Chapter 33: What Lies Beneath the Temple
Twenty minutes later.
Engineering Corps Commander Nathan arrived at the temporary command post and handed Marcus the survey report.
Marcus picked up the report and glanced at it. It stated that demolishing and removing all the buildings would take an estimated 20 hours.
He frowned. This story world only had seven days, and almost a day had already passed. The time required to merely level the ground was too long.
"If we only demolish one direction, as long as it leads directly to the stone well in the backyard, and all the construction debris is moved to within three hundred feet, how long would that take? Give me a revised plan."
"Yes, sir."
Nathan hurriedly left, handing Marcus a new report five minutes later.
"Seven hours, very good. Follow this plan, with shifts and rotations for demolition."
Marcus found this time acceptable; he expected the obstacles to be completely removed by dawn.
As the plan was finalized, the roar of engines echoed throughout Tumbbad Village.
The fortress-like gate in front of the 'Hastar' temple was destroyed by a precise directional blast, the aftershocks causing no damage to the surrounding area.
The rocks were shattered by jackhammers, and the bulldozers and loaders worked together to dump them into a depression three hundred feet to the east.
Larger rocks were blasted with explosives, and wisps of cordite smoke filled the air.
Marcus was very satisfied with the efficiency of this operation, gave an order, and returned to the mobile command vehicle to rest for a while.
Although he could keep going, there was no need.
Seven hours had passed.
The perennial rain shrouded Tumbbad in a gray hue every morning, never seeing the sunrise.
This land, untouched by sunlight, was filled with a deep melancholy.
The rain fell even harder, as if the goddess of prosperity was weeping for the collapse of the 'Hastar' temple.
"Report, sir, all obstacles have been cleared as planned."
Seeing that the sky was beginning to lighten, Nathan turned off his headlamp and came to the command vehicle to report the progress.
Marcus sat in the chair, instantly opening his eyes, his gaze clear and without the slightest trace of drowsiness.
He got out of the vehicle and looked toward the temple. The entire temple looked like a cake with a wedge cut out.
A passageway large enough to accommodate 20 trucks at the same time led all the way to a stone well in the backyard.
"Captain Palmer, assemble everyone. I need to address the men."
"Yes, sir."
Nathan ran quickly toward the temple, whistling as he ran and shouting "Form up!"
The platoon and squad leaders echoed his shouts.
The whistles and calls to assemble resounded throughout the temple.
The soldiers quickly straightened their rolled-up sleeves, put down their mess kits, and even those resting quickly rolled over and ran toward the assembly point.
Four minutes later, all the soldiers had assembled into a square formation, neatly arranged.
Nathan jogged forward, saluted, and reported:
"Reporting, sir! Engineering Corps should have 1078 men, and 1078 men are present. Awaiting orders, sir!"
"At ease."
"Yes, sir."
Marcus had a truck parked nearby. He stood on the roof, picked up a megaphone, and turned it on:
"Soldiers, you did an outstanding job last night!"
"You came here overnight not to demolish this damned temple to build some country club."
"You came here for duty, to protect the safety of the people under our jurisdiction."
"We received intelligence that beneath this temple lies a mysterious biological research facility left behind by the Axis powers."
"It may involve horrific human experiments, so don't think your mission is insignificant. Each of you is an indispensable link in this operation."
"You must strictly follow your orders."
"A true soldier will wholeheartedly fulfill his duty. Only when every link in the chain performs its function can the entire operation succeed."
After Marcus finished speaking, he jumped off the truck under the soldiers' determined gazes and began to assign tasks to the Engineering Corps commander, Nathan, and the platoon leaders.
"See that well? There's an underground space twenty feet down. First, dig the well into a sloping pit, but don't damage the small well inside the chamber."
Under Marcus's on-site command, it took two hours to excavate the underground space of the well into a 35-degree inclined sinkhole.
The God's Well was thus revealed again, standing in the center of the sinkhole.
Marcus then summoned the 13 officers of the Engineering Corps at the platoon level and above.
"Underneath this metal well cover is a fleshy sphere about sixty feet in diameter, a product of experimental bioweapons research."
"You must carefully excavate it along the edges, being careful not to damage it."
The 13 officers nodded in understanding upon hearing Marcus's explanation.
"Also, have any of you ever wrapped a football in papier-mâché?"
Marcus gestured with his hands in a circular motion.
"Yes, sir."
"No, but I've seen it done."
"We understand, sir."
They answered in unison.
"It doesn't matter if you haven't. The concept is simple."
"When you excavate this biological specimen, every time you expose a new section, you must cover it with flour, then attach several layers of canvas and tarpaulin, wrapping it up like layers of papier-mâché."
"Have your best men in charge of this; there can be no mistakes."
"Yes, sir!"
everyone replied in unison.
The order was given, but since explosives couldn't be used, the soldiers could only dig carefully by hand each time, checking to make sure they hadn't touched the fleshy mass before letting the excavator remove the surrounding soil.
Like peeling an orange layer by layer, they peeled away the soil from large to small, searching for the edge of the goddess's womb.
They dug for about half an hour.
"Stop, we've hit something!"
"What is this?"
"Looks like some kind of organ, but it seems huge."
"This must be the specimen the Colonel ordered us to excavate."
As a piece of dark, hard soil was peeled away, revealing a roughly ten-square-foot area of crimson fleshy wall, the soldiers stopped to examine what it was.
"Quick, where are the men from Third Platoon? What are you standing there for? Get up there and apply flour, keep digging!"
Corps Commander Nathan was the first to snap out of it and roared.
A team quickly mixed flour with adhesive and applied it to the crimson fleshy mass, then layered it with canvas, flour, and tarpaulin, reinforcing it layer by layer.
Seeing that nothing unexpected had happened, the soldiers continued working with renewed enthusiasm.
The entire process took a full six hours, and they had only dug halfway through. Marcus had been observing the whole time.
The outer layer of the 'Hastar Lair' was wrinkled and fibrous, not smooth or flat.
It resembled a freshly unearthed root vegetable, with many blackened tendrils wriggling slightly.
These tendrils had pipe-like cavities, looking more like ruptured blood vessels, stabilizing the entire lair in the soil.
Half of its exposed surface, precisely measured at 6,656 square feet, was covered with layers of flour, then tightly wrapped with layers of canvas and tarpaulin.
As the excavated portion grew larger, it lost the surrounding soil's support and slowly deflated, like a balloon losing air.
The slight cracks in the flour at the sunken edges were immediately filled by soldiers on standby.
Marcus estimated the entire process would take another seven or eight hours.
However, at this critical juncture, he dared not turn away, standing on the roof of the vehicle constantly monitoring the situation.
He was like a statue, standing on the roof, intently watching the changes in the terrain, and remained there until the afternoon.
The engineers remained steadfast in their duties under his watchful eye. Even though the lair kept twitching slightly, morale remained high, and no major panic broke out.
Marcus allowed himself a small smile. He'd fought demons in Hell, survived organ traffickers, and stolen a god's treasure pouch.
Now he was having the British Army excavate a cursed womb from beneath an Indian temple.
Just another day in the Lighthouse.
(End of Chapter)
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