Seeing Liu Hui’s self-assurance regarding interstellar transport, yet his refusal to detail how he solved the immense challenge of moving materials across star systems, An Qi had no choice but to drop the subject.

Liu Hui suddenly remembered something and asked, "An Qi, our orbital space station has reached the massive scale of one million tons. How is the security of that operation holding up? Could it be discovered? And what about the aerial fortress we've been constructing—how is its calibration progressing?"

The reason Liu Hui only inquired about the security of the orbital station and not the confidentiality measures for the personnel aboard was due to his established protocol. Before any staff ascended, he would publicly converse with them, while secretly employing the mind-reading artifact, the "〖True〗Eye of Reality," to scan their inner, authentic thoughts, ensuring their loyalty to the "City of Stars" before granting them passage into orbit. Although this mind-reading process was incredibly bothersome, Liu Hui deemed it necessary to maintain the absolute security of the orbital station.

An Qi replied, "Because our orbital space station utilizes a dynamic simulation array, it blends perfectly into the cosmic background. Furthermore, its components generated absolutely no heat during launch, and the launch itself occurred at night. Therefore, not a single individual or nation has detected the presence of such a behemoth in space thus far. Communication with us is conducted via fluctuations in spiritual energy, a wave pattern that no other nation on Earth has detected, ensuring our orbital station remains entirely secret. As for the aerial fortress platform you mentioned, we are nearly finished with its calibration. The weaponry and combat personnel are already assigned, and it will be officially airborne three days from now. Once this aerial fortress is positioned above us, not only will aerial attacks be unable to reach us, but assaults launched from the sea surface will also be neutralized."

Liu Hui interjected, "The depths beneath the sea are even less of a concern. Our ten super-submarines are perpetually patrolling below, and no assault can breach their defense. In the unlikely event that an enemy manages to break through, the dense weapon systems installed on the 'City of Stars' will annihilate any invading force. In that sense, our 'City of Stars' has become impregnable."

Chen Changsheng, standing nearby, commented, "Boss, what you’ve described only covers conventional warfare. If the enemy resorts to nuclear weapons, we will still sustain a certain degree of damage."

Liu Hui, riding a wave of excitement, was momentarily deflated by Chen Changsheng’s interjection and felt a flicker of awkwardness. He swiftly changed the topic. "Right, An Qi... have you succeeded with your research on the new weapon?"

An Qi smiled sweetly at Liu Hui’s slight embarrassment, offering a reassuring glance. "Liu Hui, you mentioned last time that our current weaponry lacked sufficient power, demanding that we develop something much stronger. We began calculating explosive formulas within the supercomputer, the 'Solar System Simulator.' After countless simulation runs, the simulator concluded that under current conditions, the best formula we could devise would only yield an explosive power double that of our existing compound."

Liu Hui was immediately disappointed upon hearing An Qi’s words. Although their current explosive was already ten times more potent than C4, doubling that still only resulted in twenty times the power of C4. To Liu Hui, this improved formula remained rather impractical.

Following the devastating tribal war in the magic plane, Liu Hui had recognized the critical flaw in Earth’s technological weaponry: insufficient destructive power. While these weapons had managed to annihilate the elven forces of the Xiling Kingdom through surprise, they lacked the requisite lethality in actual combat. The elven soldiers, upon being struck by these technological attacks, did not perish instantly; at most, their bodies sustained damage, and it took multiple hits before they were finally eliminated. If the human armies of the magic plane were faced with an overwhelming onslaught from the elven legions, these inadequate weapons would offer no guarantee of victory.

Moreover, since that tribal war, Alexander in the magic plane was facing immense military pressure. The Xiling Kingdom was massing more troops, intent on eradicating Alexander, that critical thorn in their side, deep within the mountain regions. This was why Liu Hui desperately sought weapons with greater destructive capability to aid Alexander in repelling the elven assaults. But now, the power increase was merely a doubling, still insufficient to guarantee instant fatality upon impact against those elven soldiers, hence Liu Hui’s dissatisfaction.

Unexpectedly, An Qi continued, "I suspected that under existing parameters, conventional explosive formulas wouldn't meet our needs. So, I had a sudden thought: high-grade energy stones contain vast amounts of energy. Why not incorporate them into the explosives? Following this line of reasoning, I conducted extensive testing and calculations, and incredibly, I invented a super explosive. We utilized the newly derived formula and added one-quarter of a Grade One Energy Stone as a catalyst. The result was an explosive yield ten times greater than the original baseline. In other words, our new explosive is two hundred times the power of an equivalent volume of C4."

Liu Hui blinked, then erupted in delight. An Qi had initially delivered only half the news, which had vexed him, but his mood instantly lifted. He laughed, "An explosive equivalent to two hundred times the power of C4—isn't that comparable to a small nuclear bomb? How complicated is the manufacturing process?"

An Qi explained, "The production process for this new explosive is actually quite simple, and integrating it into artillery shells won't complicate the procedure significantly. The time required to produce one shell is only slightly longer than a standard shell. With our current production capacity, we could manufacture ten thousand units in a single month if we operated at full capacity."

Liu Hui immediately calculated mentally. The power of these new shells would be twenty times that of the previous ones. The old shells could only injure the tough elven soldiers, but couldn't kill them instantly. With a twentyfold power boost, instantly vaporizing those elves should be trivial. If Alexander's forces were equipped with these new shells, as long as they had a sufficient supply, no army could breach the human defense lines. As long as the enemy didn't deploy an overwhelming force of high-level combatants all at once, Alexander's army would be invincible.

Since the war in the magic plane had not yet begun, accumulating these shells now—at a rate of ten thousand per month—should ensure Alexander has enough to meet his combat requirements when hostilities commence.

With this thought, Liu Hui turned to Chen Changsheng and said, "Dean Chen, I want you to oversee the production of these brand-new artillery shells. Ensure we produce twenty thousand units every month."

Although Chen Changsheng didn't grasp why his boss needed so many shells, given that they were essentially small nuclear weapons, he faithfully accepted the order and left to make the necessary arrangements.

After Chen Changsheng departed, An Qi continued, "Liu Hui, I only detailed the scenario involving the addition of Grade One Energy Stones to our new formula. If we wish for even greater destructive power, we can incorporate higher-grade energy stones. The higher the grade of stone added, the further the explosive potential will increase. Moreover, this explosive, upon detonation, generates no environmental pollution such as radiation, aside from the blast force itself—it is an exceedingly clean, high-yield explosive."

Liu Hui was ecstatic once more. If Alexander found the shell power insufficient in actual combat, Liu Hui could continue refining the bomb until it guaranteed the death of every elven soldier. This would dramatically enhance Alexander’s martial strength, allowing him to contend even against the strong and great nations among the elven principalities. An increase in Alexander's power meant the expansion of his territory, which in turn would provide Liu Hui with more resources, facilitating Liu Hui’s own rapid development. Thus, the enhancement of Alexander's strength secured Liu Hui's interests; how could he not be overjoyed?

As for Chen Changsheng's concern about Liu Hui potentially deploying these terrifying shells on Earth, Liu Hui hadn't considered it. This wasn't born of mercy, but rather timing. The "City of Stars" had only just reached an accord with the Philippine government. After the Philippines compensated the "City of Stars" one hundred billion USD for supposed "losses" and acknowledged China's sovereignty over the South China Sea, Liu Hui decided to lift the blockade. Several months of siege had not only failed to bring any international aid to the Philippines but had also triggered a massive political crisis domestically, forcing them to humiliatingly sign this treaty that surrendered national rights. If they had not settled with the "City of Stars," the current Philippine administration would have collapsed.

Therefore, the "City of Stars’" operation, "Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys" against the Philippines, officially concluded. Through this action, the "City of Stars" not only displayed its formidable power to the outside world, deterring nations and organizations harboring ill intentions, but it also resolved the South China Sea dispute for China, allowing Vietnam to retreat automatically and preserving a fraction of national vitality. Furthermore, it facilitated the rise to power of the Luo family, an ally within the allied nation.

It was precisely through this "Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys" maneuver that the "City of Stars" projected an irresistibly powerful image, ensuring that no nation would be foolish enough to make a move against the "City of Stars" without absolute certainty of success.

Liu Hui had meticulously arranged the multi-layered defense system: super-submarines beneath the seabed, the "City of Stars" on the surface, the aerial fortress in the sky, and the orbital space station above. This tiered defense rendered any nation or organization incapable of breaking through the defenses from the front and reaching the "City of Stars" itself; it was truly impregnable. Consequently, the "City of Stars" was unlikely to encounter conflict with other nations in the near term, which was the genuine reason Liu Hui had dismissed using these super bombs on Earth.

As Liu Hui and An Qi reveled in the joy of scientific discovery within the Science Research Institute, they remained blissfully unaware of an event unfolding concurrently in Hong Kong.

In a residential complex in Hong Kong, several figures dressed in black entered a room. They then shed the outer black robes, revealing the Taoist robes they wore underneath.

"Second Brother, is this Gu Yuezi's room?" asked the Maoshan Sect Leader.

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, this is Gu Yuezi’s room in Hong Kong. Everything remains exactly as it was when he departed," the Second Elder replied respectfully.

The Maoshan Sect Leader surveyed the scene; the humble room was laid bare. On the front wall hung numerous photographs. Each picture featured the same person, smiling, but someone had drawn a red circle around their head, marked with a cross.

"Second Brother, who is this person?" the Sect Leader asked. Having been detached from worldly affairs for so long, he found the face familiar but could not place him.

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, this is Liu Hui, the owner of the Star Group, and the current City Lord of the 'City of Stars,'" the Second Elder stated.

"This room contains only pictures of this man, and he is still alive and well. Does this suggest that this person was Gu Yuezi's assassination target this time?" the Maoshan Sect Leader inquired.

"Gu Yuezi’s assassination target must have been this Liu Hui; he disappeared immediately after undertaking that mission," the Second Elder confirmed.

"Is this Liu Hui difficult to deal with? Even Gu Yuezi, armed with the Silver Armor Zombie and the Divine Arrow, couldn't kill him?" the Maoshan Sect Leader questioned.

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, Liu Hui is indeed profoundly difficult. His 'City of Stars' is currently displaying terrifying dominance; no nation on Earth dares provoke him. Just recently, the Philippine government paid a heavy price for crossing him," the Second Elder replied, a note of fear creeping into his voice regarding the power of the "City of Stars."

"Hmph. That is because those in the mundane world are too constrained by their scruples and dare not strike with full force, allowing this fledgling boy to remain free for so long. However, Gu Yuezi was killed during the assassination attempt, so even if Liu Hui didn't kill Gu Yuezi personally, I must go and strike him down. This will, in a way, fulfill Gu Yuezi’s dying wish," the Maoshan Sect Leader stated coldly.

Since the Maoshan Sect Leader had forcibly fused with the Golden Zombie, he had begun to grasp the essence of power, and unconsciously, his speech had grown increasingly commanding.

The killing intent radiating from the Maoshan Sect Leader silenced the Second Elder and the Ninth Elder, making them fearful of speaking rashly. The Sect Leader, now the fourth strongest figure in the Maoshan lineage after merging with the Golden Zombie, carried a terrifying new aura that filled the two elders with dread, lest they displease him and suffer immediate death.

"Second Brother, who exactly issued the assassination order for Gu Yuezi?" the Maoshan Sect Leader demanded.