As the hibernation pod opened, Hao Ren sat up. "What is the situation now?"
The MDT had transferred the hibernation pod from the basement of Hao Ren's house to the Petrachelys. Hao Ren found himself waking up in the familiar flight deck. A large hologram was above the console; it was the image of a planet slowly falling into the sun. Lily held him as he climbed out of the hibernation pod. "I haven't seen anything like this before," Lily said.
Hao Ren came to the console, adjusted the camera angles, and asked, "Our location?"
"Fifty thousand kilometers above Zorm, perpendicular to the sun and the planet, where you can see the sun is igniting the planet," the MDT replied. "Judging from the current orbit of the planet, the sun might have captured it two millennia ago and slowly pulling the planet towards itself. Everything on the planet's surface had vaporized, as the temperature on the sunny side is several thousand degrees. The crust had cracked as the sun's gravity was ripping it apart. Probably before the planet burns into ashes, the sun's gravity would have torn it into million pieces."
Hao Ren did not say anything but stared at the scene outside.
A young star with three times the mass of the Sun was illuminating this region of the space. The image of the bright star almost covered one-third of the visual area of an external camera due to the proximity. At this distance, the glare of the sun could blind the eyes of most creatures instantly; the Petrachelys had to activate its sun filter to reduce the light intensity. A dark brown little planet was circling the massive fireball, and dragging along a tail of debris slowly falling toward it.
The heat of the star had scored the planet beyond recognition. The planet's surface and rocky crust were melting. There were no more rivers and valleys, the planet's crust had softened and crumbled together.
That was how Zorm's appearance. Even Nolan's experience of reincarnation and disaster in the virtual world was pale in comparison with what happened in the real world.
The truth was that Zorm, where Nolan lived, was a virtual world. Its repetitive resetting cycles were only scripts of an extensive program. The real Zorm was here, before their eyes. There were no human civilizations; the entire planet was slowly falling into destruction. Hao Ren began to pierce all the pieces together: The virtual world should be some refuge, and a large server was buried deep in the real-world planet; humans were mere phantoms in the server escaping into the virtual world from the raging fire in reality.
But some form of hardware malfunction was causing the uncontrolled 'resetting of the virtual world' and setting the stage for the final doomsday. Perhaps the condition on the planet's surface caused the hardware failure, in turned corrupting the 'script.'
More information was needed to explain the whole process, but that was all they got. Did the 'server' really exist? That would have to wait under they explored the underground to find out. And Hao Ren indeed planned to do so.
"The planet is still rotating on its axis on a twelve-hour cycle. During the rotation, the sunny side would melt under extreme temperature and spurt a large amount of material, while the dark side would cool and solidify quickly. When the first ray of the morning sun reached this part of the planet, there would be eruptions of hot gasses and magma again. The process would repeat through the day and night cycle, further exacerbating the destruction process," the MDT said as it showed simulation in the hologram. "There was no more human on the surface, but some refuge—a virtual world, a server or something must be underground."
"Any possible landing spot?" Hao Ren's eyebrows knit together as he looked at the horrifying scene, so terrible that it was worse than any battlefields he had ever seen.
"To be honest, there's none. The planet's surface is melting; the temperature is too high. Though it is not a problem for the spacecraft, humans would find it unbearable. Your shield will not last long, and the life-support collars could only stand for a few hours at best."
Nangong Wuyue was scared stiff as she stared at the sea of fire. "Mr. Landlord... Tell me you're not going to send people down there."
The scene of fire roasting the planet sent the chill down the aquatic creature's spine. The siren maiden felt like she was dehydrating like a salted fish.
"We are talking about a billion people down there. We must do something," Hao Ren knocked on the console. "MDT, land the spacecraft on the dark side of the planet. Choose the twilight zone; it would earn us more time."
The Petrachelys caught up with the shadow of Zorm and slowly landed on the grey line. In this location, the sun had just set a few minutes ago, and the hellish heat of the day had subsided but the night was not cold either. The surface temperature remained at a thousand degrees high, lava had not had time to cool, and active lava flow and geysers still covered the surface. The environment was even worse than the demonic world.
But this was the 'safest' landing spot. At least there was no deadly sunshine here; their shields would be able to last a little longer.
The MDT briefed them about the situation on the ground as it landed the spacecraft. "The radar shows a crack three hundred meters ahead. Having a crack in such a place is unusual. It may be well the entrance to the refuge. It is less than a hundred meters in size, too small for spacecraft to go in. You guys have to get out and explore on foot."
Hao Ren checked the status of his Steel Membrane Shield. He gave his teammates an extra set of life-support collar each. He chose the toughest ones for the exploration team—Lily, Vivian, and Y'zaks' father-daughter combo.
Nangong Wuyue and Ayesha were sirens; dehydration was their biggest enemy. Nangong Sanba and Nangong Wudi were half-baked demon hunters, no good enough for the situation. They all had to remain on the spacecraft.
"Put both life-support collars on. When the first collar run out of juice, immediately switch to the second one, don't be stingy with the energy," Hao Ren briefed. He was especially concerned about the flaky husky, Lily. "Your physical strength might let you withstand in the environment for a little longer after your collar runs out of juice. But don't try to be a hero, teleport back to the spacecraft immediately. Do you all understand?"
Lily put on the collars around her neck and said excitedly, "Understood. Run is what I do best."
Y'zaks glanced at the outside with a smile. "This place feels home. It reminds me of my hometown; we used to bathe in such places. Y'lisabet and I might be able to go a little farther."
Hao Ren reminded him quickly, "Yeah, until the sun rises again. No demons could withstand high-energy particles."
Rollie squatted at a side, watching them. Suddenly, she pulled the corner of Hao Ren's sleeve and asked, "Big Boss Cat, are you going to adventure?"
Hao Ren did not notice Dumb Cat until now as she liked to snuggle away in some hidden corners. "Hey, why is she here?" he asked.
The MDT said, "Didn't you let me get those who could fight? I've brought Lil Pea too; she is still asleep in the pot behind you."
Hao Ren began to remember his blanket order. He thought it best if he could have the best fighters with him. Had he knew the actual situation of Zorm, he would not have asked for Rollie, who could not be of help here.
Rollie grabbed Hao Ren's cloth and snuggled down beside him as if saying she was joining them. Hao Ren petted her on the head and said, "Remember the little-dried fish?"
The cat maiden purred and nodded forcefully.
"See the scene outside?" Hao Ren pointed to the scorched land on the holographic projection. "If you're not careful, you will become even drier than the little-dried fish."
Dumb Cat thought for a moment before she ducked and slept under the chair as if saying, "Fine, I think I like the flight deck more."
As soon as they left the spacecraft, Hao Ren immediately felt the unforgiving heat wave blew into his face.
But, it was only his illusion. He could not forget the scene of the planet falling toward the sun and the magma overflowing in the surroundings. The shield was protecting him from the heatwave and the hot surface under his feet. The thousand-degree heat of the purgatory would not affect his mortal body until the energy of his shield exhausted.
He did feel his body could withstand the heat for a while even without the shield, but he was not going to try it just yet.
Y'lisabet was dancing around and screaming in excitement. "Wow! The ground is soft!"
"The sun has just set, the ground has not the time to harden yet," Lily explained very professionally. Suddenly, golden light on the horizon caught her attention.
That was where the sun had set. Though strong solar wind had eroded the atmosphere of the planet, vapors and gasses beneath the rocks would still burst out when the sun heated the surface. These gases would then move with the grey line and formed a massive wall of gas that swept across the surface of the planet. The gas wall also acted like a lens magnifying the solar corona and refracted the golden light in the horizon.
Notwithstanding it was a three-thousand-degree corona storm, it was a beautiful sight of golden aurora looking from a distance.
Gazing at the golden aurora that was the star's corona, Lily let out a sigh. Hao Ren knew that the poetry girl might have gained some inspiration.
"It's freaking blindingly bright."
Lily sighed.