Chapter 134: Visiting the Cavern
They entered the site of the Eco Science City very soon after.
The sight of hundreds of buildings being constructed was truly a sight to behold. Africa had never seen an operation of such scale, it even led to the birth of a new profession.
This new profession was mainly taken up by the locals who had nothing better to do with their time. Their mission was to kill time by watching as the buildings were built up higher by the day. Chen Chen’s crew referred to them as the “Observers”.
Initially, Qian Wenhuan made sure to chase these groups out, but as time went on, he quickly realized that it was not going to stop them so he decided to let them be.
The only problem these people caused was the regular loss of various tools on the job site. The losses were not substantial, though it got irritating at one point with how often it happened.
As the vehicle came to the top of the hill, Chen Chen was immediately met with the sight of giant trucks coming back and forth by the foot of the hill. These trucks were loaded with sand, gravel, and building materials. From a distance, they looked like a fleet of hardworking ant soldiers. These pa.s.sages led to the entrance of the anthills...
Namibia had never been blessed with an operation of this scale.
Right under their feet, several drilling rigs were drilling away, sending waves of tremors across the earth. Although most of the water by the sh.o.r.e was seawater, once they managed to break through the layer in between, they should have access to a considerable amount of freshwater source.
The only problem was that in Africa, the locals would much rather walk twenty kilometers back and forth each day for water as opposed to drawing from a well right outside their house.
This sort of phenomenon was caused by a difference in the environment.
While the outsiders looked at them in bewilderment wondering why they would rather walk the distance to get water than to dig a well, something stranger occurred to them as well – “Why dig underground for water? Doesn’t the river provide enough water already?”
Very soon after, they arrived at the edges of a huge wall after having driven along a newly paved road.
The wall stood magnificently at more than ten meters tall. There were barbed wires and surveillance cameras installed on the top of the wall. Chen Chen had only seen such a structure in places like prisons.
Chen Chen was currently at an electronic gate by the entrance of the district. All pa.s.sing trucks transporting goods had to be registered to gain entry. Inside the gate, there was a large storage area where all the goods were unloaded uniformly.
There were plenty of smaller transport vehicles inside as well. These transport vehicles made constant trips delivering all sorts of materials to the gate of the underground garage. it was like a gaping void that could never be filled.
It should be obvious at this point that this was the entrance to the underground base.
There was one last checkpoint located in the inner section of the underground garage. After pa.s.sing through the final checkpoint, Chen Chen finally saw an enormous cavern in the center of the underground garage.
As it was still an ongoing construction process, the mouth of the depthless cave was left bare and exposed right in the middle of the underground garage. The moment Chen Chen got out of the car, he could feel waves of chilling breeze rising to meet him.
Along the four edges of the top of the cave, there was a large and hectic arrangement of steel beams. These steel beams were fixed from the top of the cave entrance all the way downward, serving as support for the outer structure of the cave, preventing landslides.
There was a gigantic elevator fixed to the top of the underground cavern. The structure was powered by dozens of diesel generators. The diesel generators were laid out in the area and rumbled on and on, producing deafening noises.
“Hey, that one there!”
Qian Wenhuan was leading the way in front when he suddenly shouted. It was a foreman in the section in front who was in the middle of reprimanding other workers. “Come here for a second.”
“President Qian, how can I help you?”
The man dressed in foreman attire quickly complied and ran over. “Oh, who are these two with you?”
“This is the boss of our company, Mr. Chen. He’s here to take a look at the construction site. Since you’re more familiar with the site, why don’t you find us a guide,” Qian Wenhuan had very little interest in making small talk with the man and went straight to the point.
“So, it’s Boss Chen!” The foreman lit up. He quickly made a motion to shake Chen Chen’s hands without the slightest hint of awkwardness in his movements. “Pleasure, pleasure!”
Chen Chen did not display much hesitation and shook his hand naturally.
Since the other party was the one extending the courtesy, Chen Chen had no reason to put on a high and mighty att.i.tude regardless of whatever motives there may be. n.o.body was owing anybody any favors here anyway.
Upon witnessing the interaction, Qian Wenhuan broke into an awkward smile. He quickly made a note to straighten up his att.i.tude which had been rather erratic recently.
The man’s smile grew ever brighter when he saw that Chen Chen did not seem to belittle him. “No need to find a guide. If you don’t mind, why don’t I be your guide.” He offered and looked at Chen Chen expectantly.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Chen Chen nodded. “How may I address you?”
“The name’s Hai Sanchuan. Hai from the Chinese letter for the sea, San for the Chinese letters for one, two, three. The Chuan from Sanchuan is...”
Hai Sanchuan offered cigarettes for the three men. Chen Chen casually accepted it but waved his hands when a lighter was presented, implying that he was not planning to smoke now.
“Hai Sanchuan, it’s just the same letters written horizontally and vertically...[1]” Qian Wenhuan blurted out a joke but quickly stopped talking when Chen Chen shot him a glare.
“Sigh, I’ve no idea what my dad was thinking when he named me.”
Hai Sanchuan was not bothered and smiled easily. He took the three men to the front of the mouth of the cavern and pointed at it. “This hole we dug up is around five meters. It took us a whole month with the large drilling platform to get it done. This is a really big project we’re talking about here.”
“Don’t be too quick to make an impression now. By the time our work is done, the outer walls will be fitted and fixed with steel plates, it’ll look a lot more pleasant then.”
During Hai Sanchuan’s explanation, the elevator located in the middle of the cavern began wheezing and making mechanical noises. Several thick steel cables began to contract as if it was trying to pull something out of the ground.
“It takes about five minutes to get from the underground section to here.”
Hai Sanchuan quickly added as if he was worried about Chen Chen running out of patience. “Don’t underestimate its speed. It’s considered pretty fast for a freight elevator. It’s average descend and ascension speed is above two meters per second.”
A freight elevator platform appeared nearing the end of Hai Sanchuan’s explanations. Several workers were slightly taken aback upon seeing Chen Chen and the others and made no comments. They began with their task of carrying off the piled up materials.
“You guys can take a short break for ten minutes.”
Hai Sanchuan handed three helmets with strapped headlights to Chen Chen and the others and led the way for them while issuing orders to the workers.
Simply put, this platform worked like your regular elevator, the only difference being that its size was greatly exaggerated. For example, the length and width of this platform were measured at four meters and stood more than five meters tall. It had rollers installed all around it which were guided by the rails fixed to the walls of the cavern.
Hai Sanchuan who was well familiarized with the procedure and went to the elevator controls and pressed a b.u.t.ton. In an instant, the doors of the elevator platform closed up as it began making its descent.
As the transportation platform began to descend, Chen Chen peeked at the view outside through the mesh window. Under the faint illumination of the miner’s lamp, the stark red soil slowly turned into blocks of brown-gray rocks as they descended further.
They were entering the rock layer.
The platform elevator remained in a stable condition without the slightest hint of disturbance. After five minutes, they arrived at the bottom where a gigantic cavern came to view.
What was once countless stalact.i.te pillars were replaced by hundreds of square cement pillars. These cement pillars were more effective at providing support for the structure of the cavern.
The interior of the cavern was well illuminated. At one glance, Chen Chen could see the very end of the s.p.a.ce several hundred meters away. As depicted before, the structure of the cavern took on a perfect dome shape.
Located in the middle of the cavern was a pyramid-shaped structure. The structure, however, took on a closer resemblance to Mayan pyramids than Egyptian pyramids.
What was more astounding was that the structure was entirely constructed of steel. The steel pyramid was erected right in the middle of the cavern, almost sc.r.a.ping the roof of the cavern.
This was the top-grade laboratory Chen Chen had envisioned. Unlike the biosafety laboratories constructed on the surface that were capped off at grade four, Chen Chen was going to build a laboratory that could host aliens and aid with the research of tyrannosauruses. This laboratory was going to reach a never before seen level 5 biosafety protection grading.
[1] The Chinese letters for San (三) and Chuan (川) are very similar