Chapter 1073: The Mystery of the Mushroom Rock

Sheyan already won the respect of the rest of the contestants just by virtue of his support ability. It made them marvel at the fact that there were truly no mediocre contestants among those that were chosen for this mission.

Paul was really interested in the big, dumb-looking Ramtas, and kept asking Sheyan about it.

Although his battle robot was powerful, it actually had another, bigger weakness besides its slow movement, and that was the endless consumption of Paul’s MP! Paul was not as crazy as Zi; his equipments were not all either dark green or dark gold without anything else of lower grade, so it was a struggle for him to maintain the robot.

It was true that everyone had their own problems. While Sheyan admired Paul’s colossal robot that could sweep through all obstacles with its long, gigantic hammer, Paul also admired Ramtas for its convenience, high survivability and low maintenance. It was also considerate enough to repel bugs for its summoner!

The two talked together for a while. After Pokan finished his preliminary reconstruction of the temporary base, the group had a discussion and decided to re-ignite the fire. They would also add the specially-made additives to it. A column of thick, brown-red smoke once again rose into the sky, beckoning for the rest of the contestants to come to them.

They talked while they were waiting, and the topic of conversation naturally steered towards the collapse of the mushroom rock.

Vassily and Paul’s landing was not as rough as Sheyan’s. Their spacecrafts smoothly descended vertically onto the planet the way normal helicopters did. It so happened that they landed less than fifty meters away from each other, so they had grouped together right after they landed.

They had also experimented with flying the spacecraft within the planet’s atmosphere, but found that the magnetic field interference here was indeed too severe. The instruments in the spacecraft would be painfully tortured by the chaotic magnetic interference during low-altitude flight, and any moment of carelessness would spell disaster. They could only fly the Wasp directly into outer space.

The two of them had landed not too far away from the mushroom rock. They could have reached the mushroom rock on the same day that they landed, but Paul rejected the idea for a simple yet acceptable reason:

He had found some ominous signs.

It was well known among the contestants that Paul had made a lot of money in his spacecraft modification venture, so it was not difficult to deduce that his own Wasp must have been modified to the maximum extent. It must be top-notch in terms of both performance and the quality of the installed accessories.

Remember, Paul did not land with difficulty like Sheyan. He landed so smoothly that he could have leisurely had a cup of coffee during the whole process. Therefore, he had ample time to observe the mushroom rock, and had even let his monitoring camera focus on the rock, as it was a place he needed to pay attention to.

After landing, Paul replayed the video recording many times, and confirmed that he was indeed seeing a large amount of colossal bones at the top of the mushroom rock! Those bones were so huge that they were comparable to the sizes of blue whales! Some of the bones still had skin and fur on them, while others had been completely corroded.

Considering the terrain of the mushroom rock, what were the chances of the owners of those giant bones climbing to the top of their own accord, then killing themselves there? Almost zero.

So that led to a very important question: how did they get up there and turn into bones?

That process was not captured by Paul’s camera, so Paul could not come to a definite conclusion, but he and Vassily agreed that the owners of those colossal bones must had been very strong before they died.

So, they ignored the Empire’s order and ran away in the opposite direction. In the end, they saw the smoke and followed it here.

Sheyan checked the video and saw the huge bones for himself. Evidently, a creature that could drag the owners of these bones up there must be something with wings. Besides possessing great strength, these creatures should live in groups and were good in the division of labour — the owners of those giant bones had probably been “lifted” up there…. Apart from that, to be able to kill those giant creatures, the biological power of the winged creatures must be extremely strong… ..

Right now, the only piece of good news for them was that the horrifying explosion of the mushroom rock was truly shocking. It had destroyed a whole segment at the top of the rock, so the flying creatures living on the rock had no doubt suffered a disaster. Even if some of them had survived, they should have no time for Sheyan and the others here.

At that moment, Ramtas walked in and gestured for Sheyan to follow him outside. Once outside, Sheyan immediately noticed the brownish-red smoke column in the distance….

***

2.7 million kilometres away.

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Within the “Bridgehead” base that the Kitty Hawk had transformed into.

Major General Mungo and Major General Fiji were standing with their back straight in stiff military uniforms. They did not even dared to breathe too hard, as if their breathing would be disrespectful.

In front of them was a holographic projection of an old man sitting in a wheelchair. The old man’s military uniform showed that he was a General. Although he was disabled, his hawk nose and seemingly muddy eyes exuded an oppressive pressure.

(TL Note: Major General < Lieutenant General < General )

The pressure could be vividly felt even though the old man was only a holographic image.

“How’s the matter coming along?”

When the General spoke, he was very slow and very calm, but every word was like a bomb that shook the listener’s mind. The shock could even be felt with their bodies. How would an ordinary person react when they saw a bomb falling in front of them? Their mind would go blank, of course.

Major General Mungo was the person in charge. He took a step forward and very cautiously said, “The contestants have set out. According to the feedback we received before they entered planet Uplos, none of the twelve Wasps had fallen to the asteroid belts. The physiques of these contestants are indeed far beyond that of our strongest fighters. According to the data we measured, when they burst through the asteroid belts, the pressure they endured from the acceleration was sixty-one times stronger than the limit our strongest fighters could withstand!!”

The General’s eyes narrowed when he heard that. Behind him was a detailed map of the Milky Way, as if only the vast galaxy was fit to serve as his background.

“Hmph, they truly are powerful. It’s a pity that the Noah Realms have gained independence and are no longer under our control. If it wasn’t for the fact that they’re only willing to cooperate with us in limited ways, we wouldn’t even need to take in soldiers from the past. Our forefathers really shouldn’t have sown those seeds found on the dark side of the Moon. Sigh…. Give me the latest news.”

“Yes sir! The Kitty Hawk have managed to take advantage of a gap between the outbreak of magnetic storms on Uplos to take a picture of the designated landing site. For reasons unknown to us, a mushroom rock there has violently collapsed. And the mushroom rock happened to be the gathering place we designated for the contestants,” answered Major General Mungo respectfully.

The General had a thoughtful look on his face. He suddenly asked, “How much time do they have left?”

“According to previous records of the Predators’ activities, the contestants have eight days left until the Predators send their warriors to Uplos for the trial. Based on the strength shown by the contestants, it’s not impossible for them to kill the Predators. However, those who are qualified to go to Uplos for their trial are all nobles among the Predators. If a large number of casualties occur among them, it’ll definitely cause concern. Therefore, we can almost say for certain that if the contestants fail to complete the exploration mission within eight days, they have no chance of surviving,” replied Major General Mungo.

“Eight days, huh,” the General uttered slowly. He contemplated for a while and suddenly turned to Major General Fiji who was standing at the side. “I heard you involved yourself in a conflict between the contestants?”

Major General Fiji’s forehead instantly started sweating profusely. He dared not say much, not even to explain himself. He merely straightened himself and replied, “It’s my mistake, General.”

“Do you really know what you’ve done wrong? Mungo has embezzled seven million Cosmos on Alps Base 7 so far, but no one has said anything! I don’t care if you try to make some extra profit, but do your job properly! Corruption and bribery are no big deal; as long as you do a good job, that’s your reward! But if you screw things up due to your stupidity, you’re twice as guilty!” admonished the General.

Major General Fiji and Major General Mungo both broke into cold sweat at the same time. They did not dare utter a single word. The General snorted.

“If this mission fails, you’ll be Lieutenant Colonel Fiji!”

After that, the General’s holographic projection shook and vanished. Mungo and Fiji glared at each other with venom in their eyes. Now that they knew the other had been snitching behind their back, they did not even bother keeping up a friendly demeanor anymore. They turned around and simultaneously left the communication room.

***

Sheyan, who was on planet Uplos 2.7 million kilometers away, naturally had no way of knowing the drama that had taken place. He also did not know that they only had eight days left.

The five of them had decided to answer the summon of the smoke signal in the far distance. They must consider the big picture. Since the other party had chosen to call them over, they must have their reasons for doing so. Although Ronnie had only partially recovered from his injury, traveling was no longer a problem for him.

When Sheyan and his group arrived at the other temporary camp, they realised that the situation there was far worse than they had imagined!