Chapter 227: The Impending Collapse of the Oil Line
The hydraulic oil circuit at the bottom of the gate was hidden beneath the alloy base plate. The lives of everyone in the shelter pod were tethered to these few oil pipes wrapped in protective sheathing.
The pitted areas repaired earlier were temporarily sealed by the sealant. However, the Spiderweb Ancient Being had already divided its spore flow into several streams, maneuvering through the finer rock seams along the sides of the trench, bypassing the positions defended by the guards. The grayish-black spore mucus flowed slowly along the inner walls of the rock layer like a living stream, finding two new joints in the sheathing. These joints were natural weak points in the entire protective system; the gaps in the metal strips could not be made completely airtight. The thick corrosive liquid seeped in bit by bit, silently gnawing at the sealing gasket beneath the strips.
Lin Yan stared at the continuously jumping spore concentration curves on the terminal, his finger repeatedly marking two newly emerged high-risk points on the screen.
"The two joints have begun to corrode. Without neutralizing agents, we can no longer eradicate the mucus as we did before," Lin Yan said, raising his eyes to look at Scholar Su. The heavy exhaustion in his eyes was nearly enough to crush him. "Now, we only have the blast-blocking charges set outside the trench. Once detonated, they will directly blow apart this section of the hydraulic pipeline. The price is that the gate's hydraulic lock will be completely scrapped. Afterward, we can only rely on those thin mechanical latches to hard-endure the ramming of the three third-tier scaled beasts outside."
Scholar Su walked to the inside of the gate, his palm resting against the cold, trembling alloy panel. The dense sounds of ramming outside continued to roar, the heavy thuds merging into a continuous noise. Each impact caused the steel plate to resonate slightly, and the faint metallic tremors conducted through the structure. He knew in his heart that this was a dilemma of the highest order.
If they did not detonate the blast-blocking charges: the spores would continue to corrode the joints. Before long, the corrosive liquid would invade the hydraulic oil, the oil circuit would become blocked, the sealing rings would burst, and the hydraulic lock would fail without warning. The gate would lose its primary lock, leaving it at the mercy of the scaled beasts' ramming.
If they detonated the blast-blocking charges: they would actively disable the hydraulic system, entering prematurely into a situation where they had to defend to the death relying solely on mechanical latches. This was equivalent to actively dismantling the gate's core defense. Furthermore, this was their last set of explosives; once used, there would be no means left to stop the underground spores from continuing to infiltrate along the trench.
"Can we send someone down to manually seal the joints with sealant?" a guard asked in a low voice.
"We can send someone down, but the spore concentration inside the trench is already very high. Without neutralizing agents, anyone staying inside for a long time will have their Sea of Consciousness directly devastated by the psychic toxins carried by the spores," Lin Yan shook his head. "The person who goes down will most likely fall into severe illusion-induced loss of control on the spot. We won't be able to save them."
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the five ancient beings flowed quietly.
The Spiderweb Ancient Being was unhurried, controlling the speed of the spore corrosion and maintaining this tug-of-war. It wanted humans to clearly see the crisis, yet be placed at a fork in the road where no matter what they chose, they would have to pay a heavy price. The Beast Commander simultaneously controlled the rhythm of the ramming, making it sometimes frantic and dense, sometimes stopping abruptly, deliberately amplifying the anxiety of the defenders.
The Sharp-Sense Ancient Being still maintained a constant, prolonged erosion of the Sea of Consciousness. The tolerance threshold of everyone in the cabin had dropped to its lowest point. Many soldiers on rotating guard duty had sluggish reactions, and even the motion of raising their spears was slower than before. In the civilian area, more and more people were numb; some kept the same posture for several hours, staring blankly at the ground with empty eyes, and it took a long time of calling to bring them back to their senses.
The Illusion Ancient Being seized this critical moment of decision, launching transaction-type illusions on a massive scale.
Many people saw in a trance that the gate slowly slid inward. Several tall, dark-green lizard ancient beings stood outside the door. They did not drive the scaled beasts to attack; instead, water and compressed rations were placed on the ground. The consciousness voice of the ancient beings sounded directly in their Sea of Consciousness: Surrender your resistance, end the torment, and you will receive food and water. The illusion was too real; the shimmering flow of the water and the dry scent of the rations felt within reach.
Two civilians who had previously been relatively restrained suddenly stood up and walked quickly toward the gate, muttering under their breath, wanting to push open the gate to welcome the gifts outside. The nearby military police immediately rushed forward to stop them. Several people pulled at each other, and the commotion in the small area quickly attracted the gaze of everyone around. The long-suppressed emotions were ignited; some followed suit, whispering that it would be better to open the door.
"Steady! Do not be led astray by the illusions!" the leading military police officer shouted loudly, repeating the wake-up code words over and over. It took great effort to hold down the two dazed individuals. But the aftereffects of the commotion spread through the crowd. Suspicion and wavering floated openly under the dim emergency lights.
Scholar Su scanned the agitated crowd and looked at the continuously rising spore signals on the terminal, his jaw clenched tight. "Notify the maintenance squad to prepare. Once the sheathing joints are eaten through, immediately detonate the blast-blocking charges inside the trench."
"Commander, once we detonate, the hydraulic lock will be gone," the squad leader said, his voice tight.
"I know," Scholar Su replied in a heavy voice. "But we cannot wait for the oil circuit to collapse on its own. In that case, we won't even have a moment to prepare. Disabling the hydraulic lock means we will at least know exactly where the weakness of our defensive line is, and we can concentrate everyone to guard the gate properly."
The order was passed down. The maintenance squad stood by the maintenance hatch, their fingers resting on the controller of the detonator wires, holding their breath as they waited for the final alarm.
Time flowed by agonizingly, minute by minute.
The ramming sounds from outside the gate waxed and waned. The spores silently gnawed at the pipeline joints in the rock seams, while the supplies inside the cabin continued to be consumed. The remaining drinking water was less than seven days' worth, the rations only six days, and the oxygen purification module was only four days away from a drastic drop in efficiency. The shadow of death loomed over the wounded area. Another infected patient stopped breathing in the high fever. The compartment storing the bodies was completely full. The military doctor could only wrap the new body in waterproof cloth and place it in an idle corner beside the gate. A faint smell of decay began to drift through the air.
In the radio booth, the guard still sent encrypted distress messages on schedule. After pressing the transmit button, the headphones still held only the endless hiss of white noise, without a single response. He took off the headphones, leaned against the cold wall, and closed his eyes, a gray darkness in his gaze. Everyone knew in their hearts that the hope of reinforcements had become so slim as to practically not exist.
Suddenly, a red alert jumped out on Lin Yan's terminal screen.
"The joint sheathing has been eaten through! The corrosive liquid has made contact with the internal hydraulic sealing ring!"
"Detonate!"
The maintenance squad leader hesitated no longer and pressed the controller.
A muffled boom erupted from beneath the base plate. The explosion was confined within the rock layer of the trench. The scorching airflow and rubble instantly destroyed this section of the hydraulic pipeline. The entire shelter pod trembled violently, the overhead pipelines swayed, and the emergency lights flickered several times in succession before plunging into brief darkness.
When the lights stabilized again, the pointer on the hydraulic pressure gauge inside the gate had dropped all the way to zero, completely losing pressure.
The hydraulic lock had permanently failed.
The thick alloy gate now had only four thick steel mechanical latches holding tightly to the door frame. These four latches were the last barrier separating everyone inside the cabin from the tide of scaled beasts outside.
"The hydraulic system is completely destroyed, and the trench passage is sealed by rubble. The spore flow is temporarily cut off," Lin Yan reported loudly as he quickly refreshed the thermal data. "The three third-tier scaled beasts have sensed the change in the gate's locking strength. The rhythm of their ramming has suddenly accelerated. They have sensed that the gate has weakened!"
Outside the door, the roaring sounds of ramming exploded densely like thunder.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each blow slammed fiercely into the alloy door panel. The steel plate trembled continuously, and fine rock dust constantly fell from the area where the door frame connected to the rock layer. The four mechanical latches bore the full brunt of the impact, the metal straining under the force, emitting faint, piercing creaks, like a groan of being unable to bear the burden.
The Beast Commander knew the opportunity had arrived. It no longer merely probed and applied pressure. It dispatched the three third-tier scaled beasts to take turns charging and ramming the center of the gate. Behind them, dense masses of ordinary scaled beasts gathered outside the passage, their restless low roars faintly transmitted through the steel plate. The moment the latches broke, the tide of scaled beasts would instantly surge in.
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the supreme ruler stirred slightly.
It watched humans actively destroy the hydraulic lock and actively retreat to a more fragile defensive line. This choice still exceeded some of its estimations. These trapped people could have clearly chosen to open the door and compromise in exchange for temporary warmth and food, yet they still chose to hold the gate, using their flesh and blood to withstand the impact of the scaled beasts. It did not urge the beast herd to launch a reckless assault immediately. Instead, it signaled the Beast Commander to steadily increase the pressure, consuming the strength of the latches bit by bit, and also consuming the last mental fortitude of everyone in the cabin.
Everyone in the cabin could clearly hear the taut, abnormal sounds of the latches, and everyone's face turned pale. Suppressed sobs came from the civilian area as mothers tightly covered their children's eyes. All combat personnel picked up their weapons, lined up steadily inside the gate, standing back-to-back, their eyes fixed tightly on the trembling alloy door.
There was no retreat, no medicine, no reinforcements, no way out.
Four latches, over thirty warriors, and a group of civilians enduring starvation, freezing cold, and psychological torment—this was all that remained of the iron box's bargaining chips.
The ramming sounds continued, and the creaking of the metal latches grew clearer, as if they would snap at any second.
The battle of the desperate siege had reached the prelude to its final act.
End of Chapter.
The pitted areas repaired earlier were temporarily sealed by the sealant. However, the Spiderweb Ancient Being had already divided its spore flow into several streams, maneuvering through the finer rock seams along the sides of the trench, bypassing the positions defended by the guards. The grayish-black spore mucus flowed slowly along the inner walls of the rock layer like a living stream, finding two new joints in the sheathing. These joints were natural weak points in the entire protective system; the gaps in the metal strips could not be made completely airtight. The thick corrosive liquid seeped in bit by bit, silently gnawing at the sealing gasket beneath the strips.
Lin Yan stared at the continuously jumping spore concentration curves on the terminal, his finger repeatedly marking two newly emerged high-risk points on the screen.
"The two joints have begun to corrode. Without neutralizing agents, we can no longer eradicate the mucus as we did before," Lin Yan said, raising his eyes to look at Scholar Su. The heavy exhaustion in his eyes was nearly enough to crush him. "Now, we only have the blast-blocking charges set outside the trench. Once detonated, they will directly blow apart this section of the hydraulic pipeline. The price is that the gate's hydraulic lock will be completely scrapped. Afterward, we can only rely on those thin mechanical latches to hard-endure the ramming of the three third-tier scaled beasts outside."
Scholar Su walked to the inside of the gate, his palm resting against the cold, trembling alloy panel. The dense sounds of ramming outside continued to roar, the heavy thuds merging into a continuous noise. Each impact caused the steel plate to resonate slightly, and the faint metallic tremors conducted through the structure. He knew in his heart that this was a dilemma of the highest order.
If they did not detonate the blast-blocking charges: the spores would continue to corrode the joints. Before long, the corrosive liquid would invade the hydraulic oil, the oil circuit would become blocked, the sealing rings would burst, and the hydraulic lock would fail without warning. The gate would lose its primary lock, leaving it at the mercy of the scaled beasts' ramming.
If they detonated the blast-blocking charges: they would actively disable the hydraulic system, entering prematurely into a situation where they had to defend to the death relying solely on mechanical latches. This was equivalent to actively dismantling the gate's core defense. Furthermore, this was their last set of explosives; once used, there would be no means left to stop the underground spores from continuing to infiltrate along the trench.
"Can we send someone down to manually seal the joints with sealant?" a guard asked in a low voice.
"We can send someone down, but the spore concentration inside the trench is already very high. Without neutralizing agents, anyone staying inside for a long time will have their Sea of Consciousness directly devastated by the psychic toxins carried by the spores," Lin Yan shook his head. "The person who goes down will most likely fall into severe illusion-induced loss of control on the spot. We won't be able to save them."
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the five ancient beings flowed quietly.
The Spiderweb Ancient Being was unhurried, controlling the speed of the spore corrosion and maintaining this tug-of-war. It wanted humans to clearly see the crisis, yet be placed at a fork in the road where no matter what they chose, they would have to pay a heavy price. The Beast Commander simultaneously controlled the rhythm of the ramming, making it sometimes frantic and dense, sometimes stopping abruptly, deliberately amplifying the anxiety of the defenders.
The Sharp-Sense Ancient Being still maintained a constant, prolonged erosion of the Sea of Consciousness. The tolerance threshold of everyone in the cabin had dropped to its lowest point. Many soldiers on rotating guard duty had sluggish reactions, and even the motion of raising their spears was slower than before. In the civilian area, more and more people were numb; some kept the same posture for several hours, staring blankly at the ground with empty eyes, and it took a long time of calling to bring them back to their senses.
The Illusion Ancient Being seized this critical moment of decision, launching transaction-type illusions on a massive scale.
Many people saw in a trance that the gate slowly slid inward. Several tall, dark-green lizard ancient beings stood outside the door. They did not drive the scaled beasts to attack; instead, water and compressed rations were placed on the ground. The consciousness voice of the ancient beings sounded directly in their Sea of Consciousness: Surrender your resistance, end the torment, and you will receive food and water. The illusion was too real; the shimmering flow of the water and the dry scent of the rations felt within reach.
Two civilians who had previously been relatively restrained suddenly stood up and walked quickly toward the gate, muttering under their breath, wanting to push open the gate to welcome the gifts outside. The nearby military police immediately rushed forward to stop them. Several people pulled at each other, and the commotion in the small area quickly attracted the gaze of everyone around. The long-suppressed emotions were ignited; some followed suit, whispering that it would be better to open the door.
"Steady! Do not be led astray by the illusions!" the leading military police officer shouted loudly, repeating the wake-up code words over and over. It took great effort to hold down the two dazed individuals. But the aftereffects of the commotion spread through the crowd. Suspicion and wavering floated openly under the dim emergency lights.
Scholar Su scanned the agitated crowd and looked at the continuously rising spore signals on the terminal, his jaw clenched tight. "Notify the maintenance squad to prepare. Once the sheathing joints are eaten through, immediately detonate the blast-blocking charges inside the trench."
"Commander, once we detonate, the hydraulic lock will be gone," the squad leader said, his voice tight.
"I know," Scholar Su replied in a heavy voice. "But we cannot wait for the oil circuit to collapse on its own. In that case, we won't even have a moment to prepare. Disabling the hydraulic lock means we will at least know exactly where the weakness of our defensive line is, and we can concentrate everyone to guard the gate properly."
The order was passed down. The maintenance squad stood by the maintenance hatch, their fingers resting on the controller of the detonator wires, holding their breath as they waited for the final alarm.
Time flowed by agonizingly, minute by minute.
The ramming sounds from outside the gate waxed and waned. The spores silently gnawed at the pipeline joints in the rock seams, while the supplies inside the cabin continued to be consumed. The remaining drinking water was less than seven days' worth, the rations only six days, and the oxygen purification module was only four days away from a drastic drop in efficiency. The shadow of death loomed over the wounded area. Another infected patient stopped breathing in the high fever. The compartment storing the bodies was completely full. The military doctor could only wrap the new body in waterproof cloth and place it in an idle corner beside the gate. A faint smell of decay began to drift through the air.
In the radio booth, the guard still sent encrypted distress messages on schedule. After pressing the transmit button, the headphones still held only the endless hiss of white noise, without a single response. He took off the headphones, leaned against the cold wall, and closed his eyes, a gray darkness in his gaze. Everyone knew in their hearts that the hope of reinforcements had become so slim as to practically not exist.
Suddenly, a red alert jumped out on Lin Yan's terminal screen.
"The joint sheathing has been eaten through! The corrosive liquid has made contact with the internal hydraulic sealing ring!"
"Detonate!"
The maintenance squad leader hesitated no longer and pressed the controller.
A muffled boom erupted from beneath the base plate. The explosion was confined within the rock layer of the trench. The scorching airflow and rubble instantly destroyed this section of the hydraulic pipeline. The entire shelter pod trembled violently, the overhead pipelines swayed, and the emergency lights flickered several times in succession before plunging into brief darkness.
When the lights stabilized again, the pointer on the hydraulic pressure gauge inside the gate had dropped all the way to zero, completely losing pressure.
The hydraulic lock had permanently failed.
The thick alloy gate now had only four thick steel mechanical latches holding tightly to the door frame. These four latches were the last barrier separating everyone inside the cabin from the tide of scaled beasts outside.
"The hydraulic system is completely destroyed, and the trench passage is sealed by rubble. The spore flow is temporarily cut off," Lin Yan reported loudly as he quickly refreshed the thermal data. "The three third-tier scaled beasts have sensed the change in the gate's locking strength. The rhythm of their ramming has suddenly accelerated. They have sensed that the gate has weakened!"
Outside the door, the roaring sounds of ramming exploded densely like thunder.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each blow slammed fiercely into the alloy door panel. The steel plate trembled continuously, and fine rock dust constantly fell from the area where the door frame connected to the rock layer. The four mechanical latches bore the full brunt of the impact, the metal straining under the force, emitting faint, piercing creaks, like a groan of being unable to bear the burden.
The Beast Commander knew the opportunity had arrived. It no longer merely probed and applied pressure. It dispatched the three third-tier scaled beasts to take turns charging and ramming the center of the gate. Behind them, dense masses of ordinary scaled beasts gathered outside the passage, their restless low roars faintly transmitted through the steel plate. The moment the latches broke, the tide of scaled beasts would instantly surge in.
Deep within the cavern, the consciousness of the supreme ruler stirred slightly.
It watched humans actively destroy the hydraulic lock and actively retreat to a more fragile defensive line. This choice still exceeded some of its estimations. These trapped people could have clearly chosen to open the door and compromise in exchange for temporary warmth and food, yet they still chose to hold the gate, using their flesh and blood to withstand the impact of the scaled beasts. It did not urge the beast herd to launch a reckless assault immediately. Instead, it signaled the Beast Commander to steadily increase the pressure, consuming the strength of the latches bit by bit, and also consuming the last mental fortitude of everyone in the cabin.
Everyone in the cabin could clearly hear the taut, abnormal sounds of the latches, and everyone's face turned pale. Suppressed sobs came from the civilian area as mothers tightly covered their children's eyes. All combat personnel picked up their weapons, lined up steadily inside the gate, standing back-to-back, their eyes fixed tightly on the trembling alloy door.
There was no retreat, no medicine, no reinforcements, no way out.
Four latches, over thirty warriors, and a group of civilians enduring starvation, freezing cold, and psychological torment—this was all that remained of the iron box's bargaining chips.
The ramming sounds continued, and the creaking of the metal latches grew clearer, as if they would snap at any second.
The battle of the desperate siege had reached the prelude to its final act.
End of Chapter.