Chapter 495: Chapter 327: Geonavigator Descent II
Seeing Su Mo on the passenger seat, the soldier’s attitude became more respectful: "Director Su, I’ve heard a lot about you. How come you have time to personally transport goods today?"
Su Mo showed a friendly smile: "A big client ordered some valuable goods, and nothing can go wrong with this shipment. I happen to have some free time lately, so I decided to make the trip myself."
The soldier nodded, rubbing his hands with a smile: "Shall we follow protocol then? We’ll inspect and quickly clear it."
Su Mo joked, "No need for inspections. My client doesn’t like anyone unpacking before him. Wealthy people attach great importance to first impressions, you know."
The soldier scratched his face, a bit troubled, smiling apologetically: "Well... Director Su, we have a rule here to inspect every vehicle that passes through..."
Su Mo laughed nonchalantly, "Rules are dead, people are alive. Whether inspecting or not is just a matter of stamping a document. Unless you suspect I’m smuggling contraband at the Edge?"
The soldier quickly waved his hand: "No, no, absolutely not. Grand Captain Su’s reputation is vast, how could you be involved in smuggling?"
"That’s more like it, here, have a smoke." Su Mo handed a pack of cigarettes to the soldier.
The soldier instinctively took it, feeling a sudden weight, nearly dropping it.
He opened the cigarette box in a daze, finding the "cigarettes" inside wrapped not in tobacco, but in gold bars.
His gaze shifted multiple times as he tucked the cigarette box into his pocket, nodding and bowing to Su Mo with a smile: "I’ve inspected Grand Captain Su’s goods, no issues at all! Hey, you there, stamp the document and clear it, quickly, don’t delay the business."
Soon, the clearance document was stamped and respectfully handed over by the soldier, with the isolation door opening as well.
"Grand Captain Su, please."
Su Mo smiled at him, waved, and the transport vehicle started moving out of the rust wall.
Under the cover of night, the transport vehicle entered the Border District.
Though it was already nighttime, along the way many Border District residents could still be seen carrying large bags, walking together along the streets, their eyes full of exhaustion and confusion about the future.
Clearly, these were the people "frightened" by the wolf attacks, preparing to leave the Border.
Watching these displaced people, Su Mo couldn’t help but sigh.
Among these people, it’s uncertain how many will survive the impending catastrophe...
The transport vehicle steadily drove north, crossing mountain paths into the Northern Industrial Development Zone, reaching the location of the ten-thousand-meter deep drilling site.
This was the original storyline’s diving entry point and the place Su Mo chose, as the previous engineering team had already conducted drilling operations here, properly utilizing those tunnels saved a lot of time.
After the transport vehicle stopped, with a sound of pressure release, the rear hatch opened slowly, revealing the Earth Navigation Spaceship hidden inside.
Calling it a "spaceship," its size wasn’t as enormous as imagined, about as large as a bus, with a main body shaped like an oval sphere, its surface covered with smooth alloy armor and insulated coating emitting an ocean-like icy blue hue.
Its surface was filled with high-precision sensors, used for underground environmental detection and monitoring navigation routes. The small, exquisite cockpit not only had a navigation control panel but also life support and neutrino communication devices supporting cross-stratum communications.
This was the Future’s technological masterpiece, born from a month’s worth of modifications, meant to carry Su Mo to the unexplored depths of the Earth’s core by humanity, and it was also the key to the entire Beacon event.
With Chu Nanyi’s assistance, Su Mo used remote equipment to unload the Earth Navigation Spaceship from the transport vehicle, moving it into the depths of the mine’s underground entrance, then told him, "Go back, I’ll be departing."
Chu Nanyi shook hands with Su Mo, gave his back a firm pat, and said: "Captain, come back soon."
After saying farewell to Chu Nanyi, Su Mo slipped into the spaceship’s cabin, placed his hands on the control panel, and initiated this journey.
The spaceship first activated its hover mode, reaching the top of the ten-thousand-meter deep drilling hole, and began descending slowly.
The initial part of the journey was quite "lively."
Using searchlights, some small creatures inhabiting the area, like bats, could be seen hanging from the jagged rocks around the well wall, startled by the spaceship’s presence, flapping their wings and flying out of the opening.
As the descent continued, the opening connecting to the outside world became invisible, and traces of animal activity gradually vanished, replaced by glowing anaerobic moss, growing chaotically over the surrounding stone walls.
Further down, all signs of life completely disappeared, even the most resilient fungi and algae were gone.
Though the visuals didn’t allow a direct observation, the spaceship’s detection data indicated a depth of over three thousand meters underground, with temperatures already reaching several hundred degrees Celsius.
The neutrino communication platform connected to the Edge Mansion’s communication, with Future’s voice coming through: "Boss, you’ve entered the dry hot rock layer. The temperature data will become increasingly alarming, but don’t worry, the spaceship is sound."
Su Mo smiled slightly, "I trust your technology, no worries."
At this moment, only endless darkness lay above Su Mo, as well as endless darkness below, with the searchlights illuminating only a few meters around, seemingly like a lone boat sailing on a dark sea.
Over half an hour later, Su Mo finally reached the bottom of the drilling hole, the deepest layer position humans have reached so far.
Su Mo landed the spaceship on the rocky surface, switching the mode from hover to sailing.
Although this Earth Navigation Vehicle is called a "spaceship," it’s merely a metaphorical name; it can’t indeed fly through solid rock as if it were gaseous—that’s fantasy, beyond the realm of science.
In a sense, the Earth Navigation Spaceship is somewhat akin to a "mole," with its surface equipped with a rock-drilling set, allowing 360-degree free movement, crushing rock as easily as crushing cheese.
Rubble formed from crushed rock is captured by the spaceship’s absorption device, reverse released into another spatial area.
Thus, the spaceship completes spatial displacement between rock layers, achieving what’s known as "earth navigation."
Earlier, Su Mo was just hovering, descending along the colossal hole drilled by the City Council drilling team, and now, the true earth navigation is set to begin.
With drilling devices at full power, the spaceship seemed to "sink" into the rock layer like a stone thrown into water, initiating its descent through the layers.
The process is entirely automatic without requiring Su Mo to manipulate equipment levers, he only needed to set the spaceship’s "course" based on data returned by previous exploration equipment.
Unlike earlier hovering descent, earth navigation brought a very "closed" feeling.
No matter which camera perspective is opened, looking out from any angle yields only tightly packed rock layers reflecting searchlights, tightly enclosing from all sides, with nothing else in sight, making one feel like being buried alive.
Future’s voice sounded timely: "Boss, if you’re feeling uncomfortable, consider switching off the imaging equipment. At this point, there’s no need for visual observation; navigation equipment suffices."
Though Su Mo didn’t have claustrophobia, the feeling of being deeply buried was somewhat uncomfortable. Since close-rock layers were all he could see, with nothing to appreciate, he decided to turn off all imaging equipment.
Quickly, the cockpit sank into total darkness, with only surrounding indicator lights flashing faintly.
Su Mo watched the mottled colors in the darkness, suddenly laughing: "This feeling is somewhat like watching stars at night."
Future chuckled: "You have a great attitude. You’re over ten thousand meters underground right now. With every meter you descend, you’re breaking human exploration records... thinking about it is quite thrilling."
"Haha, you’re already excited? That’s a bit soon." Su Mo rested with his wrist, laying back to look at the star-like indicator lights, his voice turning deep.
"Future, let me ask you, do you believe in life forms in another state existing in this world?"
