NOVEL NEXT Chapter 266: Living Metal
"What do you mean it's alive?"
Huang Meng swiftly jumped off the tank and crouched beside Jin Zhong.
At this moment, Jin Zhong had already picked up a handful of silvery metallic powder from the ground, spreading it on his palm.
"Is there anything wrong?"
Huang Meng watched Jin Zhong's actions in puzzlement, but Jin Zhong didn't respond, merely using his finger to gently stir the powder.
Soon, a peculiar phenomenon began to unfold.
The scattered powder at a farther distance remained unchanged.
But those that were relatively closer began to slowly move, drawing closer to each other.
Huang Meng stared in disbelief at the changes in the powder, and shortly after, a tiny metallic sphere formed in Jin Zhong's hand.
A silver-gray, smooth, and rounded metallic sphere.
Although the sphere was quite small, as Jin Zhong rolled it around in his hand, it quickly attracted the rest of the powder, causing its size to gradually expand.
"This is..."
Huang Meng reached over and took a sesame-sized metallic ball from Jin Zhong's hand, frowning as he asked:
"Some kind of magnetic powder?"
"Not quite."
Jin Zhong shook his head slowly.
"If it were magnetic powder, it should attract metallic objects."
"But look..."
Jin Zhong drew out a dagger and moved it close to the metallic sphere, which showed no reaction whatsoever.
"Not a magnet."
"Then what is it?"
Huang Meng tentatively pinched the metallic ball and then said:
"It's very hard—earlier it was clearly in a powder form, but now it seems to be fully fused?"
"Very heavy...small, but you can distinctly feel its weight."
"Give it a try."
He said as he handed the metallic ball back to Jin Zhong.
Jin Zhong weighed it a few times, frowning as he said:
"It seems heavier than gold."
"How do you know?"
Huang Meng asked in astonishment:
"Can you even feel that? Is it some special ability?"
Jin Zhong smiled awkwardly, answering:
"The Mechanical God Sect used to distribute stipends directly in gold, so we're quite sensitive to weight...but that's not the point."
"I've never heard of anything heavier than gold."
"Did you hear about such a thing during your studies?"
"No."
Huang Meng answered without hesitation.
He had already completed basic chemistry courses and grasped some elementary theories and knowledge.
"It's not that no elements are heavier than gold, it's just that an element heavier than gold wouldn't exist in this form."
"It might be a new element...but where does it come from?"
"Is it related to the disaster preparation works beneath the Shen City ruins?"
"Or perhaps, related to the Cataclysm?"
Huang Meng raised several questions in a row, to which Jin Zhong had no answers.
After a moment of contemplation, he spoke:
"Focusing on this is pointless—the object has gone beyond our ability to explain."
"Take it back to the commander, maybe they'll have answers."
"We must set off for the Shen City disaster preparedness base as soon as possible."
"Not much time left, we've been away from Base 011 for too long, we need to return quickly."
"Understood."
Huang Meng nodded, swiftly returning to the tank.
Though nominally in a superior-subordinate relationship with Jin Zhong, Jin Zhong's extensive combat and battlefield experience proved extraordinarily valuable to this Penetration Company.
Thus, he wasn't opposed to Jin Zhong's suggestion.
The squad continued its advance, guided by drones, even without support from inertial navigation positioning; they still navigated the ruins by the shortest route, directly penetrating the area where the subsurface disaster preparation works were located.
"Right here."
Huang Meng pointed to the ground, simultaneously glancing at the portable altimeter.
"The altitude doesn't match...the elevation here is 6.4 meters, but according to Fu Xi's information, the entrance to the disaster preparation works should be on flat ground less than 3 meters above sea level."
"The base's entrance is completely covered...Fu Xi!"
Huang Meng called out, transmitting information via cellular network, with Fu Xi's response coming swiftly.
"I'm here, go ahead."
"Can you access the Shen City subsurface disaster preparation works network?"
"Unable to access."
Fu Xi answered again:
"No abnormal electromagnetic signals detected around the works, inferred to potentially be damaged and incapacitated."
"Recommend organizing excavation on-site, evaluate further once the main passage is uncovered."
"Understood."
Huang Meng exhaled deeply.
A 3-meter deep layer of piled soil is neither too deep nor too shallow.
If they had to dig by hand, it certainly wouldn't be an easy task.
Fortunately, this squad came prepared for the disaster base.
In addition to necessary combat equipment, they also carried an octopus-style multifunctional excavator.
Huang Meng decisively issued orders, and the operator immediately started the excavator from the trailer, initiating the tense excavation task.
The rest of the squad spread out around the excavation site establishing vigilance, while Huang Meng and Jin Zhong remained on guard beside the excavation site, keeping a close watch on the loose soil being thrown up.
"The deeper we go, the higher the concentration of this metallic powder."
Jin Zhong said in a deep voice:
"The surface layer of the soil barely has any powder, just a thin layer."
"But now, digging deeper than one meter, even the color of the soil has changed."
"Silver-gray...are you serious?"
"Even if this belongs to a metallic mineral, how could there be so much of it?"
"In terms of mineral wealth, this would count as an unprecedentedly rich mine, wouldn't it?"
"Indeed."
Huang Meng's expression grew serious, realizing that what his team had discovered might just hold greater value than the subsurface disaster preparation works themselves.
Strange metal, unusual enrichment methods...