Ice Age Apocalypse: I Hoard Billions of Supplies Chapter 1665: The Red Earth Basin

Newton led the Sea Wolf Special Forces to Tianshui City, and Zhang Yi received him at the harbor where the Chaoyu Base was located.

Meeting this Black Chariot-tier Transcendent from Colombia for the first time, Zhang Yi felt that he looked like a cold, emotionless machine.

Aside from his deadpan face, even his way of speaking was frighteningly frugal, as if he were unwilling to utter a single useless word.

"I heard that when Huaxu Nation was attacked last time, only Tianshui City achieved a complete victory. I wonder if you would be so kind as to recount the details of that battle for me?"

Newton said directly, getting straight to the point.

Zhang Yi did not take Newton to his Tianshui Fortress.

That was his greatest secret. If he brought Newton and his men there, it would very likely expose the weapon defenses in that place, and most critically, it might allow him to discover the existence of the Barrier Stones.

This special material was the core of the Tianshui Fortress, and could even drastically weaken the attack power of Epsilon-class Transcendents.

The fewer people who knew of its existence, the better.

However, Zhang Yi still answered Newton's questions as thoroughly as he could.

"Of course. After all, we are allies on the same front now!"

Zhang Yi brought Newton to a reception room in the Chaoyu Base, and gave a detailed account of the battle that night.

Naturally, he held back certain secrets regarding himself.

After hearing him out, Newton cupped his chin and said, "Hm, so that's how it was? Your forces actually already possess three Epsilon-class beings at the same time!"

"Even by the standards of today's world, that is already approaching the level of a first-rate power, second only to the few superpowers."

"The Wuluan Empire's troops did not lose unjustly."

He lifted his head and studied Zhang Yi carefully. "However, I believe the most critical factor in achieving such a flawless victory was that your preparations were thorough enough! Your caution is admirable."

On this point, Newton was not wrong.

If Zhang Yi had not sensed early on that danger might be coming, and thus kept himself ready at all times.

Then even though Tianshui City possessed three Epsilon-class beings, the baseline combat strength was pitifully small.

If they had been caught off guard by the Wuluan Empire's troops, even if they could win, it would inevitably have been a Pyrrhic victory.

A flicker of sharp light flashed behind Newton's gold-rimmed glasses. He crossed his arms and spoke slowly:

"In other words, although Huaxu Nation suffered heavy losses last time, the fact that they managed to preserve their core strength despite being ambushed shows that the Wuluan Empire's strength is not as terrifying as imagined."

"This information is crucial."

"In particular, the silver-armored Transcendent leading their troops was only at the Black Chariot-tier level."

Zhang Yi looked at Newton and said calmly, "That is not the point. What we fear most is an existence far more terrifying than Silver Armor."

Newton's eyebrows shot upward, and his expression grew much more solemn. "You mean that monster in black armor, standing in the sky above Mist Valley?"

Two years ago, they had received footage from a warship of the Ocean Fleet that had gone missing.

At that time, the Gatekeeper of the Underworld had displayed unparalleled power, sweeping aside the top Transcendents from every nation present.

Even now, the strength of Zhang Yi, Cadillus, and Xuanwu had all grown considerably compared to back then.

Yet recalling that battle did not instill in them the confidence to fight him. Instead, it only deepened their sense of the Gatekeeper of the Underworld's overwhelming power.

It was like an adult toying with a child, like a human encountering a strange little animal in the wild and being unable to resist playing with it.

The Gatekeeper of the Underworld back then had not used his full strength against them at all. Otherwise, no survivors would have remained that day.

"Perhaps the situation is not as dire as you imagine."

Newton gazed at Zhang Yi and suddenly said this.

Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why do you say that?"

He waited for Newton to continue. Colombia possessed the strength of a world-class nation, and for the past two hundred years, they had always been among the world's top powers.

Therefore, they must possess a great deal of information that other nations were unaware of.

Newton pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and spoke in a cold voice: "A century ago, when your nation was still in its infancy, we in Colombia had already begun investigating anomalous phenomena."

"Since the 1950s, our investigation into extraterrestrial beings has never been interrupted."

"Of course, you could say this. We know better than anyone that this world does not contain only humanity as a higher intelligent civilization."

"In the past, people treated all unknown higher civilizations as visitors from beyond the stars. But such thinking has no logical basis whatsoever."

"If such a species truly existed, possessing technology capable of crossing dozens or even tens of thousands of light-years to reach this planet, then their power would be more than enough to easily turn Blue Star into a colony. So why would they need to hide?"

Newton's tone carried a trace of mockery.

"In a collision between two completely different civilizations, with one side holding absolute superiority in technological level, the only possible result is conquest. What reason would they have for hiding?"

Zhang Yi crossed his arms and said indifferently, "So, you knew all along that those anomalous civilization phenomena came from the underground world?"

"Not entirely."

Newton said, "But in most cases, we have always been able to find bizarre existences within the abyss."

"In the 1970s, in the Leibniz Red Earth Basin, we discovered traces of activity from subterranean creatures. According to declassified records, the Colombian officials at the time dispatched over two thousand special forces personnel and a large number of geological surveyors to investigate."

"And guess how it turned out?"

He looked at Zhang Yi with keen interest, his eyes full of intrigue.

"All dead?"

Zhang Yi said calmly.

Newton nodded.

"They entered a massive abyss pit in the Red Earth Basin. After descending over two thousand meters, they encountered two strange, humanoid-shaped creatures."

"Two?"

"That's right. Just two. One was only a little over a meter tall. As for its appearance, have you ever seen a movie called E.T.?"

" Haven't seen it, but I've probably seen short video commentary about it. It's the standard alien look, right?"

"That's right, exactly that appearance. Later depictions of aliens in various media largely came from that version."

"The smaller subterranean creature looked like that, but the larger one was over three meters tall, similar in appearance to the smaller one, except it was white."

Newton drew a circle on his chest with his finger.

"At the time, the special forces members accompanying the expedition were so frightened by this sight that they shot and killed the smaller creature."

"Then the larger subterranean creature made this gesture on its chest."

"After that, of the team that had ventured into the abyss, only one person was dragged back alive, crippled. Everyone else died."