During that period, he had seen a lot of documents similar to trade secrets, but the contents were not the main point. Upon further thought, it was definitely illogical to put valuable information on the network, and it should have been stored separately in a different computer or hard disk.

At that moment, Ye Lingchen cocked his brow slightly and entered deep into an official website.

The files in that server were very peculiar. The records were not national or commercial secrets, but had only one file with the title SS-level!

"SS-level? Isn't the highest international standard only S-level? Is this their categorization?" Little Li could not help but question.

In fact, despite the big stir that Ye Lingchen caused and the total domination of Y-Virus, it was only defined as an S-level virus by the International Computing Center—that was already the highest standard recognized.

However, there was actually a threat with an SS-level!

Ye Lingchen clicked on the file and the entire computer screen froze for a moment. A loading screen then popped up, and the progress bar continued to grow. However, there were words in bold red displayed on the progress bar.

TOP SECRET: DO NOT OPEN!

It was startling to see five big, bold, and red words. Ye Lingchen could feel his heart thump.

"I have a feeling that we've discovered something quite extraordinary." Hao Yun gulped and could not resist remarking.

"How about...we don't continue looking at it?" Dong Miaomiao asked nervously.

By then, the folder was successfully loaded!

Several files were present in the folder and the first one was called '1970 – Hell's Gate'.

"Hell's Gate? The Hell's Gate in Buff Island?" Ouyang Qing asked.

Ye Lingchen nodded. "The year is 1970, so it's likely."

Hell's Gate was what ordinary people called it, but the government has never officially confirmed its existence. Therefore, it was utterly surprising to see that its title was Hell's Gate!

In fact, it was an experimental project on Buff Island involving drilling to Earth's core. It was a science-based drilling project in the Kodo Peninsula near the Viennie border1.

Buff Island commenced the drilling expedition in order to compete with Murica and further scientific research. It was one of the strangest competitions in the scientific community. Scientists began exploration in 1970 in an attempt to defeat Murica, but at the same time, Murica had an altogether different research project—the moon landing.

Historical records placed the maximum depth they were able to reach at 12,226 meters and it held the record for being the world's deepest drilled hole.

No one knew what happened except for those involved in the project, but even then, everyone who had a hand in it was prohibited from speaking. However, there were rumors of some strange phenomena happening during the excavation. Thus, it gave rise to folklore amongst the people, claiming it was hell or something of the sort. As a result, the name Hell's Gate was born.

The incident was quite well-known, so everyone's eyes were fixed on the computer as Hell's Gate began loading!

Ye Lingchen's eyes quickly scanned through it. The info in the file was just as everyone had expected, but the contents itself had changed.

Exploration work began on May 24, 1970. In 1981, the drilling had reached a depth of 12,000 meters. Curiously, they had only managed to drill to 12,226 meters when the project stopped in 1991!

In other words, they only managed to drill 226 meters in the last ten years of the expedition!

The reason was not recorded in that Stick Nation document and was simply said to be force majeure. Buff Island stopped the experiment on the grounds of insufficient research funds and immediately sealed off the experiment site.

It was also in 1991 that countries around the world suddenly received a request for help from Buff Island. The entire island suffered an unprecedented attack. A group of unidentified creatures wreaked havoc, and those creatures were suspected to have emerged from underground.

"1991. Wasn't that the time of the world war? It was very tragic." Dong Miaomiao could not help but ask. "Could it be because of this underground hole?"

Ye Lingchen kept quiet. If it really was because of that drilling experiment, the problem was a serious one!

Whether the world war was fake remained in contention, but there were too many people who died during that period of time.

If the so-called war was just a cover-up, could it possibly be because of the fight against those unknown creatures? With so many people dead, just how powerful were those unknown creatures?

"The battle was centered around Buff Island, and until now, Buff Island continues to be sealed off and has become a military training site for all countries." Ouyang Qing's voice was faltering and everyone could sense the abnormality in her tone.

Things did not end just yet. The underground drilling sites were tightly sealed after the war, but in 2002, a joint geological biological inspection team comprising international individuals entered the underground holes again. None of them expected that the 12 tons of steel blocking the gate had been opened. The inner side of the gate even suffered tremendous damage and was bent outward, while the outer side had cracked completely.

Strange, densely packed marks were seen all around the drill hole, and there was a roar coming from deep inside the ground. Even creepier was the fact that the excavated pit had deepened by 7863 meters without any explanation to account for it.

A force majeure in Buff Island led to only 226 meters being dug in the last ten years of the expedition, yet the hole had suddenly deepened by 7863 meters. Who dug it, then?

Ye Lingchen narrowed his eyes and continued reading.

A joint effort by various countries saw a 30-member team of elites being sent for further research. All they managed to relay was that they were under attack, followed by complete silence. None of the 30 men came back from the expedition!

Gasp—

Ye Lingchen inhaled deeply and everyone exchanged shocked looks at each other.

"It... It can't be underground creatures, right?" Hao Yun hesitated. Had it not been for the SS-level designation in the file, she would have thought that she was reading a novel.

"It's probably not an underground creature." Ye Lingchen shook his head. "Based on the records, the hole drilled in the ground is only that deep. If it was an underground creature, how long would it take to get out of that hole? Any unknown creatures were probably the result of certain doors being opened."

"Chairman Ye, are you talking about Hell's Gate?" Little Li felt his mouth dry up as he remarked in horror.

"It doesn't matter whether it's Hell's Gate or not. This is a serious matter." Ye Lingchen took a deep breath. Anything that could be categorized as SS-level was sure to be shocking.

It was difficult for Ouyang Qing and others to accept it in such a short time, but that was not the case for Ye Lingchen.

Having already noticed the odd occurrence, he connected the dots with that information and faintly guessed why countries had begun to vigorously develop martial artists. Those martial artists could easily break through their bottleneck, and it was likely to be inextricably linked to that incident.

"Buff Island is really dumb. They drilled a hole in the ground for no reason and brought this kind of havoc to the world." Hao Yun was practically crying from the shock.

Ye Lingchen shook his head. There was a high chance that the underground drilling was not the root cause of what happened...

科多半島 is here translated as Kodo Peninsula while 維尼邊界 is translated as Viennie Border. Both are likely to be a fictional place.