It wasn’t until two more people entered that Brian Carter finally pressed the only downward button in the elevator. Instantly, the metal pillars closed together, appearing as seamless as ever, leaving only those inside the elevator feeling a bit uneasy.

In fact, Brian Carter was quite clear that there was basically no danger inside the elevator, because the people who had died before, plus the corpses outside the base, were obviously not all the members of the Longxing Squad. There must have been members who died inside the real interior of the base, and then a dozen or so people took the opportunity to escape, taking the elevator up to the main hall. However, it was very likely that there was another passage in the hall that connected to the true inner base, allowing the intelligent machines inside—those shattered metal spheres—to appear directly in the hall. The corpses he saw at the time seemed to be in a panic. In other words, the attack must have come from all directions...

Brian Carter rubbed his aching head, steadied himself, and silently calculated how many meters they had descended by now: one hundred, two hundred, three hundred... It wasn’t until they had gone nearly eight hundred meters underground that the elevator doors finally opened, revealing seven or eight corpses lying riddled with holes in the corridor ahead.

Deep underground, there was only one corridor, stretching straight forward. At the end of this corridor, besides this elevator, there was also a huge cavern. The cavern was pitch black, but it was clear that it must have been man-made, because the ground was a concrete road, and the road gradually sloped upward, as if it was a large passageway that could allow vehicles to drive directly from the surface to this base.

Brian Carter carefully examined the surroundings, while the four people behind him gripped their weapons and began to stand guard. After a few minutes, Brian Carter finally said to one of them, “Go up and call them down. By the time you get up there, it’ll have been about five minutes. Who knows what foolish things they might do. Go, go.”

The person immediately saluted and hurriedly took the elevator up to the main hall. Brian Carter didn’t make any rash moves either, just gazed into the distance at the massive metal gate at the end of the passage.

This metal gate was enormous, about fifty meters high and over a hundred meters wide. Standing beneath it, a person looked as tiny as an ant. The gate was controlled by an electronic password system. Its thickness and material were unknown, but just from its outward structure, it was clearly the kind of underground base gate designed to withstand nuclear war. Even a tactical nuclear missile might not be able to blast it open. Maybe a strategic nuclear missile could blow it apart, but to hell with that—let alone tactical or strategic nukes, they didn’t even have any C-series high-explosive bombs now, so blowing it open was simply impossible.

So the only chance...

Brian Carter looked at the only protrusion beneath the gate—a digital input platform, which must be the electronic password device connected to the gate. As long as the correct password was entered, they could get in. If the password was wrong... it was very likely that the fate of the Longxing Special Forces would become their own.

Brian Carter just stood there quietly watching. Only after a long while, when all the team members had arrived, did he share his observations and analysis. Then, he quietly looked at Michael Brooks.

At this moment, Michael Brooks was already scared stiff. He shook his head frantically and said, “I’m just a data geek, a little hacker, no, no, my dad didn’t lie to you, I really am good with computers, but using three computers at once is just for gaming and stuff. I can attack program data with multithreading, but my skill level isn’t number one among Chinese hackers, and I’m barely ranked in the world...” When Michael Brooks saw that everyone’s face darkened at his first sentence, he realized and hurriedly tried to explain.

Brian Carter walked straight up to Michael Brooks, stared into his eyes, and said, “In the Chinese hacker rankings, what place are you? Answer me honestly!”

Unable to withstand the pressure, Michael Brooks quickly turned his head and said, “Th-third...”

Brian Carter felt a surge of joy, but he still kept a stern face and said, “Then it’s you! Remember, when you’re cracking the password, there might be an attack, but look carefully—there are no corpses or bloodstains in front of that electronic platform, so obviously the attack doesn’t come from the gate, but from both sides of the corridor. We’ll all stand in front of you. Unless we all die, you won’t die! All we need from you is to get the password and open the gate! That’s the only requirement!”

Michael Brooks stared blankly at the electronic platform, his face miserable, wanting to say something, but Brian Carter’s expression turned serious as he said, “I’m not going to threaten you, because we’re all as good as dead already. I’ll just say one thing... your father loves you. To help you survive, he drew attention to himself among over a thousand people. The danger he’s in is greater than you can imagine. You must complete this task. As long as we get inside... fine, I’ll tell you, there’s a spaceship inside. As long as you get in, we’ll definitely rescue your father and take you both off Earth! Tell me, do you want to save your family?!”