76: Chapter 76: All five wrecked vehicles were devoured! 3400 points credited.

The two hydraulic mechanical arms of the Polaris got busy amidst the moonlight and gunpowder smoke.

Lu Chen sat in the cockpit, his hands operating the control levers for the left and right mechanical arms respectively.

The first paralyzed war vehicle.

There were no living people left inside.

The metal shrapnel from the fragmentation grenade had shattered the observation window, and bullets from the Heavy Machine Gun had penetrated the thin-walled area near the track drive wheel.

The members of the Snow Shard Gang inside the vehicle had been killed by the metal shrapnel that flooded in through the broken observation window when the fragmentation grenades were fired.

The mechanical arm's claw gripped the edge of the vehicle's roof armor.

"System, execute high-dimensional degradation on the target."

A pale blue light spread from the point of contact with the claw.

The ten-centimeter-thick scrap steel armor plate rapidly dissolved in the radiance, turning into nothingness.

The degradation speed was slower than processing the carcass of a Mutant Beast; after all, it was a metal structure weighing several tons.

But the system's high-dimensional force field was strong enough.

The entire war vehicle was decomposed layer by layer from the outside in; the metal was stripped of its material form and converted into energy data, flowing into the Truth Points account.

Thirty seconds later, the first war vehicle vanished.

Only a shallow pit and scattered fragments remained on the spot.

[High-dimensional degradation complete. Lv.2 war vehicle wreck × 1, conversion gain: 215 Truth Points.]

Two hundred and fifteen.

Fifteen more points than the estimated two hundred.

The second one, the one totaled by the Harpoon Cannon.

The vehicle body was severely damaged after the boiler exploded, so the amount of convertible metal was less.

[Lv.2 war vehicle wreck × 1 (severely damaged), conversion gain: 178 Truth Points.]

The third one, the one flooded with steam.

The vehicle structure was relatively intact, but the interior was completely destroyed by high-temperature steam.

[Lv.2 war vehicle wreck × 1, conversion gain: 223 Truth Points.]

The fourth one, the one with the engine knocked out.

The mechanical arm dragged it back from three hundred meters away.

[Lv.2 war vehicle wreck × 1, conversion gain: 208 Truth Points.]

The fifth one, the one cut in half by the Ray Cannon.

He needed to process it in two stages.

First, degrade the front half, then degrade the back half.

[Lv.2 war vehicle wreck × 1 (cut and separated), conversion gain: 196 Truth Points.]

The high temperature during cutting melted part of the metal, leading to a reduction in the convertible amount.

He didn't dwell on it.

All five war vehicles were fully degraded.

He tallied the total account of this battle on the holographic panel.

Total from war vehicle wreck conversion: 1,020 points.

Ammunition consumption: 50 points for one round of fragmentation grenades, 12 points for 120 rounds of Heavy Machine Gun ammo, and the Ray Cannon's 30% power storage exempted it from Truth Points consumption.

Deducting 62 points for ammunition costs.

Net income: 958 points.

Adding the pre-battle account balance of 2,478 points.

Current total balance: 3,436 points.

He stared at this number for two seconds.

Three thousand four hundred and thirty-six.

"System, replenish ammunition."

[Heavy Machine Gun standard caliber ammunition replenished by 120 rounds, costing 12 points.]

[Armor-piercing explosive harpoons recast: 2, costing 20 points.]

[Current account balance: 3,404 points.]

Heavy Machine Gun ammunition returned to 500 rounds, fully loaded.

Harpoon Cannon reserve ammo returned to 4/4, fully loaded.

Two shots remaining for the Ray Cannon, currently recharging.

He finished confirming the ammunition status and leaned back against the chair.

"City Lord, the cracking furnace produced 1.2 liters of diesel." Lin Wan reported from the planting area.

"Good."

The communicator lit up.

It was Zhou Yuan's frequency.

"City Lord Lu Chen, the outpost has confirmed that the signals of the five enemy war vehicles in the target area have all disappeared."

"Finished processing them."

"All destroyed?"

"All of them."

There was a one-second pause on the other end of the communicator.

"How long did it take?"

"From opening fire to the last one ceasing operation, eight minutes."

Another second of silence.

"City Lord Lu Chen, I will submit the battle report to the Staff Department."

"As you wish."

"Additionally," Zhou Yuan's speaking speed increased by half a beat, "The City Lord asked me to ask you one question."

"Speak."

"What was that red light?"

His expression remained normal.

"The color of the heat dissipation coating."

Zhou Yuan did not pursue the matter further.

"I will relay this to the City Lord."

The communicator switched to Lin Xiao's frequency.

"Brother Lu Chen!"

Lin Xiao's booming voice was two notches louder than usual.

"Hahahaha! Five vehicles in eight minutes! Did you invite an immortal onto your vehicle?"

"They didn't react in time."

"Didn't react in time?" Lin Xiao's laughter paused for a beat, "The weapons hanging on your vehicle are enough to fight a squadron; you call that not reacting in time?"

"This is called equipment suppression."

"Ha! I like that way of putting it!"

After finishing his laughter, Lin Xiao's tone tightened.

"Business, listen up."

"Speak."

"At the same time you finished off those five vehicles just now, I received a second report from the outpost."

His fingers paused on the control lever.

"What report?"

"The outpost detected a large-scale heat source signal 120 kilometers to the northeast."

"How large-scale?"

"At least twenty moving heat sources, arranged in a marching column formation."

"More than twenty."

He cross-referenced the data in the archives in his mind.

Icebreaker Swarm: over twenty war vehicles plus a large number of armed snowmobiles.

"The main force of the Icebreaker Swarm."

"Zhou Yuan judged it the same way." Lin Xiao's tone lowered by half a degree, "Based on their current marching speed, it is estimated to take six to eight hours to reach the location where you just fought."

"Around daybreak."

"Correct."

He tapped his fingers on the control lever twice.

"Has the iron wall reached its position?"

"It will arrive in another hour."

"After one hour, the iron wall will arrive at a position 50 kilometers to the northeast, while the Icebreaker Swarm is over 120 kilometers away. There is a 70-kilometer buffer zone in between."

"Is that enough?"

"Enough." Lin Xiao answered decisively, "The iron wall is an lv.3 fortress class, with ten 105mm main guns and assigned ten lv.2 patrol vehicles. The Icebreaker Swarm has over twenty war vehicles plus snowmobiles, mainly relying on light firepower."

"If it comes to a hard fight, the iron wall doesn't fear them, but the Icebreaker Swarm won't fight head-on; the people of the Grey Bee are good at dispersing and harassing."

"So what do you mean?"

"You return to the core area to rest first, and we'll decide after daybreak based on the situation."

He didn't answer immediately.

His mind was racing.

Three thousand four hundred and four points.

The Icebreaker Swarm has over twenty war vehicles.

Each wreck is around two hundred points.

Twenty vehicles would be four thousand.

If he could consume them all, plus his current balance, that would be over seven thousand.

Seven thousand points.

Enough to push the lv.2 technology tree from 8/16 to 12/16 or even higher.

But the Icebreaker Swarm was definitely not like those five vanguard vehicles that were easy pickings.

Twenty vehicles plus two thousand people, the Grey Bee's skirmish tactics would be very sticky to deal with.

And behind them was the White Bone's Ice-Rift Swarm.

Over thirty war vehicles, three thousand five hundred people.

The two clusters combined totaled over fifty war vehicles and over five thousand combatants.

The logic of supporting war with war was sound, but one couldn't be too greedy.

"City Lord Lin Xiao, after the Icebreaker Swarm reaches the front line, can the iron wall and the patrol vehicles make direct contact with them in the buffer zone?"

"It's possible, but I don't really want the iron wall to go head-to-head directly."

"Why?"

"Because the iron wall is the core of the outer defense line of the Rustwind Wasteland. Once it gets entangled with the Icebreaker Swarm, the buffer zone will be empty." Lin Xiao paused for a half-beat, "In case the White Bone of the Ice-Rift Swarm sneaks up from another direction, the iron wall won't be able to return in time to defend."

"So the role of the iron wall is deterrence and fallback support, definitely not the main attack."

"Understood."

He leaned back against the chair.

"Then who will be the main attacker?"

"Do you want to do it?"

"I want to eat the wrecks."

The other end of the communicator was quiet for three seconds.

Then Lin Xiao's laughter came through the speaker, lower than every time before.

"Brother Lu Chen, you are crazier than any tough guy I've ever met in the wasteland."

"I'm not crazy." Lu Chen's tone was calm, "I calculate clearly."

"Then you calculate." Lin Xiao said, "Tell me once you've calculated it, and I will cooperate fully."

"Go back first, we'll talk after daybreak."

"Good, contact me after you get back."

The communicator cut off.

He turned the steering wheel of the Polaris to the southwest.

The engine switched back from boost mode to normal driving.

Sixty kilometers to return.

He had an hour and a half to figure out how to fight from here on.