Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Descent into the Amundsen Basin

"It’s the weekend, why are you still working? Come shopping for clothes with me this afternoon, okay?" The young nurse hadn’t given up yet.

Shen Feng said with a grin, "Not today. I have to go save the world."

With that, he and Da Jinzi headed out the door.

"All you do is spout nonsense..." the young nurse muttered, pouting.

’It’s so hard to snag a pretty boy!’

A dog walker without a leash is a dog walked by a dog.

Although Da Jinzi wouldn’t attack anyone without Shen Feng’s command, other people didn’t know that.

A dog of his size could easily scare people.

So Shen Feng simply put a collar on the golden retriever and headed home with him.

After a period of good care, Da Jinzi’s appearance was magnificent. His golden fur flowed in the wind, drawing stares from passersby.

The golden retriever was clearly happy to be in this world full of humans. After all, this was the world he was most familiar with from his memories. His mouth was open as he looked all around, eyes full of curiosity.

However, whenever they encountered other dogs on the road, Da Jinzi would immediately adopt a fighting stance. A slight baring of his teeth and a low growl were enough to send the other dogs scrambling in terror.

Along the way, whether they were pets or strays, even the feral cats that ruled the alleyways—they all cowered before Da Jinzi.

It was a warning from their biological instincts, telling them not to act rashly in front of this golden retriever.

Da Jinzi, for his part, held his head high and chest out, looking every bit the king.

Shen Feng ruffled the fur on Da Jinzi’s head and chuckled, "Look at you, getting all cocky."

The man and his dog returned to the rented apartment. Shen Feng took off Da Jinzi’s collar, and the dog immediately did a happy lap around the room as if he were already familiar with the place.

After circling Ji Jiuyun’s stone statue a few more times, Da Jinzi obediently lay down at Shen Feng’s feet.

Shen Feng opened his laptop and found the news article from earlier.

The baptism by fire of the Petrification Disease virus had left the upper echelons of both nations somewhat fearful of the stone statue ruins. But now that there was a vaccine, things were comparatively much safer.

Furthermore, a virus as strange and powerful as the one that caused Petrification Disease only highlighted the mysterious nature of those stone statue ruins.

The thought that such a place lay beneath the Arctic Ice Sheet made many people anxious and sleepless.

If there truly were any hidden dangers, it was better to find them and keep them under control. Only then could they rest easy.

Unlike the last time, which was marked by secrecy and sneaking around, the experience with the Petrification Disease epidemic and the subsequent development of a vaccine had actually brought the major powers’ views on developing the ruins into alignment.

Set aside disputes, develop together.

After all, if there were benefits, they could be shared. If there were landmines, they could bear the burden together.

Of course, none of this was reported in the news. This was all internal information Shen Feng had acquired by hacking into the agencies of several major nations involved in Arctic development.

For Shen Feng, this was actually a good thing. It meant he wouldn’t have to go to the Arctic to investigate in person.

Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known what to do for a while.

This time, in addition to Hua Country and Eagle Country, a total of ten Arctic-related nations participated in the exploration and development work.

The ten nations jointly signed a "Ten Nations Agreement" regarding the development of the stone statue ruins and formed a massive expedition team of nearly a thousand people.

They had five icebreakers alone, plus all sorts of other equipment, and set off for the Arctic in a grand procession.

At the same time, having learned their lesson from before, this exploration and development was a top-secret operation. A security cordon was established around the development area, and no unauthorized personnel were allowed to approach.

A massive biological isolation chamber was built directly over the large hole leading under the ice sheet to constantly monitor the situation inside.

Any personnel who entered had to undergo strict decontamination procedures before they could come out.

And any items brought up from the ruins had to be placed in the isolation chamber first and could only be removed after rigorous inspection confirmed they were safe.

With the state machinery of several countries running simultaneously, the energy generated was immense. In just a few days, a base large enough to accommodate several hundred people had been built at the site of the prehistoric stone statue ruins in the Arctic.

The former blockade was lifted, and the scientific expedition began once more.

Even the thirteen heroes who had jointly developed the Petrification Disease Vaccine did not try to stop this.

They also understood that, given human nature, re-exploring the ruins was only a matter of time. It was better to take advantage of the current momentum and concentration of resources to figure out what this thing was once and for all.

At the thirty-meter-diameter entrance in the ice sheet, cranes were in operation, lowering a spherical submersible into the icy water dozens of meters below.

The Hidden Dragon 9, a Ten Thousand Meter Level manned submersible.

There were already four expedition members inside the submersible, hailing from three different countries.

Two from Hua Country, one from Eagle Country, and one from Bear Country.

As a member of the Ice Dragon Expedition Team, Kong Yan was extremely excited.

He had been infected with Petrification Disease before, though it was a mild case. When he was diagnosed, he fell into despair and had already written a farewell letter to his family. Who would have thought that after a few shots of the vaccine, he would be back on his feet, alive and kicking?

As soon as he recovered, he immediately applied to join the reopened ruin exploration and became one of the first team members to dive again.

Fate works in mysterious ways. To think he could once again participate in an event that would go down in history—it felt like a dream.

"Old Kong, don’t get too excited. You need to keep a steady hand in a bit," his deputy captain, Jiang Bing, reminded him.

Kong Yan smiled. "Don’t worry, Captain Jiang. I’m just operating a camera."

This was the first dive since the expedition resumed, so its symbolic significance outweighed its practical purpose. It was mainly a way for the three major powers to silently hint at their sovereignty over the ruins.

Therefore, there wasn’t much scientific work involved; it was mostly just recording data and taking photos and videos.

The two expedition members from Eagle Country and Bear Country, Ivan and Joe, also gave Kong Yan a friendly smile, appearing quite amiable.

After all, once they were down there, the four of them would have to rely on each other to survive.

"Commencing descent," Jiang Bing, the leader of the four-man team, said over the radio.

Several giant crane arms began to release their cables.

The submersible shuddered slightly, slowly passed through the ten-plus-meter-thick layer of ice, and submerged into the water, descending toward the dark depths of the sea.

At first, there was still a faint glimmer of light filtering down from above, but soon it was pitch black, and nothing was visible.

The searchlights positioned around the submersible suddenly lit up. The beams of light pierced through the brine, transforming into sharp swords under the Tyndall effect, slicing open the darkness of the seabed.

Occasionally, fish and shrimp swam by. There was still life here.

But as they descended further, the surroundings became empty.

There was only a vast, ancient darkness. Though the searchlights illuminated a small patch, the distance remained a silent black.

The four people inside the submersible chatted in low voices, trying to shake off the fear of facing something so vast, silent, and unknown.

The stone statue ruins were located in the Amundsen Basin, the world’s highest-latitude sea basin, with a maximum depth of 4,665 meters.

The stone statue ruins, however, were not that deep.

As they descended past 3,200 meters, the detector suddenly buzzed.

Kong Yan immediately swiveled the searchlights and camera.

A dilapidated cluster of buildings appeared on the monitor screen. They were shaped like the buildings of a modern city, but they were in a state of ruin, some covered in traces of marine life.

Sweeping the view downward, a field of human figures immediately came into view.

A dense crowd of human figures.