Interstellar Survival: Invasion - Chapter 350: Execution Platform

Upon hearing the noise, we ran back to the first cave. Unsurprisingly, that was the final call of the mother beast, a call of suffering. On the platform, it raised its head and howled at the sky. After a few seconds, the mother beast’s head dropped down. It was dead. I could see a pearl rolling out of the mother beast’s mouth.

We ran toward the mother beast. The young beast did not step forward. Rather, it stood still and bid its mother a final farewell with its eyes. I picked up the pearl from the ground. The pearl was spotlessly white, and apart from the machine liquid around it, it didn’t appear to be anything special.

“This might be the crystalized energy of the mechanical beast,” I analyzed.

At that thought, I handed the pearl to the young beast. However, it completely ignored me, so I placed the pearl into my backpack instead, deciding to temporarily keep it. Suddenly, I recalled my agreement with Zhang Xingxing. I looked down to check the time and saw that I was already five minutes late.

Oddly, Zhang Xingxing had not sent me any signals or messages despite my tardiness. I turned on my communicator and tried to contact Zhang Xingxing and the others, but I received no reply. I couldn’t even contact Zhang Bao’er.

“Is the black valley interfering with the signals? I need to leave this place to contact Zhang Xingxing,” I muttered as I lifted Bulu and started walking away.

But the moment I moved, the young beast followed behind us. I was greatly shocked. “Don’t tell me this little beast is going to follow me now.”

I continued walking ahead, and the young beast proved my guess right. It continued to follow me, clearly not intending to stay in the cave anymore. Bulu, who was in my arms, had an even greater reaction. The liquid in its body accelerated, and I immediately understood its meaning. I was telling myself to take the little beast with me.

“Come with me. Let’s leave this place first,” I said and started walking faster.

The little beast seemed to have understood my meaning and appeared to be slightly excited. Before long, the three of us were out of the cave. At that point, the sky was starting to turn bright. Day was approaching.

With the increased visibility, I was able to get a clear look at the terrain around me. I saw the creatures hiding amid the bushes as well. This was a valley where mechanical and protein-based life forms coexist, creating a completely unique food chain.

I could see a group of fanged beasts that looked like wolves. They looked incredibly ferocious, but they also seemed extremely fearful of the little mechanical beast. They only dared to look at us from afar.

We moved rapidly toward the place where I had landed. I kept looking up in search of the divine bird, but it was nowhere to be seen. Before long, the blue Alnitak rose from the horizon and illuminated the world. We had reached the place where the divine bird had left me, but the divine bird was nowhere to be found.

“Damn that bird. Did it return without me?” I complained.

Suddenly, a long shriek rang out in the sky. The divine bird had appeared from behind the steep mountain peak. At that moment, the little beast beside me turned uneasy. It looked restless and nervous. After all, this was the same divine bird that had killed its elder brother.

The massive bird landed in front of us. Under the bright sunlight, it appeared tall and lofty. There was an odd look in its eyes as it gazed at the little beast. The very nature of the mechanical beast did not allow it to leave such provocation unanswered. After a few minutes of being stared at, it erupted in anger and roared furiously at the divine bird.

The moment the little beast started roaring, the divine bird moved, slowly walking toward the little beast. I realized that a fight was about to break out and hurriedly ran forward and stood between the two of them. Pointing at each of them with one hand, I said, “Stop! Nobody is allowed to create trouble. I am the king!”

My furious roar seemed to work as the two mechanical beasts stopped their fight. I had actually succeeded in suppressing a fight between a pair of enemies. After a few seconds, the divine bird shot me a glare before taking off in Gero City’s direction.

“Damn you, bird! Why aren’t you taking us with you?” I scolded, but the divine bird ignored me and vanished into the horizon.

I remembered that I had crossed mountains and oceans to reach this place. It would take me a very long time to return. Having lost contact with Zhang Xingxing, I was extremely anxious, but I couldn’t think of a solution.

Suddenly, Bulu’s body lit up in a golden glow, looking like a miniature sun. The change alarmed me because Bulu would generally only assume this form when there was a powerful enemy nearby.

Behind me, the little beast also appeared uneasy, as though it had also sensed the arrival of a powerful enemy. Sure enough, a black dot appeared on the horizon. As it approached, it enlarged. Eventually, it got close enough that I could see an object on its body.

I gripped my gun tighter and brought the little beast to hide in a nearby bush. However, Bulu was too bright. I was forced to cover its body with a pile of leaves. Since my laser probe wasn’t working, I was forced to observe the approaching object with my naked eyes.

After a while, I stood up in disbelief. The flying object was actually Nyx, and riding on its back was the fiend of Pluto, an even bigger surprise for me. Seeing that help had finally arrived, I lifted Bulu and ran out into the open before shouting at Nyx and the fiend.

The two saw me, and Nyx hurriedly dove toward me. It was at that time that the light on Bulu’s body started dimming. I finally understood that it was Bulu who had summoned Nyx and the fiend over.

“Little fellow, you never fail me when it matters,” I praised as I rubbed Bulu’s head, which was still covered in leaves.

Nyx and the fiend landed in front of me. It had been a while since I last met Nyx. I gave its wings a scratch and greeted it while it intimately greeted me back. The long separation had not diluted the strong affection we had for each other.

Meanwhile, the fiend was looking at the little beast like a pet. This time, the little beast was completely silent, perhaps due to how ferocious the fiend looked. I couldn’t afford to waste any time. I need to leave and contact Zhang Xingxing as soon as possible. At that thought, I placed Bulu in my backpack and leaped onto Nyx’s back.

The little beast turned anxious and also tried to get on Nyx. The haughty fiend naturally wouldn’t allow anyone to ride on its back. It directly took off alone. Left with no choice, I could only help the little mechanical beast. After some great effort, I finally helped it up onto Nyx’s back.

Despite carrying a heavy weight, Nyx was still able to take off smoothly. Together with the fiend, we started our journey back to Gero City. Up in the air, I immediately tried to contact Zhang Xingxing. However, there was still no response. I was starting to have a bad feeling.

Due to our weight, Nyx couldn’t move too fast. However, I was in no mood to appreciate the scenery from the sky because I was too worried about the others. After two hours of flight, we finally saw Gero City in the distance. The annoying divine bird was already flying above the city.

The sight of Gero City was akin to the sight of hope. I urged Nyx to fly faster. At that moment, I noticed that the fiend looked incredibly pleased and comfortable in the sky, as though all the war and conflict were unrelated to it.

We came nearer and nearer to Gero City. The nearer we got, the more uneasy I felt. Ahead of us, a large crowd could be seen. A large number of Wargods had gathered in the city. The crowd was so big that there were even some Wargods standing at the edge of the basin.

“Odd. Why are they gathering here?” I wondered.

At that point, I was already above Gero City. Suddenly, I heard a sharp shriek coming from the divine bird, who was calling out to me. Before I could react, numerous arrows shot toward me from the Wargods on the ground.

However, the fiend was naturally not someone who could be attacked so easily. With a flip of its body, it casually blew all the arrows away. Farther away, a group of mechanical birds were hovering in the air. They weren’t attacking us, and that was probably due to the divine bird. Among the Wargods, a temporary platform had been built. All my companions were being held on the platform. Standing beside them was a sturdy executioner.

Pokka’s Thoughts

Hey guys, I have an announcement to make. So for the past few months, the author has been steadily losing motivation to continue this novel. Barely any chapters have been posted by the author, most likely due to the low readership (both here and on the Chinese website, I suspect). We see no point in continuing to translate a novel that will probably never finish and barely anyone reads, so this will be the final chapter posted for this novel. For those actually reading this, you have no idea how grateful I am for your support. I am sorry that we have to drop this novel and hopefully the next novel you read will not suffer the same fate.