bioinnovel Chapter 416 The Breacher Hammer!
Chapter 416 The Breacher Hammer!
Nie Qingcheng took three seconds to process the locksmith's message.
"The opposite of the spirit of craftsmanship." She repeated. "What was the original design intention?"
Zhang Yan read her the additional information the locksmith provided.
The breaching hammer is a counter-device created 30,000 years ago, at the same time as the Heart of the Creator.
It's not a weapon—it's a safety valve.
When an irreversible fault occurs in the gate network, the gate is actively opened to release pressure and prevent the entire network from collapsing explosively.
"It's now in the hands of the Gatekeeper," Nie Qingcheng said.
"A fragment unearthed from the ruins eight hundred years ago. It has been under restoration ever since."
"How much was repaired?"
"The locksmith didn't know. But he did say one thing—if they dared to touch it, it meant it could be used at least once."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the communication.
"The physical address forty-seven kilometers from the Helios facility." Nie Qingcheng's voice changed. Not cold, but hard. "It's not a surveillance facility. It's where we're waiting."
Zhang Yan and she had the same idea.
The door openers do not need to enter Helios's facilities. The meteorite serves as the calibration anchor for the third door, but the ram's function is to open the door from the inside. They only need to reach the door itself.
There's one road five levels underground. Another road leads directly down from the desert surface.
"Qin Xiao." Zhang Yan switched channels.
"exist."
"Could we access real-time satellite footage of the location 47 kilometers from the Helios facility?"
"It's already being adjusted. Wait a moment—"
Keyboard sound.
"Brother Yan. Three private jets took off from Europe two hours ago. All registration information points to shell companies under Weber's name. Destination: Algeria. Estimated landing time: fourteen hours later."
Zhang Yan stood up.
"Not fourteen hours later," he said. "That's the plane's arrival time. The ground equipment may have already been delivered."
Qin Xiao reacted quickly. "I'll investigate—"
Ten seconds later.
Two days ago, a shipment of heavy equipment arrived in southern Algeria by land. The customs declaration stated "mining exploration equipment." The consignee was a local company that had been registered for less than six months.
Drilling equipment.
They're already preparing. It's only a matter of time before Weber is sidelined within Helios; the Gatekeepers won't put all their eggs in one basket. With the commercial routes blocked, they'll go straight for the physical ones.
"I'm leaving now," Zhang Yan said.
"Wait a minute," Nie Qingcheng's voice interrupted.
Zhang Yan stopped.
"You've just been under the Antarctic ice sheet for nearly six hours. Your body temperature dropped to a low of 34 degrees Celsius. Your peak heart rate was 168. How much of the Heavenly Craftsman's Heart's energy reserve has been depleted?"
"55% remains."
"How much will it cost to repair the third door?"
"Independent repairs account for at least 40%. With the assistance of a locksmith, the success rate is around 25%."
When will the locksmith be back online?
"Four days later."
"If you go now, there will be no coordination. 55% of your reserves will be repaired, leaving only 15%. If the Gate Opener attacks while you're repairing, what will you use to fight?"
Zhang Yan did not answer.
"Besides, your physical condition doesn't allow for continuous high-intensity output." Nie Qingcheng's tone left no room for negotiation. "You need at least eight hours of rest."
"They landed fourteen hours later. The drilling equipment had arrived."
"So you didn't go to fix it," Nie Qingcheng said. "You went to lock the door."
Zhang Yan was taken aback.
Can locksmiths provide locking protocols remotely?
Zhang Yan thought for a moment. "No. The locking protocol requires both the lock and the key to be present. But—"
He accessed the maintenance protocol submodule of Tiangongzhixin and scrolled to the very bottom of the permission list.
"There's an option in the maintainer's permissions: 'Internal Interface Lockdown.' No locksmith is needed, but it can only last for 72 hours."
"Seventy-two hours is enough." Nie Qingcheng's voice quickened. "Fly over there, lock the inner interface, and the breaching hammer won't be able to open it. Then come back and rest. Four days later, when the locksmith recovers, you two can go together for the actual repairs."
Zhang Yan went through it in his mind.
Locking the interface does not require a large energy output. The Heavenly Core reserves 55%, and executing the lock requires less than 5%. The remaining 50% is reserved.
"Time difference," he said. "How long does the fastest route from Antarctica to Algeria take?"
Qin Xiao is already checking. "If the military coordinates, the journey from the Antarctic research station to Cape Town, then from Cape Town to Algeria—a total of eleven to twelve hours."
Twelve hours. The one who opened the door landed fourteen hours later.
But the drilling equipment has already arrived. If the ground team starts drilling ahead of schedule—
"Qin Xiao, what's the current status of that drilling equipment?"
"The satellite imagery just came up." Qin Xiao's voice tightened. "Brother Yan, the equipment is already being assembled. The coordinates are three kilometers east of the surface projection point of the Helios facility."
Three kilometers to the east. Bypass the facilities and drill directly into the ground.
"Assembly progress?"
"Judging from the appearance, it's over 70% complete. At this rate, we can start drilling in three to four hours."
Zhang Yan did the calculations. After drilling began, the Sahara's underground rock strata were very hard, but the excavation speed of industrial-grade drilling equipment was only 80 to 100 meters per hour. The fifth underground layer was approximately 400 meters deep.
It takes four to five hours to break through.
Including the remaining assembly time, the advance team of the Door Openers will be able to reach the door space in seven to nine hours.
Zhang Yan will arrive at the earliest in twelve hours.
It's about three to five hours apart.
"Not enough," Zhang Yan said.
Nie Qingcheng remained silent.
Zhang Yan stared at the numbers on the system panel. Antarctica. Algeria. Separated by more than half the Earth.
"Black Scorpion," he said.
"What?"
"The Black Scorpion's tunneling speed is faster than industrial equipment in the desert rock formations. I can't get through, but the Black Scorpion can."
Qin Xiao interjected, "Brother Yan, the Black Scorpion is right under your feet—"
"Not this one." Zhang Yan accessed his storage space. It contained the Xuanxie's backup control module. "Qin Xiao, you have the Xuanxie's remote control terminal."
"Yes, but there's a delay—"
"No precise control is needed. I'll give you coordinates. Xuanxie will depart from Jinghai, travel by sea to the Mediterranean, and then by land to the target area in Algeria. The entire process will be automated. Once there, it will drill vertically down and establish a physical blockade around the gate space. No need for fighting, just block the passage."
Qin Xiao did the calculations. "From Jinghai to the Mediterranean... even with the Xuanxie's cruising speed, the fastest it would take is sixteen hours by sea and land."
Slower than Zhang Yan.
"No way," Zhang Yan rejected his proposal.
There was a five-second silence.
Nie Qingcheng spoke.
"Zhang Yan. The Helios facility has a ready-made passageway. From the surface to the fifth underground level."
"The facility is under emergency lockdown—"
"No, it won't happen again," Nie Qingcheng said. "The CEO replied to me fifteen minutes ago. Weber has been suspended. Due diligence access has been reopened. My legal team can enter the facility tomorrow morning."
Zhang Yan was stunned for a moment.
"Does your legal team have anyone capable of operating the 'Heart of the Craft'?"
"No. But they can open the access gate to the fifth underground level." Nie Qingcheng's tone was steady. "Zhang Yan, listen to me. It takes the Openers seven to nine hours to drill from the surface. It would take you twelve hours to fly there. But if my people go into the facility first and open the passage to the fifth underground level from the inside, you can go down directly through the facility's passageway after you arrive—it's much faster than the Openers drilling from the outside."
"After your men go in, Weber's security team—"
"Weber has been suspended. The security chief was his man, but the CEO has ordered a replacement. The new chief will be on duty tomorrow morning."
Zhang Yan rearranged the timeline.
The ground team will begin drilling in three to four hours. They may reach the doorway space in seven to nine hours.
Zhang Yan arrived in Algeria twelve hours later. Nie Qingcheng's legal team had arrived earlier. The facility's access was already open. After landing, he went directly into the facility and took the internal passage down to the fifth basement level.
From the surface of the facility to the fifth basement level—there are readily available elevators and passageways, taking only ten minutes.
Total time: 12 hours and 10 minutes.
There's still a difference between the seven to nine hours it takes for the Gate Openers. But the Gate Openers drill from the outside, making the passage unstable. The hardness of the rock strata increases dramatically when it approaches the gate's space in the last hundred meters—Zhang Yan experienced this firsthand. That section would slow them down by at least two to three hours.
Nine to twelve hours.
It almost overlapped with Zhang Yan's twelve hours.
"That's enough," Zhang Yan said. "But there's one condition—the drillers' drilling cannot be faster than expected."
"Qin Xiao, keep an eye on things," Nie Qingcheng said. "I'll notify you immediately of any changes in speed."
Zhang Yan stood up.
"I'm going to the research station now. The fastest flight."
"It's all arranged," Nie Qingcheng said. "The military transport plane coordinated by Qin Changfeng will take off from the research station, stop in Cape Town for forty minutes for resupply, and then fly directly to Algeria. The total flight time is eleven hours."
It was an hour faster than he had calculated.
"Sleep after you board the plane," Nie Qingcheng added. "Not a suggestion."
Zhang Yan hung up the communication and drove the Black Scorpion at full speed toward the research station.
Another encrypted message from the locksmith arrived during the journey.
"The maintainers, when the fragments of the breaching hammer were discovered eight hundred years ago, the Sky-Gazing Pavilion attempted to retrieve them but failed. Thirty-seven people, the same price paid for activating the Sky-Gazing Anchor back then, the gate openers are not a rabble."
Zhang Yan replied with four words: "I understand."
He put his phone into his inner pocket.
One last thought crossed my mind.
The craftsman's heart is 55%.
The white tiger's right claw has completed self-repair.
Xingtian's spare shield is in the storage space.
The thousand-arm system is at full capacity.
enough.
They weren't going to fight, they were going to lock the door.
But what if the one who opens the door arrives first...?
Zhang Yan closed his eyes.
Nie Qingcheng is right.
I fell asleep as soon as I got on the plane.