“An Antimatter Demolition Clamp?” Master Lu Jian lowered his voice and adjusted his yellow Divine Array Hard-Hat, pretending to admire a marble pillar while his array-sight scanned the bottom of the drydock basin. “That’s a dirty Blood-Tax shipyard trick. If anyone tries to storm Sub-Bay #9 by force without owning the drydock’s master security key, the clamp blows the keel and buries the prisoners alive.”
“Can Xiaomi hack the clamp remotely?” Tie Niu muttered out of the corner of his mouth, his huge hands resting on his belt.
“Not while the showroom’s commercial ownership firewall is active,” Tang Xiaomi whispered back, her fingers hovering over her holographic keyboard. “The demolition clamp is slaved to the Sovereign Aurora’s sovereign title deed. Whoever holds the ship’s deed controls the drydock safety interlocks!”
Lin Mo looked at the gleaming, three-mile-long silver-and-gold dreadnought cruise liner floating in the center basin.
So if we punch a hole in the floor, Vane blows up the basement, Lin Mo thought calmly. Whereas if I buy the flagship for Xing Yao, the drydock firewall hands us the disarm key automatically—and I pocket a trillion Astral Merit Coins in cashback.
Before Lin Mo could even ask Su Wan for the purchase terminal, heavy boots echoed across the high armored balcony overlooking the showroom floor.
