Psychics don't die from gunfire

Chapter 880 Beneath the Ice Abyss
In the vast darkness, only dull friction and collision sounds could be heard, deep and resonant like a giant playing a flute made of whalebone. These were the sounds of ice floes drifting with the current in the sea; the largest icebergs could even sink warships.

Contrary to expectations of a pristine white paradise, the world was enveloped in a silent, dark blue hue, much like the environment created by ambient lighting.

The Arctic experiences an exceptionally long night, lasting for months until the next tropical year. This is a natural phenomenon known as the "polar night."

A round-faced seal tilted its head, its round black eyes staring at the unfamiliar beast not far away. When it noticed the beast nodding at it, it slid down the ice floe and into the sea, wriggling its rump before disappearing with a splash.

"That's it?"

Song Shi stepped lightly, feeling a reassuring sense of solidity beneath his feet, if one didn't consider that he was standing on an ice floe, with no signs of human activity for at least hundreds of kilometers around.

The Arctic is not a dead end, at least not for cyborgs. The wide variety of prosthetics and equipment available can even make life there feel like living in a greenhouse garden, a comfortable and relaxing experience. But people who are wealthy enough to afford all that are obviously not interested in living in the Arctic.

For those destitute wanderers, the Arctic is even more hostile than it is to humans. He must acquire additional heating equipment, and the power consumption of his implants must be increased to combat the various effects of the low temperatures.

Fuel, food, and cryogenic modules are all things that need to be considered very carefully.

But there's always a way to overcome it.

As the Second Seven Earths War intensifies, a growing yearning for the North and South Poles is emerging in various wanderer communities, large and small. Some are even raising slogans such as "Let's launch another southern and northern expedition."

They can find solutions for everything else, but when it comes to people, they're truly at a loss and can't overcome it.

"Yes, that's it. There's a community of androids that spends most of their time in the North and South Poles and has developed a culture of regular migration. Sorry for digressing. They found it by discovering a metallic reaction on the seabed during a geological survey."

The lapis lazuli floated beside it: "It has developed a special interaction with the environment, an unnatural organic reaction. If we were to forcibly remove it, it could cause widespread damage, so we came to you."

"In addition, carbon-14 dating has been performed, and preliminary judgment indicates that it was formed more than 4,500 years ago."

"Four thousand five hundred years?" Song Shi calculated for a moment, then pondered, "The fifth ring should already be there, right?"

“That’s a typical psionic historical perspective,” Lapis Lazuli couldn’t help but interject, “Studying history from a psionic point of view.”

"Get used to it, get used to it."

Song Shi didn't take it to heart.

"Alright, let me take a look at this thing—"

He stood on the edge of the ice floe and then fell forward.

Wow.

The seawater, mixed with ice shards, crashed against me, like a mechanical iron dog that had been frozen for a year baring its fangs and biting me indiscriminately.

Song Shi rubbed his index finger together.

A small flame suddenly appeared, enveloping him, blocking out the seawater, and illuminating the path ahead.

"I've heard that strategic nuclear submarines like to go to places like this, right? Do you think we might run into one this time?"

Before coming, Lapis Lazuli had specially added a deep-sea submersible module, and now it looked a size bigger than usual. Upon hearing this, it paused for a second before replying, "Normally, the chances are very low, but if we really do encounter it..."

"Don't do it, let me handle it," it emphasized.

Song Shi couldn't help but laugh: "I know what I'm doing. My self-control isn't that bad."

“I don’t think this has a strong connection with control.” Lapis Lazuli shook his head: “Song Shi, if you were the source of the ‘ice’ and ‘water’ elements, you could do whatever you wanted here, but you’re following the purest ‘fire’ path, which won’t work.”

"If you go all out in the Arctic, the consequences will be unimaginable. Glaciers will melt—even if only a third of the island ice sheet melts, the sea level in Terra will rise by several meters. Do you understand this concept?"

"I will try my best to prevent such a thing from happening." Song Shi nodded.

As they spoke, the two continued to sink. One thing to be honest about is that, neither in his past life nor this one, Song Shi had ever been to the Arctic; he had only briefly visited it a few times in simulated scenarios.

Of course, I could go with Lapis Lazuli, increase the power, and speed down to the destination, but it would be a waste to do that for such a rare experience.

It is still relatively clean, unlike other sea areas that have been severely damaged.

"Ten thousand meters," Song Shi thought to himself, "I'm getting a little tired of the scenery."

Silently, a blurry black shadow slowly drifted over; even in the darkness of the seabed, it seemed far too large. Conservatively estimated to be over a hundred meters long, this behemoth had several pairs of dark compound eyes fixed on the distant firelight; it was far too conspicuous in the sea.

Song Shi glanced at it.

The next second, the surrounding darkness suddenly dissipated. In a fleeting glimpse, the hideous jellyfish, the wildly churning warship squid, the colorful, sharp-toothed barracudas, and the bizarre sea monsters, as if they had suffered the most terrifying fright of their lives, scattered in all directions and fled into the darkness without looking back.

Its biological instincts, dictated by the food chain, told it that it would die here in a second.

After an unknown amount of time, the descent suddenly stopped.

We've arrived at the cliffside ice valley.

Song Shi didn't stop and went straight inside. He felt as if he was enveloped by an invisible hot knife. He didn't see any movement along the way. The jagged ice teeth were cut open one by one, and the cuts were smooth and flat.

"Psionic energy." Song Shi carefully sensed it. "This feeling..."

—【Dayuan】?
Suddenly, the light ahead came on.

It was a makeshift camp, complete with lights, equipment, even generators and wiring—nothing was missing, nothing out of the ordinary, if you ignored the fact that it was located 17,000 meters below the sea.

"Ha." Song Shi smiled. "No wonder you didn't just take it directly."

The pitch-black cube, much taller than a person, is about three meters high. It is buried deep in the ice, its vague outline barely visible.

All you need to do is grab a tool, dig through the ice, and you can get it right out of your hands.

That's not how it works.

Song Shi had already seen through the clues.

This pitch-black cube is not an "external object" that fell into the water and froze in the ice, but exists as part of the ice layer—they are a single, integral whole!

The icebergs that emerge above the sea are only a small part compared to the part below the sea. The rise of the mountain range is symmetrical with the depression of the deep Moho discontinuity, and it is also called the "mountain root".

This pitch-black cube was meticulously crafted, seamlessly integrated with its surroundings. To attempt to separate or cut it would inevitably trigger a chain reaction of geological collapses, causing the entire steep, icy valley from which it had arrived to crumble.

"It's really rare to see 'harmony between man and nature' used for this kind of operation."

Song Shi showed delight and praised, "That's quite ingenious."

He extended his hand.

From the bottom of the abyss, crimson-gold flames ignited.

A corner of the glacier was smoothly cut away, unable to put up the slightest resistance. The structure, painstakingly created, was easily destroyed.

“——Done.”

Song Shi snapped his fingers.

"It's your turn. Go and fish this thing out."

(End of this chapter)