Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 292 – Virus Planet

"High on the Tenzing Montes, the explorers found that apart from nitrogen ice, there was also water ice as solid as rock. It has long been argued that to form a mountain range of Tenzing Montes's size, nitrogen ice alone wouldn't be enough, as nitrogen ice wasn't hard enough. Sure enough, water ice was discovered the moment explorers reached a high position," said Zhang Xingxing.

"That discovery merely proved that the hypothesis made at that time was right. It's not really a major discovery," said Dodo, questioning the finding's importance.

"The major discovery came from the massive chunk of water ice. The temperature at the Tenzing Montes was as low as negative 238 degrees. From within the ice, the explorers found something that did not exist in the nitrogen ice," said Zhang Xingxing.

"What did they find?" I asked, sensing that we had reached a critical point in the story.

"Germs—countless different germs completely frozen in ice. Some reached the size of hundreds of meters in width. The size made the explorers doubt if what they found could be classified as germs since the league had never discovered germs of such size. At that time, all the germs were still frozen in the ice," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Germs hundreds of meters in width? That's too crazy. How can germs so big exist? Those must be some sort of creature instead, right?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"After careful study, the explorer found that the frozen creatures were all single-celled organisms. Regardless of their size, all of them met the definition of a germ, such as having a cell wall, cell membrane, and cytoplasm. Some of them also possess bacterial capsules, flagella, and endospores. There was no doubt that they were all germs," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Germs hundreds of meters wide. That is too unreal," said Zhang Bao'er, still doubtful.

"There is nothing unreal about it. What happened next proved that those were indeed germs," said Zhang Xingxing.

"What do you mean? Did the giant germs come back to life?" asked Zhang Bao'er in astonishment.

"The super virus of Pluto, your main opponent during this mission, is a giant virus over five meters wide. This is top secret intelligence the league had obtained from the empire," said Zhang Xingxing.

"What? Xingxing, the super virus is only a single virus, not a group of viruses?" I asked.

"Exactly. There is only one virus. Apart from the great sovereign, not a single organic life had survived an encounter with the virus. All we know was learned from robotic scouts," said Zhang Xingxing.

"My god. Just what sort of a monster is that? It can instantly kill an organic life? Just how did it achieve that?" said Old Du.

"There's nothing surprising about it. A virus like that must have grabbed onto the common characteristic of all organic lives in our layer of the universe, achieving the effect of killing with one move. If we can find out the common ground of all organic lives in our layer, we will be able to discover its secret," said Temo, giving us a new direction to consider.

"I think the monster's special ability is not the only thing we need to worry about. We need to take Pluto's environment into consideration as well. There must be some requirements in the environment for the virus to do what it does," said Baron Sisse.

"Whatever the truth is, we can only find out on Pluto. There is no doubt that the planet is filled with frozen viruses. How should we deal with them and rescue the great sovereign? That is something we need to study and finalize," said Zhang Xingxing.

"What is there to study? We already have the red biscuits. Those are treasures we had risked our lives to get," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes, you now have the red biscuits from Wisdom. However, we only know that the biscuits worked for their ancestors. How useful would the biscuits be for us? We still don't know. Also, can the biscuits only resist a single type of virus or numerous types of viruses? Is there a time limit to its effectiveness? We need to verify all that," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Corps Commander, you have changed. In the past, we would set out upon agreeing on the mission. You were never so hesitant," said Zhang Bao'er, saying the same words I had in my heart.

"I have witnessed too many massacres in the past two years. There are fewer and fewer people willing to fight on our side. We can no longer afford to waste what little strength we have. That is not a loss we can recover from," said Zhang Xingxing, sending everyone into silence.

"Should we send one person to go ahead and test the effectiveness of the biscuit on the virus?" I broke the silence.

"It's too dangerous for one person to go. It will be safer to have at least two people go," said Zhang Bao'er, making it clear that he wanted to be part of the advance party.

"That won't be easy to achieve. The empire's defensive perimeter is extremely hard to penetrate. We won't be able to move freely through it," said Baron Sisse, rejecting the idea.

"This mission might be our final hope. If we fail, the coming 10 days could very well be our final days. We can only stake everything in a single attempt," said Zhang Xingxing.

"In that case, we can only wait patiently for Carter and Master Crystal. Only a day has passed. Try to loosen up and don't be too nervous. We're already at the final step," said Old Du.

Zhang Xingxing ordered us to rest for eight hours. Afterward, we would reconvene for a military meeting. She also ordered Dodo to keep paying close attention to any new updates. Markus did not have a large rest area, so Zhang Bao'er, Old Du, and I had to share a single room.

"Canyue, should we take the red biscuits in advance just in case? What if something unexpected happens later?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Why should we take it in advance? We should take it right before the operation if we want to prevent any mishaps," said Old Du in astonishment.

"I'm worried. Did you not notice that we have two additional individuals on the ship? What if the two little cats decide to take the biscuits themselves for some reason? Wouldn't that be annoying?" said Zhang Bao'er. It would seem he had turned paranoid after Domo had taken a biscuit without permission.

Old Du was convinced and asked me the same question as well.

"Do it if you want, but this is unrelated to me. I know nothing," I said as I lied down and turned my back to them.

With my tacit agreement, the two rushed out of the room. After less than 10 minutes, they returned.

"Are you done?" I sat up and asked Zhang Bao'er, who was still busy chewing.

"Um. I feel much better now," said Zhang Bao'er smugly.

"I wonder if the red biscuits will really work. If they fail, perhaps it will instantly be game over for us," said Old Du. He had always been a prudent one.

"Don't worry over nothing. Like Zhang Bao'er said, even if we fail, it is only a matter of dying 10 days earlier than everyone else. Where else can we go without Blue? Are we really going to turn into interstellar vagrants?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"I actually think Old Du's worry is reasonable. If the mission fails and we're able to somehow survive, we will need a backup plan to ensure the continuation of our people," I said, interrupting Zhang Bao'er.

"But the three of us won't be able to come up with an effective backup plan. At present, the Interstellar League is limited within the Milky Way Galaxy due to its level of technology. On the other hand, the Divine Empire has the technological prowess to expand in both the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Galaxy. We won't be able to go any further. With our limited technology, we won't be able to escape the empire's pursuit," said Zhang Bao'er.

"There will always be more difficulties, but all difficulties can be solved. I believe there is one person who can help us with the life continuation plan," I said.

"Who? Who's capable enough to help us with that?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Temo. I believe he is the only one with enough understanding of the universe to give us the help we need," I said.

"Is that dwarf even reliable? He's too snobbish and spends all his time talking about his superior civilization. Can we even trust him?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"Canyue, I think we need to observe more to decide if that Sacred Wing fellow is really sincere in helping us. This is too important a task. Can we really count on him?" said Old Du.

"No matter what, Temo is from a star-level civilization. I am willing to put my trust in him. At worst, we still have Bulu as a helper. I want to have a chat with Temo," I insisted.

"I still can't trust Temo. So what if he's from a so-called star-level civilization? From what I see, they are merely more knowledgeable than us. Also, even if we can come up with a plan, we're too low-ranked for the league to accept our plan," said Zhang Bao'er, who seemed completely distrustful of Temo.

I was about to continue arguing when someone knocked on the door.