An unexpected incident during a scientific experiment led us to discover the remains of a god deep beneath the earth’s surface.
As the new head, I descended into the abyss to investigate the truth…
01
This was the Smith Underground Laboratory, lying 2,400 meters below ground, the world’s deepest lab, devoted to studying dark matter.
John sat in the isolation chamber, silent.
Through one-way glass, I observed his gaze fixed on the door.
“What are you looking at?” I asked.
John seemed like a mechanical toy; his eyes widened, and he stiffly turned his neck. “I’m looking at a cross.”
“A cross?”
Lowering my head to view the surveillance footage, I noticed light seeping through the isolation chamber’s door crack, casting a long, slender cross-shaped shadow.
“Does it have any special significance?” I asked again.
“I don’t know… I advise you to escape quickly. From here, from this abyss, back to the surface…
It’s not too late yet,” he said.
“John,” I sighed, “I’ve just been transferred in, and I’m uninformed. I need to know what’s happening here.”
John wanted a cigarette, which I denied him.
Seeing a formerly cheerful and optimistic colleague reduced to a zombie-like state, anyone would feel uneasy.
With his head lowered, he croaked, slowly recounting his observations…
In 2011, during an accidental collision experiment, we discovered a single photon in an entangled state with another photon.
Oddly, we couldn’t locate the other photon.
Meanwhile, the superposition effect of the other photon affected the one we were observing—it changed from a particle into a wave in our presence.
To put it imperfectly, wave-particle duality is like two blind boxes, each potentially holding something different or the same.
Once we open one, the contents of the other will inevitably change to match the first.
This is quantum non-locality.
But our situation was akin to having seen only one blind box, while the other vanished—our observed blind box’s contents transformed into a cube without any external influence.
In other words, another observer had appeared, and the physics of this world was based on their perspective.
From their viewpoint, the contents of the blind box were cubes, so the other blind box, our observed photon, also transformed into a cube.
This was more than just a tremor in the edifice of modern physics; crucially, there existed unknown intelligent life on Earth, and we had no idea where they were.
“At the time, I was in charge of that project,” John said. “In response to the country’s request,
I classified the discovery as top-secret. After that, the nation began investing massive amounts of manpower and resources to search for the other ‘photon.'”
“Did you find it?”
“No, but we found a direction.”
“Where?”
“Beneath the ground.”
02
In 2012, under John’s leadership, the research team determined the general direction of the other photon.
It was right beneath the Smith Laboratory.
Thus, a project far grander than the Kola Superdeep Borehole quietly began.
They excavated the entire mountain above the laboratory, leaving only a thin layer covering it.
Then, they dismantled the Jinping Laboratory and dug downward.
With every kilometer downward, they expanded the tunnel, constructed elevators, built lateral structures, and established new laboratories.
After confirming the “photon” was still below, they continued digging.
This project was a relentless money guzzler, constantly consuming vast amounts of funds.
Until 2031, this year, the inverted triangle structure extended 35 kilometers underground, approaching the lower crust.
It was then, as they were about to penetrate the crust and enter the mantle, that an accident occurred.
“In previous experiments, there would always be a strange ‘single photon’ in one observation group; perhaps we were unconsciously synchronizing with another observer.”
John paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, “This means that the other party, like us, has been continuously observing the photon—we’re searching for it while they’re closing in on us.”
“You mean there’s intelligent life beneath the ground?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” John shook his head.
“I don’t know if the term ‘life form’ applies to them—water bears can only withstand temperatures up to 150 degrees Celsius, and where we are, it’s 967 degrees Celsius.
If we step out of this building, we’ll instantly be roasted to a crisp—I can’t imagine any life surviving in such harsh conditions.”
03
Theoretically, the mantle was solid, but to be cautious, the research team’s geologists had made ample preparations.
They crafted a super-high-temperature-resistant alloy drill bit and donned heavy-duty protective suits akin to spacesuits to drill in the designated no man’s land.
This was to gather samples and understand the mantle’s conditions.
Upon drilling two kilometers deep, exploration lead Alex detected an anomaly.
The data ceased to change, and the drill bit’s temperature stopped rising.
Theoretically, the drill bit should have pierced the crust, entered the mantle, and encountered increasingly higher temperatures.
Given that the mantle was likely a fluid, the drill bit’s destruction by heat was anticipated.
Strangely, the drill bit operated normally, maintaining a constant temperature reading of 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Despite descending further, the data remained unchanged.
Alex suspected damage to the sensor and promptly decided to retrieve the drill bit. Inspection revealed no abnormalities, and the drill bit had indeed collected a sample from the mantle.
The flowing magma had melted the drill bit’s storage chamber, necessitating forceful removal.
They used a cutting machine to separate the chamber from the solidified magma before proceeding to cut through the magma.
During this process, the cutting machine was damaged by a hard object.
Inside the magma lay a stark white bone, which had caused the damage to the cutting machine.
“Our every attempt to extract even a molecule from that bone proved futile,” John’s hand shook, “That entity’s mere existence upended our understanding of biology and physics.”
04
“Just a solitary bone?”
“No, not just one. In the subsequent collection process, we gradually assembled the skeletal remains.
We then intensified our excavation efforts. Keep in mind, working at nearly a thousand degrees Celsius underground is no less daunting than colonizing Mars—and yet, we succeeded, officially entering the mantle.”
“What happened next?”
John’s mood plummeted.
“According to the staff’s accounts, the reconstructed biological skeleton was eerily bizarre. I’ve seen the photographs but describing its appearance to you is challenging.
It was as if… a monkey with wings… a serpent bristling with bone spines… a three-headed octopus…
it seemed like the remnants of God’s creation, the root of all chaos and distortion.”
Pausing, I asked, “Is this the intelligent life we’re searching for?”
“No, not them. They remain within human observation parameters. What we seek might be ‘God.'”
“God?”
“After completing the third phase of predictions and drone construction, we built a ‘mantle submarine’ called ‘Deep Diver.’
Think of it as a manned drill bit powered by a nuclear reactor. Alex himself drove it into the mantle. Upon his return, he claimed to have seen a god.”
I leaned forward. “Which god?”
” Odin,” I queried, adding a comma for clarity, ” Odin, how could he be certain?”
“I don’t know. In the following days, eight people took turns piloting the Deep Diver into the mantle.
Each claimed to have seen a god… figures like God, Buddha, Jesus, and even contemporary fictional deities like Cthulhu and Azathoth.
Barely three days later, communication with the base at the lowest level was lost, disrupted by intense electromagnetic interference.
As I wasn’t at the lowest level, I could only remotely command.
But all we heard over the radio were eerie mumbles and piercing screams,” John recounted.
“As you see, we confirmed the presence of some unknown, inexplicable entity within the Earth’s core, which subsequently led to the destruction of the deepest research base due to unknown factors.”
“Did they all die?”
“I don’t know.”
05
I resolved to go down there and see for myself what had happened.
John strongly opposed the idea. The facility had a horizontal section every kilometer, each with its own lead, and John headed the lowest level. Without his cooperation, nobody could enter.
He demanded that I immediately seal off the second-to-last level and quarantine anyone who’d escaped from below.
“You’re still holding back,” I said, frowning. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“I can’t tell you! You shouldn’t know either! It’s like an infectious idea – just hearing about it, or even knowing, can get under your skin, you get it?”
I fell silent for a moment, then declared.
“If there’s really a god lurking in the shadows underground, it can’t be some almighty, glowing thing. “
“If it’s part of the rules of the world, then science will find a way to handle it.”
John fell silent.
I reported the situation, and the higher-ups approved my request, revoked John’s clearance, and gave me a temporary top-level ID card.
A ten-person special ops team was hastily assembled. They escorted John as we stepped into the elevator together.
I inserted the ID card, typed in the code, and a thirty-second countdown started.
The lift had dozens of seats, and everyone buckled up. When the countdown ended, a heavy weightlessness hit, making us dizzy.
“We’re diving into hell,” John said.
As the lead, he had the power to lock down areas in emergencies.
All the staff had signed confidentiality agreements, and if anything went wrong, they’d be honored posthumously.
So if something unstoppable had indeed happened at the bottom level, the people stationed there might have already paid the ultimate price.
Since John had sealed the bottom level right away, without giving anyone a chance to evacuate, roughly two hundred people were likely trapped inside, with only a few managing to make it out.
Fifteen minutes later, we reached the bottom level and suited up in the isolation chamber.
06
The door creaked open, revealing dim emergency lights in the corridor. Their power was fading, and soon, the place would be pitch black.
“You cut off the life support?” I asked.
John shook his head. “No, the lighting system was the first to fail.
The monitors showed lights going out one by one.
Wherever the darkness spread, all communication devices malfunctioned.”
“Were wired phones not usable either?” I asked.
“You may not understand. Let me demonstrate,” John said.
Taking a tactical flashlight from a soldier, he walked to a dark corner not illuminated by the backup lights – a triangular alcove – leaned against the wall, and switched off the flashlight.
Nobody was present in the corner.
The wall was solid, made of special alloy, without any cracks.
Emergency lights illuminated two walls, leaving a dark spot in the middle where an adult could stand.
In that brief darkness, John vanished.
We waited for a few minutes, but he didn’t move.
Confused, I called out, “John? Weren’t you going to demonstrate?”
Silence. No response.
Switching on my flashlight, I shone it towards the corner. No one was there.
07
Fear like a greasy snake around my heart.
It dawned on me that John might have been lying.
He was likely among the witnesses, definitely there when it happened.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, he escaped and promptly sealed the area off.
In a bid to unravel the mystery, I instructed two soldiers to hold a nylon rope.
One soldier, emulating John, switched off his flashlight and ventured into the shadows.
The rope dangled in midair. Our calls echoed unanswered as the soldier remained unresponsive.
Another soldier attempted to retrieve him from the gloom, but despite their combined strength, not even four or five people could budge the rope.
Left with no alternative, we activated our flashlights, casting light upon the dark corner.
The rope’s end disappeared, embedded within the metallic wall.
My throat tightened as the surreal sight before me momentarily froze my thoughts.
it seemed we’d stepped into another realm where all earthly logic appeared to cease to apply.
The emergency lights flickered and died, plunging us into darkness. My flashlight flickered too, briefly.
Darkness descended.
When the lights came back on, we turned to find our way back, but it was gone. We were surrounded by unfamiliar machinery, seemingly in a laboratory at the bottom level.
In that brief darkness, three seasoned special forces soldiers had disappeared without a trace, silent and unexpected.
Soon, I noticed the pattern behind the disappearances. Being in the dark would randomly transport one to another dark location.
Since entering, my flashlight had been flickering unpredictably.
Without a stable light source to prevent random teleportation, I’d experienced eight episodes of darkness.
Each time the flashlight illuminated, I found myself in an unfamiliar environment, separated from the soldiers.
During one of those instances, I saw half a corpse. It was half embedded in the wall, half exposed. This suggested that teleportation didn’t avoid obstacles. The next time, I could potentially materialize within a structural column.
I didn’t understand the principles behind these phenomena, nor how such inconceivable things could occur. Because of the unknown, I was more fearful.
John was right – if this situation spread upward, the best course would be to flee as quickly as possible.
However, I was disoriented. The complex had become a massive labyrinth.
Every time I was about to find an exit, darkness would arrive, taking me to a more mysterious place.
I saw a towering skeleton adorned with bone spines, grotesque and terrifying, imagining the awe-inspiring sight it must have been alive.
I saw a corpse “pierced” into the wall, the most horrifying being a ceiling with dozens of arms exposed. Presumably, a large-scale teleportation event had put several people inside the wall.
I saw a distorted security door, a bloodstained and slashed corridor…
Until the thirtieth teleportation, I discovered myself in a recognizable setting.
The cross’s shadow on the door. One-way glass.
An isolation room.
This marked the second-to-bottom level. Being teleported here meant the seal on the lower level had failed.
John’s warning echoed in my ears:
“Even if you run to the ends of the earth, they’ll still catch up with you.”
The lights suddenly went out, and endless screams and wails came from all directions.
My eardrums felt like they were about to burst, my mind scattered, and my senses became abstract and interconnected.
I scrambled in the darkness, slapping the flashlight frantically.
Finally, I tripped over something, my head hitting a hard object forcefully.
I lost consciousness.
