Chapter 309: Lesson 308 - Misfortunes Never Come Single
"Stop it, stop it, for the love of god, don't fight, Mr. Chen Fei, please step in and stop them."
The peacemaker butler Thompson rushed over, pleading with Chen Fei for help.
"It's a minor skirmish, let them fight it out."
Chen Fei, with his arms crossed, didn't show the slightest interest in intervening.
Indeed, it was a minor affair. At the 911 Aircrew Base, colleagues fighting was as common as dinner.
Hadn't they seen Chekhov Big Bear getting pounded by Big Brother Xiao today and then thrashed by Deputy Squadron Leader Little Chili the next, only to carry on as if nothing happened, cheerfully twisting and turning on the dance floor of the bar "Medusa's Beautiful Eyes"?
If one didn't harbor some violent tendencies, how could they fit into the role of a military contractor, when bloodshed was called for, yet still resort to empty bluster—wasn't that just asking for trouble?
"Fight!"
"Fight! Fight! Fight!"
"Go for it! Xitas, I bet ten thousand Star Yuan on your victory!"
"Damn, Norberto, I'm with you, don't lose to that jerk Xitas!"
"Fifty thousand Star Yuan, bet Norberto wins!"
Some seized the moment to start a betting pool, and the stakes quickly soared past ten million Star Yuan. There was no stopping or settling things by now.
The atmosphere instantly spiked, and the two guys went from disagreement to fisticuffs in less than a minute, ending up in a full-bodied grapple, going at it with a satisfying thrashing.
"Stop fighting, stop fighting!"
The estate butler tried to step in to stop it but was held back by Chen Fei, unable to move from his spot.
"Let them fight..."
After about fifteen minutes, the two disheveled guys let go of each other by mutual agreement, each retreating to one side, utterly exhausted with no strength to spare—one slumped to the ground, gasping for air, while the other simply lay down, still mouthing off nonstop.
"What the hell? Who won?"
"It should be Chairman Norberto who won, he's seated, while Xitas just lay down."
"Not right, Norberto lost teeth, just lying down might mean his back's hurt too."
"Should be a draw, house takes all!"
"Shut it!" ×N!
"Got a problem? Come at me!"
And so began the chaos on the scene, a brawl that couldn't be contained.
Good Mr. Nice Guy, well-behaved Baby, such characters didn't exist among the military contractors, aside from those from the Green Cherry Orchard Estate. Even Chen Fei, who often considered himself an honest kid, was no stranger to bloodshed.
"Do you have a better plan, Mr. Xitas?"
Chen Fei walked over nonchalantly, eyeing the man on the ground, bruised and swollen, who had voiced the doubt.
Opposition was fine, but opposition without alternatives would certainly not do.
The pathetic objector, weakly said, "Yes! Mr. Chen Fei, hey, can your Metal Elemental Psychic Power keep evolving the drill bit?"
Resentful yet powerless for another round, he still wasn't convinced.
"This should be easy."
Chen Fei nodded. Given enough metal material, he could have a drill bit as long as needed, and if that's not enough, energy points could be used to exchange for more.
With a current stock of 2,178 Energy Points, approximately 2,178 tons of metal could be exchanged, enough for evolving drill bits, with an usage of about 20 kilograms per meter, more than enough to drill 100 kilometers. However, considering the crust thickness of Blue Star, actually much less would be needed, as that depth would be sufficient to encounter lava, and drilling through was pointless—no need for lava to pour in, just the toxic gases it emits would leave everyone dead.
Lava erupting from the depths of the earth is deadliest not because of its high temperature or fumes but its toxic gases.
"We need a reverse drilling, a hole straight to the surface, and then let your Pure Light Sparrow take out a phone or an antenna. We'd be saved!"
After his fight, Xitas laughed like an idiot as he made the suggestion.
His idea was indeed beyond what others could fathom.
"Feasible!"
Boss Hana pondered briefly before immediately making a judgment.
"Feasible!"
After hearing Mr. Xitas' suggestion, estate butler Thompson clapped his hands together in agreement.
No one was a fool; drilling a small hole to let out a Little Bird was far less complex than having people safely drill out. Pure Light Sparrow was a Magical Beast, surpassing ordinary wild animals in both intelligence and execution. Just getting a phone to the surface to make contact would hugely facilitate the rescue of those trapped here. They would just have to wait for help to arrive.
Compared to escaping on their own, waiting for a rescue was clearly the more reliable option.
"Feasible!" "Feasible!" "Let's do it!"
The proposal from Xitas was quickly approved through word of mouth by everyone present, including Chairman Norberto, who had been beaten to a pulp resembling a pig's head.
Personal grudges are personal grudges, but you can't drop the ball at critical moments. To oppose for the sake of opposing is simply foolish.
"Actually, there's no problem!"
Chen Fei arrived at the edge of the elevator shaft, which had been cleared to reveal a vast space with its original man-made framework now exposed. Looking up, he could see thousands of tons of rock tightly wedged together, not yet having tumbled down.
Your journey continues at empire
He extended his hand, and a framework rapidly formed, reaching all the way to the top, followed by a drill bit and drill pipe. Amid sparks, the bit took the pipe swiftly into the rock, creating a hole about the width of a palm. Gravel and small boulders poured down, and even larger boulders fell at times.
Chen Fei wasn't worried, though; he was merely controlling the drill rig with his Metal Elemental Psychic Power.
After using up just over a hundred sections of the five-meter-long drill pipe, the resistance from the front suddenly gave way, and the loud, shrill noise visibly and speedily diminished.
At that moment, a boulder the size of a bus smashed down, shattering the drill rig below into pieces, followed by seven or eight more massive stones that caused a thunderous commotion, shaking the ground nonstop.
Many people standing too close went pale and cries of shock rang out continuously. It was fortunate that no one had been standing underneath the drill rig, or they would have been crushed to death on the spot.
The drill's operation was entirely under psychic power control, so Chen Fei, having anticipated the danger, narrowly escaped disaster. At most, a dozen or so pebbles hit him harmlessly. Despite being a Grade B power user, had one of those huge boulders hit him, he likely would have been flattened into a pancake.
Butler Thompson shouted, "Stop, stop, let's assess the situation first."
He was worried that all their efforts had been wasted.
With nothing to support them, the slender drill pipes fell from the hole, clanging incessantly for a long time before the drill bit finally came loose and fell out completely.
However, Chen Fei surprisingly said, "No, we've broken through!"
Hanna Gagel asked, "Broken through? What's the situation outside?"
She had counted the number of drill pipes before and after. They had drilled roughly five hundred meters.
"I don't know, we should let Xiao Jiu check it out."
Chen Fei took out the little creature that was lazily hiding in his shirt pocket, scratching its tiny, sharp beak, and woke it up.
"Jiu?"
Little Bird slowly opened its bewildered eyes, but quickly perked up. With a flap of its wings, it landed on Chen Fei's shoulder.
"Little Jiu, go up and see, what's outside?"
Chen Fei pointed to the hole that still existed, even after several boulders had fallen, leading straight to the surface.
Due to their own weight, the drill pipes had fallen and withdrawn on their own, eliminating the need for extra hole-clearing procedures.
"Jiu!"
The little bird tilted its head and chirped.
In front of them, light and shadows flickered, soon revealing an image.
"Light Mirror Spell!"
Boss Hana immediately recognized this first-rank spell of the Light Series.
Little Jiu used it rarely, as there was little need for it. So much so that both she and Chen Fei had almost forgotten it had this particular skill.
Now that they had broken through to the outside and light could penetrate, the Light Mirror Spell allowed a natural view of the exterior. A mere 500 meters of earth was nothing for the Light Mirror Spell's probing distance.
The moon and stars shined faintly, mountains stood in the background, and one could vaguely see the lights of human habitation.
"Where are we?"
Xitas, who had proposed the drilling plan, watched the scene displayed by the Light Mirror Spell, slightly stunned.
"I don't know, first let's get a phone out there, use mine, it's a satellite phone!"
Someone pulled out their phone, but it ended up being unnecessary.
Inhabited places usually have ground communication networks, which could also provide positioning.
Little Jiu first took a self-tapping screw to the surface. It reached the ground easily, found a large rock nearby, and a laser hit it, burning a small hole. While the rock was still molten, the screw was embedded firmly into it, and as it cooled, it became immovable.
Then came a slender and lightweight fishing line, threaded through the eye of the screw, returned underground, and brought up a thicker and sturdier rope.
This time, not only could a mobile phone be sent to the surface, but also an optical fiber data cable and wireless relay equipment.
When the network signal was successfully introduced into the underground space for the first time, many people were so excited they cried with joy. They took out their mobile phones, which had their signal restored, and began to call their contacts to report their safety and inquire about the current situation of their companies.
"BOSS, we are under attack, mutants, don't know where they came from, there are a lot of them, a lot!"
Kanemoto, one of the rotating managers on duty, although tense, was not panicked. After all, the 911 Aircrew Base at the Xingdu Kush Mountain Area had the most capable Combat Flight Squadron, and also a battle-hardened veteran squad with ample experience. Everyone had been through corporate wars, and they still managed to stay calm in the face of a massive mutant assault.
If worse came to worst, they could retreat to the underground air-raid shelters and wait for rescue from the Global United Defense Committee.
Jiu Defense Company's low-level employees, having no good news to report, Chen Fei heard Kanemoto's voice and exclaimed in surprise, "BOSS, you guessed right."
Not far away, Zuo Gengming also got in touch with his Spring Field Defense Limited Company. One piece of bad news after another made his facial expression extremely grim. When it rains, it pours, as two of Spring Field Defense's aircrew bases were also under attack, and this was not an isolated incident.
The military contractors attending the Green Cherry Orchard Estate salon were coincidentally attacked by mutants at the same time, some having already been completely wiped out. The triumphant mutants began to spread toward densely populated areas of nearby economic, plantation, husbandry, and industrial zones, marking the start of a new wave of mutant disaster.
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