Chapter 849 - 473: Journeying with Light (Part 2)

In this squad, besides him, there’s another figure resembling a catfish who’s also an agent, but the catfish man’s mission is even more crucial; it’s to ensure the Magic Element Beacon reaches its destination smoothly.

In fact, in this plan, the catfish man agent is the most important; everyone else is just there to help him reach the designated location successfully.

The navigation drones were released smoothly, just like countless times in simulation training. The Dark Elf skillfully launched the reconnaissance swarm drones, while also deploying his own communication devices.

The Dark Elves are known as the race of betrayal, as recognized by the entire united front.

They are most adept at betrayal and selling out friends, and even he hasn’t managed to shake off the title of "traitor".

This time, however, his real mission is... to monitor everyone and prevent anyone from returning.

Indeed, he is still a "traitor", and his true mission, other than liaising with headquarters, is to monitor everyone and ensure they can’t escape or return...

Just like an overseer, this is his real duty.

Feeling the amulet on his chest, he gave a very painful smile.

"Perhaps, a guy like me who trusts nobody is destined to die badly..." the Dark Elf murmured softly.

The reconnaissance drone was smoothly heading towards the predetermined route. This was a path laid down by the expedition’s fallen predecessors, so theoretically, no problems should arise.

Yet suddenly, the reconnaissance drones lost contact en masse on the designated path!

"Port side 37 degrees, spatial collapse!!"

"Gravity vortex ahead, established route is compromised! Change course, change course, change course!"

A hysterical voice rang out, and at this moment, an ominous shadow rose in everyone’s heart.

The entire starship rapidly changed course, heading towards another passage where a reconnaissance drone had just survived.

The ship’s turbulence and damage appeared in an instant, but it was not the time to worry about these...

"We’ve spotted the ’beacon’ left by Expedition Team 7; the wreckage of the Eternal Watcher is here. It seems we have successfully survived the first disaster..." the voice of the Dark Elf sounded, and everyone seemed to exhale a deep breath.

Despite losing a large number of reconnaissance drones, as long as the recovery pod remains, the remaining drones can still be retrieved and redeployed. The damage is not significant, and losses are acceptable.

Even the entire ship only suffered minor damages, which can be repaired quickly to continue the voyage.

Everything seems to be heading in a positive direction.

"Prepare to leave the beacon left by Expedition Team 7 and head to the next one..."

The voice abruptly stopped.

Replaced by the piercing shriek of space being ripped apart with brute force, on screen, the entire front of the starship was instantly elongated and shattered by an invisible force, like torn paper.

In an instant, a cacophony of error alarms sounded. Were they lucky or unlucky? They happened to brush against the area of spatial fracture, causing the whole ship’s bow to be torn by space.

But this did not affect the starship’s overall performance. Sealing the airlocks, they could continue moving forward.

"Karl, respond if you hear me, Karl!" A sudden voice came from the communicator, calling the Dark Elf’s name.

Yet, there was no reply. The few reconnaissance drones returned with the intelligence: the area where Dark Elf Karl was located was completely torn apart, his upper body having long been ripped by space to whereabouts unknown, with his lower body stuck at the airlock.

It seemed in his final moments, he wasn’t thinking of escaping, but was forcibly attempting to recover all reconnaissance drones.

However, time wasn’t on his side, and space’s forces instantly sliced even this creation of the united front’s highest technological crystallization like cutting through butter, resulting in his death.

No last words, no glorious explosion, just the silence resembling death. He used his demise to validate a faulty route.

...

starships remain...

But at this moment, in this fractured, kaleidoscope-like space, the remaining 12 individuals fell into silence.

For the first time, a teammate has died right in front of them...

And even, a hidden overseer has died. They’ve completely lost contact with headquarters, but at this moment, no one spoke of retreat.

They still decided to continue the expedition, repairing the ship, dealing with damages, recovering bodies, and after temporarily resting by the wreckage of Expedition Team 7, they continued on.

Yi Shan, serving as recorder, decided to explore the wreckage of Expedition Team 7, and nobody stopped him.

He found the logs left by Expedition Team 7.

They were the first team to plant a beacon here, providing hope to cosmic races. Their remains have fused with the spreading magic element, their species and identities unrecognizable before death.

The logs conjecture that the magic element is actually the cosmos’s platelets, seemingly the universe’s final mechanism of self-rescue, but the time was too short, and the Cosmic Void’s catastrophe came too swiftly, even such a mechanism couldn’t achieve any effect.

And their only successful approach was to utilize this mechanism of self-rescue...

Yi Shan understood; this later became the magic element formula calculated by the God of All Machines through life, and the birth of the seven beacon structures.

"A word of advice to later generations: do not approach any turbulence or other apparent abnormal areas. Any danger here, no matter how seemingly harmless to creatures or elsewhere, is absolutely insurmountable!"

"Recorded by Karis, same as Expedition Teams 6 and 7; hoping to pave a path for future generations."

Yi Shan fell silent, looking at the log in his hand. This message had not been sent back to headquarters, but now he finally understood why the expedition needed a recorder.

He quietly put back the log, backing it up here, returned to the fleet, and shared the log with everyone.

After a brief rest, the starship resumed its journey. They were the first team to arrive here, and after they leave, others will follow, discovering the intelligence they’ve left.

However, unbeknownst to them, they continued forward.

The starship wasn’t severely damaged, but the losses were colossal. The biggest issue was the reconnaissance recovery area being completely destroyed, with no remaining reconnaissance drones ready for deployment.

They could only watch helplessly as drones were gradually consumed, unable to recover them.

A scarce number of drones could only serve as the final reconnaissance tool. Perhaps after tomorrow, they’d have to begin using the ship’s body to navigate.

And soon, the last reconnaissance drones fell due to energy depletion, and even though they’d reached the next beacon point, where Expedition Team 8 met its final disappearance, hesitations set in.

Without reconnaissance drones, every step was uncertain, whether they’d advance smoothly or step into a tomb, causing the navigator to waver.

"Leave it to me. After all, I’m just a gofer in the team; I’ll pilot the rescue craft to pave the way ahead." said the liar monster.

The rescue craft, a manned driving machine on the starship, used for emergency escapes.

Although scarce, there were 7 sets; forcing them as reconnaissance wasn’t entirely impossible...

However, this was a situation of near-certain demise for the person piloting this craft.

"No, it’s too dangerous," Tree-man Dominic said.

"But this is better than all of us facing direct danger!" the liar monster immediately retorted.

The next moment, silence was the only response.

"This is the only option. We’ll take turns piloting the rescue craft for reconnaissance; liar monster first, I’ll go second..." Bone Dragon accepted this proposal, his hand feeling the amulet on his body, then spoke.

"I’ll be third," Tree-man Dominic said, "Dawn is coming..."

"Yes, dawn is coming..."

Yi Shan also quietly held onto his amulet, and he recorded this in the log.

"Day 2, Expedition Team 13 arrived at the second beacon point; all reconnaissance drones destroyed, liar monster is preparing to use rescue craft as reconnaissance to advance."

"Wish us luck."