Fairy"s s.p.a.cecraft started work right away. The first task was to tear down the thick white clouds in the sky. Huge industrial stars.h.i.+ps began to activate the gravitational field, and like planet-swallowing monsters, they descended on the clouds. Under the gravitational pull, the colloidal skin of the clouds bulged, then burst as white gases, and fibrous substances gushed out from the holes, enveloping the giant industrial s.h.i.+ps.
There were more than a dozen erupting holes on the top of the clouds, like leaking balloons when looking from s.p.a.ce. Before this, to protect the ecological environment of Inferno, this layer of clouds was pressurized. After the atmospheric pressure and planetary gravity normalized and came to an equilibrium, gas leakage would reduce.
The scene of the giant industrial s.h.i.+ps descending into the atmosphere during a cloud storm was thrilling and spectacular, but as the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps tore open the cloud, Lily felt a sense of regret. "It"s a pity! How beautiful the clouds are, like marshmallows."
"These clouds are blocking the sun, and the planet will not be able to carry out normal energy exchange with the stars." Hao Ren patted Lily on her head. "The old era is over; this protective film must go. Nolan, let the Fairy people do their work. We"ll go down under."
Nolan replied with an "okay" and then maneuvered the Petrachelys and descended through a gap in the cloud towards the planet"s surface while the external monitor streamed back the visual of the scene outside. There was ma.s.sive turbulence in the air and constant lightning in the clouds caused by the industrial s.h.i.+p"s gravitational field. It was like flying in a world of lightning and thunder. Deep inside the clouds, shadows that were as huge as mountains were descending slowly; they were Fairy mining s.h.i.+ps entering the atmosphere.
These giant s.h.i.+ps would not land but hover in the upper atmosphere. Smaller mining s.h.i.+ps and material transport planes would do the excavation more efficiently. Hao Ren received greetings from the nearby mining s.h.i.+ps as his s.p.a.cecraft pa.s.sed through the upper atmosphere. A message from Vanske reads, "Under the contract, kindly sign this doc.u.ment."
Hao Ren opened the file attached to the message and found that it was a set of doc.u.ments encrypted by an encryption algorithm approved by the Xi Ling Empire and recognized in the macroworld and other celestials. These doc.u.ments were intended to certify the ore collected by the mining fleet at a specific coordinate of the Scarred Nebula as possessing scientific and cultural values, originated from the wreckage of an ancient super creature in the otherworld with a long history, and could not be reproduced.
Hao Ren, as an inspector of the s.p.a.ce Administration, was to certify the certificate and the effect would be multiversal.
Hao Ren read the file carefully and confirmed with the MDT that signing on these doc.u.ments would not violate the Imperial Law and there were no obvious, long-term loopholes and hidden risks. He then signed by affixing his inspector"s encrypted ID key to the end of the file.
Now, the fossils on the surface of the planet Inferno became one of the precious minerals of this universe.
The Petrachelys had descended through the clouds, the desolate, hot, twisted, and h.e.l.lish land filled with poisonous substances and violent monsters appeared on the monitor screen. Besides, there were hundreds of bright light beams, which were material-breaking rays that the Fairy mining s.h.i.+ps shot down from high alt.i.tude into the ground below.
The earth melted like b.u.t.ter as the light beams. .h.i.t the ground. Tens of thousands of tons of ore vaporized but more were lifted into the sky under by the anti-gravity field. The Petrachelys was the only object going against the gravity force as it descended it weaved through a freshly opened crack in the ground into the world below.
The Fairy miners delivered the goods. Although the upper crust of Inferno was disintegrating, Hao Ren had not seen single debris falling from above, except sunlight began to s.h.i.+ne down to the world.
Nolan flew the Petrachelys towards Dorasil. From some distance away from the city, Hao Ren had already seen the new control facility, and it looked more spectacular than he had imagined.
The former city of Dorasil had mostly disappeared, and the new control facility was built on the original site of the ancient city. Hundreds of silver-gray needle towers as tall as a thousand meters stood erect with bright lightning and sparks jumping between the needle towers. Small maintenance robots were flying like a flight of insects around the needle towers. The group of needle towers occupied a bigger area than the original city did, but the remaining city ruins could still be seen between these needle towers, creating a rare sight of old and new architecture in one place.
Hao Ren had thought of keeping the Dorasil untouched because of its historical value, and it had a special meaning and cultural significance for the lost Sun Dynasty. However, after studying the structure of the First Born carefully, he could only build the new control facilities on the original site of Dorasil. The key nerves of the First Born were directly below Dorasil and completely solidified there. Forced relocation or extension of these nervous systems and building of the control center in other locations would not guarantee that it would achieve the desired result. At last, solid alloy towers had replaced Dorasil, and the ancient stone city became a modern city of mysterious technology.
Hao Ren retained the cultural heritage of the city as much as possible. For the past two months, he had asked Gezer and his people to relocate the lithographs, reliefs, totem columns, and the like in the city of Dorasil. When the new facility was built, the city was an empty place with nothing significant left. At least, he had done something to preserve the history of the Sun Dynasty.
Lily poked her head around looking at the lightning-discharging alloy-needle towers, which were based on the facilities beneath Dorasil, just that they were more sophisticated, more stable, and more reliable. Lily was in awe. "It"s beautiful!"
Vivian thought of the ancient souls. "Is Gragon still in the city?"
"They are still there." Hao Ren nodded. "We will see them when we get down there."
The Petrachelys descended further and landed at a newly completed mooring operated by AI at the foot of the alloy-tower complex quietly.
AI was running the entire facility. The AI-run metal city had become a technological wonder on this planet.
Hao Ren led Vivian and Lily alighting from the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. He then turned around, pressed the MDT in his hand, the Petrachelys emitted a double "beep." Almost immediately, Nolan"s figure appeared below the s.p.a.cecraft and said, "I have wanted to tell you a long time ago! When can you change the sound of the car alarm?"
Hao Ren scratched his hair. "I have been using this sound effect, and it sounds okay."
Nolan rolled her eyes. "c.r.a.p, you"re not the one being locked."
Hao Ren was speechless.
Almost as soon as the three of them stepped out the s.p.a.cecraft onto the mooring platform, they saw someone waiting for themselves from not far away. Hao Ren squinted, it was Gezer and Bonia while the translucent figure behind them was Gragon.
After the new control facility went online, the ancient souls could finally free themselves from the "lullaby" ceremony.
"My lord!" Gezer immediately bowed as soon as he saw Vivian while Bonia followed suit. "As per your will, this G.o.d-given city of wonders appeared out of thin air a dozen days ago."
The indigenous people of this world had no idea what the self-multiplying module-building robots could do nor did they know anything about material conversion technology. It seemed to them that the way the alloy-needle towers were built out of nothing.
Vivian held up Gezer and Bonia, who were still wearing clothes made of coa.r.s.e fabric, and it contrasted weirdly with the modern city around them. Hao Ren took out a snack he brought from Earth from his dimensional pocket and handed it to Bonia. "It"s delicious. Oh, yes, let me teach you how to open the packaging," he said.
Vivian came up to Gragon. "Are the other ancient souls still here?"
"We all are waiting for your next instruction." Gragon respectfully bowed his head.
"Gathered all their main leaders."