"The Soma Consortium's base is located at the second vertebrae. Drive up the steep slope at the third pair of fins on the left side of the Leviathan and you'll see it after passing through Pass No. 4. The people at the base will send mining mules to pick them up at the foot of the mountain." Yui said, pointing at the Leviathan that was getting closer and closer to the convoy.

The steepest part of the road up the mountain has a slope of nearly 40 degrees. This may not be a problem for tracked armored vehicles and high-horsepower off-road vehicles, but it is almost impossible for armored trucks transporting supplies to climb such a steep slope, which requires the use of a traction device called a "mine mule."

The mining mule has a pair of huge wheels with sharp claws, and a pair of mining pliers that are strong enough to easily crush a power armor. In other mining areas, mining mules are used as the main mining machinery. The work efficiency of a mining mule can be equivalent to that of 30 human miners wearing power exoskeletons, and the premise is that these 30 human miners do not eat, drink or rest, and keep working for 20 hours without interruption...

But in Leviathan's body, the mining mule could not play its original role - firstly, the strange magnetic field in Leviathan's body would interfere with the driving system of the mining mule, causing the mining mule to be paralyzed; secondly, the diameter of most mines was too small, and the huge mining mules could not enter the working area at all... The first batch of mining mules transported to Leviathan was thrown into the warehouse for the first two months, until people discovered a very difficult problem:

The crystalline ore mined from Leviathan's body can only be transported out by aircraft, but the cost is too high, and there are very few places on the back of Leviathan that can be used as a landing field.

As for conventional transport trucks, they simply cannot travel on the back of Leviathan. Even tracked vehicles with strong off-road capabilities will be overwhelmed by their engines after being loaded with heavy ore...

At this moment, someone finally remembered the long-forgotten mining mules in the corner of the warehouse. After a simple transformation, these mechanical monsters with terrifying horsepower were transformed into the most useful transport vehicles in the Leviathan Mine, without a doubt.

"Back off, back off... Back off a little more, OK, stop!... K-02 opens its pincers and uses laser guidance to dock with the truck."

Under the command of the staff, the mining mule firmly grasped the cargo box of the truck with the modified giant mining pliers. The eight metal locks were locked at the same time. A roar came from the engine of the mining mule, and then it began to pull the truck weighing more than 40 tons and its cargo up the mountain.

"Tsk, the engine output of this thing can catch up with that of a small battleship, right?" Lao Gou couldn't help but say.

"It's not that we can catch up, but that we have surpassed most small warships." Layton's voice sounded again in the communication channel. "The warships currently in service are all equipped with anti-gravity devices, so the requirements for engine output are not that high... As far as I know, small warships like the 'Hummingbird' and 'Hobbit' class, the single engine output of which is really blown away by this Mine Mule."

"Let's go. It's getting late. I hope we can arrive at the base before lunch." Ke Lan said.

"Yeah, I've been eating compressed biscuits and canned food for every meal these days, and my throat is full of that taste now." The old dog said, shifting the car to a low gear and slowly stepping on the accelerator. With the low roar of the engine, Junius began to crawl up the steep mountain road.

"Pay attention to the surrounding environment. This is the habitat of scaly-winged flying insects. Although these insects usually do not actively attack humans, if you happen to encounter their breeding season, then these little creatures will become extremely irritable and regard all moving objects in their field of vision as their enemies." Ke Lan said in the communication channel. This information all came from the "friendly gift" of the intelligence dealer in the forum.

"Mr. Ke Lan, you seem to know a lot about the ecology of the Leviathan's skeleton." Yui glanced at him and said casually.

"After receiving a mission, the first thing any hunter has to do is to collect relevant intelligence." Lao Gou took over the conversation, "We are all professionals, not rookies."

The rookies he mentioned were naturally the hunters belonging to the Soma Group... In the eyes of Ke Lan and the others, even Benson's group was much stronger than these guys who were almost wiped out.

After a long journey of six hours, the convoy finally arrived at the Soma Consortium base built in the central col of the second vertebra of Leviathan. The base covers an area of ​​6.7 square kilometers. A bowl-shaped protective cover is inverted above the base. From the flash of light from time to time on the protective cover, it can be seen that this thing should use the energy shield technology from the Alpha civilization. As long as the energy supplied is sufficient, even a direct attack from a small tactical nuclear bomb cannot cause any damage to the base under the protective cover.

"It's a really hard turtle shell." commented the old dog.

A group of people had already been waiting at the entrance of the base. Leading them was an old white man with a Mediterranean hairstyle. He wore a spotless light gray suit, a black bow tie with gold edges around his neck, and leather shoes that were polished to a shine... However, what stretched out from the sleeves of his suit were a pair of metallic mechanical prosthetic hands.

"Manstein, a Prussian, 55 years old, senior director of the consortium, commander and head of the Leviathan base, authority level L7... Of course, this was before you came. Now, the title of commander of this base falls on you." You Yi introduced to Ke Lan in a low voice.

When Ke Lan jumped down from Junius, the old man named Manstein greeted him warmly. Ke Lan could not see any resentment on his face after his power was seized by an "outsider" who was parachuted in... This could only mean two things: either this guy was a cunning and shrewd person, or he belonged to Zuo Feiya's faction and knew the real purpose of his coming here.

Ke Lan felt that the latter possibility was more likely.

"Welcome Mr. Ke Lan, the special consultant of the consortium, to the Leviathan base." Manstein spoke Chinese very well, with almost no accent. He stretched out his hand and shook hands with Ke Lan. "I am Manstein, the person in charge of this base. In the coming time, my subordinates and I will fully cooperate with your work and assist you in..."

Manstein was still exchanging pleasantries with Ke Lan, but Youyi walked up quickly and winked at him: "Mr. Consultant already knows everything."

"What, you know everything?" Manstein's expression froze slightly, and he looked at her in surprise.

"I know everything." Yui nodded at her.

"Okay, in that case." Manstein put away the smile on his face and said to Ke Lan, "Since you already know, I won't waste words - the No. 7 mine where the accident occurred has been completely blocked. Two-thirds of the armed forces of the base are stationed outside the tunnel at the entrance. This situation has lasted for a week. Although a gag order has been issued, if it continues to be delayed, the possibility of news leakage will become greater and greater."