Chapter 59: The Black Dragon Mountain X81 Spaceship

Beneath the Pacific Ocean, outside the wreckage of a colossal battleship.

Jiang Chen, Luo Feng, and a squad of Jiang Chen’s mech units made their way through a breach in the battleship’s hull, entering the vessel’s interior. Guided by the map, they wandered through the ship, circling several times before finally arriving at a vast chamber.

Within the chamber stood a disc-shaped spacecraft, roughly a hundred meters in diameter. The entire ship was pitch black, adorned with the image of a double-winged dragon. Despite lingering here for countless millennia, its surface bore no trace of corrosion.

This black disc-shaped vessel had been the focus of relentless efforts by nations across the globe for many years. Many had died because of it—including even powerful lawmakers who perished here. Yet to this day, the ship remained utterly unscathed.

This was one of the three universally acknowledged forbidden zones on Earth—Site No. 12.

“No wonder no one on Earth has managed to get inside. The ship is perfectly intact! That certainly makes things easier!” Babata’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I was planning to have you gather ship debris so I could piece together a vessel to take you into space. But with this X81, there’s no need for all that trouble. I’ll just hack into the ship’s control system. Once I seize control and make a few modifications and repairs, you’ll be able to use it for your journey into the universe!”

Jiang Chen continued, “According to the information I obtained from the military, the entrance to Site No. 12 leads into a corridor, but no one has ever managed to open the gate at the end. The corridor itself is lined with a multitude of laser weapons—powerful enough that not even planetary-level beings can withstand them.”

“This Black Dragon Mountain X81 is a common model in the Black Dragon Mountain Empire—I’m very familiar with its construction.” Babata raised his head in pride. “That laser corridor could easily kill a being at the fifth or sixth planetary level. Even your lawmakers on Earth, with their low strength, would be doomed even in force armor. Only the very strongest might survive, barely, if they wore such armor.”

Babata turned to Jiang Chen. “Jiang Chen, you’re at the fifth planetary level. With a force armor, you could just about withstand the attacks in that corridor for a short time.”

“I don’t have force armor,” Jiang Chen replied, shaking his head. Glancing at his mech squad, he pointed to one of the machines. “But this mech’s defenses can shrug off attacks from emperor-level monsters. It should be able to handle it, right?”

Jiang Chen was referring to the strongest defensive mech among all his Magic Mark mechs, which he’d named ‘MT’—short for ‘Main Tank.’ Even emperor-level monsters couldn’t leave a mark on its armor.

“Emperor-level monsters on your Earth are only at the sixth planetary level. If it can ignore sixth-level attacks, that should suffice.” Babata thought for a moment, then produced a strange axe-bladed tool from who-knows-where and handed it to Jiang Chen. “Have it cross the laser corridor and wedge the ultra-thin edge of this ‘Power Wedge’ into the gap at the gate.”

“Power Wedge?” Jiang Chen studied the tool curiously.

On the surface, it looked like a three-meter long, meter-wide axe blade. But when Jiang Chen probed it with his mental force, he discovered an incredibly complex internal structure, so intricate that he couldn’t quickly discern the purpose and working principle of every component.

He didn’t ask further, handing the Power Wedge to the MT mech and ordering Jarvis to pilot the machine as Babata had instructed, to open the gate.

The process was anything but easy.

The MT’s defenses truly were formidable—lasers capable of killing fifth or sixth-level stellar beings only left black scorch marks on its armor. But under the relentless barrage, the MT’s advance was arduous, often losing balance, smashing into walls, or even being knocked clear out of the corridor.

The speed of light was too much—even for a planetary-level mech like the MT, even a domain lord might not be able to dodge.

But after enough attempts, Jarvis began to learn the firing patterns of the lasers and adjusted his timing accordingly.

A laser struck from behind, hitting the MT squarely and sending it hurtling forward—directly toward the gate at the end of the corridor.

With a thunderous crash, the MT slammed into the gate, but didn’t pause; it drove the Power Wedge into the gap at the base of the gate.

In the next instant, the Power Wedge emitted a strange sound as its ultra-thin blade split into two layers, slowly prying the gate open.

“The rest, let Luo Feng handle,” Babata said to Jiang Chen. “Your defensive treasures make running the laser corridor too risky. Luo Feng has the ‘Black God’ suit and the Cloud Vine. Though his strength is lower, he can make it through unharmed.”

Jiang Chen nodded and said to Luo Feng, “Take these mechs in with your spatial ring. I’ll transfer control to Babata. If there’s more trouble inside, they might be useful.”

“Alright.” Luo Feng waved and collected a dozen Magic Mark mechs. The Black God suit and Cloud Vine appeared instantly on his body, forming two layers of defense. He accelerated, barreling straight through the laser blasts, and slipped through the gate pried open by the Power Wedge.

“These laser weapons are worth studying,” Jiang Chen mused as he gazed at the corridor, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. “But if there’s no time to enter space before the Golden-Horned Beast awakens, at least the ship’s main weapon—the B6-class laser cannon—could be of great use against it…”

In the original story, Luo Feng tried to use this ship’s B6-class laser cannon to kill the Golden-Horned Beast. He failed, but only because he didn’t understand the beast’s ‘core’ and mistakenly aimed for the head, thinking it was the weak point.

The attack badly wounded the Golden-Horned Beast but didn’t kill it, and the long recharge time meant there was no chance for a second shot before the cannon was destroyed.

If the cannon could be detached and mounted on a ‘super weapon’ capable of facing the beast head-on, a few consecutive hits could very likely kill it.

While Jiang Chen was pondering how to make use of the B6-class cannon, Luo Feng and Babata emerged from the ship.

“There was a snag. I hadn’t expected the ship to have a self-destruct program. To save the vessel, I had to destroy most of the electronic systems with brute force. The ship’s structure is intact, but it’ll need repairs before it can fly in space,” Babata reported to Jiang Chen with a hint of disappointment. “A full repair will take a few months and require some special materials.”

Jiang Chen had anticipated this and nodded. “Noted. List the materials you need and I’ll see what I can do. Just focus on getting the ship repaired as soon as possible. And be sure to fix the laser cannon as well.”