The plunder of the heavens begins with the Spirit Cage.

What exactly happened to the Ishimura?

Who are you people, and why are you here?

Isaac pricked up his ears; his heart was in his throat.

They had witnessed the monster's tenacity, and now he only hoped that his girlfriend would be alright, since they had clearly agreed to get married after completing this mission.

“Hehe…” Lu Qianwei chuckled, pointed to the corpse on the ground, “You have quite a few questions to ask, it doesn’t seem appropriate for me to explain them here, does it?”

Those mutated corpses could come at any time, drawn by the smell of blood.

“You’re right.” Hammond nodded and pointed to the lounge at the back.

"That lounge has electricity, and it's well-sealed and safe."

If you don't mind, let's talk over there..."

The two groups maintained a safe distance and quickly walked towards the common lounge, one after the other.

As the metal hatch opened and closed, Hammond's team, though still on edge, relaxed considerably once they returned to this relatively safe space.

There was no way I could help it; the scene I just witnessed was too horrific and bloody. It was impossible not to feel tense and scared.

Mann glanced at the layout of the lounge and efficiently arranged the security: "Piradu the side access door, Dorio watch the back door and the hidden staircase, I'll guard the front door."

The group took their places in response. Lu Qianwei went to the long metal table in the center, pulled over a metal chair that was not deformed, and sat down. He then began to explain the issues of the Divine Seal and the Stone Village to Hammond and the others.

Hammond and the others listened to Lu Qianwei's eloquent explanation, their hearts filled with shock and fear, followed by anger.

"Captain Lu, are you saying that nearly a third of the people on the Shicun ship are members of that damned Unification Cult?!"

"Was it their taking the divine seal onto the spaceship that caused this disaster?"

"But why weren't they infected by the divine seal device?" Hammond asked three more questions in a row, feeling like his head was about to split open.

It's already 2245, and people are still practicing religion?

What utter nonsense about the unity of all things!

Who would want to assemble into such a monster?!

Now he really wanted to find that brain-dead captain and beat him to a pulp!

"Captain Lu, have you ever met my girlfriend Nicole?"

"Could she be a member of a cult too?" Isaac asked in a low voice, his face pale.

He was afraid Lu Qianwei would nod, but he was even more afraid that Nicole had already been cut into pieces by those monsters or had become one of them.

"Don't worry, your girlfriend is fine," Lu Qianwei replied with a smile, remembering that his girlfriend shouldn't have attempted suicide.

He had a good impression of the game character he was controlling.

After all, in reality, this would be another S-level talent prodigy.

He was often tormented by missions while playing games, running around constantly.

One minute they have to repair the spaceship, the next they have to kill monsters and fight mini-bosses, then they have to mend and patch up the various Stone Spirit Blast systems and equipment on the Stone Village, and they even have to kill monsters all the way to set up cannons and destroy the meteorites that hit the spaceship...

All these factors combined make Isaac seem like a superman in real life.

To be honest, he did want to see Isaac busy with all sorts of things, but Lu Qianwei raised his wrist terminal to check the time; the time portal would last for another four hours.

Rather than leading such a small group through numerous challenges, Lu Qianwei preferred to use cheat codes to sweep through the enemy lines.

The Divine Seal, a device that can alter genes and cause them to recombine, is undoubtedly a high-end piece of equipment.

It's certain that I'll take it back for research.

"Captain Lu, do you know where those cult members are?" Hammond continued to ask.

"If possible, I think we'd better subdue their leader."

Only in this way will their chances of survival be greater.

Otherwise, if a group of people who are constantly monitoring and causing trouble behind the scenes are watching them on the screen, they could all lose their lives at any moment!

"We definitely have to arrest them." Lu Qianwei nodded, echoing his own thoughts.

"However, you don't need to take the risk; our people will handle it quickly."

Everyone just needs to wait here for news.

"Just you guys?"

"How can this be?!" Hammond sat up abruptly.

Although I witnessed the prowess of a few people not long ago, this is still too risky.

He was, after all, a Space Marine who had received professional training, and he couldn't tolerate being looked down upon like this!

"Captain Lu, everyone on our side has a specific role. Isaac is a spaceship engineer, and Kendall is a computer expert."

They can all be useful when needed.

"Count us in on the task of catching cult leaders!"

"Captain Hammond, I think you've misunderstood." Lu Qianwei shook his head with a smile. "I never said that this was all the people I had on my side."

Before Lu Qianwei could finish speaking, a series of muffled explosions suddenly came from the dimly lit passageway outside the door.

Judging from the sound, it was the sound of a large-caliber bullet piercing through flesh and steel plates, making the sealed hatch vibrate.

Hammond and his men were filled with surprise and doubt, and they all picked up their guns. But when several soldiers in power armor appeared in front of them with heavy steps, they were all stunned.

no?!

Did their civilization develop so quickly?

Back when the race to escape the resource-depleted and endangered Earth was underway, all nations poured their technological resources into developing starships and mining resources.

As for exoskeletons, basically anything that can be worn will suffice.

In the interstellar era, warships clash head-on, and a single warship explosion means total annihilation. Power armor and the like are really not research directions.

Wang Lei, who had been promoted to deputy commander, reported in a calm and resolute voice: "Sir, the expeditionary force and engineering troops have a total of 1,200 men."

"Please give instructions!"

Lu Qianwei nodded slightly, "Let's do a thorough, comprehensive cleanup!"

"Oh, and remember to tell the construction team to keep their eyes open and to dismantle what needs to be dismantled and take what needs to be taken."

"Yes!"

The moment the order reached each soldier's terminal, the massive army of steel-clad men immediately and orderly broke into formation.

In ten-man tactical squads, they rushed swiftly into every corner of the Ishimura's crisscrossing passageways, engine room, dormitory, and control cabin.

Soon, the piercing sound of gunfire suddenly echoed throughout the entire spaceship.

Unlike the sporadic gunshots, the laser gun beams tore through the dimly lit passageway, and the resulting firepower instantly turned the mutated corpses into charred remains.

"Bang bang bang-!"

The drone cannons fired continuously, tearing apart the limbs of the rampaging zombies.

The grotesque body exploded on the spot, black and red flesh fragments splattering all over the alloy bulkhead. It didn't even have a chance to twitch or struggle before it completely lost all its vitality.

Even if it were a composite monster formed from dozens of necromancy variants, it would be nothing more than being trampled into mincemeat in front of a nuclear-powered armor that possessed an energy shield, laser blades, and could fly and deliver a crushing blow!

A one-sided crushing victory, without a doubt.

In just one hour, the tactical teams moved through the enclosed crew quarters, malfunctioning engine rooms, and sealed storage compartments, breaking open jammed hatches and dismantling blocked alloy bulkheads, constantly rescuing surviving crew members from dark corners and confined crevices.

Most of the crew members who survived were ragged, covered in injuries, and on the verge of a mental breakdown.

For more than ten days, they had been hunted down by the zombie variants and mentally tormented by the divine seal signal. Their minds had been gnawed away by fear.

Now, seeing the divine soldiers descend from the sky, these people wish they could lie on the soldiers' armor and cry their hearts out, enjoying that overwhelming sense of security.

This includes Nicole.

She happened to be in the medical bay when the disaster broke out. If she hadn't been familiar with the ship's structure, she would have decisively curled up and hidden in the sterile compartment, relying on nutritional paste and sedatives to keep going.

The constant screams and occasional agonizing cries she heard had driven her to the brink of suicide.

Inside the warehouse where the Divine Seal is stored on the Ishimura, hundreds of Unification Church members armed with electromagnetic rifles are stationed in layers inside and outside the stronghold.

There was no fear in their eyes, only a near-manic fervor.

Countless murals, runes, and holy seal totems covered the cabin walls, and everyone prostrated themselves in worship, quietly waiting for the "Gathering Arrival" and the blessing of the divine seal.

They firmly believed that the divine seal was sacred, that mutation was evolution, and that they would eventually transcend their mortal bodies and return to oneness.

In order to protect the divine seal and prevent external interference, the believers voluntarily sacrificed corpses and induced mutations, forcibly creating nearly fifty high-level composite corpse variants around the stronghold.

Layers upon layers of distorted flesh intertwined and pieced together to form several enormous aggregates.

In their doctrine, this is a sacred guardian beast bestowed by the gods, a miracle that mortals cannot overcome.

However, after several tactical squads chopped the zombie aggregate into mincemeat like they were fighting a boss, and a magnetic bomb burned it to ashes, many cultists collapsed on the spot.

The doctrines he had held dear all his life, the miracles he believed in, and the Oneness doctrine he had pursued were utterly shattered at this moment.

"No...it's impossible...this is the power of the divine seal...how could this be..."

"A miracle...why was it crushed by mortal weapons..."

"No! Our unity...our sublimation...that is the true sublimation!!"

Panic, confusion, absurdity, the collapse of faith to the extreme, and then the frenzied chaos made Wang Lei's scalp tingle.

Damn it, cults are definitely no good!

Arrest them all!

At a command, armored soldiers charged into the crowd, braving the cult's bullets and artillery fire.

Aside from the well-dressed, high-ranking members of the cult who were under special scrutiny, the soldiers showed no mercy to the cannon fodder.

Although it didn't kill them, they definitely suffered comminuted fractures.

Chapter 205 City of a Thousand Stars

The feeling of weightlessness churned through his internal organs like a wrung-out towel, and when Lu Qianwei finally slammed to the ground with a thud, his buttocks were numb.