Age of Cosmic Exploration
chapter-344

Chapter 344: Discovery!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

An alien underground city?!

This was something beyond imagination!

Guang Zhen was first shocked when he saw this, and the thought of what Blue 6 said cropped up in his mind. The legend about cursed planets and how they were life-preserving planets who avoided the attack from a neutron star fragment.

When sentient lifeforms appear on a life-preserving planet, with the natural advancement of technology, they eventually venture into space as long as the race does not face extinction through lack of materials or infighting.

When this race manages to colonize every corner of its solar system, they will naturally wish to venture out of the confines of its own solar system. When that happens, the race becomes a level 2 space civilization.

When a spaceship leaves its home solar system and returns to its solar system, within three years, a neutron star fragment that warped to a place outside this solar system will start flying towards the sun. This will obviously cause the sun to explode and thus destroy all life in the solar system. Of course, before that catastrophe, there will be enough time for this level 2 space civilization to leave and become an actual space-faring civilization.

However, the vast cosmos was home to many miracles. Of the millions upon millions of life-preserving planets, there had to be exceptions, no matter how small that probability was. When a level 2 space civilization returned to its home solar system and there was no neutron star fragment that appeared to threaten its existence, then the life-preserving planet of this solar system would be called a cursed planet, the place where demons were born!

If one followed this train of thought, then this city…

Was the ruins of the level 2 space civilization who returned to this planet?

While this thought was percolating through Guang Zhen’s mind, the rock layer above his head suddenly started to shake and a large amount of rocks fell on them. They did not have the time to waste on speculation. Guang Zhen immediately yelled, "Black Star Troopers, hack out a way forward, remove all demon monsters. The rest of soldiers, follow closely behind. We will enter the metallic buildings of this city to temporarily hide from the collapse!"

Very soon, the Black Star Troopers disperse to clean out the alien octopuses. They also discovered many small alien octopuses, but it was not the time to dwell on that. After a short commotion, they managed to locate several relatively sturdy metallic buildings. With the Black Star Troopers as the guards, the civilians were moved into such buildings.

These metallic structures were incredibly stable. No matter how many piles of rocks fell on them, creating massive crashes, these buildings did not even vibrate. They were very sturdy.

Right then, Guang Zhen saw Jacko lead an old man whose ankle was sprained towards him. Before the old gentleman could say anything, Jacko introduced, "Commander One, this is Professor Fernando from the Noah One. He is the leading expert in the field of metallurgy, and he seems to have something on his mind and wishes to discuss with the Commander."

Jacko still had his hesitation. He was worried that Guang Zhen would mistreat this senior professor like how he treated his soldiers.

However, Guang Zhen was most impressed by these senior professors, especially after they had saved the Hope many times with their experience. There were even some who sacrificed their lives for research, so the respect was deep in Guang Zhen’s bones. He immediately went to aid the senior and said, "Professor, is there anything I can help you with?"

Fernando might have sprained his ankle, but he was still fine. He replied in a firm voice, "Commander, if possible, I wish your soldiers will be able to help me cut down a square of this building’s metallic wall. I just took a look at it and this metal does not seem like something we humans have already discovered… if we manage to get out of here alive, with a sample, our metallurgy technology will have a great increase."

Guang Zhen’s first response was to deny his request. After all, the scientists from the Noah One were still stuck in the 3rd revolution era and had the thinking of a level 1 space civilization, while the Hope’s science was already in 4th revolution and was a mid-tier of level 2 space civilization. With enough time, becoming a level 3 space civilization was guaranteed. Did they still need metal samples? The Hope still had the alloys from the alien plant that still needed research.

However, he thought about it, and no matter what, this must be at least the metal product of a level 2 space civilization, so procuring it would be no harm to the Hope’s scientific community. After all, the Black Star Troopers would not spend too much energy cutting down a tank, so a few metal plates wouldn’t trouble them too much.

Guang Zhen’s imagination continued to fester. Since they were only waiting in this city, why not explore it further? Perhaps the city might have some unique records of its history, like how to avoid the attack of neutron star fragment.

Since the Noah One had warped away and gaining the information inside it was impossible, then returning with the information from a level 2 space civilization was not so bad either…

With this in mind, Guang Zhen brought Xiao Niao, Zhang Heng, and about 15 Black Star Troopers out of the buildings and deeper into the city. They saw plenty of alien octopuses along the way, and they even discovered their nest. For some reason, the nests of these alien octopuses were constructed using blood and flesh. It was unknown what kind of flesh it was, but they were moulded into a globular form and the alien octopuses formed their nests in the middle of it.

The unit’s speed was not fast. Thankfully, other than Guang Zhen, the rest of them were Homo Evolutis, so no matter how numerous the alien octopuses, they did not slow down the unit. They continued their search of the city practically unimpeded. However, they discovered that the city had nothing worth investigating. Other than the metals, most of the stuff had either disappeared or was crushed into sand. This went to show the long history of this city; it was at least several thousand years old.

Thankfully, it was the Black Star Troopers who were responsible for the search, because the helmets of the space armors allowed them to see many things that were invisible to the naked eye, like heat distribution, infrared light, and even energy and electricity circuits. It was because of this that Guang Zhen had the idea of exploring this city. They could rely on the electricity to trace the center of the city. From the path of the electricity, there was still a building with energy storage at the center of the city, and that was the purpose of this search.

The search was silent and they did not come across any real danger. This unit soon arrived at this building that still possessed energy. It was a completely sealed-off, metallic, circular building. There was no visible entrance on the sides or on top. It seemed gaining entry was not going to be easy. Therefore, after a routine search, Guang Zhen decided to use force to create an opening.

Ten seconds later, with the combination of the sawblade and Gaussian rifles, Guang Zhen’s unit stepped into this building. This place was completely different from the rest of the city. There was no trace of destruction or even dust, it was clean like brand new and there were no signs of alien octopuses or their nests. In fact, it looked like a high-tech laboratory humans used to have on Earth.

"Be on your guard!" Xiao Niao ordered in Guang Zhen’s place. He was acting as Guang Zhen’s adjutant. He had the troopers check out the surroundings while he and Zhang Heng stood close to Guang Zhen.

For some unknown reason, the whole building was suddenly flooded with light, light sources coming out from every corner. They were not harsh on the eyes but were enough to light up the interior of the building. Revealed before them was a large, oval structure at the center of the room. Guang Zhen’s unit had a hard time deciding what it was at first. A computer? Weapon? Research equipment? Or a small spaceship?

Before Guang Zhen’s unit could do anything, a sharp ray of light came from above and fell on this structure. In just a few seconds, a slender lifeform with obvious female properties appeared in the light. She was graceful. Even though she did not look like a human, she still impressed upon them a sense of femininity. It was the most beautiful alien Guang Zhen’s unit had seen since they ventured into space. Most aliens would appear scary to human eyes due to the difference in appreciation of beauty, but this was an exception.

The slender lifeform that appeared like she was flouncing about like seaweed in the ocean stood on two feet and had two arms. She had a head like a human's and had an appearance of frailty and fragility.

"So this is 3D imaging…" Guang Zhen told the people beside him in a whisper.

The female lifeform opened her mouth-equivalent to say something, but since it was in alien language, no one present understood her. However, they quickly recorded her with the devices in their space armors. After she finished her piece, she pressed something beside her and behind her appeared a large space map.

In this space picture, a planet shone like a blue sapphire. A spaceship fleet departed from this planet, passing other planets and leaving further and further away from this blue planet…

Yes, this fleet was leaving the solar system to venture into the cosmos…