Chapter 852 - 475: The Final Struggle

After four days of torment, only 9 people, including Captain Dominic, remained in the team.

Grief had become numb, leaving only a nearly mechanical sense of duty.

A mechanical mission to reach the destination forcibly drove them forward.

Here, there was no hope or Light, only the all-encompassing Great Void and endless despair.

Strange Eye opened his huge eyes, his immense spiritual power sweeping the Great Void like radar.

This belonged to the domain of racial talent; perhaps he could really differentiate where the normal path was from where a step would plunge them into an irreversible trap.

And this plan seemed to be working, as they successfully reached the fallen site of Expedition Team No. 9, a place like a frozen planet, where ice crystals encased Expedition Team No. 9’s starship into a high tower.

This time, Yi Shan saw all the fallen martyrs inside, their expressions calm, devoid of any complaints or anger, as if in their last moments, deliberately posing in some showy gesture.

Te was the recorder here, holding his log in his hand, making it very conspicuous.

"We have completed the mission, but we are also trapped on this damned planet, our fuel completely leaked due to damage, originally we should have been able to return smoothly."

"However, we must thank the predecessors for their exploration which enabled us to get here. Those who come after, be sure to note that the temperature will drop sharply ahead; make sure not to have the fuel tank freeze and get damaged like ours. Hope to pave a smooth path for posterity."

"Finally, we aim to die in the coolest way possible, only a pity that no one can witness it."

The records of the predecessors held no sorrow for Death; they smiled to meet their end, thus leaving their beacon and these corpses frozen on this barren planet.

The repaired Fire Seed set sail again. This time, they also encountered similar issues, with the fuel nearly freezing completely, but thanks to prior warnings, they managed to keep some machinery running, thus allowing them to relaunch after some warming up.

The navigation aircraft flew ahead, Strange Eye kept his pupils wide open, calculating and predicting all areas ahead without any blind spots.

"If you can’t hold on anymore, I’ve thought of another way..." said the member of the Insect Race who looked like a Mantis Man.

"What way?"

"I have already laid a lot of egg sachets which I’ve stored in the warming chamber. Perhaps it’s almost time for them to hatch," said this mantis-like individual, whose voice was quite sweet. If you just listened to the voice without seeing the face, you might think it was a sweet girl.

However, her appearance was overly distorted for other races, even in an era where anything goes; her looks took teammates a long time to get used to.

And now, she spoke words that left everyone speechless.

"At first, those few days you were absent, we thought you were hiding out of fear. Turns out you were giving birth in the warming chamber?" said the other female ghostly doctor.

"My idea is that when cannon fodder is necessary, it will be somewhat useful. Still, it’s my issue; I should have prepared more egg sachets in advance before setting off..." she added.

No one spoke or blamed her. After all, the reconnaissance leader’s task should have been handled by a reconnaissance aircraft, but no one expected that as soon as they entered the range of the Great Void, the entire aircraft’s nose was cut open by space, damaging both the reconnaissance aircraft and the recovery chamber.

Perhaps when the Insect Race’s queen realized the issue, she began looking for a place to breed. Those previous days were just unavoidable measures for them.

"You know, this is the only good news since we entered the influence range of the Great Void," Strange Eye continued observing and calculating the route as he replied.

"My computational power is gradually falling short, and I dare not look at the Great Void. For some reason, my intuition tells me not to gaze into it," Strange Eye stated, then continued, "How much longer on your side?"

"Just a moment, maybe the first reconnaissance bug will complete its hatching."

"Okay!"

Everyone began to relax. If the Insect Queen’s offspring hatched successfully, they would actually have a higher margin for error.

Even if they tread cautiously, advancing step by step, perhaps future ventures wouldn’t require any sacrifices, and the entire crew could smoothly reach their destination and place the beacon.

Though it seemed like progressing by sacrificing a comrade’s "children," at this point, they had no choice.

In that moment, they could complete their mission, possibly make it home safely...

Even though the odds were slim, it might just be the reason none of them had mentally collapsed yet.

Many began to habitually touch the amulet on their hand out of nervousness.

"Dawn is coming..."

...

"The egg sachets have hatched, and the first reconnaissance bug is starting to devour the egg packets and grow successfully."

"Great, then I’ll return, perhaps things will ease up a bit going forward," Tree-man Dominic’s voice came through.

The starship began hovering, not daring to proceed further.

They were very close to Expedition Team No. 10’s beacon point, but this little stretch was an area no one dared to gamble on.

Tree-man Dominic’s transport aircraft successfully returned and the Insect Queen continued breeding because she knew that even with her reconnaissance bugs, they were merely consumables with a very short lifespan in this region.