Planet of Sand and Oasis of Iron

Chapter 155 154. Isn’t it nice to have a free tour of the underground city?

The lower area is much more spacious than the inexplicably narrow spaces above, or the various passages that only aircraft can fly through.

Probably because it allows several mobile bases to be opened here, the spaciousness is so great that all kinds of roads are planned meticulously. The whole city gives people the illusion of playing with the skyline with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It is square, like a chessboard, and then expands to the surrounding areas square by square and inch by inch with this as the center.

There is ample lighting and bright lights. Autonomous machines are running everywhere in the empty buildings. There are even a lot of things like mobile bases moving on the road below, heading to various factories for support and production of supplies.

They are responsible for bringing the goods back... This city can operate without people, and to be honest, this makes Sefer very emotional.

No wonder the autonomous machines wanted to drive all the people out. They were indeed doing a good job of expansion, even too good - if it weren't for the complicated sunken elevators in the central city area on the lower level.

Connecting to the car: "Dr. Mei, is my driver back?"

There was a gurgling sound of water coming from the other side, and Dr. Mei replied that the one with big breasts had returned, and it was obvious at a glance why the one who stayed in the car had not returned.

You mean Shengnai?

To be honest, Sefer didn't believe Tien's previous nonsense about 'love at first sight', but judging from Saint Nai's performance in recent times, it couldn't be fake.

"Okay, I get it. Wait a minute... I'm currently at the lowest level of Node City. These guys have built a flat city underneath the funnel-shaped pit."

Leave professional matters to professionals to judge.

Laika was silent for a long time just now, and then turned around to tell Sefer that the transformation agency had a lot of strange experiments, and the amount of intelligence about this city was almost zero, so she could only collect other intelligence.

"Oh...how did you get there? Wait a moment, let me get the communicator."

A dialog box suddenly appeared in front of Seifer, and Dr. Mei, who looked sticky and like a ball of unstable colloid, was wriggling in the dialog box.

Just by looking at it, Seifer had the illusion that his whole body, especially the ticklish parts, were itchy.

No, this is a metal body, it has no consciousness!

"Come, show me, share your vision with me."

With the help of Seifer's eyes, Dr. Mei saw the huge elevator structure with countless inclined or vertical shafts, as well as the potholes in the winding road.

Her squirming body suddenly stopped, and then continued to squirm as usual.

"That's it... It's interesting, but not that interesting."

"Please stop with the riddles, Doctor. I want a normal explanation."

"Okay, let's eliminate some of the words you don't understand and simplify the terminology. The conclusion is that this is a portal."

Cypher paused for a moment. "A portal to visions?"

"Yes, the Gate of Vision."

"Is there a strange phenomenon occurring here?"

"No, at least from the angle you're looking at, there's no strange vision. This is just a pit, a pit that was modified by nature."

"Then why build a vision gate?"

“Because we need to study the vision.”

Sefer was a little confused. No, there is no vision gate without vision. Why are you throwing it in such a deep place?

"To put it more bluntly, the transformation agency wants to open a vision here. Do you still remember the energy crystal you hid in the car?" I understand. The transformation agency plans to conduct an explosion test here and directly create a vision, but the vision generated in this way cannot last long.

If you want to activate the vision, can't you just find a random place and blow up that thing?
Dr. Mei squirmed and grumbled, forming a humanoid upper body. "Although the conditions within the anomaly are random, there are rules to follow."

"The deeper underground a phenomenon forms, the closer its internal structure becomes to the laws of this world. We don't know the reason for this, but perhaps it's related to the energy emitted by the sun."

It sounds like studying dark matter can only be done in deep underground areas, where we can shield ourselves from cosmic rays, background radiation noise, and the like.

After so many twists and turns, the result is still an anomaly... The Transformation Agency dug such a deep node city just for an anomaly? Aren't they planning to spread autonomous machines all over the world?
To be honest, these things might not be able to move around outside during the day.

Of course this is impossible. Even his mechanical body cannot withstand the high temperature, let alone such a simple gadget.

"...So, this is the Vision Gate that hasn't been activated yet, in a place where no visions are generated. Then, after the transformation mechanism is established, they will transport the precious minerals and consume them down there?"

Seeing that Seifer had come to a conclusion, Dr. Mei changed his shape again, looking like a gourd in a pond. "It's not necessarily consumption. The transformation agency has strong reservations about my research in this area."

"They probably knew I would leave one day. I don't know anything about other research plans besides my job."

Seifer suddenly remembered what his sponsor had said before. He asked tentatively, "So, should I tell this to... uh, that guy?"

"Wait for contact. If there's any news, tell us. If not, forget it."

Yes, very free.

After the communication ended, Seifer stared at the big pit, wondering whether he should go down and see what the specific structure of this thing was.

After all...ah, after all, since we're already here, it would be a pity to just retreat and look for a way up.

Moreover, he only received half of the compensation for the engineering machinery, and the other part was just the incentive money given by the mercenary system for shooting down the monster, which was really a bit meager.

I will feel unhappy if I don’t make some big money and go back!
However, if we go further, the authority of the autonomous machine for beautifying the facade will no longer be sufficient.

Cypher thought about it, wandered around the city for a while, and finally caught a patrolling autonomous machine. He stole its data without hesitation.

After putting it on himself, the various no-entry signs in front of him turned into patrol routes.

The other machines didn't react at all to him, these things... well, how should I put it, felt like a swarm of bees.

There was a patrol track that happened to be the route going down the spiral road. Seifer did not mind the trouble at all and slowly descended at the prescribed speed.

The more you explore this city, the more you can feel the technical strength of the transformation agency.

The construction is completed entirely by the built-in programs of the autonomous machinery, and the result is that it is more complete than the node city that was built with a lot of manpower and material resources.

Except that no one could live here, everything was extremely complete. Sefer even saw a lot of parking lines for parking lots.

Autonomous machines shouldn't be able to use this thing.

Patrolling to the bottom floor, Cypher stopped in front of the 'Gate of Vision'.

The plaza is equally vast, but unlike the I/O enterprise, the portal is not constructed with metal, but is in the shape of a door frame formed by restraining energy.

Seifer thought maliciously that if something hit the door, at least it wouldn't break.

Then the sensor suddenly beeped, reminding him that an earthquake wave would be coming in ten seconds.

……earthquake?
(End of this chapter)