21: Chapter 21 Underground Treasure Vault

Leovitos heard Xia Xingchen's question and pondered for a moment. Then, a mechanical voice came from his speaker, accompanied by the crackle of static:

"I cannot accurately determine the location of the underground passage, Commander."

Leovitos immediately explained the reason:

"Because the builders of each Forge City had different ideas and habits.

Furthermore, constrained by the requirements at the time of construction, some underground vaults were established in remote locations, while others were set up in the center of the city."

Of course, Leovitos was not without options.

"I can focus my search on several high-probability locations based on past experience."

Upon hearing this, Nuwa proposed another method.

"Commander, leave the matter of finding the vault to me."

Immediately after, the two Servo-skulls beside Nuwa rapidly ascended into mid-air, and wave after wave of sonic pulses were released from them.

At the same time, the warship in space orbit quickly engaged its central processor and began analyzing the refraction data of the sonic pulses.

Nuwa immediately determined the direction and pointed forward:

"There is an unknown space beneath the tallest building that cannot be penetrated by the sonic pulses, and its area is very large."

She led everyone to the front of the tallest building.

The interior of this building was filled with ruins everywhere, and even the main entrance was completely blocked by rubble and debris.

"Damn it, if we want to clear this place out, it will take us at least several months."

Xia Xingchen did not have that much time to waste here.

Leovitos then gave Xia Xingchen a very good suggestion:

"We don't need to clear this place at all. We just need to use the fighter jets' missiles and artillery to blast an opening directly into the ground, and we can enter the underground directly."

Xia Xingchen quickly approved of Leovitos's plan, and everyone immediately retreated to a safe zone.

Following this, the fighter jets roaring across the sky quickly dropped two bunker-buster bombs onto the ground.

With two deafening roars, the ground was quickly blasted open with two holes, appearing like two abyssal entrances on the flat ground.

When the smoke cleared, Xia Xingchen came to the edge of the hole.

"Throw a glow-stick down to take a look."

Upon hearing this, a guard quickly pulled a glow-stick used for illumination from his equipment and snapped it forcefully.

With a click, the glow-stick in the guard's hand instantly lit up with a bright light comparable to a lightbulb.

Immediately after, the guard quickly threw the glow-stick inside. The glow-stick went into freefall and landed at the bottom with a thud.

Xia Xingchen looked down and could clearly see the bottom of the hole. Judging by sight, it was only about seven or eight meters deep.

Xia Xingchen did not hesitate in the slightest. He took the lead, activated his power armor, and jumped in.

Seeing their Commander be so brave, the guards quickly followed behind; they had to ensure the Commander's safety.

Xia Xingchen performed a standard landing, kneeling on one knee with his right fist striking the ground.

He stood up, and the night vision system of his power armor quickly activated, making the entire underground world as clear as day in his eyes.

Immediately after, several more landing sounds rang out behind Xia Xingchen as Leovitos, Nuwa, and several Tech-Priests jumped down as well.

Xia Xingchen's Dragon Shield power armor began to quickly analyze and assess the situation here.

The entire surrounding area of the building was basically in a semi-ruined state, and there was no guarantee which flat ground might collapse on the spot if stepped on, or even cause one to fall into a deeper place.

"Follow my footsteps closely and don't take a wrong step; otherwise, prepare to experience what it feels like to step into thin air."

Xia Xingchen said as he walked downwards.

Xia Xingchen took several glow-sticks from a soldier's hand and dropped them along the route he walked to mark the path for those behind him.

Everyone carefully proceeded along the path.

Moving almost in a serpentine pattern, Xia Xingchen walked for nearly a hundred meters before they successfully arrived in front of a staircase.

Xia Xingchen looked at the stairs extending downwards, and at the end of the stairs was an incomparably huge door.

Xia Xingchen still took the lead, walked down the stairs, and arrived in front of the door.

Leovitos followed closely behind, stepped forward to touch the door, and said helplessly:

"This door is crafted from high-pressure composite explosion-proof material; even a Volcano Cannon would find it difficult to blast it open.

And any weapon capable of blasting this door open would also completely destroy whatever is behind it."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xingchen knocked on the titanium alloy door with his hand; it still felt incredibly hard, with only a thick layer of dust on the surface.

"In other words, if I have the warship bombard it with a particle beam from orbit, it will raze this underground vault to the ground, right?"

Leovitos nodded.

"Is there any way to open it?"

Leovitos shook his head upon hearing this. The door was locked from the inside and could only be opened from the inside.

Xia Xingchen looked around at everyone, knowing that he had to use nanotechnology.

"Everyone go back up. Without my orders, no one is allowed to come down."

Hearing Xia Xingchen's order, the people of the Iron Heart Society were stunned for a moment. Instead, Nuwa walked up to them and said in a mechanical voice:

"Let's go. The Commander has his own way of solving this problem."

Leovitos, along with the Blacksmith and Sera behind him, had no choice but to leave and return to the top of the stairs.

After everyone had left, Xia Xingchen finally extended his hand, and a small mass of immortal nano-metal quickly rolled around in his palm.

Xia Xingchen then pressed the immortal nano-metal onto the huge high-pressure composite alloy door.

In the next second, the immortal nano-metal, like a gluttonous snake, quickly bit one gully after another into the door.

They completed self-replication by devouring the metal on the door.

Very quickly, the nano-metal, which was originally just a small mass, began to split rapidly, gradually resembling a huge octopus, constantly expanding its coverage area.

Countless tentacles spread outwards, devouring the entire door from bottom to top completely.

Xia Xingchen stood where he was, watching the door before him—which could originally withstand the bombardment of a Volcano Cannon—become soft and crumble at the slightest touch under the powerful ability of the nanoparticles, like a biscuit soaked in milk.

Eventually, the entire door disappeared on the spot under the devouring of the nano-metal.

At this moment, the interior of the underground vault was completely revealed before Xia Xingchen.

Xia Xingchen discovered the skeleton of a Tech-Priest by the door, and the location where the Tech-Priest was, happened to be right next to the console.

It was very obvious that when this planet suffered a devastating blow, this Tech-Priest who had run in here had trapped themselves here to protect the property of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The nano-metal that had devoured the entire door quickly gathered back to Xia Xingchen's feet, reattaching itself to his power armor.

In just a few minutes, there was nothing left in the open space; there was no door, nor any loose nano-metal, as if everything that just happened had never occurred.

Alright, it was time to call Nuwa and the people of the Iron Heart Society down.

Xia Xingchen then transmitted a message via his communicator:

"You can all come down now."