208: Chapter 208 The Ragged One Takes Off, Hunter King Misses the Mark

The mine slave registration area.

The line of technical craftsmen was stuck.

Thousands of crystal sand refiners, maintenance technicians, and array engineers huddled together, refusing to board the migration vehicles for the Sea-Air Composite Fortress.

The leader was a gray-haired woman with hands covered in burn scars.

"We are not leaving."

"City Lord Yan Xiao also said he would give us new living quarters."

"And in the end? We were locked in the bottom of the mine for fifteen years."

The craftsmen behind her shouted in succession.

"You outsiders stole the mine, and now you want to steal people too."

"We would rather stay."

Yi Chang stood before the registration desk, not offering much explanation.

She raised her hand and switched on a projection.

The interior of the ecological dome in the bottom hold of the Sea-Air Composite Fortress appeared in mid-air.

The air circulation green light was stable.

Refugees were collecting nutrient paste by zone.

Technicians were repairing pipelines.

Children were gathered and settled in temporary cabins.

The scene wasn't pretty; the space was crowded, and the beds were crude.

But there was oxygen, food, and order.

The gray-haired woman stared at the footage, her throat moving.

"Is this real?"

Yi Chang projected a territorial agreement in front of her.

"Sign the agreement, and technical craftsmen will have priority entry into the inner-ring ecological zone."

"There is a fixed daily ration."

"Completing tasks earns contribution points."

"Disobeying orders, causing trouble, or hiding key materials will result in direct demotion to outer-layer forced labor."

The gray-haired woman was silent.

Someone beside her wanted to shout again.

"Don't believe her, she is just—"

Jiang Yanxue stood behind the registration desk, tapping her blade tip against the ground.

The person shut up immediately.

Yi Chang looked at the gray-haired woman.

"I don't have time to lie to you."

"In twelve hours, this city will be nothing but a crater."

"Those who stay can negotiate with the Hunting King themselves."

The gray-haired woman looked down at the agreement.

A few seconds later, she pressed her thumbprint on it.

"I'll sign."

The line began to move.

Jiang Yanxue sheathed her blade and snorted coldly.

"Should have signed earlier and been done with it."

Yi Chang replied indifferently.

"When people have been locked up for too long, their first reaction is to fear a new lock."

Jiang Yanxue glanced at her.

"When you manage people, you actually seem a bit human."

Yi Chang paused for half a second.

"Is that a compliment?"

"Take it however you understand it."

Two hours later.

Outside the northwest field of Meteor Crystal City.

A fake floating city wreck, so ugly that it made Mio want to delete her memory, had been forcefully welded together by Copper Hammer and thousands of craftsmen.

A half-section energy tower served as the main shell.

More than thirty old thrusters hung crookedly on the bottom.

The outer layer was patched with damaged shield plates.

Several discarded life-support pods continuously spewed white steam.

Embedded in the very center was an SS-grade camouflage coordinate core.

Copper Hammer stood on the welding rack and patted the main shell.

"Lord, it can fly."

Mio floated in mid-air, her entire being about to crack.

"You call this flying?"

"This is called an engineering accident leaving the ground ahead of schedule!"

Su Xiaoqi raised her hand.

"Big Iron Meat Bun!"

Shen Wanxing hugged her blanket and suggested in a low voice.

"The 'Don't Look for Me' would also be fine."

Jiang Jiuyou spoke coldly from a remote location.

"It is a temporary tactical deception target; the name is not important."

Chen Chen directly entered into the registration interface: [Scrap One.]

Mio's projection froze.

"You are really calling it Scrap One?"

Chen Chen pressed confirm.

"It saves trouble."

Mio covered her face.

"Mechanical civilization has been thoroughly insulted by you all."

Scrap One ignited.

The old thrusters spewed unstable exhaust flames, and the entire fake target tilted as it flew toward the northwest.

After flying less than five hundred meters, a piece of the left outer shell fell off.

Mio almost screamed.

"It dropped a part!"

But Jiang Jiuyou spoke immediately.

"Don't fix it."

"It's perfect."

She operated the fire control panel a few times, making Scrap One scatter several crates of low-value star core crystal sand along the way.

"A panicked escape, resources leaking."

"Add in the details."

Shen Wanbing monitored the gray-white tracking frequency in real-time.

The red locking line gradually shifted from above Meteor Crystal City, slowly latching onto Scrap One.

"The Hunting Group vanguard signal is beginning to change direction."

"First layer of identification passed."

"Entering remote strike calibration in thirty seconds."

In the bottom hold channel, hundreds of thousands of people saw that fake light point in the northwest direction.

Many people didn't understand technology.

But they understood the four words "remote strike."

Some people began to tremble.

Iron Wall stood before the broadcast station and roared directly.

"What are you afraid of?"

"If that cannon is going to fire, it's going to hit Scrap One!"

"If you have time to be idle, go move crates!"

"Move faster, save your lives!"

The countdown jumped to the final ten seconds.

Shen Wanbing called out the numbers.

"Star-Splitting Cannon lock complete."

"Impact point, northwest abandoned meteorite crater."

Chen Chen stood on the high platform of Meteor Crystal City, the sea-stabilizing needle leaning against his shoulder.

The distant sky was suddenly torn apart.

A blood-red cannon beam smashed toward the northwest.

An energy column nearly a hundred meters in diameter pierced through the wasteland, and the abandoned meteorite crater was instantly crushed into a glowing deep pit.

The shockwave swept over from over a hundred kilometers away.

The dilapidated crystal walls of Meteor Crystal City cracked in large sections.

The mine slaves on the transport tracks collapsed in droves.

In the bottom hold channel, crying and screaming erupted.

"If that had hit the city..."

"It's over, it's over, how can we block that kind of cannon?"

Iron Wall kicked over someone who was screaming chaotically.

"Shut up!"

"If it didn't hit us, get back to work!"

Qin Hongye stood on the high tower, watching the distant cannon light, her right shoulder still wrapped in repair tape.

She spoke in a low voice.

"A Tier 6 cannon, it's certainly ruthless."

Jiang Yanxue was wiping her blade nearby.

"It's only interesting if it's ruthless."

Blood Rose sat in the carriage, her face still a bit pale, yet she watched the screen without blinking.

"If that hit had landed on the main body, this big sister wouldn't have anywhere to act coquettish tonight."

Shen Wanxing hugged her blanket, her entire body curled into the soft chair.

"I will never complain about Scrap One being ugly again."

Mio floated nearby, her voice sounding weak.

"It is very valuable in its ugliness."

Just when everyone thought the fake target had been wiped out, a second fluctuation suddenly popped up on Shen Wanbing's screen.

[Fragmented fake pulse delayed rebound effective.]

From the location of the destroyed Scrap One wreckage, a fragmented escape signal continued to pop out toward the northwest.

The Star-Splitting Hunting Group's red tracking line veered sharply.

The second round of calibration routes was drawn completely into the depths of the wasteland.

Shen Wanbing let out a long breath.

"We fooled them."

Jiang Jiuyou connected remotely.

"Safe window?"

Shen Wanbing looked at the calculation results.

"About twenty hours."

"After the Hunting King discovers the first round missed, he will re-run biological identification."

"But he will pursue the northwest first now."

Mio's voice was uncharacteristically low.

"Scrap One... sacrificed itself very uglily, but also very gloriously."

Su Xiaoqi blinked her eyes.

"Can we pick it back up to eat then?"

Mio instantly broke character.

"It is scrap metal! You can't eat it!"

Chen Chen didn't smile.

He watched the cannon light that hadn't yet dissipated in the northwest direction and raised his hand to press the city-wide broadcast.

"All work zones, listen up."

"The safe window is twenty hours."

"Do not celebrate."

"Do not space out."

"When the Hunting King turns back, he will be crazier than now."

He paused for half a second.

"Double the demolition speed again."

"Within twenty hours, uproot Meteor Crystal City entirely."

The broadcast had just finished when a new gray-white notification suddenly popped up on Shen Wanbing's secondary control console.

[Warning: The Star-Splitting Hunting Group vanguard reconnaissance team has split off a small squad.]

[Direction: Not northwest.]

[Target: Meteor Crystal City underground main vein.]

Jiang Jiuyou's voice immediately pressed into the channel.

"They didn't all fall for it."

Chen Chen turned and walked toward the Ghost Fortress.

"How many people?"

Shen Wanbing stared at the Radar, her speaking speed suddenly accelerating.

"Seven Tier 5 peaks."

"And one... half-step Tier 6 hound mecha."