https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-74-Desert-Sea-Storms-and-the-Spatial-Curtain/12833415/
Chapter 75: The Tumor Space
Chapter 75: The Tumor Space
On the Green Breeze (Qingfeng), Shen Qing couldn't help but chuckle at the scene, finding Song Chi's cautiousness amusing.
Of course, he was just slightly amused. He had no objections to being cautious; in fact, he inwardly admired Song Chi's behavior. Countless Flame Fleet captains died each year while exploring alien star domains. Life was precious, and no amount of caution was ever too much.
Hearing the laughter from the holographic screen, Song Chi, while maneuvering the Hornet drone back, replied, "I have a classmate who always took 'low profile' as his life motto. Guess what my life motto is?"
"Caution?"
Shen Qing thought about it carefully and tentatively suggested the word. He expected Song Chi to firmly deny it, but to his surprise, Song Chi nodded seriously and added, "You can also call it 'tability.'"
Shen Qing rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit speechless. _What kind of stability is this?_ The man he remembered from the past wasn't like this at all.
Song Chi wasn't bothered by Shen Qing's reaction. He had just spoken from the heart, without any exaggeration. On the day he activated the Star Sea Market Order and became the Market Master, 'tability' had indeed become the first word in his personal dictionary. But if others didn't believe him, there was nothing he could do about it.
After retrieving the Hornet-class Drone, confirming the space curtain's interior was safe, the two piloted their airships, Qingfeng leading, followed by Song Chi's Cangqiong (Blue Rampart), through the space curtain.
This time, Song Chi's Blue Rampart followed behind, while the Green Breeze led the way. They were now in the first level of the ruins Shen Qing had mentioned earlier. According to his account, he had accidentally discovered a spatial curtain on the side of a massive stone, and upon entering, he found a crystal box containing a blue artifact and several white artifacts in this enclosed space.
It took Shen Qing immense effort, nearly twenty hours, to use the Green Breeze's main cannon to break open the crystal box and retrieve the artifacts. After the box was shattered, it completely disintegrated along with its fragments, leaving no trace.
The enclosed space was not small, measuring thousands of meters in length and width, and nearly a kilometer in height. However, it was dwarfed by the two Flame Fleet airships. In less than two minutes, Song Chi successfully spotted the entrance to the second level of the ruins, a spatial curtain located directly above the enclosed space.
Unlike the outer spatial curtain, this one seemed to be reinforced. It emitted a powerful repulsion field that prevented any object from approaching.
Seeing this, Song Chi finally understood why Shen Qing had mentioned a second level to the ruins. Clearly, there was another layer of space above this curtain.
"This repulsion field is incredibly strong. Last time, I used the Green Breeze's main and secondary cannons for over two hours, but I couldn't break through it."
"Let's give it another try together. If we still can't break through, it means the things above are out of our reach!"
Shen Qing stared at the square spatial curtain above, which was over a hundred meters wide, his fists clenched tightly, his voice tense. The moment he and Song Chi teleported to the sky above this floating land, the interstellar beacon he had left behind had already disappeared. This was their last chance to explore these ruins. If they failed, they would never be able to return to this star domain.
Aware of the urgency and having already spent over an hour traveling, the two wasted no more time. The main and secondary cannons of both airships fired relentlessly at the spatial curtain above.
Boom!
Beams of light and dark energy bullets collided with the repulsion field, followed by continuous explosions.
Fortunately, this was a completely enclosed space; otherwise, Song Chi would have been worried about attracting those terrifying, enlarged worm-like creatures.
In the dark, enclosed space, the sense of time was blurry. Without the specialized timers on their airships, Song Chi and Shen Qing wouldn't have known how long they had been attacking.
By the fourth hour of continuous bombardment, the repulsion field on the spatial curtain finally showed signs of weakening. The light it emitted was noticeably dimmer. Noticing this, the two, who had become somewhat numb, regained their enthusiasm.
By the eighth hour of continuous bombardment, the repulsion field had dimmed to its limit, seemingly on the verge of breaking.
However, even by the twelfth hour, the repulsion field remained stubbornly intact, showing no signs of cracking.
In the thirteenth hour, just as Song Chi and Shen Qing were mechanically pressing the fire buttons, a faint, clear vibration suddenly echoed through both airships. They looked up eagerly, and the next second, their faces lit up with intense joy.
The repulsion field surrounding the spatial curtain had completely dimmed, and the attacks from their airships were no longer repelled. They left ripples on the spatial curtain and then penetrated into the unknown space beyond.
Overwhelmed with joy, Shen Qing instinctively moved to pilot the Green Breeze toward the spatial curtain, but Song Chi stopped him.
It was just an instinctive reaction born of excitement. After Song Chi's intervention and reminder, Shen Qing quickly regained his composure. Together, they opened the airship's hatches and released a drone.
In the exploration of alien star domains, nearly all Flame Fleet captains carried one or two combat robots and reconnaissance drones. Even without a network, these could be controlled and operated within the magnetic field range of the Flame Fleet airship. They were standard equipment for most Flame Fleet captains.
After all, even though the magnetic field range of the airship was limited, in many situations, these combat robots and drones could be quite useful.
For example, in this situation.
The two drones disappeared into the spatial curtain, one after the other, with only a second between them. However, the reactions of Song Chi and Shen Qing were drastically different.
The drone Shen Qing controlled lost connection the moment it entered the spatial curtain. The image on his control screen turned pitch black, and he lost contact with the Hornet drone.
Song Chi, on the other hand, had re-established his brainwave beacon on the drone after the hours of waiting. Despite the spatial curtain, he still had a clear view through the Hornet drone.
In the cockpit of the Clear Breeze, Ethan Chen turned his gaze to the communication screen. Before he could ask about the drone, he saw the projection of Victor Song's face on the screen, showing a look of sheer terror, the kind of fear one only sees after witnessing something truly horrifying.
From his years of knowing Victor Song, Ethan Chen understood that for Victor Song to react this way, there must be something truly incomprehensible in the space above the spatial curtain.
Almost instinctively, he swiftly maneuvered the Clear Breeze to turn and retreat.
To his side, the Dark Horizon reacted even faster. At the same time, Victor Song's voice boomed through the communication screen, "Pull back, quickly!"
...
Speaking of Victor Song, after the Hornet-class drone passed through the spatial curtain and entered the space above, he saw from the drone's perspective a vast space, stretching thousands of meters in length and width.
Unlike the first layer, the center of this second layer contained a cubic crystal box about ten meters wide. The crystal box emitted a blinding white light, illuminating the entire second layer.
Under this white light, Victor Song saw a sight that would be etched in his memory forever.
The entire second layer was covered with countless growths, each about a meter tall, resembling tumors. These tumors were not only slimy but also pulsated faintly, as if they had a life of their own.
At the far end of the second layer, Victor Song saw an enormous tumor, standing several dozen meters tall. The pulsation of this tumor was even more pronounced. Through the translucent walls, Victor Song could vaguely see the silhouette of a massive, bloated creature. There was no doubt that these tumors contained unknown life forms in a state of dormancy.
This was not the most terrifying part. As Victor Song prepared to maneuver the drone back quietly, not wanting to disturb these horrifying tumors, he realized it was too late.
The several rounds of cannon fire from the Dark Horizon and Clear Breeze had already shattered several tumors. These tumors were now shaking violently, and the creatures inside had been awakened. As the shaking continued, all the tumors in the second layer began to stir one by one.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
When the first few tumors were completely torn apart, the creatures inside were revealed in the drone's view.
"Damn, they're Zerg. The second layer contains tens of thousands of Zerg, and there's even a Queen."
When the Dark Horizon and Clear Breeze had retreated several hundred meters, Victor Song shouted without waiting for Ethan Chen to ask.
Upon hearing the word "Zerg," Ethan Chen's reaction was almost identical to Victor Song's. His eyes widened with fear, and his face turned grim.
The Zerg were a star sea race as notorious as the Void Demons. The Zerg infestation and the Void Catastrophe were both among the top five most infamous disasters in the fragmented star sea.
At this moment, Victor Song finally understood the mystery that had puzzled him. He had always wondered what force could so thoroughly destroy a floating land, making it completely barren.
The appearance of the Zerg now perfectly answered this question.
Unlike the bloodthirsty and murderous Void Demons, the Zerg's defining characteristic was consumption. They consumed everything with energy, and no matter where they appeared in a star domain, the end result was always the complete depletion of all resources, turning the star domain into a desolate wasteland.
Other star sea civilizations also plundered resources, but they only took the resources themselves, not the environment that produced them. The Zerg, however, left nothing but devastation in their wake, completely destroying a star domain and leaving it with no value.
Panic set in, and both men were at a loss.
Although they had both graduated from the prestigious Yangyuan First Flame Academy and received formal flame education, their knowledge of the notorious Zerg was mostly theoretical, gleaned from books.
Facing them in person was a completely different situation.
Finally, Victor Song, who had lived two lifetimes, regained his composure first. He quickly recalled all the information about the Zerg and called out to Ethan Chen through the communication screen.
"Ethan, what do you think? Fight or run?"
Ethan, hearing this, also refocused and thought for a moment before responding.
"Can you roughly estimate the number of Zerg?"
"Conservatively, there are over thirty thousand, and the Queen may or may not be able to lay more eggs."
Victor Song's response was quick, having already gathered most of the information from the drone's perspective. However, he quickly added:
"Of course, whether she can lay eggs or not isn't important. The space above lacks additional energy sources, which is why the Zerg chose to enter a collective dormancy. Without energy, even if the eggs hatch, the larvae won't grow quickly and won't pose a threat to us."
Ethan then said, "So, we're dealing with over thirty thousand Zerg that have just awakened from dormancy and haven't replenished their energy for a long time, making them weak?"
At this point, Ethan's meaning was clear, and a look of eagerness appeared on his face.
Victor Song couldn't say much against this. He was hesitant to fight, even though the Zerg were indeed weak. The sheer number of them made him wary of taking the risk.
However, since Ethan had shown his willingness to fight, Victor Song couldn't refuse outright. He could set an anchor point and return to this ruin through the Marketplace of All Realms when he was strong enough to clear the Zerg. Then, all the spoils of the ruin would be his alone.
But doing so would be a despicable act, and he was unwilling to do it.
If his companion had been a stranger or if Ethan had not brought him here, or if he had discovered the ruin and brought Ethan along, he would have chosen to run and return later. But that wasn't the case.
He couldn't betray Ethan, his childhood friend and trusted companion. This wasn't about being overly sentimental; it was about maintaining his principles and moral foundation.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
