Luo Feng stared at the pyramids in shock. Although their outer layers were weathered and decayed, the overall structures remained intact.
There were a total of nine pyramids. Their placement appeared random, yet the nine pyramids seemed to form a single unified structure. Invisibly, they resembled an enormous illusory pyramid.
“Pyramids? Beneath the pyramids is…”
Luo Feng was startled.
“A city?”
Beneath the nine towering pyramids lay a city of which only a rough outline remained. Faint traces of roads and building foundations could still be seen. Clearly, it had fallen into ruin countless years ago.
Whoosh!
Luo Feng flew directly over and quickly descended, landing on the Martian surface covered in sand and gravel.
“No one has been here for a very, very long time.”
Looking at a section of ruined wall before him, Luo Feng grew increasingly shocked and puzzled.
“Babata, what’s going on here?”
“Why are you so surprised?” Babata said. “This is perfectly normal.”
“Normal?”
“Of course it’s normal. Before my master ruled this region, this star field belonged to the Silver Blue Empire.”
Babata continued.
“And Earth was one of only two life bearing planets within nearly a thousand light years.”
“There’s another one?”
Luo Feng was curious.
“The other life bearing planet is nearly a hundred light years away from Earth. Even travelling at the speed of light would take close to a hundred years.”
Babata said,
“Only by reaching light speed and performing cosmic travel can you arrive there quickly.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
“Earth, being a life bearing planet and a low level civilisation planet of the Silver Blue Empire, naturally had quite a few human inhabitants.”
Babata continued,
“Its original purpose was as a livestock planet. It was mainly used to raise powerful beasts, tame them, and then sell them for profit. The population was probably several million, all serving the livestock industry.”
Luo Feng knew about this as well.
Life bearing planets could be divided into densely populated residential planets, tourism planets, livestock planets, forestry planets, agricultural planets, industrial planets, and many other categories.
Some forces in the universe even built enormous factories directly on planets.
“Earth raised many valuable beasts and represented an important asset of the Silver Blue Empire, so an interstellar fleet was stationed here permanently.”
Babata said,
“They also used interstellar transport ships to carry mining equipment and miners to mineral planets around life bearing worlds.”
“Back then, many miners worked on Mars. They even built a mining base here.”
“Later, my master wiped out the interstellar fleet with a single move.”
“Without interstellar transport ships, the miners on Mars had no supplies. Even producing life meals couldn’t sustain them for long. So they all died.”
Luo Feng froze.
So that was the explanation.
This was a mining base.
“These pyramids are energy towers.”
Babata explained,
“This type of energy tower imitates the Mechanical Race’s basic method of energy generation and offers excellent cost effectiveness. When it comes to utilising pyramids, humanity cannot compare with the Mechanical Race.”
“The Mechanical Race is extremely advanced technologically.”
Babata could not help adding,
“Humanity cannot compete with them. Humans can only become Immortal through evolution. The Mechanical Race, however, are essentially intelligent life forms. Even though they have no souls, they can still possess Immortal level combat power.”
Luo Feng was inwardly shocked.
Intelligent life forms possessed emotions and many human like traits, but they were still intelligence rather than souls.
Babata himself was an example.
Yet the soulless Mechanical Race could produce Immortal level experts.
Their technological prowess truly was astonishing.
Whoosh… whoosh…
Powerful winds swept across the area, carrying vast amounts of sand and gravel.
Luo Feng stood on the ground.
“Babata, scan for mineral deposits.”
“Beginning mineral scan.”
The Black Dragon spaceship hovering above immediately activated its mineral detection system.
Only moments later,
“Luo Feng, Mars contains extremely rich Black Iron deposits.”
“Black Iron?”
“Yes. Translated into Chinese, it can be called Black Iron.”
Babata said,
“Black Iron is an A8 grade metal. It has excellent hardness and sells very well throughout the universe.”
“No B grade metals?”
Luo Feng frowned.
As a Stellar Level Golden Horned Beast, consuming B grade pure metals would be far more efficient.
“No.”
Babata suddenly sounded excited.
“But the quantity of Black Iron ore is enormous. That means there must be a considerable amount of Black Iron Essence inside.”
Luo Feng’s heart stirred.
Black Iron was A8 grade.
Black Iron Essence was therefore B8 grade.
And the exceedingly rare Black Iron Mother would be C8 grade.
For example, the Yun Mo Planet ship was almost entirely constructed from Red Mixed Copper Mother.
Ordinary Red Mixed Copper was already D9 grade.
Red Mixed Copper Essence was E9 grade.
Red Mixed Copper Mother was F9 grade.
In a large Black Iron mine, having even one ten thousandth of the ore as Black Iron Essence would be considered good.
As for Black Iron Mother, having one ten thousandth of the Black Iron Essence quantity would already be remarkable.
The proportions were absurdly low.
Red Mixed Copper itself was precious.
One could easily imagine the value of a spacecraft built entirely from Red Mixed Copper Mother.
Even a fragment of Red Mixed Copper Mother would drive Domain Lords mad with desire.
Unfortunately, the Yun Mo Planet ship required repairs, and nowhere within the vast Black Dragon Mountain Empire could such repairs be carried out.
“Luo Feng, these nine energy towers interfere with detection.”
Babata said,
“Within the area they cover, scanning is impossible.”
“However, beneath the energy towers is a steel city underground. I can barely detect a tiny portion of it.”
“A steel city?”
Luo Feng jumped in surprise.
An underground steel city?
“However, within the few hundred metres I can scan, there are no life forms. Let’s go. Enter through the surface cave twelve kilometres to the left and you’ll reach the underground steel city.”
On the Martian surface stood a gigantic cave that appeared to have formed through natural collapse.
Its diameter measured several hundred metres.
Whoosh!
Luo Feng dived straight into the cave, descending continuously towards the depths below.
“A steel city?”
Luo Feng released his spiritual force.
As a sixth stage Planetary Level spirit reader, his spiritual force could spread across a range exceeding six thousand metres.
“Hm?”
Luo Feng landed on the ground.
Before him lay dirt and dust, but beneath the soil covering the massive cave he could vaguely see black metal.
Using his spiritual force, he had already discovered what lay beyond.
A gigantic city gate.
“Number One, push it open.”
With a thought, Luo Feng floated upwards and retreated to a safe distance.
A black metal robot appeared out of nowhere.
In terms of raw strength, Luo Feng was no match for this robot.
Rumble…
The robot’s powerful hands slammed against the enormous iron gate.
As it exerted force, the gate slowly opened with a deafening rumble.
Large quantities of soil poured down while dust and gravel filled the air.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Brilliant white beams suddenly shot out.
Nearly the entire gate area was covered.
Seven or eight dazzling laser beams struck the metal robot, blasting it against the cave wall.
The impact caused large sections of earth to collapse.
Meanwhile, Luo Feng had already retreated to a distant position above.
“Damn. This steel city is still operational?”
Luo Feng was astonished.
“My spiritual force detected nobody inside. The place is covered in dust.”
“The nine energy towers are still functioning normally.”
Babata explained.
“They’ve kept the steel city operational all this time. The people died long ago, but the city’s systems never shut down.”
“Luo Feng, go in. This type of emergency steel city wasn’t built with particularly strong defences. Besides, your Cloud Contact Vine is already at the ninth stage of Planetary Level and is close to entering Stellar Level.”
Back when Luo Feng had fought the Golden Horned Beast, the Cloud Contact Vine had only been at the seventh stage of Planetary Level.
During the more than a year Luo Feng spent nurturing his new body, the Cloud Contact Vine remained beneath the sea.
Babata frequently fed it Wood Crystal Essence.
In less than a year, it had reached the ninth stage of Planetary Level.
It was only stuck at the bottleneck before Stellar Level.
For this specially cultivated Cloud Contact Vine, such growth speed was not considered fast.
“The steel city.”
Luo Feng and the metal robot rushed into the underground steel city one after the other.
After enduring another laser attack, they successfully entered.
The city was pitch black.
Only through his spiritual force did Luo Feng realise how densely packed the buildings were.
“Luo Feng, almost the entire city is constructed from Black Iron.”
Babata said.
“Quickly. Follow my directions and cut off the energy supply first. Otherwise, some important areas of the underground city may still have active weapons.”
“Understood.”
Luo Feng naturally recognised the importance of disabling the power supply.
“Left.”
“Turn. Right. Yes.”
With Babata guiding him, Luo Feng quickly arrived at an area packed with massive metal pipelines.
“Use the Red Mixed Copper Mother fragment. Cut them all.”
Babata instructed.
Clad in blood red Cloud Contact Vine armour, Luo Feng looked towards the pipelines a hundred metres ahead.
With a thought,
Whoosh!
A blood red streak flashed through the air, sweeping across the pipes.
As a sixth stage Planetary Level spirit reader possessing the consciousness strength of a third stage Stellar Level soul, Luo Feng controlled the Red Mixed Copper Mother fragment with thirty two streams of extremely resilient spiritual force.
Slice! Slice! Slice!
A series of harsh sounds rang out.
Large sparks erupted.
Boom!
Explosions echoed through the surrounding metal structures.
“There are eight energy towers remaining.”
Babata said.
“Just guide me.”
Luo Feng sped forward.
This was merely a mining base.
After the destruction of the interstellar fleet, the miners had lost all support and were forced underground by environmental conditions.
Using vast amounts of machinery, they had rapidly constructed this simple steel city.
Most of the construction material was Black Iron, the most abundant metal available.
Yet after all these years, supported by the energy towers, the city remained intact.
It was genuinely impressive.
Only a few minutes later,
Luo Feng had completely severed the city’s energy supply.
“Haha, all done.”
Babata laughed.
“Luo Feng, if my guess is correct, the Black Iron Essence mined by those workers would have been carefully stored away. Let’s begin a full search. Whatever valuable things we find, we’ll take them all.”
Luo Feng immediately began flying through the underground steel city.
The great search had begun.