The Record of Unusual Creatures

A vast, silvery space entity—it looked like it had been in that position for many, many years. Its ellipsoidal shell featured many accessories of different styles, old and new. Many small lights wove through them like swarms of bees circling around a hive.

When Nolan zoomed in, Hao Ren saw that the swarms were actually various types of flying machines, which had been dwarfed by the space station’s size.

Hao Ren thought of the materials he had seen on the reliefs in the city ruins. At the end of the cataclysm, which swept over the planet, the people built a gigantic spaceship that launched less than a tenth of its population and vast resources into space. The picture depicted a spaceship that looked like a giant egg although the details were different. This could be explained by thousands of years of continuous renovation and construction.

The space station that Nolan found was the exiled spacecraft—how did it stay in high orbit instead of going into deep space?

Plus, the spacecraft survived the cataclysm on the ground without being pursued by the First Born to this day?

Hao Ren frowned and made bolder speculations. “The space station… Could it be the ‘Zenith’ that the flying machines mentioned?”

Hao Ren had been searching for survivor bases for the past two days. Nolan had expanded the scan to more than half the planet but nothing resembling a human home base was found, except for numerous traces of fights and several battle scenes.

Hence, after finding no human bases on the surface, Hao Ren wondered if the survivors would come from outer space. The thing was, Hao Ren did not have the ability to expand the search into space until Nolan was able to take off, so he did not take further action.

Unexpectedly, his guess was verified so quickly.

“Did the fugitive spaceship hang in orbit and become a space station?” said Hao Ren, rubbing his chin. “Tell me the position of the ‘spaceship’ at the moment.”

“You may not believe it. We used to think there were two moons in the sky, but the smaller one is actually that spaceship.” Nolan’s figure jumped out of a corner in the hologram. “It’s become a stable in-orbit facility. And I also noticed a spacecraft detach itself from this space station and fly towards the planet’s surface. As such, it’s pretty much confirmed that the survivors observed on the surface of the planet came from there, and it’s called the Zenith.”

“So I’m right. The spaceship didn’t run too far.” Hao Ren pressed his finger between his eyebrows. “It’s inexplicable… Would the First Born see the enemy’s base and not attack? Its tentacles can emit laser beams that are powerful enough to destroy everything in orbit, so there’s no reason for the First Born to not do something about it.”

Y’zaks threw away his cards too. “More than that, I’m curious about where these survivors come from? They lose a couple of bombers at a time and it’s been going on for years. They’ve only got one spaceship in orbit, so how can so many weapons be produced? I can’t believe how they’ve kept the space station going for so many years, let alone manufacture weapons.”

“They have a source for raw materials, right there on the real moon,” Nolan said as the picture in the holographic projection changed.

Hao Ren saw a pale land with a slight curve and numerous industrial facilities built on it. The industrial facilities were as old as the space station, spreading across the vast land. There were complex and huge track systems as well as pipeline connections between them, covering the ground like metallic chain mail. Between those industrial facilities, there were huge ravines and rifts—large enough to be visible from space. Not to mention, there were countless circuits and cables stretching deep into those rifts.

Hao Ren blinked. He realized that it was a site of ongoing excavation and the source of the “wood grain” he had seen in his previous observations of the moon.

Lily dropped the last two ice cubes into her mouth and crunched them down before she could say, “This is…”

“This is the stronghold of the survivors of the rebel army,” Nolan replied. “The moon is the source of their industrial materials and their arsenal. It’s from there that a lot of weapons of war were produced. The space station between the moon and earth is their command center as well as their front line fortress. The troops are assembled and deployed through the fort before they set out on combat missions to the surface of the planet. I’ve observed the whole process. They appear to be well-organized and well-trained, plus the various industrial and military facilities are mature and robust. Apparently, this has been going on for centuries.”

“I didn’t expect these rebels to be right under our noses,” said Nangong Sanba, raising his eyebrows. “We need a plan… Now that we’ve found their base, shouldn’t we go and see it?”

“How?” Nangong Wuyue rolled her eyes. “Don’t forget Nolan isn’t working yet!”

Hao Ren touched his chin and said, “Actually, in my Dimensional Pocket, there are some cruise…”

Everybody rolled their eyes before Hao Ren finished speaking. “Okay, okay, I know this isn’t something you’re used to… But honestly, if you take the combat part down, we can still…”

This time everybody just ignored him.

“Ahem, Nolan, turn your antenna to these space bases.” Hao Ren could only cough awkwardly and change the topic. “Capture their communication signals. Understand how this ‘society of survivors’ work from their information networks, then judge whether these survivors are able to reach out smoothly. How long will it take you to relaunch?”

“The engine system and navigation system will be back in three days, but to be on the safe side, I suggest you wait an extra day—I can get some of the weapon platforms fixed, and most importantly, the shield system will be back in full on the fourth day.”

“There’s no difference between three and four days.” Hao Ren nodded. “Collect as much information on the society of survivors as possible during this period and work out the contact plan with them before the fourth day. What about the UAV fleet?”

“The first advance UAV fleet has entered the X star cluster about an hour ago, but it’s a bit far away,” Nolan said. “I did a blind hop without any guidance after the raid, directly leading us to the depths of the X star cluster. We’re thousands of light-years away from the jump points that the UAV fleet can reach. And since the attack on us, the energy environment in the X star cluster has changed. A high amount of highly-active divine energy has been roaming around the cluster like a patrol, blocking most of the hyperspace signals. It’s limiting my ability to command and dispatch the UAV fleet.”

“That’s okay. The UAV fleet will know what to do. Use the remaining bandwidth to send a command to all UAVs to move in pioneering mode towards the planetary system where our spaceship is located. Get them to set up production bases and bunkers along the way, each with powerful antennas. Aren’t there disturbances in space? Let the UAVs line the fort and force a physical communication chain. I don’t believe we can’t penetrate the X star cluster’s layer of interference this way.”

“Got it.”

Hao Ren rubbed the gap between his eyebrows. They were still in such a gloomy situation that he felt like he needed some good news. “Anything else to report? It better be refreshing…”

“Yes, about the First Born,” said Nolan.

Hao Ren suddenly regretted his request a little. That was not what he wanted!

However, he could not ignore the report on the First Born, so he had to let Nolan report. “Well… just tell me.”

“In accordance with your instructions, I’ve been monitoring the movements of the First Born on this planet. I’ve also released several probes into some natural caves as well as cracks in the earth’s crust to search for the First Born’s neural structure. After 24 hours of observation, I found something unusual.”

“Something unusual?” asked Hao Ren.

“I found a large amount of biological tissue in the planet’s crust to confirm that the First Born is now at a standard adult state. At this stage, the First Born is supposed to have pretty intense neural activity, which can even lead to visible supernatural phenomena on the planet’s surface if left unchecked. However, the level of neural activity detected by the probe is unusually low.” Nolan sounded puzzled. “The signals detected at several key nerve nodes even suggest that this First Born has lost control of its limb. There are only the most basic conditioned reflexes in the tentacles, but no more advanced nerve impulses.

Hearing that, Vivian could not help but mutter, “How could this be?”

“Judging from the information available, I believe that the First Born of this planet is… brain dead.”