his collar.

He stood atop the wall of the Black Rock City-State.

Beneath his feet was a steel wall over ten meters thick, wide enough for four Lv.2 vehicles to drive side-by-side.

Between the battlements, turrets were arranged in sequence, stretching to the edge of his vision.

Horton walked to the nearest triple-mounted heavy turret and patted the thick steel shield on the barrel with his palm.

"See this? This is my baby."

"180mm triple-mounted main cannons; there are twelve of them in total on the walls of the Black Rock City-State."

He tapped the gun shield, his knuckles producing a solid, deep sound.

"Effective range of eight kilometers; a single shell can punch right through a Lv.2 combat vehicle from front to back."

"Plus forty-eight medium-caliber rapid-fire guns and sixty small-caliber anti-aircraft guns."

"The total number of artillery in the array is one hundred and twenty, and those are just the fixed positions. In combat, dozens more mobile artillery units can be attached."

Horton patted his chest.

"They're all my soldiers."

Lu Chen stood on the wall and looked out.

The ice plains of the Pale Shoals stretched beneath his feet to the horizon, the gray-white sky pressing down on the ice like closing eyelids.

Standing at this height, on this wall, he truly saw the terrifying scale of a Lv.4 City-State-class Mobile City for the first time.

Eight hundred meters long, four hundred meters wide, and one hundred and fifty meters high.

One hundred and twenty fixed artillery positions.

Thirty to fifty thousand people.

This was a moving fortress, a small steel city walking slowly across the ice plains.

"What do you think?" Lin Xiao stood beside him, hands propped on the battlements.

"Very strong," Lu Chen said, not hiding his appraisal.

"Haha!" Lin Xiao laughed loudly.

"That's not all."

He pointed toward the outside of the wall.

"The Black Rock City-State isn't fighting alone; I also have a lv.3 fortress-class Mobile City stationed in the Rustwind Wasteland."

"Plus over twenty Lv.1 and Lv.2 patrol vehicles, they form a complete outer defensive line."

Lu Chen nodded.

"A lv.3 fortress plus the main body of the Black Rock City-State, along with the patrol fleet."

"If fighting a defensive war in the Rustwind Wasteland, it won't be easy for the Snow Shard Gang to take you down."

"Correct." Lin Xiao's smile faded slightly.

"But their Lv.4 main city is similar in size to mine, and their two Lv.3 satellite cities together aren't weaker than my fortress."

"If a real fight breaks out, the odds are fifty-fifty."

"Food is the key to deciding the outcome," Lu Chen added.

Lin Xiao looked at him, his smile deepening.

"You're smarter than I thought."

"War is about logistics; that saying applies to any era."

Lu Chen leaned against the battlements, the cold wind whistling past his ears.

He had indeed seen the strength of the Black Rock City-State and understood the sincerity behind Lin Xiao revealing his assets.

It was a way of telling him that the Black Rock City-State was worth cooperating with and had the capital to do so.

"Brother Lu Chen."

Lin Xiao turned around, leaning his back against the battlements with his arms crossed over his chest.

"There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."