26: Fighting on the ice! Polar special operations!

South Latitude 78°, Weddell Sea, Deep Blue Forges Ahead.

"Portside 15 degrees! Iceberg cluster!"

The helmsman roared, sharply turning the wheel. The steel bow of the ten-thousand-ton behemoth tore through the grey-blue floes, emitting a grating, teeth-aching crunch. Outside the porthole was eternal polar day; the pale sunlight reflected off the boundless ice plain, casting a dazzling, cold glare. The thermometer read: -52℃.

"Three nautical miles to the target passage!" The radar officer's voice echoed on the bridge. "Detecting strong energy interference! Sonar image distorted!"

Lin Feng gazed at the main screen—at the edge of the ice plain, a hideous rift, like a scar on the earth. Scattered around the rift's edge were the wreckage of engineering vehicles bearing the Observer's logo, and deep within the rift… a spire-like structure forged from a dark blue alloy pierced through the ice, its body flowing with energy patterns identical to those of the underwater ruins!

"Ark's Antarctic Ruins… the Observer is indeed after it," Chen Hai gasped, taking a sharp breath.

"Not just the Observer." Lin Feng pulled up the thermal imaging—at the entrance of the spire's base, a dozen orange-red figures were engaged in a firefight! Gunfire flashed in the ice fog, and explosions sent ice crystals swirling like a diamond dust storm!

"It's the Ark remnants! What are they fighting?!"

---

At the bottom of the rift, Ark's temporary defense line.

"Hold them! That monster is afraid of low temperatures!" An Ark officer with frostbite scars on his face roared, his Gauss rifle spitting plasma rounds.

His targets—three mechanical entities resembling giant metal spiders! Their eight reverse-jointed long legs were anchored to the ice wall, their compound eyes flashing crimson, and their abdomens spewed scorching high-energy particle beams!

Sizzle—!

A particle beam swept across, instantly vaporizing two Ark soldiers along with their ice wall cover!

"Captain! Team D is wiped out! The energy shield can't hold!" The soldier's scream was drowned out by the explosion.

"Retreat! Into the ruins passage!" The scarred officer had just turned when a thunderous impact came from the ice dome above—

Boom!!!

The thick ice layer was violently torn open! Deep Blue's ship-mounted electromagnetic cannon, like a hammer of divine punishment, blasted one mechanical spider and the ice pillar it was hiding behind into a shower of crystalline shards!

"It's… it's that ship!" The Ark soldiers looked at the descending assault craft and the Deep Blue wave emblem painted on its hull, their faces filled with despair.

---

Assault craft "Leviathan."

"Marines! Establish a defense line! Lei Lie, take a team and follow me to assist the Ark remnants!" Lin Feng thundered, leaping out of the hatch first.

The bitter cold air was like knives cutting his face. Underfoot was ancient black ice, treacherous and slippery. The surviving mechanical spiders in the distance turned their cannons, their crimson compound eyes locking onto the unwelcome guests!

"Fire!" Lei Lie roared.

The Marines' electromagnetic rifles wove a dense curtain of fire, but the bullets only sparked blindingly against the mechanical spiders' armor!

"Damn it! The armor's too thick!"

"Use this!" Lin Feng unslung a crudely designed, cylindrical weapon from his back—the "Cold Hell" cryogenic cannon, salvaged from the oil depot!

Hum—!

A torrent of pale, ultra-low temperature liquid nitrogen blasted out, instantly engulfing one mechanical spider!

Click… crunch…

A piercing metallic cracking sound rang out! The mechanical spider's movements visibly stiffened, its joints froze, and its crimson compound eyes rapidly dimmed!

"Concentrate fire on the joints!" Lin Feng shouted.

All firepower poured onto the frozen leg joints!

Crash—!

The frozen metal spider shattered and collapsed like an ice sculpture!

"It works!" Everyone cheered.

But the high-energy particle cannon muzzles on the abdomens of the other two mechanical spiders had already lit up with destructive light!

---

Spire entrance, three-way melee.

"Get down!" Lin Feng lunged towards a nearby ice rock!

Two scorching particle beams swept across the ice, instantly vaporizing two Marines who hadn't managed to dodge! The ice water melted by the high temperature then froze into twisted ice sculptures the next second!

"Bastards!" Lei Lie's eyes were bloodshot; he hoisted the cryogenic cannon and fired again!

Zzz—!

The liquid nitrogen stream hit one of the mechanical spider's cannon barrels, and the ultra-low temperature reacted violently with the high-energy particle core!

Boom!!!

A sympathetic detonation fireball soared into the air, blowing the mechanical spider into a shower of parts!

The last remaining mechanical spider suddenly stopped attacking, its compound eyes flashing rapidly, emitting a series of sharp electronic sounds!

"It's calling for reinforcements!" The Ark's scarred officer's face changed dramatically. "Quickly, into the passage! There are more guards inside!"

As if to confirm his words, from the deep, dark entrance of the spire, came a dense, chilling metallic scraping sound…

---

Inside the ruins passage.

"Close the gate!" Lin Feng roared.

Lei Lie slammed his fist onto the gate control panel, and the heavy dark blue alloy gate crashed down, temporarily sealing off the cold wind and pursuers from the ice plain outside the passage.

The passage was not dark. Faint blue energy flows coursed along the walls, illuminating the mess on the floor—shattered Ark soldier corpses, twisted mechanical limbs… and a dozen mechanical spider wrecks torn to pieces by some immense force!

"Did they do it themselves?" Lei Lie kicked away half a mechanical leg.

"No." Lin Feng knelt down, his fingertip tracing a terrifying claw mark half a meter deep on the wall. "Something even more vicious is cleaning house."

Suddenly!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Heavy impacts came from deep within the passage, accompanied by the groan of twisting metal! The ground was shaking!

"Heat source approaching! Extremely fast! Size… over ten meters!" The Marine with the detector spoke with a trembling voice.

At the end of the dark blue passage, a mountain-like black silhouette slowly emerged. With each step it took, the alloy floor visibly dented. Six crimson compound eyes, like lanterns from hell, lit up in the gloom.

A colossal mechanical beast, covered in thick pioneer alloy, with dark blue energy spewing from its joints, and three chainsaw blades whipping from its tail!

"This is… the 'Ancient Guardian'?" The scarred officer's face was bloodless.

"Deep Blue!" Lin Feng roared into his comms, "Blast open the top of the ruins with the main cannon! Let the sunlight in!"

He raised the last "Cold Hell" cryogenic cannon, aiming it at the colossal, death-shadowing entity at the end of the passage:

"Want to be a guard dog? First, taste the hell of extreme cold!"