Ice Age Apocalypse: I've Stockpiled Billions of Resources

Lin Luo rubbed his fingers vigorously on the silver fabric, and the smooth yet extremely resilient texture made his heart skip a beat.

"This material is not right," Lin Luo said in a deep voice. "Try it with a dagger."

Upon hearing this, Natasha drew her tactical dagger from the outside of her thigh without hesitation. With a flash of cold light, the sharp blade slashed fiercely across the silver fabric.

"Zi!!"

A sickening scraping sound rang out, but it wasn't the sound of a sharp blade cutting through fabric; rather, it sounded like something scraping against hard tempered glass.

Natasha sheathed her dagger and looked closely. There wasn't even a white mark left on the silver fabric; instead, her dagger was dulled.

"How is this possible?" Natasha's pupils contracted slightly. This dagger was made of a special alloy, capable of cutting through iron like mud, yet it couldn't even cut through a piece of clothing.

“This is definitely not ordinary clothing; it should be some kind of high-polymer nano-armor, or something even more advanced.” Lin Luo stood up, his gaze sweeping over the enormous skeleton. “Moreover, it doesn’t look like Martian natives.”

“Why do you say that?” Natasha asked. “Although the skull structures are different, perhaps they are different races of Martians?”

“No.” Lin Luo shook his head and pointed around. “Look at the proportions of the buildings around here. Although they are tall, the design of the doors and windows is still in line with the entry and exit habits of creatures around two meters tall. But this guy’s skeleton alone is close to three meters tall. If you add muscles and skin, he would feel very cramped living in such a building. This is not in line with ergonomics, nor with the logic of biological evolution.”

Chen Shuang's voice came through the earpiece. She had clearly been observing Lin Luo through the drone's perspective and the camera on his body: "Lin Luo, do you mean, this could be aliens? Or... intruders?"

“They’re not necessarily invaders.” Lin Luo looked at the skeleton, countless possibilities flashing through his mind. “There might be other races on Mars. The universe is so vast, who says that a planet can only give rise to one kind of intelligent life? Or perhaps these races are also highly civilized and coexist with the Martians.”

Natasha thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "Very likely. Just like on Earth, although humans dominate the world, we also coexist with many other creatures. In fact, Neanderthals and Homo sapiens coexisted at certain times."

“That’s right. Even now, when we humans live together, there are still many wild animals. This is unavoidable.” Lin Luo said, gesturing for Natasha to continue forward. “The Earth is in a state of balance. When I was living in the wild, I was with many wild animals. As long as some rules or ecological niches are established, different species, and even life forms at different levels of civilization, can coexist on the same planet.”

“This body might be an ally of the Martians, or some kind of hired giant race, responsible for security or heavy manual labor,” Lin Luo concluded. “Whatever it is, it proves that the Martian civilization of that time was extremely prosperous and inclusive.”

The two stepped over the enormous skeleton and continued deeper into the city.

The further you go in, the more oppressive the surrounding scenery becomes.

Although there were no monster attacks, the deathly silence itself was a huge psychological pressure.

The building ruins on both sides of the street grew taller and taller, some even tilting at an angle that defied physics, yet they still stood firm.

"Lin Luo, these people are starting to leave." Karina's voice came through the earpiece. "The radar shows a group of small creatures moving in the underground pipes, but they didn't approach you. They were probably scared off by your scent or the force field of that tower."

"Stay vigilant, ignore them," Lin Luo said coldly.

They crossed a huge square, where there should have been a statue or fountain in the center, but now only a bottomless black hole remained.

Just then, Natasha, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.

"Lin Luo, look at that."

Following the direction Natasha was pointing, Lin Luo looked up, his pupils suddenly contracting.

About 500 meters ahead, amidst a gray, dilapidated ruin, stood an intact building.

It was a triangular pyramidal building entirely in deep black, only about fifty meters high, not very tall, but its surface was as smooth as a mirror. In this world full of dust and decay, it was like a newly polished black gemstone, reflecting the dim sunlight in the sky, appearing out of place yet full of a sense of holiness.

"My God..." Chen Shuang couldn't help but exclaim in surprise over the communication channel, "What kind of material is that? The Martians' buildings must be at least tens of millions of years old, right? All those surrounding skyscrapers have weathered to such an extent, yet this building hasn't collapsed, and there isn't even a scratch on it? How was it built?"

Lin Luo was also quite curious, so he quickly walked forward. As the distance closed, the visual shock became more and more intense.

This building is not just something that hasn't collapsed; it gives the feeling that... it is alive, or rather, it is an existence that transcends material properties.

“There are no gaps between the pieces.” Lin Luo stood at the foot of the building, looking up at the huge black mirror wall. “It’s a seamless whole; it’s definitely not something that was poured or piled up.”

He sighed inwardly, realizing that Martian technology was far superior to human technology; humans simply couldn't compare.

Even the most advanced technology on Earth, after millions of years of wind and rain, would have turned to dust long ago. But this thing in front of us seems to have frozen time.

“This is the real technological barrier.” Lin Luo reached out, wanting to touch the black wall, but stopped a few centimeters away. He could feel a faint static electricity on his fingertips. “Compared to them, our current human technology is like a monkey still playing in the mud.”

"That's a bit discouraging," Natasha said with a wry smile. Although she was a combatant, she understood what this technological gap meant.

"Don't be discouraged." Lin Luo's eyes were firm as he withdrew his hand. "It's precisely because the gap is so large that we have to come. We need to learn more so that humanity can progress better. The apocalypse has disrupted the original order, but it has also given us the opportunity to overtake others. If we can understand the composition of these building materials or figure out their mechanical structure, humanity's defenses can be upgraded several levels."

This is Lin Luo's code of conduct.

Not only must we survive, we must become stronger.

In this wasteland, knowledge and technology are often more precious than food.

“This building has no windows, only one entrance.” Natasha walked around the building and returned to the front.

There was a triangular recess that looked like a door, but there was no doorknob or combination lock.

“There might be danger inside.” Natasha cautiously raised her gun and aimed it at the dark entrance. “But there might also be the answers we’re looking for.”