Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 355 Alive
What does "circle" refer to?

Chen Jian asked Fuxi.

"There is no definite result yet."

Fuxi's tone was slightly puzzled.

"Based on the decoded information, the so-called ring most likely refers to something similar to a large-scale particle accelerator."

"The document mentions the device's high energy consumption, which confirms that the device requires a large amount of electricity."

"The mountain town ultimately abandoned the plan because of insufficient energy to support the operation of the equipment."

"But I cannot access the deeper levels of encrypted information at the moment."

"We can try to take over again through reverse intrusion later, but this will take time."

"The computing power of the mountain city is already above mine, and it is no longer possible to take over directly by simply relying on high-level privileges."

"clear."

Chen Jian nodded slightly.

After thinking for a moment, he continued to ask:
"Based on the available information, is it possible to make a credible inference about the specific function of the so-called 'ring'?"

"Some speculations can be made."

Fuxi replied:
"Based on current clues, the so-called 'ring' is most likely a basic physics experimental device used to solve the problem of entropy increase."

There are three main speculations.

"First, a ring particle accelerator equipped with a synchrotron radiation source will be used to analyze the dynamics of biological macromolecules and the entropy changes (such as conformational entropy) during protein folding/defolding."

"This speculation best fits Yamashita's view on 'entropy increase,' and may also be one of the reasons for Yamashita's complete virtualization."

"Second, the electron-positron collider. This device mainly explores the relationship between black hole thermodynamics and quantum field entropy through AdS/CFT duality theory."

"This research direction is believed to have the potential to resolve the low-dimensional entropy increase process through the boundary encoding characteristics between high-dimensional and low-dimensional spaces, and may also achieve a negative entropy effect."

"Third, the Penning trap device. It uses a uniform magnetic field and electric field to bind charged particles (such as ions) and accurately measure their mass/charge ratio."

"This equipment is mainly used for precision observation, and its main research focuses on the category of weak interaction entropy. It is considered one of the necessary devices for solving the grand unified theory."

"All three of these devices may be called 'circular rings'."

"But I really don't understand how these three devices and three research directions are related to solutions to the apocalyptic crisis."

"In my database, the research on the relevant basic theories is still in its very early stages."

"Even if the equipment can be started, it is impossible to produce immediate results."

"Perhaps it's because I don't have enough permissions?"

After Fuxi finished explaining, Chen Jian, who was completely bewildered, slowly shook his head.

"It can't be a permissions issue."

"The so-called ring is probably a device that we do not yet understand."

"Otherwise, the mountain city wouldn't have been able to be replaced by a ring road."

"This is most likely a variant of existing equipment—in any case, we must figure out what it is."

"Contact the Circle Chamber of Commerce."

"We're clueless, but they might be!"

At this point, Chen Jian paused slightly.

According to the information Wang Lizi had given earlier, the Circular Chamber of Commerce had already gone into hibernation after the beast tide began.

Now, the beast tide has ended, and even the mountain city has been captured.

They can't possibly keep sleeping, can they?
Time to get to work!

"Understood, I will try to establish contact with the Circle Chamber of Commerce as soon as possible."

"Find Jin Zan."

Chen Jian added:
"He used to be a merchant for the Cult of the Machine God and also had close ties with the Circular Merchant Guild."

“He will definitely find Wang Lizi; he has his own methods.”

"clear."

As Fuxi's voice faded, He Shuo, who had "come from afar," finally entered the mountain city and met Chen Jian, who was waiting at the temporary departure point.

"team leader."

He Shuo was carrying something and handed it to Chen Jian as soon as he came up.

Chen Jian took it and looked at it, then frowned and asked:

"WTF?"

The object in his hand was covered in blood, but beneath the bloodstains was a piece of metal with a cold, gleaming sheen.

"Ore that fell from a monster."

"ore??"

Chen Jian asked in astonishment:

"What do you mean? Those monsters can digest ore to power themselves?"

"No."

He Shuo shook his head and explained:
"This thing has no functionality whatsoever."

"It's just scrap material encased in the monster's body."

"But...don't you feel like something's wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

Chen Jian weighed the ore in his hand, thought for a moment, and then replied:

"Too heavy?"

"Yes, it's very heavy."

He Shuo nodded.

"In terms of volume, this thing is heavier than gold."

"I did a simple calculation, and its density should be at least 24 grams per cubic centimeter."

"Where on Earth is there such a thing? Where did this thing come from?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Jian frowned once again.

24 grams per cubic centimeter
To be honest, it's heavier than gold, but not by much.

The problem is that even the heaviest metallic element found on Earth is only 22.59 grams per cubic centimeter of osmium.

The problem is that this metal is extremely rare and can only be extracted from platinum. No matter how you look at it, it is impossible for it to be used to make such a strange metal accessory.

Are you sure you didn't make a mistake in your test?

Chen Jian asked again.

"You can take it back for testing—it shouldn't be a big problem."

“I overheard your discussion just now, and I was wondering if this thing could be a product of the so-called ‘ring device’?”

How did you deduce that?

Chen Jian continued to ask.

He Shuo shrugged and replied:

"intuition."

"After all, we don't know what a ring is, nor do we know what this metal is."

"Two inexplicable things will always be naturally connected, right?"

"That makes sense."

Chen Jian pondered for a moment, then spoke:

"Put it away first, take it back to the base, and use our equipment to do a round of analysis."

"If it really is some new element that has not been discovered in human history, then we may be taking a big step closer to the truth of the end times."

"clear."

He Shuo nodded, then asked:
"But then again, if this thing is really that important, wouldn't those people from the mountain city know about it?"

"Not necessarily."

Chen Jian chuckled.

"They didn't create these monsters; they merely used them."

"Who knows, we might actually snag a bargain this time."

"I just don't know how big this leak is."

Meanwhile, in Shanghai.

Huang Meng wiped the sweat from his face and poked his head out of the slightly stuffy tank.

Shanghai was just ahead, and they were quite close to their final destination.

He glanced at the map on his PDA and exclaimed, "This is truly the largest ruin I've ever seen."

"But it's strange, why are the human settlements near Shanghai all so small?"

"Given the size and resources of this ruin, building a city similar to Jinling should not be difficult, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Zhong, who was standing to the side, answered:

"This is a geographical issue."

“Shanghai’s geographical location is too poor. The Yangtze River floods almost every few years, submerging the plains surrounding the ruins of Shanghai. If you want to build a city, you can only develop within the ruins of Shanghai.”

"However, the security situation in Shanghai is also very poor."

"There are not only a fairly large number of blood skeletons here, but also many level 2 and level 3 monsters."

“We had previously tried to clean up the relics in Shanghai, but all our efforts were in vain.”

"A fruitless return?"

Huang Meng keenly noticed Jin Zhong's choice of words.

"The retreat wasn't due to excessive casualties, but simply a fruitless return?"

"Yes."

Jin Zhong nodded slightly, then replied:

"The environment inside Shanghai is very complex, and the monster ecosystem is also quite complex."

"I don't know how to describe it, but this place is like a maze."

"Once inside, the biggest problem isn't how to defeat those monsters, but rather how to find the right path."

"The compasses we use often fail here—just like the situation those Imperial Guards encountered before."

"Some people say that something is buried underground in the mountain city ruins, affecting the magnetic field here."

“I used to believe this statement wholeheartedly, but during my time at Base 011, I also read a lot of materials and gradually began to realize that if it were really so powerful that it could affect the magnetic field of a compass from tens of kilometers away, then its geographical environment should have already undergone significant changes.”

"At least, the growth status of these plants will be evident."

"But in fact..."

At this point, Jin Zhong pointed to the ruins of Shencheng ahead and asked:
"Do you think the vegetation here is different from the vegetation in any other ruins we've encountered before?"

"No."

Huang Meng shook his head decisively.

"Equally lush, equally uniform."

"Yes."

Jin Zhong sighed, then said:
"That's the weirdest thing about it."

"Not only the vegetation, but also the wild animals living here are no different from those in other places."

“They are unaffected—they are thriving.”

"Perhaps it's because they rely more on instinct, which helps them eliminate other unknown influences."

"possible."

Huang Meng looked thoughtfully at the PDA screen. At this moment, the drone that had taken off earlier had already arrived over the ruins of Shanghai.

From aerial footage, the ruins appear completely normal.

For a moment, he even felt that everything here was just an exaggeration by the Cult of Mechanism.
-
After all, in their eyes, the mountain city was also a forbidden area.

But now?

According to the latest news, the guild leaders have successfully cleared out the monsters around the mountain city and opened up the passage from the outside world to the mountain city.

And as it turns out, it was not a "divine kingdom" at all, but just a strangely ordered underground city built by a group of people who had lost hope.

Following this logic, the truth behind the ruins in Shanghai cannot be too far-fetched.

Its danger is even less than that of the mountain town.

Thinking of this, Huang Meng gave the order:

"No need to waste any more time."

"At a distance of 11 kilometers from the target location, the drone has already observed the location of the entrance to the underground fortification."

"Route planning complete, you may proceed."

"receive."

Jin Zhong nodded immediately, then raised his hand to give the order to continue advancing.

The combined foot-tank-motor team sprang into action once more, and in less than half an hour, they had crossed the blurry boundary between the inside and outside of the ruins and officially entered the interior.

Huang Meng kept his eyes glued to the map on the PDA. After a moment, he suddenly frowned and said:

"Strange!"

"The magnetic field here is indeed being disturbed."

"The inertial navigation system has failed—but the cellular network positioning still works."

"What exactly is going on?"

"Is it a serious problem?"

Jin Zhong quickly asked.

"It's not too serious."

Huang Meng shook his head and continued:
"The drone signal was unaffected, and according to the high-altitude thermal imaging, there were no traces of monster activity along our route."

"The journey will be smooth, and we expect to arrive in half an hour."

"clear."

Jin Zhong breathed a slight sigh of relief.

His biggest concern was the problem of "getting lost," but it was clear that this problem no longer existed in the face of the high-tech equipment of the Chinese army.

Even without cellular network, as long as communication with the drone remains normal, this team is almost impossible to get lost.

He followed closely behind the 30A tank, its tracks crushing the humus piled up on the road, leaving deep ruts.

The ruts reflected a faint, damp sheen, as if water had seeped out.

Jin Zhong glanced at it a couple more times without thinking, but he quickly noticed something was wrong.

This doesn't seem to be waterlogged.

"and many more!"

Jin Zhong raised his hand to signal the team to stop advancing. Huang Meng poked his head out again and asked:
"what's the situation?"

Jin Zhong did not answer immediately, but squatted down behind the tank tracks and carefully inspected it.

This time, he was finally certain that there was no standing water on the ground.

The soil was indeed damp, but the reflection was not from water.

Instead, it is a thin layer of metallic dust.

Jin Zhong frowned deeply.

He reached out and pinched off a small piece of soil from the track, rubbed it in his hand, and then held his hand out to Huang Meng.

"Something's not right with the ground here."

"What kind of powder is this?"

"It looks like aluminum powder?"

Huang Meng looked at Jin Zhong's fingers, examined them carefully for a moment, and then said:
"Aluminum powder or silver powder? The luster seems to be a bit duller than aluminum powder."

Are they all around us?

Jin Zhong nodded slowly.

"It's all underground!"

"This thing should have been deposited under the soil, and it was turned up after the track rolled over it."

“We’ve been to Shanghai before, but we’ve never found this thing before—though it’s possible that we’ve never dug up the ground.”

"Could this be the reason for the chaotic magnetic field here?"

"do not know."

Huang Meng shook his head.

He took an old-fashioned compass out of his pocket and tossed it to Jin Zhong, who immediately understood and brought the compass close to the ground.

After a moment, he looked at Huang Meng again and said:
"No response."

"The compass does not react to this metal."

"But... these powders..."

"They are gathering together."

"It seems to be alive!"

(End of this chapter)