Eight Stone Sentinel Formation

No.

Absolutely not.

The Lanxiang Horus Project was ultimately rejected by Iron Son.

"Don't forget I still carry the scent of Tacitus," Iron Son said. "It might alert the swarm."

Kang De clapped his hands and said, "I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it."

So he used Iron Son's head to conduct an experiment on the swarm's perception range, with a maximum distance of about three kilometers, and then returned the way he came to the town where the population had disappeared.

Then he compared it to the head of the Iron Son.

After waiting for more than twenty minutes, no insects emerged from the soil or slithered towards us.

"Very good. If the soil structure doesn't affect their sensing range, it means they're quite far away from us, at least three kilometers away, which means..." Kang De chuckled, "You can go now."

Horus stubbornly persisted. "What if the soil could influence their perception?"

Kang De's smile grew even more benevolent, "Then what are you still worried about?"

"..."

"..."

In the end, the Iron Son gave in.

After all, Kang De's display of skill in the White Mist Space intimidated Horus was gradually entering his rebellious phase.

Dig.

Horus retrieved some parts and components from the White Mist World, reassembled and transformed them into a sealed excavation device, roughly the size of a motorcycle, with a drill bit at the front. It was simply assembled through welding and cutting, and could not compare to industrial-grade equipment. It was able to function because Kang De had enchanted it.

Behind it was a small cabin, narrow like a fighter jet cockpit, and in fact, it was modified according to the cockpit model of the F-35. Kang De could sit inside and observe the outside world through the windshield.

The engine started, the drill bit made a soft sound, and then it sank down. The solid cement ground shattered like a biscuit, and soon it was dry and hard soil. Kang De reached out and pressed his hand against the side wall, his mental energy emanating out to Extraction some stones and soil to assist Iron Son in his work. After digging to a depth of about 10 or 20 meters, the surrounding soil gradually became sticky.

Iron Son complained, "... It's all wet and disgusting."

Kang De said, "Didn't they change two layers of armor plates?"

Horus replied, "Doesn't Father feel disgusted just because his clothes have some excrement on them?"

That makes sense.

Since this guy did the work, it's not a big deal to let him say a few sarcastic remarks.

Otherwise, Kang De himself would be Extraction and extracting from a quagmire.

Earth is not the Minecraft world. Soil is not just a slightly moist, thick mass, because there is water underground. The deeper you dig, the more water you find. Beneath the soil layers are various rock strata, landforms, and even ancient geodes. There may be large amounts of groundwater stored between the rock walls, possibly gas, natural gas reservoirs, or even oil, salt domes, magma, high-temperature heat flow, or even radioactive mineral deposits.

Not to mention the endlessness of space, even the earth beneath our feet contains countless mysteries and unknowns. If we compare the earth to an egg, humanity has only cracked a tiny bit of powder off the shell.

102m is the deepest burial depth of the Badaling High-Speed Railway Station.

At 154m, it is the deepest hotel in the world.

200m, the deepest burial depth in a Korea subway station in Pyongyang Korea.

At 287m, it is the world's deepest underwater tunnel.

2375m, the deepest point for human scientific research, the dark matter detection laboratory at Jinping Mountain in China.

The radius of the Earth's equator is 6,378,137 meters.

The glass on both sides was enchanted and reinforced, covered with mud. Kang De stretched out his hand, and the Proof of Stellar Authority of the Sun God shone with a soft light, illuminating the surrounding darkness. This light illuminated the view outside the cabin, the water and mud rushing in from all directions, and the gravel mixed in with them.

It surged, like the sea.

Descending into the deep sea in a small submersible must feel similar.

Amidst darkness and the unknown, a human being with a short lifespan wanders among the traces left by countless years, and is the sole visitor, visiting this frozen, eternal story.

Horus's voice rang out. "What is Father thinking?"

Kang De shook his head. "How do you feel?"

Iron Son said calmly, "As a hard and large drill bit, striving to penetrate deep into a dark, moist, and warm mud, what do you say?"

Kang De laughed out loud.

He laughed for a while, then continued looking around the cabin, "So this is what the underground is like... I really didn't know before. What you learn from books is quite different from actual experience."

Horus asked, "And then?"

"So..." Kang De murmured, "Groundwater, flowing mud, hard rock, ever-increasing pressure, and temperature—we keep digging down, yet we still can't find any trace of locusts. They might have managed to burrow this far overnight; the flowing mud and groundwater would have concealed their movements, but..."

But if the townspeople were all kidnapped... how were they kidnapped?

I didn't know before, but seeing the underground environment with my own eyes today, I can't believe how people can be transported there.

They'd either drown or suffocate.

This discovery left Kang De with a vague unease. He had always suspected that the townspeople were not dead, but rather, like the food, had been transported to some kind of underground ruin. But now it seemed...

"This is the mystery we must unravel," Horus said. "Hasn't Father always acted in this way: striving to save lives, and if that's impossible, preventing the disaster from spreading; if that's too late to prevent, punishing the wicked, letting the dead rest in peace, and ensuring that the sorrow never repeats itself—life is precious, and there's no regret in doing one's best. Time cannot be wasted on meaningless self-blame and guilt; we resolve all kinds of troubles."

"You're right." Kang De slowly exhaled, clearing his mind of the jumbled thoughts and speculations. "Right now, crushing Big Bob as quickly as possible is the greatest justice."

Deep underground, their location became difficult to discern, and cell phone signals had disappeared. Fortunately, Horus's own positioning device and direction indicator were still working. Kang De determined his location and dug as deep as possible, also moving closer to Zhuerban. The temperature was constantly rising, and the flowing mud and gravel rubbed against the outer wall of the tunnel boring machine.

As for the surrounding scenery, I'm already tired of it—there's hardly any scenery to speak of.

They gradually approached Zhuerban's location, digging at a downward angle. To ensure the life of the drill bit, the digging speed was not fast. After about an hour, the engine suddenly stopped.

Horus murmured, "Hmm."

Kang De had wanted to go outside for some fresh air for half an hour.

But looking at the terrible surroundings, even with his thick skin, he was too embarrassed to say things like, "I want to go back to the ground to breathe some fresh air and have a KFC family bucket," or "You can stay here and keep moving."

Kang De removed the breathing mask from his portable oxygen tank and asked, "What, did you hit bedrock?"

Horus shut off the engine, activated all detection devices, and whispered, "Listen..."

The rumbling vibrations were not from the surging of mud or the flow of water, but from another kind of vibration coming from afar underground... and getting closer and closer!

The Phoenix Flame in Kang De's eyes suddenly blazed, but he still couldn't see anything unusual around him. His spiritual power spread out, but the Fire Thief's power couldn't sense anything amiss... This meant he wasn't close enough!

But it's close enough!

Father and son had fought side by side for a long time. Horus was created by him and inherited his father's temperament. Through their experiences and battles along the way, Horus had developed an increasingly decisive character. At this moment, with a formidable enemy at hand, and perhaps already discovered, their perfect understanding meant that their first thought was not to run away!

Instead, it moves forward rapidly!

Kang De shouted sternly, "Full power propulsion!"

Horus said in a deep voice, "Good!"

The engine roared, the drill rig howled, and Kang De's spiritual power ripped through the obstacles in front of them, annihilating them. The father and son accelerated suddenly, and the roars and vibrations around them grew closer and closer!

"Keep going! Speed things up!"

Since we've already heard the commotion and the enemy has even reacted, it means one thing—their hideout isn't far off! In that case, at least let me see something!

The deafening roar grew louder and louder, as if a powerful earth dragon was attacking. Kang De's face was ashen. Through his Phoenix Vision, he could already see several long, rolling silver rivers in the distance, but he couldn't yet discern what they were. That wasn't his primary concern. "Faster!"

The distance was so close that Horus's sensors could detect it.

Iron Son said in a deep voice, "We expect to engage the enemy in forty seconds!"

"We have thirty-nine seconds left!"

Thirty seconds!

"Twenty seconds!"

"Ten seconds!"

"Five!"

At this moment, mental power was expanded to its limit, the soil and rocks in front of it disappeared one after another, the jetting device was revealed behind the excavator, and it rushed forward fiercely. Despite the obstacles of the infinite earth, it broke through one obstacle after another and finally reached a position close enough that Phoenix Vision could see anything other than the soil.

In the distance, a cluster of shimmering red dots could be faintly seen.

That was a feedback from the Life Vision; a large number of humans had gathered there.

Underground.

Found it.

"They're here!"

The soil on both sides was suddenly hurled in, a silver storm roared in, and the next moment, black light surged, and Kang De and Horus vanished instantly, returning to the White Mist World.

The outer metal plate, covered in mud and gravel, peeled off, revealing Horus as a giant-headed robot. Kang De leaped up and looked back at it. "There's no mistake! Those people are still alive!"

Horus asked slowly, "What exactly are those things?"

"I didn't see clearly," Kang De said in a deep voice, "But we still have time to give them a welcome gift."

The portal reopened, Kang De returned to Earth. In the village house, a large hole had been dug into the living room, leaving traces. Horus extended his sensor probe and went inside.

"Vibration, high-frequency vibration... They're coming! They're fast!"

"Let's give them a good laugh and see just how far we can go!"

Horus asked, "With what?"

Kang De opened the door. "Of course, it's the Eight Stone Sentinel Formation!"

The Transformers transformed into a half-body exoskeleton, covering Kang De's shoulders, back, and arms, and traversed back to the western airport in the White Mist World. With the support of the nation, the generosity of France, and the aid of Russia, Horus took some time these past two days to create some very interesting homemade weapons.

After all, modern weapons are designed to target nations and soldiers, and do not solely pursue lethality in order to avoid waste and collateral damage. However, this strange swarm of insects is an enemy beyond our capabilities. Conventional weapons have limited power, and weapons of mass destruction are not yet available. Kang De can only rely on traditional principles and depend on his own efforts.

For example, the Eight Stone Sentinel Formation.

He walked to the corner of the vast airport runway, pulled back a piece of canvas, revealing a bunch of objects gleaming with metallic luster, simple lines, grand design, and several large characters written on them.

Laiyang Steel Pipe Factory.

During the earlier Battle of Comora, Horus obtained building materials from a military camp, including these large steel pipes, which he then stuffed with large amounts of plastic explosives, high-explosive shells, and shrapnel.

Full to the brim.

It was repeatedly enchanted by Kang De, radiating a multicolored black hue. The complexity of its surface elemental concentration and composition was enough to make any mage show a subtle yet fearful expression.

This is the Eight Stone Sentinel Formation.

It is an improved version of the Eight Formations Diagram by Zhuge Liang, the famous prime minister of the Later Han and Three Kingdoms period.

The portal opened, and eight steel pipes landed on the ground. Horus scanned the surrounding terrain, confirmed the best location, and pointed out the coordinates to Kang De. Kang De hugged one of the pipes, took a big leap, and suddenly stopped downwards, Extraction the ground. One pipe sank and disappeared into the ground, and so on.

There are eight Zhuzi in total.

It is both the Eight Stone Sentinel Formation and the Eight Gates Golden Lock.

These eight gates are death, death, death, death, death, death, death, and death.

After finishing, Horus said in a deep voice, "It's almost here!"

Three minutes later, the rumbling of the earth was clearly audible. Kang De waited a moment and then began to move. The Tacitus aura of Horus attracted the visitors from underground, causing them to move and change positions. Kang De looked down with his Phoenix Vision and saw a long, winding silver river below, rolling like a giant serpent.

"They're here!"

The ground beneath their feet exploded with a deafening roar, one after another.

Kang De had already teleported. Stepping onto the back of the Himo's Eagle, he looked down and saw more than a dozen silver-gray giant pythons roaring out, breaking through the soil, raising their heads to the sky, and roaring. There were no forked tongues in their mouths, only a mass of surging silver-gray. In a flash, Kang De raised his left arm, and the oversized homemade mortar plummeted down.

It fell into the giant python's mouth.

A burst of light and fire erupted.

Silver-gray debris suddenly exploded, torn apart by the shockwave and scorched by the flames. The giant python's head exploded on the spot, and half of its body thrashed wildly. The Himo's Eagle flapped its wings and flew upwards, while Kang De's left hand clenched loosely.

Detonate.

A burst of light erupted, Magic Power surged, the brilliance of gunpowder weapons and the savagery of elemental power were unified under the Power of the Fire Thief, and the Eight Stone Sentinel Formation swept away everything, suppressing the bizarre and wondrous.

In an instant, it was as if ten thousand thunderbolts had struck, and the intense shockwaves lifted the entire town. The earth churned like waves, and houses rose and fell. This deserted town seemed to have been struck by an earthquake, collapsing, breaking, and sinking. Looking down from the sky, the shockwaves were visible to the naked eye, pushing the sand and dust far into the distance.

As for the giant silver-gray pythons that kept charging out, their bodies were torn apart by this terrifying light, shattering into countless stardust that burned, crumbled, and drifted away.

Only a few locusts danced in the fierce wind, swaying helplessly.

Ultimately, it was buried in the firelight.

Kang De stood atop the giant eagle, high in the sky, overlooking the sea of fire and destruction below.

Feeling the warm breeze, he said calmly, "These are all locusts."

A giant python made up of countless locusts has an astonishing ability to dig underground... He witnessed all of this when suddenly, his cell phone in his pocket started buzzing.

Qin Mengjin.

I couldn't reach you just now!

"What's wrong?"

"The France have made their move!"

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PS1: Update... Ah... I'm actually craving instant noodles...