249: Chapter 249 Mining with bare hands at 10,000 meters

"Received, brothers, the hatch is open, follow me out and tear the rocks apart by hand!"

The heavy airtight door on the outermost layer of the decompression chamber slid open amidst the roar of hydraulic pumps, and boiling seawater, mixed with the terrifying water pressure of the ten-thousand-meter-deep sea, rushed in instantly.

Da Biao was the first to rush out, bracing against the extreme pressure.

Behind him, the first batch of fifty fully armed Death Squad Soldiers followed closely, wearing the newly manufactured special titanium alloy pressure-resistant Exoskeleton, and using the thrust from the submarine's high-pressure catapults, they dove straight toward the volcano crater below.

The surrounding seawater was already boiling completely, and large chunks of magma gushed out from the seabed fissures, instantly cooling into black volcanic rock upon contact with seawater, only to be crushed by the violent crustal stress behind them; massive amounts of bubbles and volcanic ash reduced visibility to the lowest level.

"Old Wei, turn the searchlights to the maximum setting!"

Da Biao roared in the helmet communication channel.

Jiangcheng Underground Level 3 control room.

Wei Jianguo tapped on the console with both hands, his eyes fixed intently on the underwater infrared spectrum on the holographic screen.

"Light sources are fully on, the spectrum is locked fifty meters directly below you; that dark golden rock wall is the Extreme Pressure Soft Gold vein."

Wei Jianguo's voice was hoarse, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing.

"How much time is left."

Lu Chen bit on an unlit cigarette, leaning against the corner of the table.

"Thirteen minutes, water temperature is 130 degrees and still rising; the environment below will soon be out of control."

"Not enough, tell them to hurry up."

Lu Chen's voice was extremely cold.

Ten-thousand-meter-deep sea.

Da Biao slammed heavily onto the dark golden rock wall, the Exoskeleton's gravity anchor under his feet wedging firmly into the rock.

Surrounded by rolling red magma undercurrents.

Da Biao reached out and touched the piece of Extreme Pressure Soft Gold ore emitting a faint golden light; the stone was half-embedded in the hard volcanic basalt, and he couldn't find any gaps to gain leverage.

No mechanical drills, no micro-blasting devices.

"Brothers, the boss wants this pile of junk rocks, let's get to work."

Da Biao roared, and the Exoskeleton's power engine instantly pulled into an overload state at the red line.

He didn't care about any mining techniques; his dark cyan hands' ten fingers plunged directly into the basalt, and the finger bones produced a harsh physical friction sound against the high-density rock layer.

Muscles expanded.

Veins bulged.

A loud cracking sound.

Relying solely on his inhuman, genetically-enhanced strength, Da Biao ripped a piece of dark golden ore a full half-meter wide, along with the surrounding rock base, right off.

He casually threw the ore into the specially-made titanium alloy high-elastic net bag on his back.

"Holy..."

In the control room, Wei Jianguo looked at the transmitted stress analysis data, his expression completely frozen.

"Boss, this... this doesn't conform to common mechanical knowledge, that rock's hardness is twice that of granite, his, his strength..."

Lu Chen didn't even look at him.

"They've been drugged; they count as half-monsters now, why make such a fuss."

On the deep-sea vein, the fifty Death Squad Soldiers completely fell into a fanatical state.

They used pure brute force, crazily smashing the surrounding rock layers with their fists, pulling out the Extreme Pressure Soft Gold ore piece by piece and stuffing it into the net bags.

"Da Biao, at two o'clock, upper left, there is a piece of high-purity mother ore."

Wu Dong cut into the channel, his fingers dancing on the keyboard.

Da Biao looked up.

That mother ore was the size of a millstone, growing right on the edge of a fissure spewing magma.

"037, go get it down."

Da Biao gave the order.

Death Squad Soldier No. 037 received the order, his legs exerting force violently, and he lunged straight toward the fissure against the boiling water current.

Just at the moment he was about to grab the mother ore.

The seabed fault suddenly erupted with a violent geological tremor.

The fissure tore open instantly, and a thick stream of bright red magma gushed out, directly grazing the left side of 037's body.

Sizzle.

The high-temperature resistant coating of the high-strength titanium alloy Exoskeleton instantly carbonized, the left arm's metal armor melted into molten iron under the high heat, exposing the dark cyan flesh underneath.

"Retreat!"

Zhang Qiang saw this scene in the submarine's main control room and roared anxiously.

037 didn't retreat at all.

He didn't even pause, completely ignoring the intense pain from the high heat caused by the melting metal on his left arm.

His right arm's power engine fired, his whole body plunged directly into the extremely high-temperature zone, and his dark cyan right hand firmly gripped the edge of the millstone-sized mother ore.

His left knee pressed against the boiling rock wall, and he exerted force from his waist.

A muffled boom.

The high-purity Extreme Pressure Soft Gold mother ore was ripped right out of the edge of the magma pool by him.

037 carried the heavy ore with one hand, stomped hard on the rock wall with his right foot, used the leverage to escape the high-temperature zone, landed steadily beside the titanium alloy net bag, and stuffed the mother ore inside.

The dark cyan skin and flesh on his left arm had been scorched black and curled by the magma, but he didn't even frown, turned around, and continued walking toward the next piece of ore.

"Holy, he really is a madman."

Wu Dong gasped in the control room, his hands trembling slightly.

"Well done, go find Old Wei for an extra meal when you get back."

Da Biao grinned in the channel.

Wei Jianguo stared intently at the red line jumping crazily on the screen.

"Three-minute countdown, water temperature 180 degrees, Boss, the volcano crater is about to explode completely!"

Wei Jianguo turned his head and shouted at Lu Chen.

"Weigh it."

Lu Chen spat out two words.

"Net bag load reading is fifty-two tons, the target quota has been exceeded."

Zhang Qiang reported quickly in the communication channel.

Lu Chen picked up the red walkie-talkie and pressed the talk button.

"Time's up, take the stuff, everyone back to the cabin, don't delay for even a second."

On the seabed vein.

"Work's done, cut the external load-bearing anchor cables!"

Da Biao gave the order.

The fifty Death Squad Soldiers gave up the remaining ore in front of them without hesitation, and everyone, dragging the super net bag filled with over fifty tons of Extreme Pressure Soft Gold, used the maximum thrust of the Exoskeleton to shoot back rapidly into the decompression chamber of the viper submarine.

A loud clanging sound.

The airtight door on the outermost side of the decompression chamber closed tightly.

"Everyone is in, high-pressure water tank evacuation started."

Zhang Qiang was sweating profusely, his hands pulling the joysticks violently on the console.

The tail nuclear fusion engines of the three viper nuclear submarines instantly erupted with blinding blue light.

Braving the intense water pressure, the submarines pointed their bows upward and shot vertically toward the sea surface at a ninety-degree angle.

Just less than thirty seconds after the submarines left the vein.

Boom.

The super volcano crater at the deepest part of the Mariana Trench finally accumulated all the crustal pressure and exploded completely.

Countless billions of tons of red magma, mixed with highly toxic sulfur gas, instantly engulfed the dark golden rock wall; that Extreme Pressure Soft Gold vein was completely destroyed.

In the Jiangcheng control room.

Old Zhou stared intently at the depth gauge's reverse reading on the holographic screen, his legs went weak, and he sat directly on the ground, panting heavily.

"We got it... we really got it, Old Wei, Jiangcheng is saved, right."

Old Zhou was sweating profusely, incoherent.

Wei Jianguo pushed up his sliding glasses and took off the dirty towel he used to wipe sweat from his head.

"Boss, they have safely escaped the core of the explosion, the main structure of the submarines is intact, fifty-two tons of material are all in the cargo hold, once the material arrives, I will immediately take people to smelt it, and I guarantee that the anti-gravity chassis that is about to disintegrate will be fixed in three hours."

Wei Jianguo's eyes revealed irrepressible ecstasy.

Lu Chen fished out the plastic lighter from his black jacket pocket.

Click.

Sparks flickered.

He lit the double happiness cigarette he had been biting in his mouth unlit, took a deep drag, and the thick smoke instantly filled his lungs.

"They ran fast enough."

Lu Chen exhaled blue smoke, his eyes cold and sharp.

"Notify the large transport aircraft formation waiting at the airport to take off and go to the high seas to pick up the cargo."

On the sea surface.

In the central waters of the Pacific Ocean, the originally calm sea surface suddenly rolled violently.

A loud splashing sound.

The huge black bow of the viper no. 3 nuclear submarine broke through the waves first, rushing out of the water with a sky full of white spray, and immediately after, viper one and two also broke through the water one after another.

The sunlight shone on the submarines' pitch-black high-pressure resistant coating, emitting a cold metallic luster.

In the submarine's command cabin, Zhang Qiang exhaled a long breath of stale air, and his muscles finally relaxed.

"Boss, successfully surfaced, the sea is calm, we are sailing toward the predetermined coordinates."

Zhang Qiang picked up the communication microphone and reported.

Da Biao also walked into the command cabin, reaching out to pat 037, whose arm had been burned by magma just now.

"Eat a few more nutrient bars when we get back, this skin will heal up quickly."

Da Biao grinned.

In the Jiangcheng control room, the atmosphere finally eased a little from the extreme tension, and Wei Jianguo had even started rapidly calculating the smelting ratio on a draft paper.

Just then.

The top-secret radar early warning system in front of Wu Dong, specifically used for monitoring the low-altitude area of the near-Earth orbit, erupted with a harsh red buzzing alarm.

The sound was so loud it almost pierced one's eardrums.

"What's going on, where did the signal source come from?"

Wei Jianguo was startled, the pen in his hand dropping directly to the floor.

Wu Dong's face turned pale instantly, his hands smashing out afterimages on the keyboard, his fingers trembling slightly from excessive force.

"Boss, the radar has locked onto a high-energy heat source reaction at an altitude of 30,000 meters, the speed is too fast."

Wu Dong's voice trembled as he looked up at Lu Chen.

On the holographic projection wall, three blood-red triangular cursors suddenly appeared in the originally clean airspace monitoring map.

"It's fighter jets, three stealth fighter jets without any radar identification codes."

Wu Dong roared.

Lu Chen's finger holding the cigarette paused, his eyebrows instantly knitting into a tight knot.

"Speed."

"Mach 6, hypersonic penetration, they cut directly into the air defense blind spot of the viper submarine formation."

Wu Dong hit the enter key heavily, pulling up the emergency capture image from the optical satellite.

In the image, three black stealth fighter jets with extremely sci-fi shapes, presenting a flat, streamlined form, were dragging pale blue tail flames, tearing through the clouds.

"Boss, they've opened their fire bays."

Wu Dong stared intently at the blinding high light exploding on the screen.

"Anti-ship missiles have been released."

Lu Chen's eyes instantly turned extremely cold, and the plastic lighter in his hand was cracked by his single-handed squeeze.

On the high seas.

Zhang Qiang had just picked up a cup of warm water when the passive radar inside the submarine suddenly emitted a sharp death-lock countdown.

"Enemy attack! Emergency dive!"

Zhang Qiang threw away the water cup and roared hysterically.

But in front of hypersonic anti-ship missiles, the speed of the nuclear submarine's emergency exhaust and dive was simply too slow.

Above the sky, three special armor-piercing missiles carrying the aura of death and destruction locked directly onto the command towers of the viper submarines, whistling toward them.