Chapter 153: Where the Crucible Fell

Chapter 153: The Fallen Forge

When Xie Liu finished speaking, Chen Jian was stunned.

Two War Gods, two unidentified aerial‑space craft, and a larger aircraft—most likely a heavy transport of some model.

And all of them crashed within the walls of Tongling City.

——

No, it shouldn't be described as a crash.

If it were a crash, Xie Liu would never have found any wreckage; she would have seen only a heap of twisted steel and a crater born of the explosion.

This must have been a forced landing, yet why would they choose to touch down here?

Such a formation is clearly not a routine transport escort; after all, no one has ever seen four bombers guarding a single transport.

By contrast, Chen Jian felt the five aircraft were performing some kind of transit maneuver.

But where were they headed, and why did they elect to land here?

A single, simple piece of information had already tangled Chen Jian in countless riddles, while Xie Liu and Ji Xing, standing nearby, remained blissfully unaware of the gravity of the situation.

“So, is this information truly important?”

“We saw so many aircraft in the Anqing ruins; by your account they could appear anywhere. A crash here doesn’t seem so strange, does it?”

Ji Xing spoke with a hint of doubt, and Chen Jian shook his head in reply:

“No, quite the opposite—it’s oddly excessive.”

“I find it hard to explain the tactics of fighter jets and their formation rules, but I can give you a simple analogy.”

“For instance, Xie Liu’s Holy Blood squad consists of a ranger, a shield‑bearer, a scout, and a doctor like herself—a fully functional team capable of handling most sudden skirmishes.”

“Combat aircraft operate under comparable principles; while missions may tweak the details, the core doctrine never truly changes.”

“What you’re seeing now is akin to four shield‑bearers perishing in the same spot, with no trace of any other teammates around.”

“Tell me, isn’t that strange enough?”

“.I understand now.”

Ji Xing exhaled deeply and said:

“So the oddity isn’t the planes themselves, but the reason they appear here.”

“Exactly.”

Chen Jian lightly ran his finger along the trigger of his rifle, pondered a moment, then said:

“The largest airfield nearby is the base of the Tenth Air Division, the only one authorized to host aerial‑space craft.”

“That means these aircraft likely took off from the Tenth Division’s base, and the transport they were escorting probably carried a critical cargo from that base.”

“Could the missing item be right here?”

“Exactly. The pilots chose to force‑land probably because of the cargo’s peculiar nature.”

“Something must have gone awry, preventing them from reaching their destination, forcing an emergency landing midway.”

“The four bombers, laden with ordnance, were damaged during the landing, triggering a nuclear detonation and a dirty‑bomb effect—that’s the source of the radiation.”

“But if that logic holds, a new problem emerges.”

“The transport can force‑land, but why would the bombers also be forced to land?”

“We can’t make sense of it; we must venture into the forbidden zone to see for ourselves!”

Chen Jian made a decisive nod, then turned to Xie Liu and asked:

“Did you ever note the peak radiation reading? What was the maximum?”

“The highest spiked to 640, but only for an instant; most of the time it hovered between 200 and 300.”

Xie Liu answered at once; clearly she had not merely listened for the alarm, but had keenly recorded the numbers as Chen Jian claimed.

Chen Jian didn’t bother praising Xie Liu’s initiative; his mind raced, calculating the safe radiation envelope.

Six hundred forty—that’s 640 mSv per hour.

The figure was still far too high. Though not every sector reached that level, considering the squad would need roughly five hours from entry to exit, they would exceed the safe dose.

Once medium‑level radiation injury set in, in this world bereft of modern medicine, no one could be saved.

Either they must shorten their exposure time,

Or they must lower the dose they endure.

The former is exceedingly hard; even Xie Liu’s round‑trip consumed nearly six hours, and the rest of us, with far weaker stamina, would need even longer.

And the latter…

Should we march in bearing lead plates?

It is a paradox: the more protection we demand, the slower we move.

Slower speed means greater accumulated radiation.

There is no breakthrough unless we acquire new equipment.

Seeing the cloud of worry darkening Chen Jian’s face, Xie Liu tentatively asked:

“Commander, shall I go again?”

“Or perhaps Ji Xing should make a run?”

“You can list the information you need us to gather, hand it to us, and we’ll return with the data immediately.”

“That won’t work; the situation there is too complex. We must see it with our own eyes before drawing conclusions.”

Chen Jian shook his head:

“There are things we don’t even know exist; only on site can we make any conjecture.”

“Think of another approach. If nothing else works, we can stay on the perimeter, find a high ground, observe from afar—perhaps we’ll still obtain the data.”

“Understood.”

Xie Liu said no more, and Chen Jian relayed the freshly acquired intel to Shen Yue and the others.

Over the radio, the others on the other end remained silent for a long while.

They all recognized the weight of this information; it was far more than a handful of aircraft.

It might even be that whatever the planes were transporting could instantly unravel the mystery of the Fuxi Project.

They all knew the clue should not be discarded, yet they seemed to lack the right to enter the forbidden zone.

Information is vital, but if it demands the health—or even the lives—of several of us, its importance wanes.

After lengthy debate, they could not settle on a concrete, feasible plan.

And by then, midnight had already fallen.

“.The greatest difficulty of this problem is that if we go in, we have but a single chance, whatever we do.”

“If we fail to seize this opportunity, we won’t have another chance in the near future.”

The radiation dose is too high; a continuous entry in a short span will be fatal.

We must wait months, until the body’s radiation wounds have healed, before a second foray.

Time is a major issue; we cannot wait that long, nor do we have that many people.

On the radio, He Shuo’s tone carried a slight gravitas.

When he finished, Chen Jian was forced to discard the fresh plan he had just conceived.

He had intended to chart a route of minimal radiation by means of dense peripheral reconnaissance.

But now it seemed that even this scheme lacked the manpower to brave the minefield—

Yet when He Shuo mentioned the “manpower problem,” Ji Xing’s eyes suddenly brightened.

“Xie Liu said the forbidden zone’s radiation is uneven; in the vast majority of areas the levels are low.”

“Given that, we could hire people to scout the path first, thereby minimizing our exposure to radiation as much as possible.”

“The forbidden zone is perilous precisely because the folk of Tongling City lack instruments to monitor the ‘curse,’ rendering their forays utterly blind.”

“But you possess such devices.”

“So why not hand the instruments to others, letting them blaze the trail?”

“They’ll die,” Chen Jian said helplessly.

“If you don’t tell them, who would know they’ll die?”

Ji Xing blinked, then continued:

“Just tell them the device can monitor the curse’s intensity in real time, safeguarding their safety.”

“The lure of the forbidden zone has always been great; otherwise Tongling City would not have a constant stream of would‑be explorers.”

“Believe me, if you fling this ‘artifact’ out there, someone will gladly lay down their life for you.”

“If you fret over some so‑called ‘moral dilemma,’ I happen to know a batch of lives deemed unworthy of mourning…”

The group Ji Xing found was, in fact, no different from those the Flower Capital had recruited.

They are collectively called ‘Hunters,’ yet they are merely mercenaries who crave coin and shun death.

Their backgrounds are tangled, and they lack any unified organization.

They roam the great settlements, wielding force to fulfill any employer’s contract in exchange for payment.

Because they are not a single entity, their abilities vary wildly, and consequently their jobs are seldom clean.

Coincidentally, the men Ji Xing recruited had, not long before, received an order from Flower Capital to assault Huangshi City.

When they met Chen Jian and his group, the leading man boasted of the episode as a trophy of conversation.

“Boss, you can rest easy.”

“The squad under my command ranks among the finest in all of Tongling, even the entire South.”

“Aside from the Holy Blood Hall and the regular troops of the Mechanical Cult, few can stand toe‑to‑toe with us.”

“Just days ago, we were tasked by Flower Capital to strike the headquarters of a newly‑formed faction.”

“They call themselves the Huaxia Army; their strength is no joke.”

“Rumor has it they annihilated the Mechanical Cult’s Sanctum Guard Brigade.”

“Yet before us, they were still too green.”

“Unfortunately, when we were ready to set out, Flower Capital withdrew the order.”

“We heard another band of Hunters botched it, and Flower Capital deemed further retaliation unnecessary.”

“I even lament for them; had they found us first, the outcome would have been far better.”

When the man finished speaking, Chen Jian and his companions exchanged a subtle glance, their faces tinged with a concealed smile.

Nevertheless, Chen Jian had no intention of revealing himself at such a moment.

He merely gave a slight nod, then said:

“It seems you truly are formidable—so let us get straight to the point.”

“Our assignment for you this time is simple.”

“Take our device into Tongling City’s forbidden zone and, based on its readings, chart the optimal path to the core region.”

“You want to go into the forbidden zone??”

The man stared at Chen Jian in astonishment, then asked:

“What are you going there for? There’s nothing left worth exploring!”

“No, that’s not quite right.”

“What I mean is, even if the forbidden zone holds high‑value items, you could never extract them!”

“The curse within the zone is potent; ordinary folk cannot survive there for long.”

“If one ventures deep, after at most two or three days the intruder will perish from the curse.”

“Even with luck and minimal contamination, no one lives beyond three years.”

“It’s been ages since anyone entered the forbidden zone. It’s meaningless!”

“There are countless places awaiting discovery in this world; why consign your life to this spot?”

“You simply haven’t found the right method.”

Chen Jian shook his head, giving Ji Xing a look.

Ji Xing then lifted the crude Geiger counter, exaggerating its capabilities in a flourish.

The man regarded Ji Xing with half‑belief, half‑skepticism, then asked:

“How can you prove this thing truly works?”

Ji Xing, hearing this, pointed at Xie Liu and replied:

“She just went in; do you think she seemed troubled?”

“Not at all…”

“But since you’ve already entered, why do you still need us?”

“Because…”

“We lack sufficient manpower.”

Chen Jian took the floor, employing the classic nine‑truth‑one‑lie pitch to outline the squad’s predicament; upon hearing it, the man exhaled deeply and finally nodded slowly.

“We can give it a try.”

“What we lack most is not people; if it truly is as you say, we can accept the task.”

“But first tell me what exactly you’re after there!”

“Does that concern you?”

Ji Xing frowned and retorted; the man nodded resolutely, answering, “Of course it does.”

“The forbidden district of Tongling City is not as simple as outsiders imagine; it is the fabled ‘Furnace of Fallen Stars.’”

“The furnace’s treasure lies deep within the forbidden zone, and every soul covets it, yet none have ever truly claimed it.”

“Since you have already prepared to enter, I presume you must have grasped some clue.”

“You intend to pave the way with the lives of my men, and I demand a greater reward—indeed, a reasonable request, is it not?”

“.Reasonable.”

Chen Jian nodded slowly, then asked:

“What is it that you desire?”

“Beyond the basic payment, whatever you find, I claim half of it.”

“One third.”

Chen Jian adopted a bargaining stance; the man fell silent for a moment, then said:

“Forty percent, we split forty percent.”

“Agreed.”

Chen Jian snapped his head up, then continued:

“In exchange, you must first reveal every piece of information you possess about the forbidden zone.”

“You seem well‑versed in the forbidden zone, do you not?”

“.No, no one can claim to truly understand the forbidden zone.”

The man sighed, then said:

“But I do know certain things about the forbidden zone.”

“Legend has it that a colossal beast once fell there, and the furnace within its belly has burned in the forbidden zone for decades.”

(End of Chapter)