Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 303: Danger Sense and Attraction

The people on the Hope naturally didn’t know about the Blue Race. However, the atmosphere within the Hope had gotten increasingly curious. Many sensitive members of the public sensed the nervousness in the air, but since they could see nothing after observation, there were no rumors… After all, there couldn’t be any rumours, since it was Yao Yuan leading the Hope. Ever since he led these 120,000 people into space, his actions and working style had been familiarized by the public. Many people called him the human saviour, and as long as he was around and he was still the Hope’s leader, the people felt strangely safe and protected.

They had no idea Yao Yuan had been spending the past few days in the captain’s room, waiting for signs of an alien invasion. If he sensed it, he would make the Hope self-destruct. Death was much better than being enslaved and taken as experiment, or even materials for "soul"!

On this day, eight days had passed since the day alien was predicted to infiltrate the Hope. The past eight days had been spent in absolute peace. However, this peace made many anxious, and they were afraid that the aliens would attack at any moment. Even the normally stable Guang Zhen started patrolling the Hope four to five times daily. This was the reason why some members of the public felt like something was wrong.

"Ol’ Wong, don’t be so nervous. You going on patrol every day has made many people on the Hope incredibly uneasy. Even though you avoid patrolling during the height period when people go and return from work, what you're doing is still very attention-grabbing. Take it easy for a day or so. From tomorrow onwards, other than the usual patrol, stop the rest." Yao Yuan sat in the captain’s room and advised Guang Zhen as he flipped through a document.

Guang Zhen straightened himself up in his chair. As an old-fashioned soldier, his actions were influenced by military training. They were not pretense but part of his personality. Reprimanded by Yao Yuan, he laughed helplessly. "Ol’ Yao, I understand what you’re saying, but my heart just won’t calm down. This is so different from our earlier wars. Even though there was always a waiting period after we decided our strategy, we had never been such a passive party, and so many things hinge upon this wait, so how can I not be nervous?"

Yao Yuan sighed and went silent because he understood what Guang Zhen meant. Those that knew the truth, how many of them could eat and sleep well? Even the calmest of individuals would be worried since this was beyond life or death. If something really happened, it would be a fate worse than death…

Human beings were already a cruel enough species. The things that were done to animals in pharmaceutical the industry back on Earth could make everyone’s hair rise, and how could be said that people didn’t know about that? No, most did, but since animal experimentation was beneficial to humanity, as long as the experiment was not done on actual humans, many chose to turn a blind eye. Therefore, cruel as it might be, it was necessary.

Therefore, human beings understood perfectly that when such fate befalls mankind, such cruelty would await them. It would be a fate several million times worse than death! Even people with strong constitutions like Yao Yuan and Guang Zhen couldn’t help but frown thinking of the possibility. It was because of this that Yao Yuan would spend his nights sleeping in the captain’s room, and the moment something felt wrong, he would make the Hope self-destruct.

The two sat in silence until Yao Yuan suddenly said, "By the way, this afternoon, Ren Tao came up with a new proposal…"

"Ren Tao?" Guang Zhen said the name with derision, but he understood the gravity of the situation, so he still asked, "He’s also a Thinker. So he came up with a solution to this problem we’re having?"

Yao Yuan nodded. "Exactly… Ol’ Wong, I know you have issues with Ren Tao’s attitude, but you have to understand that he’s not an official soldier, and during the war on the new planet, didn’t he fight alongside us like a real soldier? Try to cut him some slack. Back to his suggestion, I’ve given it some thought. The plan was to use the Anima to scan the alien civilization outside of the Hope."

Guang Zhen was stunned before smiling brightly. "That’s a good idea! Our biggest issue now is a lack of external information. Even bad news is better than no news… Then again, perhaps we can skip the bad news, but we do need some news."

Yao Yuan was silent before shaking his head. "That might be so, but there are some possible harms to this plan, and the harm could be extremely detrimental to our situation… Observation goes both way. The Anima might bypass the limitation of the creator’s particle, but when the Anima sees into this civilization, their Homo Evolutis, or rather, cosmic adapters, will be able to sense the observation on them. This might not be a good thing.

"The alien fleet out there is too big. If this is the size of an entire civilization, our rough estimation puts the number at several hundred billion people. What are the chances that a civilization of this size doesn’t have cosmic adapters? Even if there is only one, the moment they realize we are using the Anima power on them, then… it will be horrendous!"

Suddenly, Yao Yuan sprung up from his seat with trepidation on his face. This was not an expression common to him. In fact, whenever this happened, it meant that things were truly heading down the toilet. Guang Zhen was immediately alarmed. He also stood up in a hurry and looked around them, yelling, "What’s going on? Yao Yuan, tell me what’s happening?"

Yao Yuan’s expression was fixed in that flustered countenance. After a long time, he slumped down into his chair and said, with trace of despair, "I’ve forgotten about one important thing. This is bad. If our enemy also has Homo Evolutis, then this is already over for us…"

"What do you mean by that?" Guang Zhen asked.

"…I’m an All-Rounder, someone who's able to attract Homo Evolutis or cosmic adapters. It’ll make them want to get close to me; it’s a feeling akin to being summoned. Therefore, if they have cosmic adapters, we…"

At the same time, the alien fleet outside of the Hope had started to move away from the Hope. Of course, it wasn’t using technology like warp drive to move a far distance but some sort of energy propulsion to cover a small distance. At the same time, a small spaceship about several hundred meters long extricated itself from the fleet and headed towards the Hope.

Other than the normal maintenance members, the spaceship also had 50 well-trained second grade bionic people. These were from the Blue Race Emperor’s royal guard. Under normal circumstances, it was difficult to even mobilize one, but this time the Emperor was so generous that he let Blue 6 lead 50 of them. Furthermore, he even told Blue 6 that these people would be his personal guards from then on. He would be responsible for their lives and deaths. Things like insurance fees, death compensation, and the living expenses of surviving family members would be covered by Blue 6 in the case that any one of them died. The amount wasn’t small. The Blue Race wasn’t a barbaric race, so even though the Emperor was their lord and the royals were a station above the commoners, this didn’t mean that the common people were to be trampled on. These were rules written into the Blue Race’s history books. In other words, the death of one bionic man would cause Blue 6’s wallet to bleed for quite some time. However, if all of them died… then Blue 6 would have to announce bankruptcy even though he was the sixth successor to the throne. This was why the Blue Race was dubbed the civilization that treated its own citizens the best among all the level 3 space civilizations within this galaxy.

This showcased the Emperor’s wisdom. As a mature politician that had held the throne for hundred of years, he could tell Blue 6’s desire for power. Furthermore, Blue 6 couldn’t ever be punished, as his identity as an S-grade cosmic adapter was the best get-out-of-jail card. The entire Blue Race couldn’t do anything harmful against Blue 6. In fact, if any harm was to come their way, the entire race would try their best to protect Blue 6’s safety… S-grade cosmic adapter, as long as Blue 6 was still alive, even if he was the only one alive, with the Blue Race’s genetic bank, he could revive the Blue Race civilization. That was his value as an S-grade cosmic adapter.

That was why the emperor gave him 50 of his best bionic men. He knew Blue 6 would hold on to them with his life, because the entirety of the Blue Race only had 300 plus second grade bionic men. These 50 bionic men satisfied Blue 6’s desire for military power, but at the same time, they were a limitation on him. At least they would make him more careful; he would caution himself and retreat the moment he felt danger. This was the reason the Blue Race Emperor gave Blue 6 these 50 bionic men.

Blue 6 understood the implication, but since this was a benefit, he needed to accept it. Plus, for this mission, he didn’t sense any danger. His intuition hadn’t let him down before. Not only that, he felt a deep desire to venture into this ruin. Earlier, he thought it was because of his desire to make a name for himself, but the closer he got to the ruin, the stronger he could feel a strange calling. It was as if there was something incredibly important waiting for him inside the ruin. This had never happened to him before. Others thought his insistence for entering the ruin was because of his deep-seated desire for power…

But in reality, the reason he was so determined was because he felt something deep within the ruins calling after him. He had no idea what it was, but his feeling told him it was something important!

Blue 6’s blazing eyes stayed focused on the approaching ruins. Suddenly, he felt his heart palpitate and an indescribable feeling surged through his body…

Danger! He felt danger!