Chapter 1004: Paying Homage to the Progenitor?

Chapter 1004: Paying Homage to the Progenitor?

"Bang——!"

A deafening gunshot tore through the woods, and after weighing the pros and cons, Night Ten ultimately chose to strike first.

The other side seemed to feel the same.

At the very moment the bullet burst from the barrel, a two-meter-tall black shadow shot out of the forest.

It was a four-legged beast.

Its body was low to the ground, with sharp front claws, powerful hind legs, and fangs like daggers!

This creature didn't resemble a mammal; it was more like a reptile.

Its beastly form was akin to a crouching wolf, but its entire body was hairless, replaced by gleaming, oily scales!

What made Night Ten's heart race was that this thing's ability to sense danger was also formidable.

As if anticipating his attack, it predicted and dodged his trajectory a femtosecond before he pulled the trigger.

It looked like a coincidence.

But for a perception-type player, Night Ten knew exactly what it was!

"Watch out!"

A belated cry came through the comm channel, as the distance between them rapidly closed from twenty meters to within ten.

Not daring to be overconfident just because he wore power armor, Night Ten quickly adjusted his muzzle to track the mutant's movements, switched to full-auto mode, and fired two short bursts.

Experience from the wasteland told him that even power armor didn't mean invincibility.

Especially "dangerous species" like Deathclaws could still thrash a rookie in power armor!

"Got you!"

The concentrated bullets suppressed the mutant's trajectory; it dodged left and right for a while before finally getting hit.

The 7mm rounds pierced its horny scales, leaving bleeding holes in its body.

"Roar——!"

The mutant let out a pained howl, its two pea-sized eyes flickering with fear.

But—

It didn't turn and run. Instead, it summoned the courage for a desperate last stand, charging with all its might, jaws wide open, aiming for Night Ten's face.

The ferocious bite was like a truck hurtling toward him, and Night Ten could already smell the stench of its breath.

Yet he was a veteran player who had been through countless battles; even if he wasn't known for strength or agility, he wouldn't be taken down by some wild beast.

He sidestepped the terrifyingly powerful jaws, raised his rifle, and used the stock to block the sweeping front claws, then drew the grass-clearing knife from his belt and, with lightning speed, slashed horizontally at the beast's neck.

Driven by both the power armor and his muscles, the sharp blade flashed like a streak of lightning, severing its head clean off.

Dark red blood gushed from the neck wound, splattering onto the emerald grass with a sizzling sound.

Watching the hot blood he instinctively dodged, Night Ten's face showed surprise.

Just then, an anxious voice came through the comm channel.

"Are you okay?"

"Small stuff, no big deal."

Night Ten shook his head, glanced at the knife in his hand, wiped the blood on a broad leaf, and sheathed it.

This place was eerie.

He couldn't help but look again at the misty grass, muttering as he continued.

"Damn... this blood is acidic?"

Even stranger, the grass splattered with blood seemed nourished by the wispy mist, growing even more vigorously.

What the hell.

Jiang Xuezhou's voice came through the comm.

"It might not be acidic, but some dehydrating substance we don't understand... There are samplers and test tubes on the ship. If you could, would you mind collecting some samples?"

"No need to be so polite, I was just about to."

Wasteland OL always had quests for collecting mutant encyclopedias, offering plenty of contribution points and silver coins.

This thing was an alien mutant—way cooler than any polar bear, right?

Night Ten went back to the ship, grabbed professional sampling tools, collected the mutant's blood, saliva, and various tissue cells, labeled them, and placed them in a low-temperature sample box.

While he was busy, the scent of blood from the beast's corpse had already attracted a swarm of bizarre little creatures.

Among them were flying insects with proboscises, round beetles, small reptiles resembling ants but not quite, and four-legged miniature beasts lurking at the edge of the bushes, wanting to approach but too afraid.

Wearing power armor, Night Ten wasn't afraid of these bugs crawling on him, but they were still annoying.

"Shoo, shoo, go play somewhere else."

Seeing more and more bugs, he had no choice but to pull out a white phosphorus grenade, yank the pin, and toss it aside.

With a blinding white flash, acrid smoke spread around, finally driving the insects away.

Taking advantage of the insects' retreat, Night Ten quickly finished the sampling.

And in the brief moment after he returned to the research ship and came back out, the head that had fallen in the grass nearby had already been gnawed down to the bone.

Night Ten suddenly felt that this place was like a giant version of the Baiyue Strait.

But unlike the latter, he found nothing like the original Nagu strain around here.

The species here seemed to be in a simple food chain, with no deeper DNA exchange.

"...Could Gaia be dead?"

He didn't know if Gaia had a concept of death, but he couldn't help feeling this confusion.

Especially since, from his landing until now, the only threat he'd encountered was a single mutant.

He had expected the opponent to be the entire planet.

In fact, this wasn't just Night Ten's confusion—it was also Jiang Xuezhou's.

This place wasn't exactly safe, but it didn't seem as dangerous as they had imagined.

Of course, maybe it was because they hadn't been landed long; this massive planet hadn't yet realized they were here...

"...We'd better hurry. Maybe we can leave before Gaia becomes aware of our existence."

"I'll try."

After replying to Jiang Xuezhou, Night Ten moved the dead beast's corpse farther away and buried it, then returned to the vicinity of the ship and scattered some feces he'd taken from the beast's intestines.

That was Jiang Xuezhou's suggestion.

She'd heard that carnivore feces could drive away other beasts.

Though he didn't know if this Earth wilderness survival trick would work on an alien planet, Night Ten still forced himself to do it despite the disgust.

After finishing these tasks, he rubbed his armored gloves against the tree trunk beside him, nearly stripping the bark off before stopping, then dragged large bundles of equipment out of the research vessel.

These devices were all crafted by Jiang Xuezhou using materials from the engineering repair bay of the Orion-class missile cruiser.

They included a temporary base station for medium-range signal reception, a ground meteorological observation station, charging piles for drones, solar panels, and metal-hydrogen batteries.

With this equipment, at least he could ensure "uninterrupted network" within a 50-kilometer radius of the research vessel.

It was clear that Jiang Xuezhou had gone to great lengths for his safety—more than Ye Shi himself ever bothered about his own.

Back when he did missions around Dawn City, he and his brothers from the Burning Legion always used their faces to check the bushes, treating death as just an early return to base.

Finally, with all preparations complete, Ye Shi shouldered a supply crate half his height and, followed by a quadcopter drone, set off toward the signal from the black box of the Gemini-class missile cruiser wreckage.

He remembered reading in the official background materials that the Human Union had once built a road network and rail transport system connecting colonies on the Gaia planet, and the largest human settlement had even reached a population of a million.

Yet, for some reason, Jiang Xuezhou's drone had circled the sky several times and seen nothing but lush tropical rainforest.

The traces of civilization seemed erased, leaving only wild, grotesque vegetation.

Ye Shi had to act like a pioneer from the classical era, swinging a machete while struggling through gaps between trunks and vines, praying he wouldn't encounter any strange xenomorphs along the way.

Honestly, he'd thought more than once about just tossing a incendiary grenade and burning it all to hell.

But remembering that this planet was, damn it, alive, he had to suppress that urge for now.

Gaia might not have noticed him yet, but setting a fire would be a different story.

Fortunately, perhaps the surrounding beasts also sensed the danger deep in the forest, so he didn't run into any more ferocious carnivores on this leg of the journey.

As for the poisonous insects that occasionally attacked him, they were all blocked by the power armor's shell.

Only one thing really startled him.

It happened when he was crossing a relatively open broadleaf forest.

Deep brown branches twisted between trees twenty or thirty meters high, like dried vines.

At first, Ye Shi thought they were vines and, without a second thought, swung his machete at them.

But the moment he struck that ten-meter-high web, dark green blood splattered all over him.

Then the entire "dead web" seemed to come alive, splitting into thick, wrist-sized brown snakes that rained down from the air with a crash.

Those snakes went berserk, writhing on the ground and lunging at him, as if determined to kill him there.

Seeing the dense mass of snakes, Ye Shi felt his sanity plummet. In desperation, he pulled out a flare and swung it wildly, using the acrid smoke and flickering flames to fight his way out.

He stumbled through the woods for a while, and only after confirming that the writhing snake swarm wasn't chasing him did he breathe a sigh of relief, tossing aside the extinguished flare.

The quadcopter wobbled behind him, and Xiao Jiang's voice came through the comm channel.

"I analyzed the photos just now... Those should be some kind of snake-like creature under the class Reptilia of the phylum Chordata. They link head to tail to form a web between trunks. All signs suggest they have no teeth and probably aren't interested in prey larger than their own mouths... You could have just gone around."

"Damn it, that's insane..." Ye Shi panted, hands on his knees, cursing under his breath. "Hanging in midair pretending to be dead, and I thought they were vines..."

"Uh, actually, they might have been..." Jiang Xuezhou started but suddenly went silent. Ye Shi, catching his breath, grew curious.

"Might have been what?"

Jiang Xuezhou hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke in a reluctant tone.

"They... might have been mating."

"Pfft!"

Hearing the sound from the comm, Ye Shi nearly choked on his own spit.

Well.

So he was the one intruding.

"...Alright, alright, let's not dwell on these trivial details. The valley I spotted from the air is just ahead. The vegetation there is dense and tall, so the signal might not be good. You need to be extra careful."

Uncomfortable continuing that topic, Jiang Xuezhou quickly steered the conversation back on track.

"Got it."

Ye Shi didn't want to linger there either. After resting a bit, he hoisted the crate and moved on.

As he entered the valley area, the terrain became noticeably rougher, and the wildlife around him grew more abundant.

Especially after pushing through a thicket, he found a row of depressions on the ground, about half a meter wide and over ten centimeters deep, like footprints of some large creature.

"...There must be something big around here."

Probably a water source nearby.

Taking a few photos of the tracks, Ye Shi heightened his alertness.

And as he expected, after crossing another patch of grass, the sound of babbling water reached his ears.

The quadcopter behind him flew ahead first, and Ye Shi quickened his pace to follow.

Soon, a winding stream came into view, followed by a sight of unparalleled beauty.

Trunks thick as pagodas stood along the meandering stream, their dark brown bark covered in iridescent moss and broad leaves as tall as a person or two.

Tiny, shimmering particles of light drifted among the trees and leaves, like dancing sprites in the air, forming a flowing, colorful river of stars.

By the shaded stream, a dozen giant mammals, four or five meters tall, with triangular heads, were quietly drinking water, their heads bowed low.

The breathtaking scene captivated Ye Shi for a moment, nearly making him forget the lurking dangers.

As if sensing his gaze, one of the triangular heads lifted from the water.

But perhaps sensing no threat from him, they soon lowered their heads again, ignoring him as they continued lapping the sweet stream.

"So beautiful..."

Xiao Jiang's voice came through the comm, clearly also enchanted by the magnificent view.

"Indeed. Even the forests of Baiyue Province pale in comparison... The only thing puzzling me is, where is Gaia?"

Snapping back to reality, Ye Shi muttered softly, searching along the stream for a crossing.

Just then, he noticed a deposit of dark green crystals near the higher ground upstream.

"Is this... crystal ore?"

A look of surprise crossed Ye Shi's face as he approached the glittering rock formation.

Rows of dark green crystals seemed to grow from the cliff face, spreading along cracks deep into the rock.

Was there a copper vein nearby?

Thinking this, he moved closer, only to find, to his astonishment, that beneath those diamond-like crystals crawled beetle-like insects.

On their backs were dark green crystals, moving back and forth across the rock surface and crevices.

Occasionally, dark green crystals fell off their backs—and that seemed to be the source of these crystals!

"This is some kind of organic material?!"

Greatly surprised, Ye Shi took out a palm-sized pick and tapped the ground.

The stuff was hard—maybe even harder than diamond—leaving scratches on the pick's surface!

Just then, Jiang Xuezhou's excited voice came through the comm channel.

"Bring back more!"

"I know... I'm working on it." Ye Shi replied hastily, chiseling a whole chunk of rock from the wall.

Sure enough, women all loved shiny things.

Of course, it might also be for the sake of scientific research.

Actually, not to mention Jiang Xuezhou, Ye Shi himself was also curious what this stuff was and how many silver coins it could fetch back on Earth.

Come to think of it, he wondered whether this thing had appeared in recent years or had been around for over two hundred years.

If it was recent, he might be the first to discover this patch of dark green crystals.

According to the convention of *Wasteland OL*, the first discoverer had the priority right to name it.

When the time came, should he call it "Ye Crystal" or "Night Crystal"?

Just as Ye Shi was chuckling to himself, a rustling sound suddenly came from the nearby bushes.

Hearing the noise, Ye Shi instinctively looked up, but froze in place for a moment.

There stood a figure with light green skin.

In the figure's hand was a javelin half as tall as a person, its tip made of that same dark green crystal.

Those deep blue eyes stared unblinkingly at him, as if baffled by the iron suit he wore, standing motionless.

Seeing that light green skin, Ye Shi's heart leaped into his throat.

"What the hell?"

A mutant?!

But—

How is that possible?!

He clearly remembered how mutants were born—it was the accident at the Biological Research Institute in Cloud Province in the 44th year of the Wasteland Era.

Even if mutants reproduced quickly and were resilient, they couldn't possibly have spread to the planet Gaia, could they?!

He had no time to think further; his index finger had already flipped off the rifle's safety and rested on the trigger.

Just then, however, an urgent shout came through the communication channel.

"Wait, Ye Shi! That guy might not be a mutant! Don't act rashly!"

As the voice sounded, rustling came from the grass, and in an instant, dozens of figures appeared densely under the trees.

The moment they saw the group of "little green men," the "triangular faces" that had been drinking by the river raised their heads, let out a howl, and turned to flee.

It was clear they had suffered a lot at the hands of these "little green men."

At the same time, Ye Shi saw something that made his jaw drop even further—

A pterosaur with flapping wings flew across the sky!

Unlike the pterosaurs he'd seen in the dinosaur museum, this one also had dark green crystals growing on its body, and the spearheads in the little green men's hands seemed to have been pried off that big creature.

This was a hunting party!

Ye Shi's mind raced.

Just as he was uncertain what to do, an elder, somewhat advanced in age, stepped out from among the two or three dozen figures.

The old man's skin was wrinkled, his mouth hung with messy beard, tears glistened in his eyes, and he babbled in a language Ye Shi couldn't understand, then suddenly knelt on the ground.

The action startled Ye Shi, and it seemed to startle the little green men behind him as well.

But soon, the old man turned and said a few words, and the sturdy young men also put down their weapons, prostrating themselves on the ground with pious expressions.

"What are you doing? Get up!"

Ye Shi said with a wry smile, but then remembered they probably couldn't understand him.

Just as he thought that, however, the old man stammered out a halting phrase in the Human Union language.

"We pay homage... to the Progenitor... Great One."