Chapter 165 Rare Metals
Upon hearing Bai Tang's shouts, Captain Zhao Lei quickly led his team to their location.
Because the soil wasn't firm, they dug very quickly.
Captain Zhao Lei jogged over and saw Bai Tangand his team digging up the iron gate.
Captain Zhao Lei jumped into the pit and confirmed that it was indeed the entrance to the underground warehouse.
Then they all climbed out of the pit, Captain Zhao Lei said:
"The others continue digging, expanding the area a bit."
This is also to prevent the soil next to the door from collapsing when the door is broken down later.
So everyone worked hard to dig around the door as well.
They dug a pit that was one meter deep and three meters long and wide.
That way, even if the door is forcibly broken down, it won't be buried by the surrounding soil.
After finishing their digging work, they all returned to the surface to rest.
Although it was still daylight, it was actually nighttime.
Captain Zhao Lei said, "Now that we've found the door, there's no rush."
Let's take a break now, and continue breaking down the door when we've rested enough."
They all returned to the car, quickly cleaned themselves off, and then sat down to eat something to replenish their energy.
It was already around nine o'clock at night, and they had been busy all day.
However, after they had all eaten and rested briefly...
They continued preparing to break down the door, since it was a polar day outside anyway.
They couldn't rest outside for a while, so they simply broke down the door and then talked about resting.
The door to the underground warehouse was originally a combination lock, but it was rendered unusable due to a power outage.
They had no choice but to break down the door by force, a situation Captain Zhao Lei had anticipated.
So when he left the base, he requested some explosives from his superiors.
If a squad in the base is undertaking an important mission from The Authorities, they can request supplies from higher authorities.
Captain Zhao Lei ordered, "Go to the car and get that explosive."
Only after hearing his instructions did Bai Tangabandon his plan to take out the explosives.
His team members quickly brought the explosives and handed them over to professionals for deployment.
Then the rest of the people retreated to a safe position in an orderly manner.
After they were all hidden, Captain Zhao Leiarranged for someone to light the fuse.
They waited a few seconds and then heard a bang.
They broke down the door to the underground warehouse with force.
Captain Zhao Lei said, "Let's go check it later and let the dust settle first."
The other team members waited until the dust in the pit had completely settled before crossing over.
The bottom of the pit was filled with soil and some iron filings.
However, only one layer of the door was blown open, and they saw that there was another door behind it.
Bai Tang said, "It seems to be a rare metal, which is why it needs so many layers of protection."
Captain Zhao Lei also came to the edge of the pit and said, "That's right, it looks like we need to keep blasting."
I remember it said that this warehouse had three doors.
We'll just have to blow them up one by one; that's the only way. There's no other way to unlock them.
Fortunately, those rare metals were vacuum-preserved in the warehouse.
Otherwise, if we just forcefully break down the door like this, the rare metals will oxidize upon contact with oxygen and be destroyed."
After saying that, Captain Zhao Lei sent men to continue planting time bombs.
Then, they repeated the same operation three times in total.
Only then was the door to the underground warehouse fully opened.
The passageway between the three doors was not destroyed, thankfully the construction quality was up to standard.
There were no signs of water seepage in the underground warehouse, and the rare metal materials inside should still be well preserved.
A loud explosion shattered the last door of the warehouse.
Only after the dust inside had settled did they take precautions and proceed down.
Captain Zhao Lei led the way, with Bai Tang and his men following behind as they descended through the passage.
After passing through a silvery-white passage and three broken doors.
They finally arrived at the main hall of the underground warehouse.
Captain Zhao Lei had a detailed internal map in his hand. He said, "Go this way."
After he finished speaking, he lifted his foot and walked towards a door, and the others followed closely behind.
After opening the door, the room was full of vacuum boxes, and it was obvious that they contained the rare metal materials they were looking for.
Captain Zhao Lei instructed his team members: "Everyone be careful when moving things out."
Try to avoid any bumps or knocks, because we need to confirm the integrity of the rare metals inside.
Then they started moving the vacuum boxes out one by one.
Captain Zhao Lei and Bai Tang said, "There are two rooms containing rare metal materials."
Our two teams need to rationally divide up how to bring them back.
Bai Tang said, "It's okay, we can also tie some on the top of our SUVs, but I don't know if it will affect the metal inside."
I've heard that some metals shouldn't be kept at excessively high temperatures for too long.
Captain Zhao Lei said, "This should be fine, because I know what's inside."
Aside from not being able to get damp, they are not affected in any other way.
Let's move them out first; it doesn't feel safe down there."
After they finished speaking, the two joined the moving team.
Gu Yanxu, Bai Jiyang, and a few others were also moving things.
The two teams carried the boxes up from the bottom up, trip after trip.
The quantity is not large, but these are already very rare.
It must have been quite a struggle to store so many.
Bai Tang dared not imagine where he would find a new base if all of these were used up.
These things are consumables and are non-renewable resources.
Bai Tang recalled that when they were stockpiling goods, they didn't manage to accumulate much of some particularly rare metals and other items.
Because some of these items are unique to a particular country, the small amount they stockpiled was obtained from abroad.
These rare metals are scarce resources for any country.
Because there may only be so many on Earth, and once they are used up, there will be none left.
So Bai Tang suddenly understood why they had experienced these disasters.
It's because they've consumed more of Earth than it can handle.
It is processing its own problems, cleaning up its mess, and striving to regain its vitality.
This underground warehouse isn't very big, only about 200 square meters.
Inside, in a space of just over a hundred square meters, were stacked those vacuum boxes containing rare metals.
They quickly carried everything to the ground by their two teams.
Then Captain Zhao Lei said, "Everyone, put all these boxes properly on the vehicle."
If you really can't fit it all in, then put in as much as you can.
"We'll rest here once we've finished loading everything."
Captain Zhao Lei dared not mention resting in the underground warehouse, because he was unsure if anything bad might happen.
Bai Tang and his group drove two SUVs, which had a lot of cargo space.
Furthermore, they can also store some boxes on the roof of their vehicles.
As long as it's tied securely with a rope, there's absolutely no problem taking it on the road.
Captain Zhao Lei left some boxes for Bai Tang's team, and then led his men to load the rest into their team's vehicle.