If they continued exploring deeper along this cave, they would reach the Reinhardt Vessel.
Of course, Lu Zhou would never allow Professor Leonard to learn that a vessel from the Old Universe was hidden there, so he decisively rejected his proposal to continue exploring the ruins.
He had already thoroughly explored these ruins. Apart from the spacecraft engine at the deepest point, which was said to use Zero-Point Energy, there was nothing else worth investigating.
And before he repaired that spacecraft, neither of those things had any meaning to him.
After saying goodbye to General Reinhardt over the communications channel, Lu Zhou had the android Xiao Ai sent drag the three corpses to the middle of the ruin passage, somewhere conspicuous.
He did this mainly to prevent Professor Leonard from coming back here again.
Given Leonard's courage, he probably would not dare hire another shady excavation crew to dig into these ruins for him. And if he hired a legitimate excavation team, the three inexplicable corpses, along with the record of them entering the country together at customs, would be enough to send him to court and keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Ignoring Professor Leonard's pained expression, Lu Zhou continued giving orders to the android, having it remove the explosives from the drill vehicle and install them on the load-bearing pillars at the end of the mine.
That would thoroughly put an end to any notion Leonard might have of coming back someday to secretly excavate the ruins...
Trembling with anger, Professor Leonard pointed at Lu Zhou and, mustering all his courage, delivered a feeble rebuke.
"...You're destroying cultural relics."
"I am a cultural relic. You can ask me anything you want to know... All right, everything's settled. Let's get going."
Patting Professor Leonard on