Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 347: Big Danger!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yao Yuan’s order was quickly carried out. The Hope started to descend towards the planet’s atmosphere. The alien vassals who saw this were white with fear. They thought that extinction was definitely going to happen.

This was because the Hope was their only hope. They really had never seen so many cosmic adapters in one ship before, and they could survive in the war against the demon with so many cosmic adapters. But now, something seemed wrong with the Hope. The whole spaceship was heading towards the planet’s atmosphere.

This was a common knowledge for all space civilizations. Under normal circumstances, other than landing ships, larger spaceships would never land on a planet, especially one with ozone and atmosphere. This was because the bigger the size and greater the mass, the harder it would be for it to escape the planet’s gravity. Even for level 3 space civilizations, it was hard for them to remove their main battleships from a life-perserving planet easily. When the size was bigger, the spaceships could even be torn open by the pulling forces between the planets.

Because the Hope that had a weird shape, descending to the ozone layer was a suicide mission. Such a weirdly shaped spaceship would only snap when it entered the ozone layer. In fact, when these alien vassals first saw the Hope, they thought that the spaceship was curious. This kind of structure was not suitable for space travelling, it was more like… a toy created by a level 1 space civilization.

However, what happened next made all the alien vassals open their eyes wide… or their eye equivalents.

The Hope seemed to not be affected by the gravity and descend to the planet with a speed that was constant. It later stopped within the ozone layer, in a floating manner… This was already inside the planet’s gravitational pull. According to the Hope’s size and mass, the particular flux was definitely not enough for it to float in the atmosphere. However, when these alien vassals used their computers to scan the elevation of the Hope, it showed no signs of going up and down, it had gone perfectly still in the sky!

"How is this possible?!"

This question was repeated among the vassal races. In fact, the thing they were seeing before them was already beyond their scientific comprehension. For level 3 space civilizations, even after gaining cold agglutination reactors, the energy output and efficiency was at least 100 hundred times better than level 2 space civilizations. However, even considering th at, this thing that the Hope was doing should've been impossible.

For it to maintain idleness in a situation where they had to deal with gravity, air pressure, the mass of the ship itself, and multiple influences from the solar system, no level 3 space civilization could manage it. In fact, even level 4 or 5 space civilizations would have a hard time accomplishing it. This was not some manmade planet but a real life-preserving planet.

Those with real knowledge were shocked by these little observations that they saw. The ability to keep idle with not even an inch of movement sent tremors across the vassal races. Even Blue 6, who was in the Hope and could not scan the Hope’s current situation, had spotted the anomaly on the video feed. He was greatly shocked and was inspired as a member of the human race.

Back to the Hope’s central command, the place was indeed a bit crowded. However, this was Yao Yuan’s order. Furthermore, at the time, Yao Yuan was right in the battlefield and Guang Zhen’s condition was unknown. Bo Li, who was basically the Chancellor’s wife, was indisposed, so the leadership of the Hope was empty. Even though most of the adults on the Hope were the first generation who left Earth and were feisty and earnest, they did not dare to do anything brash. After all, with both Guang Zhen and Yao Yuan not on the Hope, if anything happened to the spaceship, they might as well blow up the ship, because that would be faster than the tragedy that they could face.

Therefore, the high number had its benefits, one of them being stability. This was probably why Yao Yuan had so many people come to central command. However, there was a weakness as well, which was speed. The discussions would take more time than a decision made by a singular wise man.

Basically, it was the Black Star Troopers’ 11th unit’s leader, Ming Ji Jie, who was giving orders. There were a few Defense Unit generals giving suggestions and questions, while the rest were there as observers.

Then, with Ji Jie’s order, the several side cannons on the Hope started to initiate and point at the surface. This was the super electromagnetic Planet Annihilating Cannon and not super rail cannon. In fact, one could discern humanity’s technological improvement from this. Earlier, the super electromagnetic Planet Annihilating Cannon and super rail cannon were both unfinished super weapons, but now they were only side cannons, with the super rail cannon acting as the main cannon while the real main cannon, the Genesis, was still in construction.

"Charging complete, locking on target. AI alert limit open…"

"Super electromagnetic rail cannon, fire!"

Just as the three cannon barrels on the Hope extended out, a metallic ball slammed into the ground with a speed that the naked eye could not observe. The surface of the planet shook from the force. Even though the surface was metallic and thus did not cause any roiling dust, plenty of metallic pieces still got thrown into the air, and due to the spread of high temperature, many metal pieces even melted.

Liu Bai’s group was already more than 100 kilometers away, but when the shot hit the ground, they were still knocked off their feet by the gigantic tremors. They only managed to stand up after several seconds. The winds that came their way were laced with metallic pieces that made noises as they flung themselves against their space armors.

"On the floor! Everyone on the floor!" Liu Bai yelled as he jumped to the floor.

The second generation space armour was made using the alloy from the alien plants and its tensile strength was greater than the Hope’s main defense board. Combined with the electromagnetic shield, the metal storm was definitely unable to harm the Black Star Troopers, but who knew how long the storm would last? After all, the space armors would run on energy and they were out of the Hope and thus away from the charger. Plus, they were on the battlefield, so they had to do everything to preserve the armors' energy.

Everyone quickly followed his order. When they dropped to the floor, they could feel the vibrations of the Earth more clearly as the wind whipped through their ears. This continued for several minutes before the wind started to slow down. Looked from afar, the area that was assaulted by the cannon was a site of blazing red. The sight was twisted due to high temperature.

At the same time, in the metallic underground city, the whole city was shaking. The size of the quake made everyone feel like they were going to be buried alive.

The crowd started to panic immediately. Adults were screaming and women were crying. Thankfully, there were no children left in the 3,000 people, or the situation would've been worse. Then again, who could fault them when the Black Star Troopers themselves felt fearful that the apocalypse was coming?

Thankfully, Guang Zhen managed to keep his calm. He yelled at the soldiers around him to lead the Troopers to calm the public. After the quake settled, he called the soldiers from the Noah One and ordered them to prepare for retreat. They were running low on time, so they had to maintain order.

"Commander, you don’t have to worry about that." Major Jacko saluted Guang Zhen and he said in a cold yet respectful tone, "Us from the Noah One were selected best of the best, and before boarding the Noah One, they were given training on things like emergency retreat. As long as there is enough transportation, they will not be delayed by chaos."

Guang Zhen did not mind Jacko’s cold attitude. He saluted in return. "In that case, I will leave the civilians to your military unit. Do not worry about the transports. Leave the safety to us and our pilots to worry about."

Suddenly, in the middle of their conversation, Zhang Heng yelled as a rush of blood came out of his nose. Then he fell backwards. Immediately, the Black Star Troopers went into alert and they surrounded Zhang Heng. Guang Zhen and Jacko, who was in shock, rushed to Zhang Heng’s side. Guang Zhen asked immediately, "What’s wrong? Was he attacked? What’s the damage to the space armor? How great is the injury?"

Zhang Heng was the Hope’s most important asset. Other than that, he was a famed hero around the Hope, part of the Black Star Unit, and Guang Zhen's and Yao Yuan’s close friend, so Guang Zhen was really worried.

Zhang Heng seemed to have kept his consciousness. He struggled to stand up and yelled simultaneously, "Danger! Very dangerous! We have to leave this place. No, leave this planet. A big danger is coming… If we do not hurry, we will all die!"

Not only Zhang Heng had felt this. This danger was too acute and obvious, so all of the Diviners felt it, only in varying degrees. Naturally, Yao Yuan sensed it as well. He was still piloting Space Combat Jet Prototype 011 when it happened, but since he did not feel it as strongly as Zhang Heng, he merely fainted for one or two seconds before he recovered. When he did, he yelled into the communicator, "Is this the Hope? Release all the transport shuttles now! Release all the transport shuttles! At the same time, use the Genesis to shoot at the giant claw on the planet! A great danger is coming. I have no idea what it is, but my bet is on that giant claw. Help me stall for ten minutes, no, seven minutes!"

Everyone in the Hope’s central command heard Yao Yuan’s yelling. One of the troopers there was also a Diviner like Zhang Heng, and he too had fainted earlier. However, he did not have a nosebleed. He too was yelling about danger. Ji Jie also lost consciousness for a moment, but since she was sitting in the captain’s chair, no one saw it.

"Release all transport shuttles at once!" Ji Jie did not dawdle. She gave the order as her gaze swept the room.

Speaker Matt, who was sitting in the chair beside her, had his face drawn, but he still said, "We are close to saving the people… or we are close to dying ourselves? Regardless, we have to buy more time. Just like the Chancellor ordered, we will use the Genesis to shoot at that giant claw!"

The others nodded. However, Cheng Wen, who was in another chair, snuck a glance at Ji Jie. There was a curious glow in his eyes, like he had spotted something…

Just like that, about 40 transport shuttles left the Hope. These were the transports that would be used to land and save the people. One could carry 70 soldiers. If they squeezed, transporting 3,000 citizens was definitely possible.

After the transport shuttles were released, the Hope immediately flew back into space and entered the giant claw’s coordinates into the central mainframe. 10 seconds later, everything had been calculated, and with the control of the workers, the third bridge underneath the Hope slowly opened, revealing a large, circular line creation.

This was the Genesis!

"Plasma coagulation initiating!"

"Energy collection 3 percent… 8 percent… 11 percent…"

"The Hope’s energy storage reaching limit, activating energy reactors…"

"Calculating anti gravity data… calculation complete, activating anti-gravity system!"

"Preparation of Genesis complete!"

Ji Jie heard the report. She looked around and others nodded silently at her. Then she raised her head to look at the giant claw on the planet and said, "Genesis, fire!"

A large, circular light beam that could be observed by the naked eye arced across space and landed on the giant claw…

Just as the transformation of the cursed planet continued, as the giant claw appeared on the planet, in the fringe of a solar system far away, strange information was being transmitted. If it was translated into human language…

"This is we race’s solar system! It is the final cradle for we race to become a level 9 space civilization! Even if thy are a level 9 space civilization, for this last hope, the we race will never give up!"

"…Is that so? Then your race will disappear with this polluted solar system! Don’t think a level 8 space civilization has seen everything the cosmos has to offer. Compared to our level 9 space civilization, you are still too weak. You don’t even understand the scariness of demonic corruption. You will see, no, you will hear…"

"The thing that will cause you and this whole solar system to disappear…"

"The song of destruction!"