But now it seems that Lingxi still continues the basic logic of the underground facility design.

However, when judging that the entire facility can no longer sustain itself through the smart system, under the control of the underlying logic, all security lock measures automatically unlock to prevent the people possibly living in the facility from being completely sealed off.

"Open the door!"

Chen Jian gave a brief command, and immediately, He Shuo instructed the expedition forces to go forward.

The enormous isolation door was slowly pushed open, and thanks to the well-maintained sliding rails lubrication, the opening process was effortless.

As the door gradually opened, everyone standing outside the door also simultaneously stopped moving.

The greatest secret lay ahead.

No one knew what was hidden behind this door.

But everyone knew that when this door opened, the "mythical age" belonging to "Mountain City" would completely end.

Chen Jian took a deep breath, then ordered:

"Turn on all the lights!"

"Prepare to enter!"

"Understood!"

He Shuo responded loudly.

In an instant, all the portable lighting equipment of the team was turned on.

When the door opened wide enough to allow one person through, several drones entered first, followed closely by the ground unmanned combat units.

Chen Jian couldn't afford to take risks.

Even though the security forces on the periphery had completely collapsed, no one could guarantee that nothing else unexpected would happen inside Mountain City.

----But clearly, he was overly concerned.

The entire underground city was eerily silent.

Apart from the buzzing of cooling equipment, there was no other sound here.

"Enter."

Chen Jian waved his hand and took the lead in walking forward.

At this moment, the drones had already started transmitting the front terrain data, and when Chen Jian saw the dense "network pathways" displayed on the tactical goggles, he instantly furrowed his brows.

Is this... truly an underground city??

The diameter of the passageway had shrunk to less than two meters, far less spacious than the outer tunnels!

And as the drones continued moving forward, such network pathways kept spreading out.

"What kind of joke is this?!"

Chen Jian stopped in his tracks, and beside him, He Shuo also looked solemn.

He turned to Chen Jian and spoke in a low voice:

"This is hardly a suitable underground facility for habitation."

"These facilities... from the very beginning of construction, never considered the living issues of residents."

"It's purely for computational purposes."

"Do we still need to explore further?"

"In the short term, we most likely cannot obtain more valuable information. Why not go directly underground, find the main energy module, and proceed with the restart!"

"Makes sense."

Chen Jian nodded repeatedly, and by this time, a drone had already identified a vertical shaft leading directly underground.

"Move towards the map's designated location!"

Chen Jian commanded once again, and then the team began transferring towards the vertical shaft through increasingly narrow passageways.

The oppressive atmosphere almost made Chen Jian unable to breathe, and the filthy, stale air made Chen Jian realize one thing:

Before we entered - no, it should be said before Mountain City re-established connection with the outside world, all the underground spaces here possibly didn't even have air circulation!

Since there wasn't a single living person here, then what's the point in having a complex life-support system to provide oxygen for the underground facility?

At this moment, Chen Jian had reached the edge of the vertical shaft. He leaned out to look downward, then said:

"This ought to be a work shaft meant for unmanned robots to traverse and repair."

"Let's go down directly - attach the rope!"

"Understood!"

He Shuo took quick action, but he discovered that after the rope was thrown down, the depth of this vertical shaft far exceeded the limits of visibility.

Luckily, this vertical shaft was equipped with an elevator, and the intricate steel cables could also be used as ropes.

"Everyone else, stay on guard here."

"He Shuo, Guo Xu, Liu Hao, Zhang Chao, you come down with me!"

Chen Jian issued a brief order, and then grabbed the rope for a rapid descent.

The height kept dropping, and along the "holes" opened on the sides of the vertical shaft, he saw the condition of each level of this "layered" underground ant nest.

The first layer was nothing more than an equipment level.

A large amount of equipment was piled here, with carefully arranged machine rooms lined along the sides of the passageways, filled with not-so-spacious "factory rooms."

At first glance at these factory rooms, a word popped into Chen Jian's mind.

Stingy.

No, perhaps it should be called... precise.

The space utilization rate had clearly been pushed to the limit, and with Lingxi's powerful computing power, this city managed to achieve complete functionality with the bare minimum amount of earth excavation.

It's quite formidable.

Theoretically speaking, powerful things are inherently beautiful.

But, none of this made Chen Jian feel any sense of beauty.

On the contrary, he felt only a sense of suffocating "claustrophobia."

"Keep going down."

He took a slight breath, ordered, and continued descending.

Second layer, third layer, fourth layer...

Through this narrow connecting hole, he saw a cross-section of this underground ant nest, like glimpsing a leopard through a tube.

This gave him a preliminary understanding of the so-called "Mountain City," but as he went down, he felt increasingly shocked.

This is a city belonging to "machines."

All its functions only serve the "machines!"

Should such a city... really exist?

As Chen Jian kept descending, in the next moment, blinding lights suddenly appeared.

He instinctively tightened the descender.

And this time, what he saw was...

Something wholly different.

There were dense rows of cultivation pods.

"Human manufacturing workshop."

Next to him, He Shuo also stopped in mid-air.

"This is where they create those 'Mountain City People.'

"But... There's something not quite right."

"The embryos here are indeed developing, but the problem is, they don't seem to be..... like fully bionic wombs, right?"

"Of course not."

Chen Jian stepped forward, placing his foot on the entrance of the hole.

Then, he stepped onto the platform for this level, and as he looked around, he heavily exhaled a breath of stale air.

"It's not that there are no humans here."

"It's just that the humans here have been transformed into non-human... tools."

"Those so-called artificial people, they're not being created with any advanced technology."

"They are merely.... living in a giant Petri dish."

At this point, He Shuo, who had also entered the platform, saw the neatly arranged nourishment pods around the platform.

"So..... all the artificial people are truly the descendants of real humans."

"They're just merely....... stripped of their thoughts as human beings?"

"It's not just that."

Chen Jian slowly shook his head.

"These people were created as containers----that's the so-called Nuwa Plan."

"Really don't understand what significance this holds... wiping out humanity, can entropy increase reverse because of this?"

"Mountain City's research in biophysics has already reached a dead end. Their conclusions don't come from experiments but purely from philosophical and metaphysical reasoning."

"Ultimately, they will encounter problems."

"Even if we don't come, this city would inevitably... collapse."

"Indeed."

He Shuo said no more but turned to walk toward the vertical shaft.

"Almost at the bottom."

"No time to dwell on these... we must take control of this city!"

"Correct."

Chen Jian quickly followed He Shuo, and the two continued descending.

As the noise from the cooling system grew sharper, Chen Jian realized he had reached the location.

Dozens of fusion reactors were piled within the vast underground space, endlessly providing electricity for this city.

Chen Jian went forward and found the main control console set aside.

Then, he said:

"Fu Xi, I have reached the energy core."

"Prepare to cut the power."

"Get ready for takeover."

"Understood."

Fu Xi's voice echoed in the earphones.

"Prepare to cut the power, takeover ready."

The next second, Chen Jian suddenly pulled the emergency reactor shutdown lever.

In an instant, the whole "city" plunged into complete stagnation.

And when Chen Jian re-established power, Fu Xi's voice rang out once more.

"Initiating takeover."

"Overwriting Mountain City's main program."

"Estimated completion time.....70 seconds!"

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