Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 248: A Glimpse Into the Future

Within the massive base, a single pedestal stood in the middle of the building. It was the superweapon's brain. It was blue in color and propped up by four massive tubes. Atop the semicircular pedestal were hundreds of millions of wriggling pulp worms. The worms constantly moved as blue electrical currents danced around them. Weirdly, not a single beast was in the room housing the brain. The beast army that had retreated earlier was nowhere to be seen.

"God, I didn't expect the brain to be so big," exclaimed Zhang Bao'er in astonishment.

Immediately after gasping in astonishment, Old Du asked, "This is not something mere mortals should be capable of creating. This is a masterpiece of the gods. Temo, what's the purpose of the four tubes?"

"The two tubes to the right are transporting fresh pulp worms up. The other two are there to drain off the exhausted and almost-dead pulp worms," said Temo.

"The tubes are all connected to the ground. That means the incoming and outgoing flows are all happening underground," I said.

"Yes. Everything is done underground, including the burning of pulp worms. What I'm currently curious about is the lack of smoke from the burning," said Temo.

"Maybe the battle from earlier interrupted their regular workflow. But if everything is really happening underground, all the beasts should have probably escaped and also gone underground," said Old Du.

"They shouldn't be so scared that they are all hiding underground to avoid the buer's attack. There must be a different reason they're all hiding," said Temo.

"It doesn't matter. We're already here. The absence of the beasts is a good opportunity for us to install the nuclear warheads on the four tubes. Pull out immediately afterward," I ordered, not wasting any time.

With my order, everyone moved out to install the nuclear warheads, leaving only Old Du, Temo, and me behind.

"Temo, do you know the location of the entrance to go underground? We have been looking for something like that but never found one," I asked.

Temo gave a straightforward answer. "Theoretically, I will be able to find the entrances."

Hearing that Temo knew of a way to go underground, I immediately requested that he showed me and Old Du the way. And thus, while the others were installing the warheads, we followed Temo.

The base was massive, with a spacious hall housing only a brain at the center of the hall. As Temo led us through the hall, I finally noticed that an unknown symbol could be seen on the floor at fixed intervals.

About a dozen minutes later, I suddenly saw a big hole in the ground. The hole was perfectly square, as though a steel plate had been carved out of the floor to create that hole.

Seeing the hole, an astonished look covered Temo's face as he rushed forth and crouched down to study it. Old Du and I hurried forward before stopping beside the hole. The hole led straight down, and it was so deep that the bottom of it couldn't be seen. Bursts of chilly wind were coming out from the depths of the hole, alongside the howling sounds of wind.

"Is this the entrance?" I asked.

"Odd. Truly odd. Where's the piece of the floor here? The hole won't be left open at all times. It is something one can open with a password. I noticed earlier that the original entrance had been moved, but this hole here doesn't have the same shape as the original entrance," said Temo doubtfully.

I asked, "How are you sure that this isn't the path the beasts used? You have never been here before."

"I have never been here, but I have seen the blueprint of this place. The entrance to the underground shouldn't be a shaft dropping straight down like this. The beasts who can't fly won't be able to use an entrance like this," said Temo.

Suddenly, the roar of an unknown beast rang out from the depths of the hole.

"Canyue, did you hear that?" asked Old Du.

"Yes. That's not the sound of the wind. There is no doubt that the beasts are down there, but why are they all hiding? Maybe they're really that afraid of the buer?" I guessed.

At that moment, I received news through the communicator that Zhang Bao'er and the others had finished installing the nuclear warheads.

"There's no time to think. Old Du, install two nuclear warheads on this entrance. Then, we'll retreat," I ordered.

Following my order, Old Du installed two timed nuclear warheads on the entrance. The three of us then retreated rapidly. We were ready to leave the base.

'This mission has been surprisingly smooth,' I thought in excitement.

The three of us ran toward the door. Suddenly, I noted that the electrical currents on the worm colony brain had turned from blue to pink. For an unknown reason, some unknown force seemed to be urging me to record this miraculous sight. I was unable to stop myself from stepping toward the worm colony brain.

"Canyue, where are you going? That's not where the exit is," Old Du immediately called out to me.

"Old Du, I'm checking the positions of the nuclear warheads as a precaution. We don't want the mission to fail due to a careless mistake. After attracting the beasts' attention, we won't have a second shot at this," I replied, not even bothering to look back at Old Du.

Old Du did not ask much and followed me upon hearing my explanation. As I approached the worm colony brain, the miraculous construct became clearer and clearer to my eyes. The pedestal hosting the worm colony brain was filled with exquisite carvings. I could not understand the meaning of a single one. They seemed to depict some life forms I had never seen before.

Atop the pedestal, countless pulp worms were tangled together. Every single worm was wiggling rapidly. From how rapidly they were moving, it was evident that the worm colony brain was currently thinking intensively.

I could even clearly see some worms being dragged away by something similar to capillaries after they lost their energy. At the same time, more fresh and energetic worms were being delivered to the top of the pedestal.

'This must be the resupplying and draining process described by Temo,' I thought inwardly.

Suddenly, a pulp worm that looked different from the rest appeared before me.

Unlike the other white pulp worms, the one I noticed was pink. It was also twice the size of the other worms.

"Temo, look at that worm. It's completely different from the others," I said while pointing at the pink worm.

Oddly, neither Temo nor Old Du replied to me. I looked back and saw that the two had actually vanished. Even more surprisingly, the delicate building I was in had turned into piles of rubble. The ground was filled with collapsed parts of the building and dust. For some reason, the three stars in the sky also looked much dimmer than before.

"Old Du, Zhang Bao'er, Dodo, can you hear me?" I frantically called into my communicator. However, the only reply I received was some sort of cry similar to the call of birds.

"What is this? Did I travel through time again?" I muttered in confusion.

"Young man, do you like this voice?" a voice speaking in a Blueling language suddenly rang out behind me.

My entire body shook when I heard that voice. I hurriedly turned around and saw that someone was standing below the pedestal, someone with the appearance of a Blueling. I nervously gripped my gun tighter. This Blueling might not be real. I believed that I had fallen into some sort of illusion.

"Who are you? You're not a real Blueling, right? Why are you stealing our looks and language? Speak the truth! Why did you lure me here? Answer, or I'll open fire!" I threatened loudly.

"You're very smart. No wonder my younger brother chose you. Even within an environment with such powerful electrical currents, you are still aware that this isn't real. How surprising. You are the first person I've seen capable of maintaining such clarity of mind under the brainwave's effect," praised the fake Blueling.

"What brainwave? What younger brother? I don't know anything about that. Release me, or I'll open fire," I demanded, not in the mood to chat with an illusion.

"Young alien, be calm. This is an opportunity many would dream of having, yet you're giving up on it so easily? Do you really not want to take a glimpse into the future?" said the fake Blueling, making an extremely enticing proposal.

"Future? You can show me the future? Are you telling the truth?" I asked, unable to contain my emotions.

"You're looking at top-tier technology, and you are currently looking at the beast planet from 10 years in the future," said the fake Blueling.

"Beast planet from 10 years in the future? You mean this? It looks destroyed. Does this mean that the beast army was defeated?" I asked in excitement.

"This is the result of the explosion from the warheads you installed. The explosion had failed to destroy the worm colony brain, but it had taken a lot of lives," said the fake Blueling with a deep sigh.

"Taken a lot of lives? What do you mean?" I asked, somewhat confused.

"Come with me," said the fake Blueling as they turned and walked away. I hurriedly followed them.

I was brought before a pile of rubble. There, two familiar morph-capable suits could be seen beneath it. Due to the thick layer of dust and the passage of time, they looked extremely old.

Seeing them, I bent over and pushed the stones aside. Two withered yet recognizable corpses appeared before my eyes. If my guess was right, the two corpses were none other than Old Du and me. My personal laser pistol was strapped to the thigh of the corpse, confirming that the corpse was definitely me from a different point in time.

"Young alien, do you still regret this conversation with me? Can you see who they are?" asked the fake Blueling.

"Answer honestly. Why did my team and I die here? If you can't answer me, I'll make sure both of us perish together," I said as I raised a nuclear warhead with one hand and aimed my gun at the fake Blueling with the other.