Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-338

Chapter 338: Deep Infestation

"Any news from the landing unit?" Yao Yuan asked Barbie.

Barbie checked current information before answering, "No, Sir. The landing unit hasn’t reported back yet."

"Is that so?" Yao Yuan nodded. Actually, he expected this result. The planet had some kind of unknown message disruptor that blocked the communication technology of level 2 space civilizations. Even the main spaceship’s device could not override the disruption, much less the landing unit.

"Deploy the connecting satellites as soon as possible. We must gain contact with the landing unit as early as we can." Yao Yuan sighed. Then he snuck a look at Xi Kong, who was nearby. She still looked like a spooked rabbit. Upon witnessing that, Yao Yuan sighed once more.

For some reason, even the soul web, which could ignore the limitation of the creator’s particle, was blocked by this planet. This was something that had happened for the first time. It made Yao Yuan more alarmed about this planet.

However, the mission had to be done. The only thing Yao Yuan could do was try his best to protect the landing unit and to provide them with the best benefits.

At the same time, the changes on the spaceships outside of the cursed planet intensified. The mutual consumption from earlier had decreased and now these unknown masses started gelling together to form something like a heart or an egg. They kept palpating like they were birthing some kind of creature within.

Under these circumstances, Yao Yuan did not dare to send more Black Star Troopers to land on the planet. He needed to keep them to pilot the Space Combat Jet 011s to help maintain the Hope’s safety.

"In any case… let’s have faith in Ol’ Wong. He’s a qualified commander and is a combat veteran. If the situation demands it, he will retreat. He is an expert and will not be affected by emotions. I believe in him."

At the same time, Guang Zhen was staring at the masses of human dolls before him with his mouth open.

Yes, the creatures that appeared looked exactly like humans, except for the tentacles protruding out of their brains. It gave the impression that their brains were taken over by something. These human-like creatures were attacking them using weapons from old Earth.

Of course, the strongest of such weapons, the rifle, could do no damage against the space armor. The purpose of the space armor was to prevent the penetration of strong Gaussian weapons, so when facing these almost prehistoric weapons, the troopers did not even spend the energy to move out of the way.

"…Are they humans? Or have they morphed due to some kind of infection? Or is this the effect of this planet’s demonization?"

These questions were passed among the troopers. They hesitated and held off their attacks; they even wondered if they should identify themselves as humans or not.

Right then, Guang Zhen roared, "They are not humans! I have seen it, there are giant brains above their heads, and these brains are controlling the bodies. These are the demons! Evolved demons! Kill them! Destroy all the demons!"

It has to be said that Guang Zhen was a respectful individual within the Hope’s military structure. As the leader of the ship, Yao Yuan might've been the leader of the Black Star Troopers, but he was often distracted by paperwork and meetings. The time he could spend with the military was short; therefore, for the Hope’s military, be it the Defense Unit or the Black Star Troopers, their actual leader was Guang Zhen. He used his military standards to cultivate the troops on the Hope. Since he was also the leader for the Defense Unit, his words were just as weighty as Yao Yuan’s.

After his orders, even though some troopers still had their hesitation, the reflex that had been drilled into them through training made them lift their weapons and start firing. However, many started to frown not long after because they realized that the demons could only be cut down through close combat.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the Gausian weapons’ penetration power and damage was effective this time. In just a few minutes, the several thousand "humans" were torn into pieces, and they did not show any signs of recovering or evolving. This situation made many widen their eyes in shock, and some even doubted Guang Zhen’s orders… Could these people really be humans? And had they killed innocent people?

Just as the hesitation passed through the troopers, the Seekers among them yelled out in alarm because they had spotted many weird organisms floating out from the broken meat pieces. They were the size of footballs and had many tentacles. They floated in mid-air, just like a octopuses. But upon closer inspection… they had the appearance of human brains and spines after separating from the skeletal frame!

After witnessing this, the doubt dissipated. Guang Zhen was right. These creatures were demons. Following the firing of many weapons, these creatures were equally fragile as the human dolls, and they were torn into pieces as well.

"We are indeed lucky…" Xiao Niao followed closely behind Guang Zhen. He sighed and said, "It is lucky that you are leading this mission. Even though Homo Evolutis are not afraid of demonization and are unable to see the illusions, at the same time, we are unable to detect that presence. But you can do that for us. If you weren’t here, this mission would have failed grandly."

Gaung Zhen ignored him and stared curiously at the empty space that his troops were firing at. Then he whispered at Xiao Niao, "Be quiet, but tell me… What were they shooting at?"

Xiao Niao looked at him with a certain degree of shock. After all, he was a Thinker, so the shock quickly disappeared. He answered, "They were shooting at the brain creature that you described earlier, but they were small, only the size of footballs. They came out of these humanoid creatures’ brains… You couldn’t see them escaping the dead humanoids’ skulls?"

Guang Zhen shook his head. "Indeed I saw nothing… Looks like this is a fight that needs both normal humans and Homo Evolutis. This demon race is indeed weird. Some parts of them normal humans could see, but others are only visible to Homo Evolutis…"

Comprehension seemed to dawn for Xiao Niao, but he did not elaborate. He followed Guang Zhen silently deeper into the darkness.

With Guang Zhen leading the way, the 120 Black Star Troopers continued marching into the underground. The underground space was huge. Even though the place was dark, the space armors came with their own electromagnetic scanners, so they could see clearly in the darkness. The "humans" and brain monsters were like little animals to them. No matter how many there were, they were easily squished. Their speed was not hindered by the monsters, and very soon they were going to reach the spot where the signals of humans were found. The "humans" they came into slowly increased. There were males and females, and they looked like teenagers. They flailed crazily at the troopers.

At the same time, echoing from a tunnel structure in front of them was the sound of gunfire. It was the sound of the guns humans used to carry.

"It’s the sound of machine guns…" Guang Zhen concluded. He ordered, "The place in front is where we found the signal. However, these people are different from these dolls that we have encountered along the way. Regardless, their situation is dire, and they could be wiped out any time soon…"

Guang Zhen paused before continuing, with determination, "Xiao Niao, I order you to take Zhang Heng and another 20 assault troopers to rush ahead to the signal point. The rest of us will act as your support. You must open a path for the rest of us to get through as soon as you can!"

Xiao Niao saluted after a shocked pause. He then waved for Zhang Heng and the troopers to gather around him. The 22 troopers rushed towards the signal point, brandishing their sawblades. The small group was like a tank ramming down the "humans" who stood in their path, leaving in their wake a pool of broken meat pieces…

Back in space, Yao Yuan, the surviving aliens, and the rest of humanity had their guts in a twisted knot because before them… one of the five planets revolving around the cursed planet, the one that had become flesh, suddenly grew a scary-looking cartilaginous claw. It was growing out of the planet's surface… The claw was unimaginably huge, the length was several tens of thousands of meters…

It was as if a planet-sized monster was trying to escape from inside the planet itself!