77: Chapter 77 Increased Strength, Dealing with the Crisis

The wind at the top of the dispatch tower was a few degrees colder than last night.

Chen Wuwang was still standing in the same spot, but his posture had changed.

It was no longer the relaxed state of observing the big picture after finishing work, but a ready-to-act stance with his shoulders straight and fingers resting on the hilt of his dagger.

The light spots of his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye swirled deep within his pupils, and data streams continued to wash over his consciousness like a flowing stream—

The Seven Clans' joint lights were still shining, the technical sharing access count had exceeded six thousand times, and the training rate on the southern line was maintained at over ninety percent.

But just three quarters of an hour ago, the Spiritual Vein detector in the southeast cliff zone sent back a set of abnormal readings.

"Frequency fluctuation... 0.7 Hertz, periodic, precise intervals."

He recited it in a low voice; though the volume was low, it caused the few Alliance executives who had just pushed open the meeting room door to pause in their steps.

Elder Xu clutched a Jade Slip in his hand, sweat on his forehead. He knew that Chen Wuwang never spoke nonsense.

The numbers he recited were like blood on the edge of a blade.

"It is not a natural tremor." Chen Wuwang did not turn around, tapping his right hand twice on the dagger hilt, "It is digging."

Deacon Lin gasped, "Who? The Yao Race? Or... the Insect Race?"

"I don't know." Chen Wuwang finally turned around, his silver-white hair lifting in the wind, the three claw marks on his right cheek looking as if the old scars had suddenly come alive, "But they chose a very good time—we just lit the lights, and they want to blow them out."

In the meeting room, the atmosphere sank to the bottom.

A semi-transparent star-track sand table was projected onto the tabletop, and an area in the southeast direction was glowing with a faint red light.

That was the warning zone automatically generated by the global monitoring network established at the end of Chapter 76, covering three sentry stations, two main Spiritual Qi-conducting concrete roads, and one modular defense base currently under construction.

"Five abnormal incidents within three hours."

Chen Wuwang walked to the sand table, his fingertips sliding across several coordinates, "Communication in the North Territory was interrupted for thirty breaths, the West Ridge Spiritual Vein lost a trace amount of Spiritual Qi, two patrol teams in the South Valley encountered a maze formation, and now add this Spiritual Vein fluctuation in the southeast—none of these are attacks, but they are all stuck on our lifelines."

The Sun Clan elder's voice tightened: "Is this testing us?"

"It is a diagnosis." Chen Wuwang corrected, "Someone is feeling out our trump cards, seeing which of our bones is the hardest and which tendon is the loosest."

The Zhao Clan representative slammed the table: "Then let's fight back! Send the mecha squad to suppress them and overturn the ground!"

No one echoed him.

They all knew that the mecha squad had not yet been officially incorporated into the Alliance defense system, and the Chen Family had not agreed to deploy them externally. What's more—

"Fight?" Chen Wuwang sneered, "What are you going to fight with? Something you can't see with your eyes? By the time you arrive, they will have already stopped and retreated, leaving behind a bunch of 'coincidences' for you to investigate?"

He scanned the room: "This is not the time for fighting. This is chess."

As his voice fell, he raised his hand and swiped, and the sand table switched.

The new image was the Seven Clans' resource allocation map, with real-time data marked for every transport line, every workshop, and every duty node.

"I propose a three-line response."

He spoke very steadily, as if reading a pre-written verdict, "Line one, each clan must immediately dispatch reconnaissance squads, carrying portable Spiritual Vein detectors, to patrol the southeast cliff zone according to the grid."

"Remember, do not seek speed, seek accuracy. If abnormal fluctuations are discovered, mark them immediately, and do not enter without authorization."

He paused, his gaze landing on Elder Xu's face: "You lead the team, and submit the first report before dawn."

Elder Xu nodded, his palms full of sweat.

"Line two, activate the warning mode for the Spiritual Energy Amplification Armbands."

Chen Wuwang continued, "All clansmen wearing armbands will be connected to the Alliance monitoring network starting tonight. Once there is an irregular disturbance in the surrounding Spiritual Qi, the armband will automatically record and upload the coordinates. Power consumption will be reduced to the minimum so as not to affect daily cultivation."

Deacon Lin frowned: "Wouldn't this be too disturbing to the people? Everyone wears it while practicing and sleeping, it's like being watched..."

"That just means you have something to hide." Chen Wuwang stared at him, "I didn't force you to wear it; it's something you fought for yourselves. You don't want to use it now? Fine, starting tomorrow, I will delete three spots for your clan from the technical training rotation list."

The air froze.

Deacon Lin's lips moved, but in the end, he didn't speak again.

"Line three." Chen Wuwang said finally, "The workshop reserve team will not rest tonight. Pre-install all the bases for the three modular defense towers, open the energy connection ports in advance, and be ready to load firepower units at any time. I don't require it to fire immediately, but I require it—to be able to stand up within ten minutes."

The meeting room quieted down.

The Seven Clans' executives lowered their heads, some taking notes, some sending messages, and some staring fixedly at the red light on the sand table, as if they could burn through it with their eyes.

Chen Wuwang stopped speaking. He walked back to the window, looking at the construction site in the distance.

The lights were still bright, and the clanging sounds had not stopped.

The Li Clan youth was leading a team of newcomers to reinforce the Spiritual Qi-conducting concrete piles in the south area, their movements awkward but earnest.

The armbands there were glowing with a pale blue light, synchronizing and uploading construction data.

Everything seemed as usual.

But he knew that some things had already changed.

The Alliance was no longer that small power that let others watch it. It had lights, it had roads, and it had operational rules that beat like a heart.

And precisely because of this, the things in the darkness began to move.

"Head of the Chen Family." The Sun Clan elder suddenly spoke, "If an enemy really attacks, can our Seven Clans... really be of one mind?"

This was a question no one dared to ask for too long.

Chen Wuwang turned around, looked at him, and then looked at everyone else.

"I don't want you to believe in me." His voice was not loud, but every word landed heavily, "I want you to—first believe in the things in your own hands."

He raised his left hand, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye flashed, and a comparison chart jumped out on the sand table: on the left was the traditional compass for finding veins, with an error rate of 12% and taking two hours; on the right was the Spiritual Vein detector, with an error of 0.3% and results in thirty breaths.

"Your sons, apprentices, and clansmen can rely on this machine to die fewer times today, and tomorrow they can rely on it to seize one more mine. This is not the Chen Family's gift; it is the skill you fought for yourselves."

He paused, his mouth twitching slightly: "Whoever wants to go back to the past, lighting oil lamps, worshipping ancestors, and relying on luck to survive, can leave now. The door is not closed."

No one moved.

After a long while, Elder Xu stood up: "I will go organize the reconnaissance team now."

Then came the Lin family, the Zhao Clan, the Sun Clan... one by one they left, their steps much heavier than when they arrived.

When the door closed the last crack, Chen Wuwang slowly let out a breath.

He didn't sit down, nor did he look at the sand table. He just stood in front of the giant star-track, staring at the southeast direction.

His Mechanical Prosthetic Eye was still refreshing, and encrypted intelligence poured in one after another: a certain squad discovered slight tremors on the ground, a certain armband captured a brief collapse of Spiritual Pressure, the conduction efficiency of a certain section of Spiritual Qi-conducting concrete dropped by 0.8%...

They were all fragments.

But when pieced together, it was a web that was closing in.

He raised his right hand and tapped the hilt of his dagger three times gently.

Tap, tap, tap.

As if giving an order.

And as if waiting.

Outside the window, the last joint light suddenly flickered, then immediately returned to stability.

On the distant construction site, new modular frames were being hoisted, the sound of metal colliding piercing through the night wind, one tap, then another, like some kind of silent response.