Chapter 139 - 105: First Exploration (3)
A little over ten minutes later, everyone arrived at a clearing on their sleds. This was the location indicated on the Energy Detector.
"There’s nothing here?" Mirus flew down from Lin Kong’s shoulder, circled the clearing, and asked in confusion.
Lin Kong was just as baffled. He took out the Energy Detector and scanned the area again.
The detector showed this clearing was indeed the source of the energy reading.
He thought for a moment, then tapped the screen a few times. The display on the detector shifted, now showing the target was two kilometers beneath their feet.
"The Energy Source is two kilometers under the ice!" Lin Kong exclaimed.
Lin Yan summoned a strong gust of wind, sweeping away the snow to reveal the crystal-clear ice beneath.
Peering through the ice, the team saw what looked like buildings deep below.
"What a find!"
"So there was a civilization here."
"Looks like this world wasn’t always covered in ice and snow!"
...
The group broke into excited discussion.
"So, do we dig?"
"We dig!"
"How do we dig? And who’s doing the digging?" As the weakest member of the squad, Lin Kong posed the critical questions.
All eyes turned to Niu Armor, the third strongest member of the squad.
"Me?" Niu Armor pointed to himself.
"Weren’t you the one complaining about how boring the endless snow is? Here’s a chance for a change of scenery."
"Besides, you’re pretty strong. Perfect for the job."
...
Everyone chimed in, providing Niu Armor with all the justification he needed.
"But aren’t Captain Yuan and Rose stronger?" Niu Armor tried one last time to get out of it.
"Captain Yuan and Rose are the strongest members of our squad. They need to be on guard to keep us safe, right?"
...
In the end, Niu Armor had no choice but to take out his tools and start digging at an angle above the Energy Source.
He wasn’t digging alone for long, though. Seeing how hard he was struggling by himself, the kind-hearted Rose went over to help.
Meanwhile, Lin Kong and the others weren’t idle. The presence of ruins beneath the ice meant they would be stationed here for some time, so they needed to build a temporary camp.
Lin Kong started teaching everyone how to build igloos, with the goal of creating an entire igloo camp.
Under his instruction, they built one igloo after another. The structures were cleverly concealed—only the arched roofs were exposed above ground, with the rest of the structure situated below the ice. Each igloo also had several air vents drilled nearby.
In addition to the smaller igloos for sleeping, the team also constructed a large one to use as a meeting hall for planning and discussions.
The smaller sleeping igloos were connected to the large one by tunnels, forming a star-like pattern around a central moon.
Finally, they used an Illusion Generator to add a layer of camouflage, and their simple camp was complete.
"Niu Armor, Rose, come take a look at your rooms! Let us know what you think. If you have any feedback, we can make adjustments."
"It’s a little small, isn’t it?" Niu Armor paused his digging, walked over, and looked, gesturing with his hand. "It’s so low, the top doesn’t even reach my knee."
"It’s not small at all, yours is the biggest one! Don’t be fooled by how small it looks on the surface; it’s quite spacious inside."
Rose climbed down the icy steps into the igloo, looked around, then poked their head back out of the entrance. "Not bad. The size is fine. This will work."
Hearing this, Niu Armor crawled into the igloo as well. Only then did he realize that beneath the small visible roof, a large chamber had been excavated from the ice. It was much bigger than the entrance above, with more than enough room for him to sleep soundly and even decorate a bit.
Satisfied, Niu Armor emerged and said, "You guys did a great job with these igloos. Looks like I’ll be sleeping well tonight!"
With that, Niu Armor ran back to continue his digging, his mood significantly brighter than before.