"...I need to go down the pit!"

Hearing Lei Wenjun's somewhat abrupt statement, everyone present seemed momentarily taken aback.

Finally, it was Lin Ziming who regained his composure first. He looked at Lei Wenjun and firmly denied:

"Going down the pit now? No way, that's too dangerous!

Never mind talking about alien creatures, we don't even know if there are any dangerous gases down there right now; the risk of rushing in is just too great."

Hearing this, Lei Wenjun gestured for Lin Ziming to hold on and explained:

"Colonel Lin, I didn't mean to suggest going all the way to the bottom right now. We can't even reach the depth of at least 80,000 meters.

What I mean is to first go down to a region about one or two hundred meters deep to analyze the geological structure and collect some samples.

The risk in doing this isn't that high—we should at least try to understand the area of the chasm closest to the surface, shouldn't we?

Colonel Lin, we're all adults here, even elite ones, and none of us lack the necessary judgment.

There's clearly a major issue with both this chasm and the altar, and the black Spirit Stone you've found—this pit must be related to some extraordinary secret.

Just sending drones down the pit is not enough for a real on-site analysis; a professional must go down personally to take a look."

Lin Ziming still insisted not to let Lei Wenjun risk it, continuing to say:

"You have a point, but doesn't that mean we should wait for the command center to send someone on-site, right?"

Lei Wenjun gave him a look and suddenly smiled:

"Who do you think they'll send? Believe it or not, it'll end up being me that has to go down?"

Lin Ziming's mouth trembled slightly, and he suddenly fell silent—or rather, was left speechless.

Lei Wenjun is currently the top expert in geology in the camp, and the exploration of such a chasm could not proceed without him.

If anyone were to go down, he would undoubtedly be the command center's go-to choice.

It would just mean more meetings and resolutions for the command center.

Although there is an abundance of talented individuals at Fire Camp, they have not yet reached the pinnacle of their respective fields and do not possess uniqueness.

But top experts like Lei Wenjun, who are irreplaceable in certain fields, can only take on such tasks themselves.

In fact, there are quite a few figures in the camp like Lei Wenjun, whose absence would be a significant void in their fields.

Take Hua Jun with defensive talismans, Tang Pin with spiritual energy weapons, Liu Xiangqian with pineal gland research, for example.

Why are those academicians considered national treasures?

It's not because they are mere authorities or academic oligarchs, but because they have reached the pinnacle in their field, irreplaceable.

Qian Gu Mountain is over three hundred kilometers away from the camp, and for confidentiality reasons, there won't be any large-scale troop deployments before substantial discoveries are made from the chasm.

So, predictably, things will align with what Lei Wenjun mentioned—the command center will decide, after some discussion, to send Lei Wenjun down to investigate, maybe alongside dispatching two more helicopters.

One could say that apart from wasting time, there would be no difference compared to going down the pit now,

Thinking of this, Lin Ziming hesitated for a bit and then said to Lei Wenjun:

"Old Lei, I need to report your proposal to Captain Lin. Something like this requires organizational approval."

Lei Wenjun nodded readily this time; naturally, such matters must be conveyed to the organization:

"Certainly, certainly."

Then Lin Ziming walked over to a corner, relaying the situation to Lin Li:

"...Captain Lin, that's pretty much the situation. What are your thoughts?"

Lin Li had been handling another document just now, so he hadn't really focused on the images transmitted back by the recorder. After listening to Lin Ziming's report, he paused for a few seconds and asked:

"Colonel Lin, does Director Lei and his team have sufficient equipment? For example, oxygen or safety ropes?"

Lin Ziming nodded. He had already gained insights about the equipment on their way to the cave:

"Equipment-wise, there's nothing to worry about. Director Lei and his team have always been conducting field survey missions, with all sorts of equipment, including ropes, being very comprehensive."

Lin Li stared at the pen cap in his hand for a few seconds, inexplicably feeling the urge to knock Wang Qiang on the head a bit.

With a soft sigh, he said:

"Then let him go down and take a look, but be very cautious about the depth control.

Last time I happened to chat with Ye Jinyan, the Chief Engineer at the Life Experiment Base, and he told me that with this kind of unsupported, pure rope descent, one should not exceed a depth of 200 meters."

Since the outcome of the meeting discussion would not change, instead of wasting time in debates, Lin Li, as the head of the camp, might as well give a direct order.

Lin Ziming nodded:

"Alright, I'll keep a close watch."

After hanging up the communication.

Lin Ziming returned to Lei Wenjun, patted him on the shoulder, and looked at the deep chasm:

"Old Lei, get ready to descend. Stay safe, Captain Lin said not to exceed, um, one hundred and fifty meters."

Lei Wenjun laughed heartily at the words, patting his chest:

"Okay, rest assured!"

Then gestured to Feng Yuhua:

"Yuhua, bring up the oxygen tank and safety ropes, oh wait, no, bring up Sabening... uh, not Sabening, the oxygen tank and safety ropes!"

After more than half an hour.

A stable descent setup had been completed, Lei Wenjun suited up in a frogman-like outfit and donned the oxygen tank.

In addition,

He also equipped himself with an adjustable spotlight, both solid and gas sampling containers, a precautionary handgun, and several monitoring devices the size of a phone.

Beside the equipment setup, Lei Wenjun's assistant, Feng Yuhua, was explaining the safety features to Lin Ziming:

"This high-strength polyethylene rope is made with high-modulus ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers, currently the strongest rope in the world.

It's the same material used in many bulletproof vests. As long as the supporting components on the surface do not fail, the rope won't break."

Lin Ziming nodded, his worries slightly alleviated:

"That's good, that's good."

His biggest concern was that Lei Wenjun might accidentally snap the rope and fall into the pit, which would be almost certain death, even if there was time to recite poetry from such a height.

Additionally.

Although theoretically, descending into a pit doesn't involve pressure impacts like diving would.

But for safety, Lei Wenjun still prepared for ear pressure equalization in advance.

Once everything was ready, Lei Wenjun officially began his descent.

Grabbing the safety rope tied around his waist with one hand, and using the other hand to support himself on the pit wall, Lei Wenjun's feet nudged gently against the pit, utilizing a simple pendulum stance to slowly slide downward.

Upon making contact with the pit wall, Lei Wenjun could distinctly feel the presence of rocks within its material, similar to the ultrabasic intrusive rock he'd previously extracted.

Three minutes later.

Lei Wenjun reached the first marked depth:

-28 meters.

Stopping at this point, Lei Wenjun first took out a VOC detector and scanned the surrounding area.

The VOC detector is frequently used for continuously measuring toxic and harmful organic gases in hazardous or industrial environments. It's also common for detecting hydrazine in aerospace fuel leakages, so there's no worry about its precision.

Moments later, the detector indicated the overall presence of substances but detected no harmful gases.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned on the headlamp.

Click—

With a faint sound, the spotlight illuminated everything before Lei Wenjun, providing an exceptionally clear view.

To his surprise.

The stones embedded within the pit wall turned out to be dark red, somewhat similar to domestic laterite.

These dark red walls were neither dry nor wet, possessing a special elasticity.

Elastic soil isn't uncommon locally, but samples that are non-sticky while neither dry nor wet are quite limited.

Lei Wenjun then retrieved his sampling box and extracted a small piece of soil from the rock wall.

Just as he was about to continue downward, he was suddenly stunned.

Beside his right arm was a footprint!

The footprint was similar to the arch of a human foot, but it was at least three times larger!

Moreover, distinctly discernible...

The footprint had seven toes!

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