Interstellar Survival: Invasion

After leaving the cave, we each picked a location through our communicator and reaffirmed that we would maintain contact with each other at all times. Then, I flew northwest.

Terror Island's gravity seemed to be much higher than the second layer's gravity. After less than two kilometers, the gravity interception had severed my connection with Old Du and the others.

Blueflash flew quickly. In a few minutes, we arrived above our destination. I could see a diagram resembling the spiderweb map at the waist of the mountain. However, at the center of the spiderweb, the supposed entrance was nowhere to be found. When I scanned the area with my probe, I found signs of the land there being artificially filled in the past.

'There is probably a cave down there, but someone had covered the entrance. I wonder how the others are doing,' I wondered.

After confirming that this was my target, I did not hesitate and fired several cluster bombs at the waist of the mountain. When the loud explosions settled, a hole big enough for one person to pass appeared. The hole was pitch-black and led deep into the ground. It seemed like this cave was connected to the bottom part of the lava lake. Since the hole was too small for Blueflash, it merely hovered near the cave. I turned my shield to maximum output before leaping off with Dondon in tow.

"Wait for me nearby. I'll try to come out as quickly as possible," I said.

Blueflash was intelligent, and it nodded at me before spiraling around the air. Before proceeding, I checked my energy supply. I had 14 hours' worth of energy left. Dondon opened its big eyes wide and tightly grabbed onto the bag. Suddenly, I doubted why I had even brought this little fellow with me.

"Perhaps I'm already used to having this little guy with me, to the point I even brought it to such a dangerous place," I muttered, feeling a sense of guilt.

To be safe, I entered the cave only after my weapon was turned on. The cave was narrow, and the tunnel inside was only large enough for one person to pass at once. The walls around me were jagged, as though this tunnel was punched into existence.

With my head low, I advanced slowly. The tunnel was leading downward. The deeper I went, the higher the temperature. At this point, my surroundings had reached 300 degrees centigrade.

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After about 20 minutes, my data indicated that I had gone 1,000 meters underground. At this point, the tunnel was most likely surrounded by lava; I could clearly hear the sound of the bubbling lava from beyond the tunnel.

'Due to how unstable this place is, a landslide might happen at any time. Even a single landslide will bury me here forever. I need to be fast,' I told myself.

After about five more minutes, I reached the end of the tunnel. A tiny space of about three square meters was before me. Confusingly, there was no other path for me to take. I was at a loss. I knew there had to be a cavern somewhere beyond the walls, but I did not know its exact position. If I rashly tried to blast my way through, I might cause an eruption of lava.

'Canyue, oh, Canyue. You are so quick-witted and resourceful. A mere wall can't stop you,' I told myself.

With my low level of energy, I did not waste too much time. I quickly scanned the small room with my probe. But due to the high temperature, I wasn't able to detect the cavern. A sense of despair assaulted me, and I felt completely dispirited. I knew the answer was right before me. I only needed to reach out for it, but a mere wall had stopped me.

'No, I need to calm down,' I told myself. 'Dondon, yes, I'll try using Dondon.'

An idea rose in my head. I turned around and lifted Dondon from my bag. The temperature of the room was as high as 500 degrees centigrade. It was impossible to have Dondon touch the scalding walls and ground because its paws would probably be immediately charred. With Dondon in my arms, I started speaking.

"Dondon, there is a cavern at the other side of these walls. There is something super delicious in the cavern. Try sniffing and see if you can find the cavern's position. If you can, call out to me," I said.

Dondon seemed to have understood—the moment I had mentioned food, it had blinked its big eyes in agreement. I started moving around the room with Dondon, allowing it to sniff around. A while passed, yet the little fellow remained completely silent.

"Damn it. Is this not working either?" I cursed.

Whatever the reason, I suddenly had a firm belief that Dondon had a third method of sensing its surroundings and that this third sense would be able to locate the cavern. I also believed that my encounter with Dondon was probably yet another hint left behind by the prophet.

'Calm down. I must stay calm. Canyue, think again. Did you overlook something?' I told myself.

Suddenly, I recalled something. I took out the crystal ball from my bag. The diagram on the ball was clear. At the very bottom of the map was a shining purple sun.

"Bottom. The cavern should be under me," I exclaimed in excitement.

I then carried Dondon and continued helping it sniff around. In the left corner of the room, it started calling out.

"It's here!" I grew excited. "Well done, Dondon!"

I then placed Dondon back into my bag and installed a timed cluster bomb on the ground. Then, I retreated back into the tunnel. After a muffled explosion, I returned to the room. A hole about a square meter in size had appeared on the ground, and a purple glow could be seen beyond the hole. The glow illuminated the entire room.

"Energy source, I finally found you!" I cried out in joy.

There was a massive cavern below the hole. At the very center of the cavern was a purple ball of light floating atop a pedestal. After scanning the cavern to confirm that there were no abnormalities, I entered.

This was a massive enclosed cavern. The entire cavern was well-lit by the purple ball of light. Sculptures of numerous different life forms stood all around the room alongside the walls. These life forms were majestic and ferocious, all of them looking attentively at the energy ball.

I shivered at the sight of these monsters. Many of the monsters from the stories that used to give me nightmares during my childhood were among the collection. That was proof that these monsters actually existed.

'These are probably here to suppress this energy ball. They are statues, right? Don't suddenly come alive. I better finish up quickly and leave. This is not the kind of place one should stay long,' I told myself.

I then walked up to the purple ball. It floated above the pedestal. At the front of the pedestal was a circular depression with two protrusions. Without a doubt, that was where I should install my crystal ball.

I studied the pedestal and found that the bottom of the pedestal was sculpted into a powerful paw. The paw rested upon a red rock, as though it functioned as a lock for the red rock. Not finding any abnormalities, I carefully took out my crystal ball and slowly installed it on the pedestal.

And thus, two objects that had been separated for over 10 thousand years were reunited. The instant the crystal ball was installed, the purple ball shook. Then, a purple current flowed out of the ball of light and wrapped around the crystal ball.

I could see the red within the crystal slowly turning purple. Meanwhile, the ball of light started dimming. The energy transfer was probably in process. After over 10 minutes, the purple in the crystal ball became deeper and deeper in color. Success was imminent. Suddenly, the ground shook and rocks started collapsing all around me. Alarmingly, the red rock had moved.

'Am I seeing things?' I asked myself doubtfully. 'An earthquake might be happening. This is bad. I must leave as fast as possible.'

The energy transfer was still ongoing, and the shaking around me was becoming more and more intense. The sculptures started falling one after another, breaking apart as they fell onto the ground. It almost felt like I was in a room that was being lifted and flung around. The cavern was going to fully collapse soon.

With a clang, the energy transfer finally finished. The dazzling ball of light had turned into a black ball. It wasn't even floating anymore as it dropped onto the pedestal. On the other hand, my crystal ball was entirely purple. Within, energy swirled around constantly, demonstrating the sheer power contained within this ball.

"Success!" I exclaimed.

I stored the crystal ball in my bag and hastily withdrew from the cavern that was on the verge of collapse. The instant I turned, Dondon started crying out. I looked back and saw that the paw below the pedestal was breaking apart. Two red and powerful arms shot out of the ground and crashed into the ceiling.

Massive black stones dropped from the ceiling, and the entire cavern shook violently. Terrifying sounds of friction thundered. Its full collapse was imminent. The red arm suddenly changed its direction and slammed into the wall, creating a big hole and releasing a spurt of scalding lava from beyond the cavern.

'My god. Is this the slumbering two-headed monster? Did I wake it?' I asked myself.

The situation was urgent, and I could not afford to focus on thinking. I hurriedly leaped onto the tunnel I came in from and ran out. Behind me, rumbling sounds continued ringing as the cavern collapsed. Then, a torrent of lava shot into the tunnel, coming after me.

The lava was as hot as 6,000 degrees. It swallowed everything in its path as it chased after me. The roughly meter-wide tunnel was also widening as the lava torrent crashed through. The torrent widened the width to something akin to a river. It was continuously growing as well.

My suit could only protect me against a maximum heat of 1,000 degrees centigrade. The moment I was swallowed by the lava, it would be over for me. I ran with everything I had, but the violent shaking hindered my movement.

Finally, I saw a dot of light ahead of me. Instantly, I felt the entire mountain start to collapse. After the base of the mountain was swallowed by the berserk lava, the mountain had destabilized and was fully collapsing.

As the exit was about to disappear due to the collapse, time seemed to slow down in my perception. I recalled how Chen Qiang had maintained calm in the face of the crisis on Jupiter II and ultimately succeeded in grasping the chance to escape.

'This is my final chance!' I told myself.

I activated the leap system of my suit and directed all the remaining energy to it. The concentrated energy successfully produced a spatial phenomenon similar to a wormhole. Then, I shot out of the exit and into the air in the span of less than 0.01 seconds.

The massive black mountain collapsed behind me, vanishing completely into the sea of lava below. In the span of several seconds, a massive mountain had vanished completely. The powerful leap had launched me hundreds of meters into the air. Suddenly, a notification came from my earpiece. My suit had been exhausted of energy, so I could only helplessly freefall toward the burning hot lava lake.