Chapter 27
The chaos in the command center had calmed down. Luo Yan briefly reported the situation: a data maintenance worker, bribed by the Federation, had attempted to steal the base's structural data, triggering the chain reaction that had just occurred. The situation had now been brought under control.
"Clean it up," Miao Weizhen gave a three-word order after hearing it, then turned to Wen Ling and said, "Follow me."
This time, they were heading towards the core area of the base, a place Wen Ling had never been allowed to enter before. After passing through several heavy gates that required Miao Weizhen's highest authority to open, the scene before them suddenly opened up.
Wen Ling had imagined what the Iron Throne Arsenal looked like, perhaps a busy assembly line or a warehouse piled high with spare parts. But the scene before him still exceeded his expectations.
This is an immense space, expanded from natural starburst caverns. The soaring dome reveals the faint veins of the original rock formations. The most striking feature isn't the densely packed production lines you might imagine, but the massive structure at the center, fused and spliced together from countless discarded starship engines, armor plating, and massive energy pipelines. Like a wildly growing metal monster, it lies dormant, radiating a chilling, oppressive presence. This is the core of the "Iron Throne"—a mobile prototype interstellar fortress still under construction.
Surrounding it are functional areas with clear division of labor: weapons testing ground, ship modification dock, energy core array... Lao Lin, whom Wen Ling had met before, was busy with his team under a huge engine nozzle, and dazzling welding sparks fell like raindrops.
"This is the 'Iron Throne,'" Miao Weizhen's voice seemed a little empty in the vast space. He looked up at the unfinished giant, his profile clearly outlined under the cold industrial lighting. "It's not what you think. It's just a workshop that produces cheap guns."
Wen Ling was stunned by the scene before him and was speechless for a moment. This far exceeded his previous understanding of the arsenal.
"Those 'disposable' weapons," Miao Weizhen continued calmly, as if seeing through his thoughts, "are just bait used to feed the Federal Intelligence Network. They make them think we can only make low-end weapons and ignore what we are really doing."
He raised his hand and pointed to the modification dock. Wen Ling looked in the direction and saw the skeletons of several familiar ships.
It was the old Sailiang starships that Miao Weizhen had announced he had dismantled and sold after signing the treaty. Instead of being reduced to scrap metal, they were being dismantled and analyzed here, and their still-usable core components were being incorporated into new designs.
"Those officials who were purged," Miao Weizhen said, his eyes sweeping over a technician in the distance who was discussing with an engineer. That person was surprisingly a former fleet commander of the Sailiang Kingdom who had been declared "exiled." "The capable and trustworthy ones have been given a new life here. Those who are incompetent or unstable have been truly eliminated."
His tone was as cold as if he were stating a mathematical formula. The truth, like a puzzle, pieced together before Wen Ling. Behind every act of Miao Weizhen's "treason," every act of "purge," lay a dangerous strategy, each designed to secretly store within this stellar debris the teeth that could truly bite the behemoth.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Wen Ling asked, his voice a little dry.
Miao Weizhen finally withdrew his gaze from the Iron Throne and settled on Wen Ling's face. His eyes were deep, scrutinizing, yet also carried a subtle, almost imperceptible determination, pushing the chips onto the gambling table.
"Because you chose to stay," he paused, then added, his voice a little deeper, "and because, 'Star Shuttle'... that was the code name for the miniaturized jump engine that Xing Lan and I originally attempted to build."
Wen Ling's heart trembled suddenly, and she remembered the handwriting on the photo. Miao Weizhen took the initiative to mention his sister and the project that had obviously failed or brought disaster.
Just then, Ah Yuan came down the aisle carrying a tray with several cups of refreshing energy drinks. She saw Wen Ling and Miao Weizhen standing together, and was startled for a moment before giving them a knowing smile. She placed the drinks on the nearby counter and quietly left, not attempting to join in the conversation as she had before.
Dr. Keith also came from the direction of the medical area and handed Miao Weizhen a small bottle of transparent medicine.
"It's just to soothe your nerves, don't force it." He glanced at Wen Ling, nodded, and said nothing more.
Those who had once been curious about Wen Ling or kept their distance now seemed to have tacitly accepted that he had entered this core circle.
Miao Weizhen did not touch the bottle of potion. His gaze returned to the unfinished steel behemoth, as if that was his only destination.
"The Federation thought we could only struggle in the mud," he whispered, as if to Wen Ling, but also to himself, "but they will soon find out what will rise from the ruins."
Wen Ling stood beside him, looking at the miracle before him, built of lies, sacrifice, and steel, then looking at the man beside him who had staked everything on it. The road ahead was still foggy, but he now clearly felt that he was standing in the true eye of the storm.
After a brief moment of shock, Wen Ling took a few steps forward, closer to the massive, crudely constructed structure of the Iron Throne. He looked up, his sharp gaze sweeping over the crudely welded seams, the array of pipes that hadn't yet completed their energy flow, and the obvious signs of components from different technological systems being forcibly pieced together.
"Using the keels and engines of abandoned starships as the core framework is a clever idea and can greatly save resources and time," Wen Ling began. His voice was clear and steady, without the slightest hint of fear or timidity. Instead, it carried a pure, technical scrutiny. "But how do we solve the compatibility of the energy circuits of these components, which come from different eras and have different manufacturing standards? Let me see here, and here," he pointed to several key connections. "The stress concentration problem is obvious. It may become a structural weakness during high-speed maneuvers or under heavy fire."
He turned and looked at Miao Weizhen. His clear green eyes held no doubt, only inquiry. "Have you done a comprehensive structural dynamics simulation? Or, due to the extreme lack of time and resources, are you forced to adopt a more risky... 'verify and correct' strategy?"
For a moment, the air in the entire area seemed to freeze. Not far away, Lao Lin, who was working, stopped his tools and looked up in surprise. Even Luo Yan, who usually had no expression, had his mechanical prosthetic eye flickering slightly.
No one had ever dared to point out the problems with the Iron Throne's core prototype so directly and pointedly before Miao Weizhen. These problems existed, compromises they had to make under extreme conditions, and hidden concerns obscured by their grand goals.
Miao Weizhen's deep eyes suddenly narrowed, as if pierced by an unexpected light. A very faint, almost imperceptible throbbing passed through Miao Weizhen's usually calm heart.
He did not answer Wen Ling's question immediately, but looked at him silently for a few seconds.
"We have simulation data, but it's incomplete," Miao Weizhen's voice remained steady, but lacked some of its previous absolute authority, with a hint of factual statement. "Resources and time don't allow us to pursue perfection. We must take some risks."
He raised his hand and pointed to a blinking signal node deep within the Iron Throne. "Regarding the stress issue you mentioned, Lao Lin's team is currently attempting to use energy field confinement technology for local reinforcement. The effectiveness remains to be tested in actual combat."
Wen Ling nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the answer. "I've studied some ancient starship designs sealed in the Sailiang Royal Archives. They contain some ingenious ideas for adapting non-standard components to energy. Perhaps... they can provide some reference ideas."
His tone was humble, but his content was very weighty.
Miao Weizhen stared at him. He watched the young man standing in the shadow of the steel behemoth, his posture erect and his gaze clear and resolute. He possessed both the purity of an unworldly soul and a formidable insight. He was like a rough jade, rapidly revealing its inner brilliance on the harsh grindstone.
He calmly looked away and looked back at the "Iron Throne", as if the brief eye contact and fluctuations in his thoughts had never happened.
"Organize your thoughts," he ordered, his tone returning to its usual cold hardness, but after a pause, he added three words, as light as a sigh, yet with a weight of weight:
"I'll wait."
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