165: Searching for the "Constitution of the Human Federation"

Ten minutes later, city center statue.

Chelsea, leader of the 22nd Combat Squad, led his subordinates here, following the guidance of the local.

That's right. After conducting a field survey, the number of personnel in the assault team was reduced from a platoon down to a squad.

(Battalion - Company - Platoon - Squad)

(Not a three-three-three organization; personnel configuration for each unit is based on combat needs.)

After all, with over a hundred people in a platoon, numbers don't play a significant role when assaulting narrow areas—

Besides, it's not that they don't trust the locals, but at the very least, basic vigilance is necessary.

Even if the guide named Grimm passed five different lie detector tests, sending an entire platoon—enough to disrupt tactical deployment—to explore a completely unknown location would be an irrational approach.

By comparison, a squad is the most suitable unit—

"My lord, this is the place."

"Beneath the central statue lies another path to the Kingdom of God."

"He left behind a wisp of divine thought there, bestowing upon us the inexhaustible holy sand..."

Chelsea glanced at the Follower who was still chattering away and walked over.

This guy's energy seemed endless whenever he talked about their god; he hadn't stopped talking the entire way.

Chelsea just listened, neither impatient nor responding to him.

After jumping off the armored personnel carrier that transported them, Chelsea walked a few steps to the foot of the giant statue and looked up.

It was a person entwined by a python, holding a crudely made rifle in their hand.

"That is Lord Muldra. It was here that he defeated the venomous insects and the giant python, receiving the gaze of the lord of the sand sea..."

While listening to the rambling in his ear, Chelsea walked toward the base of the statue—there was a prominent large hole there.

Judging by the scattered stones around it, it had clearly been blasted open not long ago.

He raised his hand to interrupt the guiding Follower.

"That's enough."

"Mr. Grimm, the situation is urgent. Chatting with you is interesting, but clearing out the heretics here is the priority."

"You are responsible for guiding the way; we will be responsible for your safety."

As he spoke, he activated the internal circulation system of his powered armor and said over the command channel:

"Listen up, brothers. This mission is clear: there's a high chance we might accidentally die out there."

"So, I reiterate: if anyone wants to withdraw and stick with the main force, speak up now."

After a few seconds, the only response was a high-spirited war cry.

Seeing this reaction from the entire squad, he nodded with satisfaction and then ordered:

"Good! Activate internal circulation systems! Prepare for combat!"

Several drones were ejected into the air, propelled forward by plasma streams. The operator synchronizing with their visuals soon gave a thumbs up, signaling the passage was safe.

"Breach!"

The combatants wearing heavy powered armor raised their thick Boarding Shields, pushing forward.

Twenty men, weapons raised, formed two lines and began advancing toward the passage.

Soon, only the muffled sound of steel scraping against the ground remained in the air.

...

...

Meanwhile, below the collapse.

The effect of that earth-shattering explosion was incredibly good—even hundreds of times better than what the people who caused it had imagined.

The loss of some load-bearing support triggered a chain reaction. First, the collapse directly above caused the buildings above to fall, and then the debris from above crushed the next layer of load-bearing supports, causing the place to collapse layer by layer—

"Splash! Splash!"

The sound of large amounts of debris falling into water echoed.

Directly beneath the White Tower was a massive space, covered in bottomless groundwater.

Those yujin people who were still searching the basement hadn't even reacted to what was happening when an earth-shattering noise erupted beneath their feet, followed by a frantic fall—falling.

The sensation of weightlessness was intermittent, stopping only when the sound of water rang out.

The frigid spring water, carrying a bone-chilling cold, seeped into the gaps of their Exoskeletons, almost enough to suffocate any warm-blooded animal.

"Splash!"

After pressing the emergency release on his Exoskeleton, the yujin squad leader relied on bodily instinct to be the first to thrash out of the water.

That explosion just now had caught them completely off guard; a large number of personnel had accidentally snagged themselves on protruding steel bars while falling.

They were likely dead by now.

It was pitch black all around, without even a single light source. He raised the tactical flashlight he was gripping and turned it on.

A faint beam of light shone into the vast, dark environment, like a drop of milk falling into ink, instantly swallowed and assimilated.

"Hummmmm—"

Suddenly, a piercing roar rang out abruptly, startling him.

He subconsciously reached for his waist, and the empty sensation stunned him—his pistol had long since fallen into some unknown corner.

But soon, he discovered the source of the sound—

Pale blue lines were lighting up in the air one by one. They converged, outlining stunning geometric patterns.

Beneath those sharp angles, the mottled outer shell was slowly illuminated.

Even after ten thousand years of water submersion, it was only covered in a faint layer of corrosion marks.

Broken pipelines coiled high above, like the blood vessels of a giant beast, or like a coiling python.

They connected to the creation in the center—it seemed to be a massive operation tower.

The explosion just now seemed to have affected that tower; its top was also covered with a large amount of building debris.

Isn't this the ultimate weapon their general spoke of during his departure speech, the one that would allow them to rival the Empire and reclaim their promised land—that pre-era megastructure?

The yujin squad leader was shocked and stood stunned on the spot.

As his extremities began to go numb, he finally reacted and hurriedly swam toward the megastructure.

A distance of a dozen meters seemed to become the most insurmountable chasm of his life. Holding his breath, he scrambled up in a pathetic state, almost like a dying flash of brilliance.

"Huff—huff—huff—"

The squad leader climbed onto the outer shell, used his last ounce of strength to straighten his upper body, and crawled toward a wedge-shaped door ahead.

His consciousness was hazy, and he didn't know what he was thinking. He just kept crawling, as if entering that door held the hope of survival.

The door was still operational. Just as he crawled to the entrance, a blue light flashed—

"Beep! Appearance retrieval complete. Similarity to humans is over 98%. Entry permitted."

The door opened, revealing a bright white scene before his eyes.

Instantly, he miraculously felt a hint of warmth, followed by an even greater haziness—

He could only vaguely hear the cold mechanical voice continuing to announce:

"Bloodline verification failed. Retrieving 'Human Federation Constitution', 'Human Federation Genetic Protection Act'..."

"..."

He completely lost consciousness.

...

"Human Federation Constitution" Article 1: The supreme, excellent genes of humanity, evolved over hundreds of millions of years, shall never be tainted by any alien life form.

...