The two of them rode the lift and slowly descended.
Meng Chao noticed that the lift was purely mechanical. Aside from a spirit energy power system that was similar to a hoist, it also had a human control system that used a crank and pedals.
The entire machine was big, thick, and black, but it was incredibly sturdy. It ensured that it was safe and stable in an environment where spirit energy interference was high and matter could change at any moment.
All the buildings and facilities in the underground space were built in the same style. They were clumsy, thick, heavy, and sturdy. A lot of gears, chains, and intersecting pipes were exposed outside. When quite a number of the pipes let out piercing screeches, colorful spirit energy gushed out, causing the entire space to be immersed in a colorful mist.
Aside from the slightly different construction style, this place was like the combination of the university city of the alliance of the five universities and the military base in Jiangnan.
Hard-top tents with silver shells were arranged in rows. Quite a number of them had pictures of lightning, flames, or crossed skulls hanging outside them. They were signs that said "Extreme Danger, No Trespassing". Meng Chao also heard all sorts of strange sounds that sounded like machines breaking down, cannons roaring, monsters roaring, and all sorts of strange sounds.
Beside the silver tents, Meng Chao saw quite a number of strange things that had been dug out from underground.
One of the ruins looked like the legendary sword mound. More than one hundred strange-looking swords were stabbed into the ground.
Even though the swords were rusted and twisted, and forget about their edges, even the runic symbols carved on their surfaces were blurry, there were still waves of murderous intent that shot into the sky. It was as if there were countless vengeful souls lingering in the swords. They were trying to break the rusted seal and descend on the current Dragon City.
Based on the size of the swords, they did not seem to have been prepared for Earthlings who were less than two meters tall.
Instead, they seemed to be the weapons of ancient intelligent lifeforms that were several times larger than humans.
At that moment, some scientists were busy around the sword mound.
They carefully scraped off the rusted metal powder from the ancient swords and analyzed the components. They also cleaned and copied the runic symbols on the swords.
The metal components used to create the ancient swords could provide help for Dragon City's brand new cold weapon creation technology. The runic symbols, along with the fluctuations of crystals, could increase the power and shooting range of cold weapons by a large margin.
There were also countless broken fighting machines buried in one of the ruins.
Based on the shape of the wreckage, it looked like the six-legged crab-shaped runic symbol machines created by Dragon City, but they were much larger and more primitive than human runic symbol machines.
Even after millions of years of corrosion, the weapons attached to the wreckage could still make Meng Chao's pupils shrink. Besides, the murderous aura that came from the depths of the machines was like that of a fierce beast's.
It was like … it was still alive.
Meng Chao stared at the wreckage of the ancient war machine, and he felt as if he could hear the roars of the ancient war. In his daze, he saw a picture that was one hundred times more magnificent and devastating than the Monster War. It was a picture that was painted with blood and flames.
"This is … the Primordial Summoning?"
Meng Chao sucked in a deep breath to calm himself down.
In order to divert his attention, he looked at the center of the underground space.
However, his attention was immediately seized by something else.
In the center of the underground space, there were no research facilities within a radius of a hundred meters.
Instead, there was a circle of heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft cannons, spirit energy magnetic coils, high-voltage electric nets, fully automatic firepower fortresses, and other defensive weapons.
Based on the three layers of defense and the three layers of defense, it was an airtight arrangement. It was even tighter than the defense line set up at the perimeter of Dragon City to deal with monster hordes.
Behind the defense line was a special force equipped with the most advanced Black Horn Armor. They had a murderous aura and were ready for battle.
Meng Chao sensed the Black Horn Warriors' slightly trembling vitality magnetic fields.
It was a sign that they were highly nervous and even a little terrified.
It was as if there was something in the depths of the underground space that would jump out at any moment and slaughter all of them, even though they were armed to the teeth.
Meng Chao's gaze moved past the Black Horn Warriors and the layers of defense to see a bottomless crack at the center of the underground space.
It was around eighty meters long, and the widest part was around thirty meters. It was like an ugly reptile covered in tentacles. It lay on the ground and kept releasing faint black smoke.
There were a few landing machines that looked like gantry cranes above the crack.
There were also hanging baskets and elevators that could transport humans or resources into the depths of the crack.
Around the crack were four tall drilling rigs that were more than ten meters apart. They were like four huge nails that had been driven deep into the carcass of the ancient civilization.
"That's the entrance to the ancient ruins?"
Meng Chao mumbled. "It's … really grand!"
"That's right. The dimension we're in is just the surface of the ancient ruins. There are a few more faults down from this crack. The horizontal cracks and caves contain the secrets of the ancient civilization. This crack that leads straight down is really deep. At the very least, our equipment that can detect depths is far from its limit. Perhaps it doesn't exist in our dimension. If we go down tens of thousands of meters, we'll transmigrate to a brand new world."
Wu Haibo introduced the place. "Right now, the ancient ruins are much quieter than they were twenty to thirty years ago. When the Supernatural Tower was just built, the number of researchers and explorers here was ten times greater. That's what you call a grand sight!"
"Is it?"
Meng Chao looked around and saw signs that many of the facilities had been moved away. There were also quite a number of construction equipment that had been abandoned after they completed their historical missions. It did give off a desolate air, and he could not help but ask, "Why?"
"Because the secrets of the ancient civilization that were easier to be discovered and researched have all been discovered and researched."
Wu Haibo shrugged. "Many of the research projects were moved to the surface. Dragon City University, the alliance of the five universities, the other three research centers, and the labs of the mega corporations carried them out. No one wanted to stay in this godforsaken place where they might run into ancient demonic creatures at any moment or be attracted by the ancient summoning and turn into ancient demonic creatures.
"Besides, the remaining secrets of the ancient civilization are difficult to discover and highly dangerous. They're also difficult to replicate and research. They're hard bones that don't have any flesh and are covered in spikes. Before the secrets of the ancient civilization that have been discovered are completely researched, no one wants to gnaw on these hard bones."
Meng Chao remembered that Battle God Lei Zongchao had said something similar before.
He asked Wu Haibo, "I see. Have we … stopped exploring the deep submersible region?"
"We've stopped."
Wu Haibo sighed and said with a regretful expression, "As a researcher and explorer, there's nothing worse than not being able to open a mysterious treasure that's right in front of us and is just a door away from us. After all, the mountain is right there.
"But based on the overall situation of Dragon City, I know that our civilization doesn't have the right to continue exploring for the time being.
"Right now, Dragon Citizens are like a group of primitive people who eat raw meat and drink blood. They are surrounded by powerful enemies and their lives are hanging by a thread, but they accidentally discovered a highly advanced military base that has been sealed for ten thousand years and is powered by nuclear power.
"In this military base, there are all kinds of weapons, production lines, R&D centers, and laboratories displayed from the outside to the inside.
"There are normal pistols, rifles, sniper rifles, and heavy machine guns.
"There are also grenades, mines, mortars, and rocket launchers.
"There are also tanks, armored vehicles, and attack drones.
"Of course, there are also germ bombs, poisonous gas bombs, incendiary bombs, all sorts of chemical weapons, and small tactical nuclear weapons.
"In the end, there might also be information on all the weapons we've developed, including all the basic science theory textbooks, and the nuclear reactors that keep everything running.
"How much do you think we, as primitive people, should explore this military base?
"If it's just grenades, rifles, rocket launchers, and other single weapons that are powered by gunpowder, even primitive people who eat raw meat and drink blood can master them after paying a certain price.
"Even if something goes wrong, at most, they will just blow themselves up with grenades and kill a few of their companions with guns. At most, they will blow up around one hundred companions. To a primitive tribe, compared to the power of firearms, this price is something they can and should be able to bear.
"If it's tanks and armored vehicles … If we use modular designs and operate them like idiots, we might be able to master them.
"Primitive people might not be able to understand the principles behind guns, grenades, and main battle tanks, as well as the mathematics, chemistry, physics, and all sorts of profound and complicated knowledge contained in them.
"But this doesn't stop them from knowing that these things, which can spew out flames and lightning and let out thunderous booms to help them destroy the jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards, are divine weapons given to them by the heavens or the Creator.
"But do you think primitive people should spend so much effort to study germ bombs, nerve gas bombs, all sorts of chemical weapons, and even tactical nuclear weapons?
"Let's not talk about whether primitive people can understand how to use these lethal weapons. Even if they do, do you think it's a good thing for primitive tribes to let primitive people, who eat raw meat and drink blood, have tens of thousands of nerve gas bombs that can be fired at any moment?
"There's also the most important thing — energy.
"Energy is the starting point of all civilizations — no, all lives. Without energy, there's nothing. If you have energy, you'll have control over everything.
"But this doesn't mean that primitive people should rashly explore and research the nuclear reactors that power the entire military base before they've completely wiped out the jackals, tigers, and leopards, and they don't even have the common knowledge of junior high school level physics.
"To primitive people, as long as they can master single weapons, they can at most use armored tanks and attack drones, and it's enough for them to slaughter all the jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards or domesticate them into livestock.
"To Dragon Citizens, the ancient technology we already know is enough for us to utterly destroy the monster civilization and turn the surviving monsters into biochemical pets that will obey us. For the time being, that's enough, isn't it?"
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