Volume 13 Ancient Bronze City Ruins Chapter 625: Core Tower
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With the Blasphemer mecha, Ke Lan and his team quickly dug into the ground directly below the Ancient Bronze City Ruins. However, it was not until they arrived at their destination that they discovered that there were also a large number of copper alloy mechanical modules buried deep underground in the Ancient Bronze City Ruins. The average burial depth of these mechanical modules was about 200 to 300 meters. As for the maximum depth, although it could not be detected by the special operations team's equipment, it was conservatively estimated to be at least 1,000 meters.
The ancient bronze city ruins above the surface are just the tip of the iceberg...
The underground part occupies at least more than 80% of the volume of the entire ruins.
But it makes sense. If you want to allow various sectors on the surface to change their positions freely, you must have a huge mechanical system to support it... Unfortunately, with Layton and Valentina's level, they can't figure out the purpose and principles of these mechanical modules. As for the other people in the team, they know nothing about machinery.
Instead, Ze Luo made some discoveries - she told Ke Lan that these mechanical modules have a common feature, that is, there are a large number of "energy amplification devices" inside... This so-called energy amplification device is similar to the functional array in the core power room of Yaguna Kotor. Both use the principle of "resonance" to amplify the energy released from the energy crystals.
This amplification does not require additional "fuel" - humans have done similar physical experiments many times, and the experimental results have proved without exception that the energy generated by "resonance" is "increased out of thin air" and does not come from any substance in the reaction process.
Although the scholars on the Ark have not yet figured out how "resonance" deceives the law of conservation of energy, they have already put it into practice... For example, the crystal energy bombs configured by the Ark military, and the "resonant reactors" carried on those large warships, are all applications of this "unknown principle".
This is like the ancient people thousands of years BC in the Old Era. They had no idea what changes would occur at the atomic level when different metal elements were fused, but they knew that adding tin to copper could smelt a material called bronze, which is not only easier to process, but also has more stable chemical properties and higher physical strength than copper.
Of course, ancient people did not know the concepts of chemical properties and physical strength. In their eyes, bronze was less likely to rust than copper, and was also more wear-resistant, sharper, and less likely to break. Compared with copper, bronze was simply an excellent material for making weapons and tools.
And human history has since entered the famous "Bronze Age".
The way humans on the Ark now use the technology left over from the Alpha civilization is actually not much different from the way the ancient people did thousands of years ago.
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The material of these mechanical modules is the same as that of the surface parts of the Ancient Bronze City Ruins. They are very hard and extremely difficult to excavate. Fortunately, there are gaps between the modules. Ke Lan and his team dug along these gaps and dug all the way to the center of the ruins.
They dug all the way to the boundary between the outer ring and the middle ring, only to be blocked by an underground metal wall whose thickness was completely undetectable.
The plan to enter the core control area directly from underground failed instantly in front of this metal wall, and Ke Lan and his team had no choice but to dig upwards.
When the Blasphemer mecha lifted a heavy copper alloy floor tile and climbed onto the surface, it ran into the 10th Armored Division which was advancing towards the central ring.
Hundreds of guns plus the 240mm twin main guns on the Mammoth tanks were aimed at Ke Lan and others at once, and several defensive mechas instantly activated their energy shields.
"Don't shoot! No one, don't shoot!" After seeing the attire of Ke Lan and the others, the officer immediately shouted, "They are our people."
"We are the special operations team responsible for infiltrating the core area, but the underground tunnel is blocked by a metal wall, so we have to come up." Ke Lan briefly explained to the other party.
"We are the 1st Regiment of the 10th Armored Division, and we are heading towards the central ring of the ruins." The officer said, "The mission we received is to attack the core control area of the ruins while covering you... However, the resistance we encountered along the way was so weak that it can be almost ignored..."
"I already know." Ke Lan sighed, "This ancient bronze city is probably a trap specially prepared for us."
When they heard Ke Lan mention the word "trap", the expressions of the surrounding soldiers changed to varying degrees, except for the officer who spoke who still maintained his original expression.
It seems that the officer should have guessed this matter.
"I originally thought that even if this ruins was a trap, the victims would only be our vanguard troops... But not long ago, even the main force on standby outside the ruins was forced in by that monster. Now we have no way to retreat. The only way is to capture the core control area in the center of the ruins before the trap is activated." The officer said to Ke Lan.
The new orders they received were basically the same solution as the intelligence dealer had given them.
"I was wondering before... since the heretic sect wanted to trap us, why did they set up such a monster on the front battlefield? Now I understand." Layton said on the side, "It seems that they had long anticipated that the commander of the Ark would choose to split the troops... The monster was not used to block the advance of the large army, but to drive all the troops left outside the ruins into the ruins."
"If the old dog were here, he would definitely praise you by saying 'the oil has finally come to its senses'," Ivan said casually.
"How can this be considered a compliment..." Layton smiled bitterly, and manipulated Augustus to turn a small circle, heading towards the core area in the center of the ruins. "It seems that we can only bite the bullet and rush in."
"No, going by land is too slow." Ke Lan suddenly said, "Since the air defense facilities of the Ancient Bronze City Ruins have not been activated, can we let the warships send us directly to the core control area?"
Although the air force fleet does not have the ability to carry all the troops out of the ruins, it should not be a problem if it only needs to send a few people in.
"Just a few of you?" The officer was stunned. In his opinion, although the combat effectiveness of the infiltration team must be higher than that of ordinary soldiers, their number is too small. They might be effective as a surprise force, but when they merge with the main force, they are at best just a few "super soldiers"... He would never believe that relying on a few "super soldiers" could change the course of a war.
"Our team is carrying secret equipment that can seize control of the ruins." Time was pressing, and Ke Lan had no time to waste words with the other party, so she simply brought up the Undead Crew. "This is an order from the superiors... I mean, the superiors at the headquarters, you should know, right?"
The officer was stunned. With his rank, although he was not aware of the existence of the Undead Crew, the decision-makers above the General Command naturally referred to the military headquarters and the United Parliament Group. In the eyes of ordinary people, they were the most powerful group of people in the entire Ark.
It is very rare for the military headquarters and the Joint Parliamentary Group to directly bypass the general command of this operation and issue orders to the combat troops. But if what Ke Lan said is true, it only means that the mission they received is extremely important - so important that even the main force needs to take the initiative to cooperate with them to complete this mission.
"I need to test..."
Before the word "verify" was uttered, the officer's radio communication device rang. As soon as he pressed the answer button, he heard the voice of his immediate superior, the commander of the 10th Armored Division: "We just received an order from the top to unconditionally meet the requirements of the special operations team. No matter what they say, do as they say."
"yes!"
The officer couldn't help but look at Ke Lan and the others, and finally his eyes stopped on the tall Blasphemer mecha - in his opinion, the "secret equipment" that Ke Lan and the others mentioned was most likely this strange mecha that he had never heard of.
He would never have thought that the so-called "secret equipment" was Ke Lan himself.
"In fact, the raid plan you mentioned was proposed as early as the beginning of entering the ruins." The officer sighed, "However, the core control area is the only area in the entire Bronze City Ruins where defense facilities have been activated. Any aircraft that enters the airspace of the core control area will be shot down by powerful laser beams. Even airdropped troops can only be airdropped to the outer areas of the core control area... In the past half an hour, six batches of marines totaling about a thousand people have been dropped to the outer areas of the core control area."
"Have they attacked the core control area?" Leighton asked.
The officer nodded first, then shook his head: "These six batches of Marines lost contact shortly after entering the core control area."
"Is there any sound of fighting in the core control area?" Sanshisan also asked, "For example, gunshots or explosions?"
The officer continued to shake his head: "There was no sound coming from inside. It was as if they had disappeared from this world..."
"Tsk... that sounds really scary." Layton smacked his lips. "I was originally worried that the Ruins' air defense system would suddenly activate and shoot me down when I was airborne... but now it seems that hell will come after I land."
"If you insist on going." The officer pointed to a light frigate flying over their heads in the sky, "The Pickaxe will drop the seventh batch of mobile forces to the south of the core control area in ten minutes. You can go with them."
"Okay." Ke Lan nodded, "We will parachute in with this group of troops."
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The seventh batch of airdropped mobile forces also came from the 10th Armored Division, but compared to the group of people Ke Lan and his team met on the ground, this mobile force was obviously much better equipped. Not only were all members equipped with full-coverage power armor, but the proportion of tactical mechas in the team was as high as over 20% of the total number of members - that is to say, every team of five people could be allocated at least one mecha.
The mobile force has a total of seventy-five people, including ten "Thruster" tactical mechas, four "Wolf Spiders", two "Shield Mountain" and one "Beidou", plus four highly mobile light armored vehicles and a 175mm self-propelled artillery - this level of firepower configuration is enough to flatten an exile settlement of two thousand people within three minutes.
But according to the commander of this mobile force, the six airborne troops that had previously entered the core control area were also in almost the same configuration... However, the people outside didn't even hear a single gunshot and lost contact with them.
The morale of the soldiers in the mobile unit was obviously low. Some of them were leaning against their own machines and taking a nap, some were holding tablets writing things like suicide notes, and the people in the guard station were holding their guns tightly in their hands, with their heads down and keeping silent.
For them, this was almost a mission that meant they would die.
"Although it is unlucky to write a suicide note before a war..." The commander of the mobile force looked at the soldiers and shrugged helplessly at Ke Lan and the others.
"It's not a big problem. I always write a suicide note before every mission..." Layton showed a somewhat silly smile, "Although I don't seem to have anyone or anything to entrust."
"If I die, Natasha will help me deal with the rest of my life." Ivan said, "In fact, I've died once before, so there's nothing to worry about."
"I haven't written about this since I was discharged from the army," Thirty-Three whispered. "I wrote enough when I was in the army."
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The "Pickaxe" frigate maintained a steady cruising speed and slowly moved forward. At this distance, Ke Lan and his companions could already see the bronze tower standing in the distance through the porthole - that was the core tower located in the center of the ruins, and also the location of the core control hub of the ruins.
The tower is almost two kilometers high, with a base diameter of about one hundred meters. Its general shape is a hexagonal cone. There are no windows or decorative patterns on the tower, and it is as smooth as a mirror. From a distance, it looks like a polished hexagonal copper column.
Judging from the appearance of the tower, the building materials used in this tower are the same as those of other parts of the Bronze City, but this is only limited to the appearance, and the internal structure is unknown.
The tower was surrounded by a large number of warships of the Ark Fleet, which continuously bombarded the tower with various weapons... However, the attacks of energy weapons were absorbed by the shield covering the core tower. As for physical attacks such as missiles and artillery shells, they were intercepted and shot down by the high-power light beams mentioned by the officer as soon as they entered the airspace of the core control area.
Dozens of warships opened fire at full power, but were unable to cause any damage to the tower.
