Distance to the Gemini System: 21 days.
Vera Costa had just checked into the Erebus Luxe Citadel Hotel. While waiting for Irene Zhang's people to deliver the cargo, she observed the entire environment of the hotel.
Keres-7
Its orbital period is 1.2 Earth years, a trajectory that throws it into two extremes: an annual six-month aphelion drought, where the surface temperature of the star Keres-A plummets to -40°C, and the sulfuric acid atmosphere sublimates into a layer of pale frost covering the basalt crust; followed by a four-month perihelion acid rain season. When the orbit drags it toward the star, intense ultraviolet radiation ignites the sulfur oxides deposited in the atmosphere, and 120°C concentrated sulfuric acid rainstorms turn the planet's surface into a boiling hell.
Years ago, a fleet of thirty-six civilian starships, formed by interstellar thieves and felons, chose to appear at the aphelion of this dead star. They erased their hull registration numbers, hovering like a flock of steel vultures above the lead-gray clouds. The hatch doors slid open silently in the vacuum, and swarms of Silas Grey machines awakened from their cryo-pods, sensors glowing with a cold, ghostly blue light, commencing the foundational work of this crime in absolute silence.
The first batch of twelve pulsed laser drills was deployed from the ventral platforms of twelve starships. Each drill carried a Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) solid-state laser array. Infrared light with a wavelength of 1064 nanometers pulsed at a frequency of five thousand times per second, with pulse widths compressed to ten picoseconds—an instantaneous energy release one hundred million times faster than a neural reaction, achieving a peak power density of $10^{15} \text{ W/cm}^2$.
The directed energy vaporization process caused the ultrashort pulses to directly convert the basalt into plasma, the instant they touched the rock wall. The resulting shockwave squeezed the molten material downward rather than splashing it outward. Under the control of rotating focusing lenses, the lasers ablated the rock wall in a spiral trajectory. This spiral drilling pattern ensured that the shaft's circularity error was less than 2 centimeters, while avoiding thermal diffusion that could crack the surrounding rock layers. The vaporized silicate slurry, wrapped in high-speed airflow, flowed to magnetohydrodynamic pumps deep underground and was discharged to the planet's surface through vertical pipes. In the -40°C sulfuric frost environment, the crimson lava flow instantly cooled into heaps of black glassy scoria, resembling obsidian scales growing from the planet's surface.
Thus, the main entrances and ventilation shafts were formed: five vertical abysses, every 180 meters in diameter, piercing through 800 meters of basalt crust like the five giant maws of Cerberus. A stream of light from large transport aircraft and primitive construction robots poured down these openings. Meanwhile, from the drop pods of small transports, hundreds of Silas Greys were precisely dropped around the openings. They deployed geological harmonic scanners and began probing the internal stress structure of this dead star, mapping a three-dimensional chart for the impending skeletal implantation.
Around the five main shafts, the Silas Greys buried Titanium Alloy–Ti?SiC? MAX-phase ceramic composite beams in a twelve-fold symmetrical quasicrystal pattern. This violated traditional crystallography — node spacing followed the irrational proportion 1 : φ : √2, possessing no translational symmetry yet holding five-fold rotational symmetry.
The titanium alloy core provided a tensile strength of 1200 MPa, while the surface plasma-sprayed amorphous alumina ceramic layer formed a molecular-level acid-resistant barrier. The unique self-healing mechanism of the MAX phase ceramic flowed at the microscopic level: when acid infiltration caused micro-cracks, the shear sliding between the Ti?SiC? layers would release glassy phase material, automatically filling the cracks, like metal slowly growing moss.
These composite beams formed a skeleton above the ground. Based on the principles of spider web weaving in bionics, the Quintus units entered the scene. These slender, serpentine construction robots climbed the titanium alloy skeleton, their abdominal biosynthesis chambers cultivating graphene-Kevlar liquid crystal fibers.
They did not simply spin silk but executed directed self-assembly: the fiber slurry was extruded through microfluidic nozzles, solidifying within 0.3 seconds of contacting the acidic atmosphere. The core consisted of axially aligned graphene sheets (tensile strength of 130 GPa), while the shell was randomly cross-woven Kevlar aramid, encapsulating a shear-thickening fluid in between—this non-Newtonian fluid instantly locked from liquid to solid upon impact by acid, converting kinetic energy into the shear heat of molecular chains. Quintus wove the fibers using chaotic algorithms, with the tension of each strand fluctuating randomly between 500 and 2000 MPa, ensuring the web had no fixed resonance frequency.
Above the deep shafts, a massive dome gradually closed, covering a rectangular sky of 5 km × 6 km. The grid skeleton support used a hybrid construction of titanium alloy beams and fiber nets, forming a composite structure—the titanium alloy beams bore the static load, while the fiber net absorbed dynamic impacts.
The middle layer of the dome was an acid-resistant barrier: a 20-centimeter-thick silicon carbide-aerogel composite layer. With a density of only 3 mg per cubic centimeter, it could withstand a pressure difference of ten atmospheres, while silicon carbide particles in the aerogel formed microscopic acid adsorption traps. The inner layer was an airtight cabin maintaining a standard atmospheric pressure of 101.3 kPa, a bubble of life isolated from the external hell.
When external aircraft approached, topological deformation channels on the side of the dome would activate. Under electrical stimulation, the skeleton expanded outward like origami from the rearrangement of the alloy lattice, creating a wide entrance. The inner lining of the Teflon-nano alumina composite membrane (1 mm thick, superhydrophobic surface with contact angle >160°) ensured that acid could not adhere.
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Once the aircraft entered, the current was cut, and the channel constricted inward according to a reverse folding protocol. Magnetohydrodynamic seal rings at the seams formed a perfect closure within 0.5 seconds, shutting out the acid rain.
Simultaneously, fifteen auxiliary shafts were completed using directional drilling technology. Inertial navigation systems pinpointed locations on the nodes of a 30-square-kilometer hexagonal grid, with each node acting as a stress dispersion point for the tunnel network. These fifteen auxiliary excavation shafts, 90 meters in diameter, served as extensions of the main tunnels, piercing deeper into the rock layers to form a three-dimensional transportation network.
Finally, the waste disposal and emergency shafts were completed: ten vertical shafts, 45 meters in diameter, serving as both discharge channels for industrial waste and throats for emergency escape. These openings were equipped with heat exchange exhaust systems capable of ejecting internal high-temperature waste gas or evidence into the external atmosphere via magnetohydrodynamic pumps, instantly destroying all traces in the 120°C acid mist. Silas Grey buried the final line of defense in the crust around these deep shafts—mixed implants of titanium alloy beams, Teflon derivatives, and ceramic nanocomposites, forming a multi-layered chemical passivation barrier.
The entire underground energy system was powered by p-B11 micro-fusion, free from radioactive waste pollution. 3D modeling technology was utilized to its extreme on this planet.
Artificial sunlight shone down from massive floor-to-ceiling glass panels. The entire city had grown from an initial few thousand people into an underground world with a population of 100,000. From the bottom of her heart, Vera felt that humanity's formidable adaptability was written into their genes.
At this moment, the image of Annie's deep purple irises flashed through Vera's mind like a nebula. They had left a profound mark on her long-isolated and indifferent shell.
She thought about the transaction with the people Karl sent, and then carried out her own plan. She felt a wave of tension she hadn't experienced in years, just like the day she first stole Drake's amulet.
For the past two days, she had been pondering whether it was worth paying such a price to complete something that brought her no return, other than getting closer to the girl with those eyes. Violating a killer's survival principles would result in death, or perhaps a rebirth like the Phoenix of ancient Earth.
Vera exhaled. At least here, she didn't have to worry about the threat of firearms. Everyone entering the underground world had to undergo strict checks. Once a firearm was found, the fate awaiting them was not just death, but being forced to stand in the rain on the surface. If one survived that, there might be a chance to escape.
Drake had once said:
For herself and Karl, neither favor nor leverage existed. Therefore, only in this world free from the threat of weapons could they find terms acceptable to both sides. Although this underground world was free from the threat of lethal weapons like guns, fights were never-ending. The primal law of the jungle was played out to the extreme here. Powerful physical strength and combat skills were what allowed you to return home alive.
It was said there was also a level built like an ancient Roman coliseum. That was the favorite haunt of gamblers. While you fought to the death with an opponent in a cage, the gamblers outside were calculating how much their credit points had increased. Red and death were the main themes. Similarly, drugs and pornography were paradises that existed in this world.
Vera sat alone in a corner of the bar. Opposite her, the bartender was performing his craft. "Aureus Stellar, a modified Stardust Whiskey brewed exclusively for the elite. Helium-3 purification leaves only an elegant metallic resonance, while nano-yeast is tamed into a gentle flavor catalyst. One sip, and the top note is a warm spice, like Martian dust under the morning light; the middle note surges with sweet waves of honey and vanilla; the finish is a delicate mineral bitterness, a light numbness on the tongue tip, yet without dangerous sting."
The bartender tossed bottles and glasses casually. His soulless pupils watched as they spun and danced in the air as if manipulated by invisible hands. The liquor poured in a golden arc, landing precisely in the glass with a metallic sheen. He chanted,
The waiter brought the freshly mixed drink to Vera. "Hello, Ma'am. Compliments of Luka Dragomir. A bottle of Aureus Stellar. The original is too crude; this is what suits you."
Vera turned her head, looking past the waiter's left side to a seat diagonally opposite. A burly man, about 2 meters tall, sat there watching her, surrounded by several women. Looking closely, one of the women had three breasts.
This man was Luka Dragomir
Vera would always remember the scene where she first met this man with Drake. His gray-blue eyes carried the scent of death. Looking at them for too long made one feel as if their soul's mask had been stripped away.
At the time, Drake had just produced the finished product of 'Elysium Echo' in the lab and hoped to cooperate with him to open up sales channels. After tasting a bit of the product, the man laughed out loud, then demanded that Drake hand over the formula to run the business together. After being refused, he turned his attention to Vera, directly asking Drake to sell her to him.
Vera heard this reply:
What followed was a chaotic slaughter, and that was Vera's first battle, truly walking on the edge of death.
In the end, the mark on his face was left by her.
So many years had passed; Vera never expected to meet him here.
She originally intended to reject the man's gesture, but in that instant, a plan surfaced in the bottom of her heart.
Vera took the glass from the waiter.
Diagonally across the room, Luka Dragomir was staring at her. Seeing Vera pick up the glass, he didn't speak. He simply, slowly, extended his tongue and licked the ugly scar that spanned his face. It was a naked suggestion, a mix of appetite and murderous intent.
The corners of Vera's mouth turned up slightly, revealing her first genuine sneer of the night. A beast is most dangerous, but as long as you throw out a piece of bloody meat, a beast is also the best bait.
She raised her glass to him in a toast, threw her head back, and drained it in one gulp. The spicy liquor hit her throat like swallowing a ball of sparks, igniting her long-dormant blood.
Then, she set down the empty glass, turned, and walked out of the restaurant, leaving that greedy gaze staring at her back in the shadows behind her.
(End of Chapter 128)
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