About a twenty-minute drive, the rover reached the edge of the "Gates of Hell".

Finding a pass along the contour line that allowed the rover to pass through, Fan Tong turned on the steering wheel and drove the car over.

As the rover continued deeper into the mountains along the rugged and narrow path, the signal began to staccalate due to the influence of nearby hematite.

Glancing around at the steep cliffs and rock walls around him, and feeling the oppressive atmosphere, astrophysicist Aubrey shrunk his neck and couldn't help but complain.

"Speaking of which, why is this called the Gates of Hell? Don't you feel panicked by the name you gave this place? ”

Fan Tong, who was driving, said casually.

"You're afraid you'll have to ask NASA about this, they took the name."

As the first institution to send a probe to Mars, the slightly larger terrain undulations were basically named by Curiosity.

Perhaps the researchers in charge of naming it at that time felt that this word was more artistic, so they gave this mountain range this name. It's hard to say whether there are artistic bacteria or not, but the image is something to say.

"Cracks that are several meters long will randomly appear around the Gates of Hell, and these cracks are very similar to earthquake cracks, through which you can directly enter the ruins. Of course, these cracks weren't the only way to get into the ruins, and when I came out of them, I passed through a fixed entrance. Its location is roughly in the middle of the Hell's Gate Mountains, embedded in the rock face on the side of the rift...... Just ahead, we arrived. ”

Advancing along the rift, the rover with its engines turned off slowly came to a stop next to a ridge. After the group got out of the car, they followed Fan Tong's footsteps to an upright stone pillar about four or five people high.

Behind this stone pillar, a steep downward stone slope can be seen.

The light of the morning sun shone on the back of the pillar, stretching a divine light downward along the trail of shadows. Like some kind of natural miracle, just looking at it makes you awe-inspiring.

If you just look at the appearance, it does have a bit of a ruin.

“…… It's kind of weird. ”

With a soft grunt, Professor Vernal, an archaeologist from the University of Oxford, frowned, walked over to the stone pillar and crouched down. After groping along the surface of the stone pillar for a while, he suddenly opened his mouth and continued.

"This is a marine sedimentary environment?"

Standing behind Professor Vernal, a hint of surprise appeared on Fan Tong's face, and he nodded and said.

"I agree with you...... Billions of years ago, it would have been an ocean. ”

"And it's probably a little deep," his palm groped along the outline of the pillar, feeling the hard touch through the graphene fibers, Professor Vernal muttered to himself, "The hydrogeological environment here is somewhat unique, and there should have been many major geological disasters in history. Volcanic eruptions, plate collisions, and special tectonic movements that are not found on Earth...... It's incredible. ”

"Let's focus on the underground ruins rather than the geological formations here," astrophysicist Aubrey walked to the front of the group and turned back to Lu Zhou with a eager gaze, "What do you think?" Chief. ”

“…… I don't have an opinion, but if we just stand outside, we're afraid we won't be able to figure anything out," Lu Zhou didn't react to the title of leader, Lu Zhou thought for a moment and continued, "Keep going, I'll take the lead." ”

Wang Peng raised his hand, put the paratrooper rifle with a flashlight in front of him, and took the initiative to walk to the entrance of the cave.

"I'll do it anyway."

Aubrey and Vernal met each other and exchanged a strange look. Fan Tong also shrugged his shoulders helplessly and threw aside the stone sample he was holding in his hand.

"Although I said that weapons may not be of much use...... But since you insist, let it be. ”

Although it is true that this is said, I have to admit that having a gun in front of the road still brings a lot of security to the group.

Even if everyone knows in their hearts, if they really encounter any living aliens, it will be difficult for most weapons on Earth to guarantee that they will escape in their entirety. But at least in a mental sense, the muzzle of the black hole can still bring them some comfort.

Walking next to Lu Zhou, Schultz asked in a low voice.

"Are you sure those Martians have ...... He's dead? ”

Scanning his surroundings with an alert gaze, Lu Zhou shrugged his shoulders and replied in a casual tone, "I'm not sure...... But if they hadn't died, we'd have seen them on Earth a long time ago. ”

How long can survive in this universe for billions of years......

Even if they hadn't occupied the Milky Way, the star fields around the solar system that were thousands of light-years away would have been under their domination a long time ago.

At this time, Dr. Lomonov, an aerospace engineer who had not spoken, suddenly burst out of his mouth with a sentence.

"Could it be that we've seen it, but we don't realize it?"

Hearing this, Aubrey couldn't help but shiver, and said with a dry cough.

"Don't tell this kind of ghost story!"

The group continued to move deeper into the tunnel.

So far, the expedition has gone smoothly without any setbacks.

Relying on the marks left by Fan Tong when he came out before, they smoothly advanced to the distance of at least two kilometers towards the cave **. According to the data shown by the depth detector, they are now more than 200 meters deep from the surface.

The deeper they walked, the stronger the sense of alienation from civilization became. It's like a baby who has just cut the umbilical cord and has been thrown into a bottomless well.

There was less and less communication with each other, and whether they were talkative or neurotic, everyone remained silent very tacitly.

At this moment, Fan Tong suddenly stopped, looked at the fork in the road in front and said.

"Something is wrong......"

Everyone stopped.

Looking at Fan Tong, who had stopped, Lu Zhou cast an inquiring gaze at him.

"What's wrong?"

"The sign is broken here."

Walking to the side of the rock wall, Fan Tong reached out and groped for a while on it, and found a scratch that had been cut off from it.

This is the mark left by the multi-purpose shovel when it first came out of the underground ruins, and this clue was supposed to lead directly to the deepest part of the ruins, but now it has been cut off from it.

Looking at the two forks in the road in front of him, the expression on Fan Tong's face became more and more solemn, and he muttered to himself.

"Sure enough...... The passage inside the ruins has changed, and I haven't seen any forks in the road here, so I have to walk about a kilometer back to the first fork. ”

"However, the fork in the road appeared early."

"I'm afraid it's not just as simple as qualifying early."

Muttering to himself, Professor Vernal stepped forward, crouched down beside the fork in the road, and used his multi-purpose shovel to chisel some debris from the rock wall, and pinched it in his hand for a moment to examine it.

“…… Incredible. ”

Schultz swallowed, looked at him and asked.

"Unbelievable what?"

"Three billion years ago...... Or even earlier, it would have been a cavern covered with alloy," said Professor Vernal, standing up, carefully packing the cuttings into a sample bag and labeling them, "Although the traces of civilization have been weathered by time, the rocks do not lie. ”

Professor Aubrey frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, judging from the weathering marks, the structure of the road on the left is obviously more complicated than the road on the right," Glancing at Fan Tong, who was lost in thought, Professor Vernal continued to look at Lu Zhou and shrugged his shoulders, "You are the captain, you choose which way to go." ”

-

(Recommend a fantasy book "Linyuan Xing", a new work by the house pig boss, recommended for wall cracks~)