Volume 16 Tower of Babel Chapter 834: Undersea Pyramid
"If I lose control..." Leighton just imagined it and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
"Let's not talk about this for now. We are about to reach the destination coordinates. I estimate that there is a high probability that the Yaguna Kator will plunge directly into the sea... Something of such a large size and mass will definitely cause huge waves. Layton, notify the garrison troops on the floating platform at sea and let them prepare to resist the waves."
Less than two seconds after Layton sent the message to the garrison on the platform, the bow of the Yaguna Tor, which was originally in a horizontal flight state, suddenly sank, and the entire warship suddenly turned ninety degrees in the air and fell straight towards the sea below!
"Oh my god!" Hound subconsciously grabbed the guardrail installed on the outside of the console, but the floor of the core power room did not become tilted due to the falling posture of the battleship. It was obviously designed similar to the suspended cockpit of a mecha.
"Damn, this is so exciting..." Layton muttered as he stared at the holographic image on the console.
They thought that even if Yaguna Kotor was going to enter the water, it should find an angle to cut into the water surface diagonally. Even if it was going to land vertically, it should slow down. But no one expected that not only did Yaguna Kotor not take any brakes, but it rushed towards the water surface like a direct cannonball - fortunately, it was far away from the coast, otherwise a tsunami would be inevitable.
"Quick, get all the aircraft of the garrison troops on the offshore floating platform into the air and maintain an altitude of at least three thousand meters... The rest of the people, dive into the water immediately, and the depth must be more than fifty meters! Also, after the Yaguna Kotor enters the water, a low-pressure area will inevitably be generated at the stern. Those who are diving to avoid the waves must be careful not to get sucked into the whirlpool!" The Hound spoke quickly.
Being so close to the place where Yaguna Kotor entered the water, it was actually very dangerous to dive into the water, but there was no other solution - the survival rate of staying on the sea surface would be only lower than that in the water.
Not long after the message was sent out, the planes parked on the floating platforms at sea took off one after another, and the remaining people boarded several speedboats and quickly headed in the opposite direction.
"Damn it, I told them to hide under the water, not to escape on the boat!" The Hound punched his thigh angrily, "What's wrong with these guys? No matter how fast the boat is, can it be faster than the waves?"
"They replied that they didn't have that much diving equipment and had sent a distress message to the nearest patrol fleet, if the message could be received..."
"Alas, it seems that we can only let them fend for themselves..." Looking at the sea that was getting closer and closer, the hound sighed .
The water in Zhonghai is extremely toxic and contains high-intensity radiation. If you fall into the sea without wearing protective equipment, you will surely die. If you escape by boat, you may still have a chance of survival.
But just as the Yaguna Tor was about to touch the sea surface, the battleship's energy shield was suddenly activated to maximum power. A large amount of sea water instantly boiled and evaporated, and a large vortex suddenly appeared on the sea surface - those fleeing speedboats and offshore floating platforms were directly sucked into this vortex and instantly crushed.
"Damn it!" The hound stomped his foot on the floor, a trace of pity in his eyes.
As the sea water evaporated, the resistance Yaguna Tor encountered suddenly became much smaller. It slid smoothly into the sea water and then dived quickly towards the depth of the seabed.
"We are now 2,400 meters away from the seabed... At this rate, we will crash directly into the city, and there is a high probability that a severe undersea earthquake will be triggered," said Leighton.
"Let it be an earthquake. Wasn't the earthquake in the Molten Mine Area caused by this thing? Anyway, there are no strongholds in this sea area anymore, and the people in the several transit stations along the coast should have already taken refuge. Let it crash." The Hound said with a look of desperation.
"That's not right." Zhuoligetu suddenly interrupted at this time.
"What's wrong?" The hound turned his head, looked at the burly Mongolian man and asked.
"The underwater city that Ke Lan arrived at was not the one on the seabed." Zhuoligetu said in a deep voice, "He once mentioned that the city was built on a raised sea platform, not on the flat seabed. Moreover, if it was this underwater city, the deep diving suit Ke Lan was wearing at that time could not withstand the huge water pressure at a depth of 3,000 meters."
"Shit!" The hound slapped his forehead and cursed in a low voice, "How could I forget such an important thing!"
"In other words, this is a new relic that we have never explored before." Zhuo Ligetu continued.
…
Although the energy shield had been turned off, Yaguna Tor's diving speed was still very fast. It took less than thirty minutes to reach a depth of 300 meters from the seabed.
Yagunakotor stopped at this depth, floating quietly in the deep sea, like a sleeping prehistoric beast.
There was no lighting equipment outside Yagunakotor, and the surveillance screen was completely dark and nothing could be seen, but the panoramic scanning equipment displayed the shape of the seabed in the form of 3D modeling on another screen - the entire seabed was very flat, with an elliptical city wreckage with an area roughly equivalent to two East 9 Districts, centered on a pyramid-shaped building and spreading out in all directions.
Almost everyone in the core power room focused their attention on the pyramid-shaped building at the first moment.
"It's definitely not the 'underwater city' that Ke Lan visited." The Hound murmured, "He never mentioned that there was a pyramid in the center of the underwater city. Moreover, the stone pillars and statues that he described as being everywhere are not here at all."
The sonar accuracy of the "Pioneer" icebreaker is completely incomparable to that of the Yaguna Kotor's scanning equipment. The former can only scan a "remains of suspected urban wreckage" on the seabed, while the Yaguna Kotor's scanning equipment can even accurately outline the outline of each building.
"What do you think this pyramid is used for?" Layton asked.
"The term 'pyramid' comes from the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs and the temples used by the Mayans for sacrifices. It also symbolizes some mysterious cosmic energy," Zofia Soma continued. "But there is no consensus in the academic community as to what it means in the Alpha civilization."
"Are there any pyramid-shaped buildings in the ruins of the Alpha civilization?" Chi Hanfeng, who had been standing in the corner and had not spoken a word from beginning to end, asked, "I don't know much about ruins. I think you should be considered experts in this area."
"I don't dare to call myself an expert, but I have read the general information about famous ruins, even if I haven't been there." The Hound's tone was very serious, as if he had become a different person. "There are pyramid-shaped buildings in the ruins, but not many... and most of them don't have any specific meaning or purpose."
"Old dog, do you still remember the ruins we explored when we first 'teamed up'?" Layton's tone suddenly became a little strange.
"Of course I remember the ruins A-087, the 'Glacier Crevasse'. However, after its twin ruins, the 'Bottomless Sinkhole', were exposed, this ruin completely collapsed into the abyss. Even if there are still things inside that have not been excavated, they are now buried deep underground."
"Do you remember the missing pilot's body? It eventually turned into a monster, and we had a lot of effort to kill it." Layton continued to ask.
"Of course I remember, but compared to the enemies we encountered later, that monster was just a weakling." The Hound nodded.
"The key is not the monster, but the sarcophagus from which the monster crawled out. It was placed on a high platform shaped like a pyramid at that time!" said Leighton.
"Are you saying that this pyramid-shaped building is the tomb of the Alpha people? Just like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt?" The Hound frowned and said, "Building a tomb in the center of the city... Although it always makes me feel a sense of weirdness, when I think about this Alpha civilization, not Earthlings, all the unreasonable things seem to make sense again."
"No, that's not what I meant." Leighton shook his head. "I think this is a temple, or an altar."
"Why?" The Hound asked in confusion, "Do you think that the resurrected pilot's body was actually a sacrifice on the altar?"
"At that time, we all thought that stone cabinet was a coffin, and the pilot's body that crawled out of it later reinforced our first impression... But now that I think about it, maybe we were a little prejudiced... The stone cabinet was probably not originally used to store corpses. It was just because its size was too suitable."
"I suddenly remembered something." Zhuoligetu also said, "According to the survey data of the living area in the ruins of the Alpha civilization, the living space of the Alpha people is obviously larger than that of humans. Ke Lan also said that the image of the Alpha people he saw in the 'Super Dream' video is similar to that of humans in the upper body, but the lower body is a large number of tentacles. The whole body is much larger than that of humans... For humans, the 'sarcophagus' that is just the right size is too small for the Alpha people."
"So, the 'stone coffin' is actually just a box for storing things." Zhuoligetu continued, "It contains the broken stone tablet."
"According to Ke Lan's recollection, the stone tablet was engraved with prayers to that 'great god'... That's why I think that the pyramid-shaped stone tablet might be the altar used by the Alpha people to worship their god." Layton froze for a moment as he finished speaking, and turned to look at the hound, "Old dog... Yagunakotor's lock status has been lifted."
"Relieved? Then you can control it now?" The hound's expression suddenly brightened and asked.
"No, my operating authority has been deleted. Unless I can contact Ke Lan and ask him to grant me the authority again, I won't be able to start this big guy." Layton shook his head, "But now we can get out."
"Get out? How can we get out? The sea is three thousand meters deep outside. Once we get out, we will be crushed like paper." The Hound shrugged, "We are still imprisoned in this prison."
"If there are only a few of us, it's not impossible to get out." Chi Hanfeng stepped forward. "In order to explore the various areas inside Yaguna Kotor, we have prepared equipment for various environments, including a small submersible that can accommodate four people. The maximum depth of this submersible is about 11,000 meters. Even the 'Eye of Hell' in the extreme sea can only go in. A depth of 3,000 meters is no problem at all."
"Submersible..." Hound and Layton looked at each other, and both saw a trace of worry and fear in each other's eyes. "I remember very clearly that when the submersible was lowered from the Pioneer icebreaker, there was no living person inside it... Rather than calling it a submersible, I would rather call it an iron coffin."
"But this is our only way to leave at the moment." Chi Hanfeng, who had not experienced the Undersea City incident, naturally could not empathize with this kind of fear. The description in words alone was far less shocking than seeing the salvaged wreckage of the submersible with his own eyes. "You can rest assured that this submersible was provided by the Ye Group. My team of technicians and I have gone through a series of modifications and enhancements, so there is absolutely no problem with safety. You should know that when the scientific research team of the institute explored the 'Eye of Hell' abyss in the polar sea, they used a large number of prototypes of this model of submersible. After so many missions, the accident rate was zero. Not to mention this enhanced model."
"No, it's not that we don't trust the performance of the submersible..." The Hound waved his hand, "Well, let's not talk about this. Right now, no matter how big the risk is, we have no choice but to go for it."
He knew very well that if he continued to hesitate, the situation would hardly improve - although the closed transmission channel was opened again, their trapped situation remained unchanged, the only difference was that the walls of the cage were changed from the hull of the Yaguna Tor to billions of tons of sea water.
There are still nearly 80,000 people inside Yagunakotor... and the remaining food will not last long.
The hound didn't dare to think about what a person would do when he was extremely hungry.
"Leighton, you and the young lady stay in Yaguna Kotor, just in case you can get in touch with Ke Lan... There are four places for the submersible. Zhuoligetu, me, and Lao Chi will have one place left..."
"I'm willing to go!" The reserve hunter of the God Hunting Group, a young man named Qi Xiao, raised his hand and volunteered.
"Go away, kid. If anything happens to you, your father will never let me go even if he becomes a ghost." The hound raised his hand and slapped him hard.
"I just contacted Ghost Owl, and he said he's willing to participate." Zhuoligetu said, "In terms of experience, he's better than any of us."
"That's right. Ghost Owl is a well-known figure in the hunter rankings. It's better to bring him with you than a young boy." The hound nodded, "I was worried at first that he would not be willing to take the risk."
"Now we are all in the same boat. Even if I want to protect myself, I can't." A cargo hovercraft with the logo of the logistics department printed on it stopped in front of everyone with a beautiful drift, and a fully armed ghost owl jumped out of the cab.
He happened to be assisting the God Hunting Group's logistics personnel in transporting and distributing supplies, and was only a few hundred meters away from the control console. As soon as he received the news, he drove over immediately.
