Chapter 279: The Spaceship in the Ice (2) (Bonus Chapter)

"Commander, the tactical team has reached the designated location. The signal source is buried thirty meters under the glacier ice. Should we break through the ice to investigate?"

By the time Josh returned to the VTOL, the command-type robot on board had already reported in.

"Can you identify what it is?" Josh asked.

"Yes, Commander. Based on preliminary scans, it appears to be a spaceship—230 meters long, 23 meters wide, and 15 meters tall."

As the Command Robot reported, it operated the VTOL's control panel and projected a holographic image of the ship in front of Josh.

"It's beautiful..." Josh's eyes lit up as he saw the ship's design.

It was a sleek, futuristic, cone-shaped vessel, perfectly matching his taste. Its overall shape was somewhat similar to a Star Wars Star Destroyer.

Of course, it was only similar in appearance—the style and scale were completely different. Unlike a Star Destroyer, this ship didn't have an unnecessary tower at the back.

But as impressive as it looked, Josh remained cautious.

This ship was clearly not of Earth. That raised several crucial questions—what civilization did it belong to? Why did it crash on Earth? And most importantly, could it contain anything that posed a significant threat to the planet?

These were all concerns that Josh needed to address.

"Commander, should we proceed with ice breaking?" the command robot asked again.

"How long will it take?" Josh inquired.

"The VTOL has no special drilling equipment on board. Using the tools available from the industrial robots, the process would take about 25 hours."

Twenty-five hours? That was too long.

"What about using this model?" Josh provided the specifications for an advanced drilling system he had purchased from Yuri.

It was designed for mining, but it should still work for this situation, right?

"It can be used. The industrial robots will need minor modifications."

The command robot quickly ran the calculations and confirmed the feasibility.

"What is the most efficient setup? How many industrial robots will we need?"

Josh had plenty of both drilling equipment and robots stored in his systems warehouse.

"With an additional 200 repair robots, the operation can be completed in five hours."

Josh didn't hesitate.

He got out of the VTOL and deployed three more transport VTOLs, hundreds of industrial robots, and a full set of advanced drilling equipment. To reinforce security, he added another 1,000 military robots.

Including the original units, the total number of military robots on the island reached 1,500—enough firepower to wipe out a small nation in this era.

Still, Josh wasn't taking any chances.

After thinking for a moment, he brought out two Tsar Bomba nuclear warheads.

"While drilling, position these two nukes in the most strategic locations. If anything uncontrollable is discovered, detonate them immediately. I don't want anything that could threaten the Earth to escape from King George Island. Do you understand?"

Josh pointed to the warheads, his expression stern.

"Understood, Commander," the command robot saluted. "However, this will extend the preparation time."

"Also, Commander, please move to a safe distance. If these nukes are detonated, the entire island will be affected."

"That goes without saying!" Josh rolled his eyes, climbed into the VTOL, and flew away from King George Island.

The two Tsar Bomba warheads he had deployed were Yuri-manufactured three-stage bombs. While they weren't as powerful as the original Tsar Bomba, each still had a yield in the megaton range—far beyond anything the U.S. or Soviet Union had developed in this era.

King George Island was only about 2,000 square kilometers in size. If both bombs went off, the entire island would be engulfed in nuclear fire.

And the ecological impact?

Come on, if this spaceship trapped under the ice was really a threat to the Earth, who would care about the ecosystem of a single island?

Roughly twenty minutes later, Josh's VTOL arrived at the Falkland Islands, landing on a relatively flat hillside—completely unnoticed by the British forces stationed there.

Meanwhile, back on King George Island, under the command of the lead robot, the deployed units began setting up the drilling equipment and beginning the excavation.

Josh monitored everything remotely.

Three hours later, two more VTOL aircraft arrived in the Falklands, but they hadn't come from King George Island. Instead, they had approached from the north.

When the planes landed, Ophelia, Vito and a squad of elite troops disembarked.

"Boss, did you find anything interesting again?" Ophelia asked curiously as she entered the VTOL's command room, glancing at the drilling operation displayed on the screen.

"It's quite interesting. Take a look."

At Josh's signal, one of the robots activated the holographic display and projected the scanned image of the ship once more.

"Another alien spaceship?"

Ophelia and Vito exchanged glances and spoke in unison.

Having followed Josh for so long, neither of them were strangers to alien appearances. They had even interacted with Mar-Vell when she came to Earth. So, with just one look, they could tell that this ship wasn't of Earthly origin.

"Exactly. But judging by its design, it doesn't resemble anything from any known civilization."

Josh shrugged.

Originally, he had only a vague understanding of certain alien civilizations in the Marvel Universe. But after meeting Mar-Vell, he had managed to extract a considerable amount of information about intergalactic powers from her.

Still, this spaceship didn't belong to any civilization he knew of.

That only added to the mystery surrounding it.

"Commander, we've reached the ship's depth. However, upon closer inspection, its outer structure is extremely advanced. With our current technology, we can't locate any visible entrances."

After five hours of excavation, the drilling team had finally reached the layer of ice surrounding the ship. But now a new problem had appeared.

The ship's technology was clearly highly sophisticated—perhaps even surpassing that of the Kree.

The robots were unable to detect any visible seams or access points on its surface.

"Use Vibranium. Try to force it open from the outside!"

After a brief moment of thought, Josh decisively gave his next command.

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