Chapter 562: Blacklight Foundation’s Antarctic Main Base
When Chen Chen reappeared in Eco Science City, he immediately attracted countless prying “eyes”.
In the beginning, a rumor spread among the senior leaders of the Earth Federation, claiming that the chairman of Blacklight Biotechnology was also infected with that kind of fusion virus and was not likely to last long.
When this news reached the ears of the major forces and even some secret factions, they did not believe in it too much at first.
After all, Chen Chen practically had a miraculous golden touch. From the beginning of his business to the present, he was like a legend and life sciences were his specialty. It was almost impossible for such a person to be infected by the fusion virus.
However, later, as the Consciousness Stealer’s virus suddenly disappeared, even Chen Chen stopped showing up and did not attend several Lilith a.s.semblies. Suddenly, many rumors started drifting around.
Before entering the consciousness battlefield, Chen Chen told Little X that if he did not return for a long time, she could use a clone to take his place. After all, there were still several Chen Chen clones in the Spire Lab.
It was just that Little X was not resigned to doing this. She firmly believed that Chen Chen would win, so she had never done that.
Nonetheless, now that Chen Chen had appeared in his home, this rumor collapsed by itself. Many forces that had begun to shift restlessly now retracted their claws and fangs, and were quietly waiting for the next opportunity...
If it were not for fear of the civilization-level lethal weapons that Chen Chen might possess, how could these countries tolerate the continuous erosion of their interests by Blacklight Biotechnology and even smile at this opponent?
A few hours later, Chen Chen bade farewell to his parents and walked out of the house. He glanced around his parents’ house. The smile in his eyes gradually dissipated and was replaced by an inexplicable coldness.
“X, this group of ‘eyes’ near my parents should also be cleared away.”
Chen Chen said.
“Understood, please be rest a.s.sured. Before the sun rises tomorrow morning, I’ll clean up these spies who dared to approach your parents.”
X’s voice came from the headset in reply.
This casual exchange between the two had quickly determined the life and death of over a hundred spies.
“Oh, right!”
Little X’s voice suddenly said again, “During your sleep, the Earth Federation has established a department that contacts the Blacklight Foundation, called the Federal Special Branch. This department is also divided into the Chinese division, Northern American division, North Sea Continent division, and European Division.
“This department works as a fast track, which can accelerate the operations of the Blacklight Foundation. If events such as ‘wormholes in the sea’, ‘Weeping Angels’, and ‘Consciousness Stealers’ that are enough to threaten human civilization occur in the future, this department will contact the local authorities as soon as possible so that the local government can cooperate with the Blacklight Foundation to the fullest extent.”
“Very good, the Federal Special Branch, you said?”
Chen Chen nodded with satisfaction. “With this federal official department, the Blacklight Foundation will be authorized to operate around the globe...”
“One more thing.”
Little X continued to report. “The construction of the main base for the Blacklight Foundation in Antarctica is about to be completed and the current progress has reached 90%. The engineers we sent are updating us every day and the construction will be completed by the end of this year.”
“Very well done.”
Chen Chen nodded. “Tomorrow I plan to go there in person and visit.”
“You want to eliminate the unfavorable rumors of your disappearance.”
Little X guessed. “That wouldn’t be a problem, I’ll make an appointment for you now.”
“Good.”
Following that, Chen Chen returned to his office in the Blacklight Building, sat there for a while, then returned to the Spire and began to dismantle the time machine with Little X.
The next day, Chen Chen boarded a plane and headed toward Northern America. He transferred to a military plane in the Washington area of Northern America and flew to the South Pole.
The trip took more than ten hours. As the plane landed, there was already a dark world of ice and snow outside the window.
The polar circle was divided into polar day and polar night. The date at this time was 1 April 2029, which was during the polar night in the South Pole.
The polar day and polar night were due to the angle of divergence of the earth’s rotation. During a fixed period, sunlight would either be unable to reach this area at all or shine brightly throughout the day. From 23 September to 21 March every year, Antarctica was shrouded in night, with no sun in sight even during the day whereas the North Pole was the opposite.
Chen Chen took a C-17 military transport plane, coming along with the flight that transported materials from Northern America to the South Pole. When he walked off the plane wearing a down jacket, the top personnel from the four major continents immediately came to meet him personally.
“Your Excellency Chen Chen.”
The respective personnel of the four continents stood in a row and Chen Chen stepped forward and shook hands with the four.
“Welcome, Your Excellency Chen Chen, to this inspection. I’m your main guide. My name is Zhao Xi.”
As Chen Chen’s relationship with China was the best, the main person escorting him this time was the highest person in charge from China at the main base. Zhao Xi was a middle-aged man who looked relatively older, about 50 years old, and Chen Chen could tell that he had not received any age-reversal treatment, thus maintaining the true appearance of his age.
“Mr. Zhao Xi, have you never undergone age-reversal therapy?”
Chen Chen could not help asking.
“It’s mainly because this technology is still somewhat risky.”
Zhao Xi smiled. “Although the treatment you created has a high success rate, if the treatment fails, one will have to rest for several years to regain one’s vitality. Therefore, I’ve never done it, but I’ve already made an appointment for the Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform you gave us. I’ll be able to use that machine to rehabilitate my body in the second half of next year.”
Chen Chen nodded. He followed Zhao Xi to a deep and huge underground cave. There was an astonishing amount of goods beside the underground cave. At this time, dozens of cranes were constantly transporting the goods.
“As you can see, this is the headquarters of the Blacklight Foundation.”
Looking at the huge deep pit in front of him, Zhao Xi’s eyes had an emotional glimmer. “This place has been under construction for four years and it has been jointly developed by the four continents, using hundreds of billions of dollars worth of manpower and material resources. All this is enough to build the Pyramid of Khufu dozens of times over.
“By now, the ma.s.sive structure of the headquarters has been completed and all that’s left is to fill in the details. I can’t imagine how we have made it through the past four years...”
Zhao Xi could not help but sigh.
“All this is for the continuation of human civilization.”
Chen Chen nodded. He knew that even if the Spire Experimental Base was compared to the base in front of him, it was practically a mere trinket. After all, this was built as the last fortress of civilization.
Whether in terms of the amount of engineering invested or the manpower and material resources invested, it was in a different league.
While speaking, Chen Chen and the few people accompanying him had already reached an elevator by the edge of the big pit and they walked in.
As the elevator doors closed, without having to press any b.u.t.tons, the elevator started to descend sharply.
“At present, we only need two minutes to reach the base which is two kilometers down.”
Zhao Xi notified.
Chen Chen only felt the sensation of a rapid fall. The elevator began to accelerate continuously, from 2 to 3 meters per second to more than 20 meters per second. This speed was already close to the speed of a free fall. If one fell at such a speed, even an alien could not survive.
However, when it was about to reach the ground, the elevator began to slow down gradually and there was a rapid sense of gravity returning. Those with poor physiques would likely have thrown up by now. It was only because they were all in good shape that they could bear this.
“Ding!”
As the elevator arrived at the destination, there was only a soft ring and the elevator doors opened again. This time, a huge hall was revealed before Chen Chen.
The hall seemed to be unfinished now. A large hole with a diameter of more than 50 meters was still in the center. At this time, goods were being transported down the hole continuously and there was a busy flow of people here. Nevertheless, most of them were not living people but androids and XTN engineering robots.
“It’s your first time here, so I’ll explain everything in more detail.”
Zhao Xi narrated, “This is the first floor of the main base and the largest activity venue in the main hall. The area of this floor alone will reach one million square meters, which is the size of over a hundred football fields. It will be transformed into an event plaza and a pedestrian street, where everyone can exercise and shop.”
Chen Chen nodded. Indeed, this floor alone had exceeded the area of the Spire Experimental Base.
“This is the pedestrian street...
“This is the shopping area...
“Here is the stadium. Whether it’s track and field events or football and basketball, you can find a venue here...”
The group accompanied Chen Chen around. From Chen Chen’s point of view, it looked like a miniature city and the dome above his head was also extremely high, measuring more than 20 meters above him. If optical equipment was installed, manufacturing a blue sky and white clouds, many people would probably find it difficult to tell that it was artificial.
It was not until more than half an hour later that they finished touring the first floor. They came to the elevator in another corner, preparing to head toward the second floor.
“The entire base is structured like a top and the areas below will gradually shrink. The second floor is only two-thirds the area of the first floor. That will house the living supplies and warehouse areas, which are used to store supplies for daily living.”
Zhao Xi emphasized with some pride. “The materials loaded on the second floor can enable 30,000 people to live here without going out for over a hundred years.”
“A hundred years isn’t that long.”
When Chen Chen heard this, he could not help frowning.
“Of course.”
Zhao Xi nodded. “But if that time comes, we’ll renovate the first floor, transforming those gardens and green areas into test fields for soilless agriculture. At that point, we’ll naturally be able to obtain more resources.”
With that, they had reached the second floor.
Chen Chen noticed that it took twenty seconds to go from the first floor to the second floor.
“This is because the first floor and the second floor aren’t close to each other.”
Sensing Chen Chen’s puzzlement, Zhao Xi continued to explain, “The distance between the first floor and the second floor is over a hundred meters. Even if we lose the first floor, we can blow it up and retreat to the second floor to continue the defense. Strictly speaking, every floor in the base can abandon the floor above and exist independently. This is the function of a doomsday fortress.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Chen Chen nodded in approval.
Then, they descended again and came to the third floor.
As the elevator doors opened, Chen Chen’s eyes were met with column-shaped buildings that looked like fortresses. These buildings stretched to the top of the third floor and there were probably over a hundred of them.
“This floor is the staff dormitory.”
Zhao Xi went on to explain, “We calculated this for a long time. At first, we wanted to fill the third floor with regular buildings as found in a conventional design, but in the end, we gave that up because that kind of dormitory was still too depressing. It’s difficult for people who don’t see the sky all year round to withstand this pressure, so we chose this kind of storied unit building similar to a residential structure.
“There are probably over a hundred-unit buildings, each of which has four floors. The inside will have one of two layouts: one bedroom and one living room, or two bedrooms and one living room. This floor can accommodate a total of 20,000 people. When they look out the window, they’ll see greenery and parks all over the ground instead of cold metal pa.s.sages.”
They led Chen Chen into one of the buildings, checking out the layout of the rooms inside. In Chen Chen’s view, this was a lively place indeed and he even saw ponds and man-made rivers in the distance.
The top of the dome could also simulate normal sunlight and night, just as if they were on the ground surface.
“From the fourth floor onward, it’s the work area.”
After visiting the third floor, Zhao Xi led Chen Chen onto the elevator to the fourth floor, then the fifth and sixth floors, until the bottom ninth floor.
The entire base had an inverted pyramid layout, with the areas becoming smaller as they went down, but the ninth floor broke this pattern.
The area of the ninth floor was even larger than that of the first floor. There were not only various manufacturing workshops, but also the main control room that controlled the entire main base, and a nuclear fusion reactor.
“At the bottom level, we want to build a heavy industrial site where we can produce the necessities of life that everyone needs, even munitions. At the same time, it’s also the core area of power, which provides electricity and air circulation for the entire base. Unless the first eight floors are lost, this place is invulnerable to attack.”
Looking at the vast ninth floor in front of him, Chen Chen could not help wearing a look of admiration. He suddenly looked at the rails and trains by the side of the ninth floor, then raised his eyebrows. “This is?”
“This is a minecart.”
Zhao Xi explained, “The ninth floor doesn’t exist for its own sake. We used tunnel boring machines to excavate several underground mines at a depth of more than 3,000 meters. These minecarts connect to those mines. If we want to seal off the base in the future, then our resources will naturally be tapped from the ground.
“Plus, some minecarts even lead to underground lakes and can collect underground freshwater resources...”
Chen Chen was even more amazed when he heard these words. He continued his visit for more than an hour before he returned to the surface.
This visit lasted nearly eight hours and his guides were terribly exhausted by the end. Only Chen Chen’s face remained as usual without any change at all.
When Chen Chen was sent off, the few of them exchanged a few casual words, then said goodbye and left.
They were going to report to their higher-ups regarding Chen Chen’s reactions throughout his visit to the main base, without leaving out a single detail.