Volume 9: Molten Mine Chapter 430: Lifeboat
"That's still good... I'm afraid it's a trap." Ke Lan said in a low voice.
"How about..." Hound turned his head and glanced at the security agents who followed Ke Lan's orders and stayed around the truck, "Let them go?"
"Don't worry, the drone hasn't arrived yet." Ke Lan shook his head.
The drone flew smoothly just above the crush zone, and four high-resolution cameras captured the entire scene of the crush zone - about 160 meters away from where Ke Lan and his team were hiding, a cylindrical life capsule was stuck between two folds , and on top of the life capsule, two orange signal lights kept flashing.
"The person is still alive!" The Hound exclaimed excitedly - the signal light on the top of the life capsule has three colors. Green means that the survivors in the capsule are in good condition, red means that no signs of life of the survivors can be detected or the survivors have left the life capsule, and as for the orange, it means that the survivors are in a precarious state and the signs of life are extremely weak.
The life capsule that carried Marshall's body into the depths of space had a flashing red light.
"That's not right. This is an airship lifeboat. Airships can't even get into the Molten Mine Area. Where did this lifeboat come from?" Layton's question rang out in the team channel.
"What's so strange about this? It's obvious that the aircraft this guy was on was destroyed by the anti-aircraft weapons in the mining area, and then the life capsule ejected from the ship fell here." said the Hound.
"That's not the case, old dog. You don't know that before I came here, I looked up the information about the Alpha Civilization's air defense system in the Molten Mine Area. The accuracy and sensitivity of these things are not comparable to human air defense weapons. If this life capsule is ejected by an airship, it will be targeted the moment it leaves the airship, and there is no chance of it landing on the ground intact!" Layton explained, "The Alpha people will not talk to you about any international conventions. Even if it is a life capsule, they will still shoot it down... What's more, those dead things without anyone controlling them can't tell who is an invader and who is a survivor."
"I think even if they have the ability to distinguish, they will open fire without hesitation - in the eyes of the Alpha civilization, each of us is an invader who should be strangled." Ivan added.
"This is weird, Layton, can you tell what level of aircraft carrier this lifeboat belongs to?" asked the Hound.
"Wait a minute, I'll let the drone come closer." As Layton spoke, he gently flicked the joystick of the remote control with his finger, and the drone's floating altitude suddenly dropped and moved closer to the lifeboat.
"…It's the MSA-02C universal lifeboat, produced by the 'Masha Aviation Industries' under the 'Soma Group'. This lifeboat has a large market share, with more than 30% of civilian aircraft being equipped with it. I can't tell what rank the aircraft was that was shot down." Layton paused, then continued, "But one thing is certain, this lifeboat came from a civilian aircraft. If it's a warship, they usually use an armed airborne capsule as a lifeboat."
"It's not necessarily the lifeboat's lifeboat." At this time, Valentina suddenly spoke up, "The major told me that some ground vehicles operating in dangerous areas will install modified lifeboats on them as cockpits. In the event of an accident, the ejection device can directly launch the entire lifeboat, greatly increasing the driver's chance of survival."
"It seems to be true... and this mining area seems to meet the requirements of a 'hazardous operating area'..." Layton muttered.
When the hound heard this, he immediately retorted angrily: "Then why didn't you think of it just now? How dare you say that to me?"
"Let's put this into context. Although some people have done this before, such modified vehicles are too rare... The main problem is the cost-effectiveness - an MSA-02C lifeboat, not counting the miscellaneous supporting equipment, the official price of the bare cabin alone is more than 9 million credit points. And the 'Rhino MkⅢ' all-terrain armored patrol vehicle we found earlier, with the top configuration and four spare tracks, costs no more than 2 million credit points - if there is such a special need, why not use the money to buy a lifeboat to customize a special vehicle with better performance and built-in escape equipment? Installing this kind of lifeboat on an ordinary vehicle is a complete waste of money." Layton defended himself with a wronged look on his face, "Few normal people would do such a stupid thing. Only in an emergency would this method be used to deal with the emergency."
"Then this is the emergency situation you mentioned." Ke Lan said in a deep voice, "Moreover, the person who is qualified to escape by riding this modified vehicle should be an important figure."
"Who knows? Maybe he stole a car and escaped..." The Hound pouted, "The orange traffic light is flashing slower and slower. I guess the man inside is only half dead. If you want to save him, hurry up!"
Layton controlled the drone to circle around the outer edge of the compression zone again. After making sure that there were no ambushes of heretics or exiles around, everyone came out of their hiding place and came to the edge of the compression zone.
"Let me do it." Zhuoligetu volunteered, "I'll go save them."
Ke Lan grabbed his belt and shook his head, saying, "Don't worry, the geological structure of the compression zone is very unstable. Did you notice the wrinkles and cracks?"
"I see. I just need to be careful and avoid them." Zhuo Ligetu said.
"The rock layers in the entire compression zone are not evenly stressed. Those places that seem intact and solid may have been broken into pieces like coal slag underneath. The moment you step on them, you will sink directly into the ground and it will be too late to save you." Ke Lan said as he took out a steel cable from his backpack and connected one end of the cable to Zhuoligetu's body. The shaft and the revolver at the other end were firmly fixed to the ground with a half-meter-long steel drill. "This is a safety cable. After you enter the compression zone, if you feel the ground under your feet is loose, just lie down on the ground to increase the stress area. We will find a way to pull you back."
"If this equipment wasn't so heavy, I would have used a drone to carry you over." Layton said. He took out another coil of steel cable and handed one end to Zhuoligetu. "There are rings on both sides of the door of the MSA-02C lifeboat. Each ring is marked with a number. You put the steel cables in order according to the numbers. After making a loop, buckle the cable head and you're done!"
"Okay, I understand." Zhuo Ligetu grabbed the steel cable, took a deep breath, and slowly walked into the squeeze zone.
Because they were not sure whether the survivors in the life capsule were wearing protective clothing, Ke Lan and his team planned to directly recover the entire life capsule. Otherwise, even if the survivors were in good condition, the high temperature, oxygen-deficient, radiation-filled and toxic gas environment outside the life capsule would be enough to take their lives.
"Zhuoligetu, pay attention to the scan image I shared with you. It's the window in the upper right corner of your head-up display. The ultrasonic waves emitted by the drone will automatically analyze the surrounding address structure. You must pay attention to the red and orange areas and never get close to them!" Layton said in the team communication computer. "Also, green does not necessarily mean it is absolutely safe. Be careful!"
"Yeah." Zhuoligetu responded, and walked towards the depths of the crush zone with cautious steps. It would be a lie to say that he was not nervous. He had only walked less than 30 meters, but beads of sweat had already seeped out of his forehead. When responding to his teammates' instructions, he didn't even dare to nod or raise his hand, and even his breathing became cautious.
If it weren't for the bravery inherited from his ancestors in his blood that was still supporting his body, even his calves would probably have gone weak by now.
Those who have not personally stepped into the compression zone cannot understand this feeling. Just as Ke Lan said, many seemingly solid surfaces have long been crushed into powder. Stepping on them is like stepping on soft sand. Every time Zhuo Ligetu sets foot, he has to test it several times . Only after he is sure that there are intact rocks underneath does he dare to step down.
As we walked along, we left behind a long series of intermittent footprints - this was just the outer edge of the compression zone, and the situation would only become more dangerous the further we went in.
Finally, he arrived at the first wrinkle.
The height of this fold is 1.5 meters, and its length spans most of the compression zone. In order to reach the lifeboat, Zhuo Ligetu must climb over this wavy fold full of cracks.
Perhaps some people find it difficult to imagine the appearance of such wrinkles, then you can try taking two pieces of toast bread, or a softer sponge cake, stick the edges of the two pieces of bread or cake together, and then squeeze them hard in the middle - the shape of the joint between the two pieces of bread is almost the general appearance of the extrusion band.
The only difference is that the things being squeezed have changed from soft bread to hard rock plates - even bread will crack and scatter a lot of crumbs, so you can imagine what will happen to the rock plates.
The top of the fold was torn apart at an angle perpendicular to the direction of the collision. Fortunately, the rocks at the bottom were pushed up by the huge force, so that there was no difficult-to-cross rift here. Zhuo Ligetu glanced at the ultrasonic scan of the drone. Most of the fold was red and orange, and only the gap less than three meters wide in front of him was green.
"Green places are not necessarily safe." Layton's words were still echoing in his ears, especially this green area sandwiched between large red and orange areas. It was like a crumbling island in the center of a vortex. The surging waves constantly washed the base of the island. No one knew when the island would fall apart and be drawn into the bottomless vortex.
But there is only this one road in front of Zhuoligetu. If he chooses to take a detour, he will have to pass through more dangerous places.
What's more, there is very little time left for the survivors in the lifeboat. If a dead person is rescued, this adventure will become meaningless.
Zhuoligetu gritted his teeth, clenched his hands tightly twice, and began to climb to the top of the folds.
Sharp steel claws popped out from the wrist of the power armor and cut into the rock easily. These devices can help Zhuoligetu stabilize his body , but they will also cause secondary damage to the rock. He didn't even dare to test the stability of the steel claws - the first force may be able to support it, but the second, third... maybe the whole rock will collapse in an instant, erasing the only green area.
Zhuo Ligetu couldn't help but speed up. Fortunately, this fold was quite considerate and no unexpected situation occurred. He quickly climbed to the top of the ridge of the fold.
But at the moment he stood on the top of the wrinkled ridge, the rock under his feet collapsed like a crispy cookie. Zhuo Ligetu staggered and quickly lay down, pressing his whole body against the rock.
Ke Lan and others standing in the distance couldn't help but hold their breath.
"Don't... don't pull me first, the rock formation... the rock formation seems to be okay... I made a mistake just now, I shouldn't have stood up..." Zhuo Ligetu's intermittent voice came from the team's communication channel. As he spoke, he used his hands and feet to sit up and ride on the top of the wrinkled ridge.
He turned his head with some fear, only to see a landslide about a palm wide and more than ten centimeters long appearing where he had just stepped. The black rock turned directly into debris and rolled down the slope. Fortunately, the scope of the landslide did not expand, and the wrinkled ridge did not collapse.
The people watching from afar breathed a sigh of relief.
"Damn it, I was scared to death." The hound cursed, "Fortunately the Mongolian guy was lucky..."
"I was almost ready to pull the cable..." said Layton, still hunched over with his grip on the shaft.
"There is no problem for the time being... I... I will keep moving forward." Zhuo Ligetu adjusted his breathing, then crawled down to the other side of the folds and disappeared from the sight of Ke Lan and others.
Climbing down is much easier than climbing up. The only thing you need to pay attention to is whether the ground where you step is firm. Because Zhuoligetu is in a half-climbing and half-sliding posture with his back against the wrinkled slope, even if he steps on empty air, his body will not lose balance.
Soon, he climbed over three more folds in the same way, and now, only the last fold was between him and the lifeboat.
But it is no longer possible to move forward in Zhuoligetu - the drone scan shows that the entire fold is a "high-risk" red zone, and there is no "green window" for people to pass through.
This is also clearly reflected in the appearance of the fold: the ridge of this fold is bumpy as if it had been gnawed by a dog, and sulfur-containing gas keeps coming out of the gaps and holes - this means that this fold is hollow and is full of large and small gas channels...
Like a soft sponge cake full of holes.
