213: Chapter 213 The fox's scheme has backfired on the lord.

When the last section of the crystal wall in Meteor Crystal City collapsed, the entire outer city was left as nothing but a hollow shell.

The old city gates were dismantled into transport boards.

The noble mansions were gutted.

In the underground black market, the landlady even pried up three layers of floor tiles.

The Sea-Air Composite Fortress hung above the wasteland, its newly connected Star Core Power Main Furnace at the bottom rotating slowly, dark golden light patterns crawling along the hull of the Sea Scale all the way to the base of the Floating City.

Looking from afar, the entire city resembled a steel monster that had just grown out of a mine pit.

Mio floated in the main control layer, staring at the external structure diagram, her electronic pupils contracting again and again.

"I'll confirm one more time."

"You really dismantled a Tier 3 city-state until only a pit remained?"

Copper Hammer passed by carrying a welding gun, his beard covered in crystal sand dust.

"There's still half a drainage ditch left to dismantle."

Mio just let out a sigh of relief.

Copper Hammer added a sentence.

"We'll dismantle it in a while, the copper pipes are still usable."

Mio's projection lagged for two seconds.

"Very good, the Civilization Relic Zeroing Plan has been executed very thoroughly."

Chen Chen stood by the main control platform, glancing at the territory panel.

[Territory: Sea-Air Composite Fortress]

[Rating: SSS]

[New Modules: Star Core Power Main Furnace, Mobile Mineral Ecological Node, Tier 3 Gravity Adaptation Field, Meteor Crystal Turret Base]

[Population Capacity: 1,800,000]

[Current Population: 1,274,612]

[Automatic Hourly Output: Star Core Crystal Sand × Small Amount]

[Base Shield Durability: 180,000]

[Tyrant Totem Experience Feedback in progress...]

Chen Chen's level had already reached thirty-eight.

After the Physical Overlimit settlement at dawn, his constitution continued to surge.

His Spirit attribute had also neared three hundred due to the previous rounds of stat allocation and feedback.

He closed the panel.

"It's enough."

Shen Wanbing stood to the side, the cuffs of her white shirt rolled up to her elbows, her fingertips still flying across the holographic screen.

"It's only enough to survive, not enough to go wild."

She pushed a string of data over.

"After the Star Core Main Mineral Heart was connected, the parsing speed of the fragments increased."

"The first fragment has unlocked to one percent."

Mio immediately leaned in.

"One percent is scary enough, don't click randomly."

Shen Wanbing ignored her and directly expanded the projection.

In the image, a faint dark golden line connected the Interstellar Fortress fragment to the Star Core Main Mineral Heart.

The next second, a line of broken text emerged from the depths of the fragment.

[Interstellar Fortress: The ultimate mobile world created by ancient players.]

[Purpose: Escape the map cycle.]

[Warning: Observer chain is tightening.]

Chen Chen's fingertips paused on the last line.

"Observer?"

Shen Wanbing's brows furrowed.

"This term has appeared in the fragments before."

"It's clearer this time."

"Someone, or something at the system level, doesn't want us to continue dismantling the truth."

Mio's voice dropped instantly.

"You'd better not continue parsing it."

"The Gray-White Mechanical Holy Court is snatching the fragments to piece together the Interstellar Fortress."

"But the Observer chain... that's not an ordinary enemy."

Su Xiaoqi sat at the entrance of the main control layer, holding a bowl of hot soup.

"Can the Observer be eaten?"

Mio had a mental breakdown on the spot.

"I beg you, stop asking if everything can be eaten first!"

Su Xiaoqi thought seriously.

"Then can it be stewed?"

Shen Wanxing hugged a blanket and poked half her face out from the entrance of the resting cabin.

"Xiaoqi, don't ask anymore."

"I'm afraid it will come to catch me and loot my corpse after hearing that."

Chen Chen looked at Shen Wanbing.

"Lock it up first."

"Continue parsing the fragments, but don't open deep-level permissions."

Shen Wanbing nodded.

"I will add three layers of isolation."

Just as she finished speaking, a commotion came from the external construction site.

Yi Chang's communication cut in.

"Chen Chen, the ecological cabin initial installation is sixty-two percent complete."

"One million mine slaves have completed initial screening according to five categories."

The holographic screen switched.

In the lower-level ecological cabin construction site, Yi Chang stepped through rows of temporary cabins in her thin high heels.

She held a data pad in one hand and allocated permissions with the other.

"Miner area, left side channel three."

"Craftsman area, enter the inner ring for registration."

"Hard labor workers wear rings, not allowed to approach energy pipelines."

"Family area, groups of ten households."

"Observation subjects isolated separately, no contact with the main control system within seven days."

Old residential boards, energy tower shells, and crystal rail transport vehicles were reassembled into ecological cabins.

They didn't look pretty, but they were habitable.

The gray-haired female artisan stood in the distribution area with thousands of crystal sand refiners, having just received their first bowl of hot soup and compressed biscuits.

She held the bowl with both hands, her knuckles trembling.

A ten-year-old mine slave child next to her spoke softly.

"Can we really drink this?"

The soldier serving the soup glanced at him.

"Drink it once you get it, don't block those behind you."

The child flinched, but wasn't beaten.

He lowered his head and took a sip, and the whole person froze.

Several other mine slaves behind him were also stunned while holding their bowls.

The gray-haired female artisan lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Yi Chang passed by without even stopping.

"You can be touched, but finish eating and get back to work."

The gray-haired female artisan looked up.

Yi Chang had already walked far away.

Jiang Yanxue stood by the registration desk holding her blade and added lazily.

"Did you hear that? Crying doesn't count as work hours."

A group of mine slaves hurriedly lowered their heads to drink soup, then lined up to go to work.

On the other side in the war zone, Jiang Jiuyou wore a dark red cloak and stood in front of the newly built artillery array.

Over three hundred crystal rail cannons were dismantled into one hundred and twenty mobile artillery vehicles, and sixty-four city defense cannon bases were being connected to the Fleet Link.

Crystal armor prisoners knelt in a row, the old city badges on their bodies all torn off.

Jiang Jiuyou raised her hand, and the prisoner-of-war camp agreement was projected into mid-air.

"Join the prisoner-of-war camp, perform meritorious service to reduce your sentence."

"Hiding private items, attempted escape, spreading information about the Grey-White Sanctuary, will be executed on the spot."

A crystal armor officer gritted his teeth.

"We are the regular army of Meteor Crystal City."

Jiang Jiuyou didn't even look at him.

"Now you are prisoners."

Iron Wall walked over and kicked the man down.

"Why are you still kneeling if you're the regular army? Sign!"

The man pressed his fingerprint with trembling hands.

Jiang Jiuyou pulled the artillery vehicle route onto the main map.

"The main cannon components go via the south rail first."

Yi Chang's permission prompt popped up immediately.

[The south rail has been designated as the ecological cabin construction material transport line.]

Jiang Jiuyou looked up.

Yi Chang spoke through the communication.

"Ecological cabin construction materials take priority."

"The population density in the lower levels has reached the red line; one hour late means another batch of people causing trouble."

Jiang Jiuyou raised her hand to change the route.

"If the main cannon components are one hour late, what will we use to bombard when the Hunter King returns? Are we going to smash it with your data pad?"

Yi Chang replied quickly.

"Without the ecological cabins, your gunners will be trampled to death by their own people first."

The channel on both sides went silent instantly.

All the adjutants lowered their heads and pretended to be busy.

Chen Chen happened to come down from the main control layer.

He glanced at the two of them.

"Whoever argues again tonight will go keep Su Xiaoqi company while she taste-tests new dishes."

Su Xiaoqi raised her hand from the side.

"The new dish is hound bone soup!"

The Pig-Faced Butcher was squatting in front of a giant pot, pouring Royal Court blood crystal powder, purification core residue, and a pile of spices into it.

The spine of a half-step Tier 6 hound was bubbling in the pot.

Mio was going crazy in mid-air.

"That is mechanical pollutant!"

"It's not a big bone stick!"

The Pig-Faced Butcher stirred the pot.

"Eighty percent of the pollution is suppressed."

"Theoretically, it can be drunk."

Mio's voice cracked.

"Theoretically drinkable doesn't mean it can be served as breakfast!"

Su Xiaoqi's eyes were frighteningly bright.

"I can have it for dinner."

Jiang Jiuyou was silent for two seconds, then changed the main cannon components to be transported in batches.

Yi Chang also yielded a temporary line for the construction material fleet.

Neither of them said anything else.

Blood Rose leaned against the railing and laughed in a low voice.

"The Lord's punishment is really ruthless."

Shen Wanxing hugged her blanket tighter.

"Stop talking, I can already smell the soup."

"It seems to be looking at me."

Mio collapsed.

"The soup won't look at you!"

Su Xiaoqi corrected seriously.

"If there's a dog head in it, maybe it will."

Shen Wanxing almost ran back to the resting cabin on the spot.

The first-floor commercial area had already changed its appearance.

The gold-inlaid door panels removed from the old Meteor Crystal City noble mansions were modified into a bar counter by the landlady.

The crystal lamps brought from the underground black market hung from the ceiling.

In the most conspicuous position on the wall, a wine barrel modified from a golden toilet hung.

A new sign was even carved on it.

[Floating Fox Tail Tavern · Meteor Crystal Branch]

Mio saw that thing remotely, and her projection went black for a second.

"Who allowed you to hang a toilet on the wall?"

The landlady stood behind the bar, her fiery red fox ears twitching slightly, her tail sweeping across the back of the chair.

"Doomsday luxury retro style."

Mio held it in for a long time.

"Your retro style has a very distinct flavor."

The landlady pushed a bowl of hot soup to a queueing mine slave.

"Stop talking nonsense, next one."

The first batch of mine slaves were allowed to enter the outer circle of the tavern.

Each person got a bowl of hot soup and a piece of compressed biscuits.

They held the food and didn't dare to sit, some subconsciously waiting for the whip to fall.

The landlady knocked on the bar counter.

"Standing there is blocking the way, go sit over there."

A skinny mine slave held his bowl, his voice hoarse.

"If we sit... will food be deducted?"

The landlady rolled her eyes.

"Only if you sit on my tail will it be deducted."

Su Xiaoqi passed by from behind and heard the word 'tail', immediately reaching out.

The landlady dodged backward as if her fur had exploded.

"Su Xiaoqi! No touching today!"

Su Xiaoqi was a little disappointed.

"I'll just touch it once, the texture can increase morale."

The landlady wrapped her tail behind her.

"If you touch it once, I'll lose three minutes of money-making time."

Su Xiaoqi nodded seriously.

"Then I won't touch it, making money is more important, we can buy meat."

The landlady was satisfied then.

"Sensible."

In the medical cabin, Qin Hongye sat by the repair table.

There was still a repair film on her right shoulder collarbone, but she held the Meteor Orbit Sniper Cannon in her arms, as if she would open fire if anyone dared to touch it.

Copper Hammer squatted nearby, dismantling the gun body shell.

"If you fire three more shots with this shoulder, you'll have to change to a mechanical shoulder tonight."

Qin Hongye spoke indifferently.

"If it can penetrate a Tier 6, then change it."

Chen Chen walked in and raised his hand to press down on her gun.

"The injury hasn't healed, put the gun down first."

Qin Hongye looked up.

"I don't need special treatment."

Chen Chen reached out to unfasten her shoulder fixation frame and checked the cracks under the repair film.

"You are a sniper, not a disposable gun mount."

Qin Hongye's movements stopped, and her earlobes quickly turned red.

She turned her head away.

"Then does the extra training you promised still count?"

Blood Rose happened to pass by and spoke sourly.

"Sister Qin's shoulder injury is really valuable; one shot, one merit, and she can even exchange it for extra training."

Qin Hongye's muzzle tilted slightly.

Blood Rose raised her hand to tidy her red hair and turned around very elegantly.

"I'm going to see if the soup is cooked."

Chen Chen placed an S-grade Meteor Sniper Core in front of Copper Hammer.

Next to it were fifty pieces of Gray-White tracking algorithm fragments.

"Make her an exclusive scope."

Copper Hammer's eyes lit up.

"The Hunter King weakness prediction scope?"

Shen Wanbing connected from the sub-screen.

"I'll cut a portion of the anti-hunting marker's prediction module for you."

"The finished product can capture the energy closing points of high-tier targets in advance."

Hearing the word 'exclusive', Qin Hongye's fingers tightened around the gun body.

Her voice was still hard.

"I will use it to penetrate a Tier 6."

Chen Chen nodded.

"Penetrate it and I'll count it as your third merit."

Qin Hongye finally didn't talk back.

Only when she put the gun into Copper Hammer's hands, her movements were half a beat slower.

At night, the City Lord Tower temporarily quieted down.

Chen Chen just sat down when a soft knock came from outside the door.

The landlady pushed the door and entered.

She had changed into a black gold cheongsam, the waistline was very tight, and a section of snow-white long legs was exposed at the slit.

Her fiery red long hair draped over her shoulders, and her fox tail wrapped around the back of the chair, deliberately staying very close to Chen Chen.

She placed a pot of Meteor Crystal Purple Wine on the table.

"Lord, the first daily report of the commercial area."

Chen Chen took the wine glass.

"You need to deliver the report yourself?"

The landlady sat opposite him, put the abacus on the table, and smiled very sweetly.

"By the way, let's talk about the split."

Chen Chen opened the ledger.

"Twenty-eight percent."

The landlady's fox ears stood up.

"My branch is the core of the stable circulation of one million new population points!"

"Thirty-five percent wouldn't be too much, right?"

Chen Chen took a sip of wine.

"Twenty-six percent."

The landlady was stunned.

"Why did it go down?"

Chen Chen flipped the ledger to the private treasury income page.

"Thirty-seven private treasuries, the full list wasn't handed in."

The landlady immediately bent over to pick up the dropped abacus beads.

The cheongsam slit slid to the side of her leg, and a snow-white section swayed very close.

Her voice softened.

"Lord, the fox is also very tired from running around."

"You can't strip me until not even a tail hair is left, right?"

Chen Chen leaned back in his chair.

"Are tail hairs valuable?"

The landlady's movements paused.

"You really have no sense of romance."

The door opened at this moment.

Yi Chang stood at the door with a population registration form.

She glanced at the landlady bending over to pick up beads, then at the purple wine on the table.

The atmosphere in the room changed on the spot.

The landlady slowly straightened up, and her tail retracted behind her.

"The Deputy City Lord arrived at a really coincidental time."

Yi Chang stepped in with her thin high heels and slapped a new agreement on the table.

"The tavern uses the territory's ecological heating, shields, security, and transport lines."

"The comprehensive commission is forty-two percent."

The landlady almost jumped up.

"Forty-two percent?"

"Why don't you just take my tail to pay off the debt?"

Yi Chang opened the data pad.

"If you agree, I can calculate it."

The landlady's two fox tails almost swept the wine glass over.

"Are you Snake Scale Tribe people all so ruthless when doing accounts?"

Yi Chang flipped the page calmly.

"I only reconcile accounts, not species."

Chen Chen watched the two of them bickering and tapped his fingers on the table.

"The tavern keeps thirty percent."

The landlady's fox ears just moved.

Chen Chen finished the second half of the sentence.

"But you will build the point trading system."

"The point exchange, black market consignment, artisan commissions, and hard labor redemption for the one million new population will all be connected into the tavern."

The landlady's smile froze on her face.

Yi Chang looked up.

"This will increase her authority."

Chen Chen put down the wine glass.

"It will also bind her to the territory."

The landlady was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly closed the abacus.

"Fine."

"But I want a cut from the point system transactions."

Yi Chang spoke immediately.

"One percent."

The landlady gritted her teeth.

"Three percent."

Yi Chang: "One point two."

The landlady: "Two point five."

Chen Chen: "One point five, deal."

The landlady's fox ears twitched for a long time, and finally reached out to press the agreement.

"Lord, you two are ganging up to bully a fox."

Yi Chang's fingers paused.

"Who is a couple with him?"

The landlady narrowed her eyes immediately.

"Oh, is the Deputy City Lord in a hurry?"