298: Chapter 298 Chen Wuwang's Fury

The sound of the metal gate falling had long since faded, leaving only the low-frequency hum of the shields operating within the factory.

The blood on the floor hadn't been wiped away yet, slowly seeping into the bottom grooves along the joints of the guide rails like a crooked red line.

Chen Xiaodao stood where he was, the vibrations from the recent kill still lingering in his mechanical arm joints, his fingertips slightly numb.

Chen Wuwang crouched beside the head, holding a dark red slip of paper between two fingers and giving it a gentle shake.

The bloodstains were mostly dry, but the handwriting was clear—"Wait."

He stared at the word for three seconds, then suddenly laughed.

"Wait?" he whispered. "Wait for me to act? Or wait for more people to come and seek death?"

Chen Xiaodao frowned. "Patriarch, they are testing us."

"It's not a test." Chen Wuwang stood up and tossed the paper into the storage pouch at his waist with a crisp motion.

"It's a provocation. They know we'll be on guard, and they know we can stop them, yet they came anyway—knowing they would die, they still dared to come."

He took a step forward, the sole of his boot crushing a pool of blood with a faint squelching sound.

"Mo Yuan is trying to force me into chaos." He looked up and scanned the entire factory, his gaze sweeping over the cooling tanks, the main console, and the yet-to-be-lit core energy zone.

"He knows I have a short fuse, so he wants to see me explode. If I explode, I'll get anxious; if I'm anxious, I'll make mistakes; and if I make mistakes, they'll have an opportunity."

Chen Xiaodao was silent for a moment. "But we aren't in chaos."

"Of course not," Chen Wuwang sneered. "My fury has never been a weakness; it's my fuse."

Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly kicked the nearby control console.

"Clang—!"

The alloy bracket snapped instantly, the screen shattered, sparks flew everywhere, and fragments ricocheted onto the detection Formation three meters away with a clatter.

An AI voice sounded immediately: "Warning: Equipment damaged. Console T7-3 is offline."

Chen Xiaodao didn't move, though his eyes narrowed slightly.

Chen Wuwang took a breath, his chest heaving visibly.

He pulled the Titanium Alloy Dagger from his waist. Its blade was covered in runes, glinting with a cold blue light under the lamps.

He stared at the guide rail and suddenly slashed down—

"Clang!!!"

Sparks flew into the air as a deep gash was hacked into the rail, the metal curling back as if bitten by a beast.

"Last time it was bombing the mineral vein!" he growled, his voice not loud but causing the factory to hum with echoes. "This time it's destroying the Technology Workshop! Do you really think my Chen family is empty? Do you really think I'm soft-hearted?!"

His eyes were bloodshot, and the three Zerg claw marks on his right cheek faintly glowed with blood-colored spirit patterns, like snakes coming to life, crawling along his skin toward the corner of his eye.

"Mo Yuan!" he gritted his teeth. "Time and time again! Time and time again!!"

Another slash.

"Clang!"

The second crack was even deeper, exposing the psionic circuits inside the rail as several wires crackled with fire.

Chen Xiaodao finally spoke. "Patriarch."

"Hmm?" Chen Wuwang looked back, his gaze fierce enough to devour someone.

"You killed well," Chen Xiaodao said steadily. "They shouldn't have come."

Chen Wuwang stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly grinned, a low and manic laugh rolling from his throat:

"Hahahaha... Yes, I killed well. But I don't just want to kill them."

He sheathed his blade with a swift motion.

Then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for three seconds.

When he opened them again, the madness was gone, replaced by a clarity as cold as ice.

"They want to see me in chaos?" He looked at Chen Xiaodao, his tone calm. "I'll make sure they see my strength instead."

Chen Xiaodao nodded. "Whatever you say, I'll follow."

"Continue improving the Technology Workshop," Chen Wuwang said, emphasizing every word. "Turn every guide rail, every chip, and every Formation circuit into our fangs."

He turned and walked toward the center of the factory, his steps steady.

"They think we're just putting on a show? That these machines are just to save a bit of labor?"

He sneered. "Fine, then let's show them what true 'Cyber Cultivation' really is."

Chen Xiaodao followed half a step behind. "A counterattack?"

"No rush." Chen Wuwang shook his head. "Acting now would be falling into their trap. They're just waiting for me to lose my head and charge straight into an ambush."

He stopped and looked up at the high-altitude surveillance array, where miniature cameras were rotating, recording everything.

"What we need to do is make them think we're still following the routine, still burying our heads in construction." His lips curled up. "But in reality—we are waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"Waiting for them to come again," Chen Wuwang lowered his voice. "Waiting for them to send more people, to use even more ruthless tactics. Waiting for them to think the time is right."

He turned around and looked Chen Xiaodao in the eye. "And then, we'll give them a grand gift—casting a warning monument with their bones."

Chen Xiaodao's eyes sharpened.

"Patriarch... are you planning to play the long game?"

"Yes." Chen Wuwang nodded. "Let them think we've held our ground, that we only know how to defend. But they don't know that a true counterattack is never about striking back immediately."

He raised his hand and pointed toward the distant, unactivated core energy zone. "That is our trump card. The 'nails' they welded today can't even touch the real thing."

Chen Xiaodao understood. "So you had the squad cut the central hub away in advance?"

"It was cut three days ago," Chen Wuwang said indifferently.

"The System gave an instruction at dawn: 'At the third quarter of the hour of Chen, the wind shifts south.' As soon as I heard it, I knew someone was coming.

But I didn't make a sound. I let them weld, let them install, let them think they had succeeded."

He smiled. "The result? What blew up was a mock-up section, and the ones who died were their people. As for us—we didn't even sound a full alarm."

Chen Xiaodao was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Then this 'Wait' note... was it left intentionally?"

"Most likely." Chen Wuwang narrowed his eyes. "Either it was stuffed in right before death, or it was prepared long ago. Either way, it shows they aren't afraid of us knowing who's behind it."

"They're showing off their power."

"Yes." Chen Wuwang nodded. "They want me to know it was Mo Yuan's doing. They want me to be angry, to be impulsive, to make a wrong judgment."

He looked down at his blood-stained fingers and slowly wiped them clean on his armor.

"But they forgot," his voice turned cold. "The thing I fear least is being targeted."

The factory was silent for a few seconds.

The shields were still running, pale gold ripples slowly flowing, reflecting the blood-stained floor and scattered parts.

The equipment indicator lights lit up one by one, the detection array emitted a faint buzz, and the guide rails began automatic calibration.

Chen Xiaodao looked at the Patriarch's back and suddenly felt that the figure was heavier than usual, as if carrying a mountain.

"Patriarch," he whispered. "What's the next... move?"

"Step one." Chen Wuwang turned around, his gaze sharp as a knife. "The Technology Workshop cannot stop. The assembly lines must continue to be modified, and efficiency must be increased again.

I want every power in the Eastern Wasteland to know that the Chen family hasn't been broken; on the contrary, we've become even faster."

"They will be suspicious."

"Suspicion is exactly what I want." Chen Wuwang sneered. "Let them guess if we were prepared all along, let them guess how many trump cards we still have. The more they guess, the less they'll dare to move recklessly."

"Step two?" Chen Xiaodao asked.

"Wait," Chen Wuwang said just one word.

"Wait for them to send more people?"

"Yes." He nodded. "And, I want them to feel that our defenses aren't tight enough, that there's an opportunity."

"You're going to go easy on them?"

"Just a little." Chen Wuwang's eyes were sharp. "But only enough for them to crawl in, not enough for them to leave alive."

Chen Xiaodao understood.

He looked at the three corpses on the floor and suddenly felt that this slaughter might have only just begun.

"Patriarch," he whispered. "You don't want to scare them off."

"Of course not." Chen Wuwang's lips curled up, laughing like a madman. "What I want—is to make them afraid."

He walked to the center of the factory, stood still, and with his back to Chen Xiaodao, his voice was low yet clear:

"Pass down the order: everyone in the Technology Workshop is to work overtime, three shifts rotating, the progress must not be interrupted. To the outside world, say that last night's attack caused us significant losses and urgent repairs are needed."

"But in reality?"

"In reality." Chen Wuwang looked up at the energy pipe network on the ceiling. "We'll upgrade the defense protocols overnight, encrypt all surveillance data three times over, and plant a fake System specifically for fishing."

He paused, his voice as cold as ice:

"I want the next one who comes to not just die—but to die knowing exactly why."

Chen Xiaodao snapped to attention. "Yes!"

The factory lights flickered, casting the shadows of the two men as they lengthened and shortened against the wall.

The hum of the shields continued, and the equipment operated as usual, as if the slaughter just now had never happened.

But the smell of blood in the air had not yet dissipated.

Chen Wuwang stood where he was, motionless.

His gaze had already pierced through the wall, through the night sky, landing on a name hidden in the darkness.

Mo Yuan.

You wait for me.

I am also waiting for you.