Technological practice: leading the human race to the stars

Chapter 55 Swamp

"damn it."

Yuanze cursed through gritted teeth.

Although Crowther had warned him in advance that his plane had been tampered with, and he had made sufficient preparations, the ruthlessness of these people's actions was still beyond his expectations.

However, in this chaos and despair, a ray of hope suddenly appeared - a black box fell into Yuanze's hands. Its shell was charred by the raging fire, and some parts were even twisted and deformed due to the high temperature.

Despite this, Yuanze still firmly believed that the storage chip inside should be intact and contain vital data.

He held the black box tightly, feeling its rough surface and cold metal texture. It seemed to be carrying a heavy mission, the weight of which was as heavy as the fate of the entire plane.

Yuanze put away the black box and looked around. He was in a muddy swamp, and not far away, the wreckage of the crashed plane was still emitting billowing black smoke and occasional explosions.

"Disguise mode."

Astra fell into a deep sleep, and Yuanze could only manually adjust the mode of the battle suit and the chip. This mode can transform the battle suit and his own skin to give it camouflage ability similar to a chameleon.

Yuanze carefully walked around the wreckage of the plane, avoiding the still burning flames. He took a deep breath and tried to stay calm and alert, as any negligence could expose his position.

He continued to move forward, and from time to time, fragments and wreckage of the aircraft came into view, and each time his heart tightened. Those familiar seats, dashboards and joysticks, now only in the form of ruins, told a silent song of sorrow.

Yuan Ze heard a faint cry for help, and he immediately followed the sound. Soon, he found the injured student Raymond on a relatively dry grass. Raymond was lying there, next to a body that had been engulfed by flames and was charred and mutilated.

Yuanze did not pay much attention to Raymond who was gradually fainting beside him. Instead, he was attracted by the corpse that was already unrecognizable.

He squatted down and carefully observed the unrecognizable body. From the uniform, Yuan Ze deduced that this was a male crew member who was not a Yuan warrior. This exquisite uniform had been burned to tatters by the flames, but its original outline and color could still be vaguely seen.

Yuanze tore open the torn uniform on the chest and shifted his sight to the chest of the corpse. There, the charred skin cracked like a drought-stricken land, revealing the severely damaged tissue inside. Yuanze could clearly see that the sternum was broken, and the muscles and blood vessels around the wound showed extreme signs of tearing and burning.

The severity of the wound convinced Yuan Ze that this was the fatal injury that caused the crew member's death. At the moment of the explosion, the crew member's chest suffered a huge external force impact, causing the sternum to break and the internal organs to shatter. In that case, the possibility of survival is almost zero.

Yuan Ze's eyes suddenly fixed on the wound on the corpse's neck. There, the charred skin cracked open, revealing deep cuts and red, swollen, and turned-out muscle tissue.

Yuan Ze used some superficial forensic knowledge to make a judgment. Judging from the shape and depth of the wound, it was obviously not caused by an explosion.

"It seems that this person had already suffered an attack before the explosion."

Yuan Ze's heart trembled as he realized that this man had already suffered irresistible damage before the explosion. This meant that before the explosion, the crew had been completely controlled, and a Yuan warrior had infiltrated the crew!
Yuan Ze stood up and expanded his spiritual perception to the limit. Within this limited ten-meter range, he seemed to be integrated with nature and could even sense the faint breathing of flowers and plants.

After confirming that there were no other threats around, he turned his attention to the unconscious Raymond again. They didn't have much in common, Yuanze only knew that he came from an ordinary family in G Province.

Although Raymond fell into a deep coma, his injuries were not too serious, and the skin affected by the explosion had begun to be slowly repaired by the source power.

After a brief thought, Yuanze decided to lend a helping hand. He carefully placed Raymond in a relatively intact escape pod equipped with a life support system. Whether Raymond woke up and escaped on his own or waited for the arrival of search and rescue personnel, this was undoubtedly a better choice.

Yuanze cleverly hid the escape pod in the wreckage of the plane, pretending it was damaged, and then quickly left the area. After all, no one could predict what would happen next - would the pursuers approach, or would the search and rescue personnel arrive?

What's more, this place is in the heart of the foggy jungle, full of dangers.

This assessment was supposed to be conducted in the outer area, which was mainly inhabited by high-level Body Tempering or Fusion-level Source Beasts, with low-level Peak-level Source Beasts occasionally appearing.

However, at this moment, the location where Yuanze is located is a place where Rongtong-level and peak-level source beasts frequently appear, and the types and numbers of source beasts are extremely dense. For the students, if they cannot crack the special abilities of these source beasts in time, their situation will be precarious.

Yuan Ze had considered flying to escape, but without an anti-gravity device, the energy consumption of flying was astronomical. The muddy ground and shallow water flow made his actions more difficult. Even if Yuan Ze chose to move on the tree, it was not foolproof. The harassment from insects and source beasts continued, and one of the tempering-level green worms even caused Yuan Ze a lot of trouble.

As Genze worked hard to stay hidden and tried to stay away from the danger zone, he suddenly heard the faint sound unique to the battle suit, which indicated that two Genbu warriors were approaching his position.

The two men communicated throughout the process through the audio inside their suits, and turned on various detection equipment and camouflage systems, acting extremely cautiously.

Yuan Ze couldn't tell who was the enemy and who was the friend. He could only roughly judge that he was a Fusion-level Yuan Warrior from the level of his battle suit. Yuan Ze could only use the battle suit to camouflage himself, and he also temporarily modified his abilities through the chip, turning the immersive state of "flow" into a state of suspended animation to evade inspection.

When these instruments scanned his body, no alarm was triggered, and the two continued to explore the periphery. However, the shorter one seemed to have noticed something. He glanced at the tree where Yuan Ze was hiding, then slowly approached, as if he had sensed something unusual.

Just as Yuan Ze was about to take action to escape, the Yuan warrior who had been distracted by Yuan Ze's direction suddenly returned to his companions. He reacted quickly and successfully avoided fatal injuries. "What is this?" he asked in surprise.

"This is a big trouble. Isn't this the extinct Swamp Horse? How is it possible that such a powerful individual still exists?" Another shorter Source Warrior was obviously more experienced. He immediately recognized this dangerous creature.

At the same time, Yuanze also ended his suspended state. He also recognized this swamp spirit horse and felt secretly delighted. It seemed that he could find a chance to escape from here.

This is a source beast evolved from a wild horse - the Swamp Spirit Horse. Its entire body is covered with a layer of camouflaged scales, as if it were cast from mud.

The most eye-catching thing is the gem called "Eye of True Vision" embedded in the middle of its forehead. It emits a faint blue light, as if it can see through all the disguises and deceptions in the world.

The True Eye contains a unique biological crystal that is completely different from ordinary visual organs. The True Eye can capture a wider range of light spectra, including ultraviolet, infrared and weak light signals that are often ignored by the naked eye.

When creatures or objects use the ability to change color for camouflage, their spectral characteristics will undergo subtle changes. These changes are imperceptible to ordinary creatures, but cannot escape the sharp insight of the Eye of True Seeing.

Because of the unique ability of the True Vision Eye, humans have always been eager to obtain them and use them as the core components of high-end anti-stealth equipment. Some source warriors even choose to use the True Vision Eye of the powerful Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse to replace their own eyes in order to pursue a sharper vision.

This is also the main reason why the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horses are gradually becoming extinct. Now it seems that there are still a small number of Rotten Swamp Spirit Horses quietly surviving in this misty jungle.

This top-level swamp spirit horse, with dark green light flashing all over its body, roared as it rushed towards the two Source Warriors.

One of the Source Warriors was tall and mighty, holding a lightning spear. He walked steadily, fearlessly facing the fierce attack of the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse, and engaged in a fierce fight with it.

The other Source Warrior had a slender figure, holding two guns in his hands. He moved nimbly around the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse, shooting continuously, creating space for his teammates, trying to find an opportunity to win.

The Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse let out a ferocious roar, stomped the ground with its front hooves, and swung its tail like a steel whip, launching fierce attacks on the two Source Warriors. The Source Power of the spears and the double guns intertwined and collided in the air, bursting out with brilliant light and setting off waves of violent storm-like shock waves.

However, although the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse was of a higher level, its strength and speed were suppressed and it could not be fully exerted due to the tacit cooperation of the two Source Warriors. Gradually, it fell into a disadvantage.

However, the Swamp Horse, which lacked long-range means, gradually fell into a disadvantage. Although it was at a higher level than them, its strength and speed were suppressed and could not be fully utilized.

Soon, the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse was already wounded in many places, and the dark green light became increasingly dim. Although the two Source Warriors were also sweating and panting, their eyes became more determined. They stared at the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse, exchanging tacit glances with each other, obviously preparing for the final fatal blow.

At this moment, the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse suddenly turned its body around, trying to use its tail to sweep away both Source Warriors to give itself a chance to escape.

How could the two Source Warriors let it go so easily? They launched their attacks almost at the same time, the Source Power of their spears and double guns intertwined to form a brilliant beam of light, which knocked the Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse heavily down into the jungle.

However, a bright light shone from the body of the Swamp Spirit Horse, forcing them to stop attacking it.

Yuan Ze knew that this was a rare special ability of a high-level swamp spirit horse. A very small number of swamp spirit horses had a special enzyme in their scales that could quickly convert rotten things into energy and then into source power. And the place where they knocked it down just now was all filled with this humus.

"Run." The sturdy guy saw what happened and pulled his teammates, rushing to the outside, trying to create space.

How could the Swamp Spirit Horse let them go? The two men and the beast fought again.

The Swamp Spirit Horse no longer dodges the attacks of the Source Power bullets at this moment, and the places that are hit will be quickly repaired by the Source Power.

This wanton squandering also brought a huge burden to it, and the recovery speed gradually decreased. At the same time, the source power of the two source warriors was also consumed greatly. They even lowered their masks and directly breathed the source power in the mist to replenish their losses.

For a time, the two sides fell into a stalemate.

Suddenly, a huge crocodile head jumped out of the swamp where the Swamp Horse was and bit half of its body.

The surrounding trees were all cut down in the death roll of the source beast, and the rotten land was exposed to the setting sun.

The Rotten Swamp Spirit Horse struggled with all its might, and the gem on its head shone brighter and brighter, but the cracks on it became more and more obvious. However, all this was in vain, and it could only be swallowed bit by bit.

As the crocodile swallowed them all, it moved its gaze back and forth between the two of them with an unsatisfied look.

The priceless gem also shattered during the bite, emitting a strong light. This light instantly submerged the two Yuan warriors and Yuan Ze on the tree, and Yuan Ze's disguise was also peeled off bit by bit.

"Oh no! This is the dying light that can break through all disguises!"

(End of this chapter)