Becoming an Emperor Starting from the World of The Wandering Earth

Chapter 79 The Wall of the Sun

On the seemingly endless wilderness, four pickup trucks kicked up clouds of yellow sand, speeding northwest like four earthen dragons.

Wilson sat in the passenger seat of the lead car, staring through the window at the faintly visible horizon ahead.

In the driver's seat, a middle-aged man with a full beard was carefully controlling the steering wheel, occasionally glancing at the guy in the strange armor out of the corner of his eye.

This man, named Earl, was one of the few surviving residents in the town and was originally the owner of a car repair shop.

Wilson spared his life for a simple reason.

This old guy can drive, and he knows this area very well.

"Um, sir—" Earl swallowed, his voice a little dry, "Are we really going to the Sunwall?"

Wilson didn't turn around, but simply gave a faint "hmm".

“But that place—” Earl tightened his grip on the steering wheel, “that’s the vampires’ lair. The Papacy’s army had to besiege it several times before it finally took it down.”

"You've been inside?"

"Me?" Earl shook his head vigorously. "No, no, I just heard it from someone. But that place is very strange; very few people who get close come back alive."

Wilson then turned his head and glanced at him.

Under the mask, Earl couldn't see his expression, but the calmness in his eyes still sent a chill down Earl's spine.

"So you're still alive now?"

Earl opened his mouth, then closed it again.

At the back of the truck bed, Kirk was leaning against the side panel, using the bumps to check the magazines of his rifle.

Cheng Hongtu and two other team members sat beside him. No one spoke; only the sound of the wind and the roar of the engines could be heard.

After an unknown amount of time, things finally changed ahead.

On the horizon, a huge, pale white outline gradually emerged.

As the distance closed, the outline became clearer and clearer.

That was a wall.

Or rather, it is a huge, hill-like nest built of some unknown material.

It lies there, towering into the clouds, its surface covered with countless holes and traces of wind erosion, like countless eyes staring at this desolate land.

"slow down."

Wilson's voice came through the channel.

The four pickup trucks slowed down simultaneously.

Wilson pushed open the car door, jumped directly onto the roof, and raised the binoculars.

Cheng Hongtu also launched the drone simultaneously, and moments later, the magnified image was transmitted back to the face mask displays of each person.

The nest is much larger than it appears, covering at least several square kilometers. The holes on the surface are actually entrances to passageways, some large enough to accommodate a truck, others small enough for a person to crawl through.

Moreover, from the bottom to the top of the nest, it is densely packed, layer upon layer, like a vertical city occupied by a swarm of bees.

"Is this even something a human could create?" Kirk couldn't help but mutter.

"It wasn't man-made to begin with." Wilson put down his binoculars, jumped back onto the roof of the car, and said, "Get ready. Once we get close, abandon the car and proceed on foot. Earl."

"Yes, yes!"

"You stay here and watch the car. If we don't come out in four hours, you can go back on your own. If you dare to leave early, you know the consequences."

Earl paused for a moment, then nodded frantically.

Wilson said no more, and with a wave of his hand, the nine team members jumped off the pickup truck at the same time, quickly assembled into a combat formation, and advanced towards the huge nest.

As they drew closer, a strange stench, a mixture of putridity and blood, wafted towards them.

Even with the exoskeleton's air filtration system, everyone still felt a slight pungent odor.

The entrance to the nest was just ahead, a huge hole about five meters high and eight meters wide, pitch black inside, where nothing could be seen.

Wilson stood at the entrance of the cave and raised his hand in greeting.

Nancy immediately piloted a miniature drone into the cave.

A moment later, the image was transmitted back.

The passage was very deep, with black material on both sides and the ceiling, and at intervals you could see some forks and branches, like a maze.

"Walk."

But Wilson was not afraid at all; instead, he took the lead and stepped into the darkness.

The exoskeleton's feet made a slight friction sound as they stepped on the black material; apart from that, the only other sound was the team members' deliberately suppressed breathing.

Cheng Hongtu walked in the middle of the group, taking out a palm-sized silver disc from his tactical backpack as he moved forward.

These are sensor nodes that Murphy specially produced for this exploration mission, integrating 3D scanning, environmental monitoring, and signal relay functions.

He would place one in a hidden corner whenever he passed a fork in the road or a key location.

Nancy stared at the tablet in her hand, which was displaying a real-time diagram of the nest's internal structure.

Passages and spaces extend endlessly like tree branches.

The group ascended, passing through layers of passages and bypassing countless forks in the road, gradually penetrating deeper into the core area of ​​the lair.

More bizarre sights began to appear around them.

On the walls of some passageways, there are containers that look like cocoons, and some deformed creatures seem to still exist inside.

Some look like humans, while others are completely unrecognizable.

However, all the containers were broken, and the liquid inside had long since dried up, leaving only shriveled corpses curled up at the bottom.

The team members kept moving, but the faces behind their masks didn't look too good.

About half an hour later, the team entered a relatively open area.

This place is like a core node inside a nest, a space the size of half a football field, with the sky visible above and an unfathomable depth below.

"Place the sensors and draw a detailed structural diagram."

Wilson gave the order, while scanning the surrounding passageways and entrances, keeping watch for any possible movement.

Cheng Hongtu, along with two team members, began deploying more sensor nodes in the area.

Nancy crouched behind a protruding rock, controlling a miniature drone to explore the surrounding passageways.

Time passed second by second.

Just as Cheng Hongtu was halfway through the sensor deployment, Nancy suddenly raised her hand and pressed down on her earpiece.

Immediately afterwards, his voice came through the channel, "Boss, we've overheard a conversation."

Upon hearing the sound, Wilson immediately went to Nancy's side, then took an earphone and listened intently.

After a moment, Wilson's expression gradually became serious, and then he reached out and pressed down.

All team members immediately stopped what they were doing.

Then Wilson took off his headphones and winked at Kirk.

The two communicated in sign language for a while, and Kirk nodded decisively.

Although there was no verbal exchange between the two, if translated, the gist of it would be that the people having the conversation captured by the micro-drone were indeed the main characters from the movie.

Paul, Sheriff Hicks, and Maggie, the female exorcist who came to deliver the news.

Wilson, having received confirmation, remained silent, pondering his next move.

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