Fifteen minutes later, the vehicle Liang En and his team were driving entered a mountainous area. The environment here was as harsh as the surroundings, with hardly any vegetation. However, the mountains in this region blocked both the sunlight and the strong winds, preserving many traces of the past on the mountain surfaces, some of which looked exactly as they did decades ago.
As they drove along, Liang En and his team noticed distinct marks on the rock walls on both sides, indicating they were man-made. There were even some areas that had clearly been blasted with explosives.
"Without a doubt, this is the work of military engineers," Liang En said as he carefully maneuvered the vehicle. "Only the military would use such large amounts of explosives to open up a path quickly."
The road didn't seem particularly wide. It would be risky for wider vehicles to pass through, making Liang En grateful that he had rented a relatively narrow off-road vehicle.
However, to say this road was extremely narrow would be incorrect. From Liang En's perspective, even a ten-wheeled Dodge truck commonly used by the U.S. military during World War II could pass through with some caution.
But just fifty to sixty meters from their destination, Liang En and his team had to abandon the vehicle, as the road ahead was completely blocked by fallen rocks.
"Indeed, this was a recent blast, and the detonation likely occurred within the last five years," Liang En said to Joan of Arc after carefully examining the scene.
"It seems my earlier guess was correct. There is indeed some sort of special structure hidden here. It’s probably an old but now abandoned military facility."
Even though they had guessed what the structure might be, the rest of the journey had to be on foot, as they climbed over the rubble and continued forward.
"As expected, we were right. This is indeed a U.S. military base." After climbing over the rocks and walking for a few dozen meters, they emerged from a valley to find a barbed wire fence with an iron gate behind it.
Liang En was certain this was a U.S. military base because of the faded paint on the large gate, which read: "Property of the United States Army."
Seeing this, Liang En and Joan of Arc immediately halted and observed the structure ahead, while using the ravens they had released earlier to begin reconnaissance.
Even though the place appeared to be abandoned, military bases, even those abandoned, might still have personnel or some kind of monitoring equipment.
For example, Liang En recalled a story he heard from a fellow countryman at a conference in Russia about a similar situation involving an unfortunate Finn.
This man accidentally stumbled upon what looked like a completely abandoned Russian military base in a forest near Saint Petersburg. Curious, he decided to enter and see if there were any souvenirs worth taking.
However, as soon as he climbed over the wall, he was caught by on-duty Russian soldiers and interrogated for three days before being released after his identity was confirmed.
After being released, the man learned that the base, although sealed, was still patrolled 24/7 by a team of over 50 soldiers. The dilapidated appearance was simply due to a lack of funding.
The military base in front of Liang En and his team resembled that Russian base. Though the external blast damage made it unlikely there were soldiers stationed here, the possibility of electronic surveillance was not as low.
Fortunately, after the ravens' reconnaissance, Liang En confirmed that there were no cameras or alarms in the area, making it easier for him to proceed with his plan.
"This door should be operated by machinery," Liang En muttered as he inspected the heavy gate, recognizing it as a Cold War-era blast-proof door.
This led to a simple conclusion: this facility was likely constructed during World War II and remained in use until the Cold War.
Liang En knew he couldn't open this blast-proof door, not even with his enhanced abilities, as it would be impossible to match the sheer weight of dozens of tons of metal.
However, opening the door turned out to be much simpler than he expected. Behind a rock on the side of the large gate was a smaller door meant for personnel, which Liang En could easily unlock using his extraordinary powers.
With the use of his powers, the lock on the security door melted like heated wax, and the door smoothly opened.
Surprisingly, the door was well-maintained, with even the lubricant not entirely dried up. Aside from a bit of noise at the beginning, the door opened smoothly, revealing a tunnel behind it.
However, Liang En and his team didn’t enter immediately. After confirming that the air inside was breathable, they sent the ravens into the deep-looking tunnel for further reconnaissance.
Unlike ordinary ravens, these enhanced ones had night vision similar to nocturnal animals. After attaching a small light source to their chests, they completed most of the reconnaissance with ease.
The tunnel, which descended and extended deep into the mountain, was empty except for lights on the ceiling. The ravens, after touching the switch, confirmed that the secret base was not currently powered.
Unlike a typical tunnel, this one was winding, clearly designed to withstand blast shockwaves during wartime.
After inspection, Liang En and his team concluded that this area was the living quarters and equipment storage. The large space behind the blast-proof door was likely just a garage or warehouse.
However, after checking several key locations, they found that almost all the equipment had been removed, including most of the backup diesel generators and various personal items.
So, after the ravens returned, they could only deduce the previous functions of the rooms based on the doorplates and room sizes.
"This should have been a logistics base, a secondary site of moderate importance," Liang En said after recalling everything he had seen.
"At least from the road and the facilities here, it's easy to see that if it were a core warehouse, the road outside wouldn’t be so narrow."
"But considering the size of the warehouse, building such a structure, even using the existing mountain space, wouldn’t have been easy. So I guess this was a special civil defense node."
Whether at the outbreak of World War II or during the Cold War, the Americans were always worried about invaders or nuclear bombs, so they built numerous defensive structures to prevent such events.
This base, hidden in the mountains not far from Las Vegas, was likely one such structure, probably serving as a crucial logistics base and refuge in the region, intended to store important supplies during a war.
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