CIATB Chapter 110 Underground arsenal?
Chapter 110 Underground arsenal?
The celebration banquet continued, with toasts being exchanged and elegantly dressed guests mingling.
No one noticed that the "gold digger" who had just been in the limelight had quietly disappeared into the crowd.
Nie Qingcheng stood on the second-floor terrace, swirling a half-full glass of champagne in her hand. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on the robot "Wangcai" downstairs, which was being photographed by a group of socialites. In reality, her peripheral vision was fixed on the side door leading to the core control area.
Just now, Zhang Yan used the excuse of "going to the bathroom" to sneak in from there.
"Mr. Nie, congratulations!"
A bald real estate developer approached, beaming, "Once 'Tiangongfang' opens, the landscape of tourism in Jinghai will be completely transformed. Your vision is absolutely brilliant!"
"You flatter me, Mr. Li."
Nie Qingcheng turned around, a flawless business smile on her face, and lightly clinked glasses. "It's all luck, just a blind cat catching a dead mouse."
But in his heart he was thinking: "You little rascal, you better not get into any big trouble."
……
At this very moment, thirty meters underground.
Zhang Yan did not go to the toilet, but stood in the maintenance passage directly below the "Dragon Eye".
This is a restricted area for tourists; only he and Nie Qingcheng have permission to enter.
Above their heads, a huge metal sphere was slowly rotating, and the deep rumble of gears meshing could be heard very clearly, like the heartbeat of a giant beast.
"Beep—Identity confirmed: Supreme Administrator, Zhang Yan."
Zhang Yan placed his palm on a seemingly ordinary wall brick.
As the electronic synthesized sound rang out, the wall silently cracked open, revealing a small elevator that could only accommodate two people.
This is not an ordinary elevator.
This was a "secret" passage that he secretly carved out inside the main bearing of the "Dragon Eye" using his [God-level Mechanical Mastery].
No one knew that this massive device, purported to be used to power the resort, was actually a disguised super drilling machine.
"Get out of here."
Zhang Yan stepped into the elevator and pressed the unmarked red button.
The feeling of weightlessness hits instantly.
Instead of descending at a constant speed like a normal elevator, the elevator plummeted wildly towards the ground like a free fall.
The depth reading on the digital screen was jumping wildly.
-50 meters.
-100 meters.
-200 meters.
The surrounding temperature began to rise sharply.
Even through the specially made heat insulation layer, Zhang Yan could feel a surge of heat rising up from the soles of his feet.
At this depth, we have passed through the hot spring water layer and entered a deeper layer of the earth's crust.
"bite--"
The depth was fixed at -300 meters.
The moment the elevator doors opened, a wave of heat carrying the smell of sulfur and old metal rushed out.
Before us was a narrow passageway, with some kind of unknown luminescent mineral embedded in the rock walls on both sides, emitting a faint blue light that made the place look like a scene from a ghost movie.
Zhang Yan took out the core of the "Black Tortoise Armor" from his pocket.
The thing was scalding hot, and the gears on its surface were spinning wildly, making a "click-clack" sound, as if responding to some kind of call.
[WARNING! High-energy reaction source is less than 50 meters from the host!]
[Detected: Mo Family Mechanical Array: Earth Fire Furnace (On the verge of going out of control).]
[System suggestion: Run away quickly, or find a way to shut it up.]
"Run?" Zhang Yan scoffed, tossing the core in his hand. "What will happen to those hundreds of people up there if they run away? Turn them into roast suckling pigs?"
He stepped into the passageway.
The further you go in, the stronger the vibration becomes.
The once solid rock walls were trembling slightly, and loose rocks kept falling from above.
At the end, the view suddenly opened up.
This is a huge natural cave, but it has been transformed by humans into a magnificent underground workshop.
In the very center of the workshop stands a giant bronze cauldron, as tall as a three-story building.
No, that's not a ding (a type of ancient Chinese cooking vessel).
It was a huge geothermal conversion engine.
However, at this moment, this giant that has been sleeping for hundreds of years seems to be a bit grumpy when it wakes up.
Countless thick copper pipes were inserted into the surrounding rock walls, frantically absorbing and expelling the high-temperature steam from the ground.
The bronze casing was glowing red-hot, and the runes on it flickered like neon lights, emitting a piercing alarm sound—although it was a mechanical alarm from hundreds of years ago, the oppressive feeling of impending explosion was timeless.
"So that's how it is."
Zhang Yan activated his [Eye of Treasure Appraisal] in conjunction with [Mechanical Mastery], and immediately saw through the crux of the problem.
Previously, in order to dig hot springs, the drill bit broke through the upper rock layer, disrupting the original pressure balance of the area.
This is like the pressure cooker's exhaust valve being pulled, causing the underground pressure to be trapped inside the "furnace."
If this thing explodes in a few minutes, the "Tiangongfang" on top, along with the group of wealthy people still taking a bath, will all have to take to the sky in a makeshift plane.
"That idiot Zhou Wenbin brought a junk jammer, but its frequency band just happened to interfere with the magnetic field stabilizer here."
Zhang Yan cursed, but didn't stop what he was doing.
He took two running steps, leaped up, grabbed a maintenance ladder on the outside of the bronze furnace, and like a nimble monkey, darted to the top of the furnace in a few quick movements.
The heat was intense; the sweat evaporated as soon as it appeared.
There is a groove in the very center of the furnace top.
Its shape and size are exactly the same as the core of the "Black Tortoise Armor" in his hand.
"Our ancestors' designs were indeed all perfectly matched."
Zhang Yan took a deep breath, enduring the intense heat, and forcefully pressed the wildly spinning core in his hand into the groove.
"Snap—!!!"
A loud bang.
The violent tremors stopped for a second.
Immediately afterwards, the core acted like a key, instantly taking control of the entire furnace.
Countless complex gear structures spread outwards from the grooves, and the originally chaotic steam jets began to become regular.
"call--"
A huge column of white steam shot straight into the sky through the pre-reserved exhaust port above—that is, it rushed into the huge metal sphere called "Dragon Eye" and became the power source for the generator.
The vibrations disappeared.
The reddish-brown bronze casing began to cool rapidly, turning back to its original heavy bluish-gray color.
[Ding! Crisis resolved.]
[Congratulations, host! You have successfully activated the "Heavenly Arsenal" energy core.]
[Current energy output: 15%. Sufficient to supply nighttime lighting for the entire city of Jinghai.]
Zhang Yan plopped down on top of the furnace, wiped the soot off his face, and let out a long sigh.
"This job is much more tiring than delivering food."
He patted the bronze behemoth beneath him: "Behave yourself from now on, and don't lose your temper so easily."
Just then, his phone suddenly vibrated.
At this depth, ordinary mobile phones would have lost signal long ago, but his system has been modified to connect directly to satellites.
When I took it out, I saw it was a WeChat message from Nie Qingcheng.
There is only one photo.
In the photo, she's holding a wine glass, smiling radiantly, with a brightly lit resort in the background. The caption reads: "Honey, the 'longan' (a type of fruit grill) just spun faster and the lights were brighter. Were you up to something down there?"
Zhang Yan looked at the screen, a gentle smile unconsciously curving his lips.
He typed a line of text back quickly:
"My wife is responsible for being beautiful, and I'm responsible for digging the hole and burying people. Don't worry about the rough work."
After sending the message, Zhang Yan was about to go downstairs.
Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a shadow behind the furnace.
There is a door there.
A large door made entirely of an unknown black metal, without any patterns, except for a palm print-shaped groove in the center.
After the furnace cooled down, the dust on this door was shaken off, revealing a line of small characters.
It is not in seal script.
It is not in traditional Chinese characters either.
Instead... Simplified Chinese?
Zhang Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.
He jumped off the top of the furnace and strode to the door.
By the dim blue light, he could make out the contents of the words, and he felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his scalp tingling.
It was engraved with:
[Entry is prohibited for those who are not descendants of the Mohists.]
Descendants of the Mohist school?
Zhang Yan stared at the words in front of him, lost in thought.
"interesting."
Zhang Yan squinted his eyes and gently stroked the palm print with his fingers.
The system did not provide any notification.
This suggests that the technology behind this door may even exceed the current analytical capabilities of the system, or it may be some kind of purely physical mechanism.
He tried placing his palm on it.
The size fits perfectly.
"Click".
A soft sound came from inside the door.
It's unlocked?
Zhang Yan pushed hard.
The heavy metal door made a teeth-grinding scraping sound as it slowly cracked open.
A dry, cold gust of air blew out, carrying a... smell of engine oil?
Zhang Yan squeezed in sideways.
The sight before him made even this cheat-like guy with a system gasp in shock.
This is not an ancient tomb.
It's not some kind of treasure trove.
This is actually a... assembly line.
Hundreds of humanoid mechanical skeletons were neatly hung on the racks on both sides.
Unlike the rough and wild "Wangcai", they are full of streamlined beauty, with each nail plate polished like a mirror and the joints gleaming with a cold light.
Although most of them are only half-finished products, some are missing arms and legs, and some are only a torso.
But at the end of the assembly line, there is a well-preserved finished product.
It stands quietly inside a glass cylinder.
It was entirely black, with a hideous ghost face mask, two swords on its back, a Gatling gun-like rotary cannon in its left hand, and a huge chainsaw sword in its right.
On its chest, two large white characters were clearly written:
【Xingtian-01】
The style of this painting is not exactly the same as the antiques from the Ming Dynasty outside; in fact, it's completely unrelated.
"Is this supposed to be the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhang Yan approached the glass pillar and looked inside at the killing machine, which was full of violent aesthetics.
If this were to be deployed, let alone the Zhou family, even if Qin Xiao's mad dog-like armored company were brought over, it probably wouldn't be enough to cut through anything this thing could do.
Just then, a red light suddenly lit up on the control panel next to the glass pillar.
A mechanical, electronic voice echoed in the empty hall:
"An organism has been detected approaching."
"Identity scanning in progress..."
"Scan failed."
"Initiating defense protocol. Code name: Clean house."
"Click—"
The black mech, which had been motionless, suddenly emitted a scarlet light from its eyes.
The glass column slowly rose.
The enormous chainsaw sword began to spin with a "hum," emitting a hungry roar.
Zhang Yan took a half step back, but instead of panicking, he excitedly licked his lips.
"Clean house?"
He cracked his knuckles as he moved them.
"Perfect."
"I didn't get enough of playing up there."
"Come, let me teach you what true... mechanical mastery is."
Zhang Yan charged forward, advancing instead of retreating. Just as the chainsaw sword came down, he flashed like a ghost and disappeared into the mech's embrace.
[System notification: Enemy mechanical unit detected.]
[Enable forced takeover mode?]
"Need not."
Zhang Yan gripped one of the mecha's hydraulic pipes with one hand, a smug smile playing on his lips.
"It's such a waste to just format such a great toy."
"I'm going to...beat it into submission."
……
on the ground.
The celebration banquet reached its climax.
Nie Qingcheng, as the main character, is giving a speech on stage.
Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet trembled slightly.
It was very slight, like a heavy truck passing by in the distance.
But the guests present noticed that the lights throughout the resort seemed to become brighter for a moment.
The originally soft, warm yellow light suddenly took on a sharp, cold hue.
"What happened?"
Someone muttered to themselves.
Nie Qingcheng tightened her grip on the microphone, but her smile remained perfect.
"Don't panic, everyone."
She raised her glass, the sound crisp and melodious, silencing all the commotion.
"This is the prelude to our unique light show at 'Tiangongfang'."
"To celebrate today's opening, I've specially asked my... chief engineer to prepare a little surprise for everyone."
The voice just fell.
Suddenly, a beam of light shot out from the huge "dragon eye" sphere in the distance, shooting straight into the sky.
A giant holographic projection was projected into the night sky.
It was a black bird totem with outstretched wings, ready to take flight.
Domineering, mysterious, and arrogant.
The crowd cheered.
Only Nie Qingcheng breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the totem.
That was the secret code she and Zhang Yan had agreed upon.
nailed it.
"That little rascal."
Nie Qingcheng looked at the totem with eyes so tender they could melt water, "Always making such a big fuss."
She took a sip of her drink, concealing the smile on her lips.
I'll have to give him a good "reward" when I get home tonight.
As for how to reward...
Nie Qingcheng looked down at her feet, which were red from being squeezed by high heels, and seemed to be deep in thought.
I heard he really likes this?