The exhausted team walked on the Biji Plateau in the early morning. Behind them were patches of light yellow grass, a sea of black gravel, a dry riverbed, and the bones of dead beasts.
Just as Dong Fangyu had predicted, the radiation detector's index was indeed on the high side, but it didn't exceed what the human body could withstand. This was a very fortunate thing. Another fortunate thing was that due to the existence of this radiation, neither the Federation nor the Empire had sent any ground troops to this wasteland. As for whether or not there were any engineering mechs digging into the depths of the plateau, that was something they didn't know yet.
For the people, the real danger now was the blazing sun. Not long after dawn, the high temperature instantly forced out the moisture in the human body. Then there was the somewhat unfamiliar sky without a trace of cloud. The bright light from the blue dome sprinkled down like a curtain of water, and when it came into contact with the black gravel ground, it was slightly distorted in the nearby area, shrouding the scene in front of them with a layer of unreality.
Xiong Linquan reached out and wiped the line of salt on his chin. Panting, he looked at a shallow tunnel entrance a few hundred meters in front of him and ordered with a hoarse voice, "Everyone, enter."
In order to delay the detection of the Federation's military satellites as much as possible, and to guard against attacks from the sky, their team had chosen to hide during the day and move out at night after entering the plateau. After dawn, they had to find a mining pit where they could hide in the shortest amount of time possible.
Although the radiation index in the mining pit was higher, it was still bearable. Furthermore, they had to take this risk. Otherwise, if a random Federation fighter jet came, the entire team would die on this barren plateau.
This abandoned mining pit was obviously not in use for long. The alloy supporting structure in the tunnel was still shining after the dust on the surface was wiped away. Xu Le narrowed his eyes and looked at the smooth surface of the metal under his finger, deep in thought.
After a moment of silence, he turned around and looked at the extremely tired team members and said, "Everyone, hold on for two more days. As soon as we reach the Golan Highlands, there will be a ship coming to pick us up."
After entering the plateau, with Gu Xifeng's help, he had made a few intermittent contacts with Philip, who was outside the atmosphere. They had discussed a plan to evacuate Mo Hua Planet, so he was more confident.
"You have to promise that it's not the Empire's ship," Dongfang Yu said with a hoarse voice as he stared at his face.
"I promise it's definitely not the Empire's ship," Xu Le replied.
Gu Xifeng was giving Da Vinci an IV drip when she suddenly turned around and asked curiously, "Boss, is that the ship that was so arrogant that it raised its middle finger in the capital city?"
"Yes."
Xu Le replied with a smile. He then threw his military backpack to Paul and sat down beside Dongfang Yu's stretcher. He looked at her silently and didn't say anything for a long time.
Silence usually represented a very clear attitude, but Xiong Linquan was obviously more willing to choose a more direct approach. He stared at Dongfang Yu's face and said, "This plateau, radiation, and these obviously new mine tunnels. Dongfang, do you still have something to say?"
Dongfang Yu was silent for a very long time, and then coughed painfully twice. He shook his head and said, "I don't know much. I only know that there should be some kind of strange mineral vein under the plateau's shallow layer of graphite. I've never seen or even heard of the ore produced there before. I only know that it contains very strong harmful radiation."
Perhaps because he had recalled some very unpleasant memories, his eyebrows furrowed tightly, and he said hoarsely, "More than two years ago, NTR was responsible for escorting engineering mecha into this plateau. Because it was a top secret mission, none of you know about it. In fact, the team I led back then had taken sufficient anti-radiation measures, but after the mission, two of the team members still contracted severe radiation sickness. I heard that they died not long after boarding the ship."
"The radiation is so strong? What is that? "
The team members turned to look at Xu Le in shock. They were used to looking for answers directly from him when they encountered such questions.
"There are many natural radioactive elements in the universe, but those that can form mineral veins are relatively rare. But the way I see it, the crux of the problem is why the Federation wants to mine this kind of mineral vein. What is their goal? "
"I don't know. Those who were able to come back alive from underground have all signed confidentiality agreements. Besides, I think that my luck is already good enough, so I don't want to ask these questions."
Dongfang Yu frowned and replied, "But there is one thing I can remind you of. This mission was directly ordered by the Department of Defense. It didn't even go through the headquarters."
"At the time, Du Shaoqing was still the commander. In the entire Federal military, there was only one person who could bypass him on planet Mo Hua."
Xu Le shook his head and said, "But since you know about this matter, doesn't Du Shaoqing have any doubts about it? Others don't dare to ask Lee Jae-do, but he definitely does. "
"I said before that I signed a confidentiality agreement. Besides, I'm no longer a direct subordinate of the commander. According to the commander's teachings, I can't report to him above my rank."
Xiong Linquan threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and said mockingly, "Like person, like soldier. I wonder if Du Shaoqing regrets teaching you so rigidly."
…
…
The discussion about the strange radioactive mineral vein under the Biji Plateau did not go any further. For this fugitive team, their most important and only mission right now was to survive and board the ship that was coming to pick them up.
The Federal military upper echelons, or to be more precise, General Lee Jae-do, had given the order to excavate this mineral, was not a question that they had the energy and ability to think about right now. Even if they had a strong sense of justice and decided to maintain the peace of the universe, there was no way they could go deep into the plateau in this exhausted and broken state.
"Is it a new type of alternative energy source or something?"
Xu Le walked to the end of the deep tunnel and looked at the slightly wet rock wall. The suspicion that had just appeared in his heart was immediately overthrown. According to the radiation intensity described by Dongfang Yu, it would be very difficult to turn this mineral into a stable and reliable energy source.
Sitting down next to the stretcher, he looked at Da Vinci, who was still in a semi-conscious state. Sensing his increasingly long and steady breathing, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Why did he not feel any discomfort in such a low-intensity radiation environment? On the contrary, he even felt somewhat comfortable?
It was hard to describe the feeling. The weak invisible radiation in the rock wall was like layers of warm waves that wrapped around his body, making every cell in his body excited from the inside out.
After a moment of silence, he held Da Vinci's wrist softly and adjusted his breathing to be longer and gentler. He slowly released the magical burning power that was spreading out from a certain part of his back and carefully transmitted it to Da Vinci's body through his arm.
He did not know if it would work, but a thought flashed in his mind that he wanted to try it. Maybe it was because the radiation in the tunnel was too warm.
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