Chapter 143 - 107: Frozen History
The next day, at the very bottom of the structure, a metal room rose up from underground. After its door opened, Aburara poked his head out and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed.
He gestured into the lift. "Come on out. It’s all clear."
A few fully armed people emerged from inside. They huddled together as they slowly made their way upstairs.
Once Aburara and his group were a safe distance away, a group of figures materialized in a corner.
"Let’s go, quick! It’s completely safe to go down now."
"Heh heh, you’re a sly one. How’d you know they were going to come up?"
"Heh! Whatever the reason, they had to come up to check things out, right?"
Mirus flew over to the corner, found a hidden keypad, and entered the password he’d secretly glimpsed earlier.
With a soft click, a metal room rose from below, and its door slid open.
"Let’s go, get in!"
At Yuan Xiaobo’s signal, the group entered the lift one by one. Before they went in, Mirus cast Invisibility Magic on everyone to avoid being spotted by the surveillance system.
The lift descended quickly and deeply. Lin Kong took out his Life Detector. He watched the signals of the people on the floor above rapidly vanish from the screen. A moment later, life signs began to appear from below, growing in number until they flooded the detector’s entire display.
BEEP. The lift doors opened again.
"Hey, Aburara, what took you so..." The supervisor guarding the gate stared at the empty lift, stunned.
He quickly recovered, however, raising his hands above his head and slowly backing away.
"Greetings, friends from another world. I believe we can have a friendly discussion. We Haiqiu Clan People are very warm and hospitable..."
The supervisor said a great deal more, but no one appeared, even as the doors closed.
"Phew... Just a false alarm! This thing’s programming must be on the fritz."
He wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to head back to his room, hoping to calm his frayed nerves.
"I think we can, in fact, have that discussion."
A voice spoke right beside his ear. At the same time, several distinct figures appeared before him in the light.
"You..."
The supervisor stumbled backward in fright.
It was just that Niu Armor and Rose were so tall compared to him that they filled him with dread. That, and the group’s sudden appearance, had caught him completely off guard.
"Don’t be afraid." Lin Yan stepped forward, her voice soothing. "We’ve only come here to learn about your world’s history—how you migrated underground, how the world froze over. We have no ill intentions toward you."
Perhaps it was Lin Yan’s gentle beauty, but the supervisor quickly calmed down.
Seeing that the underground dweller was no longer panicking, Lin Kong stepped forward. "Let’s start with introductions."
"My name is Lin Kong, and I’m our squad’s diplomat. This is Yuan Dabo, our captain. This is Luo Hao, our vice-captain. She’s Lin Ling, our squad’s public-relations ambassador. She’s Lu Si, our squad’s mascot. And he’s Niu Ben, one of our regular squad members..."
As Lin Kong introduced his companions to the underground dweller, the atmosphere eased considerably.
"Hello. My name is Nasnageer. I am the Director of the Office of External Communications. My main duties are managing the external communications chamber and handling broadcasts." Nasnageer’s expression was quite serious as he replied.
"So... are you really aliens?"
Yuan Xiaobo and the others exchanged glances. They didn’t really have a concept for what Nasnageer meant by ’aliens,’ but they guessed it was something like ’Otherworldly People’—a non-native life form.
"Yes."
"May I ask how you got in?"
"We took your lift!" Lin Kong said. Seeing the utterly speechless look on Nasnageer’s face, he burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, just kidding! We dug a tunnel down through the ice."
"Really?!" Nasnageer was overjoyed to have his suspicion confirmed.
"Yeah. Why?" To Lin Kong, it seemed like no big deal.
"You were able to dig through the ice?" Nasnageer was overcome with excitement. For years, his people had been trapped underground, completely sealed in by the thick ice sheet.
"You can’t?" Lin Kong was dumbfounded. He’d assumed these underground dwellers were just hiding from the extreme cold on the surface.
Both men realized at the same time that they had just accidentally revealed a monumental secret.
After a short silence, Nasnageer broke it. He grabbed Lin Kong’s arm, his voice trembling with excitement. "This is wonderful! You’re the saviors of our people! With a tunnel to the surface, our race can finally break free from the confines of this underground world!"
"Thank you, truly, thank you!"
Now that the cat was out of the bag, Nasnageer let his guard down completely.
Lin Kong awkwardly pulled his arm back. "It was nothing, really. Just a small effort. Could you tell us how your world ended up like this?"
Lin Kong’s question stirred Nasnageer’s memories. He slumped down onto a nearby surface, lost in thought.
Nasnageer remained silent, and Lin Kong’s group didn’t disturb him. The air seemed to freeze in that moment.
’This history is common knowledge in the Underground City,’ Nasnageer thought. ’It’s easy enough to find out, so there’s no point in hiding it.’ His tone turned heavy as he began his story.
"It was over twenty years ago. One day, a giant, ice-blue creature suddenly descended upon our planet. The creature was wounded. It promised us that if we helped provide it with food and energy, it would in turn provide us with a special kind of power source to help us advance more quickly."