Chapter 451: Just a M.E.S.S

..(The Gray Valley)…

Bei Guang, Arwa and Hua were sitting right at the opposite of Xiao Wan, formally. Their expressions were grim, even Hua, the usual joker of the team, had become steadier than before. The moment the lady summoned them they felt truly bewildered, as it was in the middle of the night – 4.40am to be exact.

It was Xiao Wan who shattered the silence of the witching hour, “We have just received an update from our intelligence. At 7.14pm last night, the destabilized singularity at the site of Koure Mech Squad had been detected with instances of anomaly. At 9.30pm, the squad had sent men to investigate where none of them survived. 2 hours later, the area of these purple gases had taken the entire base, during which they faced an immediate invasion. And all surrounding forces had received frequent distress signals from the squad.”

And there was no more.

The three men flinched upon the statement of the lady. It had been an unwritten rule for all forces to avoid sending out distress signals to others till critical situation. Clearly there was indeed something that night, that caused that demise of a great squad.

Was everyone wiped out that night at the site?

Thought the three of them, while exchanging frightful glances with each other. They were pretty close with Koure. They recognized the hard work the squad had undergone to even get into the ranking. Koure might not be a competent squad compared to them, but obviously one unknown force which possessed the capability to eradicate Koure could eradicate them as well.

“How is the squad at the moment? Has the culprit been identified?” asked Bei Guang. They were shocked by the incident, yet their posture remained undisturbed.

“… I do not know…,” muttered Xiao Wan. “But we did not receive anymore updates from them… since 4 hours ago…”

That was an evident statement to their demise.

The three men looked more frightful than before.

Xiao Wan was not looking good either as she elaborated, “All surrounding forces had sent their aids, striving to find at least a survivor from the squad. But, to be honest, we knew nothing from there so far, nothing at all. Regarding the culprit of the invasion this time, we should be receiving an update this noon, probably…”

“Which force did that I wonder…,” mumbled Hua. “What should we do now?”

Xiao Wan looked at Arwa, “How do you think, Arwa?”

Arwa gave the question a serious ponder. He might have a plain look of one from the village, but immense wisdom could be perceived in his eyes. A moment of silence passed and Arwa raised his head, “The situation is unclear at the moment. We could only prepare for the worst. I believe, by 6 o’ clock tonight, we should have identified the culprit. It would not be too late when we make the necessary adjustments by then.”

“What about both of you?” said Xiao Wan, her eyes on the rest.

“Well, we could only do that for now, it seems…,” said Bei Guang helplessly. To be frank, what Arwa had suggested was truly the sole thing the group could conduct. They were the minority after all, unlike the great aristocrats who probably had sent off their military forces, crying for war on such situation. Moreover, any other drastic measures could force them out into the light, that would be bad.

“Very well…,” nodded Xiao Wan. “We’ll observe at the moment, while preparing for the worst. Keep an eye on the situation.” Xiao Wan was feeling agitated of the confusing situation. Well, Gray Valley had never been orderly in the eyes of folks, but somehow there were marks of specific unwritten rules wavering in the area, which only natives like Xiao Wan would know.

And at this point, Xiao Wan somehow felt that these hidden rules which had existed over centuries at Gray Valley would face their demolishment soon…

It was just her gut feeling that had been rumbling for days.

The three men exchanged one final glance, before they left the room.

Xiao Wan seemed to have deflated, literally the moment the three men left the place. All the strength she had mustered seemingly escaped through her breath after the conversation. She completely slumped on the chair the next 5 minutes. The irritation pulsed in her soul, growing, as she got up and booted the projector in the room.

“We are now streaming the latest update of…”

That was when Xiao Wan’s pupils shrunk to the extreme, as she zapped from her slumber with her back straightened.

… (At Ye family)…

The core members of Ye family stared upon the projection. There was the leader himself, the strategists named Ye Juxing and Ye Guangxing as well as the top pilot Ye Yin who stood right behind the three of them. They looked indifferent, an expression frozen solid of devastating grimness. Ye Luo was also there and apparently was at the other end of the extreme on his expression. He was fairly expressive, biting his teeth, cursing out loud and his father, the strict leader of the family, did not lecture upon his misbehavior for some reason.

It was a major battle.

Ye family had summoned an astronomical force for the operation this time.

There were warships, a whooping 300 of them. And that was only the 1/3 of the entire Ye force in He Yue galaxy, which consisted 1000 units.

Warship had always been an alarming sign for residents of all galaxies. Be it the 5 major galaxies or He Yue galaxy, the aristocrats could only craft their units behind the curtain.

Ye family was generally defenseless in this war as they lacked the ranged force necessary against the foe, most of their mechs were melee models so they needed to draw out whatever they can fire at the foes, especially after that encounter at previous war. The cannons of their warships were certainly formidable and could be considered as the design suitable on small crowd-control, crowd of those monsters for example.

The reality was not as simple as they imagined however. They were going to face unknown creatures emerging from the fearsome purple mists due to a destabilized anomaly. It was not going to be like a plain day at a pest-control company during their fight against crustalades and bristleworms.

The firepower formed by 300 warship units did not hold those ferocious monstrosities long, as Ye family was clearly outnumbered while the family was facing a much more agile, fearless mob than before.

Eventually Ye family could only bring out their army of mechs, as an attempt to regain control of the situation.

A war of fist-against-fist would always be a close-combat, that a punch could cost a wound on oneself, even for the experts like those of Ye family. The war field was then transformed into a slaughterhouse. The authority was tearing in silence as they witnessed their apprentices heading for the inevitable death, like the moth to the flame. It was an irony as they were reminded of the early 10 to 20 years they trained these new blood.

The apprentices had demonstrated great discipline as they fought bravely against the unknown lifeforms from the alternate dimension. They attempted holding back the monsters with their guard at their best. The 8 mech squads of Ye family were slowly engulfed by the waves.

8000 mechs guarded the incoming blows of these monsters from one wave to another. The 300 warship units had never held their fire since then. But there were too many casualties, the authority of Ye family was being driven up to the wall. 3 mech squads had been completely engulfed in less than 30 minutes. The figure was ticking fast that they had lost count somehow.

The destabilization occurred right in the territory of Ye family, so there was nowhere for the family to run. They could only fight at best. In no time 2/3 of Ye family’s force in He Yue galaxy had been summoned there.

That was only the beginning however…

…(At Xue Lai clan)…

They were fighting, they were fighting with all their might.

But, unlike Ye family, the Xue Lai clan was at an upper hand in the war.

A team of total 15000 units, consisted of all models in the clan, had swarmed upon the destabilized area. They were calm bracing for the war.

The firepower of Xue Lai clan had engulfed the wave of monsters instead.

It felt easy peasy as they saw the carcasses hovering in space.

…till they saw one anomaly they failed to notice at first.

Logically, if there was nothing in the purple mist, the beams should travel through the gaseous entity effortlessly. But… somehow, the beams were not passing, something seemed to be holding all the incoming beams inside the mist.

The purple mist was expanding rapidly.

That was when Xue Lai clan felt the stress. They quickly summoned about 500 units into the mist yet none of those had returned. They had been bombarded the purple mist with all their weaponry for the last 30 minutes, nothing had happened nevertheless.

And somehow, the more they fired, the quicker the mist spread…

“Hold your fire!”

They eventually had to pause and watch.

…(At Xi Feng tribe)…

The Xi Feng tribe was probably the real tragic one among the aristocrats, as their territory sat right between two spatial anomalies.

The leader of the tribe was looking pale, paler than those men behind.

There were far more casualties in the Xi Feng tribe, at least more than what the tribe had expected. They could do nothing other than seeing their compatriots exploding in the voidness of the space.

As they were being sandwiched, the mechs at frontline were literally halved to handle incoming attacks of both sides, leading to an insufficient firepower.

The monsters broke through their firewall easily and their claws had led a dramatic increase in the number of casualties.

Explosions and cries were head from the transmission of all men. The glaring light of their mates blowing up shone upon their stumbled expression.

What… what are they…

Chapter 452: A Sneak to the Mist

quot;Fei Si, my lady, here are the carcasses of other creatures in the field. Hope to hear your impeccable analysis soon,” said Sang Jing courteously with a bow towards Fei Si.

Fei Si first took a look at this fine-looking young man, then the pile of carcasses behind. “Alright, take them in,” she nodded and muttered numbly.

Sang Qing ordered his men to move all the dead unidentified creatures that they had obtained from the frontline to Fei Si’s lab. Fei Si was the expert of virology and she was provided with a well-facilitated laboratory under Mu’s advice. It was not a spacious laboratory but it was certainly equipped with the most advanced models thanks to Mu/Shang.

Ye Chong would sometimes carry out a few alchemy experiments inside the lab but the lab had become Fei Si’s home ever since she got the key. She had become the top virologist on Planet Yi Ju and had been spending the time on studying the content of the few microchips Ye Chong gave her back then.

The Sangs were utterly stupefied by the advanced technologies placed in the lab. They had been staying in Archipelago, away from the avant-garde decade for long, so they could not help but to show tremendous respect towards any knowledgeable figure like Fei Si.

“Place all of them here,” said Fei Si, pointing at the vacuum container.

“Yes, ma’am.” The Sangs then hurriedly placed all the dead creatures into the container. Well if the carcasses still qualified as “creatures” visually, that is. Most of the carcasses arrived dismembered as the result of the last laser mass fire. Sang Qing, the experienced fighter, also could not help but to draw his breath the moment he saw the pile which defined the intensity of the frontline.

“Alright, you may leave now,” muttered Fei Si as she began investigating the minced fleshes in the container.

Sang Qing exchanged glances with his men, “Yes my lady.” And they left, with Sang Qing gently closing up the door last.

The moment Fei Si heard the door closing, she lifted her head, with her eyes looking a little dazed.

She then quickly regained herself and gave a sigh, as she fiddled with the body parts.

Her brows furrowed very soon after. She knew the carcasses had been dismembered into an indistinguishable state, yet she could simply tell the variety of creatures involved in the pile. At one glance this far, she could already identify at least 11 different types of creatures.

Most of these creatures had a dark purplish skin… with another similarity – they all had metallic glow. She took out the laser dagger, sliced one piece of the skin and placed in her hand for close inspection. Fei Si was feeling fascinated as no way she would have been convinced that it was a layer of epidermal tissue if she was not the one who sliced the piece off herself. It simply felt like a piece of metal. The texture felt like a piece of dark purplish metal film somehow…

Fei Si carefully put the piece into the processor. It took a while for her to ponder the correct setting on the analysis mechanism. Well, she had never seen the creature before, only pure instinct of experience could guide her a little.

And here came the report.

There was one particular section that caught Fei Si’s complete attention. The skin actually consisted of metallic component, up to 40%! And the component was new to Fei Si, she could only name it as a type of metallic component of a particular organism.

She then extracted more pieces from the limbs of the other animals, which appeared to be distinct from each other. The conclusion? It intrigued her a lot. All these pieces consisted of at least 40% metallic component.

These were probably the animal with tissues of the highest amount of metallic component she had ever seen. She then picked up a few strands of muscular structures for analysis. The report showed that the muscles also contained a higher amount of metallic component than most identified lifeforms in the world, the skin still had a far higher amount nevertheless.

Hmmm, these lifeforms apparently had strong reliance on metallic components.

That was Fei Si’s first conclusion.

“Oh, look at the time.” It was already time to eat. She was so indulged in her research that she had lost the sense of time.

Even though it was mealtime, she would remain in her lab, which as if became her dining room. One of the storage in the lab had been renovated into her own kitchen, while the ingredients would be sent by the people according to the schedule.

As she was going to have her meal, at one glance she caught an anomaly in a transparent container that caused her to have goosebumps. She held her steps, as her eyes disbelievingly fixed upon the vacuum container.

“W…what is that…?”

…(Meanwhile at the outside)…

The purple mist reached its surrounding wildly, and it grew into an uncontrollable size in no time which thousand mechs looked pea-sized upon it. Sang Pu glanced at his mates around him, the voidness of the space somehow bewitched him, reminding him of the scenery back in Archipelago and the Red Sea, the beast stampede phenomena and darkness.

Sang Pu was a little bewildered of his thoughts. Those were distractions he supposed, as he took a deep breath and kept focused, with his voice rang profoundly, “Charge!”

5000 Collisions were in battle position, as they tumbled their ways towards the growing purple mist.

It would need no caution if it was destruction they aimed in the first place. All units had been accelerated to the maximum, with their sodium lamps at the front switched on at once, forming steam of shooting stars into the purplish entity.

“Attack!” In the meantime, Ye Chong had also prompted his combat order.

100 Collision units had built a diagonal formation with Han Jia at the center as they charged towards the purple mist.

Entry succeeded, but Ye Chong realized something. The misty region was a challenging environment to fight. All communication channels were down, the mens’ rapport was solely their channel while only the light beams could converse the mens’ thoughts. And Ye Chong had aced none of those.

Mollusks… there were mollusks everywhere, forming a jungle as if when Ye Chong made his venture. A jungle of mollusks veiled by purple mist.

It was a sad development when Ye Chong realized there was no more glow around him.

He had lost the 100 alliance units.

Unlike the Red Sea, this place was more complicated with the lower visibility, even Sangs were facing issues on putting all men under the supposed rapport.

Fortunately, Ye Chong did mention one simple goal of their run – destruction, utter destruction.

Whenever they encountered these mollusks, they would charge without hesitation as long as these strands did not look oversized to them. In no time, the mollusks would squirt a kind of fluid as somehow they lost their firm texture. So the Sangs rolled on, raising the blades of Collision and sliced through everything.

It was simple to fight the thinner strands – just roll, no technique. Regarding the thicker ones, they would give a careful slide across the edge of the strand, to cause leakage through the cut on its body which would eject moisture, turning into a flaccid, withered dark purplish film. Ye Chong joined the scene much later, so he saw all these films hovering in space.

Well, Ye Chong was feeling an easier time without the theatrical formation by his men. Han Jia was enjoying a quick glide in the sea.

It was hard to tell directions in the mist. Ye Chong could only know friends or foes by the lamps. He did not employ that tactic anyway. Han Jia would just travel silently in the dark.

He was well-aware of the insignificance of one or two mechs in this operation. And he was also very much informed of his incapability of giving impromptu commands. It was a salvation for him to not lead the operation this time or he could imagine a total mess when he made commands in such a complex surrounding.

Intuitively he was still a lone wolf. Ventured into the purple mist, he had his own aim, that would be, to find the leader of these strange creatures! He reminisced the time he fought in the pathway back then. The bristleworm he struck in the end must be the leader, the queen of all bristleworms. Applying that premise, there must be also a queen somewhere here.

“Mu, have you found anything?” whispered Ye Chong as his eyes were glued upon the visual.

“This is a very peculiar group of creatures. No related resources could be identified in my databank,” stated Mu calmly.

A flash then lustered in Ye Chong’s visual, which shocked him to make a drastic evasion.

It was one of the Collisions, which slid by Han Jia.

No, it was not an accident of incompetent piloting.

The pilot of the Collision had been attacked!

Ye Chong could see it, a giant scratch across the entire body of Collision, passing by the cabin. Ye Chong could also discern the splash of blood in the purple mist. The pilot was a goner.

And there must already be a conflict ahead!

Han Jia was given the command to accelerate, as it zoomed ahead.

Chapter 453: Deep into the Mist

he path started clearing up as Han Jia dived into the core of the region. As shown in the visual before, the center was unaffected by the veiling spell of the purple gases.

But that was also when Ye Chong found out the intensity of the conflict!

Although their communicative channel had been disabled, the Sangs were uninfluenced by the situation. To the Sangs, they had already fought in worse battles before.

The unexpected catch was, the number of these red-tailed creatures were far more conquering than what Ye Chong saw in the visual.

“Mu, can your detection system work here?”

“Negative, Ye. There has been a heavy electromagnetic interference here. It’s a regret I could not provide you with the assistance you probably need for real.” Mu’s cold tone did not sound regretful at all!

Well, it was not like Ye Chong expected any visible assistance from this machine.

The blank zone in the purple mist was far more spacious than he imagined. It was so spacious that it could run a pinball platform for all Collision units.

The red-tailed creatures with pointed head were everywhere as they lunged themselves at the Collisions. It was a more astounding scene than the beast stampede before. Yes, the flood of monstrosity in the beast stampede phenomena before was clearly much larger, but Ye Chong could at least see the technologies triumphing over the wild, unlike this time… where both Collisions and the red-tailed creatures held similar strength. It always took a few intensive struggles before one would let go the other.

The casualties this time…

Ye Chong refused to imagine it, his heart grew colder as he watched.

The unknown creatures were too strong! They might be slower than Collisions, but they were way more agile in terms of making turns, which remedied their weakness of speed. Furthermore, their tails were one formidable weapon they could pull. The spike at the tip was sharp, so sharp that it could cause critical damages on Collision. The shell on top of the creature’s back was fairly sturdy, that even the blades of Collision would shatter upon contact.

And they seemed invulnerable against compressive explosives too!

Ye Chong once thought he knew a lot as the teacher, but he found the occurrence incomprehensible. The casualty would only increase at this rate. Ye Chong pondered, his grave eyes stared at the field.

The Sangs soon took a different strategy. They held their explosives and withdrew themselves from thrashing with the unknown creature. They reformed their army into severals all teams with about 10 units each. In battle stance they charged at high speed, not towards any of the creature, but merely towards the front.

The situation changed?

Hundreds of groups threw themselves like the dancing knives in the black zone, forming another slaughterhouse, a familiar sight to Ye Chong. Even without any communicative measures, the rapport had once again united the Sangs, no actual collision occurred between them.

The attack was dense, the team was highly organized, the action was rapid.

Collisions were strong at their greatest momentum. The creatures had been surrounded as they lost the space to make any activity. With that they also lost the ability to create agile evasions. The Sangs seemed to be winning.

Ye Chong was absolutely amazed by Sang Pu’s talented charisma and the discipline of the Sangs even in the worst scenario. They always managed to create miracles with their unity.

They were born for war! They were born to fight!

Ye Chong did not stay for too long, as he proceeded with his infiltration plan.

Obviously the teacher was always that solemn, shining figure among the Sangs, even in the battlefield. The teacher’s Han Jia never once left his sight of the chaotic battlefield. Ye Chong was fist and kick ready for those unknown creatures’ attack, yet they always got crashed away by one giant flock of Collisions whenever the creatures tried jumping at Ye Chong. Before one of the creatures could launch its deadly sting, it had already been shredded into countless pieces after the swarm of Collisions left. It was basically a chain reaction during which the Sangs would attack, spot danger on teacher, protect the teacher, charge, flood, confirm target neutralized and head back into position.

Thanks to the highly competent Sangs, Ye Chong’s hands seemed to have never touched any of those unidentifiable creatures from the other world. Not even one, it was literally zero and did not feel like increasing.

“Ye, you have seemingly become the burden of this war. Your existence has been deemed abundant as you have disrupted the flow of the entire warring system,” stated Mu, who did not appear interested in saving Ye Chong’s face.

Ye Chong whimpered, his jaws were quivering, “Mu, as expected from your insensibility.”

“I have only stated the ultimate truth. And an ultimate truth does not require sensibility.”

“Tch!” Ye Chong was displeased by the statement but somehow his heart felt warm.

How long have I not spoken to Mu like this?

Back in those days, it felt like a norm to have Mu teasing me all day and night. I thought my life would feel better without his bitter tongue around.

Well, Mu is right on this. I am a burden here.

Thought Ye Chong, as he looked at the thick mollusk on the way. He had an idea, as he piloted Han Jia, prompting a direction-change and a thrust towards the strand.

The mollusks were much thicker here, which their diameter hit few kilometers. Ye Chong flew along one mollusk, only to spot a few giant tumors on the surface, in which the unknown creatures rested peacefully. Somehow Ye Chong had a strange idea that… those creatures were in a kind of uterus…

As Ye Chong ventured into the center, the strands grew thicker, darker as well, with the dark linings increased inside them. The strands entangled each other, like the few eldest woods in the forest. Such dense environment was not favorable for Collisions, so Ye Chong could no longer spot his allies around.

At one point the giant strands had eventually conglomerated, forming a shield which isolated the inside from the outside.

Han Jia squeezed itself into the gap between the mollusks, it weaved in and out of the forest of mollusks as it ventured deeper.

Ye Chong felt he had arrived at one gigantic tree hole somehow… as darkness engulfed him. It felt like another world, where nothing from the outside could reach, not even lights, not even the sound of the void. Ye Chong was on high alert as he turned on the lights.

Han Jia advanced with the two beams of light carefully.

A few times the camera turned at the mollusks around and Ye Chong could already discern the decreased number of tumors on the strand bodies. The mollusks outside were like branches fully bore with fruits, yet the mollusks at the interior had hardly a few of these “fruits”. It was strange, but Ye Chong would not let down his guard just yet, as he noticed one particular thing in the silence.

There were fewer tumors, but the creatures slumbering inside were glowing in sharp crimson tails, far brighter than the pale reddish of the tails Ye Chong had seen at the outside. From Ye Chong’s experience, would that mean the redder the tail, the stronger such creature is? Ye Chong subconsciously nodded at that, as he presumed these unawakened beasts to be the greater beings in their kind.

Without hesitation, Ye Chong began destroying these potentially greater threats in the darkness.

Han Jia’s wings spread into 12 spiky tentacles and launched themselves at the tumors. Unlike the alarmed beasts out there, these beasts were more fragile while being unable to sense anything in their sleep. It only took a gentle poke at the tumor, then ejection of liquid would occurred, in no time the shell and the skin of the unknown beast would turn tainted.

It only would take a few more hours… or a few more minutes pessimistically before the weakest beasts waking up into the strongest few in their kind perhaps.

That was Ye Chong’s thought as he continued destroyed these unripe blobs, expressionlessly. It might be cruel but both Ye Chong and Mu probably would consider this appropriate. It was the safest countermeasure to the brewing danger after all.

“Mu, do you see any connection with the monster we encountered at the underground back then?” said Ye Chong as his hands danced upon the control panel.

…

“Probably…” It took a while for Mu to give a figure, “At a chance of 81 to 85%.”

Exactly. Thought Ye Chong. Wise people do think alike, that was exactly his thought that there should be a connection between both creatures.

Han Jia went deeper.

“Wait…,” whispered Ye Chong as he felt something odd.

The deeper he travelled, the lesser the tumors on the strands, while the redder the tail turned, the stronger the beast could be… if that was the case… assuming quality was taking over quantity…

He looked at the surroundings, the tumors had reached a minimal amount. As he flew about 1 kilometer deeper, he finally found another tumor. But that tumor… the color of its tail was giving him a quick heart attack.

Ye Chong immediately broke the tumor and killed the glowing crimson on its tail. No drama, a quick successful blow. It was then Ye Chong felt relieved and continued traveling.

But then the later journey only drained more colors on his face.

He zigzagged through the strands and had already lost count of the distance he travelled. But roughly… he reckoned he had travelled a distance about 10 kilometers away from that giant tumor just now.

That was the frightening part – he had never encountered a single tumor in the past 10 kilometer course.

It was indeed an anomaly which stressed him up the wall. What could be there ahead? At such circumstance it would be either the queen or the wormhole to another dimension. That would be one thing he was very much certain of, he was in fact traveling towards the core of the area.

The diameter of these mollusks had reached a length which Ye Chong could not estimate at glances, even those dark, vein-looking linings were broader than before. There were strange glowing fluid flowing inside them.

It almost felt like Ye Chong had taken a trip from one bloodstream towards the artery near a pumping heart.

The fluid inside the linings was making rhythmic movements towards a single direction, working exactly like the pulses.

Ye Chong looked upon the place where the linings could no longer be discerned far ahead. His eyes slightly shut as he inhaled deeply and made a dramatic exhalation. The calming respiration was carried out for a few cycles before he sprung his eyes open.

He pulled the lever and Han Jia zoomed towards the darkness ahead.

Chapter 454: The Opened Eyes under the Light

ei Si, with her body lowered, was carefully rotating that piece of flesh she tore down from the unknown creature. Something had occurred at the fresh cut she made just now. There was supposed to be a dent at where she made the slash but at her second glance, the dent had been filled with a new layer of muscle, of a darker color than the other remaining tissues in the body, had been generated.

Wait, does this mean that the creature possess the ability of regeneration? Wait… never mind.

Fei Si gave it a thought at first, but she turned her own hypothesis down very soon after. It was not rare to see a biological entity having the ability of quick regeneration, but entities with such ability would never “regenerate” themselves in such a strange manner.

Then what is it?

Fei Si’s heart was inflated by an immense curiosity, that hunger had been long forgotten.

She inched towards the filled lump and extracted a bit of it for analysis. The analyzing facility in her laboratory could help! It was the top-notch model after all, with a top-notch price of course, and a top-notch customer service which would require the buyer to order it 2 years in advanced. She seriously wondered how Mu/Shang just took it out for her like magic, as it was not common even in most well-established research institutes.

And this piece of fine technology was one of the reasons why Fei Si had lost herself in research. She was not assigned in a grand laboratory, but the facilities were the luxury, the finest which every piece of them had appeared in her dreams at least once or twice.

Apparatuses were the bed of rose in heart of all researchers. They would seek the ultimate as maniacally as how pilots would seek the best mech in the world.

“Analysis: Complete.” The result had been generated. The notification was sending her a bit of sentiments, as she remembered those days she would have to camp at the laboratory three days just to wait for a hologram of report.

The report was a projection of a three-dimensional curve diagram, which looked like a box of yarn balls as strands of different color intertwined each other, the machine simply had a lot to tell judging from the curves alone.

It was not hard to get a report, anyone who knew how to input data could generate a report just fine. The hard part was, to make sense of these messy-looking influx of information, it all depended on the experience as well as the capability of a researcher.

Fei Si was very experienced of this. She just took a sit as her eyes searched through the running curves through the y-axis. Her major was microbiology and she got a very good teacher to provide her the necessary foundation. She also had an intensive tuition with the chips Ye Chong obtained from the underground base. So she was pretty much the best one could find in the galaxy.

A few microchips which looked like a lengthy textbook might be identified as trash for most people, but not for a microbiologist like Fei Si. To her, the chips were God’s gift. They contained all important information revolving about the working of the entire Gray Valley, illustrated with solid research data that touched the very core of microbiology, which were precious and probably required countless lives to compile.

These chips contained the blood and sweat of people, literally. The information was built in the darkness of humanity. These experiments had always been carried unaware by the mankind, as simply they had gone against the norms of society, be it by law or morally. If it was not Ye Chong, Fei Si might never be able to learn from the dark. Judging from the folders, Fei Si believed the researchers were carrying out experiments on biological modification using virus. And because of these data, Fei Si’s understanding towards biology was no longer limited to microorganism alone.

The diagram was a real complication but Fei Si would take on that challenge passionately, as she knew deep in her heart, that only advanced lifeforms would draw such colorful beauty with seemingly endless properties. She could already conclude that these organisms had undergone several evolution at one glance.

She quickly prompted the three-dimensional line diagram she created based on the piece of flesh before for comparison. She believed she would be seeing an interesting difference somewhere between both charts… Once she had located the difference, she would be able to identify the concept of how such phenomena happened.

She looked across from one curve to another attentively.

And that was when her glance landed upon one crimson curve. Her heart raced! Fei Si somehow felt difficulty in her respiration because of her excitement. “Is it the one…,” she whispered as she turned her head to the other diagram for verification.

Yes, it is!

“Ah!” She could not help but to make a scream.

…(Meanwhile)…

Ye Chong was traveling along the bloodstreams. The gentle glow in the black linings was guiding his way towards the one destination he fought hard for.

Han Jia was taking caution as it glided according to the flow of the fluid, while its pilot was peering at the way ahead illuminated by the two giant lamps.

The lights of sodium lamp were surely pretty limited in terms of visible range. And thanks to this forest of mollusks, detection system was deemed trash, not even photon mode could help visualizing the surrounding. Ye Chong could imagine himself toasted if he ever encountered raids from any entity in such environment .

But he did not have many options in hand. He could go ahead, that was the only thing he could do, simply because he no longer remember the way out.

It was another travel of a distance about 10 kilometers, which felt forever as Han Jia was traveling at speed of a tortoise for all the caution it could muster. Ye Chong could see the bloodstreams, like river, were collecting into larger linings as he moved. The rhythm started to become more visible too.

Eventually, at one point, Ye Chong was seeing a thick lining that looked like a black rubber tube, which probably had a diameter of about 5 meter.

He was right at his guts’ feeling. He began getting a little panicked.

He gave his limbs a few stretches, with emphasis on his hands which would act as his sword and shield in this colosseum of scarlet woods. He got into the battle position as he somehow sensed a high intensity of danger!

The same thicker linings had further collected themselves ahead.

As Ye Chong travelled, he stopped by one pooling point where a large irregularly shaped lump could be found. The lump was more than 30 kilometers in diameter, literally looking like an aster. The lumps were covered fully in vine-like structures, on which a tumor could be found. The tumor was not particularly outstanding in terms of size but somehow Ye Chong could feel his heart thumping vigorously.

The once-countless linings had collected themselves into the last 7 giant tubes, leading to this particular tumor. The fluid was pumped into the tumor from time to time, yet the content of the tumor did not seem to be moving at all.

Obviously… Ye Chong could be very confident that the thing inside the tumor would bring a disaster.

The bright beams of Han Jia landed upon the tumor. There was indeed an unknown creature resting inside. But the heart stopper for Ye Chong was, the tail of the creature was dim crimson. As Ye Chong shifted his glance above, one thing caught him.

6… the unknown creature had 6 toes on its foot!

Ye Chong felt his throat itching as his breath intensified, cold sweats were dripping off his chin, his back was also completely wet.

It was a galactic story, it was not strange to see a super evolved organism having an odd number of toes, but, the catch was, the feet somehow reminded Ye Chong of that giant hand which reached him from the dark disc back at the underground cave. The giant hand had 8 fingers and no way he would remember such a horrifying detail wrong.

Furthermore, the minions out there were having only 5 toes each foot. Ye Chong knew it sounded very far-fetched as clearly both the hand underground and the red-tailed creatures were two entirely different species but… this little similarity and what he was seeing at the moment were…

Assuming there was a connection between the number of jointed parts on the limbs…

“Ye, stop thinking!” Mu’s voice was no longer monotonous.

One horrible assumption had appeared in Ye Chong’s mind.

Ye Chong quickly got himself out of his mental schemata. The chilly back was reminding him the rumbling emotion in him just now.

Mu was right. He might not be informed of the current biological condition of these creatures, but they should be harmless as long as they were inside the strange womb, judging from what he experienced on his way there of course.

The beam of sodium lamps were converged upon the tumor. Ye Chong had no more hesitation as he directed Han Jia to propel towards the tumor.

Ye Chong could see every bit of the creature slumbering within the biological confinement. Its eyes were sealed tight, not affected by the light stimulation, like a baby it rested, and probably like a baby it would die!

As Ye Chong flew towards the tumor, Ye Chong could see the details better, as his hands were ready above the control panel. The tentacles of Han Jia had been disengaged, and had raised themselves, prepared for launching.

Now!

Ye Chong’s hands disappeared above the control panel, as the afterimages rolled upon the interface. The 12 tentacles zapped towards the tumor.

blob…

blob…

Thup!

That was when the closed eyes were opened, revealing the dead red pupils rolling in peculiarity under the white light.

Chapter 455: Turnabout

t was dead silent in the laboratory, that Fei Si could hear her hectic heartbeats. Her face was pale as her enlarged eyes peered at that one specific set of red curves among the messy lines on both diagrams. That one specific attribute illustrated in red curves, while having the same levels in the beginning, had diverged at one point of the y-axis.

Fei Si’s eyes traced the line of deadly scarlet. Her heart was racing.

The curve… the diverging point was leading to…

“It was an evolution…,” muttered Fei Si.

If Fei Si was the very expert of the other branch of biology, maybe she was making a wild guess and she would not be able to confidently address such baseless assumption. But the process of evolution was highly common in her field of microbiology, which justified her extreme familiarity and sensitively on the specific characteristics of a typical evolution act illustrated on a line diagram. She wanted to prove herself wrong, knowing the iron rule of the world of biology, a species would always face a proportional increase in both difficulty and the time needed to complete the evolution cycle the higher the level of the said species was.

Reality was quite the contrary however, it was indeed an evolution.

Fei Si was pretty sure.

Still, if it was really an evolution, all the fundamentals she had learned in biology would be flushed to black hole. The species had produced an anomaly, which went totally against whatever she knew about evolution. “C-could it be…?” There was something else in her mind. Perhaps it was the unique attribute of such species. “But what is the trigger? What promotes their evolution?” mumbled Fei Si as her eyes rested upon the sample.

…(Meanwhile back to-

Klink!

Under the bright beams of sodium lamps, a few sparks bloomed before Ye Chong.

Ye Chong’s will sank a little upon seeing his barrage being blocked completely. All 12 propelling tentacles crashed into something, causing the sparks in the crimson woods.

It had been confirmed. This unidentified creature had a higher development than the minions outside. On top of its height about 12 meter, similar to Han Jia, its head rested as enveloped by a thick shell like a helmet of phylum, which made it different from its compatriots. The dark layers of shell were as if made out of black gold alloy with its fancy gloss. Its red tail had been raised, pointing towards Han Jia. That was the creature’s efficient guard which ceased every incoming attack of Han Jia just now.

Both of them stood still.

The opened eyes were cunning-slim, emotionless whenever the crimson pupils rolled from one corner to another. The beast was hovering soundlessly, observing the gesture of its intruder.

Han Jia had already withdrawn its daggers from the sheath. Those were its royal knights, the impeccable, reliable arsenals on its team, which had never once disappointed it.

Ye Chong raised his hands and-

Dammit!

Ye Chong’s pupils went wide like saucers.

The unknown creature which was under the spotlight a moment ago, had vanished.

His hands began storming upon the interface, prompting a forward thrust on Han Jia as it charged towards the vesicle rapidly. The camera behind beeped as captured imagery of a slashing red at where Han Jia stood before. It was a close shave. The creature did make use of its speed. Ye Chong could feel the cold sweat rolling off his back.

Han Jia was actually installed with photographic cameras at most directions which their angles would form an enclosed scope of vision, allowing Ye Chong to know whatever happened in the surrounding. It was smart but not practical enough, unlike the full hologram readings today, the photon mode vision had a lot of limitations, but it was still better than being utterly blind.

He might have dodged the tail-whip, but that did not assure his safety, not just yet.

Something had flashed on one corner of the scope! Ye Chong was astonished as his hands danced again.

Han Jia had a quick slide. The slash came by and Han Jia was not managed to dodge it completely. Wham! Ye Chong lost his sense of balance as he saw the interface tumbling before him. Clearly Han Jia had been struck!

Such strength! Ye Chong was astonished. The blow just now was almost as vicious as a direct diving-kick from a combat mech model.

Ye Chong tried to respond but that was when he tumbled again. The hydraulic system did not relieve the impact either.

The creature somehow reappeared right next to Han Jia just now. Ye Chong did execute a simple dodge but the tail was the hazard that sent Han Jia off crashing the vesicle like a shooting star.

It was fortunate that Han Jia did not get hit by the tip of the creature’s tail or the spike would have caused Ye Chong some real trouble.

Certainly the membrane of the vesicle could not withstand such momentum. Leakage occurred as soon as Han Jia crashed and was engulfed by the cytoplasm.

Ye Chong made a quick response by giving a firm press on the control panel the moment Han Jia was whammed. Han Jia, at the second getting enveloped by the vesicle, spread out its wings, making the drastic endeavor.

Han Jia was losing momentum as Ye Chong saw before him a dark red lining swung, which sent him chills to his spine.

Before the lining faded out, Ye Chong’s hands accelerated again, to the maximum of his APM.

Han Jia lowered its wings again, forming dynamic within the vesicle. With the thrust it created in the fluid, Han Jia turned on all engines and sped upwards!

Han Jia broke the membrane successfully!

But the scarlet beast was hovering in the air, eyeing its prey breaking free.

Ye Chong was having cold sweat, wondering the last time he got driven up to the corner like this. It was nerve-wrecking as he watched the hovering beast.

The beast had agility, speed and a deadly weapon being its tail – the necessary components to build a killing machine. What made the beast more deadly was its night sight. It was unaffected by the darkness, unlike Ye Chong who moved around like a blind man within the limited vision illuminated by sodium lamp. All detection systems were useless and Ye Chong felt he was fighting a losing fight.

The surrounding was not doing him a favor at all!

He got to be calm, be cool, be icy cool, there must be a solution somewhere.

One opportunity to make that turnabout!

He respirated deeply, as rhythmically his chest inflated and deflated like an accordion. The heat in his mind was eliminated and that was how his eyes turned crystal clear once again.

Han Jia rested on the surface of the vesicle, with the twin daggers crossed before its chest.

Ye Chong’s mind ran wild. He must get something done but he had no idea what to. Oddly the beast seemed undisturbed as its front legs crossed before its head. Ye Chong would want no more thrashing from the foe, he decided to make the strike first!

Han Jia turned on its engines.

Ye Chong’s only vision now would be the photon detection mode. Too bad he was not competent and talented in being a mentalist or he could have foreseen the beast’s attack. But well, judging from the overwhelming velocity this beast could attain, probably only Huang Baiyi the hacking mentalist could make the necessary foresight before things happened. Still, Huang Baiyi would be a clumsy greenhorn in flicking the interface.

…

Okay, enough idle thoughts. Those are not important.

The beast is important, as well as my own life.

What?

The beast snickered as its silhouette vanished in the screen.

Ye Chong brandished the sodium lamps desperately, yet the beast acted faster than his lights.

Ye Chong’s eyes scurried upon every camera projection, the beast had vanished into the darkness and no way he could perceive its movements in the dark.

Streams of sweat rolled off Ye Chong’s forehead. Ye Chong seized his breath in intensity. The muscles on his face were twitching, guiding one stream of cold sweat into his eyes.

Ugh.

Ye Chong squinted his eyes as scorched by the salty uneasiness. His squinted eyes were forced open, yet his sight remained blurry. He dared not to move a muscle on his limbs, as his hands rooted themselves onto the interface. He glared upon the projection, trying to see things.

And that was when the projection at the right caught something flashing by.

Now!

Adrenaline boiled within Ye Chong as his heart was pumped with agitation, screams of himself could be heard in his head. A deadly struggle as his APM had increased beyond limits, once again.

Ye Chong would certainly be joyful of seeing another improvement in his speed, but maybe he might not have the life to taste it some other time.

He must strike the beast!

He must take the beast out!

He must live!

Han Jia took a strange step backwards as the dagger on its right slashed upwards to one side of its rib.

Klink!

Ye Chong could hear the heavenly clinking as his eyes caught the sparks in the darkness.

He did it!

He did it!

The left dagger thrusted upon the sparks.

…

Ye Chong heard something, the microphone caught the sound of the slaughterhouse. He had made the stab and it was real! The bit of blood on the dagger justified it!

The beast had been wounded!

The fact made Ye Chong excited, as he saw a shadowy figure flew towards the far in the tunnel of lights created by his sodium lamps.

The beast is running away!

Han Jia chased the beast without hesitation.

Ye Chong was pretty confident that the cut he made was a critical one, as now the beast had turned more traceable in the light. The vanishing movements could no longer be observed. The beast seemed terrified as well for it maintained a single direction in its runaway, which made tracing it much easier within the range of the sodium lamps’ projection. The mollusks around had a simpler structure compared to the outside, that was also why Ye Chong managed to keep the beast in his eyes.

The beast ran.

The human chased after.

Both towards the outside of unknown.

Chapter 456: Reinforcement

ang Pu’s heart sank! One by one, the mysterious creatures tore out of the vesicles. In the next moment, the battlefield was turned against them! The Sang Tribe’s advantageous position and their attack rhythm were disrupted immediately. The difference in strength between both sides was too huge!

In the span of only 10 minutes, the number of unknown lifeforms increased by the thousands! The Sang Tribe was forced to react passively. However, none of the mechs attempted to escape by themselves. On the contrary, they maintained their rigid formation and fought according to plan! The Sang Tribe’s discipline and mental fortitude were once again demonstrated in practice, although this time it was witnessed by an army of unknown lifeforms.

Sang Pu tasted bitterness. He could see that if the situation continued as they were now, they would not last for long. However, there was no way he could get in touch with their young teacher now.

D*mn it!

Fei Si looked at the report in her hands, containing the latest results from her experiment. Should she send them over? She was hesitant about this. The truth was, Uncle Jalopy was the only person she was familiar with in this place. She was only a researcher, and could not be certain if the report in her hands were actually of any value.

At that moment, a knock came from the door. “Anyone here?” It was a woman’s voice.

Who could visit at this hour? Fei Si was curious. She replied, “Please come in.” She had never locked the door to the lab, since Ye Chong would sometimes visit to conduct his own experiments. Besides, as long it was within the base, they should all be safe.

A beautiful woman came in.

“So it’s her?” Fei Si thought to herself in surprise. She had seen this woman before. Her name was Qiu Man, and she seemed to be one of Ye Chong’s comrades before her time. Qiu Man was in charge of coordination between divisions and resource allocation. However, since resources for the lab were specially ordered, she had discussed business with Qiu Man before.

Why would she be here?

“Miss Fei Si, how do you do? I’m Qiu Man.” The woman’s tiny, rosy lips moved. Her watery eyes gleamed with professionalism. After all these years of practice, she had now transformed from a typical Young Miss into a competent diplomat.

While this was not the first time she saw Qiu Man, Fei Si still found herself awed by the woman’s beauty as she stood before her, and felt ashamed of her own looks. After all, Qiu Man was a rare beauty. Moreover, her graceful conduct made her the center of attention wherever she went.

Qiu Man was already used to the way other people looked at her. She smiled and said, “Pardon me for not making an appointment beforehand, I hope I’m not interrupting Ms Fei Si’s research.”

Fei Si gathered herself and shook her head in reply. “No, you’re not. How can I assist you, Ms Qiu Man …”

“I was doing some coordination and just happened to pass by. The door was open, so I ventured to drop by for a visit,” Qiu Man explained with a smile. She had always been interested in the lab, and she could tell how much importance Ye Chong, Mu and Shang placed on it. Hence, since she happened to pass by, she could not help but came wondering in.

“It’s alright, my experiments were just completed.” By now, Fei Si had recovered from her awe of Qiu Man’s beauty, and resumed her usual coolness. “If Ms Qiu Man is interested, you’re welcome to visit anytime.”

Qiu Man’s gaze shifted to the unknown lifeform’s body in the transparent chamber, and asked with interest, “Oh, is that the creature’s body delivered from the frontlines?”

“Yes.” Fei Si nodded. “My experiment just now is related to it.”

“Did you find anything?” Qiu Man studied the damaged flesh, her face showing no signs of fear as she asked.

“There are a few peculiar findings, but they will have be to further explored.”

“Peculiar findings?” Qiu Man lifted her head, looking intrigued.

“These unknown lifeforms were all part of the same group, and share many traits. For example, when they evolve, or more precisely speaking, under the right conditions, they can evolve in a very short time! This is the fastest evolution that I have ever seen completed in any higher forms of life.” When it came to matters of her professions, Fei Si spoke with confidence and ease.

“Evolution?” Qiu Man sounded troubled. “What changes would occur after this evolution?”

“Based on what I know now, it will mainly be an increase in muscular strength and toughness. Performance wise, there will be improvements in both strength and resilience. Besides, their outer protective armor would be further strengthened,” Fei Si explained in detail.

Qiu Man’s expression turned grim. She pondered for a moment before asking, “You said that if the conditions are right, they can complete their evolution in a very short time, yes?”

“Yes, the experiments seemed to suggest that.”

“What are these conditions? Exactly how short is a very short time?” Qiu Man asked anxiously.

Fei Si could not understand why Qiu Man looked so nervous, but she still answered with care, “Thus far, I have identified two conditions that can trigger an evolution in these creatures. The first is pure energy, and the second is metal. It’s too early to tell if there are other triggers. As for the time required to evolve, this depends on the amount of pure energy or metal absorbed. What this means is, the more pure energy or metal they get, the faster they evolve. However, I have not figured out the mathematical relationship amongst these three elements.”

Qiu Man no longer looked at ease. She dragged Fei Si along, running out of the lab as she said, “This is a very important finding. We need to inform the frontlines as soon as possible …”

The situation was getting worse.

If this continued, they would be finished sooner or later. Sang Pu observed the war happening around him with reddened eyes. Every Collision mech’s explosion was like a stab to his heart! He must do something soon, or else …

He desperately tried to calm himself down.

More of the creatures continued to emerge from the flesh columns. They were now awakening on a massive scale. The ones still within the vesicles were still vulnerable, but once they awakened, it would be a true disaster for the Sang Tribe. What was happening now were just like the early signs of an impending calamity. One by one, the unknown lifeforms escaped from their vesicles. Sang Pu also noticed that they were now emerging from the vesicles at an accelerating rate. His heart sank further and further as he watched.

If this continued on, everyone would be done for! Sang Pu bit down on his lips, his eyes red with emotions as he continued to observe the war. The Sang Tribe’s battalion of Collision mechs no longer held their earlier advantage. Not only that, their adversaries were getting stronger and stronger. He could see swarms of the unknown lifeforms targeting individual Collision mechs, wilfully pursuing them. Had the Collision mechs been slower, or the Sang Tribe members less skilled in flying their mechs, they would have suffered even more casualties by now.

Pursuit … A tight pursuit … As he watched the unknown lifeforms pursuing the desperately escaping Collision mechs, Sang Pu’s mind suddenly cleared up.

A bold idea came to him.

The reporters who were watching the purple gas cloud closely from outside were now getting jumpy. Since the large fleet of strange flying vessels entered the purple gas cloud, none of them came out. The purple gas cloud’s perimeter was now clear of the flying vessels, which allowed the reporters to approach the purple gas cloud closer.

However, what happened earlier still brought a shudder to their hearts. Those unknown lifeforms were obviously hostile. What if one of them came out just as they were close to the purple gas cloud? The reporters had no confidence in fighting for their survival. Hence, despite the lack of the odd flying vessels outside, none of them dared to go closer.

A long time had passed, and still nothing happened at the purple gas cloud.

Just when the reporters were hesitating, someone cried out, “Heavens, look at that!”

Tens of thousands of strange looking flying vessels and starships appeared from the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. The massive ragtag fleet was a magnificent spectacle on the holographic screen.

However, when the impressive fleet got closer and closer, the feeling of magnificence gave way to a sense of disbelief. In terms of numbers, the ragtag fleet was definitely imposing. However, all the flying vessels and starships came in a random assortment of colors. They looked like a cloth with many random patchings. In short, they looked like a joke. This was the same for each of the tens of thousands of flying vessels and starships.

What was this? A beggar’s parade?

Viewers of the live feed on the news channel were now laughing out loud. Some were doubled over with laughter.

Abruptly, the laughing stopped.

Sang Tie travelled with urgency, bringing with him a support combat with 30 thousand men! That’s 30 thousand Collision mechs! Travelling along with him were 300 starships, all filled to the brim with mildstones and spare parts for Collision mechs. That was the reason the entire fleet’s arrival was slightly delayed.

They finally reached Yi Ju.

However, when Sang Tie saw the massive purple gas cloud, he was taken aback. He quickly got in touch with the base. When he found out that their young teacher and Sang Pu had gone into the purple gas cloud, his expression turned even more grim.

“All combatants, prepare yourselves!” Sang Tie gave the simplest and most straightforward order.

30 thousand Collision mechs immediately separated from the ragtag battalion, flying all over the place. It was a grand spectacle, seeing 30 thousand mechs flying in the same area. Sang Tie’s order was enough to let the rest of the Sang Tribe understand what they were about to do next.

The 30 thousand Collision mechs showed no disorder as they flew to their positions. The 300 starships turned around in the opposite direction and headed for Yi Ju as fast they could to land.

Even with the Sang Tribe’s brilliance in piloting, it still took five minutes for everyone to take their positions. In these five minutes, the 300 starships had already landed on Yi Ju.

Sang Tie wanted to just charge straight into the purple gas cloud, but he could not! Without Sang Pu, he was now the commander of the battalion, and that meant suppressing his own impatience. His every decision would have to be made carefully, since it would very well decide the fates of these 30 thousand members of kin and himself. Sang Tie had prepared the best they could afford. These 30 thousand members of the Sang Tribe were all the most competent in the Tribe!

Ye Chong had asked for Sang Tie to bring only 10 thousand men, but after the Village Head listened to Sang Tie’s story, he immediately asked to gather 30 thousand men. No one doubted the Village Head’s decision. With that, Sang Tie found himself armed with 30 thousand of the best warriors from the Tribe.

30 thousand Collision mechs took their positions outside the purple gas cloud. The smallest basic combat section consisted of 10 mechs. Every 10 of these sections formed a squad, while every 10 combat squads formed a company. A total of 30 companies presented themselves in perfect formation.

With 30 thousand mechs achieving this wonderful formation in just five minutes, what more can you ask for?

This huge and orderly battalion filled up a significant space in the vast universe, and it was a wonder to behold.

“1st to 10th Company, prepare to engage! The rest of the battalion, shift to echelon formation [1].” Sang Tie’s voice rang in the comms channel.

Every Sang Tribe member could feel their blood boiling! Borned with an inclination for battle, they had never been in a war of this scale before.

“On my mark!” Sang Tie’s eyes widened and bulged. He was about to say “Charge!” but then he noticed something at the last second.

On the holographic screen, a single Collision mech suddenly burst out of the purple gas cloud, heading towards their battalion.

Before Sang Tie could react, a huge swarm of Collision mechs came out of the purple gas cloud.

What was going on? Sang Tie was taken by surprise.

“Attention, 1st to 10th Companies, fly right through us! Full speed ahead! Attack!” From the comms came a voice that was familiar to everyone in the Sang Tribe.

It’s Pu! Sang Tie recognized his voice and was overjoyed by it. While he was still far from illuminated by what was happening now, it was instinct for everyone in the Tribe to obey Sang Pu’s commands.

The 10 companies at the front accelerated without delay, and shot towards their comrades that emerged from the purple gas cloud.

Since Sang Pu had ordered for them to fly full speed ahead, all 10 companies had accelerated to their maximum speed in the shortest time possible.

Both sides were flying at extremely high velocities. Collision mechs could exceed Mach 20 at their maximum speed, the power of their engines at full blast was formidable. Besides, since both sides were flying at over Mach 20, any head-on contact, no matter how minor, would most likely end in disaster.

Many viewers of the live news channel gasped, and some even closed their eyes, unable to continue watching.

Both sides did not slow down, and they were now about to reach each other! The most terrible accident in the history of spaceflight was about to happen.

Chapter 457: Crossover Tactic

he 10 thousand Collision mechs were like neatly and tightly arranged nails, flying at over Mach 20 with an astonishing power of destruction. No mech or starship could be left untouched by an attack of this kind of force.

Among all the viewers of their imminent clash, no one would believe that anything could be unscathed from a crash like this! Each of the mechs were only 25 meters apart in their formation. This was an almost negligible distance in the scale of the universe.

What was more unbelievable was the fact that the thousands of Collision mechs that emerged from the purple gas cloud were flying straight into the companies without slowing down. Had they gone mad? Both sides were flying at over Mach 20 – collisions at this speed would break even the strongest material used to build the mechs.

Were they planning to die? Was this a suicidal attack?

Just when everyone was puzzled by their strategy, the smaller swarm of Collision mechs changed formation again. They regrouped, repositioned themselves and adjusted their distances, all in just five seconds, without any signs of delay.

In those five seconds, the messy swarm of Collision mechs that came out of the purple gas cloud reformed into dozens of combat squad units. All of this achieved while travelling at over Mach 20.

The comms channel was silent. No one said a word. Only the occasional heavy breathing was heard. In these precious five seconds, Sang Pu did not give any orders. He believed that every Sang Tribe member would understand his intention. Sang Tribe members were all excellent warriors, and to be chosen as frontline soldiers meant that they were the cream of the crop. They were all raised to trust in each other.

Five seconds! This was a suspenseful five seconds, and an unforgettable moment. What extraordinary sight would appear when tens of thousands of mechs crashed into each other? Everyone looked at the holographic screen without blinking, holding their breaths. Be it in the bars, public squares or schools, or in individual homes, as long as the holographic screen was on, these five seconds were filled with deafening silence.

Even the wordy frontline reporter had kept his mouth shut as he watched in silent awe.

Just what kind of people were they?

Sang Pu’s eyes were fixed on his holographic screen. Right now, he was no different than any other member of the Sang Tribe. He would have to use his own strength and skills to fight for his own fate.

After bursting out of the purple gas cloud, the holographic scanning systems on the Collision mechs had begun to function again.

The huge presence of the 1st to 10th Companies registered clearly on the holographic screen. This was not his first time doing this, but he could already feel the electric jolt of excitement shot through his veins. He could even hear his own breathing grow shorter!

Getting close now … Closer still … The huge wave of Collisions mechs rushed towards him on the holographic screen. In that moment, Sang Pu felt like a withered leaf, riding the massive waves of a tsunami – he could die at any moment! Sang Pu did not know who was piloting the mech that would go right past him, but that did not matter. The point was, if he really crashed into that mech, both their mechs would disintegrate into pieces, and his own body would explode into a thousand pieces, just like his mech! The mech showed no signs of avoiding him as it flew straight ahead towards him. The mech occupied almost two thirds of his holographic screen – they were very close to each other now! He could even see the patterns on the Collision mech, unique to their skeleton material.

Roar! His blood sang with exhilaration. Sang Pu felt a rush of excitement like never before.

Now!

His dilated pupils shone with battlelust, and his hands moved the mech’s control lever.

To the side, then push forward. His hands moved the lever steadily without delay, just a smooth gesture on the controls.

Sang Pu’s Collision mech wriggled to the side, smooth as a fish, and flew right past the other mech that was coming towards him! There was no time to think. At over Mach 20, Sang Pu flew his mech through the 25 meter gap between the mechs in front of him, and continued his trajectory.

There were no signs of collision! Sang Pu did not need to check to know that he was safe. His tension finally released, and he felt the fatigue of the war overwhelming him.

Every Sang Tribe member knew about Collision mechs like the back of their hands. Unlike He Yue Galaxy’s mech pilots, the Collision mechs were their only choice of weapons, for they had no other options. They could only think hard about new ways to fight with the Collision mechs. They did not think about upgrading their mechs, or changing the weapons installed, or buy newer models, since Collision mechs were practically their companions, their trusted weapon in the face of battle. That was why every Sang Tribe member who had their own Collision mech would take very good care of them, and knew every tiny detail of their mechs!

That was why Sang Pu did not need to check to know that his mech did not come into contact with the other mechs.

However, now was not the time to rest. Sang Pu shook himself awake, suppressing his joy of having survived the stunt, and forced himself to calm down as soon as possible. He understood his duties as commander of the entire Sang Tribe. He was not just an average soldier. Soldiers could perform outstanding feats through their excitement. A commander, however, would benefit more from staying calm. Only calmness can help him make the right decision.

Sang Pu was not aware that his mech’s skeleton wings and that of the mech that flew past him were separated by less than 10 centimeters back then. At a speed of over Mach 20, any minor contact would be have its implications amplified. If he had steered five centimeters more to the side, his ending would have been different.

Sang Pu quickly calmed down, and began to assess his surroundings. The mechs that came out of the purple gas cloud with him had all survived the flight. Sang Pu had not anticipated Sang Tie’s arrival, and had only planned to lure the unknown lifeforms out of the purple gas cloud. This would considerably strengthen their position. With the comms system online, they would be able to coordinate attacks more effectively. The lack of numbers can be overcome with better strategizing. Besides, outside the purple gas cloud, their holographic scanning systems would allow them to see better, and get a better sense of the overall situation.

He was surprised to find Sang Tie and the readily assembled battalion. An idea came to him, and Sang Pu was reminded of a combat technique that they had often practiced in the Sang Family Village – crossover flying. This was something they came up with themselves. It consisted of two mech squads flying through each other, through the gaps between the mechs in each squad. This was a very dangerous strategy, and would require highly skilled mech pilots. After all, if both sides were flying at high speed, the mech pilot would have little time to react when flying through the gaps. Failing this would cause them to suffer casualties from both squads due to the impact. This strategy was designed to use against enemies in tight pursuit, and Sang Pu thought this was just the right scenario for it.

However, Sang Pu also knew that, despite their familiarity with this technique, they had never done it on such a large scale, with tens of thousands of mechs involved. Besides, they had not used this technique in practice before, and practices never involved flying at such a high speed. He could not be certain that every Collision mech would survive this. Nevertheless, it seemed that they did far better than he expected. Only a few mechs had collided with each other.

Sang Pu knew that it was time to turn the tide of the war.

Chapter 458: In Tight Pursuit

woosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Sang Tie’s Collision mech burst through several unknown lifeforms like an arrow through bullseyes. However it was more like ripping through the bullseyes, in a more precise sense. The strong bodies of the unknown lifeforms exploded into countless pieces from the strong impact.

The Collision mech’s frontal defense was also its strongest, that was why attacking with their collision spears in fronts was their preferred method of attack, and the safest one.

They rained down like heavy downpour!

Beside Sang Pu, numerous Collision mechs flew past him towards the unknown lifeforms. The mechs hit fast and hard. Every collision ended with a shower of blood, accompanied by separated body parts.

One of the creatures tried to turn back and escape, but it never stood a chance! A brief sensation of pain came from its waist, with a shocking amount of power that was passed into the creature, and it spun away uncontrollably. Just then, it noticed a familiar looking lower body flying away from itself. A moment later, an excruciating pain shot up from below, and it almost blacked out. As it looked down its body, it found an empty space below its waist, where blood was gushing out violently.

Its eyes bulged out as it stared at its missing lower body in disbelief. Its face convulsed from the pain, and before it could react any further, it felt another sharp pain, and then it lost consciousness.

A Collision mech’s skeleton fins had easily sliced its brain in half. It happened so fast that the convulsed expression on the face remained on its face, where the slightly bulging eyes were filled with horror and disbelief.

Without air in outer space, sound could not travel. However, the continuous wave of collisions carried on where the mechs where. Every time a mech crashed into flesh, it sent a jolt of shock into the hearts of the spectators. Here, the power of strength and speed, of brute force and primitiveness, and the story of life and death was told in its entirety.

The enemies were everywhere. Sang Tie and others did not even need to aim for their targets. In fact, given the chaotic situation, aiming for targets was a foolish idea.

Sang Tie understood that. Their mechs were closely arranged together like a comb, and the teeth of this comb were sharp. What would it feel like to be combed through with a tool like this? Sang Tie and his men demonstrated it all, leaving trails of flesh and blood!

The attack happened so fast that all the viewers could barely breathe under the suspense. It was too violent! Compared to an exchange of laser attacks in outer space, this war was even more vicious and shocking. People breathed heavily as they watched. The holographic screen remained silent, but the explosive and continuous assault via collisions could almost tear the screen apart.

Compared to what was showing now on the holographic screen, the so-called grandly staged movies were like child’s play. People watched in fear at the battle unfolding on the holographic screen.

He Yue Galaxy was a competitive place, where forces stood against one another, but for the average person, life was usually peaceful and safe.

However, the world had changed! They suddenly realized that death and war had arrived so close to them. Fear began to spread among the commoners. Adults covered the children’s eyes. They did not want the children to witness such a bloody and dreadful scene.

Sang Tie’s expression was steel cold. They were doing well so far, killing so many of the unknown lifeforms that he lost count of. The battle was like a war in hell for the people in the He Yue Galaxy, but for the seasoned warriors like Sang Tie and his tribe, it was only battle as usual. After their battle during the Beast Stampede, large scale battles were no longer unfamiliar to them. In this respect, the Three Aristocratic Families were lacking compared to them.

Sang Tie may look like a rough man, but he was in reality a man of detail. He even had some talent in warfare. Soon, he noticed subtle changes in the battlefield. Since the Collision mechs kept running into the unknown lifeforms, they had begun to slow down. Without enough speed, Collision mechs were less effective in attacks, and every member of the Sang Tribe knew this.

Just then, a slightly weary voice from Sang Pu came through the comms, “Companies of the first attack wave, leave the battlefield immediately, take care to stay in formation.”

“As expected of Sang Pu, to understand the situation at the frontlines even without being there, and grasping the timing well,” Sang Tie thought to himself, praising the other man. Without further delay, the surviving mechs of the 1st to 10th Companies spread out and left the battlefield.

The sudden departure of attackers was a great relief to the creatures, but before they could head back to the purple gas cloud, they realized in horror that another wave of attack was upon them!

This time, the creatures received a devastating blow.

Red-tailed beast – Ye Chong named the creatures as such. Of course, Mu had no objections. After all, red-tailed beast was better than being called Number One Lifeform or something. All the signs seemed to suggest that this particular red-tailed beast was the leader of the herd. Ye Chong decided to finish it off.

Ye Chong knew that the wound he inflicted on the creature earlier was in part due to luck. Ye Chong was not used to relying on abstract ideas like luck. Would his lucky streak continue? The thought never occurred to him at all.

The best strategy now would be to pursue their enemy and thoroughly defeat them, solving the problem once and for all.

Ye Chong gave his all, pursuing the red-tailed beast.

It looked like he was quite lucky after all, to have kept up with the beast so far. Given the chaotic environment, even Mu’s scanning system would be useless, much less Han Jia’s holographic scanning system. He could only rely on the sodium lamp and stay on the enemy’s tail. It was not easy.

The red-tailed beast was heading outwards quickly.

Ye Chong was grateful for his earlier decision of destroying all the vesicles in his path. If any red-tailed beast suddenly appeared here right now, even the most average red-tailed beast would put him at a great disadvantage.

The one escaping would not be this particular red-tailed beast, but himself.

Ye Chong kept his eyes wide open, wary of making mistakes. In this complicated environment, he could lose his target at any moment. Once he lost his prey, it would be impossible to find it again.

There would be a huge, thick flesh column at the next turn, Ye Chong remembered clearly. He had entered the center region of the purple gas cloud from there.

He grew anxious immediately. Just now, Sang Pu and the rest were still fighting against the red-tailed beasts out here. The fight must be going on viciously. If he wanted to surround and attack his strong and destructive target out there, they would certainly pay a high price for it. Besides, it was more spacious out there, with more gaps around them for the beast to go through and escape.

It seemed as though Ye Chong’s pursuit was about to end in failure, as the red-tailed beast went halfway through the flesh column. However, to Ye Chong’s surprise, the creature suddenly turned tail, as if in fright, and headed off in another direction.

Ye Chong was surprised for a moment, but quickly reacted and continued his pursuit. The red-tailed beast momentary pause allowed Ye Chong to close the distance between them.

What happened out there? Ye Chong was baffled. However, he pushed the question aside quickly and concentrated on chasing the wounded red-tailed beast.

The red-tailed beast was very familiar with the area. Had it not been wounded, Ye Chong would not have been able to keep up for so long. Even so, Ye Chong still had to give all he had to keep up.

This posed a challenge to his mech maneuvering skills. There were turns everywhere. An average mech pilot would have turned dizzy in the pursuit. Even though short ranged turns were one of Ye Chong’s better moves, he was also affected by the rough flight. Nevertheless, he suppressed whatever discomfort he felt and continued on. He knew that this was his best chance to finish off the red-tailed beast. If he missed this chance, the next time would not be so easy.

Ye Chong followed the red-tailed beast as best as he could.

Just then, after avoiding another flesh column, Ye Chong felt the space in front of him open up, but his heart sank. He and the red-tailed beast had entered the empty space where all the normal red-tailed beasts were.

However, what Ye Chong found was enough to leave even someone as rigid as him flabbergasted!

Floating all round him were dead bodies of the red-tailed beasts. These cold, gray bodies floated around peacefully in the space around him, too many to count. The flesh columns nearby were also turned into a mess, thoroughly destroyed, leaving no more fluid in their flesh. Their dark gray surfaces looked dim and lifeless.All the vesicles on the flesh columns were also destroyed.

The red-tailed beast that just entered the area froze in place for a moment, then looked back at Ye Chong.

Its crimson red eyes were now shining in the color of blood, with its face twisted menacingly.

Ye Chong felt all his hair rise. He quickly readied himself for battle. A beast at bay will put up a desperate fight. That was the nature of things. Ye Chong had no wish to die here.

However, much to his astonishment, the red-tailed beast turned and ran, moving even faster than before.

After a short pause, Han Jia accelerated and continued its pursuit.

Chapter 459: Out of the Purple Gas Cloud

he cold bodies of the red-tailed beasts were everywhere. This was a hindrance to Ye Chong’s pursuit. The wounded red-tailed beast moved deftly, easily moving between the bodies. Had it not been wounded, Ye Chong would have lost it long ago. It was a pity that Sang Pu and the rest were not here, or the beast would never stand a chance at escaping.

Ye Chong did not know that Sang Pu and the rest were destroying the flesh columns around them somewhere not far away. However, due to the flesh columns between them and the lack of comms, they had passed by each other without noticing.

The red-tailed beast was injured, but Ye Chong would not have been able to tell had he not seen how fast it could actually move beforehand. Knowing its true abilities, Ye Chong could see that it was actually moving quite a bit slower right now.

Han Jia continued its pursuit, avoiding the obstacles along the way. Ultimately, however, Han Jia was just a machine, and not as agile as the red-tailed beast. It was only because of Ye Chong’s superior flying skills that he managed to keep up.

An environment like this, with obstacles floating around everywhere was the least preferred for mech pilots, and the most dangerous. It would be difficult for long range mechs to aim, and equally difficult for close range mechs to fight in this environment, since they could not accelerate as much as they would like, fighting with their full potential, without putting their lives at risk.

Of course, there were exceptions. Sniper mech pilots, for example, would love complicated places like these. Besides, they were good at concealing themselves, and long distance single-shot kills made them the most fearsome killers that concealed themselves in the dark.

Ye Chong considered Mu to be an excellent sniper mech pilot. However, the place he was in now was too strange, such that even Mu’s scanning system would not work. Ye Chong could only rely on his own to keep his target in sight.

The red-tailed beast seemed to realize that the place was no longer its territory. It flew towards the edge of the purple gas cloud, intending to leave.

This was good news for Ye Chong. He knew that once they were out of the gas cloud, the odds would be in his favor.

As he flew by rows and rows of flesh columns, Ye Chong soon noticed that they looked thinner and thinner.

They were now near the edge of the purple gas cloud. Ye Chong estimated around half a minute before they were completely outside the purple gas cloud.

As the red-tailed beast in front of him continued its swift escape, Ye Chong concentrated on his pursuit. Here in the purple gas cloud, if they got separated any further, he would not be able to see his target.

Whoosh! A red-tailed beast burst out of the whirling purple gas cloud like a bolt of lightning. In the next instant, a mech swooshed out in pursuit of the creature.

They were finally outside!

In that instant, Han Jia’s photon processor began to function normally again. The red-tailed beast’s image became clearer, and this was a relief to Ye Chong.

Just then, Mu spoke up, “Ye, I just received a message from the base.”

“What message?” Ye Chong’s eyes were on the holographic screen as he asked.

“It’s about a report by Fei Si on these creatures,” Mu explained calmly.

“Report?” Ye Chong paused slightly. Why would they send over a report at this hour? However, he quickly focused. “What’s it say?”

“Fei Si’s research showed that these creatures can undergo evolution very quickly. There are two main catalysts for their evolution – pure energy and metals.” Mu’s voice was characteristically mechanical.

“Pure energy and metals?” Ye Chong frowned, but his eyes never left the holographic screen. With the photon processor and Mu’s aid, he would easily keep up with his target, allowing him some room to think about this problem.

“Could it be that energy weapons are ineffective against them?” Ye Chong reached the crux of the issue quickly. He thought of the mollusc bristleworms, which could absorb energy beams.

Ye Chong looked at the back silhouette of the red-tailed beast and frowned again. The mollusc bristleworms were immune to energy weapons, but they moved slowly and were not particularly aggressive. However, the red-tailed beasts were entirely different animals. They were fast and agile, with astonishing power in them. The bright red tips of their tails were a dangerous threat. If these creatures were immune to energy weapons, it would be a huge problem!

“That would have to be confirmed by experiment. Should we begin now?” Mu asked methodically.

Ye Chong felt helpless as he stole a glance at the starship some distance away from him, and rejected the idea. “There’s too many people now.” He understood Mu’s idea of an experiment. If Mu or Shang suddenly appeared before their massive audience, it would be shocking news to the world. Ye Chong had begun to have an inkling of where Mu and Shang came from. He must be closely related to the Xue Lai Clan in some way, even though he was not sure of the details.

However, both Ye Chong, Mu and Shang did not mind the topic so much. After experiencing so much together, Ye Chong did not hold too much issues like his own origin, or Mu’s and Shang’s. Right now, he only wanted to return to the Five Galaxies and spend time on his interests, like research. Even if he could not return, living a peaceful life in the He Yue Galaxy would be fine. As for Mu and Shang, the mech would of course be uninterested in the story of their own origin.

It was truly regretful for him that such a simple wish could not be so easily granted. With the sudden appearance of these unknown lifeforms, war had officially begun. War between men would have room for mercy, but it would be not be the case for war between different species. The end result would usually be the elimination of one of the two species involved.

Fei Si’s report had proved that much. Pure energy and metals were the catalysts for the evolution of these creatures. These two elements were also essential for human survival. With that, the incompatibility between humans and these creatures was obvious.

This war would not end without the annihilation of one of the two species.

The He Yue Galaxy would not be peaceful for long time ahead. For some reason, Ye Chong could no help but sighed at the thought. What were the Five Galaxies like at this moment? Would he be able to have peace there?

Ye Chong was not particularly ambitious. He did not feel like some protagonist in this war. The main players on the human side were probably the Three Aristocratic Families. Perhaps, when the Sang Tribe won this battle, they would also rise to become one of the main players too.

In fact, Ye Chong was also not particularly dedicated to the Sang Tribe. The way he saw it, he was helped by the Sang Tribe, and had in turn assisted them himself. Based on the principle of equal exchange that Mu told him about, they did not owe each other anything.

The only reason he returned this time was to ensure that the Sang Tribe was not entirely destroyed due to their ignorance. Now that they were winning, he had no business here anymore. After killing this red-tailed beast, Ye Chong planned to bring Rui Bing and Little Rock with him and find their way back to the Five Galaxies.

The war in the He Yue Galaxy would only worsen in the future. Ye Chong did not mind the fight, but he would not fight for meaningless ideals. Fighting for himself – that was his motto.

Perhaps, returning to the Five Galaxies would not be such a bad idea.

“Mu, where are Sang Pu and the rest?” Ye Chong broke off his train of thought, took a look at the red-tailed beast on the holographic screen, and asked Mu.

“Still in the purple gas cloud. Sang Tie had brought 30 thousand men with him, and they are now all in the battlefield.” From the moment he left the purple gas cloud, Mu and Shang had kept in touch with the base.

Ye Chong acknowledged the mech. He was not worried about Sang Pu and the others. He could not offer help in terms of directing the battalion, Sang Pu was more than equipped for that. Besides, with Sang Tie’s 30 thousand strong reinforcement, they should be able to handle themselves.

Mu reminded Ye Chong, “This red-tailed beast is heading for the Calamitous Asteroid Belt.”

“Right,” Ye Chong replied softly. Han Jia continued its pursuit. If Mu or Shang made their appearance now, they could give long distance shooting a try, but Ye Chong did not want that. Mu’s and Shang’s origin story must be extraordinary. He might not mind it, but other people would. The Xue Lai Clan, for example, would surely do something if they knew about Mu and Shang. If history was any indication, they would probably opt for some dangerous and hostile approach.

On the other hand, long distance shooting was Ye Chong’s Achilles heel. He had no choice but to continue chasing the beast.

Once they entered the calamitous asteroid belt, beyond the eyes of outsiders, Mu would be free to do his thing. More importantly, the red-tailed beast was ultimately only an animal, and had limited stamina. Han Jia, however, was powered by teardrop mineralite, and could fly longer than anything else.

Ye Chong could not help but felt impressed by the red-tailed beast’s strength. Despite its injury, Han Jia still needed to keep all its engines at maximum power to keep up with the creature.

The chase was noticed by the reporters who were following the war closely.

“Look at that,” one of the reporters cried out in excitement, “Just now, an unknown lifeform and a mech had burst out of the purple gas cloud. Here, we can see the creature clearly.”

The image of the red-tailed beast appeared more clearly on the holographic screen.

“Wah!” The reporter could not help but gasped. “This is the clearest view we have of the unknown lifeform so far. Dear viewers, you can see that this unknown lifeform is different from the ones we had seen before, it’s back …”

The reporter suddenly changed topic. “Let’s talk about the creature later. Now let’s look at the mech behind it.”

“Huh?” The reporter gasped again in surprise. “Here is a regretful news for all our dear viewers. The mech’s anti-scanning system is excellent. Our holographic scanning system cannot capture it. What you’re seeing now is a feed from our optical system. It’s not too clear, and we can hardly see the how the mech looks like …”

As the reporter made his commentary, the red-tailed beast and Han Jia vanished into the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, one after the other.

Chapter 460: New Insights

e Chong did not expect the chase to last for 24 days.

Had it not been for Mu, Han Jia’s holographic scanning system would not have been enough for him to keep up with the red-tailed beast. On the ninth day, he began to consider end the pursuit and return to base. Inside the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, numerous rocks and planetary bodies of sizes were everywhere. It was easy to lose one’s way, and even Mu could not guarantee identifying their location.

However, Ye Chong decided to continue his pursuit for a very specific reason.

Once they entered the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, Ye Chong deployed Mu immediately. With that, they quickly verified that the red-tailed beast was immune to pure energy attacks. Perhaps it was not immune to all kinds of energy based weapons, but Mu’s Recursion rifle was at least ineffective against it.

Of course, that was only one of the reasons Ye Chong continued the pursuit. What made him continue on was an incident that happened on the ninth day, which was the day that he began to consider giving up the chase.

He remembered clearly what happened that day. He was very tired then. He would not have been able to survive for nine days without his strong determination and Mu’s assistance.

The red-tailed beast was alert and cunning, with astonishing stamina. Even after nine days of continuous pursuit, the creature showed no signs of fatigue. It seemed to understand Han Jia’s weakness, and always flew into areas with many obstacles.

This spelled much suffering for Ye Chong, who had to keep up his concentration in order to avoid the floating rocks all around him. That was why he was exhausted physically and mentally sooner than expected.

There was another concern, and that was the food supply. Han Jia’s food storage was always full, as it was Ye Chong’s habit. Besides, he had quite a number of nutrition pills. However, he had to take into account the return journey. Besides, there was always the possibility of losing his way in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Allowing for some unexpected incidents, the food he had was barely enough. After all, long distance travelling in outer space was meant to be done with starships, not mechs.

At Han Jia’s maximum speed, nine days of flying amounted to a very huge distance. This meant that they were deep inside the asteroid belt by now. Mu had warned Ye Chong time and again that the further in they went, the more likely it was for them to lose their way. Even with Mu’s help, the probability of losing their way right now was already at 41 percent.

However, just when Ye Chong decided to turn back, the feed from the holographic screen made him stop in his tracks.

After days of escaping, the red-tailed beast did not look so good as well. Its black outer shell gleamed with a faint metallic glimmer, much fainter than when Ye Chong first saw the creature. Its crimson red eyes still looked obstinate and alert, but the veins that began to show in the eyes indicated that it was not at its best. The creature’s body looked shrunken and weaker, like it could give up at any time. Only the red tipped tail continued to shine brightly and threateningly.

The creature seemed to have sped up. The minor change immediately got Ye Chong’s attention. After days of pursuit, he was getting used to their normal flying speed and rhythm.

In front of the creature was a innocent looking rock. The rock was not particularly large, about three meters across and roughly spherical, with an inconspicuous dark brown exterior.

The red-tailed beast behaved oddly for the first time in their long chase. Ye Chong stopped whatever he was occupied with and observed closely.

The red-tailed beast approached the rock, and stabbed its tail into the rock. The tough rock seemed to be easily penetrated by the creature’s tail. The tail went all the way in, and Ye Chong gasped at the spectacle.

What was the creature doing? One the one hand, he was surprised by the strength of the creature’s tail, and on the other hand, he could not understand what it was doing.

The red-tailed beast rattled its tail. Crack! The rock fragmented into dozens of pieces and exploded outwards. It was chilling to watch.

The red-tailed beast now held in its tail a fist-sized yellow rock that glowed faintly.

A transmutated energy ore! Ye Chong recognized what it was immediately, surprised by what he saw. These transmutated energy ores often stored a significant amount of energy. Before this, he managed to gather a lot of these transmutated energy ores from the underground cave. That was also where he obtained a few teardrop mineralite, encountered the eerie black hole, the eight-fingered hand, and that chilling screech.

“Ye, it’s an energy ore!” Mu sounded surprised.

Ye Chong nodded without replying. His expression turned grim, and he began to feel nervous.

The red-tailed beast looked excited, and swallowed the transmutated energy ore without delay.

Ye Chong felt his heart skip a beat!

Right after that, he watched with horror at the red-tailed beast’s transformation. The shrunken muscles on the creature turned robust in an unbelievable speed, and the flesh that began to fester around the wound that Ye Chong left on it began to heal crazily fast. The creature’s dim outer shell began to shine with life again.

In just a short instant, the red-tailed beast seemed to be revitalized. Without the light red flesh that now healed over the wound, Ye Chong would have thought that it was all an illusion.

After the transformation, the red-tailed beast suddenly turned around and looked at Han Jia, which was still approaching it.

The fatigued red eyes were now lively and alert, they looked sharply at Ye Chong with an intense yearning for revenge.

It seemed to consider charging towards Han Jia, but after a moment’s hesitation, it turned back round and darted off ahead.

“Mu, it swallowed a transmutated energy ore,” Ye Chong said with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Yes,” Mu sounded unmoved as usual, “It looks like Fei Si’s report is reliable. The creature is most likely evolving.”

“Evolving …” Ye Chong seemed to have thought of something. “Seems like it could detect where the transmutated energy ores are.”

“The mechanism behind this behavior is still unknown, but based on what we have seen, it seems to be the case. The probability is between 60 to 90 percent,” Mu replied him.

“Mu, if it can find enough transmutated energy ores, will it be able to complete its evolution?” Ye Chong asked.

“Based on Fei Si’s theory, evolution required two elements – pure energy and metals. On the other hand, we do not know the required amount of each element for evolution to complete. However, given the environment in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, and the fact that there are no natural predators, the probability for the creature to complete its evolution is significant, higher than 67 percent,” Mu offered his analysis calmly.

Ye Chong understood the mech’s point. The Calamitous Asteroid Belt was aptly named, but it was in fact also a treasure trove. Here was a sea of countless of rocks, containing all kinds of precious ores. If it wasn’t for the dangers that lurked within, the place would have been invaded by mining ships. To this creature, however, the place was like heaven. Ye Chong knew that so long as it did not encounter any large scale disasters like the asteroid whirlpool, the other animals would generally not pose a threat to the red-tailed beast. The creature could detect energy ores, and would probably have no trouble detecting metal ores as well. If it had spend enough time in this place searching for energy and metal ores, it would soon complete its evolution.

Ye Chong was still chilled by his memory of the eight-fingered red-tailed beast he saw in the underground cave. Just a screech was enough to stop even Mu. Even though he had improved a lot since, he was still barely on par with Mu. Ye Chong would not wish to face such a dangerous creature ever.

Ths red-tailed beast he was chasing now was still far less powerful than the eight-fingered creature he encountered, but it had the potential to become one. No matter how one looked at it, the creature had an extensive memory, and was not the type to forget. The intense emotions of hatred and revenge in its eyes reminded Ye Chong constantly that it was a growing time bomb!

Based on past experience, the best to solution against this kind of threat was to nip it in the bud. Ye Chong decided right then to kill the red-tailed beast before it ever reached its final stage of evolution.

It was now the 24th day. Ye Chong had continued his pursuit for 24 days. It was like a long game of hide and seek between the red-tailed beast and Ye Chong.

In the 15 days that came after, Ye Chong did not allow the red-tailed beast to feed again. Mu’s excellent scanning system allowed him to detect energy and metal ores in the rocks as well. With Mu’s extra long distance shooting, he would destroy any rock that the red-tailed beast found and targeted! Everytime the scattered remains of the rock exploded in its face, the red-tailed beast would look pained, perhaps from the physical blows, or perhaps by the thought of losing its meal.

Hence, in the 15 days since Ye Chong witnessed it feeding, the red-tailed beast never ate another energy ore. Its body no longer shine so brightly, and it began to fly slower. Ye Chong was like a skilled hunter, patiently stalking his prey. With Mu’s assistance, the red-tailed beast grew weaker and weaker, with no chance of nourishment.

The creature had tried a few times to turn back and face its pursuer to fight, but every time it did this, it could never find the strange pursuer. This greatly discouraged the creature.

More importantly, it was now facing another predicament!