75: Chapter 75: Ray Cannon Debut! Ice Shard Vanguard Annihilated

After the first war vehicle crashed into the base of the cooling tower, it finally turned its turret, its pitch-black muzzle aimed directly at the front of the Polaris.

Accompanied by a low roar, a shell left the barrel from a distance of one hundred and fifty meters.

Lu Chen couldn't even be bothered to take evasive action; he kept his hands steadily pressed on the fire control console, his gaze locked onto the trajectory through the periscope.

The shell slammed heavily into the angled, bullet-deflecting outer armor module on the front left side of the Polaris, erupting in a burst of blinding sparks.

The precisely calculated wedge-shaped geometry dissipated most of the impact force on the spot, and the warhead was forcibly deflected with a piercing screech, flying obliquely into the darkness in the distance.

A distorted roar came from the Snow Shard Gang's communication frequency.

"It can't be penetrated! What kind of monster is that!"

Lu Chen's fingers moved rapidly across the fire control console, and the Harpoon Cannon turret rotated steadily, locking onto the side armor of the paralyzed war vehicle.

He pulled the trigger directly, and the fifty-jin pure steel harpoon roared out of the barrel, trailing a hissing steam wake.

The thick barbs ripped through the welded seams of the opponent's side armor, burying deep into the vehicle's interior, and the delayed fuse triggered right on time after three seconds.

The shockwave of the implosion erupted wildly from the point where the harpoon had penetrated, blowing the armor plate on the side of the war vehicle off in one piece from the inside. The boiler pipelines ruptured completely, and scorching steam mixed with flames and black smoke poured out from the breach.

The roaring in the communication frequency was completely cut off by the sound of the explosion.

The third war vehicle finally finished turning around, and it charged crazily toward the Polaris, head-on. The enemy driver roared hysterically over the communication channel.

"Ram him to death! I'll fight him to the end!"

The 75mm cannon fired again while in motion, the shell slamming straight into the Homogeneous Manganese Steel Ramming Horn on the front of the Polaris.

Sparks flew everywhere, and metal fragments scattered, but the Homogeneous Manganese Steel Ramming Horn didn't even have a decent dent left on it.

Lu Chen pushed the engine throttle to the bottom, charging full speed ahead to crush the third war vehicle.

Lin Wan was in the rear planting area, gripping the support rod of the hydroponic rack tightly, her voice trembling.

"City Lord! It's charging over!"

Lu Chen gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, his gaze fixed straight ahead.

"Sit tight."

The two steel behemoths charged at each other from a distance of eighty meters. At the last fifty meters, he made a tiny steering adjustment, tilting the front of the Polaris by fifteen degrees.

The Homogeneous Manganese Steel Ramming Horn turned into a heavy iron chisel, avoiding a direct head-on collision and slicing diagonally into the corner of the opponent's front end.

The moment the collision occurred, the Polaris's twenty-plus-ton body remained firmly planted on the ice, thanks to its greater tonnage and lower center of gravity.

The front armor of the opposing war vehicle was forcibly pried open, creating a very wide gap. The entire vehicle was pushed five meters sideways by the powerful lateral momentum, and its left track had two chain links broken on the spot, leaving it paralyzed in place like a lame beast.

Lu Chen backhanded the control key for the Steam Spray Gun, and two-hundred-degree high-temperature steam whistled out from the four nozzles on the left side of the Polaris, pouring directly into the interior of the opponent's cabin through the pried-open gap.

The scalding white mist raged within the small, confined space.

A scream of extreme agony erupted in the enemy communication channel.

"Help! I'm being scalded to death! Open the door!"

The screaming only lasted for two seconds before disappearing completely.

The remaining fourth and fifth war vehicles finally realized the reality; they gave up resistance and accelerated to flee in two completely opposite directions.

One went east, the other north. Lu Chen glanced at the radar screen, ignored the one fleeing east, and turned the vehicle to lock onto the target fleeing north.

The Polaris's coal-fired supercharger was operating at full power, and the 1.5x burst of power allowed this steel monster to achieve an extremely high linear acceleration on the ice.

The needle on the speedometer soared to fifty-five kilometers, while the opponent's standard lv.2 war vehicle couldn't even reach forty-something, no matter how much they pushed the engine until it smoked.

The distance between them was forcibly closed to one hundred meters within ten seconds, and the enemy driver cried out in despair over the channel.

"He's caught up! Help me, Big Sister Grey Bee!"

Lu Chen rotated the Heavy Machine Gun turret to five degrees to the right of dead ahead, kept his finger pressed on the trigger, and poured out thirty rounds of standard-caliber ammunition.

The buzzing sound of the rotating barrel became the Grim Reaper's death knell in the night.

The dense impact points all covered the thin-walled armor around the exhaust port of the opponent's rear engine compartment, and three bullets forcibly penetrated the outer wall of the exhaust pipe.

The roaring of that war vehicle's engine turned into a harsh metallic grinding sound, and its speed dropped significantly.

Lu Chen closed the distance to fifty meters and pushed the control lever for the mechanical arm with his right hand. An eight-meter-long hydraulic mechanical arm ejected from the right side of the vehicle, carving a stiff arc through the air.

The wide steel claw clamped firmly onto the exhaust pipe at the rear of the war vehicle, and the hydraulic system tightened with full force.

Accompanied by the sound of tearing metal, the exhaust pipe, along with a large piece of surrounding armor plate, was ripped right off.

The engine lost its exhaust channel, causing severe exhaust backflow, and three seconds later, it let out a low, muffled explosion.

The entire vehicle stalled completely, lying paralyzed on the ice, emitting black smoke. Lu Chen didn't even look at the wrecked vehicle and turned the steering wheel directly to chase the one on the east side.

That vehicle had taken the opportunity to open up a distance of over four hundred meters. Because its escape route deviated from the main force, this vehicle could not transmit any effective intelligence.

Lu Chen kept the supercharger on and spent forty seconds closing the distance back to two hundred meters. He glanced at the holographic panel and made a decision.

Field testing requires live targets. He moved his right hand from the Heavy Machine Gun control lever to the independent control panel for the Ray Cannon.

The charging indicator light on the panel showed a 100% full charge status.

The turret at the rear of the roof, wrapped in dark red coils, rotated steadily, aiming from afar at the war vehicle fleeing crazily two hundred meters ahead.

Looking at the strangely shaped turret in the rearview mirror, the enemy driver let out a final wail over the communication channel.

"What the hell is that thing! Don't kill me!"

Lu Chen placed the crosshairs on the armor in the middle of the opponent's vehicle body and pressed the firing button heavily with his index finger. A very low, deep charging sound emanated from the back of the roof.

A crimson beam of light surged out from the firing chamber of the Ray Cannon.

The crimson beam cut a straight trajectory through the air, and the scorching temperature ignited the surrounding rust dust on the spot, forming a thirty-centimeter-thick orange-red channel.

The ray struck the middle of the fifth war vehicle's body directly.

There was no sound of impact, no sound of explosion, only the terrifying hissing sound of metal being forcibly melted at an extremely high temperature.

The ten-centimeter-thick scrap steel armor plate turned a bright orange-red within half a second, and after one second, it turned bright white.

The hard armor plate softened and deformed under the heat, being penetrated by the ray with unparalleled smoothness.

The crimson beam cut in from the left side of the vehicle, cutting through all internal load-bearing structures with destructive force, and finally exited from the right side.

Red and white molten iron splattered wildly from the cutting gap, trailing a long string of brilliant sparks in the night.

That lv.2 war vehicle was forcibly cut in half from the middle, the cut smooth and flat, revealing the cruel beauty left behind by an industrial cutter.

Lu Chen released the firing button after two seconds, and the crimson beam disappeared. The heat-dissipating coating on the roof turret began to puff out white smoke.

[High-Temperature Thermal Melting Cutting Ray Cannon single shot complete, current power storage 70%, remaining shots: two.] The system prompt popped up on the holographic panel.

Lu Chen looked at the battle results through the periscope sight; that war vehicle had completely stopped.

The driveshaft in the middle of the vehicle body had been completely cut off by the ray, and the edges of the five-centimeter-wide penetration gap were still radiating a dark red residual heat.

The front half of the vehicle body slid forward for over ten meters due to inertia, slamming crookedly onto the ice.

The rear half of the vehicle body remained in place, with billowing black smoke emerging from the engine compartment. There was no sound left in the enemy communication channel.

Lu Chen moved his finger away from the Ray Cannon control panel and gripped the steering wheel again. Field test data collection complete.

Two hundred meters distance, two seconds of irradiation time, penetrating ten centimeters of scrap steel armor and cutting the vehicle body—the effect was perfect.

He turned the vehicle around and drove the Polaris back to the cooling tower area.

Five lv.2 war vehicles, from the first fragmentation grenade carpet bombing to the final ray cut, took less than eight minutes in total.

Wiped out. The Polaris stopped in the center of the battlefield littered with wreckage and smoke, its engine switching to idle mode.

Moonlight shone down through the rust-colored dust mist, illuminating the dented and deformed war vehicle shells. Lin Wan's voice came from the rear planting area, with a noticeable tremor.

"City Lord, there's no movement outside, is it over?"

Lu Chen picked up the thermos cup beside him and took a sip of water.

"It's over."

Lin Wan swallowed her saliva and gathered the courage to ask.

"That red light from just now, what exactly was that?"

Lu Chen looked at the energy readings on the holographic panel.

"Ray Cannon."

Lin Wan gasped.

"That's too powerful!"

He activated all control panels for the dual mechanical arms.

"Stay inside and don't come out; I'm going to start processing the wreckage."

The eight-meter-long hydraulic mechanical arms slowly extended from both sides of the vehicle body, and the wide claws opened in the night, preparing to welcome this feast of harvest.