bioinnovel Chapter 347 Broken Cloud Valley!
Chapter 347 Broken Cloud Valley!
"Brother Yan, the car can only go this far."
Qin Xiao's voice came through the satellite phone, intermittently.
"Further ahead, the navigation system completely malfunctioned, and even the geomagnetic map provided by the military started to drift."
"Don't force it. The mountain road is narrow, and it'll be hard to get out if you fall down."
Zhang Yan glanced at the instrument panel.
The off-road vehicle was parked at the end of the mountain road, with a gravel road covered by weeds in front of it.
The arrow on the car navigation system is spinning in place, the altitude data is jumping three times a second, and the oil temperature and voltage are all reporting errors.
He reached out and pressed the earphone.
"Know."
My sister-in-law asked me if I had informed her.
Zhang Yan paused for a moment.
"I just sent a message."
She said she didn't receive it.
Zhang Yan looked down at his phone.
The message "Arrived at the entrance, ready to hike" on the screen is still in the sending process.
The signal bars are full.
But it can't be sent.
He put his phone away: "Tell her it was due to magnetic interference, and that I had reported it before the connection was cut off."
Qin Xiao remained silent for a second.
"Brother Yan, would I dare repeat what you said verbatim?"
"dare."
"Okay, I'll transfer the message. Don't stay out of contact for too long, or your sister-in-law might really buy up this whole mountain in Yunnan and Guizhou and dig it up."
Zhang Yan's lips twitched slightly.
Nie Qingcheng is capable of doing this.
He turned off the satellite phone, pushed open the door, and got out of the car.
The mountain wind is cold.
It wasn't that the temperature was low, but rather that kind of coolness that seeped into your bones and clung to your skin.
Zhang Yan wasted no time and took a lightweight backpack from the trunk. Inside were only water, compressed food, rope, a first-aid kit, and several mechanical positioning rods.
All electronic devices were left behind.
The robotic arm is mounted on the back and is a purely mechanical structure. Its key movements are driven by a combination of muscle and hydraulics, without relying on external signals.
The heart of nature's craftsmanship rests in the palm of your hand.
These are the two core pieces of equipment he can bring into Broken Cloud Valley.
Zhang Yan took one last look at the system panel.
The display shows a delay of six seconds.
The 99.2% complete number left a trailing afterimage, like a broken projection.
He understood.
Going further in, the system can only serve as a backup, not as eyes.
This actually made him calmer.
Having fought his way up to this point, he has indeed become accustomed to system scanning, thermal labeling, and energy rating.
But he himself is not a waste.
Jeet Kune Do, driving, machining, and judgment in extreme environments—all these skills are embodied in him.
The difficulty of Broken Cloud Valley is not fighting.
It is invisible.
It's because the judgment is slow.
It cannot afford to make mistakes.
He locked his car and walked along the gravel road.
Five kilometers isn't a long distance.
But the closer I got to Broken Cloud Valley, the more uncomfortable I felt.
It started with ear pressure.
Then came a slight dizziness.
Further in, even though the ground beneath your feet is flat, your sense of balance will remind you that you are tilting.
Zhang Yan stopped twice.
It's not a rest.
It's about recalibrating the body.
He closed his eyes and stood still, using the balls of his feet, knees, and waist to re-establish his center of gravity, then opened his eyes again and continued walking.
When we reached the third kilometer, the phone screen went completely black.
It's not that there's no power.
The screen displays a snowflake pattern and then automatically shuts down after a few seconds.
The satellite phone is also unresponsive.
Zhang Yan stuffed both items into a waterproof bag and didn't touch them again.
He mentally reviewed his goal once again.
Enter the valley.
Collecting local customs and appreciating jade.
Do not linger in battle.
No exploration.
No abnormalities will be investigated.
Take all the materials and leave.
At the end of the mountain road is a huge chasm that has been split open.
The cliffs on both sides are almost vertical, and the rock strata are bluish-gray, a very light color, but it becomes more obvious as you go deeper into the valley.
Zhang Yan reached out and touched the rock wall.
Icy.
The robotic arm ejected a probe, which gently scraped across the surface of the rock wall.
The metal tip kicked up a fine layer of grayish-white powder.
The system panel took more than ten seconds to display a randomly jumping message.
Suspected Fengxi Jade mineralized rock layer.
Signal abnormal.
It is recommended to leave...
The panel flashed before the remaining text was fully displayed.
Zhang Yan closed the interface immediately.
enough.
The light was very dim in Broken Cloud Valley.
The opening above is narrow, and the cliffs on both sides block most of the sunlight, leaving only an irregular blue-gray band of light at the bottom of the valley.
There was no corrosive feeling of stagnation energy in the air.
this point is very important.
The Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart in Zhang Yan's palm felt slightly warm, but there was no alarm.
He slowed his pace and continued along the valley floor.
Twenty minutes later, the first outcrop of a mineral vein appeared at the bottom of the left rock wall.
Wind-breath jade is not a single piece of jade.
It resembled a translucent crystalline vein embedded in the rock strata, long and winding, with a misty texture inside. Zhang Yan used his Thousand-Machine Arm to cut open the outer rock shell and took out a section about the thickness of a thumb.
The system is not responding.
But the heart of nature has a subtle pull on it.
Zhang Yan confirmed it.
This is it.
He did not immediately begin large-scale mining, but instead walked around the area first.
The ground is messy.
Gravel, dead branches, and damp mud.
Then he saw the claw marks.
It's very new.
The imprint was pressed into the wet mud, and the edges did not collapse.
It is nearly forty centimeters long.
It's not a bear.
It is not a common large feline.
Its claws are very deep, and its stride is nearly two meters.
Zhang Yan squatted down and looked at it for three seconds.
I've reached a conclusion in my mind.
Large animals.
Extremely heavy weight.
The operation was very steady.
The most troublesome thing is that it's in a valley.
The system is currently unable to identify life, and thermal scanning is severely delayed.
If the other party gets close, he can only rely on his hearing and eyes.
Zhang Yan stood up and readjusted the collection plan.
The original plan was to disperse the ore extraction to reduce stress on the rock strata.
The current improvements will enable near-high-efficiency data collection.
If it's enough, then leave.
The robotic arm unfolds, with three mechanical fingers securing it to the rock face, while two cutting arms advance slowly along the edge of the crystal vein.
The sound was very soft.
The debris landed and was brushed aside by Zhang Yan with his toe to prevent it from rolling too far.
First paragraph.
The second paragraph.
The third paragraph.
The weight of the Wind-Breath Jade in the backpack slowly increased.
The quantity required for manufacturing the Sky Anchor is not excessive, but there are requirements for purity.
The quality of this batch of ore in Duanyun Valley is better than the records given by Guanxing.
If time allowed, Zhang Yan even considered collecting more as a backup.
But he did not embezzle.
In this kind of environment, greed is stupid.
When 60% of the expected amount had been collected, a sound of rocks tumbling down came from above the cliff.
Zhang Yan stopped.
A pebble bounced off the right rock wall, landed at the bottom of the valley, and rolled twice.
It's very light.
But it was very clear in the quiet valley.
Zhang Yan looked up.
There was nothing there.
The blue-gray rock face extends upwards, with shadows filling the cracks.
He didn't move.
The ears capture all the sounds around them.
wind.
Water droplets in the distance.
Your own breathing.
Then came a very low hiss.
It didn't make a sound.
But it sank.
It felt like it was being squeezed out of a very large lung cavity.
Zhang Yan couldn't determine the exact location.
The sound reflected back and forth between the two cliffs.
He flipped his palm over, and the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship lit up with a faint blue-white light.
The purification pulse is reduced to its lowest power and spread outwards.
There is no energy reaction.
They are not family members.
It is not a contaminant.
Zhang Yan became even more cautious.
Just because it's not a ruin doesn't mean it's safe.
Ordinary animals are not afraid of purification pulses, and they may not necessarily act according to the logic of the Ruins' relatives.
It might just be curiosity.
They might also see him as prey.
Zhang Yan withdrew his Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart and refrained from provocation.
Continue collecting.
Speed up.
As the cutting frequency of the robotic arm increased, the sound of debris falling to the ground also became a little more frequent.
He no longer pursued perfect facets, but only preserved the integrity of the crystal body.
The Wind-Breath Jade pieces entered the backpack one by one.
80%.
Ninety percent.
One hundred and ten.
Zhang Yan took two more pieces.
Only then did they stop.
He fastened his backpack, cleaned up the obvious fresh cut marks around him, and simply covered the exposed mineral surface with gravel.
There's no need to completely fake it.
However, the amount collected should not be immediately apparent to those who come later.
He turned and walked towards the valley entrance.
The pace was slow.
It's not slow either.
There was no sound behind me.
Zhang Yan did not turn around.
He knew very well that the worst thing for large felines or similar predators was to suddenly show panic when the distance was uncertain.
He maintained a steady pace, his right hand hanging at his side, the Heart of Heavenly Craftsmanship clasped in his palm, and the Thousand Machine Arm retracted into a low, alert posture.
The dizziness at the bottom of the valley was even more intense.
It's possible that the vestibular system has been continuously disturbed due to being inside for so long.
When Zhang Yan was halfway there, his body suddenly veered half a step to the left.
He immediately braced his feet on the ground to regain his balance.
Just then.
That low hissing sound rang out again.
This time it's very close.
About thirty meters.
The shadow came from the cliff to the right behind us.
Zhang Yan did not turn around.
He continued walking forward.
I started mentally counting down the distance.
There are still 170 meters to the mouth of the valley.
One hundred and twenty meters.
Eighty meters.
There were no footsteps behind me.
But he knew it was following.
It's not about what you hear.
It was an occasional, very slight tremor from the ground.
The other person was heavy, yet managed to keep the sound of their footsteps very low.
This is more troublesome than ordinary wild animals.
Forty meters.
Twenty meters.
The light at the valley entrance is just ahead.
The moment Zhang Yan stepped out of the rift, the electronic device in his hand lit up.
The system interface has been restored.
The alarm popped up a beat too late.
The magnetic field is abnormally weakened.
Scanning function is being restored.
Zhang Yan turned around.
The system's scanning wave swept across the valley entrance behind them.
empty.
There are no living organisms.
There is no heat source.
There is no energy of the void.
Zhang Yan looked at the ground.
On the bluish-gray rock powder, a series of huge claw marks followed from the bottom of the valley all the way to the edge of the crack.
The last mark stopped in the shadows at the mouth of the valley.
Further on.
No more.