American Comics: Tales of Cultivator

**Chapter 105: Equipment**

This type of special rope is a type of aramid fiber, scientifically known as Kevlar. Kevlar's tensile strength is 2.8 times that of Nylon 66 and 6-7 times that of steel wire.

Its weight is only one-fifth that of steel wire of the same thickness.

A single Kevlar fiber rope just six millimeters thick is enough to lift a two-ton car.

Several Kevlar ropes connected and bundled together the assembled iron cage elevator, and rapidly descended into the Tunnel below.

Over ten minutes later, the special rope connecting the iron cage suddenly tightened, and the two soft steel cables used as safety ropes directly above it simultaneously creaked.

"Boss, they've reached the bottom!"

A fuzzy voice came over the walkie-talkie; it was Storm Shadow.

Jacob listened to the intermittent sound from the communicator, walked over to Charles's side, and reported to him.

Charles, whose feet were fitted with metal prosthetics, looked down at the Deep Pit, waved his hand, and ordered, "Send a few people down with the things first!"

The mechanical arm turned the winch, and after over ten minutes, the iron cage returned to the Ice Surface.

This time, the supplies being transported down were equipment, including oxygen masks, spotlights, compressed biscuits, water, weapons and ammunition, and four insulated boxes.

Looking at the insulated boxes, Tang Song, who was standing nearby, raised an eyebrow. His divine sense penetrated the boxes, and he easily saw the things inside.

They were four boxes of dinosaur eggs.

Interesting, Tang Song's gaze flickered. He didn't think Charles Bishop Weyland brought a few boxes of dinosaur eggs down there just to eat boiled eggs.

Alien, dinosaur eggs, Tang Song reached out and touched his chin, deep in thought.

The iron cage transporting supplies made three trips to transport all the equipment needed.

It was clear that each time the iron cage came up, Charles Bishop Weyland's Subordinate Mercenaries were very nervous, looking as if facing a formidable enemy.

Thermal imaging spotlights, vibration detectors, and many monitoring equipment were all deployed, aimed at the iron cage.

The mercenaries all pointed their muzzles at the iron cage, and some Mercenaries even unhesitatingly activated the shoulder cannons on their shoulder armor.

Three laser dots were aimed at the iron cage. Judging from the Mercenaries' tense expressions, if any of the monitoring equipment showed the slightest anomaly, these shoulder cannons would immediately fire.

However, after the iron cage made two or three trips without any anomalies, the Mercenaries' emotions gradually relaxed, but the guns in their hands remained in their hands.

When all the supplies were transported down,

"Tang, I'll have to trouble you!"

The iron cage hatch opened, and Charles Bishop Weyland took the lead, extending an invitation to Boss Tang.

"Fox, you stay up here with them and guard!"

Tang Song looked at Charles, who was walking towards the iron cage through the thick accumulated snow, paused his cane, and stopped Fox and a few Bodyguards who wanted to follow.

He took off the black jade thumb ring from his thumb and casually tossed it into Fox's hand.

"Yes, Boss!"

Fox nervously held the black jade thumb ring in her palm, her cautious demeanor like cradling a newborn baby.

During her time following Boss Tang, she knew the true nature of this black jade thumb ring.

Tang Song stepped into the iron cage. Facing Charles's meaningful gaze, he nodded and smiled in response.

It was ridiculous. Two thousand feet underground, a Deep Pit nearly six hundred meters deep. If he didn't leave some contingency plans, and something unexpected happened, he would truly be gambling with his life.

He left Fox and the others above to guard against potential predators, and also to guard against Charles Bishop Weyland!

If something went wrong, the old man might just slip away upwards and blow up the Entrance.

Two thousand feet under the ice, even if Tang Song didn't die, it would take him a lot of effort to get out.

With Fox and Xiao Hei guarding above, even if Charles Bishop Weyland's people wanted to play tricks, they would need to survive first.

......…

The iron cage slowly descended, with smooth Ice Walls on both sides.

Inside the iron cage, besides Tang Song and Charles Bishop Weyland, the remaining eight people were Charles Bishop Weyland's Elites.

The reason they were called Elites was because, in addition to the shoulder cannons on their bodies, these eight people wore strangely shaped bio-masks on their faces and had sharp high-tech wrist blades strapped to their wrists.

"These are equipment captured from those alien creatures!"

Seemingly noticing Tang Song observing the weapons on his Subordinates, Charles Bishop Weyland explained to Boss Tang, "I call them Predators. They are a bipedal humanoid creature. They look very strange, their hair is tied in braids, and their faces have mandibles! Well, they're very ugly!"

Charles Bishop Weyland took a face mask from Jacob's hand and handed it to Tang Song.

"This thing's vision is similar to the infrared spectrum, it naturally comes with thermal imaging equipment.

Their face masks can enhance their thermal imaging and better distinguish views from other electromagnetic spectrums like infrared, ultraviolet... etc.

These things also wear cloaking devices. I think you'll need this!"

Tang Song took the face mask, but out of caution, he didn't put it on his face. He just held it in his hand and examined it repeatedly.

Charles Bishop Weyland saw that Tang Song didn't put the face mask on his face, and a hint of disappointment flashed deep in his eyes.

He hadn't tampered with the face mask he gave Tang Song, and compared to the replicas his Subordinates wore,

The face mask he handed to Tang Song was a genuine article peeled off the face of a Predator.

It wasn't that he was generous,

But having dealt with these Predators for over a decade, Charles Bishop Weyland understood them well.

These alien creatures' technology far surpassed humanity's. They could easily perform space travel and were equipped with high-performance weapons, some of which had been preserved and improved for thousands of years.

However, for them, their high-tech items symbolized their honor and second life. Because of this, they would send specific Tribes (Clans) to retrieve and eliminate outsiders who misused them, even sacrificing their lives to prevent others from using them. If the Altar was activated and attracted Predators, Tang Song, holding a genuine Predator face mask, would be their primary target.

This would buy him enough evacuation time.

Although slightly surprised that Tang Song didn't wear the face mask, the old and cunning Charles Bishop Weyland showed no expression on his face.

For him, as long as the face mask was in Tang Song's hand, it would help attract some of the Predators' attention.

......…

Perhaps because Charles Bishop Weyland was in the iron cage, the descent speed this time was not fast. It took a full twenty minutes before faint lights could be seen below the iron cage.

Jacob took out a radio transceiver and called out. Storm Shadow's response successfully came through the channel.

However, seemingly for safety reasons, after Jacob put down the radio transceiver, he had his Subordinates pick up high-power spotlights and send light signals to the bottom.

After receiving the light response from below, the armed guards slightly lowered their guard, but they still maintained their firing positions, cautiously watching the area below.

The iron cage hovered about thirty centimeters above the Ground. It was clear that Weyland Industries' Surveyors were Elites. At the very least, they didn't have to experience the 'joy' of survey failure and hanging from steel cables.

Through the lighting system set up by Storm Shadow and his team, a towering ancient Pyramid Building appeared before Tang Song.

The part of the Pyramid exposed above the Ground was several dozen meters high, seemingly constructed directly from giant stones.

Two Stone Gates, each over ten meters tall, faced the iron cage elevator. Inside the dark openings, various ancient stone carving statues could be vaguely seen.

Storm Shadow and Ana were leading their dozen Cobra Soldiers, positioned around the iron cage elevator, their muzzles aimed at the Pyramid Gate.

"Any status?"

Charles Bishop Weyland stepped out of the iron cage elevator. Seeing Storm Shadow and his group on high alert, he frowned.

Wearing a full set of exoskeleton armor, Charles Bishop Weyland took steps two to three meters long, appearing very relaxed.

This exoskeleton armor seemed to be made of some kind of alloy, completely encasing Charles Bishop Weyland's body. Only through the transparent protective face shield on the helmet could Charles Bishop Weyland's aged face be seen.

In his two metal prosthetics, he held two large-caliber, strange firearms, modified guns resembling a combination of a shotgun and a submachine gun. The muzzles were almost as wide as a small-caliber grenade launcher muzzle.

Behind this exoskeleton armor, a two-meter-long chain greatsword was suspended. Its sharp blade edge indicated its immense force.

"No, but the feeling inside isn't good!"

Storm Shadow held his katana, his gaze fixed on the inside of the Pyramid.

"Hmm, it seems your sense of danger is still very strong!" Charles Bishop Weyland looked into the Pyramid's interior through the armor's protective face shield.

"You're right, it is very dangerous inside! But I hired you because I trust you can handle these dangers for me!"

"Jacob, have them change ammunition! Get ready to enter!"

Jacob heard his Boss's order and called a few Mercenaries to pry open the ammunition boxes with crowbars.

They were filled with densely packed brass bullets and stacks of loaded magazines.

The mercenaries stepped forward, picking up magazines and inserting them into their guns. Each person also took four spare magazines and an ammunition pouch containing 150 reserve ammunition.

"These are armor-piercing rounds I specially ordered. One projectile is enough to penetrate 300CC of tank armor plating!"

Charles Bishop Weyland looked at Tang Song, who was standing in front of the Pyramid Gate, observing the relief carving on the Gate, and called out, "Tang, there are some dangerous things in here. Aren't you going to take a gun to defend yourself?"

Tang Song turned his head. At this moment, several Mercenaries were prying open other ammunition boxes.

Tang Song walked up, reached into an opened wooden crate, and took out an M4 carbine. With two clicks, he pulled the bolt, chambering a round.

Skillfully pulling out the magazine, Tang Song looked at the bullets inside. From the projectile, he could tell these bullets were also modified armor-piercing rounds.

Click, click. Pushing the magazine back in, Tang Song didn't choose this Federation standard issue rifle. He casually tossed it to Storm Shadow, who was standing nearby with his katana.

Storm Shadow caught the carbine Boss Tang threw with one hand and coolly patted the katana in his hand:

"I have this, it's enough!"

"He's doing it for your own good, believe me, Warrior, your blade cannot withstand their high-strength acid corrosion, and the shell of these things is as hard as steel armor! Unless your blade can cut through steel, it's completely useless against them!"

A Mercenary under Charles's command took off his helmet at this moment, pointed to his pockmarked face, and said to Storm Shadow with a hint of self-mockery.

"This was just from getting some of that thing's corrosive mist on me, and my eyes were almost blinded!"

Storm Shadow looked at the Mercenary's pockmarked face, silently took the rifle into his hand, walked to the weapon box, and took out a full-face helmet.

On the other side, the nimble Baroness had already covered her face completely with a helmet the moment she saw the Mercenary's face.

Not only that, when Storm Shadow looked over, she was putting on a full-coverage protective suit over her black leather clothing.

Meanwhile, Tang Song was fiddling with an old-fashioned Remington shotgun.

Pushing twelve-gauge slug rounds one by one into the ammo compartment, Tang Song raised the gun, aimed at the relief carving on the Gate, and nodded with some satisfaction.

"Tang, this gun's range is limited!"

Seeing Tang Song's choice, Charles Bishop Weyland, who was watching two Mercenaries load his large-caliber modified guns, was somewhat surprised.

"It's enough for me!"

Tang Song casually lowered the muzzle, propped himself with his cane in his left hand, held an old-fashioned shotgun by his side in his right, and smoked a cigar. His relaxed appearance made him look less like he was on an expedition and more like he was on an outing.

......…

With everything prepared, the group entered the Gate of this ancient Pyramid.

Storm Shadow still led the way with his Cobra Soldiers, but this time Baroness Ana followed beside Tang Song.

In the long Tunnel, the sides were covered with various relief carvings, all abstract patterns of human sacrifice from ancient times.

Slaves tied to the Altar, monsters chestbursting from sacrificial offerings, and spaceships descending from the sky, with Predators emerging from the spaceships depicted as deities.

There were also some scenes depicting the "deities" battling the monsters born from the sacrificial offerings.

The murals looked very old, and even under the ice, they were full of traces of weathering, as if this bloody sacrifice dated back to an unknown time.

"We're here!"

The team cautiously walked inside the Pyramid for about twenty minutes before Charles Bishop Weyland's voice broke the silence in the Tunnel.

"Ahead is the Pyramid's Main Sacrifice Chamber!"

Click...

Just as a Cobra Soldier stepped into the Main Sacrifice Chamber, his foot stepped on a Stone Slab covered in strange writing. A faint sound entered Tang Song's ears.

Accompanied by a barely audible mechanism activation sound, at the bottom of the Pyramid, giant iron chains slowly pulled an Alien Queen out of a sealed Prison using a winch.

"Roar!"

The Alien Queen's limbs were painfully pulled. Beneath her, sticky egg-shaped objects fell to the Ground like raindrops.

......…

In the Main Sacrifice Chamber, several ice-sealed corpses lay scattered on the Ground. Judging by their clothing, these people should be the members of the Expedition Team Charles Bishop Weyland organized over a decade ago.

"Jacob!"

Seeing these corpses whose chests were almost completely hollowed out, Charles Bishop Weyland didn't show much sadness. He immediately called out to his Personal Bodyguard.

Two Mercenaries carrying incendiary bottles cautiously stepped forward, aiming their flamethrowers at the corpses on the Ground.

Boom! A raging fire ignited the corpses, also illuminating the Sacrifice Chamber.

I've been coughing for half a month, and taking medicine and getting injections didn't help. I went to the Hospital today, had a CT scan, and it's pneumonia and bronchitis.

(end of chapter)