The arsenal's iron gates were still closing when Karl slipped in from behind.
"Young Master, what on earth is this 'air defense' supposed to catch?"
Lin Yuan ignored him.
The arsenal had completed its second phase of expansion. Six production lines were in full swing. The mana-driven forging presses hammered down every three seconds, causing the entire workshop floor to vibrate slightly. Freshly forged shells rolled along automated conveyor belts into the warehouse, their brass casings reflecting a cold glint under the blue mana lamps, stacked row by row on the racks.
Lin Yuan walked straight to the production line at the furthest end.
At the end of the line lay a row of finished metal tubes. Their diameter was twice as thick as a tank's main gun, and the tracking array patterns etched onto the outer walls still radiated residual heat, the dark red lines glowing like cooling molten iron.
Launch tubes for surface-to-air missiles.
He reached out and pressed the metal. It was warm to the touch—the craftsmanship was up to standard.
The system panel popped up automatically, displaying the production progress: the first batch of the air defense array would be ready in four days. Full-scale deployment within seven days would require a 100% increase in mana crystal reserves.
Lin Yuan swiped to the resource page.
Mana Crystal Reserves: 28,600 units.
Full Air Defense Array: 5,000 units of High-Grade Mana Crystals, 5 million Gold (Already budgeted).
Subsequent Array Deployment: Additional 5,000 units of Mana Crystals.
Account Balance: 18,600 units of Mana Crystals, 21.6 million Gold.
There was a surplus.
He closed the panel and turned to leave.
Karl was still sticking to his heels. "Young Master—"
"Go and get Qian Duoduo."
"The fatty is counting stock in the warehouse—"
"Go. Now."
Karl bolted.
Qian Duoduo arrived drenched in sweat. The fat man was panting like a bellows, clutching an account book with a greasy thumbprint smeared on the cover.
"Brother Yuan, we're still three hundred crates short of counting the mana crystal intake at the warehouse—"
"What's the word from the Imperial Capital?"
Qian Duoduo froze for a second, tucking the ledger under his arm.
"The news just came in."
He pulled a thrice-folded slip of thin paper from his coat, shook it open, and handed it over. The handwriting was tiny and cramped, filling the entire page.
"Emperor Charlie scolded Lin Zhentian in front of the whole court until he couldn't even lift his head. The exact words were: 'You told me he was a waste. Now that waste has swallowed the entire North Border. Where am I supposed to put my face?'"
Lin Yuan took the paper, scanned it, and tossed it onto the table. "How did Lin Zhentian respond?"
"He knelt," Qian Duoduo held up a finger. "He knelt right there in the Golden Hall and begged for permission to lead an army. He vowed to personally lead the Lin family elites north to take your head and atone for his sins to His Majesty."
Lin Yuan leaned against a metal workbench, crossing his arms. "Personally leading the elites. Including the Imperial Guards, how many men are at the manor?"
"Three thousand enchanted knights, two thousand magic archers, plus the Lin family's Dark Gold-rank ancestor, Lin Cangqiong, is overseeing things," Qian Duoduo counted on his fingers. "Five thousand Lin family elites. Emperor Charlie added ten thousand Imperial Guards to bolster the ranks. Fifteen thousand in total. They're all gathering at the manor's parade ground."
"Dark Gold-rank."
"Yeah, Lin Cangqiong. Your nominal great-grandfather. He's been in seclusion for sixty years, but your father forced him out by claiming the family's survival was at stake. Brother Yuan, a Dark Gold-rank isn't easy to deal with. That old monster can take on a dozen tanks single-handedly—"
"How long to reach the North Border?"
Qian Duoduo's words were cut short. He blinked and did the math.
"Taking the official road from the Capital to the North Border, it's a twenty-day march for regular troops. Lin Zhentian's enchanted knights are faster—fifteen days."
Lin Yuan didn't reply.
He looked down at his boots. The leather was stained with dried mud from the Royal City, which had hardened into a grey crust.
Fifteen days.
Wait for him to arrive?
Lin Yuan looked up at Qian Duoduo. "Does your chamber of commerce have a way to handle long-distance teleportation?"
Qian Duoduo's expression changed. The flesh on his face twitched involuntarily.
"Brother Yuan, what are you planning?"
"Literally what I said. I don't want to wait fifteen days for him to show up. I'm going there myself."
Qian Duoduo pulled the ledger from under his arm and stuffed it back in, his fingers trembling. "You want to... attack the Capital?"
"Not the Capital." Lin Yuan pushed off the workbench and took two steps forward. "I'm attacking the Lin family."
Qian Duoduo felt his throat tighten. He swallowed hard. "Brother Yuan, the Capital is St. Roland City. It has a Saint-tier defense array, a hundred thousand standing Imperial Guards, and the Royal Mage Corps—"
"I never said I'd lay siege to the city," Lin Yuan interrupted. "The Lin Manor is outside the city walls. In the eastern suburbs, three thousand acres. It has its own independent defense array, but it's not covered by the Royal City's main barrier. We hit them and leave. It will take at least two hours for the city troops to mobilize and reach us."
Qian Duoduo stood frozen, speechless. He stared at Lin Yuan for five long seconds. This man knew the manor's location, its defensive blind spots, and even the reaction time of the reinforcements.
"You've been investigating this?"
"From the first day the North Border was established," Lin Yuan said flatly. "The layout of the Lin Manor, the weak points of their array, the patrol patterns of the knights, even the exact time Lin Zhentian wakes up and goes to sleep. It's all archived in the system's radar files."
The back of Qian Duoduo's shirt was soaked with sweat. "So you're asking about teleportation—"
"Do you have it or not?"
Qian Duoduo shut his mouth. He stared at the floor. The arsenal's forging press continued its rhythmic pounding, once every three seconds, making the fat on his belly shake.
Ten seconds later, he looked up. "I do."
He pulled a palm-sized black token from his sleeve. The front was engraved with the hawk emblem of the Merchant Alliance, and the bottom bore a line of tiny coordinate runes.
"The Merchant Alliance spent twelve million gold and thirty years digging a secret teleportation network across the continent. It was meant for smuggling contraband ores and strategic materials."
He flipped it over. "There is an exit thirty miles east of St. Roland City."
He held out the token. "The capacity is sufficient. A single trip can transport eighty heavy vehicles and an infantry force of under three thousand. Four-hour cooldown."
Lin Yuan took the token and flipped it. "The first wave of tanks and infantry goes through first. The second wave of tanks and artillery follows four hours later."
"Brother Yuan—" Qian Duoduo stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Once this array is exposed, the Merchant Alliance's thirty-year smuggling network is finished. Every mole and outpost in dozens of cities will be burned. I can make this call, but the price is too high."
"I know."
"Then why—"
"Hand over the array. I'll guarantee you exclusive trading rights in the Grand Abyss Principality. Ores, weapons, mana crystals—every bit of business goes through your channels."
Qian Duoduo didn't nod immediately.
"Exclusive trading rights, plus priority supply for mana crystal exports. Tax-free status for the Merchant Alliance within Grand Abyss territory."
Lin Yuan glanced at him. "Tax-free for three years. After three years, taxes will be at 70% of the market rate."
Qian Duoduo gritted his teeth. Three years of tax-free trade was enough to spread their channels across all thirty-six territories of the North Border. 70% after that wasn't low, but the volume was the key—Lin Yuan controlled all the mines, factories, and mana refineries. The total scale of this business would be more than ten times the Alliance's current smuggling income.
Even a thin profit would be an astronomical figure.
"Deal." The fat man slammed his ledger onto the ground. "I'll personally take you to the array's core."
Lin Yuan turned toward the depths of the arsenal. His system panel expanded.
He opened the unit summoning interface.
Tank Company: 50 existing. Expand to 100 — 6.2 million Gold.
Heavy Self-Propelled Howitzer: New blueprint unlocked. 50 units — 3.8 million Gold.
Earth-Shaker Bunker Buster Missiles: First batch of 20 — 2,000 units of High-Grade Mana Crystals.
Account Balance: 21.6 million Gold, 18,600 units of Mana Crystals.
After deduction: 11.6 million Gold, 16,600 units of Mana Crystals. More than enough for the air defense array.
He clicked "Confirm."
The moment the button was pressed, the space in the clearing outside the arsenal began to warp.
Fifty brand-new mana tanks emerged from the shimmering light of the summoning circles, their treads grinding over the snow. The magic etchings on their black armor plating hadn't even cooled yet, venting a faint mist of heat.
The original fifty tanks rolled out from the armored garage in sequence, joining the new arrivals. The two companies merged into an armored battalion—one hundred tanks lined up in four columns.
Next came the artillery. The chassis of the self-propelled howitzers was half the height of the tanks, but their barrels were longer and thicker. 155mm caliber, with a maximum range of thirty kilometers. Fifty howitzers parked in two lines behind the tanks.
Finally, the Grenadiers. Three thousand fully armed heavy infantry marched out from the barracks, the rhythm of their iron boots on the frozen earth perfectly synchronized.
One hundred tanks. Fifty self-propelled howitzers. Three thousand grenadiers.
The roar of the engines intertwined, making the entire fortress vibrate. Karl stood on the wall, looking down. He watched for a long time, unable to say a word.
Lin Yuan walked out of the arsenal gates. His black coat cut through the ranks of the armored column. He reached the lead tank and stepped up onto the turret.
"Old Karl."
Karl scrambled down from the wall. "Here!"
"I'm leaving the air defense missiles to you. Have them covering the walls within seven days. The missile array is an auto-locking system; it doesn't need armored support—leaving the tanks at home won't help hit things in the sky anyway. While I'm gone, you're in full command of the fortress defense."
Karl was stunned. "Young Master, the Angel Legion arrives in seven days. If you leave now—"
"We teleport there, finish the job in two days, and return on the third. That leaves four days to wrap up the air defense. It's enough time."
Lin Yuan didn't look back. He pulled the black token from his pocket and tossed it to Qian Duoduo. "Open the gate."
Qian Duoduo caught the token and sprinted toward the underground tunnel. Karl chased him for a few steps. "Young Master!"
Lin Yuan looked down at him. "The Capital. The Lin Family."
Karl stood frozen, his words lost in the wind.
The hem of Lin Yuan's coat caught the breeze. He sat into the commander's seat and pulled down the hatch handle. "Before we move, hook me into the intelligence line for the Capital. I want to know what Lin Zhentian is doing right now."
Qian Duoduo shouted back from the tunnel entrance: "The intel just came through—Lin Zhentian is holding a swearing-in ceremony at the manor today! He says he's going to hang your head on the city walls!"
Lin Yuan leaned halfway out of the hatch. In the distance, the engines of a hundred tanks shifted into gear simultaneously. The ground shook.
"Hang it on the wall?"
He pulled up the system radar and tapped the light screen. The 3D map of the Lin Manor unfolded before his eyes. The main house, the side wings, the parade ground, the gardens—every coordinate was accurate to two decimal places.
He zoomed in, locking onto the red dot in the center of the parade ground. Beside the dot, a label appeared: Lin Zhentian.
Lin Yuan dragged the map into the cannon's fire-control calibration system.
Coordinates entered.
The steel column filed into the underground tunnel, the rumble of treads against the rock walls deep and long. The blue teleportation array flared to its peak, the runes spreading across the floor, swallowing the lead tank.
Imperial Capital Eastern Suburbs. Lin Manor.
On the parade ground, Lin Zhentian stood in dark gold armor atop the command platform. Below him, five thousand Lin family elites stood in shining plate, flanked by ten thousand Imperial Guards.
Lin Zhentian drew his sword, pointing the blade toward the North.
"The traitorous son has rebelled! It is an affront to gods and men! The Lin family swears by its blood—we shall not rest until this thief is slain!"
The roar of the army echoed back. The sound cleared the manor walls, scattering the birds from the treetops.
Lin Zhentian sheathed his sword and stepped down from the platform, his face flushed with pride. A lieutenant approached and whispered, "My Lord, the army marches the day after tomorrow. The provisions—"
Thirty miles south of the manor, deep underground, the blue light of the teleportation array reached its crescendo.
The treads of the first tank touched the soil of the Imperial Capital.