Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 400: Suspicion…and Action

Yao Yuan wasn't one to just theorize, he was a quintessential man of action. With a plan in place, he began to operate.

The first things to prepare were definitely weapons and equipment. His space armor was already the third generation of Space Armor. It combined the advantages of the earlier two generations and added greater defense, movement speed, attack, better energy storage, and it contained one important future-tech design: the battle suit assembly system.

As a specially-made exoskeleton-esque armor for Homo Evolutis, the space armor's specialty was in close-quarters combat, like the battle inside the Shelter, inside the ruin, or when landing on another ship or planet.

However, due to limitation of numbers, the Black Star Troopers would be the main fighting force for humanity in the foreseeable future. Therefore, be it space armor or Space Combat Jet, their priorities were much greater than the improvements to the Defense Unit's equipment. The biggest weakness of the space armor was its lack of feasibility to be used in different scenarios. This was especially obvious during the war on the cursed planet. The space armor was at a disadvantage when the situation called for a heavy weapon.

Therefore, when Bo Li was given the assignment to create the third generation of space armor, her main objective was to improve its functionality. In other words, to make it so that the space armor could adapt to different fighting scenarios. Of course, for it to be an all-rounder was impossible. To compensate for that, Bo Li invented an external interface that could be attached with different armor accessories depending on the situation.

Currently, there was only one completed third generation space armor on the Hope, and it was merely a prototype. Even so, the battle suit assembly system was already online. After all, as the most powerful Homo Evolutis, Yao Yuan might need to get involved in actual combat at any given moment. Early preparation was better than rushing it at the last minute.

After ZERO changed into the space armor, Yao Yuan brought her to the Hope's armory. Other than to grab the necessary space armor accessories, he was going to leave the Hope from there. This was going to be an unknown journey with the survival of humanity hanging in the balance…

Just as the two of them headed towards the entrance, they stumbled across another person who was wandering around the Hope!

This person was also wearing a space armor, so their movements were rather noisy. The other person seemed to be heading their way because they heard the commotion on Yao Yuan's side. Both parties were equally shocked when they met. Yao Yuan adopted a defensive posture immediately. Thankfully, each of the space armors had their own identification tags. Even though the Hope's AI was down, this type of simple identification module was still operable. The minute they saw each other, the identities of both parties were already revealed.

"Ming Ji Jie! You're not hypnotized? What about other people?" Yao Yuan sighed in relief, but he didn't completely let his guard down. After all, this was not the usual space dimension, so one couldn't be too careful. What if this Ji Jie was just an illusion? Therefore, he entered his Diviner state, and after realizing that there was no danger coming from her, he gradually relaxed.

Ji Jie was equally shocked as well. She put down her weapon and said hurriedly, "Is it Yao Yuan? It's so wonderful that you're safe. What happened? Why did everyone fall asleep when we entered this ruin?"

Yao Yuan revealed all the information given by ZERO after some hesitation. After all, he was going to take on an incredibly difficult mission, and he would need any help he could get. Furthermore, this was a Black Star Trooper, a top trooper at that. According to the data, Ji Jie's battle prowess was impressive, she was only slightly weaker than Yao Yuan himself.

Ji Jie was silent for a moment before cheering. "This is great! So we have the chance to grab the rewards from this ruin ourselves? This means that humanity will be able to escape this weird dimension soon, right? The best of all is that I will be able to go on this adventure with you. This is awesome…"

Yao Yuan really didn't know how to respond, but he didn't dwell on it. Since there was another member to join their party, more options had opened up. Yao Yuan ordered Ji Jie to scour the Hope before they departed to look for other Homo Evolutis that weren't hypnotized.

After Ji Jie left, ZERO mumbled curiously, "This is curious. A normal cosmic adapter shouldn't have been able to wake up in this dimension created by a god-tier space civilization. She is not an Immortal like you, nor is she a level 3 soul web user…"

"Is that so?" Yao Yuan said with a raised eye brow, but he eventually shrugged. "Perhaps she is uniquely blessed…"

Regardless, the show had to go on. 10 minutes later, Yao Yuan brought ZERO to a slab of metallic wall at the bridge. He touched the surface of the wall for some time before the wall opened to reveal a metallic corridor that was about 5 to 6 meters wide. Yao Yuan stepped into it without hesitation. As he entered, a 3D image the size of a small computer screen appeared before him. He was operating something on it.

"The sniping set can be dropped, it's not useable in this situation. Heavy artillery set… not useable either. Fighting a high tier space civilization in terms of firepower sounds dumb… The stealth set, support set, skirmisher set… I guess skirmisher set is the best choice considering the conditions. Speed is the most important at the moment."

After a short contemplation, Yao Yuan selected the skirmisher set as the accessories to add to his space armor. It was a set that specialized in great dexterity and speed. It also came equipped with weapons and functions that supported such a fighting styles, like the automatic Gaussian shotgun and the ability to temporary fly by creating a zero-gravity environment around the armor.

It took Yao Yuan several minutes before he exited from the other end of the corridor. When he did, the appearance of his space armor had changed aplenty. It looked completely different from a second generation space armor, the biggest change being the two mechanical protrusion on his back that looked like a backpack and two curved blades that hung from his sides.

While the two of them were waiting for Ji Jie to return, they continued to discuss the many pitfalls and dangers of this mission. However, according to ZERO, the illusory physicality dimension differed according to different god-tier space civilizations. To put it simply, this was not unlike creating a new universe beyond the existing universe. It was as impossible as it sounded; therefore, it was something that was performable by god-tier space civilizations only. However, after the dimension was completed, the creator had full control over it. For example, if the creator wished for it, the very basics of logic could be shaken, like 1 plus 1 could be equal to 3. Therefore, attempting to figure out a dark dimension from the outside was practically impossible.

This bunch of words made Yao Yuan worry. However, staying idle or running away was not an option, so he could only stay his heart and move forward.

10 minutes later, Ji Jie returned. She had brought along with her a person who was not hypnotized, and the person gave Yao Yuan the shock of his life… it was Jay!

Yes, ever since the explosion on the meteorite base, Jay had existed in a state of half-vegetable. Even with the advanced medical technology on the Hope, they were unable to pull him out of his slumber. His awakening seemed to require some sort of trigger unique to the Homo Evolutis. Another Homo Evolutis trapped in the same conundrum was the Sage, Eva. Therefore, Yao Yuan was truly surprised that he had managed to wake up in this light dimension!

(Then again, Jay is not a normal Homo Evolutis, he is different from the cosmic adapters known to the great cosmos… Perhaps he is here because he is also a SS-grade cosmic adapter like myself. If that is true, why is this Ming Ji Jie conscious in this dimension? Could it be…)

This series of thoughts flashed across Yao Yuan's mind before he quickly suppressed them. Regardless of the truth, now was not the time to discuss that. He rushed to Jay's side and removed his space helmet to address Jay. "You're awake? How are you feeling…"

Jay looked at Yao Yuan inside the space armor with great shock. It took him a long time before he could reply, "If not for your voice and the sense of familiarity, I really wouldn't f*cking believe this was a human creation. Are you sure you're not kidding me? Listen, this woman told me that I've been asleep for more than a decade. And our technology has advanced so far in just a decade? Fine, let's say that's true… Yao Yuan, I heard that you've become the Chancellor of humanity? Also…"

Jay seemed ready to rattle off all the questions that he had kept within him for the past ten years. Yao Yuan interrupted him in the middle of his diatribe, "We don't have the time for explanations. Jay, put on this suit of space armor. You are also a Homo Evolutis, so you should be able to use it even without training. Currently, humanity has found itself in another crisis. I know you just woke up, and I feel sorry for asking for your help so soon, but…

"Humanity needs you, so can you help me? My dear comrade…"

Jay was startled, and he finally laughed as he walked to stand before Yao Yuan… Even though he was much shorter than the 3-meter-tall space armor, he still landed a sound punch on the metallic exterior and announced, "Of course! Do you know who you're talking to? I'm the human hero, Jay Wales, okay…

"Of course, I will be glad to fight by your side!"