Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 343: Deeper Underground Kingdom

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Deep underground, in just a matter of minutes, several people already had white hairs growing out of their skulls.

Waiting for death at a dead end, this was the real despair. This kind of waiting was the worse, it was worse than death itself. Every second was like spending it in hell.

Thankfully, Guang Zhen still managed to maintain his cool. He ordered the Black Star Troopers to set up a perimeter and ordered the Noah One’s soldiers to comfort the public. However, there appeared to be a parting layer within Guang Zhen and his army. Even though they still followed his orders. their actions and expressions showed their reluctance.

"You abandoned those demonizing civilians, pooling these forces together in resentment against you," Xiao Niao whispered to Guang Zhen.

Guang Zhen nodded and shrugged it off because he was only doing the right thing. Whether it was beneficial or not, he would allow time to prove himself. No matter what, there was nothing bothering him on his conscience, or else he would not have made that decision.

"Stop chitchatting. You are a Thinker, solve this problem facing us," Guang Zhen told Xiao Niao directly.

Xiao Niao shrugged helplessly. "It’s not that I don’t want to, but there is no solution. You think I don’t want to live? But the fact is, there is no solution. Enless we receive external aid, we are definitely trapped in here."

"That is what I’m afraid of," Guang Zhen said openly when Xiao Niao finished. "If even you come to that conclusion, then Ren Tao and Yao Yuan will do the same. I don’t want to comment too much on Ren Tao, but you also know how he is. Huring critical times, other than his sister, everyone else is disposable… I am worried about Yao Yuan. He will definitely come save us, and he will do that personally. In that case, if anything were to happen to him… The Hope and humanity would be done for!"

Xiao Niao was silent, but he was thinking about something else. In his memories, there appeared to be no situation where both Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen were absent from the Hope. The only time that happened was when they were on that life-preserving planet when the zerg attacked. However, that was, in a way, humanity’s last stand. After all, the prize was humanity’s final dream, to have a planet where they could live in peace and breathe its open air. Under those circumstances, it was the first and only time that both Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen were out of the Hope at the same time. Now that he thought about it… Yao Yuan was indeed extremely careful.

"No matter what, the only thing we can do now is wait," Xiao Niao commented with another shrug.

Guang Zhen then stood there quietly…

This silent torment lasted for several minutes until a static cleared from the communicator. Everyone was first stunned before they broke out in celebration. They all pooled around the communicator, waiting for the message.

"Hello, can the people down there hear me? This is Yao Yuan. I order the unit underground to continue moving deeper underground. Stay far away from the metal layer. We will use heavy artillery to blow open this metal layer. I repeat, this is Yao Yuan…"

The message was still breaking in places and was interspersed with static, but at least they had heard hope coming from the outside, and the most exciting part was that it came directly from Yao Yuan!

As aforementioned, Yao Yuan’s influence in the Hope was immeasurably huge because he had saved the Hope from the brink of extinction multiple times. He had also led the Black Star Troopers to complete many unimaginably hard missions. In other words, if it were not banned by Yao Yuan himself, there might've been a religion on the Hope which prayed to him. He was called "savior" by many on the Hope, "the man of miracles" and the like. In the Black Star Troopers, many had these beliefs, especially those who were "summoned" by Yao Yuan.

Therefore, when Yao Yuan’s voice appeared through the mist of static, almost everyone’s spirits were soaring. There was no longer any hesitation as they waited for Guang Zhen to order them to go deeper underground.

Guang Zhen kept yelling at the communicator, but no matter how hard he did so, the message coming through it was the same and the message was disappearing before it became all static.

Then everyone turned to focus on Guang Zhen, waiting for him to arrange the next step. After a short contemplation, Guang Zhen ordered, "Zhang Heng will still lead the way and my unit will close up the rear. Xiao Niao will be in the middle, and that is how the formation will be. Let’s move out! We need to get deeper underground with the highest speed!"

The unit started to move with chaos, but it was quickly suppressed. The remaining 3,000 plus people had already gotten their senses dulled. They were now following the Black Star Troopers like sheep. Nobody cared what lied ahead, because there was only despair in their hearts…

Time passed as they trudged deeper underground. However, the deeper they got, the more anxious they became. From Zhang Heng’s danger sense, they could tell that even though the danger from aboveground had diminished, it was not enough to a level where it was no longer life-threatening. At the same time, the deeper they trekked, the stronger the sense of danger that came from deep underground. Zhang Heng could not pinpoint the origin of the danger, but it was as large as the danger aboveground.

The conundrum once again fell on Guang Zhen’s shoulders. Should they push forward or stop there and wait for the layer above them to open?

"We… will continue going down!" Guang Zhen lifted his head to observe the rock layer above him. The metal layer could no longer be seen, but according to the penetration of Gaussian weapons, where they were standing was still fatal. Therefore, between the choice of combat with the demons or death through friendly fire, Guang Zhen chose the former. He assumed that the danger from underground came from the demon monsters…

"We will follow Zhang Heng’s instincts. He is the Hope's, no, humanity’s, strongest Diviner. We will follow his instincts and choose the option that is the safest!"

At the same time, the few Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s were combining. Yes, all three jets had opened their electromagnetic fusion parts to fuse together. The three jets formed a large Gaussian weapon. This was the true face of Space Combat Jet Prototype 011, this was the strongest weapon the jets could carry!

"Ol’ Wong… Everyone, you have to survive!"

Yao Yuan looked at the silvery-white metal surface and prayed internally. Then he yelled, "Using the coordinates as target, fire at will! We have to create an opening that is at least one kilometer wide!"

"Fire!"

Following Yao Yuan’s command, the fused 20 plus jets had their weapons roaring at the same time. The moment the Gaussian weapons started firing, the surface started flaking with large metallic pieces. The power of the Gaussian weapons was on full display, but to everyone’s consternation, even though the metal layer was riddled with weapon damages, it was recovering with a speed that was observable to the naked eye. When the layer was about to fully recover, Yao Yuan’s red color combat jet flew down to the surface. Its body was almost touching the ground. For some unknown reason, the seemingly living metallic surface stopped moving, the opening remained open, the ground became ground again, and even the metal pieces that were blown back reverted to rocks.

"Continue attacking! Do not stop! Let us blow a big hole in the ground to give our heroes a grand return!" Yao Yuan howled as he controlled his combat jet to continue attacking the surface…

At the same time, in space, Bo Li sat in the captain’s chair. Before her and the rest of the workers, a large screen was displaying everything that was happening on the cursed planet. With Yao Yuan as the center, more than a thousand kilometers from Yao Yuan, all the signs of demonization were receding. This was a welcoming observation.

However, ten seconds later, everyone’s faces changed again because another giant claw came out of the planet that had become flesh. The two claws scratched at the planet's surface like it was trying to pull itself out. The fleshy planet surface was hard as rubber, so no matter how ferocious these two claws were, they kept them attached to the planet, but it was public knowledge that it was only a matter of time before the owner of the two claws would escape the shackles of the planet…

Back underground, the unit stopped moving directly forward but turned corners following Zhang Heng’s instinct. During the moving process, the earth started vibrating and there were cracks on the rock layers above them. Thankfully, the cracks were not serious enough to cause cave ins. Even though there were already recorded injuries, if the metal layer was completely punctured, it would be more than injuries, they would be buried alive…

Just as everyone was in the throes of panic and Guang Zhen wanted to increase the pace of the group to avoid the possible cave in, they turned a large corner. What unveiled before their eyes…

Was a large, metallic underground city. The buildings had crumbled in places, but one could still see the general shape and size of a large underground metropolis…

An alien underground metropolis!