Chapter 1224, Beneath the Abyss

“Are you ready?”

After the meal, Luo Lan stood up and took a deep breath and asked.

As he looked around, Zhou Qi, Qing Laosan, Xu Concealer and the others all stood up silently as well, “Ready.”

Together with the 180 Special Company soldiers, a total of 184 people had come to the Central Plains and were now about to enter Barrier 61, success or failure was at stake.

The bridge over the Qianling River stood over the turbulent river, this end of the bridge, and the other end of the bridge, were like connecting two different worlds.

Life and death.

They knew that when Luo Lan asked if they were ready, he wasn’t asking if they had enough to eat.

Rather, he was asking if they had thought about all the consequences they would have to bear after crossing this bridge.

Zhou Qi asked, ”I just want to know, after the completion of this plan, is it considered to have taken care of Wang? You guys are asking me to take this risk, you have to tell me if it’s worth it, right?”

In the document Zhou Qi had gotten for them, there was only such a lone plan of action, with no follow up on everything.

It was as if you were an actor in a stage play, but you were only given the script that belonged to you, there was only your own plot and lines on it, and when you were done acting, then the part that belonged to you was over.

What others will do and what will happen in the aftermath, you simply don’t know.

Luo Lan looked at Zhou Qi and said seriously, “The reason for not telling you all about the rest of the plan is to prevent you from being controlled by the AI and then being informed by Wang of the details of the full plan. Don’t worry, not only you don’t know, Xu Concealer doesn’t know, Qing Laosan doesn’t know, including me as well, all the personnel that could potentially cause the plan to be leaked have no right to learn about the full plan.”

In other words, in fact, when the plan was being formulated, Qing Zhen had already assumed that the personnel of this operation would all be captured or die.

Zhou Qi raised his eyebrows, “Alright, even you don’t know, so I’m mentally balanced. I’ll give you this, Fatty Luo, don’t lie to me, this plan better be worth the risk for so many of us.”

“But I’ll say one last thing,” Luo Lan explained with a grave expression on his face, “No matter who among us is in danger of being captured, don’t do any forced resistance, suicide is our best option. We can’t let the AI control us to face Qing Zhen, understand?”

Luo Lan could hardly imagine how painful Qing Zhen’s heart would be if he had to make an enemy of his controlled self.

So if that situation did arise, it would be good to carry that pain on one’s own.

Xu Concealment said, “I’ve made a thorough retreat plan, and that situation won’t arise.”

“It better be,” Zhou Qi bristled.

However, right at this moment, not far from Luo Lan’s camp where they were, there was actually a black shadowy door that suddenly opened.

Luo Lan’s eyes lit up when he saw this scene, because he had seen the Shadow Door next to Ren Xiaosu too many times!

Only, this Shadow Door seemed to be a bit bigger than Ren Xiaosu’s!

In the next moment, the slender Luo Xingyu walked out of the door, her face filled with exhaustion.

“Hehe, why are you here?” Luo Lan said curiously.

Earlier when Qing’s secret nuclear weapon military base was destroyed, Luo Xinyu was captured alive by Qing.

Originally, Luo Lan thought that the other party should have been imprisoned somewhere by Qing Zhen, but he did not expect to see the other party here.

Only Luo Xinyu’s waist was hooped with a strange metal ring that displayed a countdown timer and an electronic combination lock.

Luo Xinyu said with a pale face, “Untie this time bomb for me, and I’ll tell you the news Qing Zhenzhuan wanted me to bring.”

Luo Lan was happy, so this one was forced by Qing Zhen to deliver the message.

Looking at the other party’s complexion, he should have overdrawn his ability along the way, and was about to run out of gas.

But Luo Lan did not have any idea of pity, he cheerfully glanced at the countdown on the metal ring, there was still 1 hour and 31 minutes left.

Luo Lan smiled and said, ”If you tell me the news first, I’ll unlock it for you. My Luo Lan’s reputation should be guaranteed and I won’t lie to you.”

Luo Xingyu hesitated for a moment, but finally took out a small note from her pocket and handed it to Luo Lan.

Luo Lan unfolded the note and was overjoyed, the note read: Ren Xiaosu has already set off for the Central Plains, on the way, he should encounter AI ambushes and obstacles, so he expects to arrive in three days.

At the bottom of the note, there was also a small string of numbers.

He handed the note to Xu Concealment, “Check the handwriting and the numbers.”

The numbers weren’t meant to convey any information, but rather an encrypted means of transmitting information as a way to ensure that Luo Xinyu hadn’t dropped the note.

After mankind had gone through countless wars, intelligence transmission had become a systematic discipline discipline.

Every number, every stroke, could be a mark to identify authenticity.

Two minutes later, Xu Concealment nodded to Luo Lan, “No problem, the intelligence is true.”

Zhou Qi smiled, “Finally a piece of good news, once Ren Xiaosu arrives, our lives are greatly guaranteed.”

As a result, Zhou Qi suddenly realized that Luo Lan didn’t seem to be very happy, “What’s this expression of yours? Aren’t you always looking forward to Ren Xiaosu coming to protect you, why do you look a bit unhappy this time.”

Luo Lan calmly said, “You also know what we’re here for, I didn’t let anyone inform Ren Xiaosu before we left because I didn’t want him to accompany us on our adventure.”

“I haven’t seen you think about it that way before,” Zhou Qi wondered.

“This time is different,” Luo Lan said, “This time is more dangerous than ever.”

“You’re quite sentimental,” Zhou Qi said disdainfully.

“Unlock it for me,” Luo Xinyu said in a cold voice.

“But I don’t know what the password is, why don’t I try it for you?” Luo Lan laughed.

Luo Xinyu’s face immediately changed: “You don’t know the password either? Is this how you Qing’s do things, other people’s lives can just be teased? Qing Zhen said that this combination lock only has three chances for trial and error, do you know the combination or not?”

Luo Lan walked up to Luo Xin Yu and said, “Don’t panic, don’t panic, although Qing Zhen didn’t give me the password, but since he asked you to come to me, he must have thought that I could try it right, my brother is not a murderous executioner.”

Luo Xinyu pursed her lips and didn’t say anything, she just quietly watched as Luo Lan typed 123456 into the metal bomb belt, and with a click, the belt’s carabiner came undone.

“You see, the password is just so simple, it worked in one go,” Luo Lan said with a smile.

At this moment, she was a bit broken inside, it was such a simple password?

Luo Lan heatedly laughed, “In fact, there is no limit to the number of times this combination lock can fail, you can unlock it yourself if you try it a few more times, Qing thought about scaring you. But I want to remind you, after disarming the bomb on your body don’t go to Wang’s, go wherever you want and don’t get involved in these right and wrong again. Yang Xiaoguan is at Barrier 144, you can go find her.”

Luo Xinyu rolled her eyes, “That’s not for you to worry about.”

Saying that, she turned around and entered the Shadow Gate and disappeared, seemingly not wanting to stay here for a moment longer.

“What do we say now? We wait here for Ren Xiaosu to rendezvous?” Zhou Qi asked.

“This is of course the optimal solution,” Luo Lan said as she looked across the bridge, “but Wang won’t wait for us.”

As soon as the words left their mouths, everyone saw a caravan coming out of the 61st Barrier Gate on the other side of the bridge, and it looked like it was coming to greet Luo Lan and the others.

“It’s a blessing that can’t be avoided, let’s go,” Luo Lan laughed loudly and got into the car.

The long fleet of SUVs drove all the way across the Qianling River Bridge.

After they all crossed the bridge, Luo Lan suddenly made the convoy stop, he thought for a moment, then pulled out the red Eye of True Vision that Ren Xiaosu had given him from his pocket.

Xu Zou and the others watched silently, only to see Luo Lan find a wide bridge pillar before Wang’s caravan arrived and press the red Eye of True Sight onto it and twist it ten times.

Then he turned his head to Xu Concealment and said, “This is the life preservation talisman Ren Xiaosu gave me, and it’s rumored that behind this door is the place I want to go the most. When the time comes, if your retreat plan doesn’t work, we’ll leave through here. Zhou Qi, remember, we’ll rendezvous here when the time comes. If the time comes and you’re not there, we are not waiting for you.”

According to what Luo Lan had said, Zhou Qi seemed to be moving separately from them next.

Zhou Qi bristled, “Don’t worry, didn’t expect you guys to lay down your lives and wait for me. However, aren’t you going in to see where it is behind the door, aren’t you curious?”

Luo Lan smiled, “No, I’m afraid that if I look, I won’t be able to spare my life to go to Barrier 61.”

In fact, Luo Lan could probably guess where was behind this door, but he couldn’t look.

One has to look forward, because if one always looks back at the good past, one might not want to move forward.

What’s in the past, let’s leave it all in the past.

After saying that, Luo Lan reboarded the car without looking back and then drove off to meet Wang’s convoy.

When the two convoys converged, the Wang Clan’s convoy suddenly split into two, with one group driving in front of the convoy, while the other group was directly attached to the end of the Qing Clan’s convoy, as if escorting Luo Lan and the others.

This set of operations flowed smoothly, just like precise machinery.

Zhou Qi looked through the car window, “This is treating us like prisoners, isn’t it?!”

“Don’t say so much when you’re on someone else’s turf,” Luo Lan smiled, “Isn’t this all to be expected?”

At this moment, the car intercom of both sides had already been paired to their respective channels, and Wang’s receptionist’s voice came from the intercom, “Boss Luo don’t come back, I’m Wang Run of Wang’s, I’ll be the one to receive all of you this time.”

Zhou Qi picked up the car intercom and sarcastically said, “Wang’s reception specifications are quite high.”

Wang Run replied, “After all, it’s the first time that the Lord of the Qing Clan has come to Wang Clan as a guest, and this is our way of preventing people with bad intentions from destroying the friendship between Wang Clan and the Qing Clan.”

Zhou Qi hung up the walkie-talkie, then muttered in a low voice, “Fearing that we’ll run away is more like it… Everyone, what do we do now?”

At this moment, the four of them, Zhou Qi, Xu Concealer, Qing Laosan, and Luo Lan were sitting in the same car, with Xu Concealer acting as the driver.

However, before they could speak, Wang Run’s voice suddenly came out again on the intercom, “Everyone, we will now head directly to the Wang’s Artificial Intelligence Building for a visit, Officer Wang Shengzhi is already waiting for you there, and the meeting will begin today.”

Luo Lan and the others all froze, how is it that they are going directly to see Wang Shengzhi? This didn’t fit the program ah.

Normally, Wang should have let them go to the arranged residence first to settle down a bit, after all, for such a high-profile meeting and a long and tiring journey from the southwest, how could they talk business without letting them rest?

No matter which way you look at it, this is not in line with etiquette ah.

Zhou Qi confirmed that the intercom’s microphone was off, then lowered his voice and said to Luo Lan, “This is completely different from what we planned! We should wait for Ren Xiaosu to arrive before entering the AI building!”

Xu Concealer also said, “No, we can’t enter the Artificial Intelligence Building now, we have to wait for Ren Xiaosu to arrive at Wang.”

Entering the building where the AI was located was the first step in their plan, so it was reasonable that they should be happy.

But the timing wasn’t right!

Luo Lan nodded as he picked up the walkie-talkie and said, “Wang Run, is this your Wang Clan’s hospitality? Our Lord of the Qing Clan has come to your territory and we are not even allowed to take a shower? Moreover, we have already given enough sincerity, now it’s time to see your sincerity.”

Wang Run replied within the intercom, “Everyone, I’m sorry, it’s hard for me to grant your claims because the officer is running out of time. It’s no secret, and the officer has said that he doesn’t need to hide it from you all, he can’t wait any longer. It’s a rare day when he regains his sanity, so if we’re going to talk, it’s going to have to be now.”

When these words came out, Luo Lan and the others looked at each other in the car, how could they not expect to get such an answer?

Wang Shengzhi’s time was running out?

This huge Central Plains had only just been unified, and the one who unified it was surprisingly already dying on the line. Moreover, if what Wang Run had said was true, Wang Shengzhi had very little time to even stay awake now.

Right now, it should have been the other party’s time to enjoy power ah!

“Do you guys think this news is true or false?” Luo Lan asked.

“It should be true,” Qing Laosan said calmly, “Otherwise, we’re all already under Wang’s control, there’s no need for him to be so anxious or lie to us.”

Zhou Qi said, “Then how good would it be if we simply boil him to death, once Wang Shengzhi dies, the Wang Clan will immediately be in chaos, and by then we won’t even need the Qing Clan to make a move against the Wang Clan, it will disintegrate on its own.”

Luo Lan glanced at Zhou Qi, “What we’re dealing with this time is not the Wang Clan.”

Rather, it’s the Artificial Intelligence Zero.

A long time ago Qing Zhen had told Xu Concealment that most people viewed Wang and the AI as an integrated whole, however, in Qing Zhen’s eyes, the AI and Wang were divorced.

In Qing Zhen’s opinion, the AI was far more dangerous than Wang.

This time, they were here to destroy the servers in that underground river, and in order to accomplish that step, they would first need to enter the AI building.

But once they entered that building, there was no turning back.

Zhou Qi said, “I suggest waiting a little longer, at least until Ren Xiaosu arrives.”

Luo Lan analyzed, “We can’t wait any longer, if Wang Shengzhi suddenly dies, do we still have a chance to enter the AI building? I’m afraid there is none.”

“If there’s no chance, then there’s no chance,” Zhou Qi said, “We can find another chance later.”

“No,” Luo Lan said firmly, “This is the most important part of Qing Zhen’s plan, it must succeed. Qing Zhen has said more than once that we have to race against time.”

Qing Laosan suddenly asked from the sidelines, “Even if you will die in this race?”

Luo Lan stared deathly at Qing Laosan and said, “It’s too late for you to be afraid of dying now.”

“I’m not afraid,” Qing Laosan shrugged his shoulders, “If you dare to go, what wouldn’t I dare.”

Luo Lan turned his head to look at the others, “Xu Concealer, Zhou Qi, was there any oversight in our plan? There isn’t, just because we suddenly got the news that Ren Xiaosu is coming, we’re going to give up on a plan that we’ve been planning for a long time? We can’t wait for Ren Xiaosu.”

“Are you worried about involving Ren Xiaosu in this matter and putting him in danger?” Qing Laosan said softly, “Actually, what we are doing now is also helping Northwest.”

Luo Lan laughed, “No matter, how can I care to think so much right now. Besides, we’re not that bad, there’s no reason to expect others to be the savior every day, right?”

People who were truly strong inside never needed others to be their savior.

They were ready for anything, even ready to face death.

Zhou Qi asked softly, “Have you thought about it? Maybe our plan succeeds, Qingzheng’s subsequent plans may also fail. If we die here, it will be in vain.”

When Zhou Qi asked these words, it was as if he had gone back to that windy and snowy night when he had accompanied Qing Zhen up Ginkgo Mountain.

“Think about it,” Luo Lan said as he looked out the window, “Qing’s 1,374 classified staff members have been isolated for five years, they haven’t even gone back to see their families, just for the moment of success. Qing Zhen’s carefully prepared plan cannot be in vain, and the hard work of these classified staff cannot be in vain, and this hard fought opportunity cannot be in vain.”

Luo Lan suddenly laughed, “Carrying so many things on my back, I suddenly feel like a hero of sorts.”

……

After the convoy entered the ledge, Xu Concealment suddenly said, “It always feels like this 61st ledge is a little bit not quite right, we have dozens of vehicles in this convoy, and as a result, when we passed through, very few pedestrians on the road stopped to watch.”

This was actually very out of the ordinary, under normal circumstances everyone would have stopped to see what was going on with the convoy.

“It’s a bit odd, but we can’t care so much now,” Luo Lan said, “Get ready to start.”

Ten minutes later, when the convoy passed by the Jingchuan River Bridge within Barrier 61, Luo Lan’s convoy even stopped suddenly, and this action forced all of Wang’s vehicles to brake urgently as well.

Luo Lan jumped out of the car with a big swing, and the soldiers of the Special Company all got out of the car and stood guard around the car.

Wang Run coldly looked at Luo Lan who was walking towards him, “What is Boss Luo doing?”

Luo Lan smiled as she leaned on the window of Wang Run’s car and laughed, “Can’t I come to talk to you? How have you been lately, how much salary does Wang Shengzhi pay you, are you married, do you have a child, how old is the child, boy or girl ……”

Wang Run froze for a moment, he thought to himself What are you pulling with me here.

At the same time, Zhou Qi took advantage of the special company soldiers to cover up and jumped into the calm Jingchuan River.

A hundred and fifty pounds of people jumped into the river from a bridge more than three meters high, surprisingly, it was like a drop of water falling in, without making any sound that could startle Wang Run and the others.

There was also no splash of water being splashed.

Wang Run at this time looked at Luo Lan’s smiling expression suddenly felt that something was wrong, he hurriedly got out of the car and looked towards the back of the caravan, and then looked at the surface of the river, but he did not find any abnormality.

Under the lime green water, Zhou Qi was like a tail of torpedoes, hiding in the depths of the water and cruising towards the west.

Zhou Qi didn’t stay within the barrier, but swam all the way out of it, eventually climbing ashore at a mud and sand factory near Wang’s neighborhood.

This mud and sand factory didn’t look abnormal from the outside, however, when Zhou Qi went ashore, all the machinery digging up the mud and sand all stopped.

Several soldiers with loaded guns came out from the factory building and greeted him, “Sir.”

This place, even before Luo Lan arrived, was firmly controlled by Qing.

Or rather, the time when Qing Zhenzhi took control of this mud and sand field was a bit earlier, so early that at that time, the artificial intelligence had not yet mastered weapons like nanobots.

“Ready,” Zhou Qi gruffly said.

“Ready.”

“Everyone in the factory is under control?” Zhou Qi said, “Be sure to make sure nothing goes wrong, don’t let anyone get away.”

“Understood,” said a soldier, “Should we silence them all?”

“No need,” Zhou Qi muttered, “If Luo Lan finds out, he’ll be nagging for half a day, alright, just keep them under control.”

The group silently walked inside the plant, in the middle of the plant, a tarpaulin covered the huge mechanical monster.

Zhou Qi ripped the covering tarpaulin apart, leaking out the true appearance of the steel monster inside.

Humans stood in front of it, all looking somewhat powerless and small.

The soldier introduced, “This is the equipment that Kong once used to drill underground, although it is retired, it is still sufficient for the task of digging an underground river.”

The DP-01 drilling platform, carrying the EST-01-29 coring drill, was a monster that seemed to possess a power that could directly pierce the center of the earth.

More than twenty loaded Qing soldiers had been lurking in the Central Plains for a long time, and each of them had an unspeakable sense of mission at this time.

This inconspicuous mud and sand field was the starting point of all plans.

Rumbling sounds came, Zhou Qi watched with a calm face as the steel machinery was launched, the moment the indestructible drill bit made contact with the ground, everyone could feel a sense of power from the modern scientific civilization.

It would only take an hour for this behemoth to help them find the location of the underground river.

If they wanted to get closer to AI Zero’s server unit, then they had to enter the underground river first.

It was a dark world, but Zhou Qi wasn’t afraid of it.

What he feared, he had never said to anyone else.

Zhou Qi stood in front of the drilling equipment in silence, and after a long while he suddenly asked the soldier beside him, “Do you believe that someone will lay down their life to save you?”

The soldier froze for a moment, “Sir, I believe.”

“Well,” Zhou Qi was silent again.

The roaring drill bit was like a thorn in the ground, and when the scale showed that the drill bit had reached 27 meters, water suddenly overflowed from the ground along the steel pipe outside the coring drill bit.

“Sir, it’s through,” the soldier said.

The huge drilling equipment began to lift the drill bit upwards, so that Zhou Qi could directly follow the pipe into the underground river.

Zhou Qi began to take off the suit he was wearing, while the soldier on the side fetched him a professional diving suit and flippers.

“There’s no need for flippers and oxygen tanks,” Zhou Qi smiled and pointed at the ground beneath his feet, “That’s my home turf.”

Underneath the pipe, it was like an abyss, as if it led straight to a purgatory deep in the center of the earth.