Chapter 515: Doorway
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The other side of the USB drive’s portal was left to X-112, who was asked to report back if there were any problems at any time. Then, Chen Chen returned to the real world.
Only a day later, the first Ark was transported to reality.
When Chen Chen received the news and rushed over, he saw this piece of equipment in the vast and enclosed teleportation hall.
“Is this it?”
Seeing the product in front of him, Chen Chen could not help frowning, feeling a little taken aback.
What he was met with was a spherical device with a diameter of five meters. Its body was white and had a weathered, ancient appearance.
Just like aged white plastic, which would have the dullness of age. The same went for the huge sphere in front of him.
True, the Ark was spherical, but it was not a total spherical shape. It seemed to be two hemispheres placed together. The gap in the middle was half a meter wide. Through the gap, one could see the darkness inside.
On the surface of the ball, there were more than a dozen grooves of unknown function. Each groove was only the thickness of a finger and unlike the whiteness of the spherical surface, the grooves were black.
These surface grooves surrounded the face of the sphere. They were long and short, without any regularity between them or with a regularity that no one except the designer could point out.
At this time, what Chen Chen saw was such a huge sphere.
“This is the Ark that was dismantled from the dimension of Doom.”
Little X followed beside Chen Chen. She had grown into a slim girl. At this time, she explained to Chen Chen, “When we were in the Ark Experimental Base, the entire sphere was buried under the steel floor, with only one port on top of the sphere. The ‘water ball’ shown in the movie that can envelop human beings also emerges from that port on the sphere.”
“Oh?”
Chen Chen flew up rapidly when he heard these words and he saw a small, jagged hole above the sphere. The hole was a dark blue color.
“Then how do you activate it and what is the principle of the ‘Ark’?”
“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.”
Little X immediately explained, “Even those in that dimension haven’t figured it out. When they found the Ark, it already looked like a teleportation platform. At most, they refurbished the teleportation platform such as replacing some old machinery and any equipment that can be understood, but they have never been able to study and understand the core of the Ark. This is beyond the scope of modern science.”
“I see...”
Chen Chen at once gave up on that hope because if even they could not understand it, then it was like showing the six-cylinder engine of a modern car to a group of primitive people. This group of primitive people would enjoy watching it at best. Besides that, they could forget about understanding anything.
As the Ark contained a set of unknown scientific theories as well as matching industrial technology, if one had not reached this level, the Ark could only be observed but not understood even if it were broken down into the most basic components.
Thinking of this, Chen Chen reached out and took the “Ark” blueprint from a Black Knight. In addition to this core, it still needed a platform that could house the core and a high-power photon signal transmitter. When these things were combined into one, it became a complete set of an Ark transmission device.
“According to the requirements on the design drawings, customize this equipment.”
Seeing this, Chen Chen said immediately, “When the second Ark is also transported back to reality, we can start experimenting. As long as it works, we can transport supplies to Mars at will instead of using s.p.a.cecraft to go back and forth.”
“If this is the case, we have to consider how to avoid the observation of the other four continents.”
Little X said immediately, “In addition, we have to consider building a secret base on Mars, otherwise, it’ll still be discovered by those from the four continents.”
“This does need to be considered, so let’s plan for the long-term.”
Chen Chen nodded, then turned and left.
Soon, more than ten days pa.s.sed by quickly.
...
More than ten days later, in the dimension of Doom, in the Mars Olduvai Research Facility.
“Hup!”
Four or five workers in orange work clothes were manipulating the crane-like device in front of them, lifting an old spherical device from the metal floor that was split open.
There was a special logo on the clothing of this group of workers. At the same time, there was a line written in English on the logo: United Aeros.p.a.ce Corporation or UAC for short.
If Chen Chen saw this at this time, he would immediately recognize it. This logo was from a gargantuan local company in the world of Doom. Its business even permeated the Northern American Congress and had expanded to every corner of the world.
Even the Mars Olduvai Research Facility was opened by this company.
In the story of the movie Doom, it was also the company responsible for researching the C24 chromosome technology on Mars. After the inciting incident, the Northern American Congress swiftly dispatched the RRTS Special Operations Squadron which the protagonist was a part of.
When the team was dispatched, the only command issued by the upper level to the captain played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was:
“Protect and retrieve all property of the UAC!”
From this detail, it was enough to show how huge the influence of this company in Northern America was...
“Ah, it’s coming out, hurry and prepare the protection. Don’t let it be dented!”
At this time, one of the foremen suddenly shouted. He was manipulating a crane. At this time, under the crane, there was the core of the Ark, worn and weathered.
Following his order, the group of workers immediately stepped forward to prevent the huge ball from b.u.mping into anything.
“Hey, Scott...”
When everyone was busy with work, one of the slovenly middle-aged workers whispered to a companion beside him, “I’ve been thinking of this question a long time. If we dig out this thing, then how do we return to Earth in the future?”
“Naturally, we’ll take a s.p.a.ceship.”
The worker called Scott shrugged. “I prefer to take a s.p.a.ceship. Although it’s a bit slower, at least I won’t get motion sickness...”
“Oh, you’re right.”
The unkempt worker nodded and he was immediately convinced.
After all, every time the Ark teleported someone, the dizziness generated was enough to make the pa.s.senger throw up their last night’s dinner.
“What are you two talking about? Better hurry up and concentrate on work!”
Seeing the two whispering to each other, the foreman suddenly yelled.
It was not until the core of the Ark was completely removed from the bottom of the pit that everyone sighed in relief. The sloppy worker glanced at the bottom of the pit casually, but he was stunned at that moment.
“What’s wrong, Sam?”
Scott asked offhandedly, only to find that his best friend did not respond for the first time, so he followed the other’s gaze and looked down.
However, he only saw a metal door that was flat on the ground, covered with unknown patterns, like the entrance to a cellar...
...
Thirty days pa.s.sed quickly. On the last day of the 30-day-period, a s.p.a.cecraft flew in from outside and stopped near Papoose Lake in North America.
A dozen soldiers got off the s.p.a.ceship a little nervously and behind them was a strangely shaped transport truck. Within the carriage of the transport truck was the core of the Ark.
As the s.p.a.cecraft arrived, the ground in front of everyone was slowly elevated and then an old concrete elevator entrance rose from the ground. After that, a pair of heavily armed Black Knights wearing PK Armor came out of the elevator.
“We’ve brought it.”
An officer walked out from the group of soldiers. He waved his hand for the transport truck to come forward. “This is the core of the Ark that you want.”
One of the Black Knights nodded immediately. He stepped forward, vaulted himself onto the truck, and then glanced at the core of the Ark in the carriage. He waved his hand after confirming the authenticity. Suddenly, there was another Black Knight who stepped out and replaced the previous driver to drive the transport truck into the elevator.
The core of the last Ark was finally in hand.
After seeing that they had confirmed the authenticity, the officer said a little timidly, “Since you have got what you wanted, can the researchers in the base be released now?”
However, his words received no response.
The other party seemed to be a group of soulless beings, returning one by one to the elevator, without any reaction to the officer’s words.
“Uh...”
The officer could only watch the elevator door close again. After the elevator descended downward, the originally elevated platform was retracted underground as if this place had always been an incomparably ordinary wasteland.
Seeing this, the officer had no choice but to turn on the communicator. He said softly, “Mr. Commander, we’ve delivered the last core of the Ark, but the other party didn’t respond to our proposal for the release of the prisoners.”
“If that’s the case, forget it. You should head back for the time being. Don’t stay there anymore, so as not to be misunderstood by the other party.”
A low voice came from the communicator.
“Yes...”
At the same time, far away in the White House in Washington, all the top leaders in Northern America also received this news.
“It looks like the transaction is over.”
In the meeting room, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Although the other party didn’t directly release the hostages, this is a good start.”
The president leading them stated, “What we have to do now is to monitor their every move to prevent any new incidents from happening again.”
“I hope that they’ll comply with the requirements and can leave after getting the three Arks.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs on the side also spoke because everyone understood that their so-called surveillance was just self-comforting empty talk. As long as the other party stayed on for another day, everyone could not even sleep well. Many officials here had lost a lot of weight in the thirty days.
“Okay, now we can talk about the next topic.”
Without continuing with the previous subject, the president suddenly changed his tone. “I think you have all received the secret notice. After the core of the Ark on Mars was moved away, a large st.u.r.dy door was found below. No matter what method was used, we couldn’t open it.”
Everyone looked at each other wordlessly, then nodded together.
“But now I want to give you the latest update.”
Suddenly, the president cracked a smile of gratification. “Just yesterday, the Olduvai Research Facility sent news that, after they used a million-degree ultra-high field laser for cutting, the door finally showed signs of being cut open.”
“How many people know about this news?”
Another senior official asked aloud.
“Very few, except for the Olduvai Research Facility on Mars, only a few people from the United Aeros.p.a.ce Corporation and a few of us on Earth have received this news for the time being. The total number of these people in the world doesn’t exceed 30.”
The president was full of confidence. “And I think it’s best not to let these outsiders who call themselves Martians know of this. After all, no one knows what’s under the door.”
“Might be the technology left over from the Martian civilization.”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was yearning. “If we can get the strange exoskeleton armor technology that the man wore before, it would be great...”
“That exoskeleton armor is nothing.”
However, the Minister of Commerce next to him immediately curled his lips and said, “I’d rather have his supernatural power that allows flight through the sky, it’s almost a miracle!”
“Maybe it’s a technology for immortality, who knows.”
Someone continued to add.
Once they talked about this, everyone became excited as if the alien legacy far away behind the door of Mars was already in their pockets.
“Alright, everyone, be quiet!”
The President of Northern America raised his hands and suppressed the noise of the crowd. “We don’t know what it is, but there must be something very precious in it because when we discovered the Ark’s teleportation platform on Mars, we conducted various tests on the ground beneath but nothing besides the core of the Ark has been found at all.
“That is to say, this kind of thing had been intentionally hidden to the point where our technology can’t detect it in the slightest. Only now, after taking out the core of the Ark, we discovered its existence...”
“Yes, this thing must never be revealed to those bandits!”
Everyone nodded.
“Maybe they know about it...”
Suddenly, the Secretary of Defense who had been silent said, “If the other party is a prehistoric Martian civilization, then it’s very likely that they know the door exists.”
Everyone was silent when they heard these words.
“What you said is also possible.”
The president nodded in agreement. “So, I’m thinking that we just need to pretend to be ignorant for a while. If he doesn’t mention the door, it means that he doesn’t know about the existence of the door, right?
“Thus, in any case, the confidentiality of this door must be well kept. This is what I ask of you.”
Everyone naturally guaranteed this again and again.
Only the Secretary of Defense was still a little gloomy. He stared blankly at the report in his hand. It was the description of the door that was found this time, ranging from its size, pattern, material, to all kinds of guesses from the Olduvai Research Facility. There was no end to the data.
What was even more unbelievable was that they did not know what material the door was made of. The entire door was so strong and solid that even the hardest drill bit was used to no avail. There was no way to open it so far.
However, it was precisely this difficulty of opening the door that made everyone in the White House look forward to what was inside.