After a tense half-hour wait, the aerial reconnaissance results ca in.
The helicopter over the island did not find anything unusual, only a cave deed likely to be the nest of an unknown creature.
The aerial reconnaissance returned without success, aning Chen Xin and his team must land on the island.
Subsequent support also arrived with the help of transport helicopters deployed by the air force, setting up a temporary camp not far from Junshan Island.
In the temporary command post inside the camp, Chen Xin was analyzing photos taken from the air by the helicopter with others.
Due to the island also being hit by teorites, the entire Junshan Island now appears more like the surface of the Moon, with one large crater surrounded by several smaller ones, still indicating traces of teor impacts despite being covered in snow.
On the crater wall of the large pit, there is a rather obvious cave entrance, and in the photos taken from the air by the helicopter, the black cave stands out significantly against the surrounding gray-white snow.
The cave does not appear small, and it inclines downward. Even when the helicopter moved closer and illuminated the inside with a spotlight, the interior remained pitch black, seemingly quite deep.
"From the photos, it's evident that the unidentified creature erged from this cave, and there should be more than one. There are many footprints around the cave entrance, which doesn't resemble the movents of a lone beast," the biologist who arrived later analyzed seriously as he studied the footprints captured in the photos: "But it's strange; these footprints rely circle around a few tis and then return to the cave. Only one trail leads outside. If it were a wild animal tribe, this behavior wouldn't match their living habits."
Regarding the biologist's doubts, Chen Xin only replied, "What we might face could very well be alien creatures. Analyzing them with Earth's biological habits will only mislead us, and I suspect they are not wild animals but extraterrestrial creatures with a certain intelligence."
"With a certain intelligence?" The biologist thought for a mont upon hearing Chen Xin's words and nodded: "If they are alien creatures, then everything is unknown. We indeed cannot use Earth's biological habits for analysis. But if that's the case, we need more information. Otherwise, we'll be blind n feeling an elephant here, just speculating."
"Therefore, we must land on the island and enter the cave to investigate thoroughly." Chen Xin forcefully knocked on the table and looked at the officer beside him, asking, "How much force can we mobilize right now?"
"A special operations team has already arrived at the temporary camp, along with a Titan combat unit brought by your academic team, plus an army aviation regint. Additionally, the air force can send an aerial regint to bomb this place anyti, and the rocket force will provide fire support if necessary," the officer quickly tallied and answered Chen Xin's question.
Upon hearing the officer say that they could mobilize so much military power, Chen Xin felt slightly reassured, holding so much power that even if there was an alien creature invasion, it could be resolved directly with strategic bombing.
However, after thinking for a while, he still didn't directly order bombing, but instead told the officer, "Prepare the special operations team and Titan units, let them land on the island to see what's happening; if we can solve the issue, there's no need for bombing."
The officer nodded, affirming Chen Xin's decision, but he also asked Chen Xin, "What if the problem can't be solved?"
"In poverty, tactical infiltration; in wealth…" Chen Xin said to this point, clenched his right hand into a fist, and directly smashed it onto the photos and map in front of him: "Strategic bombing."
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With the orders issued, the special operations team, temporarily mobilized, was ready and, together with eight Titans, landed on Junshan Island, entering the discovered cave.
The space inside the cave was not small; at least all eight Titans managed to enter the interior smoothly.
And as they gradually descended and ventured deeper into the cave, the height of the cave continued to increase.
"This cave seems to have been excavated based on a naturally ford cavern, with traces of digging visible on the walls." After venturing into the cave for so ti, Chen Xin and his team found several new clues.
"These indeed are digging traces, but what did they use to dig? The creature's body doesn't have organs capable of excavating rock walls!" The biologist, maintaining contact with Chen Xin, found it hard to understand how it dug, as its claws were clearly not designed for digging.
Chen Xin had so speculation about this, though he hoped his guess wouldn't turn out true. Nonetheless, he said, "They're likely organized similar to ants and bees, with the presence of worker bees or ants. The creature we encountered earlier might serve as a soldier ant."
"If it's like that, it does explain their strange behavior," the biologist slightly nodded, considering the probability of this possibility.
"Now I'm worried whether bombing will be effective. This cave is so deep; we're probably beneath the lake now, and bombs might not penetrate this far." Chen Xin at this mont worried about another matter.
"Don't worry about this, professor. The air force has prepared bunker-busting bombs, and engineers are ready at the cave entrance for demolition." The officer beside him assured, indicating that they had contingency plans for certain situations.
Hearing the engineers were ready at the entrance, Chen Xin's concerns did not ease.
Since these creatures, whose nature is still unclear, can excavate this cave, it undoubtedly proves their digging capability, and simply collapsing the entrance may not be effective.
But worrying over this now is pointless. The key remains discovering the nest of what is now almost certainly alien creatures and clarifying their nature.
As Chen Xin and his team ventured deeper, they ultimately discovered the nest of these alien creatures, and what appeared before them left everyone dumbfounded.
Looking at the nest before them, Chen Xin finally understood why the creature he encountered had a body temperature of 105°C, because these beings directly excavated lava, relying on the heat from the magma as their energy source!
Deep within the cave, a pool-like magma reservoir accumulated dark red magma, and a giant, bloated creature lay beside the pool, its bloated body nearly translucent, emitting an ominous orange-red glow.
Similar to the creature Chen Xin encountered earlier, identical individuals were perched around this grotesque being, overseeing slightly smaller individuals as they excavated the cave.
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