Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 341

"There are in total 3,441 people, including 426 military. The rest are the survivors from the Noah One… However, 100 plus of them have shown signs of demonization of varying degrees."

When Guang Zhen led the 50 Black Star Troopers out of the tunnel and ordered them to collapse the tunnel's entrance, Xiao Niao came to report to Guang Zhen.

Guang Zhen nodded suddenly. There was a melancholy in his heart not only because the ‘reward’ for this mission was so lacking, but also because he lamented the fragility of human lives. The Noah One started with 30,000 plus people, but now there was only one-tenth of them left, and around 100 of them had half-demonized. This was too cruel… Could cruelty be the only thing that the vast cosmos could present?

However, Guang Zhen was still Guang Zhen, so this melancholy lasted only for a minute. Soon, he turned to tell Xiao Niao, "Abandon all the demonized civilians and lead the rest to the surface. By the way, has contact been made with the Hope?"

Xiao Niao nodded immediately. "That was what I was going to report. Commander Wong, communication has been made with the Hope, but the connection is not steady. It keeps breaking and disruption is strong. According to what we can see, the disruption is only getting stronger."

Guang Zhen was startled before continuing, "Then what are we waiting for? I will contact Yao Yuan immediately. The situation here is worse than we previously imagined…"

Just like that, Yao Yuan managed to contact Guang Zhen after several seconds. They managed to have a conversation of sorts despite the static.

When only static could be heard from the communicator, Guang Zhen turned to address the rest. "The situation in space is not looking so good either. We have to increase our pace. Xiao Niao will still lead the Black Star Troopers to open up a path and I will lead part of the troopers to bring up the rear. That is the plan, so start moving. Our aim is the surface. The Hope will enter the planet’s atmosphere and use a large amount of transportation vessels to come fetch us. We will definitely be able to evacuate in the shortest amount of time."

After Guang Zhen gave his order, Yun Si, Jacko, and a few military officers accosted him. The leading Yun Si said directly, "Commander Wong, I heard your army plans to abandon those civilians who are demonizing, but there are at least 100 of them…"

Guang Zhen nodded. "Indeed, those were my orders. We have to hurry and evacuate, there is no time to waste. You all are military soldiers from the Noah One, and I order you now to go comfort the remaining civilians and lead them to follow us to the surface."

Yun Si frowned and said coldly, "Commander Wong, I respectfully decline your orders. These 100 plus people still have the consciousness of humans, and there is only minor demonization on their bodies. If anything, they might be caused by virus infection or radiation and not demonization. We cannot abandon them like this!"

Guang Zhen looked at Yun Si coldly and he continued in his emotionless tone, "The situation is worse than you can possibly imagine, and I can guarantee you this is not caused by infection or radiation, this is something worse… Follow my orders, understand that I am the commander here!"

Yun Si’s eyes reddened, not from tears but from sheer anger. He responded by glaring at Guang Zhen in return. "You want us to abandon these innocent citizens? Do you understand the kind of existence they have led? If we were on Earth, each and every one of them would have more power than you and me! They are humanity’s most valuable treasures! Their scientific knowledge is enough to change humanity for the better, and you wish to abandon them? Plus, some of them came with their families. You want us to abandon them together with their families?"

"I understand," Guang Zhen said as gentleness entered his eyes, but his expression was cold as before as he continued

, "Frankly, this is a disease worse than any normal infection. Even full quarantine would not be of use, unless the person is a Homo Evolutis. He or she will only become another source of infection. You have to understand…. The spaceship that we are heading towards have 200,000 plus people, and many are children. If we carry along these 100 people, we are putting 10,000 people’s lives at risk. Yang Yun Si, you are also a soldier, right? Under this situation, please follow my orders. I don’t have the luxury to explain the situation for the third time."

"Never!" Yun Si’s eyes were blazing with passion. He yelled, "Abandoning them once was enough! Do you want me to abandon them for a second time? If you can, execute me on the spot, or else I will resist this order as long as I have a breath in me!"

As he said so, Guang Zhen had already pulled out his gun to aim at Yun Si. As he prepared to fire, Jacko behind Yun Si knocked him out with a smack to the back of his head. At the same time, Jacko said, "He is one of the Homo Evolutis you have mentioned earlier. He is an asset to help us in our retreat. Please forgive him for now. If there is really a need for punishment, we will bring him to military court when we are safe on the ship!"

Xiao Niao moved to Guang Zhen’s side and pulled down his arm that held the gun, adding, "There are some things that happened earlier… When you were inside, I heard about the general situation from them. In any case… just let him go for now. After all, he has fainted, so he cannot stop our retreat mission anymore."

Guang Zhen retracted his gun silently and roared at the people around him, "Start moving. Everyone follow your orders and your immediate superior. Do not leave your unit! Move out! Qi Xiao Niao, stay by my side, summarize for me what has happened. Why did this group of people leave the city? Where is the Noah One? Why is the number of fatalities so high?"

Xiao Niao laughed bitterly and relayed to Guang Zhen what he had heard. Instantly, Guang Zhen frowned.

The rescue mission’s purpose was naturally to save all the survivors from the Noah One. After all, even though the Hope had a great population, the number of scientists, researchers, and technical workers was comparatively low. Especially with the arrival of 4th revolution and the start of technological specialization, the required number of scientists had starkly increased. With assistance of the talents from the Noah One, the Hope would save at least ten years in research!

Other than this main mission, Guang Zhen still had a side mission, it was to locate the Noah One and retrieve all the information available within it. It would help complement the information in the Noah Two and there would be detailed explanations from the various countries when they first built these two spaceships.

And now the Noah One had disappeared into thin air, so this side mission was a complete failure.

"Is that so… This Austin is indeed an impressive character. The clarity of his mind is startling. Under those circumstances, saving everyone was indeed impossible, so he just took a few people with him and initiated space warp… I wonder where the Noah One is now, and also whether they can last for several decades while waiting for a new batch of humans to arrive." Guang Zhen sighed, but suddenly his face changed as if he had just remembered a tragedy.

"F*ck, Liu Bai and the rest are in danger."

Xiao Niao shrugged. "That was what I intended to say… If the city was taken over by the demons, this means danger for Liu Bai’s group, but I wouldn’t worry too much. Since Liu Bai’s group are mostly Black Star Unit members, they are better than the Black Star Troopers. I suspect they noticed the incongruity the moment they got near and have already retreated. After all, with the power of the space armor, as long as they were not heavily surrounded, escape should not be an issue."

Guang Zhen hesitated before nodding and saying, "Hopefully you are right… Wait, what is happening? Why did we stop moving? We have to get to the surface as soon as possible!"

Not long after that, Zhang Heng led two people and rushed from the front in a hurry. Zhang Heng told them directly, "The road ahead is blocked. The opening we used to come down has disappeared, but that is not the worst… the stone there has become metals, and the metallization is slowly spreading across the surface!"

Guang Zhen’s face was ashen, but thankfully, he was wearing his space helmet, or the morale of the team would've drastically decreased. Several seconds later, he yelled, "Use all the heavy artillery and cannons to blow us an exit! Even if there is a diamond wall, cut a hole in it!"

Zhang Heng laughed bitterly. "We have tried that. Even with the Gaussian cannons we brought along, the metallic wall… is like a living thing. No matter how many holes we punched in it, it recovered in the shortest amount of time. We are unable to blow through this metallic layer with the amount of firepower we have!"

When he said that, not only was Guang Zhen baffled, the people around him were of the same expression. It was over… really over!

At the same time, outside of the human city, Liu Bai and his group had cut down a group of demon monsters. Right then, they were studying the city using their telescope. They had confirmed that the creatures in the city were not normal human beings. They were demon monsters, so they did not enter the city but chose to retreat to meet up with Guang Zhen’s unit.

"Hey, do you feel that?"

Suddenly, Ebon said curiously, "Why do I feel the earth moving? Earthquake?"

Before the rest of them could answer, suddenly, they were all stunned because their reflections were staring at them from the floor. They were suddenly standing on top of a metallic surface!

The piece of land had completely metallized!

Chapter end