Chapter 459: New Insights
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ye Chong did not expect the chase to last for 24 days.
Had it not been for Mu, Han Jia's holographic scanning system would not have been enough for him to keep up with the red-tailed beast. On the ninth day, he began to consider end the pursuit and return to base. Inside the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, numerous rocks and planetary bodies of sizes were everywhere. It was easy to lose one's way, and even Mu could not guarantee identifying their location.
However, Ye Chong decided to continue his pursuit for a very specific reason.
Once they entered the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, Ye Chong deployed Mu immediately. With that, they quickly verified that the red-tailed beast was immune to pure energy attacks. Perhaps it was not immune to all kinds of energy based weapons, but Mu's Recursion rifle was at least ineffective against it.
Of course, that was only one of the reasons Ye Chong continued the pursuit. What made him continue on was an incident that happened on the ninth day, which was the day that he began to consider giving up the chase.
He remembered clearly what happened that day. He was very tired then. He would not have been able to survive for nine days without his strong determination and Mu's assistance.
The red-tailed beast was alert and cunning, with astonishing stamina. Even after nine days of continuous pursuit, the creature showed no signs of fatigue. It seemed to understand Han Jia's weakness, and always flew into areas with many obstacles.
This spelled much suffering for Ye Chong, who had to keep up his concentration in order to avoid the floating rocks all around him. That was why he was exhausted physically and mentally sooner than expected.
There was another concern, and that was the food supply. Han Jia's food storage was always full, as it was Ye Chong's habit. Besides, he had quite a number of nutrition pills. However, he had to take into account the return journey. Besides, there was always the possibility of losing his way in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Allowing for some unexpected incidents, the food he had was barely enough. After all, long distance travelling in outer space was meant to be done with starships, not mechs.
At Han Jia's maximum speed, nine days of flying amounted to a very huge distance. This meant that they were deep inside the asteroid belt by now. Mu had warned Ye Chong time and again that the further in they went, the more likely it was for them to lose their way. Even with Mu's help, the probability of losing their way right now was already at 41 percent.
However, just when Ye Chong decided to turn back, the feed from the holographic screen made him stop in his tracks.
After days of escaping, the red-tailed beast did not look so good as well. Its black outer shell gleamed with a faint metallic glimmer, much fainter than when Ye Chong first saw the creature. Its crimson red eyes still looked obstinate and alert, but the veins that began to show in the eyes indicated that it was not at its best. The creature's body looked shrunken and weaker, like it could give up at any time. Only the red tipped tail continued to shine brightly and threateningly.
The creature seemed to have sped up. The minor change immediately got Ye Chong's attention. After days of pursuit, he was getting used to their normal flying speed and rhythm.
In front of the creature was a innocent looking rock. The rock was not particularly large, about three meters across and roughly spherical, with an inconspicuous dark brown exterior.
The red-tailed beast behaved oddly for the first time in their long chase. Ye Chong stopped whatever he was occupied with and observed closely.
The red-tailed beast approached the rock, and stabbed its tail into the rock. The tough rock seemed to be easily penetrated by the creature's tail. The tail went all the way in, and Ye Chong gasped at the spectacle.
What was the creature doing? One the one hand, he was surprised by the strength of the creature's tail, and on the other hand, he could not understand what it was doing.
The red-tailed beast rattled its tail. Crack! The rock fragmented into dozens of pieces and exploded outwards. It was chilling to watch.
The red-tailed beast now held in its tail a fist-sized yellow rock that glowed faintly.
A transmutated energy ore! Ye Chong recognized what it was immediately, surprised by what he saw. These transmutated energy ores often stored a significant amount of energy. Before this, he managed to gather a lot of these transmutated energy ores from the underground cave. That was also where he obtained a few teardrop mineralite, encountered the eerie black hole, the eight-fingered hand, and that chilling screech.
"Ye, it's an energy ore!" Mu sounded surprised.
Ye Chong nodded without replying. His expression turned grim, and he began to feel nervous.
The red-tailed beast looked excited, and swallowed the transmutated energy ore without delay.
Ye Chong felt his heart skip a beat!
Right after that, he watched with horror at the red-tailed beast's transformation. The shrunken muscles on the creature turned robust in an unbelievable speed, and the flesh that began to fester around the wound that Ye Chong left on it began to heal crazily fast. The creature's dim outer shell began to shine with life again.
In just a short instant, the red-tailed beast seemed to be revitalized. Without the light red flesh that now healed over the wound, Ye Chong would have thought that it was all an illusion.
After the transformation, the red-tailed beast suddenly turned around and looked at Han Jia, which was still approaching it.
The fatigued red eyes were now lively and alert, they looked sharply at Ye Chong with an intense yearning for revenge.
It seemed to consider charging towards Han Jia, but after a moment's hesitation, it turned back round and darted off ahead.
"Mu, it swallowed a transmutated energy ore," Ye Chong said with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"Yes," Mu sounded unmoved as usual, "It looks like Fei Si's report is reliable. The creature is most likely evolving."
"Evolving …" Ye Chong seemed to have thought of something. "Seems like it could detect where the transmutated energy ores are."
"The mechanism behind this behavior is still unknown, but based on what we have seen, it seems to be the case. The probability is between 60 to 90 percent," Mu replied him.
"Mu, if it can find enough transmutated energy ores, will it be able to complete its evolution?" Ye Chong asked.
"Based on Fei Si's theory, evolution required two elements - pure energy and metals. On the other hand, we do not know the required amount of each element for evolution to complete. However, given the environment in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, and the fact that there are no natural predators, the probability for the creature to complete its evolution is significant, higher than 67 percent," Mu offered his analysis calmly.
Ye Chong understood the mech's point. The Calamitous Asteroid Belt was aptly named, but it was in fact also a treasure trove. Here was a sea of countless of rocks, containing all kinds of precious ores. If it wasn't for the dangers that lurked within, the place would have been invaded by mining ships. To this creature, however, the place was like heaven. Ye Chong knew that so long as it did not encounter any large scale disasters like the asteroid whirlpool, the other animals would generally not pose a threat to the red-tailed beast. The creature could detect energy ores, and would probably have no trouble detecting metal ores as well. If it had spend enough time in this place searching for energy and metal ores, it would soon complete its evolution.
Ye Chong was still chilled by his memory of the eight-fingered red-tailed beast he saw in the underground cave. Just a screech was enough to stop even Mu. Even though he had improved a lot since, he was still barely on par with Mu. Ye Chong would not wish to face such a dangerous creature ever.
Ths red-tailed beast he was chasing now was still far less powerful than the eight-fingered creature he encountered, but it had the potential to become one. No matter how one looked at it, the creature had an extensive memory, and was not the type to forget. The intense emotions of hatred and revenge in its eyes reminded Ye Chong constantly that it was a growing time bomb!
Based on past experience, the best to solution against this kind of threat was to nip it in the bud. Ye Chong decided right then to kill the red-tailed beast before it ever reached its final stage of evolution.
It was now the 24th day. Ye Chong had continued his pursuit for 24 days. It was like a long game of hide and seek between the red-tailed beast and Ye Chong.
In the 15 days that came after, Ye Chong did not allow the red-tailed beast to feed again. Mu's excellent scanning system allowed him to detect energy and metal ores in the rocks as well. With Mu's extra long distance shooting, he would destroy any rock that the red-tailed beast found and targeted! Everytime the scattered remains of the rock exploded in its face, the red-tailed beast would look pained, perhaps from the physical blows, or perhaps by the thought of losing its meal.
Hence, in the 15 days since Ye Chong witnessed it feeding, the red-tailed beast never ate another energy ore. Its body no longer shine so brightly, and it began to fly slower. Ye Chong was like a skilled hunter, patiently stalking his prey. With Mu's assistance, the red-tailed beast grew weaker and weaker, with no chance of nourishment.
The creature had tried a few times to turn back and face its pursuer to fight, but every time it did this, it could never find the strange pursuer. This greatly discouraged the creature.
More importantly, it was now facing another predicament!