Reboot the Galaxy

"Now follow the team south, the estimated distance is 12 kilometers." Five minutes later, Xavier gave the order as promised.

Seven teams set off one after another, with "Alliance" being the first to arrive.

"I don't like being a leader," He Xu muttered softly.

"Come on, Mr. He Xu, if you're at the front, you'll be the first to see the aliens, right?" Naohiko Tomura joked.

"They'd be the first to be eaten," Charon suddenly interjected.

"Would it kill you to shut your mouth?"

Ruan Zhicheng kicked Charon's butt, causing his mecha to stumble forward a few steps.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Ahn Jae-in suddenly exclaimed.

After being kicked, Charon saw a large pit in front of him. He frantically steadied himself and stopped right at the edge of the pit, almost rolling in.

"Hey, come and see!" Chalong looked into the pit and pointed to the bottom. The others went forward to check, puzzled.

"Wow, isn't this tangyuan?" He Xu commented.

Sure enough, at the bottom of the pit there was a large patch of soft, grayish-black spherical objects, piled up on top of each other, lifeless, just like the description of a bowl of glutinous rice balls.

The pit is about 20 meters wide and 8 or 9 meters deep. Judging from the size of these objects, they are about one to two meters in size.

"These are native mutants." Di Yan recalled the photos Dr. Maxim had shown him. "They're probably dead."

"That's terrible. I thought I'd see them alive," He Xu whispered.

"It's best not to have such expectations." Di Yan didn't linger and continued forward. "Let's go, we have a mission, we're not here for sightseeing."

The three members of the Kachin organization behind him remained at the edge of the pit, discussing in a private channel. Chalon even pulled out a plasma gun from his back, aimed it at the pile of "glutinous rice balls," and pulled the trigger.

After a fraction of a second of charging, the bright white plasma orb detached from the muzzle and, upon contact with the original alien corpse, emitted a brief burst of light, like a camera flashing.

Immediately afterwards, the ball of light expanded rapidly, growing from less than ten centimeters to half a meter in size, with its edges pushing layers of gray-black matter away.

Finally, the light quickly dissipated, and the fragmented tissues of the original alien species scattered everywhere like rain.

The spot where the ball of light struck left a scorched, reddish cross-section, still sparkling like burning coal.

The three Kachin leaders appeared very excited and high-fived each other in celebration.

Mpuent witnessed the plasma gun blasting the alien corpse from the sidelines. Just as he was marveling at its astonishing power, he caught sight of the "Alliance" that had already walked away. He immediately pointed at the team and led his teammates to jog and catch up.

The team traveled south for about ten kilometers, and every now and then they had to navigate around potholes on the road.

These pits vary in size and depth. Some are very small and shallow, like a layer being gently scraped off the ground with a spoon. The team doesn't even need to go around them, and they can't find any native alien corpses inside.

But as long as the depth exceeds six or seven meters, there will definitely be corpses at the bottom of those larger pits, so people are used to it.

However, they still hadn't seen any living alien species along the way. Di Yan learned from Xavier that as the team gradually approached the volcano, the surrounding temperature had risen considerably, reaching 26 degrees Celsius, which theoretically put them in the comfort zone for alien life.

Their decision to migrate underground en masse suggests some mysterious attraction there. It seems we must delve deeper underground to find out.

Maxim once said that without living xenogenes, all research would be forced to a standstill.

The number of live specimens in stock is decreasing rapidly. It seems that these alien species, under long-term imprisonment, trigger some kind of self-destruct command and "commit suicide" one after another after a period of time. To this day, people still do not understand the mechanism behind this.

As he was at the front of the group, Di Yan received instructions from Xavier: "Head towards the cliff at two o'clock. The holes left on the ground by the alien species are near the base."

Di Yan led the team to change direction. As they approached their destination, the terrain gradually descended, and Di Yan felt as if he were on top of a giant funnel.

The slope ahead grew steeper and steeper, and in the distance, there was a huge open-air cave entrance, more than ten meters wide, which seemed to be drawn into him like a black hole embedded in the earth. He had to stop and wait for the people behind him.

Naohiko Tomura walked over and asked, "Does Xavier have any follow-up instructions?"

When asked, Xavier's answer was: just jump.

Although the exploration depth is limited, it is known that the hole is not vertically downward, but has a complex and tortuous structure, and other teams have already entered through other holes.

Di Yan took the lead and heard Mpuente's blessing through his earpiece, to which he responded affirmatively.

As the slope gradually became steeper, Di Yan could no longer maintain his speed after reaching a certain angle. His foot slipped, and he was forced to slide down into the dark cave entrance.

His teammates were calling out to him in the chat, but he couldn't focus on responding.

He felt weightless and was surrounded by darkness. He instinctively reached out and grabbed at the walls, trying to dig his hands into them, but to little avail.

The descent speed increased, the mech emitted a constant buzzing sound, and the sounds of mechanical collisions were incessant.

About a minute later, I felt support from below, and the direction of the holes changed from vertical to diagonally downward. The whole mecha felt like it was on a huge and long slide.

He turned on the searchlight and aimed it deeper into the cave entrance.

The surrounding space was gradually shrinking. The hole in the ground was more than ten meters wide, but now it had shrunk to six or seven meters. The surface was uneven, making Di Yan's stomach acid churn.

A few minutes later, the slope became gentler, which was good news, and it might stop soon.

The view ahead suddenly shifted, and under the light, the cave wall in front of us suddenly disappeared, and the hole seemed to lead to a cavity.

The feeling of being suspended in mid-air returned, and the grayish-white ground below rapidly approached. He mentally estimated the moment of landing.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Di Yan immediately rolled forward to absorb the force. The cockpit shook violently. It was the first time he had piloted a mecha and performed such a tactical maneuver, so he was not confident.

Fortunately, he landed safely. He stood up and used a searchlight to look for the hole he had fallen into on the tall rock face.

The entrance to the cave was located at the top of the cavity, about fifty meters above the ground. As Di Yan scanned other areas, he discovered that there was more than one entrance leading to this place.

There were at least a dozen holes of varying sizes on the stone walls surrounding the cavity, but the one where Di Yan fell was the highest. He guessed that the native alien species had started digging downwards from there.

There was only silence in the channel. Di Yan had no idea how deep underground he was. A sudden sense of being isolated from the world washed over him.

"Xavier, how are the others?" he asked.

"They've already started descending and are expected to arrive here in about three minutes."

"Is it possible to contact them?"

"The rock layers are too thick; we can't contact them," Xavier said, his voice low.

"Then how did you know their location?"

Di Yan felt something was off. If they really had to go deep underground, how would the orders from above be transmitted down?

But he soon got the answer: "The communication between the mech and the control center is not in the form of electromagnetic waves, so it is not affected by the thickness of the rock layer or the distance."

"Could it be some other technology?"

"Yes, the information connection between the individual mech and the control center uses tachyon communication technology."

Kuaizi Communications!

"What kind of technology is this?" Di Yan thought to himself, another technology beyond his comprehension had appeared.

Over the next two minutes, Xavier explained the basic technical principles of tachyon communication to Di Yan.

This technology is based on a particle with specific properties called a "tachyon".

For a long time, this particle, as an imaginary solution to the relativistic equations, existed only in theory.

It is a virtual particle that is faster than a photon, has a negative energy level, and is naturally in the lowest energy level. At this point, its speed objectively reaches infinite speed, and it will completely disappear into Euclidean spacetime the instant it is emitted, making it impossible to observe.

Therefore, all related research has been greatly hindered, and Viyin scientists regard it as a purely theoretical prediction.

The tachyon's path of motion is not the relativistic spacetime of this universe, but the Euclidean spacetime outside the Minkowski metric. Therefore, it can break free from the constraints of the speed of light and achieve extremely large and fast leaps in spatial scale.

Di Yan was a bit overwhelmed. Even though Xavier had simplified and popularized the principles, it still sounded like gibberish to him.

In short, this is a communication technology that is faster than the speed of light, and many times faster.

As for the complex relationships between transmission speed, distance, information density, accuracy, and energy consumption, Xavier did not choose to elaborate, and Di Yan did not intend to listen.

He was in a daze, half believing and half doubting, when he saw several mechs sliding out of the top opening.

"Holy crap! You scared me!" He Xu exclaimed the moment the light shone on Di Yan.

As more and more people landed, the area became increasingly crowded. Those who had already landed had to be careful not to fall on top of those behind them.

Although this cavity is very high, reaching nearly sixty meters, it is not very wide, less than three hundred square meters at most.

Furthermore, there was a place where there was nowhere to stand; it was another hole that connected to the lower space.

"Are we going to have to go down further?" Ahn Jae-in asked worriedly, looking at the cave entrance.

"Very likely." With that, Di Yan walked to the new hole to examine it.

The area around this opening is much flatter, unlike the funnel shape on the ground, it appears directly on a flat surface.

"Why is there this cavity?" Naohiko Enomura looked up at the dome, the light shining on the limestone cave walls.

Wasabi shook her head, but then realized her husband couldn't see her shaking her head, so she whispered, "I don't know."

"I think they might be using this place as a meeting point."

Ahn Jae-in's lights swept across the other cave entrances, which looked like drainage outlets, while the area where everyone was located resembled the bottom of a huge reservoir.

"That makes sense, so I think we should continue downwards."

Di Yan explored the new cave entrance. The light reached the rock wall before going very far, indicating that the tunnel would change from vertical to sloping not far down.

"Damn it, how are we supposed to get up there?" He Xu asked, his soul trembling.

Everyone fell silent.

Looking at their current situation, they really can't think of how to get up there.

Not to mention the ridiculously twisted tunnel, they weren't confident they could climb up this cavity that was tens of meters high.

"I trust the wisdom of my superiors," Di Yan replied.

All the people behind had arrived, and all 46 mechs were present, crowding at the bottom of this space.

Just then, Di Yan, who was standing at the edge of the pit, received Xavier's order again: "Jump down into this pit, swim through the 'airtight liquid layer', and head to the new area."

"A tight liquid layer? What's that new stuff?"

"There is a 'U'-shaped structure in the lower tunnel, filled with some kind of airtight liquid. The inside has a certain air pressure, while the outside is the current low-pressure environment," Xavier explained to him.

"What do they need air pressure for?"

"It's not clear yet. This intelligence was gathered by other teams first, and they're progressing faster than you are."

Upon hearing that his progress was lagging behind, Di Yan felt uneasy and jumped down without hesitation.

He's probably playing the role of a scout now, walking in front to explore the terrain, and then his teammates follow behind.

This time the tunnel was more winding, descending in a spiral shape, and he would often get stuck at a bend and unable to move.

After a series of "efforts" to slip, Di Yan rushed out of the tunnel again and fell into another cavity.

thump--

He suddenly heard a splash, a hissing sound from between the steel plates, and the mech was experiencing tremendous resistance.

The searchlight beams diffused, illuminating a field of orange-red light.

His mech fell into a viscous, orange-red liquid and slowly sank under the influence of gravity.

This is the airtight liquid layer; it is these unidentified liquids that maintain the pressure difference between the inner pit and the outer side.

Di Yan turned his mecha around and swung his arms and legs downwards.

He was like someone swimming in orange-flavored jelly, where the light couldn't reach very far, and the surrounding resistance made it very difficult for him to move downstream.

Strings of bubbles rose along the outer edge of the mecha, and the surrounding sounds were so low they were almost hypnotic, bringing back the feeling of being isolated from the world.

This airtight liquid layer was very deep, and the liquid was also very viscous. It took Di Yan nearly two minutes to reach the bottom. After walking forward for more than ten meters, the tunnel turned upward, and he had reached the other side of the "U"-shaped tunnel.

He grabbed the rock face with his hands, braced his feet on it, and climbed up smoothly.

The tunnel on this side is not vertically upward, but rather meanders upward at a not-too-steep angle, similar to climbing a mountain.

It's possible that the alien species can't tunnel vertically upwards, so a slight slope is quite normal.

Due to the pressure difference, the airtight liquid layer on this side was very shallow, only about twenty meters deep, and Di Yan crawled out of the liquid surface after a short time.

After climbing up several dozen meters, he finally stepped into a wide, flat tunnel that led straight ahead.

"This is the inner tunnel. Please wait here. The other team members will arrive in about four minutes."

Di Yan stood alone in the long, deep cave, beginning to survey his surroundings.

The light shone on the surrounding cave walls, and he suddenly discovered a terrifying, unfamiliar object.

This thing is a huge living creature, embedded in the rock strata of the cave wall, with only part of it exposed, its smooth surface covered with light-colored spots.

Its surface is covered with a layer of mucus, and it is reddish-brown in color. It slowly wriggles over time.

The lights from Di Yan's mech shone directly on the monster, causing it to involuntarily take two steps back. It felt a chill run down its spine, as if an electric shock had struck its spine, and its whole body shuddered.

This thing, just the exposed area, is about the size of a mecha, but it may only be the tip of the iceberg of a behemoth.

Suddenly, he heard a strange cry, so he turned around abruptly and pointed the light at the dark interior of the tunnel.

The air was filled with dense, unidentified particles, like millions of tiny flying insects, which greatly reduced the effectiveness of the searchlight.

But he didn't see anything within his visible range.

Just now, a long, wild roar came from the depths, its trailing sound like sharp claws scraping against steel plates, and it still lingered in his mind.