The private car landed and stopped, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Surrounding them were temporary tents. Black and blue ones belonged to the police, dark green to the military, and pure black to the mecha soldiers. Each tent bore a number, with each number signifying a different purpose. Outsiders couldn't decipher them, but insiders knew exactly what was inside.
Many officers were already waiting. As Jiang Ye stepped out, a synchronized "Greetings, Commander!" echoed.
"Do you need so many people? Those with business, stay. The rest, get back to your work," Jiang Ye waved his hand.
The officers were direct. A large number dispersed immediately, leaving only a handful.
Che Zhen led the way, with Jiang Ye and She following behind.
This location was a hundred kilometers from the nearest city, a desolate expanse of barren mountains and wasteland. The Galactic Split Alliance chose to excavate here precisely to avoid detection. Such a large-scale project, if undertaken anywhere populated, would be impossible to keep secret.
The entrance had been reinforced, fitted with a security checkpoint and elevators. The logo of White Ant Real Estate was displayed above.
Six elevators stood side-by-side. Jiang Ye, Che Zhen, and She entered the first, while their accompanying personnel took the second.
The elevators were transparent cylinders, with eerie blue sterilization lamps at the top and bottom. Through the glass, one could directly see the surrounding earth layers.
The floor buttons numbered twenty-one, from 0 to -20, with each floor representing one kilometer.
"There's a temporary mini-base every kilometer, including medical, rest, and maintenance stations. Would you like to see them?" Che Zhen asked.
"Straight to the point," Jiang Ye replied.
Che Zhen pressed [-20]. A prompt immediately appeared on the screen above:
[Estimated arrival in approximately 50 minutes]
The earth layers outside rushed upwards.
It was pitch black, with occasional streaks of light flashing past at high speed – these were other elevators ascending nearby.
The elevators carrying the accompanying officers were about ten meters above, maintaining a certain distance.
The elevator moved silently, making the darkness feel even more profound. After descending several hundred meters, Jiang Ye felt the terrifying sense of depth. One hundred meters was equivalent to nearly thirty stories of a building. This elevator was descending to a depth of two hundred times that, a depth that even tomb raiders and nuclear bombs would struggle to reach.
Waiting for fifty minutes in such a dungeon-like elevator was incredibly tedious.
Jiang Ye looked at She beside him. He hadn't spoken to her or even looked her in the eye since they met today.
Her complexion had improved considerably compared to a few days ago. A faint flush of red showed beneath her pale skin, making her appear much more beautiful. Her form-fitting clothes accentuated her curves.
After all, she hadn't suffered in a prison cell during this time. Although still under house arrest in a military base, she at least had freedom of movement.
"How is the matter progressing?" Jiang Ye asked her.
"What matter are you referring to?" She asked, her expression as calm as the weathered wood of an old ship, considering she had lived for nearly a century and a half.
"Your matter, and the matters of your companions," Jiang Ye said.
"My household registration seems to be being transferred to Green Sea City. I haven't been there, so I don't know what it's like," She said. "My job hasn't been finalized yet; I'll figure it out when I get there."
"Green Sea City is a newly developed city. It's not very prosperous, but it's quite suitable for living. There's a vast, unseen lake nearby, filled with abundant algae, giving it a clear green color, hence the name Green Sea City," Jiang Ye said. "As for work, you shouldn't have any trouble. Having lived for over a century, you must possess many skills. Making a living shouldn't be a problem."
"I'm still persuading the others. Two have begun to waver, but the rest will require more extensive persuasion," She said.
"There's no more time for persuasion. This matter has already been reported to the Galactic Empire, and an inspection team from higher up will be arriving soon," Jiang Ye said. "I can still keep people like you who have reformed. The others, however, won't be kept. They will be taken away. What happens to them after they are taken away, I don't know, but I've never heard of anyone returning. If you want your friends to live, you should hurry and persuade them in these few days."
She looked crestfallen and nodded, "I understand."
Fifty minutes later, the elevator finally reached the bottom.
She had slumped down, leaning against the elevator wall, exhausted. She was still very weak, and standing for so long was too much for her. Jiang Ye and Che Zhen, however, appeared relaxed. Their physical condition was robust; not only could they stand for fifty minutes, but they could also run for that long.
The elevator doors opened.
A massive underground passage appeared before them.
It was wide enough for an entire company of soldiers to pass through simultaneously, about twenty meters high, and terrifyingly long—ten kilometers, disappearing out of sight.
Dark pipes stretched into the distance like a long dragon, with orange-yellow lights every few dozen meters. Beside the lights stood mechanical soldiers or human soldiers armed and on guard.
A small, four-wheeled jeep rumbled towards them, driverless, like a phantom vehicle.
Che Zhen got into the driver's seat, turned off the auto-driving button, and switched to manual.
Jiang Ye sat in the passenger seat, and She silently took a seat behind him.
They drove forward along the pipe.
"What are these pipes for?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Part of the warp drive. The innermost one is for power supply; I don't know what the others are for. This type of reciprocating warp drive technology is very advanced, and they don't reveal such details to us low-ranking soldiers," She explained.
"Are they easy to dismantle?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Easy to dismantle. They are sectioned every fifty meters."
The vehicle drove forward for half a kilometer, reaching a large open space.
The area was quite spectacular, filled with mechanical parts, densely packed, gathered like piles of firewood in a field. The tallest piles of parts reached eight meters high, seeming on the verge of collapse.
"What is all this?" Jiang Ye examined them closely. All the parts were identical in shape, resembling thick screws with barbs.
"These are the activation components for the construction robots. You can think of them as keys," She explained. "For such a massive project, it would be impossible to excavate solely by human labor; it all relies on construction robots."
The vehicle continued forward into a more expansive area, resembling an underground plaza.
Military vehicles became more numerous, and the number of mecha soldiers and human soldiers suddenly increased. The flashlights on their assault rifles illuminated the surroundings.
The entire underground plaza was filled with small robots packed tightly together.
Each robot was about the height of a person's calf, with multiple arms connected to tools like impact drills, hammers, and water guns, resembling octopuses standing up in a workshop. Because their activation components had been removed, all the robots were in a powered-off state, clustered together densely and lifelessly, reminiscent of large groups of penguins huddling together for warmth on an Antarctic ice floe.
Jiang Ye was stunned by the sight of the seemingly endless penguins—at least four divisions of construction robots.
Over the past year and more, the people of Jiang Ye Star had lived in peace and contentment. No one had imagined that somewhere beneath the planet's surface, such a vast army had been digging tunnels day and night, their rumbling sounds like subterranean rivers roaring past.
"How did you get so many robots?" Jiang Ye turned to look at She.