bioinnovel Chapter 400 Beneath the Permafrost!
Chapter 400 Beneath the Permafrost!
Zhao Hong waited at the abandoned gas station, standing next to the oil drums and smoking, just like last time.
Zhang Yan parked the car, and Zhao Hong brought up the spare fuel can, offering him a cigarette as he did so. Zhang Yan didn't take it.
"The road ahead is blocked by a landslide caused by frost and thaw, so we have to detour eastward. It'll add about forty kilometers to the journey."
Zhang Yan glanced at the time.
It's an extra 40 kilometers, and given the road conditions, it will take another two hours.
"Any news about that racing team?"
Zhao Hong nodded. "Local hunters encountered them when they retreated south."
"All six vehicles are modified heavy-duty off-road vehicles, and their tires are military-grade ice-surface-specific tires."
"The people on the bus didn't talk to the locals, and the radio remained silent the entire time."
"The hunter said those people's guns were unlike any they had ever seen before."
Zhang Yan didn't ask any further questions. He got on the bus and continued north.
The wasteland stretched out outside the car window.
The greyish-white sky hung low, and the ground was frozen mud and gravel.
The thermometer showed that it was -39 degrees Celsius outside the car, and the temperature was still dropping.
The phone vibrated. Nie Qingcheng.
"Have we reached the relay point?"
"Just left. The road is closed, we had to take a detour, it'll take another two hours."
There was a moment of silence on the other end. "Latest satellite imagery shows the convoy has stopped three kilometers north of the sixth gate's coordinates. They've set up camp. Tents are up, and drilling equipment is being unloaded."
Three kilometers. They didn't camp directly above the gate, but rather three kilometers off-center.
Either they were being cautious, or they knew the permafrost structure directly above them was unsuitable for encampment.
Regardless of the reason, it shows that they are very familiar with the underground situation.
"receive."
"Furthermore," Nie Qingcheng paused, "the data Qin Xiao just transmitted shows that the sixth gate's shielding efficiency is twenty-seven."
It fell again.
"I'll contact you as soon as I arrive."
"You had better."
The call ended. Zhang Yan placed his phone on the passenger seat and stepped on the gas.
The off-road vehicle bumped and jolted along the tundra.
Nine hours later, it was completely dark.
The temperature dropped to minus forty-seven degrees Celsius.
Even with the car heater on full blast, a thin layer of frost still formed on the inside of the windshield.
Zhang Yan did not stop to rest.
He opened the second insulated bag, inside was beef rice balls made by Nie Qingcheng, wrapped in three layers of insulating film, and still warm.
A note was tucked under the bag; it read: "Item number twenty-seven has an extra set of gloves. You never wear them."
He pulled a pair of thick gloves from the bottom of the bag and put them on.
At 4 a.m., the GPS showed that there were still 12 kilometers left to the target coordinates.
Zhang Yan parked the car on the leeward side of an ice mound.
He did not approach the target head-on—the convoy was three kilometers to the north, and going head-on would have meant direct exposure.
He chose the east side.
The system retrieves a 3D model of the penetrating radar.
Seven kilometers to the east, there is a natural ice fissure, about 1.6 meters wide, that extends from the surface to the bottom of the permafrost layer, 400 meters underground.
Below is hard rock, where the crack disappears. But the Black Scorpion can take over from there.
Zhang Yan sent Nie Qingcheng a message: "Arrived. Descending on the east side. Signal may be lost after entering the permafrost."
The reply came quickly: "I understand. Contact me one more time before you cut off contact."
"good."
He got out of the car.
The air at minus forty-seven degrees Celsius filled my lungs, feeling like I had swallowed a handful of crushed ice.
The cold-proof mask that Nie Qingcheng had prepared covered most of the skin, but the skin around her exposed eye sockets still instantly felt tight from the cold.
Zhang Yan summoned the Black Scorpion.
The mechanical scorpion's joints emitted a low click in the extreme cold, signaling the completion of its self-check.
It was repaired after the Battle of Yokosuka, the clamp arms were replaced, and its overall performance is 95% of what it was before. That's sufficient.
He climbed onto the black scorpion's back, secured himself, and propelled it toward the ice crevasse to the east.
The ice cracks are narrower than satellite images show.
The entrance was only 1.4 meters wide, and the Black Scorpion could barely squeeze in.
Zhang Yan adjusted the angle of the limb retraction and lowered it little by little.
Four hundred meters of permafrost.
The permafrost here is different from the one in the Sakha mining area last time. It's harder, denser, and—
Zhang Yan sensed it the moment the Black Scorpion drill bit touched the permafrost.
The drill bit's resistance was less than expected.
It's not because the permafrost is loose.
On the contrary, the permafrost here is extremely hard.
However, the permafrost contains fragments of a certain material, the same material as the inner wall of the underground spherical space in Shennongjia.
The Black Scorpion's drill bit was calibrated according to the energy frequency of the Heavenly Craftsman's Heart.
When encountering materials of the same origin, the solution is not to drill hard, but to resonate.
The speed is almost twice as fast as last time.
When Zhang Yan descended to 800 meters, his signal to the ground was completely lost.
The last message sent was to Nie Qingcheng: "Signal lost. Everything is normal."
No reply was received.
He continued.
One thousand meters. One thousand two hundred. One thousand four hundred.
The drill bit suddenly hit the cavity.
Zhang Yan stopped.
The black scorpion's searchlight shone into the cavity—a metal chamber embedded in the permafrost.
It is about six meters long and three meters wide, with a matte gray alloy wall.
Inside, there is a simple equipment table, two folding chairs, and a communication terminal.
Underground outpost.
Someone else reached this depth even earlier than him.
Zhang Yan manipulated the Black Scorpion to take half a step back, then flipped off its back and landed at the edge of the cabin entrance.
The thousand-arm machine unfolds, and the core of the machine stands ready at low power.
A metallic clanging sound came from inside the cabin.
The two people came out.
Wearing a dark gray heat-resistant suit, with a mask covering their mouth and nose, only their eyes were visible.
The weapon in his hand was not a conventional firearm—it was tubular, silver-gray, with a slightly luminous blue lens at the end.
Zhang Yan had never seen such a weapon before.
But he noticed that the frequency of the blue lens's flicker was very close to the fundamental frequency of the Heart of the Creator.
The two people saw Zhang Yan, and then their gazes moved down to the faintly glowing Heart of Heaven in his hand.
Their movements were synchronized as if they had been rehearsed.
The two of them took a step back at the same time, making way for the passage behind them.
One of them said something in English, his voice muffled behind his mask, but it was very clear.
"Key holder."
Zhang Yan did not respond.
He glanced around the cabin—the communication terminals were off, there were scattered tools on the equipment table, and a printed diagram of the underground structure was fixed to the wall.
It matches the military's penetrating radar data, but is more detailed.
At least three paths leading from the ground to the spherical cavity are marked.
They know this place inside and out.
Zhang Yan withdrew his gaze and urged the Black Scorpion to continue downwards.
The two sentries neither stopped them nor followed.
One thousand six hundred. One thousand eight hundred.
The drill bit touched the cavity again.
This time it's big.
The Black Scorpion pierced through the last layer of hard rock, and the searchlight beam shone into a huge spherical space.
It is about 300 meters in diameter.
The inner walls are covered with glowing runes, just like the first gate of Shennongjia.
A black sphere floats in the center.
But it's different from the first door.
The surface of the sphere here fluctuates extremely violently.
The liquid metal-like surface churned and twisted, as if being repeatedly kneaded by an invisible hand.
What's even more striking is the right side of the sphere.
A noticeable indentation.
It is about two meters in diameter and nearly half a meter deep.
The concave surface continues to deepen, and you can see the surface material thinning and stretching at the concave area.
It's like a wall being pushed up from the other side, about to be pierced through.
The system displays data.
The sixth door. Shielding efficiency: 26.4%.
It's still falling.
Zhang Yan jumped off the Black Scorpion and landed on the inner wall of the spherical space.
Stepping on the runes, a faint light emanated from beneath their feet.
The brightness of the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart suddenly increased in that instant—the same resonance reaction as in Shennongjia.
He strode towards the sphere.
The light from the Heart of the Gods grew brighter and brighter, and the birthmark on my wrist felt faintly warm.
He could feel the pressure on the other side of the door—not sound, not temperature, but a weight that acted directly on his consciousness.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
Zhang Yan turned around.
A person emerged from another entrance to the spherical space—a passageway that had clearly been artificially widened.
He wore a dark gray coat, had white hair, and was slender but had a straight back.
He is probably around seventy years old.
The gait was steady, unlike what one would expect at a depth of 1,800 meters underground in temperatures below -40 degrees Celsius.
He was followed by four people.
The same equipment as the two at the outpost above, the same silver-gray weapons.
The old man walked to the center of the spherical space and stopped about ten meters away from Zhang Yan.
He looked at Zhang Yan.
Then he opened his mouth and spoke fluent Chinese.
"I've been waiting for you for three days."