Steel torrents pioneering a different world

Chapter 223 Courageous Dwarves! Casualties Far Lower Than Expected! (Please Subscribe)
Time portal, command center!
Inside the command center, the atmosphere was tense due to the changes on the battlefield.

When the massive, shattered tree suddenly appeared from the thick fog, and the powerful shockwave struck, Su Mingjin and many other commanders sharpened their gazes instantly.

"Dwarven cannons?" Su Mingjin asked in a deep voice, his eyes fixed on the blurry image on the big screen.

"It should be. The power is probably equivalent to 155 mm, but why is their firelight green?" Commander Man exclaimed in surprise.

"It might be interference from magical particles! I didn't expect the dwarves to also possess explosive ammunition, and with considerable power at that."

"Tell the frontline troops to have the robots protect the dwarven artillery! Those things..."

Before the arrangements could be completed, the drone camera on the screen suddenly shook violently, and the image was then engulfed by a dazzling red and green light.

Immediately afterwards, a shockwave several times stronger than before swept in.

Even through the screen, everyone in the command center could feel the overwhelming shockwave.

Amidst the thick smoke and chaos of the battlefield, the deadly shockwaves of the explosions spread at a visible speed, whipping up massive waves of mud and rocks.

Within a 200-meter radius, everything, from broken trees to soft soil, was swept away by this force, along with many mangled limbs that flew into the air.

Su Mingjin watched all of this in silence.

Commander Man pursed his lips, and after a long while, he slowly spoke: "These dwarves are quite elite!"

Brigade Commander Fu, standing nearby, picked up his coffee cup, downed it in one gulp, and calmed himself down: "Luckily, we didn't have to send our troops to get close this time."

His voice carried a hint of relief at surviving a disaster.

Su Mingjin nodded, her gaze returning to the large screen as she scanned the robot's status updates in real time.

War Robots: 371
Mechanical Wolf: 133
This may be due to the dwarves self-destructing their weapons after realizing they could not resist, resulting in the ammunition explosion that directly destroyed 29 robots that were grabbing the dwarfs face-to-face.

The mechanical wolves fared well; because they were relatively short, only 7 of them lost connection.

The human warriors were all operating robots on the periphery to defend against possible attacks from the dwarves, so there were no casualties.

Su Mingjin breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that none of the soldiers had been injured.

She looked at Commander Man: "The dwarves are putting up a fierce fight. We need to confirm that they have completely lost their ability to attack before sending our soldiers over!"

"Rest assured!" Commander Man nodded emphatically, looked at the situation map of both sides displayed on the drone, and immediately issued a new order: "Carefully check the number of artillery pieces damaged by the dwarves at the front line, and estimate the ammunition in the underground base! Make sure to grasp their firepower reserves."

"understand!"

The shockwave from this ammunition explosion was so powerful that it caused the dwarves, who still had some ability to resist, to completely give up.

Few dwarves on the surface were able to move, so many took advantage of the shockwave to hurriedly sneak into the underground base.

After confirming that most of the cannons had been destroyed, the humans were quite patient and not worried that the dwarves could cause even greater damage.

Each department controls the dwarves on the ground like a scalpel.

Some of the dwarven warriors, who were running around like headless flies, were precisely controlled by the robots and the storage nets dropped from the sky.

Two dwarves, who thought themselves clever and were hiding in a corner as the sixth man, were hit directly in the face by stun grenades and anesthetic gas dropped from the drone high in the sky.

Before the two dwarfs, Lao Liu, were attacked in turn and fell unconscious due to ingesting large amounts of anesthetic gas, they had no idea how they were discovered.

The drone's cold, multi-functional electronic eye is more efficient than any seasoned hunter.

Once it was confirmed on the ground that all the dwarves were incapacitated, the combat personnel operated vehicles equipped with signal enhancement relay platforms to approach the vicinity of the tunnels to ensure uninterrupted communication for robots and other equipment during subsequent operations.

The soldiers in the rear quickly replaced batteries, ammunition, and various auxiliary radars for the combat robots and mechanical wolves, preparing for the upcoming underground clearing operation.

Soon, the troops began to clear out the dwarves hiding in the underground base.

"boom!"

A dwarf used his musket to precisely destroy the robot that had just entered the tunnel.

"Long live the hammer!"

The dwarf had just attacked the robot when the AI-controlled device of the small robotic wolf next to it immediately locked onto the enemy.

A stun gun with an electrical wire shot directly into the dwarf's face. The nail gun pierced the dwarf's facial muscles, and as the current surged, the dwarf trembled all over, collapsing to the ground while defecating and urinating.

The tingling sensation from the electric shock caused the dwarf warrior, who had shouted "Long live the dwarves!", to convulse and completely lose his ability to resist.

"Bang! Bang!"

Elsewhere, a mechanical wolf was destroyed by the dwarves' muskets, its parts flying everywhere.

However, the newly arrived robots' optical lenses and radar have already confirmed the location of the dwarves hiding behind the tunnel.

Click~ Click~ Click~
The robot, with slightly stiff steps, pulled the safety pin on a flashbang and shoved it directly to the other side of the tunnel.

"boom!"

The robot then twisted its body, took small steps, pulled out a stun grenade, and threw it with a thud!

"Om..."

Flashbangs and stun grenades instantly shattered the hastily assembled ambush line of the dwarves.

The robot easily broke through the opponent's defenses.

"I've been looking for a friend, and I've found a little friend..."

One robot continues its exploration.

The mechanical wolf behind treads with sassy little steps, a cheerful children's song that had been pre-programmed to play from its loudspeaker, as it lightly steps into the corner of the underground tunnel.

The warriors controlling the machine wolf pressed the switch, and the gas tank on its back released the choking anesthetic gas once again.

"For the hammer! For the kingdom!"

A burly dwarf emerged from the shadows, raised his musket, and fired several shots, destroying two robots.

Seeing a lone mechanical wolf arrogantly charging towards him, the dwarf cursed angrily and swung his three-eyed musket, now out of ammunition, at the mechanical wolf.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The dwarf was very strong and smashed very fiercely, but his violent attack only damaged the gas tank on the mechanical wolf's back.

The destruction of the gas cylinder actually released even more of the gas that could cause someone to faint quickly.

The concentration of anesthetic gas increased exponentially in the narrow tunnel.

Accompanied by violent coughing, the fierce dwarf finally succumbed, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.

These hastily assembled dwarven warriors inflicted considerable losses on the human robot forces, but their fate was already sealed.

Fifteen minutes later, the last resistance of the dwarves in the underground tunnels was brought under control.

The dwarves' tunneling tactics, which they were so proud of, were completely ineffective against the lifeless steel golems.

If it were the core area of ​​the Dwarf Kingdom, they would have various countermeasures, but this underground base near the Milk River had long been emptied out and had no ammunition reserves. In addition, it had been in disrepair for many years, so it was impossible to move it quickly!
While launching a surprise attack on the dwarves' main force in the forest, Zhao Chong and his troops were also attacking the dwarves' cave area located halfway up the mountain.

The cave built by the dwarves halfway up the mountain is located in a very steep and treacherous area, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

In the early days, human combat robots and mechanical wolves struggled to make their way along the rugged mountain paths, with small bionic reconnaissance drones occasionally scouting near the cave entrance.

Who knew that the dwarf would emerge from the cave?

Upon seeing humans, the dwarf immediately shrank back, yet he was still able to control the Grumon to attack the human robots.

With the infiltration failing, Zhao Chong had no choice but to have his troops launch a full-scale attack using robots and drones.

They threw a large number of choking smoke bombs and stun grenades into the pit. Although many Gru beasts were driven out from the depths of the cave, the dwarves did not come out at all.

Seeing several more robots destroyed by the Gru beasts and losing signal, Zhao Chong's face darkened. "We can't deploy any more lethal weapons. Now we can only contact the rear and request permission to send more robot troops into the cave!"

"Okay, apply!"

The dwarves' caves are not high; tall, strong humans would be sitting ducks inside, so they can only rely on robots to fight.

However, the Grumon in the caves engaged in a trade with the robots sent by humans.

The message had just been reported when headquarters confirmed that more unmanned combat units would be deployed.

A deafening roar suddenly erupted.

The earth-shattering roar seemed to make the entire mountain tremble, causing rocks to tumble down and snow dust to fill the air.

All the robots that the troops had previously deployed into the cave have lost signal!
Looking at the collapsed cave, billowing smoke and dust, Zhao Chong's face was very grim.

“Dwarves are certainly fierce!” he said in a low voice, his tone filled with barely concealed anger and frustration.

Everyone thought that by using various tactics, these dwarves would be able to come out of the cave and fight against the humans. However, no one expected that after confirming that the strength of the two sides was not on the same level, the dwarves would directly detonate the bomb left in the supply cave.

Zhao Chong lit a cigarette. The swirling tobacco scent brought some calm to his restless heart.

"Send radar to search and see if you can find any other entrances or exits," he commanded, his voice steady, suppressing his frustration.

"Okay!" the communications soldier responded immediately and quickly mobilized the equipment.

After finishing his cigarette, Zhao Chong picked up his communicator, preparing to report the situation to headquarters.

"Understood, you did the right thing. Those Gru beasts are very interesting. Try to capture as many live ones as possible. We plan to try to breed them and study their biological characteristics and taming potential."

“Okay,” Zhao Chong replied.

He directed his warriors to capture the Gru beasts that had initially emerged from the cave. These otherworldly goats, capable of scaling cliffs with ease, were incredibly fierce, massive in size, and their long, curved horns could easily smash through rocks.

When they rushed out of the cave, they were like a herd of mad bulls, smashing many of the robotic wolves that were used by humans, and some even knocked over small engineering robots.

But beasts are beasts after all. The soldiers deployed on the perimeter reacted quickly, using specially made restraint nets and tranquilizer darts to easily capture more than seventy Gru beasts.

However, the thought that at least three hundred Gru beasts might have perished in the cave made Zhao Chong feel a pang of heartache.

These are all living, rare and exotic animals!

"If the radar can confirm that there are still survivors in the cave, request that a helicopter bring some heavy excavation equipment to dig around and see if we can rescue more Gru beasts."

Zhao Chong rubbed his forehead; this mission was a bit of a loss!
Thinking of the mission, his gaze turned to the distance, to the area that Butcher Squad was responsible for defending.

Our allies are doing a fantastic job; right now we have fewer missions but less meat.

Although the Butcher and his men chose a location where the dwarves could easily retreat, they were wiped out by other combat forces, with not a single one escaping.

"I guess the Butcher didn't get any combat missions," Zhao Chong muttered to himself.

"The special forces probably won't get many points this time. We'll have to wait and see how we fare in the next mission to try and get first place!"

With these thoughts in mind, Zhao Chong then began his journey towards the hilltop.

He was eager to see if he could find any living dwarves.

If they can dig open the dwarves' supply cave and rescue a few dwarves, they might get an even higher score.

After all, capturing the prisoners alive is the greatest reward.
-

The office area near the time portal in the modern world!

After news of the dwarves' planned sneak attack was confirmed, the modern world began preparing various combat equipment, and humanity had been preparing for this for dozens of hours.

How is the battle against the dwarves progressing?
Li Weiguo paced anxiously in his office, his footsteps sounding hurried in the empty room.

He didn't go to the operations hall because he didn't want his subordinates to see his anxiety and unease.

dong dong dong-

A rhythmic knocking sounded, interrupting his thoughts.

"Go!" Li Weiguo took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his mind, and tried to keep his voice calm.

"President Li, a great victory!" Assistant Wang Kaixuan pushed open the door and entered, his face beaming with undisguised joy.

Li Weiguo felt a slight pang of fear, but raised an eyebrow: "How did this operation go?"

“Very impressive. The soldiers suffered no casualties, only some losses among the robots and mechanical wolves, but the results were plentiful; the soldiers captured a large number of dwarves.” Wang Kaixuan handed over a prepared report.

Li Weiguo quickly took it and glanced at the list of casualties.

When he saw that there were zero casualties among the personnel and only equipment damage, his tense nerves finally relaxed and a smile appeared on his face.

"Very good, worthy of praise." Li Weiguo closed the report, his tone calm. "For those injured dwarves, intensify the rescue efforts and use the best medical equipment. At the same time, ensure that the safety measures for medical personnel are foolproof during the treatment."

Stubborn patients may become violent towards humans during treatment.

The pioneering team must prepare contingency plans.

"Yes!" Wang Kaixuan nodded. He looked at the report, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "General Li, the operation report mentioned that this group of dwarves is elite and very stubborn. If they all refuse to cooperate with us like the dwarves we captured before, should we maintain a tough stance towards them?" Li Weiguo walked to his desk, lit a cigarette with a snap, and the smoke swirled in front of his eyes.

He raised his hand again and handed one to Wang Kaixuan.

"Let's play it by ear. We're reasonable people; only when we have absolute security and the upper hand can we be lenient with them." Li Weiguo took a deep breath, his eyes sharp. "If they continue to organize dwarf soldiers to attack us and threaten our safety, can't we fight back and make them feel the pain?"

Wang Kaixuan understood immediately and nodded, saying, "I understand. It's up to them to choose between the carrot and the stick."

Afterwards, Wang Kaixuan asked a few more questions before leaving Li Weiguo's office to arrange follow-up work.

Li Weiguo picked up the combat report again and turned to the special explanation submitted by Zhao Chong's troops, which stated that the dwarves detonated the supply cave, resulting in the burial of a large amount of supplies and Gru beasts.

"We lost over three hundred Gru beasts... These are all valuable biological resources." Li Weiguo felt a pang of regret. However, seeing that Zhao Chong and his team had already captured over seventy live specimens, it was still a small success.

He put down the report and took out several pieces of intelligence about the dwarves that he had previously collected from the elves' testimonies from the drawer.

Dwarves are called cave-dwelling half-humans by the elves. They love dark environments, have lived in caves for generations, have excellent metallurgical skills, amazing business acumen, love wine, and are an omnivorous, social, and intelligent race.

Dwarves are known for their short tempers. Although they worship many gods and have their own religion, the power of their religion is not strong.

The most crucial clue is that the dwarves have a keen business sense.

The dwarves' food supply includes edible ferns grown in caves, vegetables rich in magical elements, and fish caught from the sea. The dwarves' staple food cannot be separated from carbohydrates, and they cannot do without vegetables and salt to ensure the balance of trace elements in their bodies.

These very clues led humanity to confirm that dwarves were a potential source of diplomatic relations!

Humans only need to destroy what the other party is most proud of to make them feel threatened.

When a group faces a life-or-death crisis, even if someone has a fiery temper, they need to restrain themselves for the sake of the group's survival.

The Elven Gate highlights the dwarves' mountain warfare capabilities—dwarves excel at mountain combat and are masters of cave warfare. No one can break through the defensive network the dwarves have built within their caves!
Because of this, after confirming that the dwarves, who were sneaking around at night, were about to launch an attack, the humans immediately launched a counterattack.

Seeing the elves describe the dwarves as the darlings of mountain warfare, Li Weiguo's lips curled up slightly, carrying a hint of barely perceptible sarcasm.

"The darling of cave warfare?" He chuckled twice and tossed the intelligence report back onto the table.

This show of force was executed brilliantly and speaks volumes.

In less than an hour of fighting, the humans only lost rapidly producible robotic dogs and equipment, while the elite dwarf force attempting to attack the humans was wiped out, and even their rear supply caves were blown up.

Such a stark disparity would be re-evaluated by any intelligent race capable of discerning interests.

"I don't believe that dwarves who understand commerce and trade and enjoy drinking and pleasure wouldn't choose to establish diplomatic relations with humans."

Li Weiguo stubbed out his cigarette and then squinted.

"I wonder when the dwarves finally realized their mistake after hitting a wall and came to us on their own initiative!"
-

In the modern world, in a certain office in Shanghai, Lin Li opened his eyes.

"Technological progress is truly rapid! Who would have thought that these robots, which were only showcased at expos and other fields, would already be used in real combat!"

Lin Li took a glass of iced cola and happily drank it.

Although these robots and mechanical wolves still had many flaws when dealing with the dwarves, it was much easier than gaining war experience by sacrificing warriors' lives.

If the equipment is damaged, it's damaged; the assembly line can produce countless robots in a minute.

Leaving aside the numerous pressures a fully grown soldier faces after sacrificing his life, the process of training and developing him into a qualified soldier takes nearly 20 years, making the two incomparable.

After expressing his feelings, Lin Li checked the latest news and found that Grandpa Wan Shui was busy repairing his yard, and that while the Ocean team was training next door, the helicopter and Bumblebee crashed again.

Fortunately, no pilots were injured; unfortunately, the other side revealed that more of their $90,000-a-pack of screws were missing.

Lin Li pursed his lips, shook his head, and opened the work group. He saw that it was full of requests asking how to operate in another world and how to create a world view.

He stated directly, "As an employee, you must take initiative and actively participate in the later stages of scriptwriting and world-building for this silly animated film. We must ensure that the script is both reasonable and funny!"

After sending the message, Lin Li edited another message.

"Recently, we have been writing the content and script for what happens in another world. We are also actively writing about the impact of the appearance of the other world portal on the modern world."

Lin Li then messaged some staff members, telling them to work hard on the script, while he went straight home.

The development of the other world is going well. Through this battle against the dwarves, humanity has learned a lot about their abilities.

Compared to the elves, the dwarves, who haven't yet developed powerful weapons, seem easier to deal with.

Of course, this is only a preliminary discovery. Humans still don't know how strong the dwarves are in combat or how destructive they are.
-

In another world, before the abandoned underground base of the dwarves, the smoke of battle had not yet completely dissipated, and the post-battle cleanup work of the human pioneering team had already begun in full swing.

Inheriting the PL troops' fine tradition of extremely clean hands, the soldiers became almost obsessively dedicated to the recovery of battlefield resources after receiving orders.

Unfortunately, there are too few units that can get combat missions.

With limited resources and many more applicants, everyone worked extremely hard to secure the mission.

At this moment, not even fragments of the dwarves' battle debris are overlooked; they are all collected into the recycling bins.

"Hey, Old Wang, here's a dwarf's thumb! Keep it."

A soldier wearing a medical mask, trying to avoid contaminating the specimen, was excitedly picking up a charred dwarf finger and placing it into the frozen box that Old Wang had brought out.

As Old Wang used tweezers to collect a piece of minced meat, he pointed into the distance.

"Hey, over there, there's another piece of minced meat over there."

Not far away, a soldier carefully put away a dwarven musket that was not completely destroyed. After confirming that the musket was unloaded, he casually placed it into a numbered storage box.

"They've already captured so many dwarves, I really don't understand why they need so many dwarf specimens!"

"Biologists and medical professionals say that DNA samples from dwarfs are relatively scarce, and even fragmented samples are better than none."

Some soldiers stopped saying anything and patiently sorted through the small items on the battlefield.

The collection mission was incredibly meticulous. The dwarven remains collected from the battlefield were required to be categorized according to different parts such as bones, muscles, and internal organs, and even blood and bodily fluid residues were carefully scraped and preserved.

This outrageous method of collection highlights the urgent desire of human scientists to study the biology of other worlds.

The dwarf body parts were collected and sorted out. The equipment, tattered clothing, rations, and the seemingly cumbersome but rune-covered metal armor from the defeated and captured dwarf troops were all neatly piled together.

These items have all been categorized and sorted, awaiting transport to the rear for in-depth analysis and research by various departments.

Among them, the most eye-catching is undoubtedly the runic armor worn by the dwarves.

These armors demonstrated an inexplicable defensive capability when faced with the shockwaves of powerful human explosions in battle.

Initially, everyone thought that dwarven armor would be no match for modern artillery shells.

But the statistics proved everyone wrong.

"Is it confirmed that there were really only eight dead and seven injured?"

Commander Fu, who had come here in person to observe the battlefield situation, frowned as he looked at the dwarf casualty report displayed on his terminal.

"This is completely illogical! Was what I saw before a fake? Such a powerful munition detonated? So many dwarves were in it, yet they weren't blown to pieces? This is..."

Commander Fu wanted to say that, but considering the extremely active magical particles here, and that even a tree has an energy shield, it was understandable that the dwarves would have some special protective measures.

Moreover, dwarves are only about one meter tall, so the shockwave from the explosion might have spread at an angle and wouldn't have been able to destroy so many dwarves!
However, when Brigade Commander Fu saw the dwarf corpses found at the blast site, he couldn't help but exclaim: "At a distance of more than ten meters, human armored infantry would definitely be torn to pieces under that kind of impact, with no chance of survival. Are the dwarf's bones and internal organs that strong? How could they withstand such a powerful shockwave?"

“Commander Fu, I don’t think the dwarves’ physical bodies are that powerful. The most important thing is their rune armor.”

A younger physicist pointed to a report on magical particle detection, which showed that the dwarves' armor had a much higher concentration of magical particles than the surrounding air.

“Sir, we also seized some dwarven runic armor and three-eyed muskets before. Those things have energy patterns that we haven’t figured out yet, and they also have the function of identification.”

Upon hearing this, Brigade Commander Fu nodded.

He did know about this.

When humans first encountered dwarves at their southern forest base some time ago, the dwarves launched a night raid and were all captured.

Because the number of dwarves was small at the time, humans did not see how the dwarves activated their runic armor.

This battle was many times larger than the previous ones, so it was normal for the enemy to activate the energy patterns on their rune armor to defend against human attacks.

"We believe that the activated dwarven rune armor will generate some kind of energy shield, which will divert or even weaken the explosive shock wave generated after the ammunition detonates."

"Energy defense?"

"Yes, the elves' sacred tree has energy defense, so it's not surprising that the dwarves have this technology as well."

Commander Fu nodded: "We must study the dwarves' armor and weapons carefully! If we can crack them and put them into production, the pioneering team's combat and defensive capabilities will definitely be further enhanced in this other world!"

Whether in the modern world or in another world, military development faces a common problem: extremely powerful offensive firepower, but severely inadequate self-defense.

If we can crack the secret of how the dwarven rune armor activates the energy runes, it might provide human soldiers with stronger survivability and solve the urgent problem of high attack but low defense.

Aside from the completely baffling dwarven rune armor, the dwarven magic cannonballs, and the previously incomprehensible three-eyed musket with identification capabilities, all are targets for human efforts to decipher.

The dwarven muskets may look unremarkable, powered only by gunpowder, but they are incredibly powerful. Furthermore, they possess the previously troublesome identification system; if used by someone other than a dwarf, the muskets will malfunction.

Self-destruction, jamming, and some other absurd situations have all occurred.

If scientists can decipher the secrets of the dwarves' weapons and armor runes, it will definitely allow humanity to better understand the magical and technological systems of other worlds.

On the other side, linguists and archaeologists were gathered around the entrance to the abandoned dwarven underground base that had been cleared out, their faces beaming with barely suppressed joy.

During previous operations, the reconnaissance by the bionic spiders led them to find a number of writings and murals left by dwarves, and these things seemed to be related to the lost ancient giant civilization, which made humans very curious.

The abandoned underground base is a liability for the dwarves, but it is a key research target for humans.

Do not underestimate the already collapsed dwarven underground base.

The structural design, ventilation system, and underground transportation network within the base can all contribute to our understanding of dwarf mountain caves and underground base engineering.

Humanity desperately hopes to glean knowledge from the equipment and ruins left behind by these dwarves, paving the way for their survival and development in this alien world.

Combatants, archaeologists, and military construction engineers are working tirelessly to conduct detailed surveys and archives of the abandoned dwarven underground base and the caves that the dwarves had previously destroyed.

Professor Dou Hanwen, who had just been transferred here, was rubbing his back in pain while smoking a cigarette, exhaling a smoke ring, and looking at the land in front of him with satisfaction as the war had just ended.

"Teacher, this is the latest detection data. We have confirmed the open area and approximate range of the dwarves' underground base."

A young archaeology student, his feet covered in mud, jogged over, his voice brimming with excitement, and handed the tablet to Dou Hanwen.

Dou Hanwen took the tablet. On the screen, dense lines outlined a vast and complex underground network, far exceeding his expectations.

He looked at the area and raised an eyebrow slightly: "Is the base that big?"

He originally thought that the dwarves' underground base here was at most a few kilometers in radius, with some underground transportation trenches that could allow people to move around.

After all, it was just an abandoned base.

However, his students, through joint testing using ground electromagnetic and seismic methods, confirmed that the dwarf underground base was far larger than anyone had imagined.

"Yes, teacher. According to the survey results, this underground base extends from a mountain ridge six kilometers away all the way to this plain forest. There are also pits dug by dwarves in those hills, but due to various reasons, they have suffered severe landslides!"

Dou Hanwen's student pointed to the map on the tablet and explained.

"Six kilometers from here to the coastline, and more than ten kilometers further west, there are a large number of densely packed landslide tunnels. Deeper into the forest, there is also a systematic underground living space."

Dou Hanwen's gaze moved across the map, and the areas marked "suspected residential areas" and "large passageways" stirred up waves in his heart.

It looks like the ruins of a small underground city-state.

Did the dwarves long ago intend to settle here permanently and build a city here?
Dou Hanwen frowned slightly: "Fortunately, it has been in disrepair for many years, and water has seeped into many deeper places!"

The students smiled and nodded: "Yes, we're very lucky!"

If it weren't for the severe landslides and water seepage here, the dwarves would definitely choose to go deeper into the ground instead of emerging from the surface and confronting humans head-on.

Dou Hanwen took a deep drag of his cigarette, the smoke blurring his profile in the night sky. He looked at the data on his tablet, then looked up at the abandoned underground settlement of the dwarves, his mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

This is the size of the dwarves' abandoned frontier base alone.

Where is the dwarf stronghold, which the elves hailed as the children of the mountain caves?

The dwarves have been operating there for countless years. What kind of amazing cave world will they have unearthed in their kingdom's stronghold?
The races of other worlds are far more challenging than humans can imagine!

Dou Hanwen returned the tablet to the student, telling him to keep busy.

He then went to his temporary office area, organized the data, and informed Su Mingjin of the latest findings…

"President Su, the surveying work on the dwarves' underground base has yielded many novel discoveries. We request to conduct more detailed testing on the flooded areas!"

(End of this chapter)