Inside the Sixth B Squadron's starship, Cillin stared at the string of characters displayed on the communicator in his hand. The characters were decoded to form a message, and it was from Hunting Blade Gada.
Gadar was mainly trying to reassure Silin that "Azrael" wouldn't come looking for Silin just yet. Moreover, Oskulos was being harassed by some military people as of late. He was a famous star-class lone ranger in the League of Stars, and anyone who knew Oskulos would keep a close eye on him. Therefore, Silin was safe for the time being, and Silin had a buffer period.
Silin had always been curious about Hunting Knife Gadar. A lone ranger like him was second only to Oskulos, and although Gadar claimed that he was injured by Oskulos and was forced to recuperate in a prison at Sector S, Silin thought that half of it was true and half false.
Silin believed that Oskulos had injured him, but the fact that he was forced to recuperate at Sector S was a different story.
The fact that Gadar survived Oskulos' attack proved how strong he was. But at the same time, Silin also thought about something else. Oskulos was able to injure Gadar back then, but what about now?
Gadar gave Silin a very strange feeling. Silin couldn't understand the man at all. Moreover, considering Oskulos' temper, why did he change his mind at the last minute when he had set his sights on Silin?
It was all because of Gadar.
Just how strong had Gadar become after all these years?
The fact that Gadar was able to speak to "Azrael" alone was already an astounding level of influence. There was also his divination. Whether or not Gadar was telling the truth, Gadar was shrouded in a layer of fog.
"Wah — we're here!"
Kari's shout pulled Silin back to reality.
Everyone was very excited when they saw the image on the big screen.
According to the star map, this was the area the Vanguard was assigned to.
Zone Z-J. Sector Z. District J. In the next ten years, this area would belong to Vanguard for mining resources.
Next, the team did a detailed analysis of the general situation of this area and listed out the situation of each planet to facilitate their subsequent actions.
After ten days of rough collection, the A Team confirmed a relatively large planet with a Level A habitability. They named it Planet Z-J100.
Once Z-J100 was confirmed, unless there was a special reason, this planet would always be the core planet of Sector J. Whether it was now or in the future, it would be returned to the military.
After the central planet was confirmed, the ten B Squadrons did not stop their exploration. With planet Z-J100 at the center of the division as the core, they spread out in ten directions. The ten B Squadrons would surround the central planet of Z-J100 where the A Squadrons were located and occupy a planet as a temporary stronghold. Then, they would develop the planet on their own.
Finding a suitable planet as a temporary stronghold for the B Squadrons wasn't as easy as it sounded. It would be great if they could find a Level A habitability planet, but if they couldn't, then they could only look for a Level B habitability planet. However, Level A habitability planets were extremely rare in Sector Z's universe to begin with, and the best one they could find was already a core planet.
The communication network of Sector Z-J had already spread out. Coupled with the easing of the universe's environment, the communication between the B Squadrons was pretty frequent. They all knew which B Squadrons had found a suitable planet, and which B Squadrons were still stuck at a standstill.
As the exploration work continued, they kept hearing that some B Squadrons had found a suitable planet. Two of them were even lucky enough to find a Level A habitability planet. Although the two planets weren't big, it was enough to make the other B Squadrons envious.
Recently, everyone in the Sixth Division had begun to grow impatient. This was because the Sixth Division had yet to confirm a temporary stronghold planet.
They hadn't found a Level A habitability planet, and they had only found three Level B habitability planets. These three planets were small in size, and their environments alone were enough to remove them from the candidate list. They weren't suitable to build a temporary stronghold on.
As for Level C habitability planets, that was even less of a problem. Of course, there were more Level C planets, but who would build a temporary stronghold on a Level C habitability planet?
If this was in the past, the squad members would have rushed over to inspect a Level C habitability planet like they were on steroids. But now, they weren't in the mood to look at Level C planets. The most important thing right now was to find a temporary stronghold. As for the other inspections and whatnot, they would only have the time and energy to do them after the temporary stronghold was built. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have a place to stay, and the squads who had already started building their stronghold were smiling at them. Who would have the mood to inspect a planet?
On the main starship, Shotton and the technical crew were busy looking at the results sent back by the probes. The planets around them were either Level C or Level D.
At the same time, these results would be shared with the squads after being processed by the technical crew so that everyone could understand the situation.
Kari leaned against the back of his chair with a bitter expression as he looked at the results sent over by Shotton's main starship. He said dispiritedly, "Say, don't you think we're a little too unlucky? Otherwise, how could we have found those two underdeveloped Level B planets by now? "
Eudy glared at him and said, "It's already good enough that they're developing like that in this kind of environment."
Kari snorted, "Are we really going to go back to those underdeveloped planets and build a stronghold in the end? No way, that's so embarrassing … "
Beaver looked at the summary of the information he had gathered over the past few days and said helplessly, "There's nothing we can do. Not every B Squadron is so lucky."
Kari turned his head and looked at the white fatty who was rolling around with the Miantuan at the corner of the wall. "Xueqiu, come over here and give big brother a pinch. It'll help vent some of my anger."
Xueqiu heard Kari's words and immediately rolled out of the room. No matter how much Kari yelled at him, he pretended not to hear him.
"Fuck, this white fatty is becoming more and more unlikable!"
"Kari, it's not that Xueqiu is unlikable, it's that your period is coming," Eudy said while stroking the Miantuan's tail that had jumped onto his knee.
"You're the one who's on your period!"
Beaver heard the conversation between Kari and Eudy and shook his head. Never mind, let them bicker all they want. He looked at the analysis data again and glanced at the scene outside on the big screen. They were about to pass by a C-grade planet. The surface area of the planet was not bad, but according to the data from the probes, it was not suitable for landing. How good could a planet with a C-grade habitability be?
Many people thought the same as Beaver, so the Sixth Division's starship had no intention of stopping.
However, as they got closer and closer to the C-grade planet, Huimao, who was sleeping on Silin's shoulder, suddenly opened his eyes and his ears perked up.
"What's wrong?" Silin asked when he saw Huimao's reaction.
"Something's wrong. That planet … Something's wrong!" Huimao stared at the image displayed on the big screen. His gaze landed on the planet that had been identified as C-grade habitability.
"What's wrong?"
Huimao did not speak, but Silin saw Huimao's pupils dilate and contract into the shape of swords. Something that could interest Huimao so much …
Silin immediately connected to Shotton's communicator.
"Commander, please stop the starship for a moment. Something's come up."
"What is it?" Shotton asked.
Right now Shawton was not in a good mood either. After all, the Sixth B Squadron had not made any progress until now, and Shawton was the one who drew lots to decide the sailing direction and route of each B Squadron. Now that they had not encountered any good planets along the way, the members were all starting to complain in their hearts. Therefore, the pressure on Shawton was considerable.
"I've discovered something. I want to take a look at the planet that has been appraised as a Rank C habitability planet," Celine told him her thoughts directly.
Shotton frowned and fell silent for a moment. Then, he said, "Sure. How much support do you need?"
"No need. Wheeze, Czedow, and I are enough."
"I'll give you three hours. If you find nothing, come back immediately."
"Alright."
Some of the technicians complained after Shotton ordered the starship to stop, but Shotton didn't say anything. Since they had chosen to trust Silin, they had to endure the pressure.
Kari wanted to go with Silin, but Silin turned him down.
Instead, he piloted a small spaceplane and flew over with Huimao and Czedow.
The air on this planet was very thin, so the cosmic rays were very strong and the air itself was harmful to human breathing. That was why Silin walked out of the spaceplane wearing a protective suit.
Huimao was the one who pointed out the landing spot.
Huimao and Czedow were very comfortable. After walking out of the spaceplane, Huimao kept running in a certain direction. Czedow didn't notice anything unusual on the starship, but his eyes flashed after he stepped out of the spaceplane. It was obvious that he was doing a deep scan of the area.
This place looked like a plain, but there were some small hills here and there. There weren't any tall mountains at all.
Huimao looked very excited. It wasn't because he was excited about food, but because he had found something fun.
Normal scanning devices were useless in this place, and Silin's biomonitor didn't show anything at all. Not even their vitals showed anything. It was obvious that there was something wrong with this place.
Fortunately, Czedow was still functioning normally. He was able to transmit some images to the starship through him. Although the images were a little disjointed, they were still visible enough for the people on the starship to see what was going on.
Cillin's running footsteps came to a halt as he looked around. He could feel a lot of eyes watching them from the shadows.
"There are high-level alien lifeforms nearby!" Czedow said.
"There are, but we don't know what they are." Silin looked around once before continuing forward with Huimao.
On the starship, Shotton and the technicians couldn't believe what Silin and Czedow were saying. According to the data detected by the probes, there weren't any high-level life forms on this planet. There were microbes, but most of them lived in extreme environments. There were also some low-level single-celled organisms, and plants were more like low-level life forms.
Huimao clearly didn't care about the gazes. Instead, he lowered his head and sniffed here and there. He looked very happy.
"There's something down here. It's an electronic device. It's huge," Huimao turned around and said to Silin excitedly.
"How big is it?" Silin asked.
"The place we landed, the places we passed, and the places we're stepping on right now extend all the way to the distance. It's about one-fifth of the planet's surface!"
Silin narrowed his eyes. Although he had sensed something unusual after he arrived on this planet, his senses weren't as sensitive as Huimao's. He didn't know what it was, and he couldn't estimate the range of the sensation. Still, he was surprised to hear Huimao's words. Right now, he had a vague feeling that someone had come to this planet a long time ago, and they had made a huge commotion and left some things behind.
Shotton had heard Huimao's words too. The news was shocking, but he didn't doubt Huimao's judgment. In other words, there was something on this planet that was interfering with the probes. If that was the case, the data they detected would be rendered useless.
"Silin, don't move yet. I'll send someone to …"
Before Shotton could finish, a few black shadows appeared on the screen.
Silin stared at the figures walking out from behind the protruding hills and took out his gun.
"What … what is that?" A technician gulped and asked.
Since it was night time on the other side, they couldn't see what exactly it was from the image Czedow sent back. They could only see a rough outline. It was about two meters tall, and it looked like a standing scorpion. In short, it was definitely not a human.
"Send a squad to the rescue immediately!"
The hair on Shotton's back was standing on end. This planet was really strange. Right now, he was regretting sending Silin out.
The creatures gradually increased in number and surrounded Silin's group. They formed an encirclement and gradually shrunk.
With the help of the dim starlight, Cillin was able to see the appearance of these monsters clearly. Their mouths were triangular in shape, and they had several pairs of fangs. There were three pairs of pincers on their abdomens, and three pairs of feet with sharp claws were nailed to the ground. There was even a curled tail behind them.
The surrounding temperature seemed to have dropped a lot since the appearance of these creatures.
Huimao still didn't look at the creatures. Instead, he kept walking in circles, thinking about something.
"Wheeze, there's an enemy. What do we do?" Silin asked in a low voice.
These creatures were definitely not easy to deal with, and there were so many of them. The spaceplane was still some distance away, and the situation was very bad for Silin. Moreover, he was the only human here, so he was the target of everyone. Silin was going crazy at Huimao's calmness.
In response to Silin's low roar, Huimao only flicked his ears and stopped spinning. Strings of green characters quickly flashed across his eyes.
Silin and Czedow stood back to back, ready to deal with the creatures that were approaching them step by step.
"Yiya —"
A sharp roar broke the silence.
This was the sound of a monster walking at the very front. It should be their leader.
After the sharp roar, the creatures finally sped up and charged toward Silin.
His shoulder cannon, wrist blade, and combination laser gun were all ready.
But just as Cillin was about to fight, the monsters suddenly stopped in their tracks and let out a low growl with unknown meaning.
"Yiya —"
It was another roar, but from the tone, it was clearly different from the previous one.
After the roar, the creatures that were already seven or eight meters away from Silin's group slowly retreated, and the reinforcements Shotton had sent gradually appeared in the sky.
"Reinforcements, don't come over yet! Don't open fire! "Silin said hurriedly.
Just now, Huimao had sent him a message.
The things underground were coming out.
After receiving Silin's order, the fighters and spaceplanes that were flying above Silin's group didn't land immediately. They were already here anyway, and they would open fire at the slightest movement.
"Lieutenant, what's going on …"
Before Cary could finish his sentence, he was stunned by the commotion below him. Everyone's reaction was about the same.
Boom boom boom —
The ground started shaking.
The creatures swiftly left the area and vanished without a trace in no time at all. It was just like how they had arrived earlier.
Silin and Czedow didn't move. Huimao had told them that there was no danger here.
As the ground shook, the rocks and dust on the surface of the protruding hills were shaken off. Then, they lit up at the same time. For a time, the darkness of the night was brightly illuminated.
The people on the starship were also stunned by the scene. The light was especially eye-catching in the darkness after passing through the thin atmosphere. Even without Czedow's image, the people on the starship could see it clearly from space.
What did this mean?
It meant that someone had come here and built these facilities before! Judging from the current situation, these facilities had been here for quite some time already.
Who on earth built these facilities?
Was the person who built these facilities related to the planet where the army was stationed?
The technicians on the starship couldn't help but feel excited when they thought of this.
The ground didn't stop shaking even after the protruding hills had lit up. It wasn't until a quarter spherical building rose up from where Huimao was standing.
The building was about fifteen meters tall. After it rose into the air, Huimao stared at it while green strings of characters flashed in his eyes.
Czedow cut off the image transmission with the starship and began analyzing the rising building.
Huimao was decoding it, and Czedow was learning how to do it. It was a rare opportunity to learn such knowledge from a cyborg.
Silin stared at the building. He knew that Huimao was "talking" to this, or rather, the giant machine underground. Although Silin couldn't "talk" to it himself, he could "see" the machine language and the communication between Huimao and the building. He didn't understand it. He could only "see" a little bit.
Two minutes later, a quarter of the spherical building opened towards the fan-shaped section where Cillin and the others were. The next year, it was changed into a passageway.
"Let's go. It's just the few of us. The rest of you can wait outside. Entering without permission will only result in death." Huimao walked into the passageway with his tail raised.
Silin and Czedow followed behind Huimao.
Huimao's words were obviously meant for the Sixth Division. The people who were about to land and enter the passageway were dumbfounded.
"Commander, what do you think …" a team member asked Shotton directly.
"Let's wait around and do as it says. Silin will send us a message soon," Shotton said.
"Alright, that's all we can do for now."
"Use this time to look around and find the monsters' nests. The second group will arrive at the planet in a bit."
After Shawton made some arrangements, he boarded the aircraft and went with the second group of people to the planet that had previously been identified as a C-class habitable planet.
Things didn't seem to be as they had imagined.
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