Five Men Were Already Dead

Four hours later.

Not far above the Pyramid stood a Whaling Station that had been abandoned for a hundred years. The D-Class Personnel task force convoy had arrived at the edge of the station.

They parked and killed the engines.

"Click—clunk!" The doors opening and closing sounded especially loud in the deserted Whaling Station.

Everyone got out of the vehicles.

Fourteen D-Class Personnel who had originally served as armed security wore black cold-weather gear and carried rifles chambered in 7.62mm and 5.56mm.

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

A D-Class Personnel task force was still a task force. How could they get by without guns? Even if they were no use against the Predators, they at least had to look intimidating.

However, Chris, who got out of the lead vehicle, wore dark gray cold-weather combat trousers and a dark blue cold-weather jacket.

He wore body armor under the jacket and a dark green tactical harness over it, as shown in the bonus illustration from the previous chapter. Sui Bian had also lent him the Epsilon captain's Mechanical Exoskeleton and MA5B.

Chris was the protagonist, sure, but he needed good equipment to perform at his best.

Chris chambered a round in the MA5B and slung it across his chest. After closing the vehicle door, he stepped in front of everyone, gathered his thoughts, and raised his voice.

"Everyone, even though we were only thrown together at the last minute, and I know we can't all pull together, we need to finish this mission and get home. So, I think..."

"Cut it out, Captain." Before Chris could finish, a D-Class Security officer interrupted him. "You can skip the pep talk. Instead of wasting time, tell us what you need us to do."

When the D-Class Security officer finished speaking, many people silently nodded.

He was right. Better to give orders than make a speech.

Seeing this, Chris realized his speech had been pointless. He nodded and said, "All right. Follow the assignments we were given before setting out. Teams A and B, search the area for a cave leading underground.

"Team C, move the supplies and equipment, then set up lighting here. D Team, inspect the entire Whaling Station and check for anything unusual.

"Oh, and everyone, turn on the cameras on your chests so the ship crew can see our current status."

"Yes, sir." "Got it."

After receiving their instructions from Chris, everyone turned on the tiny cameras attached to their chests. Then, they split into groups of six and set off.

Twelve people searched around the Whaling Station for the cave punched through the ice by the Predator mothership. Another six unloaded supplies from the tracked vehicles onto the ice and set up powerful lights so the place wouldn't look quite so lifeless.

Finally, D Team, made up of six D-Class Security officers, inspected the entire Whaling Station. Chris wanted them to make sure that, at that moment, they were the only visitors there.

As the twenty-four D-Class Personnel got to work, Chris looked up and warily scanned the nearby night sky.

According to Sui Bian, the Predator race possessed relatively advanced Optical Camouflage technology. Even their mothership could approach the surface without making a sound.

But Sui Bian had also said that if you looked carefully, you could still make out its outline.

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

However...

He found nothing.

Before long, Team B discovered a cave leading straight beneath the ice, behind an ice mound just over ten meters east of the Whaling Station.

As soon as Chris heard the news, he ordered them to use the supplies and equipment they had brought to set up a lift at the cave entrance.

At the cave entrance.

Everyone from the temporary task force except D Team, who were on watch, had gathered there. Several people were setting up the lift.

The D-Class Personnel who had once worked in security wondered why there was a bottomless ice cave here, but they weren't the sort to dwell on it.

The D-Class Personnel who had formerly been researchers, on the other hand, raised all kinds of questions for Chris. He shut them down with, "I don't know either."

About forty minutes later.

The lift was ready. Teams A, C, and D followed Chris down into the cave using the lift's ropes. At his order, the six members of Team B stayed behind on the surface.

Another half hour passed, and Chris and the eighteen D-Class Personnel made it safely beneath the ice.

The place was unlike anything they had imagined. It wasn't entirely a frozen world; there was soil and rock as well.

After walking through the cavern for a while, they soon found stairs and passageways that bore signs of having been made by humans. Following the passage out of the cavern, they were met with a sudden, sweeping openness.

The space was enormous. By the light from their equipment, they could just make out a large man-made structure in the distance.

The discovery left everyone awestruck. They immediately fired three flares toward the structure.

The flares rose into the air, their blinding light filling the entire underground space and revealing the true form of the man-made structure before their eyes.

It was a Pyramid blending the styles of several civilizations.

"Jesus... Jesus Christ... So... so there really was a civilization on the Antarctic continent..."

At the sight of the Pyramid, almost within reach, a middle-aged D-Class researcher sank to his knees. Unable to believe his eyes, he murmured to himself.

A world beneath the Antarctic ice, with a man-made Pyramid hidden inside—it was enough to upend the entire scientific community.

Unfortunately, they had been demoted to D-Class Personnel and would never get to enjoy the honor of this discovery. Besides, the company would never make it public.

Even Chris, who already knew the truth, looked utterly shocked.

Hearing about it was one thing. Seeing it with his own eyes was far more incredible.

After a moment, Chris continued forward and raised his voice. "Gentlemen, let's keep moving and explore this Pyramid."

Curiosity was part of human nature. It drove them to keep searching for the truth, and so the group climbed the steps toward the Pyramid.

But on the ice above...

"Ah!! Come out! Come on out if you've got the guts!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A human's hysterical shouts and the sound of gunfire spraying wildly rang out beside the cave entrance.

Five human corpses lay sprawled on the ice, each killed in a different way. Their bright red blood stood out against the white snow.

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

With a whoosh, an unseen object pierced the D-Class Security officer and pinned him on his back to the ice.

"Urgh... ah..." Blood spilled from the D-Class Security officer's mouth. He was no longer able to fight.

"Bzzt..." Several electronic beeps suddenly sounded.

Three figures emerged as if they had just deactivated their invisibility. They were powerfully built, over two meters tall, and wore silver metal armor, masks, and claws. Each carried a weapon.