Chapter 513: What Happened?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Their fleet travelled along the edge of a huge asteroid whirlpool. Arwa had noticed it fast enough, then ordered the fleet to react in the nick of time for them to escape the pull of the massive whirlpool. Nevertheless, the incident had cost Arwa 62 starships.
It all happened in just under 10 minutes.
An even more pressing issue for them was to avoid the whirlpool by going around it. This extended their three-day journey to five.
No one knew how much these two extra days would cost them. All of them, Arwa included, were grateful for their narrow escape.
They suffered heavy casualties on the third day, when the rocks around them were too dense for their weapons to handle. The asteroids breached their safety parameter and crashed onto the starships. Arwa had not fortified the ship hulls, and this oversight costed him dearly.
The seemingly tough hulls of the starships crumbled easily under the impact of the asteroids.
Arwa's heart ached as the starships exploded, one after another. Each starship carried a few hundred people in them!
His face turned paler and paler. Xiao Wan watched and sympathized with him, but she could not say nothing to console him. There was nothing she could do about their situation.
No one knew that, despite Arwa's pale expression, he was still as determined as ever. He knew that this was the time for them to persevere.
________________
Ye Chong played around with the dimension keystone in his hand. Kui had said that Celest's dimension keystone had other uses.
The dimension keystone was a fine thing. The Research Consortium did not specialize in spatial science, but they had some incredible results. This dimension keystone had incorporated almost everything they knew in spatial science, including the most practical ability of dimension storage. This dimension keystone was the epitome of dimension storage technology.
The Research Consortium had only began to dabble with spatial science when it was the field's golden age in He Yue Galaxy. The Three Aristocratic Families had focused mainly on mech dimension keystone technology, but the Research Consortium chose to study dimension storage.
The Three Aristocratic Families had prospered due to their choice of specialization. The Research Consortium, however, were not rewarded for their efforts in the field. Nevertheless, their dimension storage technology was also one of a kind, like Celest's dimension keystone.
Celest's dimension keystone could be used to store large objects. It was more advanced compared to the dimension keystones designed by the Three Aristocratic Families. In terms of storage, the keystone had its own interesting features. The dimension keystone technology that the Three Aristocratic Families worked on were based on a one-on-one relationship - a dimension keystone can only be linked to one mech.
The Research Consortium's dimension storage technology was based on one-to-many relationships. This meant that the same dimension keystone could be linked to multiple objects, and transfer them into the alternate dimension.
Dimension storage technology was in some sense a very useful mechanism. However, the cost was high, and the new approach meant that they were not able to establish stable one-to-many relationships for dimension storage just yet. Later on, the field matured, resulting in well established dimension storage technologies today. However, the Research Consortium had missed the opportunity to surpass the Three Aristocratic Families by then.
Ye Chong did not know how much stuff this inconspicuous metal ring could hold.
He found that, the better something was, the more people liked to make them look mediocre.
No one would have guessed that the inconspicuous metal ring was such a priceless treasure.
Ye Chong began to search the lab.
Kui had said that the lab was the center of all research in the Research Consortium since its founding. This place was home to the best products of every generation of Consortium members. Ye Chong translated that to mean that everything in the lab was gold.
He started out by picking them out slowly, but in the end found that there were too many things here, and he did not recognize most of them. The ring on his finger did not so much as beeped, like it was a black hole. He decided then to just store everything away into the ring. He did not know how many things he had taken in the end, much less what they were.
However, there was one thing he could be sure of - they were all good stuff.
He even took away all the equipment in the lab.
He also threw away his bag and put his belongings into the ring. It was safer that way, after all.
Ye Chong was like a locust plague, scouring the place clean. The lab was huge, and despite moving quickly, it still took him awhile to clear all the things inside. These were things accumulated over hundreds of years by the Research Consortium! Later, Ye Chong worked almost mechanically. Where at first he would be pleasantly surprised when he recognized something useful, he now worked without thinking.
He stopped abruptly, and looked in front of him.
There was a black circle floating not far ahead of him. He had reached a corner of the lab without knowing it.
The black circle was almost identical to the one he had seen before. The first two times he saw the black circle, unpleasant things followed. In the fIrst time, he nearly died in the underground cave of an attack, and the second time he had saw a red-tailed beast appeared.
He recalled what Kui had said. They had first found teardrop mineralite and an unstable spatial window right here.
Could this be the unstable spatial window?
Ye Chong knew nothing of spatial science. He did not even know what a spatial window was. His mind was filled with questions.
What was beyond the spatial window?
The black circle hovered eerily in the lab.
Ye Chong decided to circle around the black circle. Who knew if it was dangerous!
Best to be careful.
Ye Chong wanted to go around the black circle because he saw more things in the corner. He wanted to keep those things in his ring too. The circle looked eerie, but Ye Chong thought he should be safe if he left it alone. After all, the circle had been here for years. If it was dangerous, the Research Consortium would have put safety measures in place.
Ye Chong walked around the black circle without incident.
He looked down and began to go through the items in the corner. It was a secluded corner, the things there were already gathering a thick layer of dust, a sharp contrast to the sparkling clean outlook of the other parts of the lab. This was curious. He did not pull all the things into his ring right away, but crouched down to inspect them instead.
At that moment, unbeknownst to him, the black circle behind him began to alter.
The black circle began to expand, then contract, expand, contract …
It pulsed rhythmically like a human heart without a sound. Ye Chong was absorbed in whatever was in his hands at the moment and did not notice anything amiss behind him. He was surprised at what he found. The object he had in his hands was strange. He had never seen anything like it.
A light blue colored fungus grew on a pink colored colloid object.
The fungus looked weird. It had thin tendrils, like human hair. The tendrils did not lie down, but instead swayed in the air like seaweed in water. Ye Chong did not recognize this organism. Lunatic Guan's chip had no records of anything like it.
Could this be some new species?
Ye Chong carefully brushed away the dust and took the entire rubbery object.
Behind him, the black circle had switched from pulsation to gradual expansion. The two-dimensional black circle now expanded like a balloon towards it surroundings.
Ye Chong put the pink colored colloid and the unknown blue fungus into his ring and stood up.
Suddenly, his vision turned black.
The black circle had swallowed him whole. Immediately after, the darkness began to shrink inwards, growing smaller and smaller.
Right after he finished modifying his engine to run on teardrop mineralite, Shang noticed that he had lost contact with Ye Chong. By then, the black circle was already a black dot in the air. It exploded in a bright light and disappeared.
Shang gasped, "Ye!" He was out of the modification workshop in an instant.
When he reached the laboratory, it was already empty.
Shang searched like crazy for Ye Chong around the entire base, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Ye Chong had simply vanished into thin air.
________________
Ye Chong only felt his vision darkened. He fainted in the next moment.
When Ye Chong opened his eyes again, he was stunned!
All around him was a large stretch of greenery. This was a forest. The large girth of the trees told him that this was a well preserved primary forest.
How could this be? There was no forest on Spectre! Ye Chong had asked Shang to scan the entire planet before he set foot on Spectre. They found no signs of life on that barren planet.
Now, he found himself in the middle of a dense forest.
What happened? What had happened to him? Ye Chong looked at his hands in disbelief. The ring was still on his finger. The pink colored colloid and blue hairy fungus that he kept at the last minute were also intact.
Ye Chong tried to withdraw Celest.
The bio-mech appeared before Ye Chong. Its tall figure gave Ye Chong a sense of control and security.
Just as he felt the tension eased, he realized abruptly that he had lost contact with Shang. That made him panic. He tried desperately to call to Shang, but got no reply.
About 10 minutes later, he gave up trying. There was no reply from the mech. He knew that he was separated from Mu and Shang once again.
Ye Chong felt horrible.
It felt worse than the last time. Much, much worse.
How did he come to this place? How did he got separated from Shang? He knew nothing about his situation. He knew nothing, and he had nothing to work with. This made him felt terrible about it, since he did not know how to find Mu and Shang now.
Two hours later, Ye Chong finally picked himself up. It was very rare for Ye Chong to be affected for so long.
He set aside the issue of Mu and Shang. His priority right now was to find out where he was.
He withdrew Celest and climbed into its pilot cabin.
Celest's appearance had changed a lot after taking in the teardrop mineralite. The only thing that remained the same was his solemn face. Ye Chong gave the order for the bio-photon processor to activate its scanning system.
Celest opened its eyes for the first time.
This was a huge forest. Animals were abound. However, Ye Chong did not recognize any of them. He also found that the forest was divided clearly into two regions.
A dark and thick mist separated the forest into two parts - one was full of light, and the other was under the dark shade of the mist.
The dark mist seemed to produce a strong electrical interference. Celest could not probe the dark region.
"Unidentified flying object found," the bio-photon processor announced suddenly.
…
Today was Ban Meng's first day flying. As a beginner who had just passed his test, he could only fly in the beginner class Wood Kite. He was not bothered by it, however, since he could only afford a Wood Kite. His dream was to fly, high up into the sky. As a physically robust but mentally simple fellow, flying was not an easy task.
Ban Meng was strong and muscular. No one would challenge him in a fight. However, he was severely lacking when it came to parapsychic abilities. He would not have had the skills to pilot a Wood Kite without working as hard as he did.
Ban Meng was the lowest end model for beginners. It had the shape of a bird, and was made up of 125 pieces of splitbark wood.
Ban Meng carefully maneuvered the trackball. His parapsychic senses were so weak that he could just barely fly the Wood Kite with the lowest end control device that was the trackball.
When Ban Meng was a kid, he had once saw a some airshow pilots execute all kinds of air performance tricks. Ever since then, Ban Meng began to dream of flying one day.
To fly, he would have to get a flying license. He had not heard of anyone who could fly without the aid of some aircraft. Even the strongest parapsychic could not do that. However, when little Ban Meng found a dream for himself, he was told that he had no talent in parapsychic abilities.
His own history proved that beyond doubt. He was physically strong, much stronger than his peers. However, he had no talent whatsoever in parapsychic abilities. Even though little Ban Meng was simple minded, he was also very stubborn. Fortunately, his family was able, not too poor, and could accept his chosen direction in life.
In school, Ban Meng was teased by his classmates. It was simply too funny to see a 17-year-old only just cleared to fly a Wood Kite!
All the aircrafts operated on the same principle - the pilot flies their vessel with a trackball. Usually, a qualified pilot would have to satisfy two requirements. Firstly, the pilot must be skillful enough in parapsychic control and aircraft maneuvering. Secondly, the pilot's physical condition must be able to withstand the act of flying. Ban Meng had no trouble with the second requirement. He was strong as a horse. Even his teachers advised him to switch to combat class.
It was the pilot's parapsychic strength that controlled the trackball. This was Ban Meng's greatest weakness. Despite all the effort he put in, he did not have enough inborn talent. If anything, he had only upgraded himself from a weak afterglow to a tiny candle in a huge room.
Nonetheless, he did not give up. His teachers sympathized with him and were often lenient. It was simply unfortunate that parapsychic abilitywas an innate talent that could hardly be improved by one's efforts.
Little by little, Ban Meng labored his way to success, as he finally earned the license to fly a Wood Kite.
The Wood Kite wobbled as it flew. Ban Meng was in its pilot cabin, tensed all over. He was focused entirely on controlling the trackball. He knew that he was already way off course.
…
Ye Chong saw the odd aircraft. It looked like it was made of some kind of wood, which was weird. Such a primitive aircraft can only be found in museums where he came from. The gray colored wooden panels formed the aircraft. Ye Chong thought it was strange since the wooden structure looked terribly unsafe to fly in.
A wooden structure could not withstand high speed flight, since it had very low endurance.
Ye Chong also found it odd that, while the aircraft was not moving very quickly, it was already stretching the limits of the wooden structure.
Ye Chong considered the aircraft for a moment, and decided to bring it down first.
Zing!
An auto lock-on shuriken shot out of Celest's weapons pack and flew straight towards the large wooden bird.
Bullseye.
There was a loud sound of impact.
The wooden bird disintegrated into pieces midair. Next, Ye Chong saw a man in the middle of the wooden scraps, free falling and screaming for his life.
Zing! Another shuriken spinned its way towards the man.
…
Ban Meng was completely caught off guard by the attack. He did not know why his Wood Kite suddenly went into pieces in the air. Was he cheated by the aircraft trader? He was furious by the thought!
However, he was swallowed in panic in the next moment. He felt himself falling and began to scream without knowing it. The wind bellowed loudly in his ears. He could not hear anything else. There was only one thought on his mind - he's dead! He was going to die!
Just when all hope seemed lost, he felt a force on his neck, like something was pulling him backwards!
Wham! There was a low rumble, and he felt all the wind forced out of his chest.
Bang! There was pain on his back. He had hit on a tree branch.
Before he could scream again, another strong force gripped on his shirt, suffocating him. His body shook, and his fall was stopped forcefully.
The entire incident caught him off guard. He was only an ordinary 17 year old teenager, untrained for situations like these. He was still confused about what had happened to him.
When he gathered himself, he found himself hanging high up in the air.
He was more than a dozen meters above the ground. The discovery scared the life out of him. He could not help but prayed, "Dear God, please help me!"
Fortunately, his position seemed to be relatively stable, and that comforted him. Now more in control of himself, Ban Meng decided to try to get himself down to the ground as soon as possible. Falling down from this height would definitely kill him!
He looked down again and noticed that somewhere down there, a black haired man was studying the broken wooden parts of his Wood Kite.
"What's so interesting about a Wood Kite?" Ban Meng thought to himself.