One of the professional talents previously sent to his niece, an electronics expert and former shareholder of the Apocalypse Defense Group, McAllen Gager, had passed away and had equipped the revived Target Low Temperature Nuclear Fusion Energy Tower with a circuit protection system and enhanced the shielding at the core.
Finally, they custom-made an all-encompassing Faraday cage, encasing the entire Energy Tower within it, and providing thorough protection. These measures weakened sudden strong electromagnetic pulses layer by layer, ensuring that the Energy Tower could continue to operate normally without automatically shutting down for self-protection.
After regaining warmth and light, the many withered plants inside the shed immediately flourished at a visibly fast rate, much to the delight of Pure Light Sparrow Xiao Jiu.
"Jiu..."
-
The crisp chirping swiftly crossed the sky, now east, then west, but always returning to perch on Chen Fei's shoulder.
Taken out on a rare occasion, Xiao Jiu was extremely excited, as birds belong to the sky and flying freely is their nature.
"There's nothing here?"
Executive manager Hanna Gager kicked the rocks scattered on the ground, within a kilometer around, not a blade of grass grew.
It was hard to imagine any kind of living creature surviving here.
Chen Fei took her back to where they had first encountered the Mutant Worm Swarm, but found nothing, not even a burrow dug by the mutants despite digging three feet deep, as if they had never appeared.
If it weren't for the fact that Aircrew Base 912 to the east of 911 Aircrew Base had indeed been overrun by the Mutant Worm Swarm Chen Fei mentioned, the executive manager might have thought that this rookie pilot had hallucinations after landing, that no mutant species existed at all.
Thump!~
A muffled sound echoed.
A cloud of dust rose in the distance, the ground shook slightly, and the ground wave spread far across the surface.
Followed by another muffled sound from a different direction, micro-explosives buried thirty meters underground detonated sequentially, raising continuous clouds of dust.
"We've made a discovery!"
A technician stared intently at the screen in front of him.
The rapidly spreading shockwaves quickly fed back the geological structure, creating a three-dimensional effect.
Chen Fei and Hanna Gager hurried over to see a three-dimensional image of an underground structure.
At a depth of over a hundred meters underground was a tunnel about ten meters in diameter, its actual length was immeasurable, just the part the shockwaves had identified was already more than five hundred meters long, and the extent to which it extended further was still unknown.
Chen Fei looked at the increasingly complete 3D image of the underground structure and couldn't help but take a sharp intake of breath, saying, "My goodness, could this be a monster's nest underground?"
Executive manager snapped, "Don't talk nonsense!"
She said to the technician, "Measure a few more points to see if there are any signs of biological activity below."
"Okay."
The technician was also interested in the underground tunnel but could not determine whether this geological structure was naturally formed or excavated by the mutant species.
The Xingdu Kush Mountain Area was mountainous and cavernous, with complex geological conditions; the actual situation underground was unknown, and the workload required to thoroughly explore it was far too great for any military contractor to afford.
Professionals would handle professional matters, so they had to wait for the ground to be drilled and the micro-explosives placed, which would take some time.
Out of sheer boredom, Chen Fei casually picked up a rock, weighed it in his hand, and was about to throw it with all his might to see how far it could go when he suddenly uttered a sound of surprise, retracted his strength, and brought the rock closer to inspect.
He seemed to have discovered something, puzzled, he picked up another rock, compared the two, and his expression grew increasingly skeptical.
"What are you looking at?"
Hanna Gager noticed Chen Fei's unusual behavior.
The machine guns mounted on the large gyroplanes spat out tongues of fire, streaks of red trajectories fired intensely, pummeling the wave of the earth repeatedly with crossfire.
Then a series of rockets were fired, blasting fireballs and debris into the air, and the dim outlines of some monstrous bugs were blown out, their pale exoskeletons covered their bodies and blade-like limbs, each bug was the size of a young calf, snapping its mandibles, emitting a hoarse screech.
It was those bugs!
The scene of the fall of the Aircrew Base lingered vividly, and no one dared to underestimate these fierce, man-eating monsters.
Everyone ran frantically toward the helicopters, the veterans following the female executive manager responsible for covering the rear, retreating orderly.
Hanna Gagar pushed with both hands, a highly condensed ball of wind flew towards the rolling ground waves. The moment the two forces made contact, a tornado violently formed, swirling sand and stones, revealing the countless bugs in frightening numbers.
Putu putu putu, slender-bodied bugs broke through the soil, suddenly opening their elytra, extending their slender hind wings, and emitting a deafening buzzing sound amidst intense vibration.
"Son of a bitch! Come at me if you dare!"
Chen Fei faced those bugs.
He was not afraid of these ugly creatures; a crowbar was all he needed to dispatch them smoothly.
Humm humm humm...
The flying species of bugs that had taken to the air landed again, their compound eyes focused on Chen Fei, and the rolling ground waves suddenly stilled.
"Chirp!"
Xiao Jiu, fearless as a calf in front of a tiger, perched on Chen Fei's head and boldly chirped a few times, utterly unaware of what fear meant.
As long as its father was there, nothing could scare it.
Squeak squeak creak, a strange noise came through.
The menacing bugs turned and burrowed back into the soil.
"Huh?!"
Chen Fei quickly reacted, rushing forward, swinging the White Steel Crowbar.
All the bugs were frantically scraping at the soil and stones, burrowing into the ground.
Chen Fei threw the crowbar aside, forcefully grabbed a bug's leg, and desperately pulled it outward.
He was still yelling, "Come back to me!"
The female executive manager was also shouting upon seeing this scene.
"Rookie, come back to me!"
It seemed once again a familiar scene was unfolding.
Acting recklessly!
The irritated bug's leg kicked out, sending Chen Fei sprawling on his rear, then it wriggled a few more times and burrowed underground, disappearing without a trace.
"Come back, come back quickly!"
Chen Fei picked up the crowbar again and fiercely dug into the ground, but aside from a pile of loose sand and stones, he found nothing else.
The two gyroplanes circled overhead for a few more laps, but besides the completely settled ground, no further sign of the bugs was visible.
The technicians and veterans who had already climbed into the cabin of the Z-9 armed helicopter simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
These abruptly appearing monsters not only arrived quickly but also left just as swiftly, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
-