606: Chapter 61 Returning to Report

Dressed in only a single layer of thin clothing.

He stepped into the low-temperature operations room.

Inside was an absolute low temperature of minus twenty degrees.

In such an environment...

He had to connect tens of thousands of energy-conducting fibers thinner than a strand of hair.

The exoskeleton system could ward off the cold.

But it could not replace the precision operations of human hands.

His hands were very steady.

Four hours passed.

He walked out.

White frost hung from his eyebrows.

"Energy core, connection complete."

Simultaneously...

Other team members were assembling the "Ice Spider" robots and the "Earth Dragon" tunnel boring machines.

This was a massive undertaking.

It was like building a futuristic factory out of thin air on a high plateau.

An accident, however, still occurred.

A polar storm, more violent than the previous one, arrived unexpectedly.

Visibility dropped to zero.

Wind speeds exceeded sixty meters per second.

An alloy plate that was halfway through being hoisted had its cables snapped by the gale.

Like a giant razor blade...

It smashed down toward two team members working below.

The sound of the alarm was drowned out by the wind.

At the critical moment...

Shen Yan activated the exoskeleton on his body.

Power was instantly pushed to the maximum.

He rushed over.

A second before the alloy plate fell...

He pushed those two team members away.

The massive alloy plate smashed into the spot where he had just been standing.

A deep pit was smashed into the ground.

Everyone broke out in a cold sweat from the shock.

"All personnel, withdraw into the vehicles."

"Activate emergency protocols."

Shen Yan's voice reached everyone's ears through the communicators.

Calm, without a hint of emotion.

The storm lasted for two days.

Two days later...

The storm ceased.

Assembly work continued.

No one mentioned that harrowing scene again.

But, the way everyone looked at Shen Yan...

Contained something more.

It was awe.

It was absolute conviction.

A month later.

All equipment was assembled and calibrated.

One hundred and twenty "Ice Spider" robots were lined up neatly.

Like a steel legion waiting for inspection.

The "Kuafu" energy core emitted a steady hum.

In the center of the valley, a small futuristic factory rose from the ground.

Shen Yan stood before the main control console.

He pressed the start button.

Vroom—

All the machines started simultaneously.

The "Earth Dragon" boring machines began drilling underground.

The "Ice Spider" robots began laying electrodes and pipes.

A specially made catalytic solution was slowly injected underground.

On the screen...

The values representing energy output began to soar.

The giant dragon beneath the earth...

Was slowly being awakened.

Another three days passed.

At the outlet of the first transport pipeline...

A piece of dark red metal slowly appeared.

That was the first piece of Crystalline Copper directly electrolyzed from the underground mineral vein.

One cubic meter.

Weighing nine tons.

Purity, 99.9 percent.

Under the highland sun...

It reflected a dreamlike radiance.

A brand new era...

From this forbidden zone for life...

Had begun.

That piece of copper...

Lay quietly on the workbench of snow leopard no. 6.

The highland sunlight passed through the porthole...

And shone upon its surface.

It lacked the roughness of ordinary metal.

Every cross-section was as smooth as a mirror.

The internal crystals reflected a deep, dark red luster.

Like solidified magma...

Containing the most primitive power of the Earth.

Dr. Li and the team members gathered around.

Their breath formed white mist.

In their eyes was the witness of creating history.

This was not just a piece of copper.

This was a declaration.

A brand new industrial model...

Was born here.

Shen Yan did not immerse himself in this joy.

His brain was operating at high speed.

He looked at the constantly refreshing data stream on the main control console screen.

The "Kuafu" energy core's output power was stable at seventy percent.

All one hundred and twenty "Ice Spider" robots had entered the underground operation state.

The "Earth Dragon" boring machines were opening new transport pipelines at a speed of eight hundred meters per day.

Everything was running automatically according to the optimal solution of the shanhe system.

This was a system that could self-sustain and self-optimize.

But it needed a long-term framework.

Shen Yan opened his tablet.

He brought up a brand new plan.

Step one: personnel rotation system.

Dr. Li's team was hired by him.

They could not stay here forever.

Subsequent maintenance and supervision would be conducted by a special technical team jointly established by Future Technology and the state, with rotations once every three months.

Step two: security system handover.

The value here was immeasurable.

Relying solely on a twelve-man polar squad could not guarantee absolute safety.

Peripheral security work would be entirely handed over to the special unit sent by Old Zhou.

They would establish a permanent, military-grade exclusion zone outside the valley.

Step three: material transport routes.

The Whale transport aircraft from "Artisan" was an emergency solution.

Normalized transport required more stable channels.

Shen Yan's plan was to establish a drone transport corridor from Xilikoko to the inland industrial base.

Panshi Capital would fund the construction of two highland airports.

The technology company would provide heavy-duty drone technology.

Every day, over a thousand tons of Crystalline Copper would be transported out of this no-man's land.

Step four: establish data barriers.

All mining data would be computed on-site and physically isolated.

Only the final production results would be transmitted back in a one-way report.

The shanhe system's sub-system here would become an information black box.

Except for Shen Yan, no one could access its core code.

He handed over the permissions for the "Melting Pot Project" to Dr. Li.

Dr. Li would be the first rotating supervisor here.

"My work is finished."

Shen Yan's voice rang out in the control room.

He picked up a high-energy particle cutter.

On that nine-ton block of copper...

He cut off a cube with a side length of ten centimeters.

The cut was also as smooth as a mirror.

He placed this small cube into a portable, constant-temperature, constant-pressure metal box.

Then he turned around.

He walked toward the gulfstream g650 that had been parked outside the valley.

The propellers kicked up ice crystals from the ground.

The plane soared into the clouds.

Flying toward the lights of the civilized world.

Behind him...

That underground factory standing in the forbidden zone for life...

Was like a silent giant beast.

Beginning to pump the hottest blood for this country.

Three hours later.

The plane landed at an airport in the western suburbs of the capital that was not open to the public.

A black Hongqi sedan was already waiting on the tarmac.

Without any extra communication...

Shen Yan got into the car carrying the box.

The car drove into a garden complex that looked unremarkable from the outside.

Passing through layers of guard posts...

It finally stopped in front of a building named "Zhongyuan Pavilion."

Old Zhou's secretary, Xiao Lin, was waiting at the door.

He saw Shen Yan.

His eyes held a complex expression, a mix of curiosity and awe.

He knew this young man.

He also knew what he had gone to do.

But he didn't know the result.

"Old Zhou is in the study."