Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-165

Chapter 165: A Slap on the Face

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yao Yuan was extremely tired. After all, he hadn’t rested since not this latest combat but the one before it. He had stolen some shut-eye here and there, but those were barely enough to keep him fully alert and awake.

The exhaustion piled on to a stage where he couldn’t take it much longer.

But take it he must. After he disembarked from the combat jet and entered the Hope, he crossed path with soldiers that also were returning from the temporary base. He didn’t stop them to ask for an update but allowed them to continue on to their residences or the canteen. He only requested them to send for their battalion commanders.

"…In other words, more than 200 soldiers died?" Yao Yuan sighed. Suppressing the burgeoning sadness in his heart, he continued, "What about others? Major Wong and the Black Star Troopers?"

A second-lieutenant replied, "Major Wong is still up there taking control of the situation. I don’t think he’ll be down here any time soon. The troopers… well, the troopers’ armor was broken during combat. They were still up there when we came down, but I suspect they’ll be here soon."

Yao Yuan frowned, but he didn’t pursue the line of questioning. He ordered the commanders to take good care of their soldiers. Then he rushed to the shuttle hangar. Unsurprisingly, he saw Ren Tao, Zhang Heng, Ye Mu, and the Survivors in the area. They were already in new spacesuits, being readied to be sent into quarantine.

Yao Yuan walked toward the few of them and sighed. "Don’t worry, we will definitely manufacture a vaccine. You’ll be safe."

Ren Tao shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, death is God’s decision… But Yao Yuan, if I die, please spare Chou Yue the details. She has been through enough, and help me take care of her."

Yao Yuan nodded solemnly. "I promise. As long as this ship still runs, she’ll be safe."

Ren Tao chuckled lightly. He waved before turning to head towards the 4th floor quarantine rooms. The rest only saluted before walking past Yao Yuan. When they were at the exit, Ren Tao suddenly turned, "Forgot to tell you a good news. Framework for the final strategy has already been done. There’re still some flaws, but this is the only plan that I’ve heard so far that has a chance at beating the alien."

Yao Yuan was stunned before breaking into a huge smile. "What plan is it? Hey, tell me about the plan before you go."

"I’m sure she’ll tell you personally. After all, she braved the battlefield just for this." Ren Tao laughed loudly before disappearing down one of the corridors.

Yao Yuan mumbled to himself, "She? Braved the battlefield? What did he mean?"

"He meant me."

Bo Li was in the area when Yao Yuan and Ren Tao conversed, so she overheard everything.

Yao Yuan turned around in shock. He was greeted by Bo Li’s empty expression, and his eyes narrowed when he saw the alien robot that accompanied her.

"You just came back from the battlefield?" Yao Yuan asked chillingly.

Bo Li, though, was unfazed. She stared straight ahead at Yao Yuan as she replied, "Yes, I just returned from the battlefield."

"…why were you up there?" Yao Yuan was livid; he was almost shouting at that point. "Don’t you know about the marshal law? It’s a freaking war up there! Why were you presenting yourself as a gift to our enemy? You should know better!"

Bo Li shrugged. "I needed Ren Tao, who was up there, to help me complete the plan…"

"Don’t interrupt me!" Yao Yuan growled. "I’ll have you confined! Until the war is over… No, not even then will you be out! You need to learn a lesson! And where are the people watching the shuttles? How could they have let you through? I’ll have all of them in the military court!"

Bo Li frowned but continued lightly, "You think those people… can stop me from going to the battlefield if I want to go? Plus, I didn’t die, did I? Plus, if it’s necessary, I’ll be doing this again…"

The sound was crisp as Yao Yuan’s hand landed on Bo Li’s face. The girl froze with her hand unconsciously shielding her face. She didn’t cry, but the rims of her eyes were red. After an uncomfortable silence, she forcefully tossed the tapes in her hands to Yao Yuan before turning and saying, "I understand. The confinement rooms are at the 5th floor, aren’t they? Don’t need to get soldiers to detain me, I’m going." As she walked away, Yao Yuan saw her shoulders shaking and tears falling to the floor.

Yao Yuan wanted to say something and pull her back. However, he sighed before putting his hand down. He waved a patrol over. "Send 4 soldiers to protect her, but make sure they don’t allow her back onto the battlefield again. And tell her she doesn’t need to be confined and send her to her lab. Also, remember to shut down her robot’s power source and get her a pack of ice for her face."

The patrol saluted before running to catch up with Bo Li.

Weighted down by the tape in his hand, Yao Yuan exhaled with frustration as he walked to the war room.

"I’ll leave this with you. Start analyzing the details in it immediately. I’ll allow the use of our central mainframe because I need the simulation to be as precise as possible, the password is xxxxx… Wake me up in about 5 hours, and do not disturb me in the meantime. Also, tell Professor Ivan and Saburo to stop working on the aliens and transfer their attention to manufacture the vaccine."

Then Yao Yuan dragged his overworked body back to his room. He had reached his limit both physically and mentally, so he slumbered the moment he hit the bed…

It was a dreamless sleep until a loud groan woke him up. He stretched into a seated position and grabbed the communicator that sat on the table beside him.

Then he heard a female moan. He tensed and leaped out of bed, ready to take down the threat. A second later, he saw the lithe figure that lied in his bed. It was Ji Jie.

Ji Jie was in her undergarments and was sleeping in the fetal position. The groan Yao Yuan heard was probably hers. Yao Yuan stood up and frowned at her sleeping figure.

"…Sigh, I’ll have to remind her of this when she wakes up."

Yao Yuan believed that she had ventured wrongly into his room in her tired state. As part of the Black Star Troopers, she must have been incredibly tired after their mission, so Yao Yuan didn’t have the heart to wake up her for a talking to there and then.

Yao Yuan retreated to the living room, his communicator in hand. "This is Yao Yuan. How is the plan coming along? You have all the data tabulated? Wonderful, I’ll be there in a minute."

Yao Yuan rushed to the war room. When he arrived, Guang Zhen and many others were already there. "Then let us see the simulation," he announced as he strode into the room.

The expert that stood on stage nodded. "Yes, Captain. This here is the ultimate battle plan provided by Thinker Ren Tao and Whisperer Professor Bo Li.

"…Based on the surveillance data we got before the creator’s particles were up, the 4 polymerized reactors inside the mother nest was constructed using cellular restructuring. They’re not stabilized in heavy waters like ours. In other words, if we can overload these reactors, the reactors will implode upon themselves.

"Nevertheless, for a creature as big as the mother nest, the implosion of 4 reactors still won’t fully devastate it. Based on our findings, the damage won’t be great enough to cause it fatal damage; however…

"After the reactors are destroyed, the monster will lose its main source of energy. It’ll need 1 hour to recreate a small-sized reactor and 3 hours to create a big one. Before then, it won’t have enough energy to conduct space travel."

"And how is that going to help us?" Yao Yuan asked, hoping to get to the point.

The expert pressed something into the panel. A 3d image showed itself in the room. In the image, the mother nest had already lost its 4 reactors and was floating still in space.

"Then, we will launch a giant propeller device into the mother nest. The device will be inserted into the alien body, so the surrounding monsters won’t be able to attack it. We’ll use the propeller to send the nest into the sun!"

In the image, a rocket-shaped propeller was shot into the nest, pushing it towards the sun.

Yao Yuan’s frown deepened as he contemplated over the plan. He shook his head. "This won’t work. For one, there will definitely be monsters inside the nest itself. They will demolish the propeller from within. For another, the size of the nest is too big. Even with a high powered propeller, we’ll need about 5 hours to send it into the sun. Within the time, it will have reconstructed a new reactor."

The expert tutted, "And this is where the brilliance of the plan shows itself…

"The surface of the propeller will be covered with a layer of alien plant. No matter whther it is the alien that absorbs the plant or the plant that absorbs the alien, at least several hours will be spent on this altercation. It will delay the mother nest from reconstructing the reactor. This way, we will have enough time to let the propeller reach a sufficient acceleration to complete this plan…

"A win-or-lose, all in type of ultimate battle plan!"