bookbashuk Chapter 437 The Gate is Not the Only Battlefield!
Chapter 437 The Gate is Not the Only Battlefield!
"seven."
"six."
Zhang Yan looked up at the sky.
The Antarctic night sky is very clear, and the Milky Way is clearly visible.
"five."
"Four."
"three."
He could feel the warmth of the divine craftsmanship coursing through his chest. It wasn't a warning, but a resonance.
"two."
"one."
"start up."
There was no explosion, no flash.
The delay field is started silently.
But Zhang Yan saw it.
Suddenly, the aurora borealis lit up the sky.
It wasn't the green band of light commonly seen in Antarctica; it was a dark cyan, the exact same color as the Skywatching Anchor.
Lights rose simultaneously from seven directions on the horizon, converging at the zenith to form a giant halo.
The halo is rotating.
It's slow, but you can tell it's moving.
Zhang Yan knew that it wasn't an illusion.
After the delay field is activated, the time flow rate inside the gate network is accelerated by 85 times.
One day outside is equivalent to 85 days inside.
From the outside, the earth appears frozen.
Looking from inside the door, the entire universe seemed to slow down.
A prompt appears on the system panel.
"Delay field array activated. Gate network enters self-sustaining mode. Remaining time: 100 years (external time: 20 months). Current overall efficiency: 96.4%."
Zhang Yan stared at the 96.4%.
enough.
It's enough to block everything outside the door.
My phone vibrated.
Nie Qingcheng sent a message.
"go home."
Zhang Yan put away the Black Scorpion and boarded the snowmobile at the research station.
On the return flight, he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.
The side effects of the consciousness retraction are still present; my right hand occasionally trembles.
But he couldn't fall asleep.
Every single detail is running through my mind.
The delay field was started, the gate network was stable, and everything ended 20 months later.
That sounds perfect.
But the last sentence of the lamp kept circling in his mind.
"The door is not the only battlefield."
What does that mean?
The plane landed in Jinghai on the afternoon of the following day.
Nie Qingcheng was waiting for him on the tarmac.
She was wearing a black trench coat, her hair blowing in the wind. Seeing Zhang Yan get off the plane, she quickly walked over and looked him up and down.
What happened to your hand?
Zhang Yan raised his right hand. It was still trembling slightly.
"The side effects of the consciousness retraction will subside in a few days."
Nie Qingcheng grabbed his wrist.
"Get in the car."
On the way back to the villa, Nie Qingcheng held Zhang Yan's right hand the whole time.
"Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt."
"Can you move?"
"able."
Nie Qingcheng didn't say anything more. When the car arrived at the villa, she got out first, and then opened the car door on Zhang Yan's side.
"For the next six hundred days," she said, "you are not allowed to go anywhere."
Zhang Yan looked at her.
Nie Qingcheng's expression was calm, but there was something in her eyes that Zhang Yan recognized very well.
Possessiveness.
"Okay," he said.
The two went inside.
Nie Qingcheng pressed Zhang Yan down on the sofa, went to the kitchen to heat up some milk, and brought it over.
"After you finish drinking, go upstairs to sleep."
Zhang Yan took the cup and took a sip.
The phone rang.
Qin Xiao.
Zhang Yan answered the call.
"Brother Yan, the sixth gate is cleared. All the gate openers are under control. I've had Baihu and Xingtian sent back to Jinghai."
"Um."
"There's one more thing," Qin Xiao said hesitantly, "We found some things at the scene."
"What?"
"Nuclear waste, more than a ton, and purification equipment."
Zhang Yan's hand stopped.
"What are they going to do?"
"It's uncertain. But there are signs of use on the equipment, and the locksmith said the person who opened the door may have refined highly enriched uranium."
Zhang Yan looked at Nie Qingcheng.
Nie Qingcheng had already picked up her laptop and started checking the nuclear material transaction records on the global dark web.
"How much?" Zhang Yan asked.
"I don't know. The equipment can handle, conservatively estimated... over fifty kilograms."
Fifty kilograms of highly enriched uranium.
That's enough to make five dirty bombs.
Zhang Yan hung up the phone.
Data has already been displayed on Nie Qingcheng's laptop screen.
"In the past three months, there have been six large nuclear waste transactions on the global dark web. The buyers were all shell companies, and the funds ultimately flowed to..." Her finger swiped across the screen, "...remnants of the TFC."
Zhang Yan stood up.
"They knew they couldn't get in through the door."
"So we're going to sabotage it inside," Nie Qingcheng said. "Dirty bombs. Radiation contamination. The target is the physical base of the Sky-Observation Anchor."
Zhang Yan walked to the window.
The night view of Jinghai unfolds outside the window, with thousands of lights and bustling traffic.
Just like the Tiangong City 30,000 years ago.
The things that were outside the door back then couldn't get in.
But the internal collapse destroyed everything.
"We can't let history repeat itself." Zhang Yan turned around. "Find all of Deng Yin's strongholds."
Nie Qingcheng closed her laptop.
"It's already under investigation."
She picked up her phone and started making a call.
The first one is the intelligence department of Qingcheng International.
The second one is Qin Xiao.
Third, stargazing.
It was 1 a.m. when I hung up the last call.
Nie Qingcheng looked at Zhang Yan.
"Six suspected strongholds."
"The funds are all locked up. I will make sure these cover companies' stock prices go to zero within three days."
"You're in charge of..." she paused, "...providing warmth."
Zhang Yan nodded.
"Can the Vermilion Bird still be used?"
"No," Zhang Yan said. "The furnace core is cracked. Repairs will take at least a month."
"Then let's use something else."
Zhang Yan brought up the system interface.
White Tiger, Xing Tian, Black Scorpion, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Cheng Ying, Viper.
Six mechs.
Six strongholds.
just.
He looked at Nie Qingcheng.
I'm leaving tomorrow.
"Not tomorrow," Nie Qingcheng said, "it's now."
She stood up and walked up to Zhang Yan.
"Your right hand is still shaking; the side effects of the consciousness retraction haven't subsided."
"I can fight."
"I know you can." Nie Qingcheng raised her hand and placed it on Zhang Yan's chest, "but I don't want you to get hurt."
Zhang Yan took her hand.
"Then you won't get hurt."
Nie Qingcheng looked at him.
Three seconds later, she let go.
"I'll set the flight path. Go to the basement and check the mechs."
"We'll depart in two hours."
Zhang Yan turned and went downstairs.
In the underground laboratory, the chips of six mechs were neatly arranged on the worktable.
He picked them up one by one and checked their energy status.
White Tiger, 97%. Xing Tian, 94%.
Black scorpions have been used in Antarctica, 89%.
Tyrannosaurus Rex, Shadow, and Viper are all at full energy.
enough.
Zhang Yan put the chip into the portable case.
My phone vibrated.
Nie Qingcheng sent the flight path and target coordinates.
"First stop, an abandoned military factory on the outskirts of Munich."
"Qin Xiao's men are already waiting on the outskirts."
"Go in and clear the area. Capture the lantern live."
Zhang Yan looked at the address.
Abandoned military factory.
That sounds perfect for hiding dirty bombs.
He replied with two words.
"receive."
Then I carried the portable case upstairs.
Nie Qingcheng was already waiting at the door.
She was holding a black tactical jacket in her hand.
"Put them on."
Zhang Yan took the coat and put it on.
Nie Qingcheng straightened his collar, then looked up at him.
"Six strongholds. Not one can be missed."
"Um."
"If you encounter something you can't hold on for, retreat."
"Um."
Don't be reckless.