Chapter 24: Meteorite Incident

At the headquarters of the base, the monitoring center was packed with people.

A massive meteorite shower had fallen into the C25 zone. Aside from the regular patrol teams and the temporary security team led by Chen Wuling, all other security personnel had been notified and were standing by at the security center.

Wu Hao, Tie Xiong, and Zhao Jia, along with their teams, stood quietly beside Luo Fei, gazing at the monitoring screens. On the display, hundreds of meteorites, trailing with high-temperature tails, plunged toward the C25 zone at an angled trajectory.

Next to them, another screen showed the situation in the C25 zone where a duty team of three Qingniao aircraft had already taken safe positions.

In another direction, Chen Wuling led a four-person team closer to C25, with thick black smoke clearly visible in the sky.

Everyone was intensely focused.

For Zhu Xiaotian, her first day on the job had already been filled with excitement and thrill, seeing such a grand security operation. She was both excited and curious, watching intently and occasionally asking Old Lu questions:

"Old Lu, isn't meteorite fall a common occurrence? Why all the fuss? With such high surface temperatures, how could insect beasts survive?"

Old Lu sneered at her question and scoffed, "Do you think these creatures are like cockroaches in your kitchen, easily incinerated by a little fire? Even the lowest-level insect beasts possess extraordinary resilience, especially their saliva and bodily fluids, which have unique properties... Let me put it this way: if they gather enough bodily fluid, they can make multiple trips through the atmosphere without a problem."

Although Old Lu's combat abilities had diminished significantly, his experience as a senior security officer was unmatched.

As he spoke, he instinctively reached for the bottle of alcohol in his pocket. However, noticing the gazes of Tie Xiong and Zhao Jia, he snorted in frustration, suppressing his urge to drink and instead focusing on adjusting the monitoring display, zooming in on the meteorites.

Static crackled on the main screen.

"Interference."

"There are electromagnetic particles in the meteorites."

Old Lu quickly reacted, pulling back the camera and warning the security personnel in the C25 zone to be wary of the impact on their aircraft systems.

The three Qingniao aircraft immediately lowered their altitude.

Electromagnetic interference affected all electronic devices.

The Qingniao aircraft were not equipped with anti-electromagnetic capabilities.

Chen Wuling remained calm, issuing commands to her team:

"Everyone, lower altitude."

"Central, calculate the electromagnetic coverage of the meteorites, determine the impact points, and we need to adjust the approach plan accordingly."

Luo Fei and Wu Hao nodded in unison.

Chen Wuling's thinking was clear.

The electromagnetic interference had rendered the Qingniao aircraft incapable of safely approaching for landing, so it was critical to calculate the range of the interference and adjust the plan accordingly.

Old Lu acted quickly.

The monitoring center's chip, the D-series, was responsible for managing the entire operation of the base and had immense computational power. In no time, it returned the results.

New data was uploaded.

There were over forty points of electromagnetic interference from the meteorites.

The impact points of the meteorites numbered over three hundred.

Luo Fei furrowed his brows, and Wu Hao's face grew serious.

"This doesn't feel right."

"The electromagnetic interference circles are numerous and arranged in rings around the meteorite impact points, creating a vast range of disruption."

Wu Hao's voice was heavy:

"The areas where the meteorites fell are quite complex, with forests, hills, and deep pits. The terrain is highly variable. If insect beasts are involved, they could easily conceal themselves."

"I suggest sending two more teams for a search and capture operation."

Wu Hao's suggestion was logical, but Luo Fei shook his head.

"We don't have enough information yet, and sending more personnel prematurely may not be the best course of action. Besides, the area we need to search is large, and it won't be completed in a short time. Our security team only has thirty members, divided into six teams, and two of those teams are already in the field. If we send more people now, who will handle the follow-up tasks? Let's proceed slowly."

Luo Fei's reasoning was thorough. He wanted to be prepared for the ongoing search, and so other teams would need to be on standby to take over later. It was not practical to send everyone at once.

This was a direct clash between the team leader and deputy leader of the security team.

Wu Hao reluctantly backed down.

Tie Xiong and Zhao Jia exchanged helpless glances.

Old Lu smirked slightly.

Zhu Xiaotian, watching all this unfold, was confused.

If Tian Xiao had been present, he would have understood immediately. This was Luo Fei subtly undermining Wu Hao.

While meteorite falls could indeed pose dangers from insect beasts, each meteorite incident also represented an opportunity for wealth.

Although meteorites from the New Calendar were no longer as valuable as they once were, the remnants after burning through the atmosphere often contained rare materials and ores—far more accurate and effective than a miner's search for veins.

If luck was average, one could easily harvest tens of thousands from a single meteorite.

With better luck…

High-quality ores could bring in hundreds of thousands, even millions.

Wu Hao's suggestion to send more teams was motivated by a desire for a share of the meteorite resources.

These meteorite resources did not belong to Feiying Company, so whatever was recovered would go directly to the security team.

Luo Fei's refusal was an attempt to tightly control this batch of resources for himself.

At this moment, Tie Xiong and Zhao Jia were mentally cursing Luo Fei, but they could only keep their thoughts to themselves.

Although Wu Hao appeared calm on the surface, he was seething inside, silently watching the situation unfold—without the team leader's orders, no one could act on their own.

This was one of the reasons he wanted to be the team leader.

The meteorites continued to fall.

Despite their small size, the meteorites did not cause significant damage to the planet's surface.

However, the red alert in the monitoring center blared loudly.

Data flashed rapidly on the screen.

Then, the main display screen expanded with multiple smaller windows, showing scenes of collapsed rock layers in deep pits.

Luo Fei and Wu Hao's expressions changed.

Old Lu's mood shifted immediately, and he quickly took control of the situation.

"The meteorite shower caused impacts and tremors in some of the more unstable deep pits. Areas designated as medium-to-high risk zones have collapsed, including G79, A33, J07 mining areas. Fortunately, there were no miners in those areas."

"For safety reasons, immediately notify the base to suspend ongoing operations and evacuate all miners from the underground mines!"

Luo Fei responded swiftly.

Old Lu took action immediately.

Wu Hao's eyes flashed with a hint of regret.

If Luo Fei had delayed even for a moment, and casualties occurred, Wu Hao could have used that as a reason to report to the company, weakening Luo Fei's authority.

No one noticed the subtle red data that appeared amidst the flashing red alerts and split-screen popups.

Among the three hundred meteorite impact points, one of them had shifted slightly.

A meteorite plunged into a deep pit, passing through a thin rock layer before disappearing into the roaring waves of impact.