431: Chapter 431 The Fifth Permanent Fixed Teleportation Portal

[ 00:00:00 ]

The line of numbers before Su Mingyuan's eyes ticked for the last time.

The light screen that only he could see shattered into shards of blue dust, dissipating into the air.

Then, the portal appeared.

It was unlike any of the previous four.

The largest of the first four portals—the golden light gate to the Yaowu World—was about sixty meters high and roughly forty meters wide.

It was big enough for mechs to pass through side-by-side, which was already considered quite large.

But this gate before him—

Su Mingyuan tilted his head back to look for a few seconds, his neck starting to ache.

The edges of the light gate extended from the ground all the way to the dome of the Tianmen Base, illuminating the entire cavern ceiling.

It was visibly over eighty meters high and at least sixty meters wide.

"This is fucking huge, and I feel like the previous four portals seem to be getting bigger too." Zhang Dabiao stood behind Su Mingyuan, clutching half a bun in his hand, having forgotten to chew what was in his mouth.

Tao Zhe had already pulled out a handheld detector, scanned the light gate once, and looked down at the data.

"Your feeling isn't wrong; the previous portals are indeed getting bigger." He looked up at Su Mingyuan. "Team Leader, is this portal permanently fixed, just like the others from other worlds?"

Su Mingyuan nodded without speaking, instead staring intently at the purple light gate for over ten seconds, mentally reviewing the situation in the Skeleton World.

He had spent fourteen days there last time; the blood moon rose and set every twelve hours, skeletons resurrected under the blood moon, the ruins of the Danding Heavenly Palace, the Tomb Guardian Beast, the Spirit Ruins Pool, and that field of priceless Spirit Medicine.

The problem now was:

It was early morning on this side of the portal, but was it day or night in the Skeleton World? Had the blood moon risen or set?

He didn't know.

"Communications Team." Su Mingyuan called out, turning around.

"Present."

"Prepare to set up communication lines immediately."

"Received, we guarantee the mission will be completed."

The last time, the portal only lasted for a minute before disappearing, so the connection between the Skeleton World and the outside world was severed.

But it was different now; the portal was permanently fixed, allowing communication lines to be connected directly to the Otherworld.

Su Mingyuan turned and walked toward the command console, pulling up the list of mech formations.

The data on the list was different from a month ago.

When they entered the Skeleton World last time, the base's main mechs were still the forty-four-meter-tall standard models—the "Savior" series.

But in the time that had passed, Shen Fei and the engineers at CASIC had accomplished one thing: miniaturization.

The weapon Systems, power Systems, and armor structures had all been redesigned.

The standard Savior was forty-four meters tall and weighed eighty tons.

The new miniaturized model—codenamed "Dawn"—was ten meters tall and weighed nine tons.

Its size was reduced by three-quarters, but its firepower hadn't dropped much.

The caliber of the electromagnetic cannons was reduced from 120mm to 60mm, but the rate of fire had actually doubled.

The shoulder-mounted missile bays were reduced from two hundred missiles to forty, replaced with miniature guided munitions, with similar single-shot power.

The heavenly meteor warblade was reduced from twenty meters to five, but the blade density was higher, and its cutting power had increased, not decreased.

Most importantly, the usage of skyfall steel.

A single standard unit used forty-two tons of skyfall steel, while the Dawn model only needed eight tons.

With the same reserves of skyfall steel, they could build five times as many mechs.

Five hundred units had already rolled off the assembly line.

Su Mingyuan swiped through the list and selected the first fifty units.

"First batch, fifty Dawn units enter. All pilots must be Tier 2 or higher. Upon entry, immediately confirm the status of the blood moon, establish communication, and transmit environmental data back."

"Understood."

"If the blood moon has already risen, form a defensive perimeter on the spot; do not disperse. Wait for follow-up troops to arrive before expanding."

"What if the blood moon hasn't risen?" Zhang Dabiao asked.

"Then push forward three thousand meters and establish a safe zone."

After the order was given, the mech hangar on Level B3 began to bustle with activity.

Fifty Dawn-class mechs lined up in two columns, their off-white armor reflecting the lights. Standing ten meters tall, they didn't look very conspicuous in the cavern, but fifty of them lined up together created a high density, like a moving forest of steel.

The pilots boarded their mechs one after another.

The sound of the hatches closing came one after another, muffled, like someone clapping a very thick book.

Su Mingyuan stood behind the command console, watching the first mech step toward the purple light gate.

The mech's footfalls struck the ground, the sound of metal colliding with concrete echoing throughout Level B3.

Then it stepped into the light gate, its figure swallowed by the purple light as it vanished.

The second one followed.

The third one.

The fourth one.

...

All fifty mechs passed through within three minutes.

The communication channel on the command console was quiet for about forty seconds.

Then a voice came through, accompanied by slight static.

"Report to Headquarters, the vanguard has arrived in the Skeleton World. No blood moon in the sky, repeat, no blood moon in the sky. Skeletons are stationary, environment is safe. A three-thousand-meter safe zone has been established."

Su Mingyuan let out a breath.

"Good. Prepare the follow-up troops to pass through."

He picked up his phone from the command console and flipped to the encrypted communication interface.

There was an unread message on it, sent fifteen minutes ago, from Elder Qin.

After a moment's thought, he tapped on the message.

The message wasn't long, but it contained a significant amount of information.

"Comrade Su Mingyuan: Twenty-four hours after the report was released, seventeen countries have already sent delegations to Beijing through diplomatic channels, requesting to purchase the rejuvenation pill. The list is as follows—"

A string of country names followed. At the very front were Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait, the three Middle Eastern countries coming as a group. Behind them were France, Germany, and Italy, the three giants of the fallen empire. Further down were Russia, India, Pakistan, South Korea, and Japan.

The last three names made Su Mingyuan take a second look—the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Even the United States had come.

The last part of the message was Elder Qin's own words: "Every delegation has stated that the situation is urgent, with some national representatives requesting priority arrangements on the grounds of public health. Mingyuan, what is your take on this?"

Su Mingyuan finished reading and put his phone back in his pocket.

He picked up the encrypted phone on the command console and dialed.

It rang twice before Elder Qin answered.

"Elder Qin."

"Did you see the message?"

"I did," Su Mingyuan said. "The portal to the Skeleton World just opened; it's permanently fixed and bigger than all the previous ones. I need to finish handling the affairs in the Skeleton World first."

There was a second of silence on the other end of the line.

"What about those delegations? Ambassadors from several countries have already called three times."

"Make them wait," Su Mingyuan said. "The medicine fields in the Skeleton World, the Legacy of the Danding Heavenly Palace, and the mass production of Spirit Medicine—once these matters are settled, the supply of the rejuvenation pill can truly increase. Right now, we only have over a hundred pills; it's not enough to go around for seventeen countries. Selling to some and not others will only cause trouble."

"What about those who can't wait?"

"Those who can't wait can just go back to their own countries. The rejuvenation pill won't expire anyway." Su Mingyuan paused. "Elder Qin, it's good to let them get anxious. The more anxious they are, the more valuable the daxia currency becomes."

A faint laugh came from the other end of the line.

"Alright. You focus on the Skeleton World first. I'll handle the diplomatic matters."

"Good."

Su Mingyuan hung up the phone.

He turned around, looking at the purple light gate, a look of inevitable excitement on his face.