Interstellar Survival: Invasion

"What is that place? Why are we going there?" asked Zhang Bao'er in astonishment.

"I communicated with the worm colony brain earlier. The place we're heading to is where a different clock puzzle can be found. We can leave from there," I replied calmly.

"What? You communicated with the worm colony brain? How is that possible? You have been in constant communication with us. You must be seeing things," said Temo with disbelief.

"Maybe a higher level of civilization had paused time itself? That's not something you can understand with your level of civilization, right?" I said, using Temo's usual argument against him.

"Yes, that must be it!" Zhang Bao'er took the chance to step on Temo.

"Impossible! Impossible! Only those ranked venerable or higher among the Sacred Wing race can communicate with the worm colony brain. A life form of a planet-level civilization like you will not be able to resist brainwaves of that level due to your stage of evolution," said Temo. As a member of a star-level civilization, his analysis was accurate.

"Everything is possible in the universe," I said. There was no way I would tell him about Bulu's abilities.

My order was quickly obeyed. After the warheads were removed, we gathered with the buer waiting outside. We climbed back onto the buer's back and headed to our new destination while invisible. With the buer's large body, we wouldn't take more than 20 minutes to cross 1,000 kilometers.

When I thought of how we were going to return to the fleet and meet Zhang Xingxing and the others soon, excitement filled my heart. The buer ran quickly, creating thundering noises as its massive body lumbered forth. When we first saw the buer, the thundering signified terror, but now, it was akin to a pleasant symphony. But slowly, the noises became louder even as the tempo changed to something that felt rather imbalanced.

"This buer is too loud when running. It's basically sound pollution," Zhang Bao'er started complaining again.

"Canyue, something isn't right," Dodo said.

"Dodo, what did you notice?" I asked.

"The tempo of the footsteps isn't right. This isn't how it is in the beginning. When I focused, it almost sounded like three sets of movements mixed together," said Dodo.

"What? Three sets? Don't tell me there are three buers here?" exclaimed Old Du.

"Shit! Maybe the other two are chasing us. Anxashe, check with our buer," I ordered.

A few seconds later, Anxashe returned with a reply. There were two buers chasing us.

"I can't see anything. Looks like they are also invisible," said Zhang Bao'er, who was becoming anxious.

"Anxashe, tell this buer to go faster. Try to reach our destination as fast as possible. Everyone, prepare for combat," I ordered calmly. At this point in my career, I was already used to battles.

"Just what kind of a life is this? We can't even catch a break before two buers come out of nowhere. How annoying," complained Zhang Bao'er.

"Alright. We're reaching our destination soon. After arriving, Zhang Bao'er, Old Du, Anxashe and I will remain to cover the group's retreat. Everyone else will enter the clock password rapidly and leave. We will pull back immediately after all of you are through. Follow my order. No arguments," I said with a firm tone that did not allow any disobedience.

"A black building appeared ahead of us. Canyue, is that the place you spoke about?" asked Old Du.

"Yes, that's it. When we're there, take charge and have everyone leave this dimension. We will be right behind you," I ordered.

"Roger," Dodo answered.

One minute later, our buer reached the black building. We hurriedly leaped off its back. Then, Dodo led everyone inside. Zhang Bao'er, Old Du, Anxashe, and I stayed behind to form a defensive perimeter to protect the entrance to the black building. The buer that had carried us here had left its invisible status after we had gotten off its back. Its bright red body was clear for us to see.

"Big Hill, we'll be counting on you later," said Anxashe as he gently rubbed the buer's body.

It turned out he had named the buer Big Hill. At that moment, the pursuing buers also left their invisible states. Two buers that were even larger appeared less than 20 meters ahead of us. The sight of the three hill-sized creatures facing off was rather oppressive to behold.

The two pursuing buers were also bright red in color. Clearly, the two had also entered combat mode. They breathed loudly as they stared at each other. A cruel battle could begin at any moment.

"Canyue, we found the entrance to the clock time tunnel. The tunnel will open in 3 minutes. I also checked from the clock that the tunnel will remain open for 10 minutes. Make sure you go through the tunnel in that time period. Otherwise, you will have to wait 48 hours before you can reopen the tunnel," said Dodo.

"Ten minutes? Canyue, let's start retreating," said Zhang Bao'er.

I was about to speak when the battle between the three buers began loudly. One of the enemy buers unleashed a sphere connected to an arm from a black hole on its body. Unlike Big Hill who could only unleash two of those arms at the same time, this buer could unleash over a thousand at once. Like a thousand mountains dropping from the sky, they hammered down upon Big Hill's body, creating deafening sounds as they landed.

At the same time, the other buer also unleashed the same attack. The battle of countless hammer-like arms began intensely. In the eyes of us Bluelings, it was as terrifying a sight as an apocalypse, a scene that we could normally only see in movies.

Naturally, Big Hill would not allow itself to be beaten without doing anything. It unleashed its own hammer-arms and struck the two enemy buers, but it clearly did not have the upper hand.

"Deputy Commander Canyue, Big Hill is putting its life on the line to help us. I must do something to help," said Anxashe, who was becoming increasingly agitated.

"With the size of their bodies, we can only use nuclear warheads if we want to help," suggested Old Du.

"Deputy Commander Canyue, the time tunnel has been opened. I will retreat with the others. Be sure to retreat promptly. The tunnel will only remain open for 10 minutes," Dodo's voice came through the communicator.

Dodo's voice indicated that we did not have much time left. After leaving the last message, Dodo left through the tunnel with the others. Our communication with them was severed, the channel becoming flooded with static.

Under the attack of two buers, Big Hill's body was filled with wounds. Blood sprayed everywhere as traces of purple appeared on its red body. The purple was slowly spreading all over its body.

"Old Du, Bao'er, I'll lock onto one of the holes on one of the buers. Let's work together to launch a nuclear warhead into the hole," I ordered.

"The holes on buers are constantly moving around. We won't be able to lock onto one," said Zhang Bao'er.

"I was able to find a pattern. Below the biggest spike on their back, a hole will appear every 30 seconds. I will set that as our target. The moment the countdown is over, we will launch our warheads regardless of whether there is a hole there or not," I said.

"Canyue, there are still eight minutes before the tunnel closes," reminded ever-prudent Old Du.

"Stop hesitating. We still have eight warheads with us. Let's focus on one of them and see if we can defeat it. Big Hill will have to rely on itself to fight the other buer," I said. We started approaching one of the enemy buers with Anxashe close behind us.

Due to the distance between us and the buers, we were able to reach our targeted buer quickly. Moving amid three battling hills was very risky. Every step they took could very well be the step to stomp us into mincemeat.

Even the chunks of flesh falling from the buers were as dangerous as a landslide. We were forced to turn our shields to maximum capacity. Because I also had to protect Anxashe, my energy supply was draining rapidly.

Amid the world-shaking battle, we finally arrived at the correct position to launch our warheads. Fortunately, our target had yet to discover us. Otherwise, its hammer-arm would only need a single smash to turn us to paste.

"Six more minutes," announced Old Du, his announcement akin to a countdown before our deaths, giving us great pressure.

"I've locked onto the position. Twenty seconds before launch. After launching, start running toward the tunnel at top speed regardless of the result," I ordered firmly as a precaution in case Anxashe would refuse to leave later.

The countdown started, and the moment it was over, we launched all eight of our remaining warheads at the buer. Finally, luck seemed to smile at us as all eight of the warheads entered the hole on the buer.

"Retreat immediately, or we won't have enough time to leave!" I ordered, taking the lead to run away.

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Everyone started madly running. Just before we stepped through the black building's entrance, I heard an oppressive howl that seemed to be filled with pain. I looked back and saw that purple was appearing on our target buer. The color was rapidly spreading through its body.

"The attack looks successful. It's now a one-on-one fight. You can worry less now, Anxashe," I consoled.

We rushed into the black building, entering a long corridor. Suddenly, a deafening sound erupted less than a meter behind us. I looked back and saw that the other buer had discovered us and was furiously smashing its hammer-arms down at us.

"Shit! Run, everyone!" Old Du shouted nervously.

The hammer-arms rained down upon us, each attack less than a meter from us. A single strike would be enough to end our lives. We ran madly, and finally, the familiar tunnel entered our vision. A gentle pink radiance covered the entrance, seemingly beckoning us toward it. At that moment, we were a minute away from when the tunnel would close.

Suddenly, a hammer-arm dropped down right in front of us, ruining the path between us and the tunnel.