Chapter 263: The Forerunner's Megastructure! The Ark! The Portal!

"Very good."

Leon nodded, and then continued: "You should get ready as soon as possible. The laboratories and fleets here are about to be transferred. Don't leave behind the necessary data and equipment."

Since the matter of the Shield World Celestial Body has been almost resolved, it is time for the important core R\u0026D members to return to the headquarters of the Wanjie Base to continue the experiments in hand.

"Yes!"

"Okay, boss."

As the two doctors finished speaking, Leon was also taken by them to check the transformation of the Spartan II warriors.

It should be said that this batch of Spartan warriors in the experimental testing phase really feels like "small Astartes warriors".

To briefly summarize the characteristics:

Steel bones can withstand beatings, fiber optic nerves are good, both civil and military are not biased, and they are only dedicated to getting things done.

Highlight a loyal and capable person!

After completing this inspection mission, Leon left the experimental center with satisfaction, and his orders were quickly executed by various departments, and the troops in various places were dispatched and set off again.

At this moment, on the surface of the core of the shield world, a fleet of more than a thousand warships of various types, supply ships, and six fully automated Sojourner Dreadnoughts are ready to go!

Not long after, after the last batch of transport formations arrived at the fleet array and entered the CSO aircraft carrier, which is the flagship of the 2nd Expeditionary Force.

The fleet began to pass through a giant gate with a diameter of 100 kilometers, rushed out of the core of the shield world, passed through the atmosphere on the surface, and came to the low-earth orbit.

Then, after all the ships were in place, the six Sojourner Dreadnoughts projected dazzling light in the deep space, and the vortex-shaped jump channel was opened.

Then, this expeditionary force followed the Sojourner Dreadnoughts and all rushed into the jump space, heading towards the star field where the City of Fraternity is located.

Because the jump engine and technology of the Sojourner Dreadnought are of official genuine quality, it is different from the pirated version made by reverse cracking of the Star Alliance.

Therefore, the jump speed should be faster, smoother and more stable. The speed is about every 24 hours, they can cross a distance of nearly 3,000 light years.

You should know that this is just the most basic warship of the Forerunner civilization. For example, the super-giant device "Ark" that can devour planets and create halos can even open a portal to directly transmit halos to various parts of the Milky Way!

The so-called Ark is actually a petal-shaped giant structure. Its front is covered with a huge ecological area, which can be inhabited by organisms and can resist the damage of the neutrino pulse cannon released by the halo array.

Its core is the manufacturing factory of the halo. It can create halo devices by squeezing the entire planet as raw materials and put them in various parts of the Milky Way.

Such a celestial-level giant structure that combines production, transmission and use functions is simply too fragrant!

Even if it is about "transmitting objects", the role of this thing is not worse than the slingshot. In terms of space technology, the technological attainments of the Forerunners are equally awesome.

But unfortunately, such a good thing, Li Ang can't get it immediately.

Because the enthusiastic witness AI did not record the specific coordinate information of the Ark, and the only news Li Ang knew was that this Ark giant structure with a diameter ten times that of the Earth was far outside the Milky Way.

With the current technological level of the Universal Giant Enterprise, if it wants to lead the fleet to explore the celestial giant structure outside the Milky Way, the cost consumption is too terrifying.

It is estimated that the resources consumed to find the Ark are almost enough to build another one!

Therefore, if the giant enterprise wants to get the Ark as soon as possible, it can either go to the Meridian Star to dig out the "holy lamp" relics of the Forerunners and obtain all the array coordinate information of the Forerunners.

Or go to the East African region of the Earth to find and open the portal leading directly to the Ark.

Obviously, it is better to go to the Earth directly in one step to find the portal and get the Ark than to open another exploration copy to dig the relics.

After thinking for a while, Li Ang decided to send David to lead a group of troops to the East African region of the Halo Earth to find the location of the portal.

Disrupting the situation on Reach and sneaking into the Earth to find the portal is the next strategic goal of the giant company!

...

Three days later.

In the orbital space station directly above the city of New Alexandria in the low-Earth orbit of Reach.

[All passengers preparing to board the Neptune, please go to Port 7 as soon as possible. The ship will close the gate in ten minutes and officially set sail! ]

[Repeat it again, please...]

In the terminal hall, the broadcast was sounding a series of reminders.

A group of UNSC Marines armed with automatic rifles and equipped with exoskeleton mechanical devices were standing in the safety passages and elevators to guard the surroundings and patrol back and forth.

Among the many tourists, Rita, William Cage, and Alex, a special agent who had just been transferred from the Intelligence Department, were heading to their destination in plain clothes.

At this moment, Rita, Cage and Alex have all been strengthened by the Spartan-II warrior transformation project, and their physical strength is no longer what it used to be!

At this moment, they were planning to take the Neptune to Earth, which was ten light years away.

David Martinez led a group of Astartes warriors to sneak to Earth in secret, and both sides took a two-pronged approach.

After all, with the huge size of the Astartes warriors, it was almost impossible to take a UNSC flight to Earth.

So they could only take the small fleet of the giant company, jump through the hyperspace channel to reach the solar system, and sneak into the East African region of the earth.

Not long after, Rita and the other two arrived at the port of call, and used the fake ID cards and tickets prepared in advance to pass the crew's inspection and successfully enter the interior of the hull.

Rita, who has always been aloof, did not greet Cage or Alex. She chose a window seat alone, sat up with her head raised, and turned her head to look at the port of call outside.

Although there were only her, Cage and Alex in this box, it was hard to guarantee whether there would be a secret monitoring and monitoring system set up by the UNSC.

You know, the current UNSC organization has already exceeded its limit of tolerance for the rebels, and it is eager to drown all these thugs who regard rebellion as entrepreneurship in the toilet.

The rebels are even more dissatisfied with the UNSC. They play human bombs and bondage every day, and specially choose various places where upper-class citizens appear to play the art of explosion.

Obviously, the human world in the Halo universe has already had extremely divided class contradictions, which has led to more and more extreme events.

Therefore, in order to prevent the rebels, UNSC and UEG are likely to disregard the privacy of civilians and place eavesdropping devices on cruise ships, public places, and boxes.

Especially on high-end cruise ships such as the Neptune, which are prepared for the family members of wealthy people and politicians, it is normal to install strict listening devices.

Therefore, Rita and Alex did not communicate with each other throughout the whole process, but occasionally signaled each other with their eyes, and then sat quietly waiting for the cruise ship to arrive at the destination.

However, William Cage, who has always been familiar with people, started gossiping and asked about the relationship between Alex and Reed.

In the departments of giant companies, these gossips will still be circulated. After all, it is human nature to eat melons and watch the show, which is not affected by human will.

When Cage asked this question fearlessly, even Rita, who closed her eyes to rest, subconsciously increased her attention and listened carefully to the voices here.

Obviously, she was also very curious about the relationship between Alex and Li De. Was it really as rumored that the two were close comrades-in-arms and had feelings for each other?

You know, on the official website of the Universal Giant Enterprise, there are relevant introductions about the development history of the giant enterprise, as well as the history of Li Ang and executives of various departments.

And this kind of related "little information" has also been dug out by many bloggers of the history of the giant enterprise.

Facing Cage's abrupt question, Alex just smiled and shook her head. She had actually long since looked down on this past and rarely mentioned it.

For her former superiors and her lover Li De, she thought they still had a long time to go, and there was no need to bring personal affairs and emotions to work, which would not be conducive to progress.

Over the years, Alex has mainly served as a senior agent in the intelligence department, and the tasks he performed were all top-secret operations such as eavesdropping and assassination.

For dirty work like this, there is always a need for trustworthy people to do it, and Alex is the best candidate.

It can be said that Alex is a member of the "Jinyiwei" of the giant company!

But this kind of position and post that is not on the stage cannot be continued, so Li Ang decided to promote Alex and give her a chance to improve.

After the success of this mission, Alex will be promoted to the management member of the Intelligence Department and officially join the ranks of the executives of the giant company.

It just so happens that Alex has rich experience in intelligence and secret lurking, and this time lurking on the earth and finding the portal of the Ark is very important for Li Ang.

With such an old predecessor with sufficient operational experience, investigators such as Rita and Cage can also complete the task better.

For Alex, this mission is a great opportunity for her own improvement.

In fact, many years ago, Alex was not such an agent who was eager to improve. On the contrary, she was very eager to play bad, retire, and go on vacation with a relaxed body to end her life.

But the main reason is that her former master, President Miles, was not a human being and used them as consumable tools.

It's fine to use people to death.

But the tasks that Miles gave them every time were extremely difficult, with a high death rate and few benefits. Even his direct superiors would disappear and betray him.

Such a working environment is unbearable for anyone, and anyone would become depressed and collapse.

But after coming to the Universal Giant Enterprise, the great master Li Ang only did two words to make Alex full of energy, that is, "fairness"!

As long as the subordinates are willing to work hard, the giant enterprise will be willing to spend money.

What's more, the current Universal Giant Enterprise is in the rising period and is booming.

As we all know, the rising period of the times is an extremely valuable outlet. Even a pig who knows nothing can take off on the spot as long as it is close to it.

And the Universal Giant Enterprise is the outlet of human civilization!

As long as they follow the giant enterprise, each of them is the creator of human civilization and a role that is worthy of being written into human history.

This is more important than just talking about love or being affectionate. For Alex, love will always come, but there are only a few opportunities for progress in a lifetime!

Pursuing progress is the choice that smart people should make.

For Alex's opinion, Rita, who also has a strong sense of professionalism, couldn't help but secretly affirm it in her heart. No wonder the executives in the giant company are so decisive and neat.

For progress, everyone is working hard!

After listening to the words of his predecessor Alex, William Cage also nodded repeatedly, expressing his admiration. This is the model for him to learn from.

For the sake of the giant company and human civilization, this little thing can indeed be put aside.

Not long after, Rita, who pretended to be asleep, saw through the sealed window that the scene outside was moving slowly, which meant that the Neptune was about to leave the docking port.

Soon, the dark deep space of the universe and the Reach Star covered by the brilliant aurora appeared in Rita's field of vision.

Then there was a group of dark blue vortex channels, torn out by the engine device, and the Neptune entered the jump space and headed towards the earth ten light years away.

At this moment, the entertainment hall and dining room set up above the hull are showing fantastic lights in the mezzanine space. These twisted and bright lines and lights are pouring in through the panoramic skylight.

Combined with the green plants, soft lights and soothing music in the cabin, this makes the passengers feel different and happy.

The security personnel equipped with pneumatic guns, who are responsible for maintaining order on the scene, guard the entrances and exits of various areas throughout the journey.

Of course, these are just the security forces on the surface.

In fact, there is also a UNSC Marine Corps inside the Neptune, a total of 50 people.

This group of fully armed formal soldiers is to ensure the safety of the passengers on the cruise ship.

After all, the passengers on the Neptune are either rich or noble. Most of them are first-class citizens of the Earth, or wealthy businessmen and senior politicians from other colonies.

If something unexpected happens to the Neptune, the pressure that the UNSC and UEG will bear will never be lighter than a defeat.

Once these people become hostages in the hands of the rebels, the UNSC will definitely send people to negotiate. At this time, they may have to pay the price of several battleships!

At this moment, Alex has brought Rita and Cage to the restaurant. Like other passengers, they enjoy delicious pastries, cooked food, fresh fruits and other foods in a relaxed and comfortable manner.

At this time, Rita and Alex noticed that in the leisure area not far away, several security members and Marines had a dispute.

Before Cage turned his eyes to this side, he saw that the Marines raised their rifles and fired a burst of bullets.

In an instant, the sound of gunfire rang out, and the security members were shot dead on the spot, and several innocent passers-by were also killed by the soldiers' shooting.

Faced with this sudden change, the passengers present immediately screamed in fear and fled in panic.

But just when they were about to pass the safe passage and successfully withdraw from this dangerous area, they found that the gate at the entrance of the passage had already been occupied by other Marines.

There are tigers in front and wolves behind, they can't escape at all!

At this time, one of them, a ruthless man with a scarred face and three white eyes, who looked like a villain, came to the platform with a rifle and said loudly:

"Everyone, my name is Sullivan, an insignificant little bug character. It doesn't matter if you don't know me, but I know all of you dignitaries."

"Listen to me, I know that each of your lives is extremely precious, so I don't want to hurt you, because I have to take your lives to find the UNSC bastards in exchange for benefits, understand?"

"As long as you don't make trouble, I will guarantee your safety, but the premise is that you have to be obedient and don't irritate me, a bad-tempered guy, otherwise..."

Halfway through his words, Sullivan fired a shot directly into the crowd, randomly selected a "lucky listener", and sent him to see God for free.

Seeing the passenger shot in the head, Sullivan let out a chilling hoarse laugh: "The fate of disobedient people is the same as his, understand!"

After Sullivan's killing chickens to scare the monkeys, the passengers present were afraid to make a sound even if they were weak in fear.

For fear of angering this perverted killer.

Under the coercion of the other Marines, everyone had to squat on the ground honestly, like lambs to be slaughtered.

Alex, Rita, and Cage followed suit and squatted on the ground together, keeping silent like the passengers around them.

Before fully understanding the situation, waiting and watching is the most correct choice.

After all, with their current skills, they can completely deal with this group of insignificant Marines in an instant.

'Why did these UNSC soldiers suddenly kidnap the passengers here? Could it be that the rebels instigated them? ! ’

Alex secretly guessed the situation at the scene. She looked up at the panoramic skylight and saw that the bright light outside had long been replaced by the dark deep space.

This meant that the Neptune they were on had ended the jump voyage. They had left the jump space and arrived in an unfamiliar galaxy.

And this galaxy was most likely the territory controlled by the rebels!

In order to verify what she thought, Alex took two steps back.

She turned her head as far as she could and saw through the nearby porthole that there was a planet with a barren surface not far from the side of the Neptune, which was getting closer and closer to them.

Obviously, a colony like this that was overdeveloped and had poor resources was obviously the sphere of influence of the rebels, just like the street guys who chose the garbage dumps that the companies didn't want as their bases.

These Marines were most likely really rebels, and all the passengers on this cruise ship were kidnapped!