Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 885 - 130: The First Exploration

Chapter 885: Chapter 130: The First Exploration

In March 2028, three human experts and six elite soldiers nominally belonging to the Peacekeeping Forces entered a crack on the giant iron structure.

Xiang Shan’s feet struggled in the mud. Even with the help of a Powered Exoskeleton, he nearly fell.

Fortunately, a soldier ahead reached out to support him.

"Thanks..." Xiang Shan said awkwardly.

A small amount of sand poured into the interior of this giant structure through the crack, but it was not an issue.

Or rather, the sand did not truly enter Argon’s interior.

Because the inner walls were exceedingly thick. Although the metal walls were layered, their total thickness spanned several meters.

The cracks on those metal walls deformed as several layers of metal were compressed together like shale.

The group stepped directly onto the inner wall of this giant creation, surrounded by emptiness, indicating a vast space.

Xiang Shan’s breathing became somewhat rapid. He nervously observed his surroundings while the six soldiers pointed their military flashlights in various directions, discovering the surrounding void without any walls above.

"How... does this work?" Kanhara Tsun was somewhat puzzled: "Empty?"

A soldier twisted open a red light stick and tossed it on the ground, saying, "According to established procedures, continue exploring inside."

"Alright, alright..." Xiang Shan sighed.

The soldiers were actually speaking to the three scholars. These guys had mastered the procedures through simulated training, but the three scholars were not as disciplined as the soldiers and had only undergone crash training. The squad’s Commander decided to constantly remind the three scholars.

Six soldiers split into two groups, protecting the scholars in the middle, and walked towards the sharper end of "Argon." The ground had a slight curve. This alien structure deformed when landing, resulting in some uneven surfaces.

Fortunately, the group had Powered Exoskeletons, allowing them to walk freely.

After walking approximately sixty to seventy meters, the group finally saw some significant changes. It was a steel column rising from the ground—considering this was the inner wall of "Argon," it might be a beam.

This beam was also slightly deformed. The leading Commander reached out to stop the group and made a gesture. A soldier carefully watched the deformed giant metal pillar, slowly approached, and illuminated it with his light source.

Following this pillar, they found more metal beams, crisscrossed. These seemed to support the inner pillars of "Argon."

The soldier pushed the steel column slowly, but it did not move at all.

"Even deformed to this extent, is it still quite stable?" Xiang Shan contemplated: "The design initially considered deformation, leaving enough... enough allowance to cope with such a degree of deformation?"

Yawgmoth turned his head: "You mean, they initially considered, um... just dropping straight down?"

Xiang Shan thought for a moment, shaking his head: "That’s not necessarily the case. ’Argon’ might be crushed by its own weight. Even if it wasn’t dropped, placing it on the ground would certainly cause it to collapse. Even upon entering the atmosphere, it would... but... hm..."

The voice of the NASA engineer came through the headphones: "Are you suspecting this so-called outer wall might interact with the air upon entering the atmosphere, deforming, breaking down, and then releasing the inner layer? Hm... as long as the internal contents can hit the surface of some planet, this thing would have fulfilled its mission."

Xiang Shan was extremely shocked: "Why not use... a parachute? Hm..."

The surrounding soldiers couldn’t help but glance over, thinking to themselves, "What nonsense are these engineers talking about?" But Xiang Shan felt it wasn’t entirely impossible.

After all, "Argon" had wandered through space for a long time. Complex structures like "parachutes" might have unexpected failures over a long duration.

And a "parachute that can’t open" is equivalent to none.

The simpler the structure, the better it can resist the passage of time. A landing method purely relying on the structure is indeed more reliable than a parachute.

After all, such a massive metal structure can remain unchanged for a long time without oxygen or gravity.

Until it lands on a planet is unknown.

In other words, it doesn’t matter if the huge outer wall shatters in an instant.

If these steel columns are indeed, as speculated, a gigantic damping system designed solely to transport a small item to the surface...

As long as the design is reasonable, this outer layer can serve as an energy absorption structure...

"But, what is the point?"

After getting permission from the soldiers, Kanhara Tsun also approached the steel column, observing carefully. But after circling it, he returned crestfallenly and said: "There’s nothing that looks like markings."

Yawgmoth then asked earnestly: "Is it possible that the material they use to write symbols is invisible to the human eye? Perhaps only visible in infrared or ultraviolet spectrums..."

"We have infrared and ultraviolet observation equipment." Kanhara Tsun said: "There is no sign. This is just a column."

Xiang Shan sighed: "This isn’t the main entrance of ’Argon.’ The aliens wouldn’t have expected us to come in from here. Even if there were symbols, they wouldn’t be written here, right?"

A soldier threw down another fluorescent stick, and the group continued forward.

Every few dozen meters, they would see distinct metal structures. At these points, the soldiers would throw down a military flashlight and continue forward.

They had already walked a long distance. Xiang Shan turned around and found that in the farthest location, the light from the flashlight had already been swallowed by darkness, nearly invisible. Many flashlights formed a not-so-straight line, like the luminous footprints of an invisible giant, crossing a sparse prairie.

Soon, the group reached one end of Argon.

There were no aliens, no machines, not even any accessible terminals or mechanical structures.

Argon was nearly empty.

Yawgmoth fell into contemplation again: "Perhaps those aliens don’t rely on vision at all? So we can’t see them?"

"I find it unrealistic. Aliens with refractive indices almost identical to the Earth Atmosphere are a bit too sci-fi." Xiang Shan waved his hand: "It doesn’t make sense."

"Plus, we haven’t detected any sound waves beyond the environmental background noise." Kanhara Tsun added: "Even if they don’t rely on vision, they must have some sensation, right?"

"Neutrino?"

"Hm, if such cells exist, as discoverers, we might even share a Nobel Prize."