Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1498: The Special Ruins Beneath the Mine

Chapter 1498: Chapter 1498: The Special Ruins Beneath the Mine

In fact, after the end of the concept split in the Fifteen Day Zone, and the Empire’s mysterious side returned, there are still many things we haven’t figured out, with the biggest question being how seventy thousand years ago, my sister and our previous lives drifted to Earth, and what happened before and after.

The situation at that time is now unclear, although Big Sister managed to retrieve some past events with Lin Xue’s help, after all, it has been a long time, and the Prophet’s power always equates to "vague." What we know now is: the Fifteen Day Zone Emperor went to ask for help from Void Creatures, the newly awakened Void Creature stumbled blindly and accidentally boarded a pirate ship, ended up at the frontline starting a huge tower battle and got defeated, a few severely wounded souls drifted to Earth, that’s it, no one knows the details in between.

The most important question: how did we, a bunch of fragmented souls, cross the Void to Earth - that is the biggest mystery.

Big Sister, after dealing with several naughty kids, also came over to listen to Ding Ling’s report. Although she wasn’t too interested in her time as Emperor, she was quite curious about how she came to Earth seventy thousand years ago: "It seems we really brought something else with us when we came to Earth... well, crossing the Void is indeed a challenge for some fragmented souls."

"Wasn’t I covering you back then?" I rolled my eyes and thought for a moment, "I think even if I was defeated, my remaining body should be able to protect several souls for a while in the Void."

Big Sister twirled my ear, "Don’t say such scary things! What’s this about the remaining body! I can’t stand hearing that."

"Ouch, ouch..." I dodged around on the sofa, thinking how after all these years, Big Sister’s habits haven’t changed a bit, this technique, speed, accuracy... how come I, the third-best in the Void, can’t dodge, "Sis, there are outsiders here, outsiders, can we discuss business first?"

Only then did Big Sister let go, rubbing my ear while looking at Ding Ling: "What did you discover? Spaceship or base?"

Ding Ling rolled her eyes to heaven: "Do you think a bunch of Earthlings can tell what that thing is? And the spaceships you make are all crazily big, once broken and fallen on Earth, who can tell whether it’s a cabin or a base. Anyway, it’s quite a large relic, deep underground, discovered while drilling a mine, thankfully the news was timely sealed, so besides the three locals who found the relic, only the internal members of the Superpower Team know about it, the internal members are easy to deal with, they understand the rules, but they don’t know about the Empire. The reason I’ve come up with now is that another Alien site has been discovered and the site will be handed over to the Boundless Love experts to handle. It’s just like the process in similar situations before. I must say, the ’Boundless Love’ you established really works wonders, whenever there’s a mess, pushing it over to you is just so much easier..."

I silently glanced at Qianqian, thinking the founder of Boundless Love is sitting right there, too bad this founder seems to have temporarily forgotten she owns such a department...

The current procedure for Boundless Love dealing with the Empire relics unearthed on Earth is basically this: Due to the ’reputation’ wreaked in the past, Boundless Love enjoys great renown in combat power and professional expertise in Alien relics, considered an authority on this planet, plus some ’operating methods’ from those Imperial Agents, Boundless Love has now become the professional management team for Alien sites, holding a monopoly in the field. Empire relics discovered by the Superpower Team or other Earthling organizations finally have to be taken over by Boundless Love (whether voluntarily or forcibly), and we have a dedicated ’Battle Deception Department’, the full name of Battle Deception Department is ’Strategic Deception Department’, this critical department’s task is to interpret the origins and research conclusions of those relics for the involved organizations throughout the process, and to manufacture illusions if necessary, making those organizations think they understood detailed information of these Alien sites, hence losing further interest, the aim being to recover Empire facilities without disturbing Earth’s civilization’s normal progression. This job requires a lot of brainpower: letting these monstrously powerful things flash before Earthlings’ eyes yet mysteriously vanish without arousing curiosity or inquiry is intricate and complicated work, sometimes it even requires mass brainwashing by Spirit Assault Team soldiers. Of course, under smooth circumstances, there’s no need for such extreme measures, Lilina’s trained fools come up with watertight fake data sets, these deception experts are a crucial part of the Battle Deception Department, at night they make up data and create public opinion online, by day they preach across various Voids, convincing the followers that the Life Goddess they follow is indeed intelligent...

Just don’t believe anything they say, just trust that their intentions aren’t too bad.

After paying my respects to the founder of Boundless Love, I then turned back to Ding Ling: "Let’s set out now, anyway, I’m free, I’ll personally go check out the coffin boards brought over back then... by the way, are you ready on your side?" 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Of course, just waiting for you to accept," Ding Ling stood up, "Also, it’d be best if Sandora could go too, some have seen the image activated by the projector in the relic, and your sister appeared on it... you know."

"Don’t worry, in situations like this..." I turned to look around the living room and found Sandora already standing, "She definitely won’t sit still: Sandora cares most about the Empire’s nonflammable garbage. By the way, where’s that relic located?"

"It’s under a copper mine in Sichuan Mountain Area," Lin Feng said, "We’ve prepared a special plane, we can reach by evening if we set out now."

"Do you think we need such an ancient mode of transportation," I snapped my fingers, "Come on, we have fast travel tools."

Lin Feng followed me to the courtyard excitedly: "Hey, are we taking a Teleportation Gate? Or simply riding a Spaceship over? Brother Chen, you really understand me, I love those high-tech gadgets, last time I had to beg and plead my sister before she reluctantly gave me a data terminal, she was saying she didn’t dare give me anything too Advanced, afraid I’d accidentally... uh, so we’re going by this?"

A group of us reached the courtyard, I casually summoned Royal Preferred Seven Trillion BMW Steed, while patting the rooftop I called out Ding Ling and Lin Feng: "Come on, you won’t find anything faster than this thing inside the atmosphere. Outside the atmosphere, too, you won’t find anything that flies faster."

"I somewhat understand why my sister often grumbles about your car," Lin Feng looked baffled, then a head full of black lines, nodding, "Driving this on the road, no traffic cop really catches you? How do you generally pass the toll booths driving it?"

I chuckled: "Don’t really drive it regularly, and although it’s a bit worn out, it’s still roadworthy, the car’s radar automatically scans a ten-kilometer radius to establish detour routes avoiding traffic police, it’s even easier at toll booths: just use Super Space-Time Transmission to skip over, finding concealed spots beforehand..."

Ding Ling covered her face: "...then why do you have to insist your engineers drag and knock this into a car shape? Just make it a Spaceship design and it’d fit perfectly!"

I gave it a thought and suddenly reacted: "A perfect fit, my driving this around the street for a stroll might have people take pictures and tweet they encountered performance art, but if I drive a Spaceship to the supermarket to buy eggs, do you think the crowd still have the heart to tweet?"

Lin Feng held my hand earnestly: "Brother Chen, don’t worry, even if the sky falls, they’d tweet it... you just try flying a Spaceship around the city center."

I: "..." This kid’s talk is getting deeper and deeper.

Once I opened the car door, I saw a black shadow flash by, turns out it was the little doll swiftly climbing in. She settled in the front passenger seat with a rightful attitude, upon seeing my stunned expression, she nonchalantly waved a hand: "Not taking me while fighting, now we’re just touring Earth, you must take me along, right?"

I poked her little head and said, "You better think carefully, there are outsiders present at the scene. You must pretend to be an SD doll in front of strangers, which means you can’t talk or move—can you handle that?"

In response, the little doll immediately pulled out a small tag from her collar and hung it outside: "See, I’m fully prepared."

I looked down and saw that it was actually an SD doll’s trademark... This girl is getting smarter! Too bad it’s growing in strange places.

Fortunately, the naughty kids and adults at home are generally more well-behaved this time, perhaps they’ve lost interest in rummaging through antiques. So, the little doll forcefully cut in line with her persistent stickiness, while the rest who accompanied us were Big Sister, Sandora, and Bingdisi: the latter’s the kind who would never miss any excitement, as long as it involves some lively action, her enthusiasm never wanes.

Once Lin Feng clarified the location, I activated the seven-trillion-dollar invisibility device, then the group of us flew supersonically through the stratosphere to our destination. In the sky, Ding Ling asked me once again, "Since you have an invisibility device, why not just take a spaceship?"

...It’s really hard to explain to someone who rarely goes to outer space what "spaceship phobia" is. I spend half my year on various spaceships, and now that I can finally have some leisure time on Earth, can’t I stay away from warships?

Finally, we arrived at a mountainous area far from any town. Surrounded by towering mountains and dense forests, at the foot of the mountains lay vast stretches of rocky beaches and undeveloped primitive land. Just looking at it, I could tell that there had been no human presence for at least decades. If it weren’t for the signs of excavation on the distant mountain rocks, I might have thought this place had never been developed by humans. We got off the vehicle, and Lin Feng was still a bit confused: "...That was really fast. Honestly, this is the first time in my life I’ve ever flown supersonically in a little car. Why am I thinking of ET?"

"You’ve got quite the imagination," Ding Ling said, pulling out her phone from her pocket casually. "There’s no signal here, but luckily there’s a base station set up on the mountain, so I can still make a call. I’ll notify the gatekeepers."

While Ding Ling contacted the Superpower Team’s staff, Sandora scanned the surroundings and then looked down at her feet: "Hmm, there is indeed a relic here, not very large, and the energy reaction is quite low. During the previous ’global sweep,’ it must have been listed as a safe facility and overlooked. By the way, the number of relics on this planet is way too many; it’s been years, and they still haven’t been cleaned up."

"Alright, everything’s set," Ding Ling finished her call, turned around, and beckoned everyone, "Come with me, there’s still a bit of a road ahead."

Following Ding Ling and Lin Feng, we headed up the mountain. Along the way, we learned how this Imperial relic was discovered.

There’s a copper mine in this mountain, abandoned for nearly fifty years, a relic of the old society. For an old mine, its depth is astonishing, and beneath the mine shaft, there are very deep vertical shafts and several fault lines (possibly caused by sudden cracks when mining back then), which made the mine quite dangerous. However, thanks to well-supported shafts and dense, dry local rock, the old mine didn’t collapse too severely (though there were still considerable collapses). There are several villages in the mountains, with villagers who know about the old mine. Occasionally, villagers collecting herbs or hunting in the mountains would take shelter near the entrance of the old mine during sudden rain or when it was too late to hurry home. Nevertheless, locals never ventured inside the mine shafts.

People passed down tales that a major accident had occurred in the old mine over fifty years ago, and the shafts have been haunted ever since. Back then, the mine’s roof collapsed, killing dozens of miners. With lagging technology, no one stood up for the miners who went below, hence the workers buried below were never dug out. Outsiders who entered the shaft recklessly would be taken away to substitute for the dead—these tales instilled fear towards the old copper mine among villagers in the nearby mountain villages, so nobody dared venture into the depths of the mine.

"It’s just a rumor actually," Ding Ling guided us on the rugged mountain road, appearing frail on the outside but not struggling at all through the rocky terrain, "We specifically investigated this mine’s history. It was closed because the deepest shaft kept cracking and sinking, and at its worst, the entire mine was going down, as if there was a giant void beneath the copper mine. The mine owner was worried it might lead to the underworld and ran away. No ghosts haunted this mine, but it’s indeed unsafe."

"How did you later discover there’s ’something’ below then?" Sandora, striding beside me, found the mountain path even less challenging for her, "Did villagers go inside?"

"Yes, a few herdsmen took shelter in the shaft during rains," Lin Feng explained, "Then they lost a sheep, believing it ran into the shaft, they boldly went in together to find it. Perhaps after years of continual collapses and deformations, they unearthed a sloping passage heading downwards. The ensuing discoveries are easily explained—a fiercely blue light awaited them at the passage’s end. Mistaking it for ’earthquake lights,’ the herdsmen reported it and, after a lot of backstage maneuvering, the incident ended up here in our hands. Anyway, it cost us some effort, but the matter is now fully under our jurisdiction. Oh, ahead there lies the mine shaft, already sealed off."

I looked up, and there lay the old copper mine abandoned for over half a century ahead. Nestled in the seams of stony mountains, it had three shaft openings, with two already collapsed, and the last one weathered and dilapidated: hard to think how locals found the courage to rest at the verge of a half-collapsed mine! Before the shafts lay a fairly flat gravel area, all other appendages of the mines like tracks and cables utterly vanished, only two sets of new isolation zones sealing the shaft entrance remained. A small group of onlookers, dressed in typical urban work attire—but evidently trained from their stance and behavior—guarded the isolation zone. More stealth sentries hid in the surrounding woodlands: they seemed quite invested in this peculiarly natured "alien base."

No need to go into detail about the handover process; for the Superpower Team—especially those under Ding Ling, Lin Feng, or Lin Xue’s command—handling affairs with "Boundless Love" was routine. Encountering alien bases, handing directly to experts was the surefire way. I and the others like Sandora didn’t interfere, just watched Lin Feng and Ding Ling managing the procedures and stepped in to flamboyantly sign our names when needed. The only small episode was a female staff member taking interest in the SD doll perched on my shoulder, her face alight with curiosity, "Bringing an SD doll on a business trip? That’s a pretty unique hobby you’ve got—how much did the doll cost?"

I slightly tilted my head to glance at Little Light, who pretended to be a doll, fixed in place, and only after a long moment of lip twitching was I able to reply, "Priceless."

The lady’s face displayed a peculiar expression, perhaps she’d never seen a man so fond of SD dolls that he’d bring them on business trips and carry them on the shoulder so boldly. But how could I explain this? Tell her it’s actually my daughter, and she prematurely arrived in this world over seven months early, hence at sixteen, she’s still this small...?

"Dummy, if you don’t shoo away this annoying human woman soon, I’ll jump up and give her a fright!"

Suddenly, Little Light’s threatening voice echoed in my mind, so I reluctantly held the little one in my arms, pretending to converse about life with the SD doll while swinging my arms and heading towards the mine shaft...

Inside, I found that the Superpower Team had made some simple arrangements within the mine shafts: temporary lighting devices were installed on the walls, and the distant hum of large ventilators was audible. The air within the shafts was thin, with accumulated harmful gases from years past, entering without fans was hazardous for ordinary people; not every Superpower Team staff member was a superhuman.

"Luckily, those villagers didn’t venture too far at the time," Lin Feng said while leading the way upfront, "Otherwise, mere suffocation could’ve been deadly. Most of the ventilation ducts are blocked, and even with high-tech and superpower assistance, it took days for us to clear this place up. Oh, up ahead is them..."

I raised my head and gazed forward, finding the deep, dark shaft indeed glowing blue from beneath.

Luckily, it was merely ordinary blue light—I guess if ghost energy had leaked, there’d have been casualties already! (To be continued. If you liked this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)