Chapter 1903: Operation Archaeology
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Seven days later, in the depths of the Land of Eternal Night, which was frozen, unpopulated, and had always been the most dangerous area in the Ancient Sages Sector…
The ice clouds that were frozen in the sky were melted and shattered by the exhaust flames of the starships. On the rocks that were more solid than diamonds, engineering crystal suits and mechanical spiders were digging roads and runes, establishing hundreds of enormous arrays.
From the central plateau to the prairies, and from the prairies to the ice field, countless supply points and half-permanent rest areas had been set up. Those strongholds that extended deep underground were enough to keep the ordinary soldiers whose spiritual roots had not awakened safe and sound in the most freezing wind so that they could join the enormous project to excavate the Nuwa warship and the Pangu laboratory again after a good rest.
The scenes that almost appeared to be miracles were completed by the most experienced engineering troops in the federation.
In the past hundred years, the troops had been involved in the development of Kunlun, the modifications in the Water Crystal Sector and the Nether World Sector, and the reconstruction of the Uranian Ring Sector, accumulating tremendous experience in altering nature. Conquering the ice field that was brimming with freezing winds, despite all its difficulties, was not enough to intimidate the ambitious workers from the federation.
The Nuwa warship and the Pangu laboratory were the keys of the operation.
The desire for the primeval technology and magical equipment on the Nuwa warship, in order to combine them with the remains in Kunlun to figure out a lot of unresolved enigmas to boost the technological development of the federation, was only a secondary motivation.
The more critical reason was that countless uncanny ‘giant crabs’ were still sealed in the dangerous Pangu laboratory.
Those monsters that looked like giant crabs were the test subjects of the Pangu Civilization that contained lethal poison. Once it was injected into a human’s body, the victim would be transformed into a terrible member of the Pangu Clan. Even Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, had been hit in their ignorance and had to abandon their physical bodies, turning into spectral Cultivators.
After hundreds of thousands of years of corrosion, the seals that the Nuwa Clan had imposed on the Pangu laboratory were already riddled with holes. They had accidentally been opened by Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun.
After that, although the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators and the ten Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators including Li Yao imposed multiple layers of new seals, the gap was still there. The problem could not be resolved by just blocking it but had to be addressed from the source.
Li Yao and the rest of them all felt lucky that the seals did not break apart during the three years when they were away from the Ancient Sages Sector and that the giant crabs domesticated by the Pangu Civilization had not run loose.
If the seals had broken apart and some of the giant crabs escaped, sneaking into the Dark Cloud Prairies or even the central plateau and transforming countless people into members of the Pangu Clan…
Then, the fleet of the federation would have seen countless giants looking at them with a fake smile after they landed. It would certainly have been quite awkward.
The issue was too urgent to be delayed by one second. Almost at the same time when the drastic reforms on the Dark Cloud Prairies and in the central plateau began, a fleet that carried large engineering troops had already set off to the depths of the Land of Eternal Night.
By the time a new order began to take shape in the Great Qian Dynasty and the Dark Cloud Prairies, the twelve experts of the Ancient Sages Sector could not hold back any longer and gathered above the Nuwa warship.
They had gathered on exactly the same spot three years prior. But at that time, they had been plagued by the tempests and the freezing ice winds. They also each had their own intentions and were fighting each other. Had it not been for the fortuitous incidents and the guidance of Li Yao and Long Yangjun, almost all of them would have been buried in the Land of Eternal Night.
But everything was absolutely different this time.
Centered at the Nuwa warship, multiple defense lines had been established in the five hundred square kilometers around, partly to prevent the ignorant fellows who did not know what they were doing to cause any trouble, and partly to resist the ‘giant crabs’ and the members of the Pangu Clan who were transformed by the ‘giant crabs’ in the worst-case scenario.
Within a hundred kilometers from the Nuwa warship, hundreds of weather stabilization rune arrays, powered by tremendous crystals, had even been set up, building a natural protective membrane.
The most advanced biochemical labs, genetic labs, and primeval relics study centers were paved inside the protective membrane, forming a temporary town.
At this moment, the specialists and professors from dozens of renowned universities of the federation had gathered in the town. They were all rubbing their hands, waiting for the items to be excavated from the Nuwa warship and the Pangu laboratory.
Naturally, until absolute safety was ensured, those strengthless specialists and professors would never be allowed to enter the Nuwa warship or the Pangu laboratory in person.
Further ahead, several of the most elite crystal suit legions of the federation were stationed, and tens of thousands of Exos and the super enormous crystal cannons were standing by. Should the giants of the Pangu Clan crawl out of the earth, they would certainly be bombarded by the federation in less than three seconds. It would be a miracle if they could keep their back straight.
Guided by the memory of Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, the only two to have visited the Pangu laboratory personally, the federation had made thorough plans for the operation.
The first to explore the laboratory, besides the eleven experts of the Ancient Sages Sector and Li Yao, included more than a hundred elite Exos who were all above the Core Formation Stage.
Everybody carried tremendous beast puppets and Grand Illusionary Soldiers. They had also been injected with various vaccines and genetic drugs. As of now, they were unaware of the specific elements of the poison inside the ‘giant crabs’ or its mechanism. However, all the vaccines and drugs slowed down the mutation of genes. Should anybody be accidentally poisoned, their mutation would certainly be greatly delayed.
Other than that, their crystal suits had all been through the most rigorous airtightness and anti-pressure tests. It was made sure that there would not be a single gap on them when the crystal suits were placed tens of thousands of meters deep in the water. Even if the giant crabs jumped on the explorers, they would have nowhere to inject the poison at all!
The average height of the Pangu Clan was impressive, and the tallest of them could be dozens of meters tall. According to Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun, the Pangu laboratory was also splendid and immeasurable, like an underground palace of giants. Weird mist that could absorb spiritual energy and telepathic thoughts also covered the palace. A team of only a hundred members was certainly not enough to figure out the general picture of the place.
However, other than ‘the living’, they also had a troop of almost a thousand spectral Cultivators, who were all warriors that had lost their physical bodies and kept their souls in iron shells.
Those spectral warriors were partly from the famous ghost troop of the Flying Star Sector that had a long history and partly made of the natives of the Nether World Sector.
Since the ‘giant crabs’ had to unlock the mysterious strength in the genes by injecting poison, the technology must be similar to ‘biochemical modification’. Then, for the spectral Cultivators who had no fleshly bodies, the giant crabs would have nowhere to bite, right?
The prospection and cleaning regarding the Nuwa warship had started three days ago.
The armor, flying swords, magical equipment, and fragments that were carved with the primeval runes indeed hooked and intoxicated the professors and experts from the renowned universities.
Today, the defense array and the cannon bastion around the Nuwa warship was finally set up, and the dozens of warships in the sky had all locked onto the target, too. All the preparations had been made to unveil the seals inside the Nuwa warship.
The code name of the operation was very simple—’Archaeology’!
Li Yao, Long Yangjun, the other ten experts of the Ancient Sages Sector, almost a hundred elite Exos, and a thousand ghost warriors marched into the Nuwa warship and toward the seals at the head of the warship.
“Are you really coming down with us?” Long Yangjun asked Li Yao for the tenth time.
Without changing his countenance, Li Yao declared, “You can stop persuading me. I know that it must be highly perilous down there, but that is all the more reason I should lead the charge! I was already able to kill one member of the Pangu Clan in the beginning. Even if there are a dozen of them right now, so that? They will be the best targets to test my new blade!”
“You know that is not what I mean,” Long Yangjun said gloomily. “I’m saying that the operation is already dangerous enough by itself, and every operation is ten times more dangerous if you are in the team. So, why don’t you stay above as a commander instead of adding to our trouble down there?”
“…No!”
“Fine,” Long Yangjun conceded. “You can’t stop a man who is determined to get him killed. If uncanny changes take place, don’t blame me for not warning you in advance.”
Three years ago, Li Yao and the eleven experts of the Ancient Sages Sector once trained for half a year in the Nuwa warship and knew the general structure of the warship very well. Naturally, they did not meet any trouble in finding the place where the Pangu laboratory was sealed.
The seals that they had left years ago were already lackluster and dim.
The rocks behind the seals were full of cracks that looked like spider webs, too, as if the seemingly solid rocks would crumble into powder at a light cough and release the fiends caged deep underground.
The shocking view made everyone breathe heavily.
“The first defense line is deployed!”
“The second defense line is deployed!”
“The peripheral defense line is deployed. The geological investigation has been completed. The rock stratums here are relatively stable. No big tectonic changes will happen anytime soon.”
On everyone’s tactical crystal processor, information and holographs flashed, suggesting that the last defense measures had been paved.
“Senior Meng, Senior Wu.”
Li Yao suddenly asked the two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators who once explored the Pangu laboratory, “When you were injected with poison by the ‘giant crabs’ and about to be transformed into members of the Pangu Clan, what did you feel? Did you keep your original self-awareness? Was your soul twisted or injected with something new, as if you were ‘possessed’ by something powerful?”
Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun looked at each other and replied, “The feeling was rather weird. As our body continued expanding, our self-awareness became blurred. A lot of things seemed to be removed from our soul, but we ‘recalled’ many more things. Yet, despite all the contortion, no new self-awareness was sent in. It was certainly not ‘possession’.”
“Got it. It means that all the members of the Pangu Clan underground are dead. The ‘giant crabs’ can merely transform humans into new members of the Pangu Clan but cannot revive the old ones.”
Taking a deep breath, Li Yao pressed the dim seals with his hands that were armed by the crystal suit. “Come on, fellow Cultivators. Let’s see what kind of secrets are kept in the Pangu laboratory from hundreds of thousands of years ago!”