21: Phoenix Rebirth and Energy Core

The "Phoenix" reconstruction project was advancing at an incredible speed.

The entire Moon Base was like a precision war machine, operating at full speed under Sun Zheng's command. The damaged prism towers were repaired and even reinforced; new patriot missile sites rose from the ground, more densely packed than before; and construction on a second War Factory had begun, preparing to increase tank production.

In terms of resource collection, Sun Zheng gritted his teeth and invested a large sum of funds to build a third Ore Refinery. Three Armed Mining Vehicles were like industrious worker ants, scurrying back and forth between several high-value veins, finally stabilizing the cash flow.

Sun Zheng focused most of his energy on the Combat Laboratory. This was the key to his technological breakthroughs.

The analysis of the Scrin wreckage yielded results first. From the wreckage of the "devourer" tanks, the laboratory extracted an unstable high-energy plasma containment technology. Although they couldn't replicate the Scrin's phase weapons, this technology was applied to the base's power system.

[Tech Unlocked: Plasma Augmentation Core (Basic)]

[Effect: Power generation efficiency of all Power Plants increased by 15%.]

This was a tangible benefit! The same Power Plant could generate more electricity, laying the foundation for building heavy power consumers in the future.

Next, the research on the "Stormcaller" psionic units also yielded unexpected gains. The laboratory didn't understand the principle of mental interference, but they discovered a unique crystal structure within its energy core. This crystal had a strong absorption and amplification effect on specific mental waves.

[Tech Unlocked: Psionic Damping Crystal (Passive)]

[Effect: All Allied Forces infantry gain a slight increase in resistance to mental/psionic attacks.]

Although the increase was small, it provided an extra layer of protection against potential psionic enemies in the future.

However, what Sun Zheng looked forward to the most—the research on the "glimmer keystone" fragments and the homeworld space—had hit a snag. The energy level of the keystone fragments was too high and completely incompatible with the current technological system; the laboratory's equipment simply couldn't analyze them. The existence of the homeworld space was even further beyond physical understanding, and research had temporarily stalled.

Sun Zheng didn't lose heart; he believed it was only a matter of time. He ordered continued resource investment and even tried contact experiments between the keystone fragments and different energy fields.

One day, while Sun Zheng was looking at the lunar panorama sent back by the newly built Radar Scanning Station, searching for new veins or abnormal signals, A001 sent an emergency communication.

"Commander, there was an unexpected discovery while clearing the 'Eradicator' wreckage."

Sun Zheng immediately switched the screen to the cleanup site. He saw the Engineers carefully removing a basketball-sized, heavily armored, complex device from the shattered core area of the Eradicator's abdomen, still faintly glowing with purple light.

"This is...?" Sun Zheng held his breath.

[Discovered Unknown Technological Creation: High-purity tiberium energy core (Scrin model).]

[Status: Moderately damaged, energy leaking, but core structure basically intact.]

[Assessment: Contains a large amount of extremely unstable energy, can be used as a superweapon energy source or special research material. Extremely dangerous, must be handled with caution.]

A tiberium energy core?!

Sun Zheng's heart skipped a beat! tiberium! This was the iconic element of "Command & Conquer" in the Red Alert multiverse—an alien crystal that could self-replicate and pollute the environment but contained immense energy! Scrin technology was indeed related to tiberium!

This discovery was too important! If they could safely utilize this energy core, they might be able to unlock the tiberium-related tech tree. For example... more efficient Power Plants? Or even more powerful weapons?

But the "extremely dangerous" assessment kept him from being careless.

"Immediately send this energy core to the Combat Laboratory's highest-level isolation chamber! Activate all security measures!" Sun Zheng ordered. "Without my direct command, no one is allowed to attempt to activate or extract energy!"

He understood that this could be a massive opportunity or a bomb that could explode at any moment. How they handled this energy core would directly affect the base's future development.

Just as the energy core was safely transferred, the Radar Scanning Station sent another alarm! But this time it wasn't an enemy threat, but good news—

[Detected an ultra-large composite vein of high-purity silicates and rare metals in the lunar North Pole's permanently shadowed region! Estimated reserves are five times the sum of all known veins!]

[Warning: This area has complex terrain, filled with deep valleys and ice crevasses, and is subject to continuous high-intensity cosmic radiation.]

Truly, blessings and misfortunes come hand in hand.

They had just obtained a potential energy treasure, and now they had discovered a massive resource vault. However, the mining difficulty was also quite terrifying.

Sun Zheng looked at the North Pole marker on the screen, his eyes flickering. The base's recovery speed exceeded expectations, and new opportunities and challenges were arriving one after another.

Should he continue to proceed steadily, or risk heading north to take that rich vein?

His gaze turned once more to the tiberium energy core floating quietly in the Combat Laboratory.

Perhaps the answer lay within this dangerous alien creation.