Hafezo Smin, seeing the situation, asked before Jing Mingqiu could speak, "It collapsed? What collapsed?"
The Afghan soldier, tears streaming down his face, replied, "Commander, the tunnel collapsed! The tunnel we were digging, it all collapsed! Many of our brothers are buried underneath."
"Then what are you waiting for! Hurry up and save them!" Hafezo Smin shouted halfway, then suddenly shook his head vigorously. "No, we can't save them! Once we start large-scale excavation for rescue, the United States will definitely notice!"
"If I remember correctly, this tunnel was dug very deep. Billions of tons of sand and soil are pressing down on them. They are beyond saving. We cannot expose our original plan for a few dead people."
"For the destiny of Afghanistan, for the tens of millions of Afghan citizens, their deaths are meaningful. Once the plan succeeds, I will personally award them the Commander's Medal and provide ample compensation to their families!"
Hearing Hafezo Smin's words, the Afghan soldier who had come to report slumped to the ground in utter despair. He knew very well that everything Hafezo Smin said was correct.
But he truly couldn't bear to see his brothers, who had faced life and death together for over a decade, perish underground, their remains unidentifiable!
At this moment, Jing Mingqiu spoke, "That's not right. I surveyed the area earlier. If you dig according to the plan I provided, it absolutely wouldn't collapse!"
"Well," the Afghan soldier hesitated for a moment before finally speaking, "Professor Jing, the excavation speed according to your plan was too slow. We were worried about not making it in time, so we expanded the scope slightly and prepared to work in multiple locations simultaneously."
Jing Mingqiu nodded gently. "So it was an operational error. You suddenly ran over to say it collapsed, and I thought my calculations were wrong."
The Afghan soldier looked at Jing Mingqiu, as if clutching at the last straw, and said tearfully, "Professor Jing, although they violated your requirements, they did it for the country. They don't deserve to die! Please, save them!"
"I didn't say I wouldn't save them!" Jing Mingqiu snapped his fingers, dispelling his camouflage. The Silver Dragon mecha slowly materialized. "Don't worry, these engineering support mechas are specifically enhanced for pressure resistance and have an oxygen circulation system."
"Unless the entire ground collapses on them, a simple cave-in means they won't die. You rest here, I'll go to the site to investigate and then figure out how to rescue them."
With the Silver Dragon mecha's superb mobility, Jing Mingqiu quickly reached the partially collapsed underground tunnel. As soon as he entered, he saw a group of soldiers digging.
Due to the risk of secondary collapse, they dared not use heavy machinery and could only use rudimentary shovels and spades for manual excavation, making progress extremely slow!
However, even so, fresh sand and soil occasionally fell from above, filling onlookers with dread.
Upon arriving, Jing Mingqiu immediately halted their efforts. "This isn't working, your speed is too slow. Let me handle it."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately jumped out and shouted, "Who are you? We're in the middle of a rescue! What are you doing here causing trouble!"
"No, don't shout!" Someone recognized Jing Mingqiu's distinctive Silver Dragon mecha and quickly pulled his companion back. "That's Jing Mingqiu, Professor Jing, the founder of the support mecha and the chief designer of this plan!"
He couldn't believe his ears. "Professor Jing is this young? Judging by his voice, he's definitely not over thirty!"
"That's why they say the Divine Continent has exceptional talent. According to information found online, Professor Jing is under twenty this year and is still in university!"
The two men's whispers caught Jing Mingqiu's attention. He turned his head, and the guy who had just yelled immediately ran over and bowed deeply to Jing Mingqiu. "I apologize, Professor Jing. I didn't know you were here. I'm truly sorry!"
Jing Mingqiu paid him no mind, casually waving his hand. "Alright, enough talk. Saving lives is important. You all stand still. I'll scan first to pinpoint the location of the trapped personnel."
With that, Jing Mingqiu activated the Silver Dragon mecha's deep scanning function. A special frequency electromagnetic wave instantly penetrated the thick soil layer. Through the special frequencies on the mechas, the location of the trapped individuals was quickly locked on.
Once found, it was time to dig and rescue them, but extracting people directly from below was not as easy as it seemed.
A collapse tens of meters underground is different from a shallow cave-in. Due to the unique properties of soil and rock layers, typically only the soil near the tunnel falls, while the remaining portions maintain their original state.
This is why, in many mine collapses, the underground tunnels cave in, but the surface doesn't show a sunken pit.
However, this does not mean that the unaffected soil layers above will not fall later.
In fact, after the initial collapse, the original soil structure is destroyed, and the newly formed layers are extremely unstable. Reckless excavation could easily cause a secondary collapse, which is the main reason why subsequent rescue efforts are difficult to carry out.
But there is a solution. Since excavating from below would cause a secondary collapse, directly pinpointing the trapped injured and digging from above would perfectly avoid this problem.
This was also why that Afghan soldier had gone back to find Jing Mingqiu. As the overall head of this tunnel plan, if he gave the word, the rescue team could immediately deploy heavy machinery to dig from above and rescue the people as quickly as possible.
But doing so would completely expose Jing Mingqiu's original plan to tunnel underground and sneak attack the American military base to the American forces.
This is why Hafezo Smin found so many excuses, even willing to bear infamy, to forcefully halt the rescue plan. He didn't want Jing Mingqiu to be put in a difficult position.
Having experienced so much, Jing Mingqiu naturally understood Hafezo Smin's intentions. However, with the system in hand, he didn't take this accident seriously.
Worried about secondary collapse? That's easily resolved.
Jing Mingqiu waved his hand, and the Silver Dragon mecha transformed, extending eight long mechanical arms from its back, which grabbed all sorts of scattered and broken tools.
Then, Jing Mingqiu quietly purchased several extremely precious special alloys and unique parts from the system mall.
Finally, in front of everyone, Jing Mingqiu disassembled the broken tools into parts and then combined these parts with the ones he purchased from the system mall.
Leveraging his exceptional skills as an eighth-level fitter, with Cang Yue assisting the Silver Dragon mecha, in just half an hour, Jing Mingqiu hand-crafted a massive machine deep beneath Afghanistan.
Looking at the dilapidated machine in front of him, with sparks occasionally flying from it, an Afghan expert couldn't help but ask.
"Jing, Professor Jing! What is this thing!"
Jing Mingqiu stretched, loosening his stiff muscles, and grinned, "This is something that can solve the current predicament..."