Reboot the Galaxy

The arguments in the channel suddenly reached a chaotic peak. After seeing the monster on the cave wall, many people loudly protested that the higher-ups had thrown them into an unknown and dangerous place.

"What is that thing? I'll shoot it!"

Chalon drew his plasma gun and aimed it at the monster on the wall, but the muzzle was immediately pressed down by Ruan Huzhong.

"Don't be foolish!" Nguyen Hu Chung warned, "You'll kill us if you do that."

Charon angrily put down his gun and, like most others, began to look around to investigate the situation.

This monster wasn't unique to this spot. Right next to the airtight liquid layer that everyone had just climbed up, a large section of it bulged out from the rock wall, half of it exposed and the other half submerged in the liquid, gently wriggling in an irregular rhythm.

"This is disgusting," Wasabi Isayama complained.

"And it's not something you can mess with." Tomura Naohiko seemed very wary. "Honey, let's stay away from it, okay?"

The four members of Mpuent's team pointed at the monster on the wall and talked to each other. They felt that it looked a lot like the monster called "Erm" in the myths and legends of their hometown.

Legend has it that "Urm" is a monster sent down by the heavens to punish humanity. It is also embedded in the rock, with a smooth body, enormous size, and divine power, capable of controlling all things in the world.

"Xavier, what should we do next?" Di Yan asked.

Nearly five minutes have passed since everyone climbed up through the airtight liquid layer and gathered in this tunnel, and Xavier has not given any further instructions.

"The tactics are currently being reassessed, please wait," Xavier replied.

"What exactly happened?" Di Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Xavier's voice was somewhat low, and Di Yan could detect a hint of guilt in it: "Currently, a squad has suffered serious casualties, and the danger level of the inner pit is increasing. Please wait for the command center's decision."

Di Yan's heart skipped a beat. Just then, An Zaiyin came over to ask how things were going.

"It might be dangerous inside; we must be careful on the road ahead."

Di Yan pulled the plasma gun out from behind his back, held it in his hand, and released the safety.

During the preparation of the plasma gun, a bluish-green light would emerge, accompanied by a faint sound with a continuously rising tone—this was the first time he had ever heard it.

The inner tunnel was filled with an unknown gas, which allowed sound to travel very well, and Di Yan could hear everything clearly.

"What's inside?" He asked timidly, a bad feeling creeping over him.

"An alien species."

Di Yan whispered, raised his gun, aimed at the dark cave entrance, and cautiously advanced, beginning his reconnaissance step by step.

He Xu and An Zaiyin exchanged tense glances and drew their guns, following behind Di Yan.

Seeing Di Yan leading the way, the members of the "Alliance" followed him out of trust.

As for the other teams outside the "Alliance", they all chose to stay put.

This place is extremely eerie; there's an exaggerated monster all around, and many people are terrified. Without a clear order, they would never move forward an inch.

"Look at those people, they're going to their deaths."

Sprague pointed in the direction the "Alliance" had gone and said with a grin.

Carlson scrutinized the departing team members, checking their numbers and names one by one, his eyes gradually narrowing.

"Should we follow them?" Leo asked in a low voice.

Carlson took a deep breath and said slowly, "No need, we'll wait."

Di Yan led his team to explore several hundred meters deeper into the tunnel. The tunnel continued to curve and descend, but they did not see anything unusual along the way. Even the huge monster that had been exposed on the cave wall was no longer there. It seemed to exist only in the area at the entrance.

At least that's what Di Yan hopes for.

The gas in the air appeared transparent, but it actually had a slightly yellowish tint and contained a large amount of particulate dust that frequently blocked the light. Di Yan felt that the composition of this gas was definitely unusual.

Xavier suddenly said, "Gas samples have been collected and will be sent for analysis after the mission is completed."

Teammates in the channel started checking each other's information. It turned out that just now, everyone's mechs had simultaneously completed gas sampling.

"Heh, that's pretty good."

He sighed, his tone tinged with disdain, "As long as one of us gets back alive, it won't affect their research."

"So we should trust the 'wisdom' of our superiors," Di Yan interjected.

"To hell with wisdom." He Xu was both amused and exasperated.

Yuancun Meiyan walked over and asked, "Di Yan-jun, shall we continue?"

Di Yan looked at the empty, deep cave ahead, remained silent for a long while while listening to the silent earpiece, and finally made up his mind to say, "Continue."

He no longer trusts his superiors' decisions; relying on himself is worse than relying on others, which has always been one of his guiding principles.

Even though the military Xavier performed exceptionally well on Earth and had indeed amazed him, the situation was different now.

They were deep underground, facing alien creatures they had never seen before. The surrounding terrain was complex and unpredictable. Xavier also revealed that other teams had already suffered serious casualties...

Moreover, Shi Ming mentioned that this was the first time the Starship Force had gone deep underground to carry out a mission.

With the terrain and the enemy unknown, all dangers are amplified.

The group advanced several hundred meters, making several turns along the way, with some sections of the slope becoming even steeper. Despite the complex terrain, there were no forks in the road until four intersections appeared ahead.

"Which way should we go? Should we muster our troops?"

As he spoke, He Xu's finger began to tap in the air.

"Should we wait a bit?" Ahn Jae-in asked Di Yan softly.

Xavier remained silent, which irritated Di Yan. Clearly, the longer Xavier remained silent, the more unfavorable the situation would become.

"Okay, then let's wait."

Di Yan did not dare to make a decision rashly, so he let the team rest temporarily at this fork in the road.

He checked the time on his eyelid; it was 18:33 PM. They would likely have to spend the night underground.

The sergeant had said that this mission might last for several days, and Di Yan felt it was absolutely terrible.

He is not afraid of danger. As long as everything is settled, he will not back down even if it is a dangerous mission. He is just afraid of the current situation where there is a lack of intelligence and hesitation in decision-making.

The Viyin Starship Army, which he had initially imagined to be technologically advanced and structurally rigorous, was now gradually behaving like a makeshift operation.

Ten minutes later, Xavier finally spoke: "The new round of tactical assessment is complete. Next, you need to enter the second cave entrance from the left ahead. Be on high alert at all times and indiscriminately annihilate any living alien species you encounter until you reach the next fork in the road."

Di Yan paid particular attention to the phrase "indiscriminate annihilation".

Everyone received the same instructions. Without saying much, they all drew their plasma guns and carefully entered the second entrance.

When you first enter, this place is not much different from before, except that it is slightly narrower and roughly circular in diameter, with the cave ceiling not far above the mecha.

The gradient along the way continued to descend, and apart from the previous "U"-shaped tunnel, Di Yan had never encountered an upward tunnel again.

The alien species seemed to have some kind of obsession with digging deeper underground, and would only try to find new ways to dig downwards.

Suddenly, Di Yan's light caught something unusual, and he immediately stopped the group.

The light shone on a broken, smooth, and limp spherical object, which was grayish-black in color, just like... the corpses of those native alien species that were seen outside, except that it was broken and only half of it was scattered on the ground.

It seemed to have been torn apart, the tissue at the cross-section stretched to varying lengths, as if something had forcibly ripped half of it away, exposing the complex internal structure, which gleamed under the light, dark and without any discernible pattern.

The carcass of the native mutant lay on the ground at the corner, leaning against the wall. The tunnel ahead required a right turn, but Di Yan didn't intend to proceed for the time being.

Because he heard a sound, like some kind of... tearing and chewing sound.

"There's something around the corner!" He Xu exclaimed in a low voice.

"Be careful, Xavier's instructions are very clear: kill without mercy."

Tomura Naohiko kept his eyes fixed on the corner, seemingly determined to shoot without hesitation if anything appeared.

"I think they can't sense the light."

Ahn Jae-in attempted to deduce, "Having lived underground for so long, their eyesight must have deteriorated."

"How do they find their way? With sound waves?"

As the light flickered, he noticed again the countless tiny particles in the gas.

"So maybe that's one of the reasons they need air pressure."

Di Yan suddenly realized, "They have no eyesight, but they are extremely sensitive to sound."

"Does that mean it already knows we're here?" Naohiko Tomura asked in surprise.

Just then, something strange happened around the corner. The half-dead body of the native mutant was suddenly dragged away and into the blind spot behind the corner.

An even louder chewing sound rang out, sending chills down everyone's spines.

Whatever is there, it's closer than before.

The team members recalled the facts Dr. Maxim had mentioned: in order to compete for survival, the alien species were forced to evolve, developed aggression, and began to cannibalize their own kind...

"I'm a little scared." Mpuente's voice was very soft, but he didn't switch to a private channel, so everyone around him could hear him.

"What are you afraid of! Let's fight him!"

Cha Long, speaking in a gruff voice, strode forward, passing Di Yan and walking at the front, quickly approaching the corner with his gun raised.

"Hey! Chalong!" Ruan Zhicheng shouted in the channel, but it was too late. Chalong had already reached the corner and turned around, facing everyone sideways.

"F**K!"

With a shout from his right-hand side, Charon pulled the trigger without hesitation. The high-temperature plasma ball shot out like a thunderclap, illuminating the entire tunnel as if it were daytime.

In an instant, a strange cry rang out from around the corner, first a deep, loud howl like a wild beast, then a long, trailing sound like claws scraping against steel.

This was the same wild scream that Di Yan had heard after climbing up, the one that had sent chills down his spine. Only this time, the sound was even louder, deafening, and incredibly piercing, resounding deep into his heart.

"What the hell is this?!"

Charon's voice on the channel sounded almost desperate. In addition, they heard a rapid crawling sound, like several steel nails being driven into the rock layer one after another, rushing around the corner towards Charon.

"Get out of there quickly!" Ruan Zhicheng immediately rushed to the front and stood beside Di Yan, pointing the plasma gun at the corner.

Charon quickly pounced, and at the same time, several sharp and slender limbs suddenly appeared around the corner, with red, white and black stripes, resembling the legs of a certain species of large-flowered mosquito in the tropical rainforest.

They move incredibly fast, extending three or four meters in the blink of an eye, embedding themselves deeply into the rock face, while their connected trunks quickly move out.

A piercing shriek rang out. It was a spider-like creature with six slender legs covered in patterns. It had no abdominal sac, but its body was broad and thick, covered in a fancy carapace that shone brightly under the light.

At this moment, a large hole was blasted into one side of its body by the high-temperature plasma cluster, and molten tissue dripped down. Two of its legs were almost blown off, with only half of them still connected to its torso.

This is the most aggressive Xenomorph that Dr. Maxim demonstrated, but it differs greatly in detail from the one in the photograph.

The mutant before them had patterns on its body, while the mutant in the doctor's photo was solid-colored; at the same time, this mutant had more slender limbs and larger mouthparts, with teeth arranged in a spiral, like a sharp and deadly meat grinder, as if it could shred anything it caught in.

The mouthparts were over a meter in diameter, almost covering the entire front of the torso. The long, sharp teeth were covered with black debris, making it incredibly terrifying.

"Go eat plasma, you bastard!"

Ruan Zhicheng cursed and fired immediately, hitting the alien's open mouthpiece squarely. The bright ball of light rapidly expanded, accompanied by a loud explosion, like a punctured water balloon.

Charon lay on his back on the ground, the stabbing limbs only centimeters away from him. Terrified, he pulled the trigger on the monster's belly.

The alien creature let out a series of screams, having been hit by three plasma beams. It lost its balance and began to shake violently, eventually collapsing to the ground.

"Is he dead?" Ruan Huzhong walked forward.

"I don't know, it looks like..."

Before Ruan Zhicheng could finish speaking, Ruan Huzhong raised his gun and fired another shot at the fallen alien.

A burst of white light shone, and liquid splattered everywhere. The Charon mech next to it was sprayed with an unidentified liquid that looked like crude oil.

"That scared me to death, damn it!" Charon's voice trembled as he wiped the unidentified liquid off his body and examined it closely under the light.

Ruan Huzhong sternly told Cha Long to come back, and the latter scrambled to his feet and reluctantly returned to the group.

Di Yan stepped forward to examine the corpse of the alien creature. At least in his view, it was completely dead; its entire torso had been almost completely blasted apart.

Large areas of charred tissue were exposed, predominantly black with some light orange-yellow tissue interspersed among them. The surface was covered with slippery bodily fluids. Apart from the color, it did not look much different from life on Earth in terms of texture.

But the threat posed by that alien species was real; its swift speed and chilling roar made Di Yan reluctant to recall it.

In fact, things like this are likely to appear frequently in the later stages.

The interface on the eye membrane flickered, and Di Yan was unsure what was happening, but he soon received a notification from Xavier:

"A new variant has been discovered, tentatively classified as a mutant species, and has been confirmed dead. Please remain vigilant; all living mutants must be indiscriminately exterminated."

It was another indiscriminate annihilation.

"What's the casualty situation with the other squads?"

Di Yan asked this question that he had been concerned about for a long time. After so long, it was time to reach a conclusion.

Xavier did not answer immediately, but remained silent for two or three seconds before speaking slowly and hesitantly:

"Currently, the fourth squad has suffered more than half its casualties; the third and fifth squads have kept their casualties below five; and the other squads have not yet reported any casualties."