Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 263: Enemy of Enemy

"Canyue, take these translators with us as well. Perhaps they will be useful," said Anxashe as he handed a few translation devices to us.

"Our own translators have less than 50 percent of their energy left. Without the morph-capable shield's energy source, they will run out of energy soon. These translators will be helpful. But I wonder if they can translate the language of the beasts and robots here," said Old Du.

"Move out," I ordered, and we all marched out of the warehouse.

The security around the prison was truly lax. Apart from the two lion-faced beasts and the warden robot, we had not encountered anyone else. We easily reached the main exit of the prison complex. The entrance was unguarded, but the shut gate stood in our way out. Old Du stepped forth and tried to open the gate while the rest of us kept watch on full alert.

"Canyue, this place feels too weird. It doesn't make sense for there to be so few guards," said Zhang Bao'er, his voice nervous.

I looked back at the well-prisons behind me. I couldn't think of any reason for the security to be so lax either.

"Bao'er, apart from us, who else do you think they're keeping as prisoners?" I asked.

"How am I supposed to know what monsters they have imprisoned here? But the smell here is really terrible. I only want to leave as soon as possible," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Deputy Commander, do you mean that we can try to save one of the prisoners and see if it can help us?" asked the smart Anxashe.

"Since they are the prisoners of the robots and beast army, the prisoners here could very well be made our allies," I said.

"But they could also be thugs or some other criminals. It will be risky to work with them," reminded Zhang Bao'er.

"Despite the risk, I still believe we should give it a try. With only the five of us, the mission difficulty would be too high. We are in need of additional help," I said.

Since I had decided, Old Du stopped working on the gate. We returned to the midst of the well-prisons, and Anxashe picked a random hole in the ground.

"Bao'er, take a look with a flashlight first," said Anxashe.

"My suit has no energy. I can't turn on the flashlight," said Zhang Bao'er helplessly.

"There is no need to make things too complicated. Just let the rope down and see what we fish out of the well," I said.

"Sure. Let's give it a try. If it's some wild beast we pull up, just kill it," said Anxashe.

With my order, the Wargod soldier removed the rope he carried on his body.

"Warrior, what is your name?" Zhang Bao'er suddenly asked.

"Just call me Ada," said the Wargod soldier.

"Canyue, do we proceed?" asked Old Du.

"Yes. We don't have much time. Let's do it immediately," I ordered.

With the order given, Anxashe, Old Du, and Ada worked together to lower the rope into the well. Our hearts were beating nervously. We did not know what manner of terrifying monster awaited down inside. We might have experienced numerous battles, but the fear of the unknown could still bring us great pressure.

We waited with bated breath as the rope lowered slowly. The air around us smelled atrocious, but we hardly noticed the smell due to how nervous we were. Less than one minute later, the rope reached the bottom. Our nervousness reached the peak.

We stared at the rope, waiting for the reaction from the prisoner in the well. The wait was short, but it felt like an eternity. Suddenly, the rope trembled. The prisoner was starting to touch the rope we had lowered. After several probing pulls, the rope became taut. Fortunately, the three burly guys were ready. Together, they pulled the rope up.

"Deputy Commander, we're pulling it up," said Anxashe.

Zhang Bao'er and I had our rayguns on and aimed at the well. If the prisoner tried to bring us harm, we would kill it immediately. With the three working together, a creature with a terrible stench was pulled up a few seconds later. It lay sprawled on the ground. We hurriedly spread out and cautiously aimed our weapons at the creature.

The creature's back was facing us. We could see that the creature had long, waist-length hair and a humanoid body instead of the body of a smart robot. However, the creature's body was covered in filth while a heavy stench wafted around it. The original appearance of the creature's clothes could no longer be seen.

When I thought of how this could have very well been my fate, I inhaled in shock. The fellow remained on the ground for less than one minute before slowly raising its head. It seemed to be greedily breathing the air above the well, but due to its long hair, we couldn't see its face.

"Hey, we saved you. What crime did you commit to be locked down there?" asked Zhang Bao'er upon seeing that the creature was about to be back on its feet.

Hearing Zhang Bao'er's words, the creature slowly looked up. Only then did we notice with astonishment that this was actually a lion-faced beast. The long imprisonment had caused the hair of the lion-faced beast to grow to its waist. I could see a pair of ferocious eyes behind the long hair, the same eyes that were studying us in detail.

"Who are you?" the lion-faced beast asked suddenly. Surprisingly, through the translators Anxashe found earlier, we could understand it.

"We are liberators, here to liberate prisoners like you," lied Zhang Bao'er, making up a random story.

"Liberator? Have you defeated the robot kingdom? How about those fellows who feed on the mind of their brethren? Have they been dealt with?" asked the lion-faced beast doubtfully.

"Canyue, it looks like there is a complicated reason for its imprisonment. Should we leave before asking more questions?" asked Old Du.

"Who else is imprisoned here? Do we need to free them all?" I asked, making a rather brazen proposal.

"Most of the prisoners here are the beasts on the verge of having their brain genes harvested. Everyone here will ultimately lose their mind and body before being injected into the body of a robot," said the lion-faced beast, giving us a shocking piece of information.

"This is too terrible. We heard previously that the minds were harvested from non-sentient creatures they raised. I did not expect them to harvest the minds of sentient creatures as well. The Divine Empire is too terrifying," said Zhang Bao'er.

"I have a question. How do you know all that? Have you personally experienced what you speak of?" asked Old Du.

"Because I am the designer and leader of this mind transplant project," said the lion-faced beast, further shocking us.

"What? You're the designer of the project? But aren't you a prisoner as well?" I asked.

"I got tired of their disgusting acts, so they decided to extract my mind and inject it into a robot as well," said the lion-faced beast furiously.

"Tired? You designed this thing yourself. Why would you be tired of it?" I asked.

"Initially, the endless slaughter did not bring me any guilt. But as time progressed, even those from our lion-faced people needed to have their minds extracted. That wasn't something I could accept, so I voiced my objections to the main leader and the control manager of the city of machines. As a result, my student, Hash, colluded with my superiors and threw me into the well-prison. I was also slated to have my mind installed into a robot," said the lion-faced beast in agitation.

"You have been a prisoner for quite a while. Why haven't they extracted your mind yet?" asked Old Du cautiously.

"Yes, I have been imprisoned for a very long time. They hadn't been able to touch me because of a malfunction with the system. I am the only one who can fix it, and the process is related to my genes. Therefore, those fellows have kept me alive to today," said the lion-faced beasts.

"Canyue, it looks like we've really struck the jackpot this time. This fellow is the designer of this place. He is probably familiar with everything here. He can totally help us reach our destination," said Zhang Bao'er in excitement.

"If we save you, will you be willing to help us stop this disgusting project?" I asked directly.

The lion-faced beast stared at me with an odd look in his eyes for a long while before saying, "Revenge!"

The enemy of an enemy would be an ally. We were all excited to receive the assistance of a specialist.

"Since the others are all victims, let's save them all as well. We can even assemble an army here," suggested Zhang Bao'er.

"Absolutely not. Although these beasts are all victims, not all of them are intelligent creatures. Freeing them rashly could result in a backlash. We only need to save one more person," said the lion-faced beast.

"One more person? Do you know which well that person is in?" I asked.

"I can check for the information. That person is from the Sacred Wing race," said the lion-faced beast, giving yet another answer that shocked all of us.