Chapter 1872: The Star-Breaking Defense Line

"I understand. I'll head over now."

Jing Si nodded, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings. As he walked toward the exit of the station, he couldn't help but ask, "What are all these things they're moving?"

"Lord Jing Si, this batch that arrived this afternoon is mostly daily necessities."

"Daily necessities? This many??"

"With the Red Star's return imminent, His Majesty has ordered that all major Directorates... all major domains must stockpile sufficient daily necessities, including food, fresh water, clothing, medicine, and so on, enough to supply the entire city's population for at least a month, in case of emergency."

"I see." Jing Si suddenly realized something. "You said these arrived this afternoon? What about the other batches?"

"As for those others... you'll naturally find out once you see the Duke of Star."

Jing Si walked out of the station, where a private car had been waiting for a long time.

This was his first time visiting the Tian-Shu Domain. As the vehicle drove on, the towering Tongtian Tower in the city center drew closer and closer.

However, at this moment, the Tongtian Tower seemed to be covered in layers of scaffolding, undergoing maintenance and renovation. Not only that, Jing Si discovered that in the entire Tian-Shu Domain, basically every other street had an area cordoned off, with construction work in full swing.

Fruits and vegetables from the South Sea Domain, clothing from the Red Dust Domain, daily goods from the Hanging Jade Domain, steel from the Aurora Domain... The logistics between the major domains were connected like a spider web, transporting everything needed to sustain the people's lives like blood, and street after street was almost blocked by various transport vehicles.

Coupled with the bustling renovations and construction all around, Jing Si could clearly feel an indescribable, tense atmosphere spreading throughout the domain.

In Jing Si's eyes, the Tian-Shu Domain at this moment was like a living person, curled up in a corner and carefully covering themselves with a blanket, preparing to resist the coming of a bitter winter.

The vehicle stopped slowly at the foot of the Tongtian Tower.

Led by an escort, Jing Si took a steam elevator and quickly approached the top of the tower. As the metal doors slowly opened, a familiar back finally appeared before his eyes.

The Duke of Star was standing in front of a giant painting several meters long and wide, hanging in the center of the room. He had his back to the elevator, as if lost in deep thought.

As Jing Si walked closer, he realized that this was a map of the Tian-Shu Domain, detailed to the extreme. Every street and every building could be found on this map. Beyond that, it was densely marked with various underground shelters and supply transport trajectories more complex than a spider web.

"Lord Chief," Jing Si said respectfully.

"You're here." The Duke of Star nodded slightly. "Perfect. I'm spread too thin right now, and I intend to hand over the management of supply transport planning to you later..."

"You mean the supply dispatch and warehousing stockpiling requested by His Majesty?" Jing Si pondered. "That shouldn't be difficult... I observed briefly on the way here; the logistics network should already be formed. The rest is just a matter of time..."

"Not just that."

The Duke of Star shook his head.

He raised his hand and pointed to the densely packed red areas distributed throughout the Tian-Shu Domain on the map. "I also need you to prioritize the supply of materials, worker meals, and waste disposal for these locations."

Jing Si was stunned. "What kind of materials? What quantities... and how many worker meals?"

"For each location, one hundred tons of steel, ten tons of gunpowder, and meals for two hundred workers."

"How much??"

Jing Si's eyes widened as he looked at the dense red areas on the map, his brain buzzing. "Lord Chief... what... what are these places used for?"

The Duke of Star gave him a deep look and turned to walk into the depths of the Tongtian Tower.

"...Follow me."

Jing Si followed behind the Duke of Star, finally arriving at the foot of a massive shadow shrouded in black cloth.

The ceiling height of each floor in the Tongtian Tower was already spacious, and the top floor where the Duke of Star resided was so empty it echoed. Yet even so, the giant shadow before him reached almost to the ceiling, like a ferocious beast shrouded in darkness.

As the Duke of Star waved his hand, the black cloth slid down in response...

Seeing what was before him, Jing Si's mouth hung open involuntarily.

It was a giant object cast entirely of steel, resembling a super surface-to-air cannon, or perhaps a long, narrow giant crossbow capable of high-efficiency kinetic energy transmission. A large steam engine unit was linked to a winch for tensioning, and in the center was a thick, sturdy arrowhead crafted from an unknown material, embedded with gunpowder and covered in mysterious Witch-Dao incantations. At the end of this black arrow, tail fins with a modern aerodynamic design emitted a faint glow, slowly, like breathing.

Jing Si didn't know how to describe this thing—it was as if an ancient giant crossbow had been fused with steam-powered transmission and ultra-modern design concepts, then infused with a Divine-Dao aura that transcended physical laws, creating a grand product that did not belong to this era.

"This is..."

"During this time, I have been studying modern industrial and technological development... especially the era before the Great Cataclysm over three hundred years ago. It truly makes me yearn for it." The Duke of Star seemed to be recalling something, his eyes filled with longing for that era and regret that he wasn't born then.

"If civilization hadn't regressed, with the industrial and technological level of that era, so much could have been achieved... Unfortunately, those exquisite designs can no longer be used."

"However, much of the theoretical knowledge from that era can still have significant meaning for the current age."

"I worked with the master craftsmen of this era for a long time before I could fuse many things from the past, the present, and that cutting-edge era to build this miniature weapon model for surface-to-air defense."

"High-efficiency transmission, precision braking, extreme destruction... It should be the strongest anti-air weapon that humans can build in this era of civilizational regression."

"We call it... the Star-Breaking Crossbow."

Hearing this, the shock in Jing Si's eyes grew even more intense.

No wonder the Duke of Star hadn't participated in court politics at all and was indifferent to the White Egret Office... So he had been researching this all along?

"Is this Star-Breaking Crossbow... meant to deal with the Red Star?" Jing Si couldn't help but ask.

The Duke of Star shook his head. "Even if the guidance-generated power is enough for them to break free from gravity and enter space, it's still hard to have much impact on the Red Star itself with just these... But if small Red Star fragments streak by, they can still influence the fragments' trajectories to avoid a direct collision with Earth."

"I've calculated that sixty-six Star-Breaking Crossbows, arranged in a specific pattern, can intercept nearly ninety percent of Red Star fragments approaching Earth..."

"They have also been named the 'Star-Breaking Defense Line'."

……

……

Difficult birth.