Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 666: Mission Impossible
Ke Lan could clearly feel his breathing becoming rapid - although his senses were now synchronized with Collins in "Mewtwo", if he saw this scene with his own eyes, his body would have the same reaction.
The closer you get to the "volcanic cone", the more details you can see - although the surface of the cone is covered with a layer of rock for "camouflage", at its base there are a large number of thick and complex steel structures exposed. If this "volcanic cone" is compared to a mushroom, then the mountain on the top is the fungus's cap, and the steel structure frame at the bottom is the densely arranged gills under the fungus's cap.
Without Sergeant Ken saying much, the members of the 776 Special Forces Team had already guessed that this giant cone-shaped building was the target of their mission.
"Are we going to use a hydrogen bomb to blow up this 'mountain'...?" Martin murmured in the communication channel.
Finally, when there were only ten kilometers left to the giant cone, Sergeant Ken gave the order to stop.
"You guessed it right. That's the mission target." Sergeant Ken said to everyone on the communication channel. "The mission target is called 'Engine 92 Wreckage Site', which is the cone-shaped remains of the Alpha civilization you see now. What we have to do is to completely blow it up and erase all remaining traces."
"The diameter of this cone-shaped relic is more than 20,000 meters, and the height seems to be over 10,000 meters..." The person speaking in the communication channel was Jino, a demolition expert who was proficient in the production and blasting of various explosives. He also held a double doctorate in chemistry and physics, making him the most educated person in the 776 Special Forces Team.
"From the outside, I am still unable to determine the internal structure of the cone ruins. But if it is mainly made of steel, supplemented by concrete and covered with rock layers... it is impossible to completely destroy the ruins by external detonation with only four tactical-grade small hydrogen bombs."
"Only two hydrogen bombs can be used to destroy the main body of the ruins." Sergeant Ken corrected, "The other two will be used to 'erase the traces'."
"Then we can only choose internal explosion." Jinuo said, "We have to bring the hydrogen bomb into the ruins, find the most vulnerable point in the structure of the ruins, place the hydrogen bomb there, and then detonate it."
"Entering the ruins and looking for weaknesses, are you crazy?" Connelly couldn't help but say, "We are soldiers, not ruins hunters! How can you guarantee that we can find that location alive? You know how perverted the mechanisms in the ruins of the Alpha civilization are-"
"No, Connelly, you are wrong." Sergeant Ken said in a deep voice, "Since the higher-ups only gave us four tactical hydrogen bombs, it means they have already planned the action plan in advance. I don't think we will encounter any difficulties inside this ruin. Otherwise, they should have allocated some more professional personnel to join the operation."
"By more professional personnel, do you mean the relic hunters?" Collins asked, "Perhaps the superiors refused to allow the relic hunters to participate in the mission in order to keep it secret? After all, we were not informed of the mission ."
"I don't think the command will give us a mission that we can't complete. It's meaningless." Sergeant Ken said in a resounding voice, "I know you have a lot of concerns, but we are soldiers, and the duty of a soldier is to obey orders. Do you understand?"
Suddenly, the communication channel fell into silence.
"Okay, I'll assign the tasks." Sergeant Ken continued, "Group One, Group Two and the Fearless Warriors will escort the hydrogen bomb and mecha into the ruins. Group Three will stay outside the ruins and be ready to respond at any time - Action!"
…
The convoy drove all the way to the foot of the conical ruins. Looking up from this angle, the main body of the ruins appeared even more magnificent. The indescribable sense of oppression and grandeur made every soldier of the 776 Special Forces Team slow down their breathing.
When people see something extremely large, they always have a sense of contrast with their own insignificance. The closer the distance between the two, the stronger the sense of contrast... However, when the distance is reduced to a certain extent, the sense of contrast will suddenly disappear.
For example, humans in the old era standing on the Earth could not feel the Earth’s enormity at all, and people today living in the Ark cannot appreciate the Ark’s exaggeration at all - many Ark residents often exclaim in amazement when they see distant photos of the Ark taken in the wilderness, but they are completely unaware that they are living inside such a behemoth.
When the soldiers of the 776th Special Forces Team entered the ruins, the sense of oppression and grandeur they felt outside disappeared without them noticing - although the ruins looked large from the outside, the space inside was not spacious, and instead gave people a feeling of being cramped and narrow.
Demolition expert Jino looked unhappy. He kept looking at the internal structure of the ruins, and kept writing and drawing on the tablet with the five fingers of his right hand. He sighed while calculating: "It's difficult... Even if we blast from the inside, it's difficult to destroy this ruins..."
"Why?" Sergeant Ken asked with a frown, holding his gun in one hand and the rusty metal railing beside him with the other.
"It is obvious that explosion-proof factors were taken into consideration when this relic was built... Even if a hydrogen bomb was detonated inside, the explosion can only penetrate six to eight structural layers at most. And the total number of structural layers of this relic, I conservatively estimate, is more than thirty." Kino replied.
"What do you mean? Explain it more clearly."
"This relic adopts a multi-layer nested structure. Each layer of the structure does not interfere with each other. So even if we find the weak point where the structure is stressed, it can only have an effect on that layer of the structure. According to my preliminary calculations, if we want to blow up this relic from the inside, we need not four tactical-grade hydrogen bombs, but four hundred."
"You mean, this mission can't be completed at all?" The veins on Sergeant Ken's forehead twitched, and his big bony hand couldn't help but tightly grasp the handguard of the assault rifle.
"In theory, that's right." Kino nodded.
"Then... do we have no choice but to give up?" Martin looked around in a daze. They were now on a steel suspension bridge. On both sides were intricate steel structures that were like skeletons, and below was a narrow and dark abyss. In addition to the huge cone on the ground, the ruins also had an underground part whose volume and depth were difficult to measure. This part would be even more difficult to blow up.
"By the way, I have an idea." Collins suddenly said, "Since you said this ruins is called the '92nd Engine Wreckage Site'... then since it is an engine, it should have a power unit and a fuel tank, right?"
