The Highest Bounty

Gu Ding only took a semester of the virology course. Due to the sudden resignation of the virology professor, the military academy could not recruit a second virology teacher in time. Therefore, the course was left unfinished.

Later, Gu Ding also heard some rumours about the teacher. It was said that the little old man who did not look particularly amazing was once famous in the cosmic sea. Gu Ding merely overheard this rumor, he had never taken it seriously.

For him, the identity of the little old man was not important. What was important was that he, who previously had no interest in virology at all, became interested after listening to the lessons taught by the little man. So much so that after the classes were over, Gu Ding would occasionally run to the library to read up on virology related materials.

Besides, virology was a branch of pharmacology. Therefore, Gu Ding was not against becoming a pharmacologist.

After hearing Gu Ding’s statement, Neptune was silent for a moment. “I also suspected it but there is no information about this virus in my database. The closest virus, code-named X, was used as a biological weapon in a paleontological civilization. It can greatly enhance the strength of the infected and can evolve by engulfing gene fragments. It also contains all DNA and RNA viruses, but will still not attack each other. Yet, looking at the situation with these fish, they seem to devour all life they come across, not even sparing a thought for their own kind.

“Some researchers of paleontological civilizations believe that the virus has instincts and conscious desire for survival and expansion. Therefore, people infected with similar viruses were generally not invaded by each other. Seeing these fish in the sea swallowing each other in this way, it’s obvious that it greatly reduces the possibility of the virus spreading wildly. Therefore, I didn’t think they were infected by the virus at all.”

Neptune explained, “But this crazy behaviour cannot be explained in any other way than being infected. Whatever the case may be, this planet is definitely not be a safe landing point. You should put on your combat armor, just in case.”

Gu Ding summoned his combat armor and wrapped himself tightly in it. In this unknown situation, even though he was usually a bit careless, he knew better than to let his guard down.

A moment later, Neptune’s voice sounded again, this time with a hint of surprise, “I just received some good news.”

“Has the interstellar storm stopped?” Gu Ding guessed somewhat uncertainly.

“No, how could that happen so fast? You are thinking too much.” Neptune laughed, “Although the outer planetary communication is blocked, I tried to connect to the inner network of this planet, and it worked.”

“Could you be mistaken? This grey star sector is close to the Skyriver Sector and has been abandoned for more than 50 years. That is to say, there has been no human life on this planet for at least 50 years. How is it possible that the network is still available?”

“If the technology of this planet was sufficiently developed and the use of solar energy had reached a sufficient level, it’s possible for it to sustain the hardware for 500 years, let alone 50 years.” Neptune felt that Gu Ding was looking down on the power of technology. “And, fortunately, one of the machines which is still in operation is a main piece of equipment at a scientific laboratory. Not only is there a lot of historical scientific research data, they also have all the monitoring records regarding the years of infection on this planet.”

“Actually, I would like to know if there are any functioning spaceships on this planet.” Gu Ding was thinking that if there were any intact spaceships on this planet, then he did not have to wait for the federal government to send someone to rescue him. After all, his current identity was that of an interstellar pirate, even if he was not even worth half a star coin as bounty right now.

When thinking about the bounty, Gu Ding was a little depressed. In just a few days after leaving Cerule, he had fallen to a place where even the birds did not sh*t. He did not even know when he could leave, let alone do something big and dynamic that would astonish the federal government.

“There is a spacecraft factory near the port. However, as a matter of safety, you must dock on solid ground as soon as possible. According to the monitoring records, there are many terrible things in the sea with combat power at least comparable to that of a fifth-order genome bearer. It may even be close to a sixth-order genome warrior.” Neptune said this, but did not seem to be very anxious. “But that thing is afraid of light so it will not come out during the day. Having said that, at night, you will be in a very dangerous situation.”

“How long is it until nightfall?” Gu Ding understood the gravity of the situation. Even with extreme body technique and equipment to increase his combat power, he was only comparable to a second-order genome warrior. There was basically no chance of beating a third-order genome bearer. In the case of the fourth order and above, there was a high probability that he would be killed instantly. No matter what kind of monster this was, if it was comparable to the combat power of a fifth-order genome bearer, his chances of survival survival was basically non-existent.

“The time it takes for this planet to complete a full rotation is about 70 hours, there are 40 in the daytime, and now there are about 35 hours left until nightfall.” Neptune had already grasped some information of this planet. “The coast closest to you is in the southeast, about 2000 kilometres away. You’re quite fortunate. The energy of the escape capsule is just enough to get you to the sea level. Driving on the water, it will take about 10 hours to reach the shore.

Gu Ding looked around. He realized that he could not distinguish direction on this planet. He scratched his head. “I am still depending on you. Is the rotational direction of the planet from west to east too?”

“Yes, so the star appears in the east every morning.” Neptune knew that Gu Ding had asked this because he could not tell the direction at all. He took control of the escape capsule and sped towards the southeast, drawing a long white line of foam across the sea.

Gu Ding felt that these 10 hours was unusually long. The space inside the escape capsule was limited. He could only lie inside it without moving. During high-speed travelling, if his body was not secured, it was likely that he would be thrown out.

The escape capsule was transparent except for the bottom. Thus, Gu Ding saw a variety of fish along the way, all of which were in a crazed and fierce state. Many of them were even bigger than the escape capsule. After seeing the escape capsule, they chased crazily until they were eventually tired out.

After surviving for 10 hours in the escape capsule, Gu Ding heard Neptune’s voice again, “We have reached the shore.”

After opening the hatch, Gu Ding sat up and let out a long breath. “We finally arrived.”

“All the energy in the escape capsule has been exhausted, you have to rely on your feet for the rest of the way.” Neptune let out another piece of bad news.

“How far is that shipyard from here?” Gu Ding knew it was time to train his physical abilities.

“It is probably more than 600 kilometres away.” Neptune gave a rough estimate. “I have seen your physical fitness test results, which is five hours per hundred kilometres. After running, you need to rest for at least half an hour to recover. With the various conditions that you may encounter on the road, you are expected to take at least 2 days to arrive.”

After placing food and water into the storage space, Gu Ding begun to run following Neptune’s directions.