Chapter 745: Meteorite Impact or Volcanic Crater?
Meng Chao and the exploration team set up a circle of firing points near the transmigration portal, forming a small jungle fortress.
They also planted a large number of mines outside the fortress.
Last time, one of Lu Siya’s small teams had also mysteriously disappeared behind the minefield.
This time, in addition to the mines, they also installed a large number of time-delayed crystal bombs.
Such bombs required the humans to send a safety signal every once in a while in order to delay the detonation time.
In the event that something bad happened to them, the bombs would automatically detonate. They would then released smoke produced by the friction of the crystal powder, which would provide the most eye-catching fire guidance for the railway guns that were dozens of kilometers away.
After everything was done, Long Feijun and Meng Chao deployed a batch of the most elite exploration team members and set off with nearly a hundred Bread Crabs and Peregrine Falcons.
It was because the man-eating pomfret team and Lu Siya’s team had already mapped most of the terrain in the Hidden Mist Domain and left a lot of signposts that contained special radioactivity.
The third wave of the exploration team advanced very smoothly. They did not get lost in the spatial gaps or encounter ferocious monsters.
The Green Tides on both sides of the mountain path seemed to be in deep sleep and did not move at all. They turned a blind eye to the intruders.
However, the dead silence was sc.r.a.ping everyone’s cerebral cortex like a cold scalpel, especially when the ten exploration teams were approaching the sinkhole from different directions.
The uneasiness in Meng Chao’s and Long Feijun’s hearts was even more intense.
“Senior Brother Long, do you feel that our operation has gone too smoothly?”
Meng Chao could no longer hold it in and spoke in a low voice. “If this is really a ‘natural laboratory’ of the monster civilization’s mastermind, they should have at least arrange some spies and guards here to create some trouble for us, right?
“A hundred-legged insect will never be vanquished. Although the monsters have been defeated by us on all fronts in the past half-year, the remaining ones are still a force that cannot be underestimated. If we really rely on the barren mountains and rivers, the Green Tides, and the Blood Flowers in the Hidden Mist Domain to resist stubbornly, it will be really difficult to deal with.
“Why? According to the map, we are almost at the heart of the monster civilization—the mysterious sinkhole, but there is still no movement around us
“It is indeed a little too smooth. When we are fighting, we are most afraid of the unknown monsters that we have never seen before, not the ferocious monsters. The unknown is the most troublesome part.”
Long Feijun frowned. “However, we can’t turn around and run away just because our operation is too smooth, can we?”
Of course, it was impossible.
Besides, the ten exploration teams had marched straight in and mapped a lot of the terrain. They had discovered the direction, reserves, and composition of many crystal veins, as well as many dense trees and Green Tides. They were all targets of strategic value. Their trip had not been in vain.
No matter how many plots the monster civilization was hiding, they would be annihilated under the bombardment of the human beings — the Earthlings were just that simple and brutal.
While the two of them were mumbling, ‘bread crab’, who was leading the way, suddenly flashed with green light.
It was the signal to arrive at their destination.
After pa.s.sing through a few trees that were growing at an angle, their branches intertwined together like an arch, with vines hanging down like a curtain, the front suddenly opened up, and the mysterious crater crashed into their field of vision without any warning.
“Hiss –”
Like all the other members of the exploration team, Meng Chao could not help but take a deep breath.
After trekking in the dark, damp, and cramped forest for too long, the human mind was gradually plagued by claustrophobia.
When one suddenly saw the sinkhole that was surrounded by clouds and mist, it was like a vast blue lake with boundless smoke and water. The visual impact was indeed refreshing.
However, the lake surrounded by mountains was often more terrifying than the deep sea.
Not to mention that it was not even a lake.
It was a sinkhole that contained the ultimate secret of the monster civilization.
Among the surrounding mountains, there was a strong wind that was like a wild beast all year round.
When the strong wind blew away the Clouds and mist, one could vaguely see the swaying ‘jungle in the sky’hanging in the center of the sinkhole.
In addition to the lush green moss, lichens, and fungus blankets, there were also a lot of colorful flowers and fruits growing in the jungle.
However, all the plants were particularly bright in color, so bright that it was as if they had been injected with inferior colors and were about to rot.
If one did not know the background of the Green Tide, this scene might give people a feeling of vitality.
However, when they thought of the deep forest, where the bones of hundreds of millions of monsters were likely to be piled up, the explorers could not help but feel thirsty and shudder.
This was because the clouds and mist kept pouring out from Mist Mountain behind the sinkhole, blocking their vision and disrupting the human surveying instruments.
They could not see the situation on the other side of the sinkhole, nor could they measure the circ.u.mference, diameter, and depth of the sinkhole.
However, the wind would occasionally blow away the Clouds and mist, and the arc of the crater could be seen.
The crater was not straight up and down, but rather, it looked like a semicircle.
This was consistent with the characteristics of a meteorite impact.
Meanwhile, the exploration team found some crystal-clear, glazed rocks at the edge of the crater. They were probably the product of the melting of different crystals and metal veins under extremely high temperature and pressure.
“So, this is a meteorite crater?”
Meng Chao asked the geological expert in the exploration team.
“It’s very strange. This crater fits all the features of a meteorite crater, but…”
The geological expert typed rapidly on the military computer, a.s.sembling and calculating a large number of parameters. The data and curves on the screen were getting richer and richer, but his frown was getting tighter and tighter.
“However, there are two things that are very strange. First, the meteorite is too big,” the geologist said while shaking his head and a.n.a.lyzing.
Meng Chao and Long Feijun looked at each other and continued asking, “What’s the problem with the meteorite being too big?”
“There’s a problem.”
The geologist pushed the computer screen to the two of them, “Although we can’t precisely measure the diameter and depth of the crater, we can estimate the approximate size and ma.s.s of the meteorite that caused the crater based on the relative distance between us and the other nine exploration teams and the arc of the crater.
“The problem is that the meteorite pa.s.sed through the Sea of stars, was captured by the planet’s gravity, pa.s.sed through the atmosphere, and finally hit the surface of the planet. The speed must have been extremely fast.
“When I input the minimum ma.s.s and minimum speed of the meteorite that we estimated into the computer, the resulting impact power was ten times greater than the impact of the meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs on Earth.
“It should be known that the size of the Otherworld and earth is the same, and the composition of the atmosphere, the thickness of the crust, and the law of plate movement are not too different. A meteorite impact that is ten times more powerful than the impact of the dinosaurs can be described as a ‘world-ending crisis’. It will certainly bring profound changes to the terrain thousands of kilometers away, or even tens of thousands of kilometers away.
“However, although the terrain from the Hidden Mist Domain to the monster mountain range is broken and uneven, compared to the ma.s.s and speed of the meteorite, the impact is still too small. Too Small.”
Meng Chao and Long Feijun were confused. “So, why is the impact of the meteorite reduced?”
“The impact of a meteorite on a planet is determined by its speed and ma.s.s.”
The geologist said, “If the ma.s.s of a meteorite is about the same as what we have estimated, it is that its speed is far from what we have imagined. It was not thrown from outer s.p.a.ce but from a very close place.”
“Well, I studied martial arts in university. Can you explain it more plainly?” Meng Chao asked humbly.
“For example, throwing it down from near-earth orbit.”
The geologist said, “In that case, it’s understandable that the impact force would be reduced.”
“Near-earth orbit…”
Meng Chao and Long Feijun looked up at the sky together.
The sky was firmly covered by the gray mist.
It was like an invisible iron wall that separated the planet and s.p.a.ce in the atmosphere.
Dragon City had traveled for more than half a century.
With the s.p.a.ce exploration ability of the Earth era and the well-equipped military facilities of the Dragon City civilization before they traveled, they could not launch manned s.p.a.ceships and deep s.p.a.ce exploration satellites and launch some weather balloons that were higher than the atmosphere, it was still possible for them to have technical reserves.
However, all the weather balloons, high-alt.i.tude reconnaissance aircraft, and small disposable rockets launched by Dragon City were blocked, killed, and destroyed by some mysterious force before they could break out of the atmosphere.
Battle G.o.d Lei Zongchao told Meng Chao that he had once tried to use the magnetic levitation power to float all the way up, trying to use the power of the G.o.dly state to break out of this planet called the Other World and see its full appearance from outer s.p.a.ce.
With Lei Zongchao’s cultivation, the low temperature, lack of oxygen, and radiation above the atmosphere did not pose a fatal obstacle.
However, when he reached the edge of the atmosphere, he was blocked by a mysterious force.
That force was more terrifying than any apocalyptic beasts he had ever encountered.
Lei Zongchao’s original words were, “It swatted me down like a fly.”
Until now, the outer layer of the alien world’s atmosphere was still a restricted area for Earthlings.
Launching satellites into geosynchronous...o...b..t and setting up man-made facilities was even more whimsical.
In Meng Chao’s memory fragments from his previous life, there were only a few powerful lifeforms known as “G.o.ds and demons of the alien world” that could freely shuttle between the inner and outer layers of the atmosphere.
However, according to the geologist, a long time ago, some kind of power had thrown a huge meteorite down from the synchronous...o...b..t outside the atmosphere of another world, creating this sinkhole?
Such a scene was too vast. Just thinking about it made one’s mind waver.
Meng Chao took a deep breath, calmed himself, and asked, “What else? You said there were two strange things. What’s the second one?”
“Second, we found a large number of geological features at the edge of the crater,”the geologist said.
Meng Chao was confused. “Wait, is this a crater or a crater?”
“I don’t know.”
The geologist slowly shook his head, “The energy that fell from the sky and the energy that gushed out from the ground brought about completely different changes to the surrounding environment. However, after preliminary a.n.a.lysis, the samples we collected from the edge of the crater showed that there were two types of changes at the same time. It was like..
“It was as if a huge meteorite had been blasted down from a low-earth orbit and accurately hit a volcano that was crazily pumping out energy.”