118: Chapter 118 Going to see the tavern owner again!

Data projection complete.

The cabin fell silent for three seconds.

Su Xiaoqi's mouth hung open in an 'O' shape, and she didn't even notice a drop of oil from the steak in her hand dripping onto the floor.

“Thirty-one thousand two hundred kilograms...” Qin Hongye peeked down from the second floor, her dark brown eyes filled with disbelief.

“This vehicle is heavier than the main battle tanks I saw in the military.”

Blood Rose leaned back on the sofa, her wine-red curly hair covering half her face, leaving only one eye to peer at the panel.

“Defense is twelve thousand eight hundred. What does that number even mean?”

Shen Wanbing replied, “No conventional weapon in the entire District 069 can penetrate it.”

Jiang Yanxue squatted by the control lever, her palm pressed against the floor of the cabin to feel the vibrations.

The low-frequency hum of the engine was deeper and more stable than before the upgrade.

“It has four floors now. Is that a Pilot Tower?”

“A panoramic observation window plus an Emergency Escape Pod.”

Chen Chen tapped the panel twice. “The fourth-floor Pilot Tower has three times the visibility of the original. The escape pod can hold six people, with an emergency ejection distance of five kilometers.”

Jiang Yanxue's dark red eyes lit up.

She scrambled up and peered toward the newly appeared staircase entrance.

“I'm going up to take a look.”

She dashed up to the fourth floor.

Three seconds later, her voice drifted down from above: “Holy crap, this view—”

Chen Chen ignored her and turned to look at Shen Wanbing.

“The S-grade weapon will be finished in three hours. How long is the journey back to the tavern?”

“Based on the current position, the straight-line distance to the tavern is twenty-eight kilometers. We'll arrive within fifteen minutes.”

“Then we'll wait for the weapon to come out first.”

Chen Chen leaned back into the co-pilot's seat.

—

Three hours and eleven minutes later.

The manufacturing station in the expansion bay emitted a long chime.

Everyone's eardrums were simultaneously blasted by a system notification sound—

[S-grade weapon manufacturing complete!]

[Void Annihilation Matrix (Simplified Version) has been loaded into slot two of the Ghost Fortress weapon system.]

Chen Chen was the first to enter the expansion bay.

On the manufacturing station next to the refinery, a hemispherical dark gold device was emitting a faint blue glow.

It was 1.2 meters in diameter, its surface covered in deeply etched energy conduction grooves filled with dark purple energy fluid.

At the top of the device was a rotating diamond-shaped focusing prism. The light refracted from the prism cast a dense array of runes onto the cabin walls.

The grade a nuclear reactor was perfectly integrated into the base of the device, with cooling fins and main energy conduits seamlessly connected.

The entire device weighed nearly three tons, but once loaded by the system, it would be fixed to the weapon platform on the roof of the Ghost Fortress, alongside the existing dual-mounted heavy machine gun.

The system panel popped up with the weapon details—

[S-Grade Vehicle Weapon: Void Annihilation Matrix (Simplified Version)]

[Type: Directed Energy Annihilation Weapon]

[Firepower Characteristics: Infinite ammo. No physical ammunition supply required. Draws dark energy through the grade a nuclear reactor and converts it into annihilation rays.]

[Attack Mode 1 · Precision Shot: Single-shot annihilation beam, range 4000 meters, extreme penetration power. Can penetrate all known armor except for A-grade and above defenses. Cooldown: 8 seconds.]

[Attack Mode 2 · Area Suppression: Fan-shaped annihilation wave, covering a 120-degree arc in front, effective radius 800 meters. Deals continuous energy burn to all targets within the area. Continuous firing will accelerate reactor wear; recommended single use not to exceed 15 seconds.]

[Energy Supply: Grade A High-Energy Nuclear Reactor (Current Energy: 100%). At full capacity, the reactor can support approximately 10 Precision Shots or 90 seconds of Area Suppression. The reactor automatically recharges at a rate of 3% per hour.]

[Note: This weapon is the only S-grade vehicle weapon in District 069; there are no competing products of the same grade.]

Chen Chen stared at the panel for five seconds.

Four thousand meter range, infinite ammo.

Penetrates all defenses below S-grade.

Shen Wanbing stood behind him, the blue light of her concentration ice heart necklace flickering twice.

“Combined with Qin Hongye's Eagle Eye talent and the Fatal Lock attribute—”

“Precision kills from four kilometers away.”

Chen Chen hummed in agreement and closed the expansion bay door.

The system loading sequence initiated, and the Void Annihilation Matrix was sent to the top of the Ghost Fortress via the roof's weapon platform lift.

The dark gold hemispherical device rotated half a turn in the night wind, its diamond focusing prism aiming straight ahead as a faint blue light pierced through the clouds.

From the outside.

The thirty-one-ton steel beast hovered in mid-air. On the left side of the roof was the black barrel of the dual-mounted heavy machine gun, and on the right was the dark gold body of the Void Annihilation Matrix.

The four-story hull was covered in A-grade add-on armor, its dark gold alloy texture glinting coldly under the moonlight.

It looked like a flying mobile turret.

Chen Chen sat back in the driver's seat and cranked the engine power to fifty percent.

“To the tavern.”

Electric arcs burst from the chassis as the Ghost Fortress accelerated through the night.

Twenty-eight kilometers.

Twelve minutes later, Shen Wanbing called out the coordinates: “We're here. Two hundred meters ahead.”

Chen Chen slowed down.

The familiar wooden building appeared on the wasteland.

The kerosene lamp at the tavern entrance was still lit, its orange halo swaying in the wind.

The Ghost Fortress landed fifty meters outside the force field boundary.

“Wanxing, bring the commission materials.”

Shen Wanxing jumped up from the sofa and took out the A-grade energy relay core component and the delivery voucher for the material refinery from the storage box.

Her silver evening gown shimmered in the dim light, and her waist-length hair swayed twice with her movements.

Chen Chen pushed open the armored door.

The 4 AM wasteland was bone-chillingly cold.

He walked in front with Shen Wanxing following at a jog, her nude pink high heels clicking sharply against the gravel.

Jiang Yanxue was the third to disembark, carrying the Shadow Instant-Kill Blade on her shoulder.

Su Xiaoqi slipped out from under her arm, her twin tails spinning like propellers in the cold wind.

Blood Rose, wrapped in a leather jacket and hunching her shoulders, followed at the end.

Qin Hongye stayed behind to guard the vehicle, while Shen Wanbing remained at the command console.

Chen Chen pushed open the wooden door of the tavern.

The bell chimed.

Behind the counter, the Fox-eared Tavern Keeper was napping on the bar, her fluffy red fox tail draped over the armrest of a stool and her pointed fox ears drooping to the sides.

The moment the door sounded, her fox ears twitched up and her tail puffed into a ball.

She snatched the dagger from beneath the bar—then saw who it was.

The dagger was lowered.

Her tail smoothed down from its bristled state back to fluffy, though it wagged a couple more times than before.

“Why are you here at this hour?”

The proprietor rubbed the corners of her eyes, her Red Fox Tribe vertical pupils glinting amber in the dim light.

Chen Chen walked to the bar and sat down.

“Turning in the job.”

He took the core component and the refinery delivery voucher from his storage ring and lined them up on the bar.

The proprietor's drowsiness vanished instantly.

She picked up the core component and inspected it three times, the light in her vertical pupils growing brighter with each look.

“You actually got it.”

“Obviously.”

The proprietor took a deep breath and carefully placed the component into the safe under the bar.

“Commission complete. As agreed—”

She bent down to retrieve that intelligence stone tablet covered in alien script from the bottom shelf and pushed it toward Chen Chen.

“A complete replica. The terrain, resource distribution, known faction intelligence, and hidden dungeon coordinates for the three regions surrounding District 069 are all inside.”

Chen Chen put away the stone tablet.

“What about the three pieces of exclusive news?”

The proprietor held up three fingers.

“First. You don't need to go out of your way to obtain entry qualifications for the next map; you enter as soon as the black mist swallows you. You should already know this one.”

Chen Chen didn't deny it.

Yi Chang's intelligence overlapped with this point.

“Second.” The proprietor's expression changed, and her tail stopped wagging. “The major event about to happen in District 069—the acceleration of the death black mist isn't a random event. It was triggered after you killed the Crimson Hive. The system determined that the threat level of District 069 had dropped and automatically initiated the elimination acceleration program.”

Chen Chen's finger tapped once on the bar.

“In other words, the black mist sped up because of me?”

“You took out the regional boss, so the system thinks this map is too easy and fast-tracked the progress.”

The proprietor shrugged. “The stronger you are, the less time is left for you.”