906: Chapter 91 Cutting-Edge Technology?

Shen Yan casually replied, offering no further explanation.

The convoy continued moving forward.

An hour later, they finally arrived at their destination.

The ruins of the Kola Superdeep Borehole Laboratory.

It looked like a giant's graveyard.

The collapsed drilling derrick resembled a massive, rusted skeleton, half-buried in the snow.

That famous, welded-shut metal manhole cover stood alone in the center of the ruins.

The rusted characters '12262' on it spoke of humanity's past madness.

"We're here."

Shen Yan put on his gear, pushed open the car door, and jumped out.

The biting cold wind instantly sliced at his face like a knife.

Old K, along with eight fully armed security personnel, quickly spread out, securing the surrounding high ground.

Liu Xing, clutching his instrument, trudged toward the metal manhole cover.

He took out something resembling a Geiger counter and frantically scanned the surroundings.

"No... it's not in the well."

Liu Xing stared at the waveform on the instrument, his brow tightly furrowed.

"The signal source is... it's over there!"

He pointed toward an inconspicuous concrete structure on the west side of the ruins.

That used to be the laboratory's power distribution room.

"That's the entrance?"

Chen Guangke looked at the half-collapsed building, his face filled with disbelief.

"That broken shack looks like it's about to collapse. Can something that can change the world really be hidden inside?"

Shen Yan didn't speak, merely strode over.

On the system map, a golden light spot was flashing wildly at that location.

That was the call of the final piece of the 'titan Project' puzzle.

The group arrived inside the power distribution room.

It was filled with scattered blueprints and rusted instrument parts.

A yellowed portrait of Lenin still hung on the wall.

"Find the basement entrance."

Shen Yan commanded.

Several security personnel immediately started clearing the snow and debris from the floor.

Five minutes later, a massive lead floor panel was revealed.

It had no handle, only a complex mechanical combination dial.

"This is a dual-encryption lock from the Soviet era."

Liu Xing leaned in to take a look, pushing up his fogged-up glasses.

"Brute-forcing it would take at least three days, and it's very easy to trigger the self-destruct mechanism."

"It won't take three days."

Shen Yan walked forward.

He placed his hand on the cold combination dial.

The system panel popped up again.

[Detecting 'titan Project' B-grade encryption lock.]

[Consume three units of advanced wealth intelligence to crack?]

[Yes.]

Shen Yan's fingers began to rapidly turn the dial.

Click.

Click.

Each turn was incredibly precise, as if he wasn't handling an unknown combination, but the key to his own front door.

Chen Guangke, watching from behind, nearly popped his eyeballs out.

"Brother Yan's hand speed... you can't even train that much after thirty years of being single, right?"

With a final, crisp metallic thud.

The heavy lead panel slowly slid open to both sides.

Air that had been stagnant for twenty years rushed up from below.

The smell was a mixture of engine oil, ozone, and an indescribable metallic rust.

A deep staircase extended into the darkness below.

"Turn on the tactical flashlights."

Old K waved his hand, and several strong beams instantly pierced the subterranean darkness.

Shen Yan took the lead and descended.

This was hardly the basement of a power distribution room.

It was practically a small underground fortress.

Walking down the stairs for about fifty meters, the view suddenly opened up.

It was an underground hall the size of a basketball court.

Two rows of massive computer cabinets were neatly arranged, like two rows of silent soldiers.

Although covered in dust, one could still discern the industrial aesthetic of the former Soviet Union's state-led system.

Thick cables, like blood vessels, all converged in the center of the hall.

There, stood a black metal cube.

It was not rusted; its surface was even reflective.

A special alloy material had kept it completely intact over twenty years.

"This is... the remains of titan."

Liu Xing's voice echoed in the empty hall, tinged with a reverent tremor.

He lunged forward like a lecher seeing a peerless beauty.

He pulled out various cables from his backpack, trying to find an interface.

"Don't touch anything."

Shen Yan suddenly spoke, stopping him.

"This thing has independent power. Plugging in rashly will burn the data."

Shen Yan walked up to the black cube.

He could feel the system generating a strange resonance with the cube.

[Detecting 'titan one' original core database.]

[Data integrity: 87%]

[Modules included: Emotion Simulation Logic, Chaos Algorithm, Creative Thought Model.]

This was the part he was missing.

The current 'titan one,' despite its immense computing power, was ultimately just a sophisticated calculator.

With this, the AI would no longer be a tool.

But a truly intelligent life form.

"Guang Ke, bring over the liquid nitrogen tank."

Shen Yan instructed.

"Once this thing starts up, the heat generation will be terrifying."

Although Chen Guangke didn't understand the technology, he was excellent at manual labor.

He and two bodyguards grunted as they hauled over the pre-prepared liquid nitrogen tank.

Liu Xing carefully connected the cooling tube to the cube's heat dissipation port.

"Boss, I'm starting to guide the data."

Liu Xing's fingers flew across the keyboard.

The screen, which had been dead black, suddenly displayed a waterfall of green code.

Vroom--!

A deep rumble suddenly echoed through the underground hall.

It was the sound of hard drives, dormant for twenty years, beginning to spin again.

The long-abandoned fluorescent tubes overhead flickered a few times, emitting a pale white light.

The entire underground base seemed to come alive.

"The data flow is too large!"

Liu Xing shouted, the sweat beads on his forehead freezing into ice crystals as soon as they appeared.

"Our storage devices might not be enough!"

"Direct satellite link."

Shen Yan calmly ordered.

"Transmit it directly back to the Shenyan Group headquarters server in Jinghai City."

"But... the signal here is shielded!"

Liu Xing pointed to the red 'No Signal' icon on the screen.

The rock layers here were too thick, compounded by special shielding materials, making it impossible for ordinary satellite signals to penetrate.

Shen Yan frowned.

This was indeed a problem.

Did he have to move this multi-ton hunk of metal back?

Unrealistic.

Just then, the system prompted him again.

[Detecting Host's predicament.]

[Recommended item usage: Quantum Communication Relay (One-time use).]

[Price: Ten million US dollars.]

[Purchase?]

So greedy.

Shen Yan cursed internally, but his hands showed no hesitation.

"Confirm purchase."

The next second, a small object resembling a USB drive appeared in his pocket.

Shen Yan unobtrusively plugged the small item into Liu Xing's computer port.

"Try again."

Liu Xing paused for a moment, then pressed the Enter key.

The red warning on the screen instantly turned into a green 'Connected'.

The transmission speed was even astonishingly fast.

"Holy crap... what kind of black technology is this?"