152: Chapter 152 Territory Upgrade, Floating City!

6:00 AM.

When Chen Chen came down from the second floor, his spirit was even better than before he went to sleep.

First floor.

Shen Wanbing sat at the command console, holding a cup of espresso.

Her dark circles were frighteningly heavy.

"Didn't sleep all night?"

"I couldn't sleep." Shen Wanbing adjusted her glasses. "I have an important discovery to report."

Chen Chen sat on the sofa and took the roasted meat Su Xiaoqi handed him.

"Speak."

"Last night, while analyzing the energy spectrum of the vehicle cores, I discovered a pattern."

Shen Wanbing pulled up a holographic panel, and a set of data floated in the air.

"The energy waveforms of five intermediate vehicle cores can produce resonance superposition at a specific frequency."

She swiped the panel.

Five blue light dots rotated, drew closer, and merged in the projection.

They turned into a larger, deeper dark purple light dot.

"Five-in-one. Five intermediate cores can be fused into one advanced vehicle core."

Chen Chen stopped chewing his meat.

"What can an advanced core do?"

Shen Wanbing's lenses reflected the light of the holographic projection. "The Sky Fortress is currently in its S-grade fortress form, but there is a grey upgrade option at the bottom of the system panel—'Floating City.' Required materials: advanced vehicle core × 200."

Chen Chen put down the meat.

"How many intermediate cores do we have?"

Shen Wanbing had already calculated it. "With the three hundred from Shen Wanxing's hundredfold critical hit, plus subsequent accumulation and loot, our current inventory is 1,047."

One thousand intermediate cores.

Synthesizing two hundred advanced cores.

Just enough.

Chen Chen stood up.

"Wake Wanxing up to get to work."

When Shen Wanxing was pulled out from under her blanket, her hair was a messy bird's nest, and her light amber pupils hadn't focused yet.

"Mmm... what time is it..."

"Six-thirty. Touch the cores."

"Again..."

Chen Chen poured the thousand intermediate vehicle cores onto the floor of the third-floor expansion bay.

The dark blue cores were piled like a small mountain, their energy fluctuations making the entire cabin hum.

Shen Wanxing squatted in front of the pile of cores, rubbing her eyes.

"What am I touching this time?"

"In groups of five, fuse them into advanced cores. You're responsible for triggering critical hits to improve the fusion quality."

Shen Wanxing obediently reached out.

The first group.

Five intermediate cores converged in her palm. A triple critical hit was triggered, and the resulting advanced core had a layer of golden patterns on its surface—quality overflow.

Second group. Fivefold.

Third group. Fivefold.

Fourth group—

A golden pillar of light shot into the sky.

Tenfold critical hit.

The advanced core fused from the five intermediate cores was a size larger than normal, with dark golden energy vortexes swirling on its surface.

"So pretty..." Shen Wanxing stared blankly while holding the core.

Chen Chen took the core from her hand and tossed it into the silver-grade storage ring. "Continue."

Forty minutes.

All two hundred advanced vehicle cores were synthesized.

Seventeen of them triggered a fivefold or higher critical hit, with quality far exceeding the standard value.

After touching the last one, Shen Wanxing slumped to the ground.

"My hands are so sore..."

Chen Chen ignored her.

He opened the Sky Fortress's system panel and found the grey upgrade option.

[Do you wish to consume advanced vehicle core × 200 to upgrade the S-grade Space-Folding Fortress · Sky Fortress to a Floating City?]

[Warning: The upgrade process will last thirty minutes. During this time, the fortress's defense system will be temporarily offline.]

Chen Chen scanned the fleet status.

The field coverage of the faith deprivation tower was normal, and there were no hostile heat sources within a two-hundred-kilometer radius.

"All troops on alert. No one is allowed to approach within five hundred meters of the fortress for the next thirty minutes."

Jiang Jiuyou's voice came down from the fourth floor: "Received."

Chen Chen pressed confirm.

The two hundred advanced cores were devoured by the fortress's energy matrix.

The entire Sky Fortress began to vibrate.

The dark golden armor plates expanded, cracked, and reorganized.

New structures grew from the cracks—thicker armor layers, a larger dome, and more functional modules.

The fortress's footprint began to expand wildly from five hundred square meters.

Six hundred, eight hundred, one thousand—

One thousand five hundred square meters.

The magnetic anchor pillars increased from six to twelve, each three times thicker than before.

The dome's C-grade shield vanished, replaced by an A-grade energy dome swirling with dark golden light.

The fortress's height rose by a full twenty meters.

New structural layers were stacked one by one—residential area expansion, industrial area expansion, military area expansion, and commercial area expansion.

Thirty minutes later.

A system pop-up exploded into view.

[Floating City · Sky Fortress upgrade complete!]

[Footprint: 1,500 square meters → Expandable to 5,000 square meters (requires additional materials)]

[Defense Shield: A-grade Omnidirectional Energy Dome, defense value 50,000 points]

[Population Capacity: 2,000 people]

[New Functions: Automated Resource Collection Module, Territory Declaration System, Cross-Regional Beacon Broadcast, SS-grade Anti-Stealth Detection Array]

[Territory Rating: SS-grade]

[comprehensive faction value Ranking: Second Map — First.]

Chen Chen stood at the fourth-floor panoramic window and looked down.

Five hundred meters below, nearly two hundred survivors looked up at the metal city overhead that had tripled in size in thirty minutes.

The dark golden dome reflected a blinding light in the morning sun.

Twelve magnetic anchor pillars were deeply embedded in the natural magnetic field layer, their massive shadows pressing down on the acid marsh below.

In the communication channel, Iron Wall's voice trembled. "What the hell... what kind of karma did I build up in my past life..."

Jiang Jiuyou stood at the sub-command console, her ice-blue pupils reflecting the "First" ranking on the panel.

She turned to glance at Chen Chen.

Chen Chen was scrolling through the list of new functions on the panel.

"Territory Declaration System..." He clicked on the details. "It can broadcast the faction name and coordinates to the entire map?"

Shen Wanbing's voice came through the communicator. "Once this function is activated, survivors in all war zones will be able to see our location."

"Good."

Chen Chen pressed the broadcast button.

Jiang Jiuyou whipped her head around. "You—"

Too late.

A dark golden pillar of light shot into the sky from the dome of the Floating City.

The light pillar pierced the clouds, projecting a line of massive golden text across the sky of the entire second map.

All war zones, all survivors, and all alien races received this message simultaneously.

[Faction Declaration: Ghost · Floating City has been established. Coordinates public. Accepting asylum seekers, rejecting provocation.]

[Postscript: The Bishop of Ashes is dead. Who is next?]

The public channel exploded instantly.

Signals of various accents, languages, and frequencies flooded in.

Some were shocked, some were skeptical, and some were tentatively inquiring about the conditions for joining.

Others, with trembling voices, repeatedly confirmed if the Bishop of Ashes was truly dead.

Chen Chen switched the public channel's reception permissions to Jiang Jiuyou.

"Filter the valuable ones; don't bother replying to the rest."

Jiang Jiuyou's ten fingers swiped rapidly across the holographic panel, sorting the incoming information by priority.

"Remnant forces from Zone 048 requesting asylum, approximately three hundred people, with twelve vehicles..."

"An alien trade caravan from Zone 071 requesting a trade route..."

"A fleet of twenty-seven independent vehicles on the outskirts of Zone 069 requesting to be incorporated..."

Chen Chen turned to walk downstairs. "Have them all fly here themselves. They must wait on the outskirts for inspection before entering the city."

"Understood."

First-floor compartment.

Su Xiaoqi lay on the sofa gnawing on a pterosaur leg bone, her face covered in grease.

The Proprietress was busy behind the bar on the first floor of the fortress, her feet hardly touching the ground.

Less than ten minutes after the territory declaration was sent, three nearby small vehicle fleets had already arrived at the outskirts, waiting to enter the city for trade.

From the North District, the steady rhythm of the Pig-Faced Butcher's bone-cleaving axe could be heard rising and falling.

The corpses of the Tier 3 Aberrations left after annihilating the Bishop of Ashes' army yesterday were piled like a mountain, enough to keep him busy for three days.

Chen Chen leaned back on the sofa, closing his eyes to rest.

Over three hours later.

Shen Wanbing's communicator rang.

"The fusion pod manufacturing is complete, forty-seven minutes ahead of schedule."

Chen Chen opened his eyes, stood up, and climbed the stairs to the third floor.

third-floor expansion bay.

An S-grade biological fusion pod stood quietly in the center of the cabin.

The oval, dark silver main body was about three meters high and two meters wide.

Ethereal blue glimmers flowed through the energy guide grooves on its surface.

There was a transparent observation window at the top, and the interior was filled with pale golden nutrient solution.

Seven stasis pods surrounded the main pod.

Those were the auxiliary purification units prepared for Yi Chang's six clansmen.

Shen Wanbing stood at the control console, the panel flashing with dense parameters.

"The main pod is for Yi Chang's deep transformation, while the auxiliary units will handle the bloodline restoration for her six clansmen."

"It's fully automated and expected to take ten hours."

Chen Chen nodded. "Get them inside."