Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 415 Assessment: Investigation Mission
"Assessment? What type of assessment?" Ke Lan asked. Although he was extremely unwilling in his heart, he still couldn't utter the word "refuse".
"When people live in this world, they should follow their hearts and obey their own hearts..." Ke Lan could only comfort himself in this way.
"The admission assessment is divided into five stages. In each stage, you must complete the tasks assigned to you by the crew." The other party replied.
"Task?"
"Yes, the first mission is an exploration mission. After completing it, as a phased reward, you will be awarded the rank of major general in the field force, as well as the authority corresponding to the rank." After the other party mentioned the rank, Ke Lan remembered that after returning from the glacial ruins, Lieutenant General Maginot had all their files enlisted in the military in order to have a reason to protect them. In a sense, Ke Lan and others are actually active soldiers on the Ark, but they do not need to perform any duties and have no direct commander to issue orders to them.
Because the presence of this military status is so weak, Ke Lan almost forgot about it completely.
And now, all he needs to do is complete an exploration mission and he can be promoted directly from private to major general. Is this the legendary "rocket-like" promotion?
Ke Lan even felt that using the word "rocket" to describe this speed was a bit too slow, and it should be called a "leap-like" promotion.
Directly jumping from a soldier to a general... Even though he is a commander without any troops under his command, the corresponding authority is real, and he is also a major general of the field force. In this way, Ke Lan can almost be on par with Maginot.
This is the tacit rule of the Ark military - although the military ranks are the same, generals in the field force have more "value". The authority and treatment of a major general in the field force are basically the same as those of a lieutenant general in the garrison force.
"This mission won't be very difficult, right? To be honest... I've only seen this speed of promotion given posthumously to dead people... And only heroes who sacrificed their lives for the survival of the Ark and mankind can be promoted from a soldier to a general in one day, right? This mission doesn't require me to be that kind of hero, does it? I think I can be a coward, but as for being a hero, it's really..." Although he was very nervous, Ke Lan typed out a series of nonsense - but strangely enough, when he entered this state, his mentality suddenly calmed down.
At worst, the worst that can happen is death, so there's nothing wrong with giving up, right?
"A week ago, we lost contact with the Ark's garrison base in the Molten Mine. We sent out eleven batches of reconnaissance drones, but due to the interference of the high-intensity ionizing radiation in the mine, no drone was able to successfully enter the target area. Subsequently, we sent two elite teams into the mine, but there was no news from them either."
Molten Mining Area, Ke Lan was not unfamiliar with this place name - if we were to talk about what things in the Alpha civilization had a huge impact on the current technological development and daily life of mankind, then energy crystals and Nino alloys would undoubtedly rank first and second.
From the Ark itself to various cutting-edge warships; to the means of transportation used by the public in their daily travels and the guns touched during military training... these two things can be seen almost everywhere. With the continuous increase in the "total amount of mining", energy crystals and Nino alloys have almost been completely integrated into the history of human civilization.
The Molten Mine District's status among the major Nino Alloy production areas is on the same level as that of the Leviathan's Skeleton.
This is the largest mining area of the Alpha civilization on this planet. Although this mining area, which is equivalent to the area of a small European country on Earth, is now only a ruined ruin, it still leaves a large number of functioning smelting facilities and Nino alloys stored in warehouses that have not been shipped out of the mining area.
Almost 60% of the Nino alloy that humans currently possess comes from the "Molten Mine Area".
Based on the buildings, equipment, astonishing reserves of finished Nino Alloy and huge amounts of raw ore left in the mining area, experts speculate that this is where the Alpha Civilization smelted Nino Alloy. As long as they can find out the secrets of this relic, they should be able to master the formula and smelting .
This mining area has always been a place frequently visited by relic hunters, exploration teams from various consortiums, and metallurgical experts. Unlike Leviathan, which requires miners to dig manually, the finished Nino alloys in the mining area are piled up in warehouses in batches. As long as hunters or exploration teams can find a warehouse that has not sunk deep into the ground among the magma, rubble, and ruins, it would be easy to get rich overnight.
Of course, this place is much more dangerous than the Leviathan's Skeleton. If you accidentally fall into the lava or step into a dark pit, it would be difficult to leave even a complete body.
As for those metallurgical experts, they were more interested in the building remains and smelting equipment left behind by the Alpha civilization. There was a team of at least two hundred experts stationed here. They built a "Metallurgical Research Station" here to specialize in the formula and smelting methods of Nino alloy.
At the same time, these experts often hire relic hunters to explore here and go deep into the mining area together, trying to find some valuable clues from the ruins closer to the central area.
Coincidentally, the map "End of the World" that Ze Luo just randomly got in the game was designed based on this "Molten Mine Area".
"Are you planning to ask me to find someone?"
"Yes, but in addition, the drone has captured traces of the 'heretic sect' and the 'exiles' outside the mining area. If you encounter them, the exploration mission will automatically turn into an eradication mission." The other party said, "As support, we will send an elite team and a DAS field agent team to go to the mission area with you."
"Wait a minute... If I remember correctly, in the Molten Mine Area's garrison base, in addition to the researchers and logistics personnel, there are at least two thousand regular troops, right? Add in the mobile relic hunters and mercenaries, and the armed forces there are at least three thousand people. These three thousand people were killed, and I was asked to go with only these few people. Isn't that sending food?"
"We are still unable to confirm whether there are any survivors. It is also possible that the communication was simply cut off and the base is intact. According to our speculation, the probability of there being survivors in the mining area is 100%."
"The problem is, there's no news from those outside, and the people inside haven't come out either. If something went wrong, why didn't these thousands of people concentrate their efforts and try to escape the mining area? Even if they didn't realize the problem, what about the team that transports minerals on a daily basis ? Not a single person has been able to come out, which already shows the seriousness of the problem!"
"I think you shouldn't send me, but should send a fleet directly!" Ke Lan continued.
"If you can confirm that there are a large number of enemy units in the Molten Mine Zone, we will send a fleet there, but before that, the content of the assessment mission will not be changed."
“…”
"There is one more thing I need to tell you. A week ago, a strong earthquake of magnitude 8 or above was detected in the core area of the Molten Fire Mine. The connection between the garrison base and the Ark was cut off after that. According to the information we have so far, the heretic sect does not have weapons that can cause the same destructive power. The reason why they appeared outside the mining area should be for the same purpose as your mission this time."
"You mean... the earthquake caused the rift in the Molten Mine Area to extend, and then one of the rifts spread to the location of the garrison base, and the entire base fell into the magma?" Ke Lan couldn't help but think of the "Eastern Fragment" and "Western Fragment" in "The End of the World" - this area was originally a city called "Capitol City", but a strong earthquake completely destroyed the city. A large rift caused by the strong earthquake divided the Capitol City into two "fragments" in the east and west, and those buildings in the rift zone all fell into the magma underground.
The unfinished building where Ze Luo went on a killing spree was actually not an unfinished building. It was just a commonly accepted name among players. It was originally an intact building in the Capitol City, but the cracked ground tore the four-story building apart. Half of the building fell into the lava river, and the other half stood precariously on the edge of the cliff.
"It's impossible to be sure, but the interruption of communication must be directly related to the earthquake, so we need to send someone to investigate," the other party said.
"But... the location of the garrison base should be very rigorous, right? Even if it is impossible to avoid the earthquake zone, it should not be built in a place where the surface cracks will spread, right? For geologists, finding a few safe places in such a large mining area should not be a problem, right?"
"We are currently unable to confirm whether the garrison base has been damaged, but communications have not been restored yet, which proves that they are in trouble and urgently need assistance from the Ark."
"Okay... when do we set off?" Ke Lan sighed. The other party showed that he did not have the power to refuse. However, if the garrison base encountered a natural disaster rather than a man-made disaster, things might not be so bad... At least Ke Lan did not have to worry about running into a heretic sect force composed of thousands of Seeds of Erosion after entering the mining area.
"The leader of the DAS team should have arrived at your headquarters building." Just as this sentence popped up on the screen, a hound's voice came from outside the office: "Ke Lan, the front desk called and said that there is an agent from the Security Bureau looking for you. The credentials have been confirmed. Should we let her come up, or should you go down to meet her?"
"Let her wait for me in the reception room." Ke Lan responded. After all, Ze Luo was still here. If she let her come up, she would probably notice the peculiarity of this girl.
Ke Lan turned around and found that his computer screen had returned to normal, except for a new folder on the desktop. He opened the folder and found that it was full of information related to the operation, including maps of the Molten Mine, information on the garrison base, a list of missing personnel, and earthquake monitoring data, etc. It was as detailed as it could be, almost like everything related to the Molten Mine in the Ark Archives was open to him.
"It saves us the expense of asking that profiteer for information..." Ke Lan muttered as he stood up . He told Ze Luo, "Just stay here and don't wander around until I come back," then he opened the door and walked out.
…
When Ke Lan walked into the reception room on the second floor, the woman sitting on the sofa immediately stood up and extended her hand towards Ke Lan.
"Hello, Mr. Ke Lan. I am the leader of the third field agent team of DAS, Aya Breya, agent number DAS1152."
This was a slender woman who looked to be between 25 and 30 years old. She was wearing a beige sweater and a pair of frosted tight jeans. She had golden hair cut to chin-level and a gentle and friendly smile on her face. If Ke Lan hadn't known her identity, he would never have been able to connect such a "neighbor sister" woman with a DAS agent who killed people without blinking an eye.
The two men shook hands briefly and then separated. Although Aya's attire was completely different from the agent that Ke Lan had in mind, Ke Lan still felt a few calluses on her palms that only people who frequently used firearms would have.
"Hello." Ke Lan nodded to her. "What would you like to drink? Coffee?"
Thinking back to when Ke Lan first dealt with DAS agents, the annoying investigator gave them coffee to drink, but Ke Lan had no appetite to drink it at that time, and the cups of coffee were spilled all over the floor during the subsequent fight.
"Okay, please add more non-dairy creamer and sugar." Aya said with a smile. Her reaction made Ke Lan feel a little relieved. Since they still had time to drink coffee, the time limit for this assessment task should not be so tight that they would not even have time to prepare.
"Mr. Ke Lan, actually I have known you for a long time." For some reason, Aya suddenly said something so confusing.
"Very early? Do you mean I beat up your security bureau investigator on the transport plane?" Ke Lan's mouth twitched, and he forced a bitter smile. He placed the coffee in front of her and said self-deprecatingly, "I have a simple way of thinking. I don't like to waste words on things that can be done. Plus, I have a bad temper. I must have caused a lot of trouble for your security bureau at that time, right?"
"No, not that time. I mean the East 9th District incident." Aya shook her head. "Victoria, she is my senior sister and one of my most respected predecessors... When she died in the line of duty, you should have been next to her, right?"
