Five Are Already Out of the Game

Four hours later.

Not far above the pyramid stood a whaling station that had been abandoned for a century, and the D-Class Personnel task force convoy had already reached its perimeter.

They parked and cut the engines.

"Click! Clang!" The sound of the vehicle doors opening and closing rang out with startling clarity in the deserted whaling station.

The group stepped out of the vehicles.

Fourteen of them, originally D-Class Security, were dressed in black cold-weather gear and armed with 7.62mm and 5.56mm rifles.

The remaining D-Class Personnel wore white cold-weather gear; they had been researchers or engineers, and were equipped only with 9mm or .45 ACP pistols for self-defense.

A D-Class task force was still a task force, after all; they couldn't function without guns. Even if they proved useless against a Predator, they at least had to maintain a sense of presence.

However, Chris, who had stepped out of the lead vehicle, wore dark gray cold-weather tactical pants and a dark blue cold-weather parka.

He wore a bulletproof vest under his parka, with a dark green tactical belt over it (as shown in the previous chapter's Easter egg image). Furthermore, Sui Bian had temporarily lent Chris the Epsilon captain's Mechanical Exoskeleton and an MA5B.

The protagonist was the protagonist, but he needed top-tier equipment to allow Chris to perform at his best.

Chris chambered a round in the MA5B, slung it across his chest, and walked to the front of the group after closing his door. He gathered his thoughts and raised his voice:

"Everyone, although we are a team assembled on short notice and I know we aren't exactly unified, in order to complete the mission and go home, I think—"

"That's enough, Captain." Before Chris could finish, he was interrupted by a D-Class Security member: "You can skip the morale-boosting speech. Instead of wasting time on that, tell us something practical. Just tell us what you need us to do."

As the D-Class Security member's voice faded, many others nodded in silent agreement.

Indeed, rather than empty platitudes, orders were better.

Seeing this, Chris realized his speech had been unnecessary, so he nodded as well:

"Fine. Please follow the assignments we established before departure. Groups A and B, search the surrounding area for a cave leading underground.

Group C, move the supplies and equipment and set up lighting here first. Group D, inspect the entire whaling station to see if there is anything unusual.

Oh, and everyone, turn on your chest cameras so the fleet knows our current status."

"Yes (Understood)."

After receiving instructions from Chris, the group turned on their chest-mounted micro-cameras and split up into teams of six.

Twelve people searched the area around the whaling station for the cave pierced by the Predator mothership, while the other six moved supplies from the tracked vehicles onto the ice and set up high-intensity lighting to make the place look less desolate.

Finally, Group D, consisting of six D-Class Security personnel, inspected the entire whaling station; Chris wanted them to ensure that they were the only visitors present at this moment.

Seeing the twenty-four D-Class Personnel begin their work, Chris looked up, scanning the starry sky with vigilance.

According to Sui Bian, the Predator race possessed advanced optical camouflage technology, allowing even their motherships to approach the surface silently.

However, Sui Bian also mentioned that if one observed carefully, the outlines could be faintly discerned.

Keeping Sui Bian's words in mind, Chris wanted to try his luck and see if he could spot the Predator mothership.

However...

He found nothing.

Not long after, Group B discovered a cave leading directly beneath the ice sheet behind an ice mound about ten meters east of the whaling station.

Upon receiving this news, Chris immediately ordered them to use the supplies and equipment they had brought to begin setting up hoisting gear at the cave entrance.

At the cave entrance.

Except for Group D, who were on guard duty, the entire temporary task force gathered here, with several men working to assemble the hoisting equipment.

The D-Class personnel who had been security found it strange that there was a bottomless ice cave here, but as rough men, they did not dwell on it.

Conversely, the D-Class personnel who had been researchers raised various questions to Chris, only to be rebuffed by his standard, "I don't know either."

Forty minutes passed.

The hoisting equipment was set up. Groups A, C, and D followed Chris, using the ropes of the hoist to begin their descent into the cave toward the ice sheet below, while the six members of Group B remained on the surface as ordered.

Another half hour later, Chris and the eighteen D-Class Personnel successfully reached the space beneath the ice.

It was different from what everyone had imagined; it was not a world of pure ice and snow, but one of soil and rock walls.

The group trekked through the rock cavern for a while before quickly discovering stairs and passages with signs of artificial construction. They followed the passage out of the cavern, and their eyes were suddenly met with a vast, open space.

The area was incredibly spacious, and as they looked forward through the light provided by their equipment, they could faintly see a large, man-made structure.

Upon discovering this miracle, the group immediately fired three flares in the direction of the building.

The flares rose into the air, and their blinding light flooded the entire underground space, allowing everyone to witness the true form of the man-made structure with their own eyes.

It was a pyramid that blended the styles of multiple civilizations.

"Jesus... Jesus Christ... So... the Antarctic continent really did host a civilization..."

Seeing the pyramid almost within arm's reach, a middle-aged D-Class researcher fell to his knees, unable to accept the reality as he muttered to himself.

The fact that there was a hidden world beneath the Antarctic ice, complete with man-made pyramids, was enough to overturn the existing scientific community.

It was just a pity that, as D-Class Personnel, they would not have the fortune to enjoy this honor, and the Company would never make this discovery public.

Even Chris, who had known the truth all along, wore an expression of shock.

Hearing and seeing—truly, witnessing it with one's own eyes was far more shocking.

He took a moment to compose himself.

Chris continued to step forward, raising his voice as he said, "Gentlemen, let us proceed further and enter this pyramid to see what we can find."

Curiosity was one of the fundamental traits of humanity, driving them to uncover the truth. With that, the group began to climb the steps toward the top of the pyramid.

But at this very moment, on the ice surface...

"Ah!! Come out! If you have the guts, come out!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The frantic, hysterical shouting of a human, accompanied by the chaotic sound of gunfire, echoed at the edge of the cave entrance.

Five human corpses lay scattered across the ice, their varied states of death and bright red blood standing out starkly against the pristine snow.

The only remaining human was the D-Class Security who had interrupted Chris's speech earlier.

With a sharp "whoosh," an invisible object pierced through the D-Class Security, pinning his body flat against the ice.

"Pfft... ugh..." The D-Class Security spat out blood, his ability to fight already extinguished.

"Zzzzt~." Suddenly, a few electronic sounds rang out.

Three figures, massive in build and over two meters tall, clad in silver metal armor, masks, blades, and weaponry, materialized as if deactivating a cloaking device.