Volume 13 Ancient Bronze City Ruins Chapter 618: Track Mine Car
Like the Ronin Squad, this force and its equipment were also planned to be deployed after entering the ancient bronze city ruins. Its purpose was to destroy the underground structure of the ruins and paralyze as many of the ruins' own defense facilities as possible.
However, due to the appearance of giant seeds of erosion, they had to be sent to the battlefield early.
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Although the "Ronin Squad" successfully attracted most of the attacks from the Seeds of Erosion at the beginning, as time went by and the team members died one after another, the giant Seeds of Erosion finally began to pay more attention to the troops that were planting crystal energy bombs. In less than three minutes, four pile drivers had been destroyed by the tentacles, and the crystal energy bombs buried in the shafts were also detonated.
Although the explosions of these crystal energy bombs were extremely loud, since they were not detonated at the same time and failed to trigger a large-scale "resonance", the explosion effects were naturally far from the expected target.
"Send three more engineering units. In addition, the first batch of armored units originally scheduled to advance will enter the battlefield directly to help the engineering units divert the tentacles' attack!" Terenz immediately gave the order upon seeing this.
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On the other side, inside the mine tunnel.
Continuous vibrations continued to come from the front battlefield, one wave after another, just like the high-frequency aftershocks after a major earthquake. Fortunately, the overall earthquake resistance of this tunnel was relatively high, and there was no sign of large-scale landslides.
"Is the frontal battle so intense?" Layton looked up at the concrete slabs above his head that were covered with spider-web-like cracks and could fall at any time. "Such a high-intensity firefight... I'm a little worried whether their 'feint attack' can last for four hours."
"It's also possible that it's just a lot of noise but little action." Ivan took over the conversation and said, "Maybe it's just a few fleets bombing in turns, and the ground forces are still standing still."
"Even if it's just a long-range bombing, the energy and ammunition consumption is absolutely staggering." Layton said, "I think the officers in charge of logistics are probably so busy that they don't even have time to eat."
"Probably—" Ke Lan responded casually, "We're here, everyone get in the car!"
This is the initial station of the mine car track. The tracks in this mine were basically dismantled and recycled. Even the unrecycled parts have long been rusted and unusable after decades of no maintenance. Fortunately, when the mole team was digging the tunnel, in order to facilitate the subsequent transportation of troops to the ancient bronze city ruins, they re-laid a simple steel track to the end of the tunnel.
Although the tracks were repaved, the mine carts left at the site were all abandoned old-style mine carts - these mine carts still adopted designs from the old era, because at that time there was a large-scale renewal of mining technology, and these obsolete mine carts were all abandoned here.
Recycling several kilometers of track is still a considerable resource, but these mine cars are just a drop in the bucket. The engineers who were responsible for the aftermath simply dismantled the power unit, and these thick and heavy frames were classified as industrial waste.
But then again, even if the power devices of these mine cars had not been removed, Ke Lan and his team would not be able to start them - this type of mine car is powered by high-voltage electricity transmitted via steel rails. Even the steel rails have been removed, and the generator sets must no longer be in the mine.
"Leaton, check the wheels of the mine cart. If it overturns later, it will be your fault." Ke Lan said.
"Okay!"
It took less than three minutes to inspect the wheel hub and replace the scrapped bearings - the two mechas basically took on the work of the jack and the crane, and Layton's robotic arm itself was transformed by him into a collection of various mechanical tools, so he could do this job with ease.
Everyone jumped onto the mine cart one after another. With Augustus's thrusters as the power source, the mine cart rushed directly into the depths of the tunnel. As for the Blasphemer mecha that could not get on the mine cart due to its size, it followed closely behind the mine cart. Ke Lan was not worried that Valentina would fall behind. With the Blasphemer's engine, even if the speed of the mine cart was doubled, it could easily catch up.
The only thing that worried them was the journey after leaving the original mine tunnel - the newly dug tunnel by the Gopher Team had not been reinforced with concrete and steel frames in time. If the vibration from the main battlefield intensified, it might really cause a landslide.
Being buried alive in the tunnel is just a small matter. After all, there are two high-output machines, so there is no need to worry about not being able to dig out... But if you can't reach the target location on time because the tunnel is blocked, then it will be a big problem.
There was a constant harsh friction sound between the metal wheels and the rails, a dull rumble echoed in the rock formations on all sides, and rock fragments fell from time to time overhead - this feeling was like an escape level in some first-person games. But unlike the game, the character controlled by the player was trying to escape, while Ke Lan and the others were heading full speed towards the deepest part of the tunnel.
"Pay attention to your surroundings. According to the intelligence provided by the Field Corps, five kilometers ahead is where the second batch of reinforcements lost contact." The Ke Lan team said, "The enemy is likely to ambush us in the blind spot of our vision. Don't let your guard down."
"Don't worry, with the sensitivity of Augustus' sensors, even if there is a bug hiding in a crevice two hundred meters away, I can find it for you." Leighton said, patting his chest.
"In my experience, those who rely on high-tech equipment in the ruins, thinking that they can sit back and relax after spending money on new equipment, end up dying miserably." Thirty-Three said indifferently.
"Hey, hey, how can you curse me? Although you are now also a member of our God Hunting Group, according to seniority, you still have to call me senior!" Layton shouted dissatisfiedly.
"Qualifications do not completely represent experience." Thirty-three choked Layton back with one sentence, "I have explored S-level ruins twice and A-level ruins eleven times, four of which were pioneering missions, and I successfully entered the core area of the ruins twice. What about you?"
"..." Layton was speechless for a moment - compared to these top "tough guys" in the hunter circle, he was simply a complete newbie.
Although he and Hound barely touched the threshold of "Elite Hunter", this qualification was basically accumulated through low-level tasks. Before teaming up with Ke Lan, the two of them usually only took exploration tasks below B level, and they would not even look at high-risk tasks above B level.
Many people would misunderstand the hound's caution and cherishment of life as cowardice, but only Layton knew that the hound was not afraid of death. Instead, he was afraid that after his death, the families of his subordinates who died on the battlefield but did not receive the treatment they deserved would be left unattended - at least 80% of the hound's mission remuneration for exploring the ruins was sent to these people, otherwise, with his income level, he would not be so stingy even on a drink on a weekday.
"You have explored so many high-level ruins?" Ivan looked at Thirty-Three in surprise. As a doctor, he had more opportunities to cooperate with some independent hunters. His "record" in ruins exploration was slightly better than that of Layton and the others, but compared with Thirty-Three, he was still a dwarf.
To an expert, the frequency and intensity of Thirty-three's explorations were no different from seeking death - for an A-class ruins or a pioneering mission, a 30% survival rate for the advance exploration team would be considered incredible, and this guy had actually completed four pioneering missions alive... As for entering the core area of the ruins, the difficulty and risk were even greater than that of a pioneering mission.
He didn't doubt whether Sanshisan was bragging or not. Such qualifications were public on the Internet and could be easily found out with a simple search. It would be even more embarrassing if he was found out by bragging... Besides, there was no need for him to brag.
Fortunately, Thirty-three and his companions have always been taking missions as lone hunters. If they had registered for a hunting group, his exploration points alone would have allowed this hunting group to squeeze into the top ten of the rankings.
"Do you think I'm committing suicide?" Sanshisan suddenly laughed incoherently. "Yeah, I did think so at first... As long as I died in a corner of a ruin, I wouldn't have to worry about many things... At that time, my mind was full of thoughts about how to escape, and the result..."
"As a result, the more you want to die, the harder it is to die, right?" Ke Lan turned his head and interjected.
“Yeah... maybe it’s not my destiny to die.” Sanshisan sighed.
"So are you still looking for death now?" Layton couldn't help but ask, "To be honest, when Ke Lan was selecting people, you took the initiative to stand up and said you wanted to join the action team. In the eyes of others, it was no different from looking for death... I think no one wants a teammate next to them to be a person with self-destructive tendencies, right?"
"Are you worried that I might implicate the entire team?" Thirty-three replied, "Don't worry, I don't want to die now, at least not for the time being."
"But you don't have much time left to live." Ze Luo suddenly said, "Six years at most, or even shorter."
"What's going on?" Surprised, Layton even opened the cockpit cover of Augustus and stared at Thirty-Three in amazement. "You...you can't be...also..."
"Some kind of experimental body modification surgery? While gaining powerful strength, it will also cause irreversible damage to the body and even affect lifespan?" Ke Lan asked tentatively. Speaking of this, his first reaction was to think of Marshall in the Sick Village.
Through telekinesis transformation experiments, Marshall gained powers that were beyond the reach of ordinary people, but as a price, after he became a "perfect individual", he only had three months left to live.
Even Ze Luo couldn't save him.
"That's about right." Thirty-three raised his arms and opened his palms. Others were shocked to find that the Nino alloy throwing knives he usually used were floating in his palms, rotating slowly.
"Are you also a subject in the telekinetic human experiment?" Ke Lan asked.
"What telekinetic human experiment?" This time, it was Sanshisan who showed a puzzled look on his face.
"A secret human enhancement experiment of the research institute uses some means to amplify the human mind power and make it have the ability to materialize..." Anyway, the team members are all on the same side, and Ke Lan has nothing to hide. "If you don't know about this experimental project, then what's the matter with your ability?"
Ke Lan pointed at the black blade floating in his palm.
"This ability comes from the Alpha civilization." Thirty-Three said.
"Did you get it in the ruins?" Ke Lan was stunned. He immediately thought of what happened after he touched the stone tablet in the glacial ruins.
It seems that he also had a similar adventure...
"Is it something from the S-class ruins?" Ivan said in amazement, "Is it something like the inheritance of Alpha civilization?"
"No, it wasn't obtained in an S-class ruins... not even an A-class ruins." Thirty-three shook his head, "It was a B-class ruins. Four lone hunters and I accidentally triggered a trap... The floor beneath our feet suddenly turned into powder, and the four of us fell directly from a deep abyss hundreds of meters high..."
"Then what?"
"Just when we thought we were going to be smashed to pieces, no one expected that there was a 'pool' underneath." Thirty-three went on to say.
"Pool? Even if it's a pool, if you fall from this height, the tension of the water surface would be enough to smash the body into pieces, right?" Ivan asked puzzled.
"That's what I thought at first... But when I entered the water, I found that the liquid not only didn't kill me, but it also penetrated into my body through my mouth, nose and even pores..." Sanshisan frowned slightly and said, "It's hard for me to describe that feeling. Anyway, when I regained consciousness, I had already gained this ability."
He paused, then continued, "But at the same time, a countdown appeared in my consciousness... Although there was no explanation, I knew that when the countdown reached zero, my life would end. This girl is right. I have exactly five years and nine months left."
"Uh... Is there no way to extend your life?" Layton's eyes changed as he looked at Thirty-Three. "Didn't Doctor Ivan give you a comprehensive checkup? There's nothing wrong with your body at all... Looking at your current condition, it's obvious that you can live another 20 or 30 years... How could this be?"
"If I didn't have this ability, I would have died in that B-class ruins." Thirty-three waved his hand, and the black blade flew around his palm and returned to his fingers. "This ability is actually very limited, because I can only manipulate things made purely of Nino alloy."
"Something made purely of Nino alloy?" Layton subconsciously looked at the mecha under him, "What about Augustus? Remove the outer armor and miscellaneous devices. Its frame is also made of 100% pure Nino alloy. Can you control it with your ability?"
"Yes, but it will consume a lot of my physical strength . I will be exhausted in just ten seconds at most."
"Then..." Layton wanted to ask something else, but Asano Akira, who was sitting in the front of the car, suddenly stood up, reached out and pressed the scabbard, and said urgently: " Four hundred and fifty meters ahead, there is a high-speed moving object approaching! Three hundred and fifty meters! No, there are only two hundred meters left!"
"So fast?" Leighton immediately looked down at Augustus' screen, but there was only a black and white snowflake on the sensor - they didn't know when, but they had crashed into an area with strong electromagnetic interference.
"Turn on the searchlight and aim it straight ahead!" Ke Lan shouted. At the same time, the bloody living armor had torn open his clothes and wrapped his body inside.
