Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 89: Emergency Pulley Combination

I entered the airlock and went through the decontamination protocol like everyone else. This was a standard practice to avoid contaminating the planet with alien bacteria. Master Crystal put on the spacesuit he had brought. The spacesuit appeared rather outdated.

"Does your spacesuit work? Do you need a new suit?" asked Lifu.

"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Master Crystal tactfully refused the offer.

"Decontamination complete. You may step into the exit chamber now," the system notification sounded.

Everyone moved into the exit chamber as the door to the airlock closed behind us.

"All preparations complete. Dodo, open the door. Everyone, prepare to leave," I said.

When the door opened, I signaled at Old Du to exit. He was the first to walk out of Fearless and left his footprint on the ground of this grayroid. I was certain that this was the very first footprint in the inner layer of a grayroid by someone from the league.

"Ground surface is solid. The planet is stable. Everyone may exit the ship," Old Du said.

Everyone exited in the agreed-upon order. When everyone was outside, Fearless lifted into the air and flew away.

"Canyue, we are fixing our position. The communication channel will be open at all times," Zhang Xingxing's voice came from the communicator.

The ground below us was rather loose. Unlike Jupiter II with its furious gale, this place was relatively calm. Despite the temperature being at negative 150 degrees, the ground was not frozen. Apart from the extreme chill, the place was rather peaceful.

"From my calculation, to climb uphill from here to the peak, we need to travel roughly 3,500 kilometers," said Lifu.

"That will take us two weeks on foot," said Old Du.

I commanded, "We need to act separately. Two groups will set out. The first group will search the areas where the white light might be found. The second group will maintain a distance behind the first group and be on standby to provide assistance."

"There is no need to work. We have a vehicle with us," Lifu announced the good news.

Under Lifu's command, Snow and Adelan placed the massive chests down. From two of the chests, they took out two rectangular objects and placed them on the ground.

Lifu said to Snow, "Activate the armed off-road attack vehicle."

When Snow pressed the button on the remote control in his hand, the rectangular objects started shifting rapidly. The connecting parts within each object extended outward one after another. After several minutes, two off-road attack vehicles armed with rail cannons appeared before us.

"My god. Isn't this basically a Transformer?" Zhang Bao'er exclaimed.

"No. The Transformers are actual life forms. These are still machines," I said.

Lifu had his assistants help him load the remaining chests onto the vehicle on the back before taking the driver's seat of the front vehicle. Once seated, he drove the vehicle toward me. I discovered that the vehicle was actually hovering on the ground, so its movement was smooth despite the rugged ground.

"Great explorer, you may get on with your forward party," Lifu said.

"Old Du, Dodo, come with me. The rest, get on the vehicle behind us. You will set off after 10 minutes. Follow behind us and be on standby to provide assistance," I said.

I could see a disappointed look on Zhang Bao'er's face for not being picked, but he remained silent. Dodo immediately notified Fearless of our plan. The vehicle carried us and advanced smoothly.

"I do not notice any power installations, and there are no wheels either. How does it move while floating in the air?" Dodo asked curiously.

"It's the maglev technology. A magnetic device of the same magnetic poles was installed in the chassis. One part of the device slopes downward to face the ground while the other part provides a lifting force to the vehicle, reducing resistance when the vehicle is moving. Earlier, I noticed that this planet's ground is magnetic in nature. When I adjusted the magnetic system to the same pole as the ground, the vehicles gained the ability to float," said Lifu.

"How is the vehicle moving forward?" I asked.

"Under the vehicle, there is a molecular fission device. By altering the molecular makeup of the air, a pushing force is created to bring the vehicle forward," said Lifu.

'Good lord. Isn't this the same technology the Storms use? Looks like the Divine Empire's relationship with the Storm race isn't simple at all,' I thought inwardly.

With the headlight on, the vehicle slowly advanced through the rugged landscape. Thanks to the headlight, I could see that the ground was made of a deep black substance. Lifu took out a scanner and scanned our surroundings.

"What kind of scanner is this?" Dodo asked.

"This is a vibration detector, used to detect alien life forms. Any vibration within 300 kilometers will be detected by the wave band. The wave band encompasses numerous forms, such as sound waves, light waves, radio waves, and so on," said Lifu.

"But aren't we moving as well? The wind is moving as well. How does the device separate all that?" I asked.

"My device is excluding all of us. As for wind movement or other similar movements made by nature instead of a life form, we have a full set of algorithms in the database that allows the system to differentiate between natural movements and movements of a living being. After all, there is a clear difference between the two," said Lifu.

"In short, this is a usage of big data, an application of the elimination method on big data," said Old Du.

"Yes, precisely," said Lifu.

The armed off-road vehicle continued onward. Suddenly, a geological fault appeared in the path ahead of us, with the ground rising to a height of 20 meters. The middle of the fault was rather conspicuous because, unlike its surroundings, it was a pale yellow. The vehicle slowly approached the fault. As the vehicle advanced, it started making sounds. Seemingly affected by the fault, the vehicle started trembling and losing balance.

"Stop the vehicle here. We'll go take a look. With the fault there, we can't continue ahead anyway," I said.

Everyone got out of the vehicle and walked ahead. The fault appeared like a steep 20-meter-tall cliff. The cliff walls were glossy and sleek, as though the ground had been cleanly cut through by a sharp hatchet. The yellow in the middle of the fault formed a clear contrast to its black surroundings. Dodo scanned the yellow rocks with his laser probe, and Old Du carefully took some samples of the yellow and black rocks before storing them in his bag.

"Canyue, Old Du, according to the probe, this yellow substance is actually a type of iron," said Dodo.

"Iron?" Both Old Du and I were exceptionally sensitive to that term.

"Yes. From the atomic makeup of this yellow substance, it is definitely iron. But the black substance does not return any results. It is most likely a new element. The combination of the two elements seems capable of creating a massive magnetic force," said Dodo.

"Looks like this is a magnetic planet. Is it possible that the powerful magnetic force is the thing that has absorbed all light?" guessed Lifu.

"Possible. Perhaps this planet was originally shaped like a slab and was composed of magnets. An asteroid formed of iron was attracted by the magnetic force, resulting in a collision, creating this grayroid we're standing on," said Old Du.

"Let's find a path forward before thinking about all that," I said.

We couldn't see the end of the fault with our naked eyes. Its height of 20 meters made it impossible for us to jump over it with our vehicle either.

"Canyue, I suggest we take a detour around the fault and see if there is a new entrance," Zhang Xingxing's voice came from the communicator.

We followed her suggestion, and Lifu started taking the vehicle around the fault. After traversing nearly 100 kilometers, we still couldn't find the end of the fault. The vibration scanners weren't able to find anything either.

"We need to find a gap in this thing and continue inward. The temperature out here is reaching negative 170 degrees. It is putting a lot of strain on our suits. If we really have no choice, we might have to abandon the vehicle and walk," said Old Du.

"Why don't we blast an opening and create a less steep slope?" I suggested.

"The noise of the explosion might alarm the beast. That should remain our last option," Lifu objected.

"I have an idea," Dodo said. "But I don't know if it will work."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Use a pulley to lift the vehicle over," Dodo said.

"We have the ropes to do it, but where do we get a pulley? How should we hoist something as heavy as this vehicle up?" I asked.

"By dismantling this rail cannon. Its components will be enough for us to make one. Canyue, you will need to climb the cliff and find a spot to serve as the fulcrum. After the pulley and rope are fixed, we can get the others to come with their vehicle. We will use the weight of their vehicle to lift our vehicle," said Dodo.

"Alright. We'll do that. Let's get moving, everyone," I said. Old Du and I started dismantling the cannon.

About 10 meters later, Snow arrived with Master Crystal and the others in the second vehicle. After Dodo explained the plan to them, Titan did not hesitate to climb up the cliff with a rope to look for a suitable position to act as the fulcrum. I was envious of Titan's fit body. I would be happy if I could be even half as fit as Titan.

"The cannon has been dismantled. Only one wheel was found," said Old Du.

"One wheel is not enough. That will only allow us to move weight on a one-to-one ratio. That might not be enough to lift a vehicle with the other vehicle," said Dodo.

I looked at the other vehicle and said to Old Du, "Dismantle the other cannon as well."

Old Du immediately got started. The cannon was promptly dismantled, and a second wheel was taken out of it. At this time, Titan had already found a suitable spot on the cliff. A support pillar had been installed there and a rope dropped down from the pillar.

Old Du tied one end of the rope around Dodo's body before tying the other end around himself. Then, Titan pulled them up the cliff one after another. Up there, Dodo personally assembled the two wheels into a U-shaped pulley combination. To preserve energy, each wheel was attached to four ropes. With everything in order, Lifu and I tied the two ends of the rope to the two vehicles.

"Snow, slowly move the vehicle," I said.

Snow moved the vehicle in the opposite direction. As the force applied itself through the pulley system, the other vehicle was slowly lifted. Everyone worked in silence, and only the sounds of a rope being pulled taut could be heard in the air. For some reason, my heart started thumping nervously.

As Snow continued driving his vehicle onward, our vehicle finally reached the peak altitude of the geological fault. Old Du and Titan immediately tossed their hooks out and worked together to pull the vehicle toward them.

"Success!" Dodo exclaimed in joy.

Cheers from the crew left in Fearless also came through the communication channel. Zhang Xingxing and the others were clearly paying close attention to everything we were doing. We did the same thing and lifted the other vehicle up the cliff with the help of the first vehicle.

With the two vehicles safely at the top of the cliff, Lifu had his two assistants start reassembling their cannons. Suddenly, the alarm signal of the vehicle's vibration scanner blazed.