Chapter 3617

Wu Bolin slapped Kikuchi Kohei across the face, sending him flying backward.

Wu Bolin had been holding back; otherwise, a single slap shattering his head would have been perfectly normal.

Kikuchi Kohei slumped unconscious in the snow. Wu Bolin saw this, cursed under his breath, and strode over. Seeing the severe injury and confirming he had passed out, Wu Bolin briefly considered leaving him to fend for himself, but since he needed to clarify the new technology Kikuchi Kohei mentioned, he gritted his teeth and muttered: "Damn, wasting my spiritual energy to slap you awake—what a useless bastard!"

Though he had struck and cursed, he still needed to save him.

With no choice, he infused a bit of spiritual energy into Kikuchi Kohei's body to revive him quickly.

Upon waking, Kikuchi Kohei touched his swollen, pig-like head, still somewhat dazed. Wu Bolin impatiently asked: "When can that radar you mentioned be activated?"

Ignoring his dizziness, Kikuchi Kohei respectfully replied: "Reporting, True Person, the ice radar can be activated at any time, but I need to know what type of target you wish to detect and its approximate size, since this detection technology lacks precision—too small objects cannot be detected."

Wu Bolin said: "What I seek is an underground city, or rather, an underground town."

"An underground city?" Kikuchi Kohei instinctively said: "This……this is impossible. The Antarctic ice sheet has existed for hundreds of millions of years, far longer than human history—how could there be a town down there?"

Wu Bolin said: "That's not your concern. Your task is to believe it exists and find it!"

As he spoke, he unconsciously reinforced a psychological suggestion.

Kikuchi Kohei's eyes instantly blazed with resolve: "The True Person is right! Antarctica is vast—there must be some unknown underground town! If we find it, it will surely be a history-shaking discovery!"

At this moment, Kikuchi Kohei had been doubly brainwashed by Wu Bolin and had fully entered the frenzied stage.

The frenzied stage has one advantage and one drawback: the advantage is explosive execution far surpassing before; the drawback is that frenzy often causes loss of objective judgment.

However, Wu Bolin was very pleased with his attitude and ordered: "From now on, you must lead your team, exerting every effort to find this underground town—it may not be the conventional town you imagine, so stay alert; if you detect any artificial traces underground, report to me immediately!"

Kikuchi Kohei excitedly said: "No problem! Please rest assured, True Person! We will devise an exploration plan, deploy three ground teams in three directions, and we also have a helicopter that can carry the radar for detection when weather permits! We will find it as quickly as possible!"

Immediately afterward, Kikuchi Kohei had all snow vehicles activate their ice radars, dividing personnel into three teams advancing in different directions.

Once the ice radar was activated, exploration range and speed would increase geometrically. Kikuchi Kohei planned to first use the radar to scan as much area as possible, then have base personnel carefully analyze the radar images—in short, both front and rear would work overtime, no matter what, to find the underground town the True Person mentioned.

However, they soon realized a serious problem: detection range.

Currently, using the Wu Han Palace base as reference, a snow vehicle fully fueled in this frozen land has a range of about six to seven hundred kilometers, but since detection must be conducted en route, speed cannot be too high, and vehicles and equipment require power and heating, increasing fuel consumption—so a full tank supports only four hundred kilometers.

Moreover, they must calculate return fuel; otherwise, running out of fuel in the icy wilderness would likely freeze everyone aboard.

Thus, they must turn back after traveling over two hundred kilometers each way to ensure sufficient fuel—but if they return to resupply and then go out again, they'd waste two hundred kilometers on unnecessary travel.

To ensure exploration progress, Kikuchi Kohei made a radical decision: he had additional snow vehicles at the base mobilized, each exploration vehicle paired with a support snow vehicle to shuttle fuel and supplies between base and field, ensuring exploration vehicles wouldn't need to backtrack.

Yet, in his frenzied state, Kikuchi Kohei overlooked one thing.

Originally, their base was already overloaded, supplies tight, and fuel reserves only sufficient for small-scale operations. Now all vehicles were running, plus shuttling back and forth in high-load mode, and they had also dispatched a helicopter—fuel consumption was several times faster than designed.

When Ye Chen awakened Yun Ruge and Song Ruyu and brought them again beneath the aurora, the Japanese research team of Wu Han Palace had already entered a high-intensity search state.

Beneath the aurora, Ye Chen again sacrificed most of his internal spiritual energy to gain sixteen new hand seals.

Thus, the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal now totaled ninety-six.

The underlying logic of the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal is simple: each additional seal enhances the overall effect; this gradual accumulation has long surpassed the predicament of having only sixteen seals initially.

This gave Ye Chen immense confidence.

If the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal has further developments, then when the seals reach one hundred sixty, efficiency would likely reach an astonishing height.

However, beneath the aurora, Yun Ruge noticed a problem.

She said doubtfully to Ye Chen: "Mr. Ye, I tried the new hand seals, but they seem ineffective."

"Ineffective?" Ye Chen exclaimed in surprise: "That shouldn't be—I've already cycled through ninety-six hand seals, stronger than before—why would they not work for you?"

Yun Ruge also puzzled, said: "I have indeed completed all hand seal cycles, but strangely, after finishing the first eighty seals, spiritual energy began to arise. Initially I was confused, since when progressing from sixteen to thirty-two seals, as long as the seventeenth seal connected smoothly and steadily, spiritual energy would generate upon completing the thirty-second seal and returning to the first—I thought that was a full cycle. But looking back, the latter sixteen seals did not connect with the first eighty."

At this moment, Song Ruyu also opened her eyes and said: "Mr. Ye, my situation is the same as Elder Sister Yun's."

"This is truly strange."

Ye Chen frowned, analyzing: "When I completed the eightieth seal, I executed the eighty-first at normal speed and frequency; spiritual energy arose upon completing all ninety-six seals, and indeed showed significant improvement—why then do you see no effect?"

Yun Ruge asked: "Could it be our cultivation is insufficient, so we can only cycle through the first eighty seals?"

Song Ruyu added: "Or perhaps the hand seals themselves have a registration—like eighty seals per level—and we are still only at the first level?"

Ye Chen said: "Both of your possibilities are valid. Let's return and try again. If it still fails, you should continue secluded practice to firmly consolidate the first eighty seals."

Yun Ruge gently nodded and asked: "Then shall we return now?"

"Yes." Ye Chen stood, saying to them and Lin Wan'er: "Let's go back."

Beneath the aurora, the four walked back to the research station. In this silent midnight, Ye Chen suddenly heard an unusual sound.

He couldn't help but murmur: "Strange—why is there a helicopter engine sound?"