193: Chapter 193 The so-called law enforcement team is essentially a harvesting team.

After the Sea-Air Composite Fortress slammed into the wasteland.

Black smoke billowed simultaneously from the three dock interfaces at the bottom of the Sea Scale. In the master control channel, Mio's scream was louder than the alarms.

"Chen Chen!"

"You really used my ship like a brick to smash things!"

"The first second in the Level 3 map, and the hull impact exceeded the limit by 427 times! 427 times! Do you know what this means?"

Chen Chen jumped down from the roof of the vehicle, his boot soles stepping over the shattered skull of the Crystal-Armored Earth Dragon.

"It means it didn't break."

Mio paused for a second.

"...Is that even human language?"

Over at Copper Hammer's side, he had already charged out with a group of engineering NPCs.

The Bearded Mechanic kicked open the smoking interface cover plate, checked the damage to the Sea Scale first, and then turned his head to look at that Level 5 Crystal-Armored Earth Dragon.

His eyes were frighteningly bright.

"Leader!"

"This dragon shell is good stuff!"

"Use it to patch the Sea Scale's outer armor; we can add another layer of thickness—thicker than skin!"

Mio immediately blew up.

"Who are you calling thick-skinned?"

Copper Hammer looked up at her projection.

"I didn't mean you."

"Then why are you looking at me?"

"You're easy on the eyes."

Mio almost cut off her projection.

In the first-level carriage, Shen Wanxing crawled out from under a blanket. Her hair was a mess, and the shoulder strap of her silver evening gown had slid down to her arm, her snow-white neck and shoulders dazzling enough to make one's heart race.

She rubbed her fingers and complained in a low voice.

"You just said that when we reached the Level 3 map, you'd let me sleep for three days…"

Su Xiaoqi was lying prone in front of the panoramic window, her two black pigtails sticking up, clutching half a royal limb in her arms.

She stared at the mountain of meat outside, drool almost dripping down.

"Sister Wanxing, you go to sleep first; I'll help you watch the meat."

Shen Wanxing shrank back into the blanket in horror.

"I don't want to watch meat; I want to watch a bed."

Blood Rose leaned against the sofa, her red strap slightly askew from the impact; she slowly straightened it.

"Wanting to sleep after reaching the Level 3 map, little kitten, that's a very luxurious request."

Shen Wanbing held onto the console, her face still pale, but her fingers were already sliding rapidly across the holographic panel.

"External gravity is three times normal."

"Radiation intensity is seven times the average of the Level 2 map."

"If a normal person leaves the ecological dome, they will suffer internal hemorrhaging within three minutes and die after five minutes."

Jiang Jiuyou sat at the deputy command console, her silver-white low ponytail still damp, her cloak tossed casually over the back of her chair.

"Twelve high-energy units are approaching."

"Moving very fast."

"Formation is orderly."

Chen Chen pressed the external communication button.

"Convoy below, state your name."

After some static, the voice of the thin man wearing goggles came through.

"Sir, my name is Lu Heng."

"Captain of the scavenging team for the Ninth Exile Convoy."

"We are not from Meteor Crystal City, really, we aren't!"

Chen Chen looked at the twelve specks of light kicked up by the wind and sand in the distance.

"Meteor Crystal City."

Lu Heng's speaking speed increased.

"The largest city-state within three hundred kilometers of the Meteorite Barren Rock Realm."

"They have crystal-rail convoys, Level 5 enforcement squads, and a mobile crystal turret."

"The Crystal-Armored Earth Dragon is a hunting beast they raise, specifically to chase down exile convoys like ours."

Shen Wanbing fed the data into the main screen.

"There is a tracking insect inside the Earth Dragon."

"It's not just a hunting beast; it's also bait."

"When exile convoys are pushed to the brink, Meteor Crystal City sends people to harvest the population, crystal cores, and vehicle wreckage."

She paused for half a second.

"The so-called enforcement squad is essentially a harvesting squad."

There was silence on Lu Heng's end.

After a few seconds, his voice grew hoarser.

"They release hunting beasts every month."

"Those who run slowly are dragged back to Meteor Crystal City to mine crystals."

"Children and women are registered as city slaves."

"Those who resist are hung on crystal towers."

Su Xiaoqi's face wrinkled upon hearing this.

"So mean."

Jiang Yanxue stood by the cabin door, her black combat suit clinging to her long legs, her dark red eyes suppressing a sense of restlessness.

"They're evil in a very standard way; I'll have no psychological burden when killing them."

Qin Hongye had already ascended to the sniper tower.

Her voice came through the channel.

"Twelve crystal-rail combat vehicles have entered the thirty-kilometer range."

"The vehicle bodies are covered in brown-gold crystal armor."

"Each vehicle has a Level 5 primary energy signature."

Jiang Jiuyou added.

"A Level 5 peak-stage vehicle is advancing from the rear."

"Its size is close to a turret."

"Chen Chen, should we strike?"

Chen Chen looked at the row of light spots on the Radar.

"Don't kill them yet."

Mio finally looked up from the interface damage.

"Are you being polite now?"

"We don't have enough intelligence on the Level 3 map."

Chen Chen raised his hand and tapped the Radar.

"The first batch of enemies is more valuable alive."

Jiang Jiuyou understood instantly and pressed down with her fingertip.

"Shield brightness lowered."

"External damage projection magnified."

"Maintain the smoking status of the Sea Scale's No. 3 bottom interface."

Mio was stunned.

"You're faking weakness?"

Copper Hammer roared from outside.

"Need more smoke? I can burn two more waste pipes over here!"

Mio was furious.

"Don't you dare!"

Chen Chen looked at the city-wide channel.

"Everyone, stand by in place."

"Anyone who moves without orders will be treated as a deserter."

In the bottom hold, the hundreds of thousands of people had just recovered from the inter-realm impact when they heard that a local Level 5 enforcement squad had arrived, and people immediately began whispering.

"The local city-state… might be safer than Chen Chen's side, right?"

"We just arrived at the Level 3 map; we can't start a war with a city-state right off the bat, right?"

"How about we hand over some things and beg them to let us go?"

The next second, the main projection in the bottom hold lit up.

Yi Chang stood in front of the master control console, her legs long and straight under her black hip-hugging skirt, faint silver scales appearing on the outer sides of her thighs.

She didn't waste words and directly played the combat record.

The Level 5 Blood-Source Aberrant Tyrant was sliced open by Chen Chen with a single blade.

The black fog was pushed back thirty kilometers by the sea-stabilizing needle.

The Crystal-Armored Earth Dragon had its skull smashed by the entire city.

The three clips played on a loop.

The whispering in the bottom hold immediately died down.

Yi Chang picked up the communicator.

"If you want to surrender, you can."

"First, take off your heads to reduce the load on the city."

Iron Wall added at the top of his lungs from the side.

"Did you hear that? The air in the Level 3 map is expensive, don't waste it!"

The forced laborers, who had been fitted with tracking collars after the riot, all lowered their heads in unison.

No one dared to make a sound again.

Thirty kilometers away.

Twelve crystal-rail combat vehicles stopped on the wasteland, their brown-gold crystal armor unfolding layer by layer, and their cannon barrels raised in unison.

A lift platform rose from the top of the lead combat vehicle.

A man stood up on it.

He was tall, wearing a crystal exoskeleton, with a yellow crystal prosthetic eye embedded in his left face, and half of his face fixed by metal muscle bands.

Lu Heng gasped in the communication.

"Shi Yan."

"Captain of the Meteor Crystal City enforcement squad."

"He is in charge of clearing the hunting grounds."

Shi Yan connected to the public channel, his voice filled with electrical static.

"Foreign landing object, state your city-state affiliation."

Chen Chen did not reply.

Shi Yan scanned the smoking interfaces at the bottom of the Sea-Air Composite Fortress, then looked at the Crystal-Armored Earth Dragon with its shattered skull.

His tone became a bit higher.

"Illegal landing."

"Destruction of city-state property."

"Disturbance of hunting ground order."

"According to Meteor Crystal City law, you are required to surrender all high-level cores of the entire floating city, disarm all weapons, and have personnel kneel to accept slave branding registration."

Mio cursed quietly in the channel.

"What kind of bandit law is this?"

Blood Rose laughed.

"Bandits who can forge documents; they're quite cultured."

Seeing no reaction from the fortress, Shi Yan waved his hand.

Two crystal-rail combat vehicles moved to the side.

In the Ninth Exile Convoy, an injured young man was dragged out by a crystal hook.

Lu Heng panicked.

"That's our man!"

"He was just firing his gun to save a child!"

Shi Yan's yellow crystal prosthetic eye flickered.

"Hunting ground rebel, execute."

The crystal hook tightened.

The young man gritted his teeth, his face covered in blood.

"Brother Lu, don't worry about me!"

"Don't let them drag me back!"

Shi Yan raised his hand.

Qin Hongye's voice sounded in the channel.

"Chen Chen."

"I want to shoot."

Chen Chen looked at that yellow crystal prosthetic eye thirty kilometers away.

"Shoot his prosthetic eye."

Qin Hongye said no more.

The gauss rifle completed calibration.

"Bang!"

The bullet crossed the wasteland, pierced through the wind and sand, and precisely drilled into Shi Yan's left face.

The yellow crystal prosthetic eye exploded on the spot.

Half of Shi Yan's face was blown open, flesh and blood flipping, and he tumbled off the lift platform.

The crystal hook also loosened due to the loss of control.

The young man hit the ground, and the people from Lu Heng's convoy immediately rushed over to drag him back to cover.

In the public channel, Shi Yan's scream lasted for two seconds.

Then it turned into rage.

"Fire!"

"Take down this broken city!"

Twelve crystal-rail combat vehicles lit up simultaneously.

Brown-gold crystal cannons bombarded the Sea-Air Composite Fortress.

Some people in the bottom hold trembled instinctively.

But the next second, Jiang Jiuyou ordered in a low voice.

"Mechanical Empress: Starport Resonance, connect to the bottom secondary cannons."

"Don't touch the main cannons."

"Low-power counterattack."

Mio looked at the fire control parameters and paused for a moment.

"You're only hitting the tracks and cannon barrels?"

Jiang Jiuyou tapped her fingers repeatedly.

"Chen Chen wants live captives."

"Then just strip their shells."

The first round of blue-white pulses fell.

The front-row cannon barrels of the twelve crystal-rail combat vehicles all shattered.

The second round of secondary cannon fire swept across; the crystal tracks were severed, and the vehicle bodies slid dozens of meters sideways across the wasteland.

In the third round, Jiang Jiuyou locked directly onto the crystal armor connection points.

The brown-gold crystal armor was peeled off piece by piece.

Mio watched in silence for a few seconds.

"This fighting style of yours… is very insulting."

"Thank you."