My physics masters couldn't possibly be grand mages.

Chapter 78 Harvest (Seeking First Subscription)

The corridor fell silent; these things were no longer visible in Char's hyperspectral view.

I just don't know if there's anything more if we go deeper.

Char silently checked the storage space.

At least... we should have enough data.

Char pushed up his goggles, turned around, and walked back to the car door.

No one spoke in the car.

Fang Tang's mouth was slightly open, her eyes fixed on the tunnel outside the car door, which had returned to darkness.

Zhao Lina's hand had been removed from her mouth at some point, but her fingers were still trembling slightly as she gripped the edge of the seat, her knuckles turning white.

Su Ming leaned out of the driver's seat, glanced at Xia Ya, and then at the depths of the tunnel. His lips moved as if he wanted to ask something, but in the end he simply leaned back in his seat and let out a long breath.

Lin Guodong's reaction was similar.

Xia could clearly sense that there was something different in the way these people looked at him.

It could be awe, or it could be something else entirely.

That look was previously directed at Cindy.

"Let's get out of here." Char looked at the shadowy area behind him. "I know you've been watching."

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

There was a large shadow near the second door where the emergency lights had been broken.

The place was originally empty, but the next moment, the "shadow" in the corner actually condensed like liquid and formed a human shape, which was Cindy.

"Can't you handle this yourself?" Cindy teased, moving gracefully like a feather towards Char. "Don't pretend you're so weak."

She looked Xia Ya up and down, as if she were seeing this young man for the first time.

"It seems I underestimated you. You truly are worthy of being that master's student."

That sir?

Their conversation reached Su Ming's ears. He recalled their conversation when he first met them, and the woman had said the same thing: "The one who's impressive is your teacher, not you."

According to Su Ming's deduction, this woman was obviously much more powerful than Xia Ya, but she had to obey him because Xia Ya was his teacher.

Who is this teacher?

Su Ming and Lin Guodong exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.

In this era of rapid development in the entertainment industry, they are no strangers to this concept.

The idea that a supernatural world exists behind the seemingly ordinary world, a world completely inaccessible to ordinary people, is a common premise in many works.

It might be called something like the Secret Order or Kamar-Taj.

Whether they are on humanity's side remains to be seen.

Char didn't continue arguing with Cindy, but instead looked at the people in the car.

"Come down."

Su Ming realized what was happening, opened the car door and got out, with Lin Guodong following closely behind.

Su Ming glanced at the people in the car. "Fang Tang, Uncle Lin, you come with me. Lina, you stay here and take care of Lao Zhou."

He raised his hand and tapped his earpiece, "Stay connected."

Zhao Lina nodded.

Char didn't speak, but simply said, "Lead the way."

Lin Guodong walked ahead, stepping over the corpses and weaving through the gaps between vehicles and traffic.

Char would occasionally put on his goggles to check if any of the Netherworlds were still around.

The corridor was eerily quiet. Although the ghosts were gone, it was still as cold as a refrigerator because it was underground and they had just left.

There was no strong stench of corpses in the air as I had imagined. There was only the smell of rust, damp mold, and a faint, sweet, fishy odor.

These frozen corpses haven't had time to rot in this natural refrigerator.

They walked down about a thousand meters, and then the scenery began to change.

A line of military vehicles blocked the entire road, and the ground was littered with the remains of soldiers in uniform.

Their deaths were completely different from those of the group that fled.

Everyone held their guns tightly, maintaining a fighting stance.

None of them are export-oriented.

They all headed deeper into the tunnel. Even at the very last moment, they didn't turn their backs to the enemy.

Su Ming stopped in his tracks.

He stood there, looking at the bodies of the soldiers, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he didn't speak.

Lin Guodong squatted down and gently flipped over the nameplate of a young soldier. The name on it was blurred by bloodstains, and only the character "Yang" could be made out.

He hesitated for a moment, then bent down and picked up a rifle. He pulled back the bolt and glanced at it; it was bolt empty. He then took two magazines from the corpse next to him, weighed them in his hand, and stuffed them into his pocket.

No one spoke. No one felt it was disrespectful.

In the apocalypse, keeping these weapons in use is the best way to honor the dead.

Su Ming also picked up the weapons and magazines from these soldiers, and then said.

"Let's keep going."

They squeezed through the gaps in the military vehicles, trying their best not to touch the bodies.

Emergency lights are becoming increasingly sparse, with only one every few dozen meters.

The sound of boots stepping on gravel bounced back and forth in the empty tunnel.

I don't know how long it took, twenty minutes? Or half an hour?

They walked through several long corridors and around several corners, finally reaching the thirty-first floor and entering a straight corridor.

I didn't encounter a single ghost on the way.

As if after the massacre, all the ghosts left the underground city in an instant.

This is clearly not right.

They soon reached the end of the corridor.

It was a huge, double-leaf blast door. The sign on the door read: [Project Ark].

The door was closed. But a green indicator light on the control panel was flashing.

Fangtang squeezed to the front, connected the laptop to the panel, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. Code on the screen cascaded down like a waterfall.

"bite."

A soft click. The hydraulic system behind the door started working, emitting a low hum. The explosion-proof door slowly slid open to both sides.

Behind the door was a huge circular hall. The dome was so high that it was invisible, and the surrounding walls were covered with black server racks, with indicator lights flashing on and off.

In the center of the hall, a transparent column runs from the floor to the dome.

Fangtang carried the computer inside, squatted down in front of the control panel under the cylinder, and pressed her fingers on the virtual keyboard.

"Data integrity is 97%."

Then, she pressed the OK button.

"Click!"

A USB drive popped out from the table on one side.

Fangtang unplugged the USB drive and handed it to Xia.

"This is what you wanted."

She turned around and looked behind her. "There are seventy-two backup USB drives in here. Would you like to take one more?"

"No need, that's all." Xia Ya held the hard drive in his hand, without retrieving it from the storage space.

Now, he has accomplished one of his two main purposes for coming here.

As for the other one—

He glanced at Cindy, who was observing the beam of light in front of him, out of the corner of his eye.

There's no way to solve this for now...

After a pause, Xia seemed to remember something and looked at Lin Guodong. "Do you know where the armory is?" "On the eighteenth floor," Lin Guodong said.

"take me."

They returned the way they came and arrived at the armory on the eighteenth floor.

The door was half open, enough for several people to go in.

The place was full of corpses, especially near the entrance.

This group of people were probably killed by the ghosts before they could even grab their weapons.

The armory was larger than I had imagined. The weapon racks on both sides were empty, and empty magazines and broken boxes were scattered on the floor, clearly indicating that a batch had been hastily removed during the fall. The air was thick with the smell of machine oil and rust.

Char and his crew could tell from the size of the weapon racks that they must be carrying some heavy firepower.

For example, handheld electromagnetic guns or even electromagnetic cannons.

However, they did not see it on the group of soldiers.

The base is very large, with many exits and passages like this, as well as many armories. The real elite troops are obviously not in this passage.

"Over here," Fang Tang's voice came from deep within the warehouse.

Several large metal boxes were piled up in the corner, with military serial numbers printed on them.

Fang Tang squatted down and wiped away the dust on the surface with his hand, revealing the words on the seal: [Single Soldier Exoskeleton · MK-12 · Not in Use].

Lin Guodong stepped forward to check the seal, and his eyes lit up. "The seal is intact. It should be new inside."

He picked up a crowbar from the side and pried open the box. Inside the foam padding, three sets of exoskeletons were neatly stacked.

The black alloy frame has a thin layer of anti-rust oil on its surface, which gleams coldly under the light.

Char raised his hand and squeezed one of the exoskeletons into his storage space.

We simply can't fit the remaining two sets, we'll do that next time we come.

His gaze lingered on a large door deep inside the armory.

It was much thicker than the outside, with a grayish-white metal surface, hydraulic latches embedded in the edges, and a faded logo painted in the center of the door.

Three fan-shaped blades form a circle.

Below the sign is a line of red warning text:

Strategic weapons stockpiling is strictly prohibited.

"What's in here?" Xia asked.

Su Ming and Lin Guodong looked up and followed Xia Ya's gaze.

Su Ming frowned slightly, recalled for a moment, and said, "Each base has strategic weapons reserves, but only the true leaders of the base know exactly what they are. However—"

He stroked his chin. "There are only a handful that can truly be called strategic weapons."

"Can you open it?" Xia asked, looking at the sugar cube.

Fang Tang shook her head. "The best way is to find the access card, which is usually in the hands of General Lu Chenzhou."

"Inside the base?"

"We don't know if he escaped or not," Su Ming pondered. "Important figures like him are usually on the top priority evacuation list."

Xia nodded, then, as if remembering something, pointed to the earpiece on Su Ming's ear, "What is the maximum communication range of the communication devices on your ears?"

Su Ming took off the earphones from his ears. "They're military-grade. They don't need base stations or satellites. The maximum communication range is twelve kilometers. The devices can automatically form a mesh network, with each one increasing the communication range by about one to two kilometers."

"Here's a set!" Lin Guodong seemed to have discovered something in a corner, and picked up a box and brought it over.

He placed the box on the ground and opened it. Inside the foam padding were nine communication headsets, just enough for a tactical squad.

There are also two drones.

"These two drones are equipped with AI, enabling them to fly autonomously, amplify signals and maintain communication in complex terrain, and also perform reconnaissance."

Char looked at the contents of the box, his eyes growing brighter with each glance.

If he had had this during the Abyss Eye exam, his collaboration with Einstein and Tesla would have been much better.

Information sharing can reduce a lot of trouble.

"Click!"

Char closed the box and picked it up.

After confirming one last time that there was nothing else to take, he looked at the Ark Project USB drive in his hand.

It is small, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but also large enough to contain a civilization.

There is actually another line of text engraved on it.

This is humanity's tombstone, and also a seed.

Char ran his thumb over the line of text and paused for a moment.

For some reason, his mind recalled the high-rise buildings outside that had become ruins, the corpses in the tunnel, and the soldiers who fought to the last, and their hands gripping their guns.

In a sense, whether it becomes a tombstone or a seed is up to him.

Char gripped it tightly, then released it.

"Let's go back first," he muttered to himself.

No one responded. Su Ming was counting ammunition in the distance, while Fang Tang squatted in front of the door, seemingly trying to see if she could crack it; the blue light from the screen illuminated her face.

Cindy remained silent in the shadows.

Seemingly noticing Xia's gaze, she raised her eyes and met his gaze.

Xia smiled at her and nodded in acknowledgment.

Then he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, the sound of which gently echoed in the silent armory.

"Clatter"

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