138: Chapter 138: Building an aerial fortress! Inviting the landlady to live there...

Forty-four vehicles formed an arrow formation within the dark silver halo of the Fleet Link, following the blue and white wake of the Ghost Fortress through the jungle of giant floating trees.

The acid swamp below churned with dark green bubbles. Occasionally, an Aberration would poke its tentacles out of the liquid surface, only to be repelled by the energy waves of the shields.

"We've arrived."

Forty-seven minutes later, the convoy reached the target coordinates.

Chen Chen stood in front of the panoramic window, looking down.

Six giant dark silver floating trees, each over twenty meters in diameter, formed a semi-enclosed structure in mid-air. Their metal-flake leaf canopies rotated slowly, refracting a faint, ghostly blue light. The gaps between the trunks were wide enough for the Ghost Fortress to pass through.

In the central area lay a bottomless void, but the readings on the magnetic field meter were terrifyingly stable.

"This is the place."

Chen Chen opened his storage ring.

A silver-gray cube—the S-grade Space-Folding Building Module—fell into his palm.

The palm-sized metal block's surface was covered in miniature energy patterns, and it emitted a faint hum when held.

He then took out the metal scroll of the s-rank vehicle ecological expansion blueprint.

"I'll use both together."

Shen Wanbing rushed from the command console to the panoramic window: "Wait—will the energy overlap from activating two S-grade blueprints simultaneously cause—"

"Cause what?"

Shen Wanbing paused for half a beat.

"...It will be very spectacular."

Chen Chen held the building module and the blueprint scroll together in his palm, infusing them with Mental Power.

The energy patterns of both S-grade items lit up simultaneously.

Gold and silver light intertwined, coiled, and resonated in his hand—

Boom!

A thick, dual-colored pillar of gold and silver light erupted from the roof of the Ghost Fortress, piercing straight into the sky.

The light pillar was over five meters in diameter, its brightness so intense that every living creature within a ten-kilometer radius closed their eyes at once.

The drivers of the forty-four vehicles behind were blinded by the light, forced to rely on the Fleet Link's auto-follow to maintain formation.

"So bright—!" Su Xiaoqi shielded her eyes as she looked out from a first-floor window.

The building module disintegrated in mid-air.

The silver-gray metal block split into tens of thousands of miniature components, spinning at high speeds within the magnetic field, reorganizing and welding together.

Dark gold armor plates unfolded from the void, steel beams grew within the golden light, and floors extended outward from the center—

Five hundred meters in the air.

A metal fortress covering five hundred square meters roared into existence under everyone's gaze.

The main body of the fortress was a flat hexagonal structure, with six thick magnetic anchor pillars driven deep into the natural magnetic field layer at the bottom.

The dome at the top refracted blue-green light, and neat portholes lined the sides.

The first floor was an open plaza area with pre-installed shops and storage space; the second floor was for residential and office use; the third floor housed the command tower and defense platform.

A C-grade defense shield popped out from the edge of the fortress, forming a translucent energy dome.

The basic life support systems started up—air circulation, temperature control, water purification—as indicator lights turned green one by one.

The most terrifying part was the final step.

The s-rank vehicle ecological expansion blueprint was automatically recognized by the system and formed a deep binding with the building module.

A chain made of dark gold energy shot out from the bottom of the fortress, locking onto the core matrix of the Ghost Fortress.

Physical anchoring complete.

Energy synchronization complete.

A system window popped up:

[S-grade Space-Folding Fortress: Sky Fortress has been deployed!]

[The fortress has completed a deep binding with the core vehicle "Ghost Fortress"!]

[Special Attribute: The Sky Fortress will use the core vehicle as a towing anchor, moving synchronously at an altitude of 500 meters. When the core vehicle moves, the fortress will follow automatically with no additional energy consumption!]

Chen Chen finished reading the panel.

He walked to the panoramic window and looked down.

Five hundred meters below, inside the cockpits of the forty-four vehicles, two hundred people were staring up with their mouths agape, their expressions frozen in unison.

The voice of an independent squeezed through the communication channel, his voice cracking:

"That... that thing... can fly?"

Inside Iron Wall's armored personnel carrier, the adjutant's communicator slipped from his hand, hitting his foot without eliciting a reaction.

Iron Wall's own lips trembled for a while before he finally squeezed out a sentence: "...Our boss just built a Sky City."

"A Sky City! A goddamn Sky City!"

"Dammit, I thought I was dreaming—"

"This isn't right, is it? He's already building a city when we've just started the second map??"

"Who cares if it's a game or not! Just follow the boss and that's it!"

Chen Chen cut off the public channel.

He fished out the Red Fox Tribe communication chip from his storage ring and held it between his fingers.

The surface of the black chip flickered with dark orange light patterns. It felt warm to the touch, carrying a specific frequency that could cross map barriers.

"Sister Bing, help me connect the chip to the communication panel on the fourth floor."

Shen Wanbing ran up from the first floor, took the chip, and embedded it into the communication module next to the sub-command console.

Connected.

Buzz—

A holographic projection unfolded in the center of the Pilot Tower.

The scene was one of chaos.

Black mist was devouring the last area of the first map.

Gales howled, and energy storms tore through the sky.

The wooden bar of the tavern shook violently in the wind, and wine bottles rolled off the shelves, shattering on the floor.

The Boss Lady was half-kneeling behind the bar, clutching a glowing crystal ball—the core of the tavern.

Her fiery red long hair whipped about in the wind, the fox ears atop her head were pressed flat against her scalp, and her fluffy red fox tail was tucked between her legs.

She was frantically infusing energy into the crystal ball, preparing to initiate a cross-map teleportation.

The moment the communication connected, the Boss Lady's amber vertical pupils glanced at the holographic projection.

Seeing Chen Chen's face, her expression went through surprise, confusion, and then a complex sense of relief.

"You're still alive, kid?"

"Cut the crap." Chen Chen switched the holographic projection to an external view.

The Sky Fortress, five hundred meters in the air, appeared on the screen.

The dark gold hexagonal structure floated quietly among the giant floating trees, the C-grade shield emitting a faint glow, and the magnetic anchor pillars at the bottom were firmly rooted in the natural magnetic field layer.

Below, the forty-four vehicles were lined up neatly.

The Boss Lady's hand, which was infusing energy, stopped.

Her fox ears perked up.

"This is..."

"I built it three hours ago." Chen Chen leaned back in his chair, speaking at a measured pace.

"You won't be able to get a foothold in the acid swamp on the ground even if you teleport here. An aerial fortress, five hundred meters up, powered by natural magnetic fields, temperature-controlled, with a defense shield and a built-in commercial district."

He paused for a moment.

"Bring your tavern core and come straight over. I'll give you exclusive rights to the entire first floor. All resource circulation, intelligence trading, and equipment procurement for over two hundred people in the area—everything will go through you."

The Boss Lady's mouth hung open for half a second.

"And the price?"

"You can only serve me from now on."

"Only?"

"Only. An exclusivity agreement."

The storm outside tore apart a twenty-meter-tall fungal pillar, and debris smashed onto the wooden roof of the tavern.

The Boss Lady clutched the crystal ball and dodged half a step to the side, pressing herself against the bar.

Her amber vertical pupils stared at the metal fortress floating in mid-air in the holographic projection, then looked back at the collapsing first map outside.

"You, this newcomer... how many days has it been?"

She shook her head, her fiery red hair swaying, and smiled.

"Fine. I'm coming."

Chen Chen opened the fortress panel and brought up the cross-realm guiding anchor function.

Activating the anchor required consuming vehicle cores.

He pulled thirty mid-tier vehicle cores from his storage ring and slapped them directly into the fourth-floor control console.

The dark blue cores were devoured by the fortress's energy matrix.

An orange-yellow teleportation light pillar condensed above the fortress dome, extending upward through the clouds, its frequency resonating perfectly with the Red Fox Tribe communication chip.

"Coordinates locked," Shen Wanbing confirmed over the communicator. "Teleportation window is sixty seconds."

On the other side in the first map, the Boss Lady picked up the crystal ball and stood up.

Her fox tail flicked twice behind her, and her amber vertical pupils reflected the black mist filling the sky outside.

"Kid, remember to pay back the wine money you owe me."

Orange-yellow light expanded into a teleportation array beneath her feet.

Three—two—one.

The light swallowed her figure.

In the plaza area of the Sky Fortress's first floor, the teleportation anchor erupted in a ball of orange-yellow light.

After the ball of light dissipated, the Boss Lady stood on the metal floor, clutching the tavern's core crystal ball.

Her fiery red hair was a mess, her dress was stained with dust and debris, and a wood chip was still caught on one of her fox ears.

But her reaction was swift—first, she looked down to confirm the crystal ball was intact, then she looked up to survey her surroundings.

Metal floors, temperature-controlled airflow, and the faint glow of the C-grade shield reflected on the dome.

She walked to the porthole and looked down.

Five hundred meters in the air.

The acid swamp churned below, its dark green bubbles as tiny as pinpricks.

The metal canopies of the giant floating trees rotated slowly on either side.

Further away, forty-four vehicles were lined up in an array within dark silver halos.

"...It really is flying."