Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 252: Variance Sensor Beast

Hearing Old Du's request, Sarje handed his staff over.

"Sarje's staff is filled with the soft element. I plan to stabilize the ground after we melt it, preventing it from turning solid again," explained Old Du.

"What? Old Du, that's a weapon I inherited from my grandpa. You can't break it!" Sarje objected and tried to snatch his staff back.

"Do us a favor. I'll make you an even better weapon after this," I requested.

Seeing that even I was requesting the weapon, Sarje gave up and reluctantly let Old Du take his weapon. Old Du raised the temperature of the floor again. The same liquid form appeared, and Old Du hurriedly stabbed the staff into the melted floor.

Standing beside him, Sarje gritted his teeth in anguish. This time, Old Du's gamble was a success. The soft element played a crucial role in preventing the melted floor from turning solid again. Zhang Bao'er, who was watching attentively, saw hope and rushed forward to give Old Du a hand.

Old Du continued going through the floor while Zhang Bao'er remained above him to push Sarje's staff down. After about two-thirds of the staff was embedded into the floor, a pop sounded. We had actually punctured through.

"Nice! We punched through!" Zhang Bao'er cried out in excitement.

Anxashe rushed forth and worked with Zhang Bao'er to pull Sarje's staff out. About one-third of it had melted away. The lower half of the staff had become much thinner than before. Sarje looked greatly distressed as he took his staff back. Old Du remained focused on the floor. After we punctured through, its structural integrity had become fully ruined, and it had lost the ability to repair itself like before.

Noticing that, Old Du continued cutting through with his electric welder. The hole kept expanding, and after roughly 10 minutes, a hole wide enough to fit one person was before us.

"Reporting to the deputy commander, the task has been accomplished," reported Old Du expressionlessly despite his great contribution.

One ought to admit that Old Du had performed extremely well. Although Sarje's family staff had been damaged in the process, he had successfully found a way out of the maze.

"Hmph. Keep hiding the exit. I'll just punch my way out," bragged Zhang Bao'er.

Dodo immediately lay down to look outside the tube.

"Dodo, what do you see outside?" asked Anxashe.

"It's covered in a thick fog. I can't see clearly. Not even my laser probe can penetrate the fog," said Dodo.

"How's the air and temperature down there?" asked Old Du.

"The temperature in the fog is roughly 40 degrees Celsius, so it's rather hot. The oxygen level is low as well, at roughly 15 percent of the air, barely enough to make the air breathable," said Dodo.

"Why can't we see the ground? Don't tell me there's a lava pool below us," said Zhang Bao'er nervously.

"Don't be stupid. If there's a lava pool, it will be much hotter. The pink fog is too thick. We will only know the situation after going down," said Old Du.

"It is likely that there will be ground down there. The ground of the entire planet will always maintain a consistent temperature," said Temo.

"Constant temperature? Why design this planet this way?" I asked.

"It is said that of the 27 artificial planets, the main planet, Black King, houses an important type of life form. These life forms need an environment with consistent temperatures to display their strength. I believe the red fog is the result of the temperature being the same for a long time," said Temo.

"An important type of life form? What life form is it this time? Why are there so many types of life forms here?" asked Dodo in astonishment.

"Dodo, what a stupid question. This is a beast planet. If you don't expect to see beasts here, what do you expect to see?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"What are they like? Have you seen them before?" I asked.

"It is said that these life forms have no eyes. They rely on the difference in temperature to sense their prey. The Divine Empire mostly have them roaming in the wilderness to hunt down any outsiders trying to enter the Black King Base without using the intended channel. We know them as the variance sensor beast," said Temo.

"Black King Base, unintended channel? Do you mean there is a safe zone on this planet?" I asked in excitement.

"Yes. At the center of Black King is a large base. Unlike the other planets, all parts of the superweapon built here are housed together. The variance sensor beasts are in charge of the defenses around the base," said Temo, reminding me of the difficulty to enter the base.

"I understand. Based on what Temo said, this maze might be the safe route leading to the base. We merely lack the knowledge of the correct way out of the maze," said Old Du as understanding dawned on him.

"If that's the case, I would rather continue exploring this maze than leave and meet those variance sensor beasts outside," said Zhang Bao'er, displaying his fear of the beasts.

Coincidentally, right after Zhang Bao'er voiced his fear, a roar came from the red fog. The roar sounded extremely savage, to the point we shivered listening to it.

"It's just some beasts. It's not like we have never seen a beast before. Just kill any we see," said Anxashe, stepping forth to encourage everyone when he smelled the fear in the air.

"Kill all you see? After killing a variance sensor beast, it will turn into two. They have the ability to heal themselves. By conservative estimation, there are probably millions of them roaming this planet," said Temo, making it clear how terrifying the variance sensor beasts were.

"What? Millions? If there are so many of them on this bald planet, what do they eat?" asked Zhang Bao'er doubtfully.

"They kill and eat each other. Or they will eat themselves before regrowing the eaten part," said Temo. His explanation clearly demonstrated how terrifying these beasts were.

"That's so disgusting. Why hadn't you reminded us about them if there were such terrifying beasts here?" complained Zhang Bao'er.

"From removing the nuclear warheads to traveling here, not a single person has asked for my opinion. If it wasn't for the sake of abiding by the moral codes of our superior civilization, I wouldn't have even followed you here," said Temo coldly.

We didn't have anything to say. He was right. While escaping the buers, I had urgently given the order without asking for anyone's opinion.

"Canyue, these beasts are too scary. I suggest we continue exploring the maze. We're not in that much of a rush, anyway," said Zhang Bao'er.

"This maze is not on the blueprint. It is very surprising. My suggestion is to take a look at the maze from outside," said Temo, giving us a new suggestion.

Dodo seemed to have realized something upon hearing Temo's words. They stretched their right arm through the hole in the floor and pulled their left arm into their body. The right arm extended outside the hole, and through the surveillance equipment on their right arm, they observed the situation outside.

A shocking scene appeared before our eyes. Outside, the entire sky was covered by a maze-like system of tubes. There were at least seven layers, leaving a massive shadow on the ground. Thanks to the rays of light shining through the gaps between the tubes, we could see that the maze system was probably large enough to cover the planet's mesosphere.

"My god. This is too complicated. Without knowing the correct path, we probably won't be able to find our way out even after spending a lifetime here," said Old Du with a helpless sigh.

Anxashe said, "I don't want to be stuck here my whole life. I would rather go to the ground than stay in here that long. At the very least, we can advance in a straight line instead of traveling through this confusing maze."

"But we don't have much of our energy supply left. There are millions of variance sensor beasts out there. How are we supposed to get through them?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Even facing them is better than being trapped here," argued Anxashe unyieldingly.

"Temo, do you know the location of the main base?" I asked, trying to gather more information.

"I only know that the main base is located in the planet's central region," said Temo.

"Dodo, try to determine our position on this planet. Try contacting the fleet again as well. With a hole in the floor, perhaps Zhang Xingxing and the others can receive our signals," I ordered.

Dodo carried out the order faithfully. A few minutes later, they returned with one good piece of news and one bad piece of news. The bad news was that we still couldn't contact the fleet. The good news was that through analyzing our position, Dodo concluded that the main base was less than 10 hours away from us.

"Less than 10 hours. Looks like we're quite lucky!" said Anxashe in excitement.

That was true. This was a big planet, and for us to be less than 10 hours away from our destination, we had truly gotten lucky. Next, we had to make a choice. Should we stay in the maze or should we go outside?

Everyone looked at me. I understood that with the cohesiveness of the team, whatever choice I made would be followed by the team. I looked at Old Du and saw encouragement in his eyes. If we stayed in the maze, it was unlikely that we could reach the base. Thus, I made my decision.

"Everyone, go out. Enter battle formation. Dodo will lead the way to the Black King Base," I ordered firmly.

"It would be great if the buer were here. Sitting on it, we would have been able to reach our destination in half an hour," muttered Anxashe, making a rather unrealistic wish.