In the night sky, the rotors of several military helicopters sliced through the air with a dull roar.
They took off from Norfolk Naval Base, flying in formation through the darkness toward the depths of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Inside the cabins, technicians in white protective suits calibrated their equipment, opened cases, took out the specially made lead-plated drones, connected the cables, and powered them on.
The helicopters landed at a temporary assembly point five kilometers from the core area.
The ground was already covered with radiation monitors, their red indicator lights blinking steadily.
The technicians jumped from the aircraft, placed the cases on the ground, and opened them, revealing folded quadcopter drones inside.
The drones' bodies were covered in thick lead plates, and even their rotor blades had been coated with lead.
Their cameras were encased in lead shielding, with only tiny lenses exposed.
Cables extended from the drones' tails and connected to control terminals inside portable cases. The long cables ensured the operators could remain at a safe distance while transmitting footage through fiber optics.
The first drone took off. It wobbled into the night sky, dragging its long tail cable behind it as it flew toward the still-smoking ruins.
On the control terminal's screen, the image began to flicker—scorched earth, twisted steel frames, shattered concrete, and those...
Things whose shapes could no longer be recognized. The drone continued deeper, entering the remains of the base Tianyi had pulled from underground before the nuclear bomb sheared off its top.
Inside the base, ruins lay piled upon ruins. The passageways had long since collapsed, and the walls were covered in cracks and scorch marks.
The drone's camera passed through one shattered doorway after another until it finally reached the deepest part—the room where Professor Gao had once been imprisoned.