221: Chapter 221 Abnormal Gravitational Field

The convoy's speed was not very fast, as they needed to feel their way along, and whenever they passed large craters, they had to replan their route.

On the way, Chu Ge leaned out to take a look behind him; the dust kicked up by the tracks splashed to both sides like a waterfall, forming neat, parabolic arcs.

This was the effect of low gravity; the trajectories of objects would follow the direction of the applied force and fall in parabolas.

Moreover, most of the dust kicked up was lunar regolith. If this were on Earth, it would have been flying everywhere, blotting out the sky and burying the convoy in darkness.

"The rear vehicle teams, pay attention to placing road markers on both sides. With all this winding and turning, our tracks are already a mess. Placing markers will make it easier for us to travel back and forth later."

Chu Ge suddenly remembered this matter.

"Yes, Academician Chu. The road markers will be automatically deployed by the last engineering vehicle."

The team member's reply came through the communicator in his helmet.

According to previous model data, that anomalous area was directly above where the aerospace carrier had landed, closer to the center of the Aitken Basin.

It was about 19 kilometers away from their starting point.

This distance was quite close, and one of the reasons Chu Ge had chosen the landing site was precisely because of this mysterious area.

After driving for nearly two hours, Chu Ge and his team finally arrived at their destination.

Chu Ge looked out; the altitude here was noticeably lower, giving the impression of a depression.

The convoy spread out, encircling the massive depression.

Chu Ge, Captain Gong, and the others stepped out of their vehicles and walked onto the soft slope, looking deep into the depression.

The crater was vast, stretching beyond the horizon, and in the distance, things were hazy and unclear.

This slope seemed to be the rim of an impact crater.

Chu Ge bent down and crouched, carefully examining the surrounding lunar regolith.

There seemed to be something in the thick layer of regolith; without hesitation, Chu Ge tried to feel around for it.

Through the fine, soft regolith, Chu Ge felt a hard stone and quickly pulled it out.

Within the gray texture of the stone, there was something emitting a green glow. Chu Ge tried holding it up to face the sunlight.

This green area was quite translucent.

"Olivine?" Chu Ge muttered to himself.

"Could it be an emerald?" Captain Gong leaned over and said, somewhat cluelessly.

"Unlikely. The biggest difference between the two is that olivine contains black spots, which are natural volcanic rock particles formed during volcanic eruptions or created over long periods of high temperature and pressure deep beneath the surface."

"Look, this green area has many black spots."

Captain Gong looked closely and nodded at Chu Ge.

"This stone has a hint of yellow within the green, which matches the characteristics of reactions between iron and magnesium elements under high temperatures."

Chu Ge drew his conclusion, then put the rock into a storage bag; this sample was worth studying.

"Academician Chu, do you feel that this place is any different from other parts of the Moon?"

"???" Chu Ge shook his head.

"Try walking a few steps."

Chu Ge was confused, but he still walked a few steps to the side, then suddenly stopped.

"The gravitational effect here is clearly higher than in other places!"

Chu Ge immediately sensed the anomaly. He tried walking further, and the floating sensation he had experienced while walking on the Moon previously disappeared...

"Well, this is getting interesting." Chu Ge looked at the others and laughed.

Several lunar geologists gathered around; evidently, they had also discovered this peculiar phenomenon.

"Academician Chu, we suspect there is an object with extremely high density and mass underground in this area; otherwise, such a noticeable gravitational effect wouldn't be produced."

Chu Ge nodded; he had been suspecting the same thing.

"There is one more point that you have all overlooked!"

"We previously probed this area repeatedly via satellite and found that it could block signals, yet now we are able to communicate freely!"

Chu Ge voiced another point that puzzled him.

The experts nodded one after another after hearing this, then looked at each other with confusion.

"It seems there are quite a few secrets here. Engineer Yu, arrange for everyone to set up the detection instruments. Captain Gong, get the drilling team to take a tour and see where the slope is gentlest, then clear a path."

"We'll go down and drill a few holes to see what exactly is buried underground!"

"Yes, Academician Chu!" The group replied in unison and scattered to get to work.

Just as Chu Ge was about to observe the surrounding terrain features, a behemoth suddenly floated down from the sky.

[Soul Blade] had arrived. It flew directly over Chu Ge and the others and slowly descended to the bottom of the depression; the drop of this depression was far less than the height of [Soul Blade].

Therefore, Chu Ge and his team still had to look up at [Soul Blade].

[General Chu, I have been ordered to stay by your side at all times.]

"Commander Wang sent you, didn't he? Why are you alone? Where are the other two little guys?" Chu Ge replied.

[It is not Commander Wang, but the highest command of the military.]

[The other Mecha Warriors are guarding the aerospace carrier.]

[There is one more order for you, General Chu. The military orders that while operating in this area, you must not take risks; safety is the highest priority!]

[When necessary, Captain Gong knows what to do!]

[Soul Blade] said, turning its head to look at Captain Gong.

"Yes! Gong Liang understands!" Captain Gong saluted directly.

Chu Ge, seeing the two of them playing along, had no choice but to salute in acceptance of the order.

"Since you're here, Soul Blade, go take a flight and see how large this anomalous area is—I'm referring to the gravitational anomaly area."

[Yes, General Chu.]

After saying this, [Soul Blade] immediately activated its flight apparatus, adjusted its posture slightly, and then flew rapidly into the distance, quickly disappearing from sight.

At the bottom of the massive depression, Engineer Yu and his team had already descended and were currently scattered in several locations, setting up detection equipment. Chu Ge watched for a while before walking toward the construction convoy.

"Academician Chu, the slope here is manageable. If we clear away the regolith, it should be very easy to come back up in a while."

The exploration team leader introduced this to Chu Ge when he approached. Chu Ge walked around the area and tried walking down a bit; feeling that the regolith layer was not too thick, he agreed with the exploration team's suggestion.

Seeing Chu Ge nod, the leader signaled his teammates to start the machines, preparing to clear a temporary path.

"Everyone, be careful," Chu Ge instructed.

"Don't worry, Academician Chu. We are all veterans, haha," the leader replied with a smile.

The exploration team members immediately got to work. They were full of energy and coordinated with each other, quickly paving a temporary road down the slope.

Since they were all tracked engineering vehicles, once the regolith was cleared away, going up and down the slope posed little difficulty.

They were about to start drilling in the most mysterious place on the Moon.

No one knew what good things they might drill up, and everyone was full of curiosity. After leaving helpers behind, the rest of the crew ran down.

Exploration team leader Wang Lin directed the movement of the two heavy drilling rigs down, followed by various auxiliary equipment of all sizes.

"Academician Chu, where should we drill?"

"Wait a moment. You all set up the machinery first. As for the specific location, we need to wait for the detection data from Engineer Yu and his team."

Wang Lin nodded and went to direct his teammates to make the final preparations according to Chu Ge's arrangements...