Book 10: Chapter 29: Crisis

“Captain, they destroyed the drone we sent. The negotiation failed!” The communications officer on the bridge of the Faith reported grim news.

“Dammit!” Marx cursed under his breath. He clenched his fist, his expression helpless.

A few days ago, after receiving the report from the Advancing, the Faith immediately accelerated and headed towards planet X-352. However, when they reached the edge of the star system, they encountered another battleship of the same class. Judging from its unconventional, fantastical design, it likely belonged to the Hismael’s spacecraft.

Ever since the Gith won the war of the three races and obtained the Hismael’s data, they actually held a significant degree of recognition for the Hismael, who shared the same civilizational origins. Unfortunately, by that time, the Hismael had already left the Gith Star System, and the two sides never had any real communication or exchange.

Upon learning that the Insectoid were also in the Scorpius Galaxy, Marx considered the possibility of encountering the Hismael. After being expelled from the Gith Star System by the Jannamer, the Gith underwent a major shift in their beliefs. They weren’t opposed to sharing the Scorpius Galaxy with other races, especially the Hismael, who shared their origins.

In Marx’s mind, the Jannamer was the primary enemy, one they could not compromise with. If they couldn’t fight it alone, then the Hismael were the best allies. Even the Insectoid could be used to a limited extent.

But reality dealt him a heavy blow. The Hismael clearly didn’t share his views. Their friendly drone couldn’t even get close and was shot down immediately.

“Captain, could it be that the other side’s Descendant Apostle is interfering? You mentioned before that different Descendant Apostles arriving in multiple parties would be competitors.” The acting deputy, filling in for Fuyutsuki, asked uncertainly.

“This probably has nothing to do with the Apostles. The Hismael are like us in this regard. Everyone values the Descendant Apostles, but they don’t base their actions solely on their opinions.” Marx sighed and waved his hand. “Use minimal force. Find a way to disengage as soon as possible. The Hismael are not our enemies. We were wrong before. At the very least, we should try to gain allies we can coexist with peacefully now.”

“Captain, if we change the cruise route, we won’t reach planet X-352 within the scheduled time…” The deputy bowed his head, made a quick calculation, and spoke with a grim expression.

“That can’t be helped. Given the class of that battleship opposite us, we can’t determine a winner quickly.” Marx looked worriedly at the Star Void, his expression grave. “I hope the Advancing and Fuyutsuki can hold on until we arrive.”

…

“Sir, Silver Lightning sent a signal, telling us to leave this place and head for the backup relay planet!” A winged “birdman” glided down from the sky, landing beside Wolf. His wings magically shrank and retracted into his body.

“Leave?” Wolf turned in surprise to look at his companion. “Did it give a reason?”

Silver Lightning was the cosmic entity that provided Wolf and the others shelter and gave them Jannamer offspring. As a mature Jannamer, Silver Lightning’s thought processes were very different from planetary lifeforms. It usually didn’t communicate with Wolf’s group. Whenever it did, it was certainly for something important.

However, Silver Lightning’s decisions were not commands for the Apostles; they were more like notifications. The Apostles could choose to listen or not. Similarly, Silver Lightning was not influenced by the Apostles. If it truly decided to leave alone, Wolf’s team couldn’t stop it.

“It did, but Silver Lightning’s signal contained some parts that were hard to understand. Translated into our language, it seemed to say ‘the cradle of life is sacred and inviolable’?!” The Apostle delivering the message had a very strange expression.

“The cradle of life? The Jannamer’s own ideology is to cleanse life-bearing planets, restoring them to their primitive state. Would it care about a cradle of life?” Wolf couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, but then he thought of something, and his pupils constricted. “Unless it’s not talking about planetary life…”

Just as Wolf’s expression changed dramatically, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble slightly. In the distance, the vast, ocean-like lake rippled, its surface soon churning like boiling water.

“Boom!” With a deafening roar, a massive spacecraft shot straight up from the water. Its smooth, black bow pierced the sky like a pillar. Dozens of humanoid mechas, like loyal guards, surrounded it, rising with bright light trails like brilliant meteors.

“How is this possible? We scouted that lake. Besides a ruined Insectoid base, there was nothing else at the bottom!” The Apostle beside Wolf stared dumbfounded at the Advancing leaping out of the water.

“It’s underground, not underwater! I should have realized it sooner!” Wolf’s eyes, however, lit up. He smacked his fist into his palm, speaking with appreciation. “There’s a very clever person among them!”

“Hmph, so what? Given its size… it should only be a small battleship. It can’t break through Silver Lightning’s blockade!” Wolf’s companion beside him grew translucent wings again from his back, flapping them to ascend into the sky. “Sir, I’ll gather our comrades to stop them!”

“No, you fool! Why don’t you think? They were hiding so well. Why would they expose themselves now?” Wolf’s face darkened as he looked up and scolded. “Our most urgent task right now is to leave immediately…”

“Boom…” Before Wolf could finish speaking, the entire Moon Lake area they were in—no, the entire continent where Moon Lake was located—suddenly lifted upwards.

The Advancing, which had just burst from the water, along with its accompanying Bingren Mecha squad, and Wolf’s group all “fell” back to the ground. Or rather, the ground rushed up to meet them, forcing everyone to land abruptly.

Viewed from the atmosphere, the continent in the Moon Lake area could no longer be called a continent. It was an immense stone pillar being pushed upwards. However, this wasn’t a single pillar. Pulling the observation view back further, one could see over a dozen more pillars of similar continental scale rising from the surface of planet X-352.

Planet X-352 was disintegrating entirely. It was like a planet-sized giant octopus waking from its slumber, beginning to stretch its body and wave its tentacles.

As for Qin Lun and the others, even the falling Advancing now appeared minuscule, almost invisible. They were like fleas on its body—no, even that comparison wasn’t apt. They were more like tiny, invisible bacteria.

“Crap, we’re in big trouble this time!” Wolf struggled briefly but then gave up. The intense acceleration from the rapidly rising continent pressed him firmly into the ground, even embedding him deep into the rock layer.

Wolf knew that until this acceleration subsided, he couldn’t possibly escape the gravitational pressure. Embedded in the rock, he couldn’t see the fate of his other companions or that small battleship. However, as long as those people weren’t dead yet, they were probably in a worse state than him. After all, he was the strongest here.

“I hope Silver Lightning can handle this cosmic creature!” Wolf’s heart was filled with unease, a rare feeling of frustration for him.

After entering this world, the power of the Jannamer had boosted his confidence immensely. In fact, after studying the Main Quest, Wolf believed the Holy Light Team had drawn a favorable lot.

The Insectoid, the Hismael, the Gith, and their Jannamer—in this four-team battle, Wolf believed his side had the highest chance of winning. After all, in terms of battleship class, the Jannamer was definitely the strongest among the four parties.

This was also why, after arriving in this star system, Wolf didn’t hesitate to communicate with Silver Lightning, having it approach planet X-352 directly. Since they could rely on Silver Lightning, using brute force to break the situation was the best choice.

Even if there were three opponents, the combat power at the Apostle level was insignificant under Silver Lightning’s pressure. This was also the source of Wolf’s confidence. Unfortunately, Wolf had still been somewhat careless. As Qin Lun said, his logical thinking was also limited by his experiences in previous worlds.

Actually, in Shattered Starry Sky’s calculations, everyone’s Guidance Mission was correct. The Insectoid initially had the home-field advantage, but for some reason, they couldn’t utilize it. Eventually, they yielded this advantage to the Patroller Team, who entered the world earlier but were slightly weaker.

Furthermore, in this four-team battle, entities like the Faith, the Hismael’s Cube battleship, the Insectoid battleship, and even Wolf’s group’s Jannamer would be unable to intervene in the war between the Apostles until a winner was determined.

The reason lay with planet X-352. It wasn’t a planet at all, but the egg of a cosmic creature. It had been dormant for hundreds of thousands of years, even developing a complete parasitic life system on it.

If Qin Lun and the others fought on it, including the Advancing’s cosmic cannon fire, would it wake the creature? The answer was no. The Advancing could destroy an Insectoid base with one shot, but it couldn’t break the egg’s shell.

Perhaps a cosmic battleship of the Faith’s class might disturb it. However, a cosmic battleship of that class would undoubtedly scan planet X-352 before engaging, to avoid triggering a planetary core explosion. Therefore, the Faith would certainly detect the true nature of X-352 before firing and would abstain from the attack.

The Faith, the Insectoid battleship, and the Hismael’s Cube battleship were all city-sized. But a city is like a sesame seed compared to a planet. If the actions weren’t too drastic, they wouldn’t wake the thing inside the egg.

The mature Jannamer Silver Lightning, which Wolf and the others relied on, was much larger in volume than the aforementioned battleships. Comparatively, it was like the difference between a pancake and a sesame seed.

Shattered Starry Sky’s calculations regarding this aspect were not wrong. The only thing that couldn’t be calculated was the cosmic creature’s own thoughts. This cosmic creature was still in its incubation period. Originally, it might have taken another million years to possibly awaken.

But it was different from the Jannamer. Compared to it, the Jannamer couldn’t even be considered carnivorous; at best, they were scavenging bacteria. This cosmic creature, however, was a true carnivorous cosmic being.

After the Jannamer entered the atmosphere, it was finally awakened. It actually broke its own shell and actively began to wake up. The reason was simple: it had been hungry for hundreds of thousands of years. Suddenly catching the scent of the Jannamer, its appetite was aroused!

“Try to gather near me! Prepare to assault that small battleship!” Wolf gritted his teeth and sent a message to his other companions.

He couldn’t understand the thoughts of this cosmic creature, but this High-Rank Apostle, relying on his unparalleled adventurous experience, quickly sensed the potential danger. If the Jannamer couldn’t defeat the cosmic creature beneath their feet, they would immediately lose their foundation, becoming rootless driftwood in the vast cosmos.