First Interstellar Guide Chapter 58: Long time no see

Chapter 58: Long time no see

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

 

At half past three in the morning, the sentinels of the Eagle Special Forces were simultaneously awakened by a violent shaking. The entire starship was swept by a storm, shaking wildly and irregularly. Some sentinels who were still in a dream were even shaken off their beds.

“What’s happening?”

People rushed out of their dormitories in panic, looking at each other.

“What’s going on?”

“Did we get attacked by star pirates?”

“Damn, I rolled straight out of bed, scared the hell out of me!”

Lu Zexuan pretended to rush out of the dormitory, one hand pulling Yu Ran and the other firmly gripping the door frame, shouting loudly, “Everyone, stay calm, don’t panic! Zhao Quan, activate the starship’s protective shield immediately and report the situation ahead.”

From the command room came Zhao Quan’s shocked voice, “It’s over, the starship seems to have been sucked into a cosmic wormhole! My navigation path was definitely correct, how could a wormhole suddenly appear?!”

These words made everyone’s faces suddenly darken.

There are mysterious wormholes in space. It is said that human spacecraft that fall into wormholes will be torn apart by powerful forces, and if the starship is really caught in a wormhole, they all might perish, with no remains left.

Weren’t they smoothly sailing on their route? How could they suddenly be sucked into a wormhole? It must be Zhao Quan’s first time controlling the starship today, not skilled enough, and set it wrong!

Some looked angrily at Zhao Quan in the command room, while others closed their eyes, seemingly silently praying.

When encountering extraterrestrial creatures, they still had a fighting chance. But a colossal cosmic force field like a wormhole could easily tear apart a legion mothership, and it was hard for humans to have any chance of escape once inside. The starship was shaking wildly, and a piercing alarm sounded in the command room.

[Starship defense shield damage level 50%]

[Balance system malfunction]

[Energy leakage]

[Gravity system unresponsive!]

The alarm lights lit up one after another. Due to the malfunction of the gravity system, everyone’s bodies suddenly floated in the air, and the starship happened to flip at this moment. Mohr was thrown out by a great force and slammed into the wall with a “bang.” A trickle of blood flowed down his forehead, but compared to others, Mohr’s face, although pale, was very calm, as if he had prepared to face death calmly.

Lü Xiaolong’s face was extremely ugly. He quickly merged himself with the wall, spreading his body into a “big” shape and using the powerful climbing ability of a chameleon to tightly cling to the wall.

Not far away, Hummingbird was dizzy from the shaking, about to crash into the ceiling. Tang Ce hooked his feet onto a door and grabbed Hummingbird who was thrown out, saying, “Sis Bird, be careful!”

Hummingbird, still in shock, looked towards Lu Zexuan and asked, “Major Lu, what do we do?”

Lu Zexuan, pulling Yu Ran with all his strength, immediately made a decision as Captain in this critical moment, “Everyone, fastest speed to the escape pods. Eagle, activate the emergency escape system in half a minute!”

The intelligent mechanical voice reported, “Preparing to activate the emergency escape system. Escape pods will eject in 30 seconds, 30, 29, 28…”

The sentinels heard this and quickly ran towards the escape pods at the tail of the starship.

Chameleons climb the fastest, and he was the first to climb over, grabbing the nearest escape pod. Hummingbird and Tang Ce followed closely behind, and other sentinels with slightly slower speeds also rushed to the tail of the starship, lying down in the narrow escape pods and quickly closing the pod doors.

The escape pods were made of special materials, waterproof, fireproof, and shockproof, capable of withstanding earthquakes and tsunamis of magnitude eight or higher. But whether they could withstand the force field of a cosmic wormhole, everyone had no idea.

The Eagle starship was malfunctioning, nearing loss of control. Continuing to stay on the starship would be a dead end. The escape pods were their only hope.

Lu Zexuan quickly rushed towards the tail of the starship, pulling Yu Ran along.

Halfway there, he noticed Mohr sitting with his eyes closed in a corner, tightly hugging a pillar on the starship. Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran exchanged a glance, and Yu Ran nodded, running ahead while Lu Zexuan turned to find Mohr.

Mohr showed no fear. Instead, a relieved smile appeared on his face. Perhaps dying quietly in the vast universe was also a good ending for him. He would live and die with the Eagle starship, never leaving the place he cherished.

“If there’s a next life…”

Just as he thought of this, suddenly, a strong force came from his arm. Mohr opened his eyes in confusion, meeting Lu Zexuan’s deep gaze. “Let’s go!”

The man’s voice carried an unmistakable firmness. Before Mohr could speak, he was forcefully pulled up by Lu Zexuan. Mohr tried to struggle, but how could the strength of a guide compare to that of an S-class sentinel? Lu Zexuan didn’t hesitate to drag Mohr up, jumping several times, quickly rushing towards the tail and forcefully stuffing Mohr into an empty escape pod.

Mohr looked at him with a wry smile. “Why bother?”

Lu Zexuan said solemnly, “I promised my cousin to take care of you. If you die like this, how can I explain it to him?!” 

With that, Lu Zexuan forcefully closed the pod door.

Beside him, Yu Ran shouted loudly, “Zexuan, hurry!”

The mechanical voice continued its countdown.

[Countdown 5, 4, 3…]

Lu Zexuan, at the fastest speed, directly entered Yu Ran’s escape pod and forcefully closed the door.

The escape pod was very narrow, with limited oxygen. Sharing it would greatly reduce their chances of survival.

But it was too late. Almost at the moment Lu Zexuan closed the door, the floor beneath the tail suddenly opened, and all the escape pods began to plummet.

[Escape system activated]

[Farewell, wish you luck]

More than fifty capsule-like escape pods were forcefully ejected from the Eagle starship, falling towards the depths of the wormhole like dumplings.

It was pitch black all around. Yu Ran suddenly closed his eyes. Sharing the same escape pod, their bodies almost pressed together, Lu Zexuan could clearly feel…Yu Ran trembling slightly.

“To let the Eagle starship enter the cosmic wormhole, eject the escape pods. The escape pods will be attracted by the force of the wormhole to the Red Spider Star. Due to the different forces experienced by each escape pod, they will land scattered everywhere. You and I share an escape pod. After landing, we’ll avoid other team members as quickly as possible, secretly attempt to rebuild the mental landscape, and then pretend that you were controlled by me…”

This was Yu Ran’s plan told to Lu Zexuan.

Though it was his own plan, why was he trembling?

Yu Ran wasn’t the type to fear death. He could remain calm even in the face of the fanatical madness of the Dark Night Organization. His trembling in the escape pod must be because similar scenes reminded him of some difficult memories…

When the Starlight ship exploded, Ranran might have survived by relying on an escape pod. Today’s events, he had experienced personally several years ago, which was why he was so familiar with the route, right?

Lu Zexuan’s heart ached slightly. He couldn’t help but extend his arms and gently pull Yu Ran into his embrace.

“It’s okay, I’m here with you this time.” The sentinel’s voice was inexplicably gentle, and the embrace was warm. He gently patted Yu Ran’s back with his fingers, the patient comfort calming Yu Ran’s trembling body gradually.

He had always been strong, thinking he was unbreakable. But the deep-seated memories of the escape journey still made him uncontrollably sad.

After a moment, Yu Ran suppressed the surging emotions, raised his head to look at Lu Zexuan, his expression returning to normal. He gently pushed Lu Zexuan away. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

Lu Zexuan naturally released his embrace.

Yu Ran explained, “There’s a creature on the Red Spider Star, I call it the Red-eyed Spider. Unlike ordinary spiders, they are social animals with the ability to fly everywhere and build webs in the air at will. There’s a spider queen in the race responsible for reproduction, laying eggs twice a year, giving birth to tens of thousands of baby spiders each time. The baby spiders are spread all over the planet and can report what they see to the queen at any time. The intelligence of the spider queen is comparable to that of a human AI. She can summarize and process large amounts of information.”

Lu Zexuan was stunned. “This sounds a bit like the rumored Zerg, doesn’t it?”

Yu Ran nodded. “Yes. But they’re even more ruthless than the Zerg. Their red spider webs can instantly slice invading outsiders into edible fragments. The territory of the Red-eyed Spiders is covered with a delicate spider web, like an endless maze. The members of the Eagle Special Forces who fall into this maze won’t be able to escape for at least ten days.”

Yu Ran utilized this time to coordinate with Lu Zexuan.

Lu Zexuan worried, “What about their safety?”

Yu Ran reassured, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the queen doesn’t harm them. The food and water in the escape pods should be enough for them to survive for a dozen days. Graduates from military school have wilderness survival skills. As long as they don’t suddenly go berserk, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Only then did Lu Zexuan relax. He paused and asked, “Will the spider queen listen to you?”

Yu Ran said softly, “Of course. I saved her life before. She helped me heal my wounds and promised that if I ever came back seeking help, she would do one more thing for me. Although our species are different, later on, we became good friends.”

Lu Zexuan was speechless. Friends? What had Yu Ran experienced? If he was the only survivor of the Starlight Legion back then, it meant that Yu Ran had landed on this unfamiliar planet alone. He had just graduated from military school, at less than 20 years old, experiencing immense grief from the loss of his parents, trying to cope with his own sadness while also facing off against galactic creatures, all while carrying injuries…

How did he survive alone and gain the trust of the galactic creature species on the planet? The Red-eyed Spider? Yu Ran’s eyes, one black and one red, could it be related to his injuries back then?!

Lu Zexuan couldn’t imagine the situation Yu Ran had been in at that time.

Looking out through the narrow window of the escape pod, Yu Ran said, “The wormhole is almost at its end, get ready.”

In the next moment, a tremendous suction force came, and the tiny escape pod was pulled into the center of the vortex, suddenly spinning rapidly. The gyroscope-like rotation made their organs almost twist into a ball.

Lu Zexuan endured the discomfort, and Yu Ran furrowed his brows slightly. It wasn’t until several seconds later that the escape pod finally exited the wormhole, plummeting straight towards an unfamiliar planet—

It was a red planet, surrounded by a golden halo. The escape pod was caught by the planet’s atmosphere and rapidly descended. There was a roaring sound as the escape pod brushed past countless towering trees, finally landing with a thud on the ground.

After a moment, the escape pod came to a stop.

Yu Ran was lying on his back, with Lu Zexuan’s entire body pressing down on him, their legs tightly pressed together, in a very ambiguous position.

Yu Ran was stunned for a moment, before he could react, Lu Zexuan felt his ears heat up. He quickly opened the door of the escape pod, stood up, and reached out to Yu Ran, pulling him out of the escape pod.

The ground here was covered with strange flowers and grasses, surrounded by towering trees of bizarre shapes. There was a dense red mist in front of them, a strange mist that seemed like dye from an oil painting spilled into the air. In the depths of the thick mist, there seemed to be some huge monsters hidden. There was a constant buzzing sound, like mosquitoes, but much softer than mosquitoes.

Lu Zexuan’s vision was sharp. He quickly noticed that some extremely tiny “insects” were hovering above them. In the thick fog, there seemed to be some deep red threads swaying gently with the wind. Those threads were crystal clear, shimmering with a beautiful gloss… If Yu Ran hadn’t told him earlier, he wouldn’t have thought that it was a spider web.

“Bzzzz…” The buzzing sound around them grew louder and clearer.

Yu Ran stood still, looking straight into the depths of the mist.

“He seems to be Ranran?”

“Ranran is back. Quickly, go tell Mother!”

“Hello Ranran, I’ve heard of you.”

“Why did you bring a strange person back with you?”

Lu Zexuan didn’t know that the “buzzing” voices were actually conversations among the Red-eyed Spiders. But Yu Ran could hear their dialogue clearly.

Yu Ran opened his palm, and the soft mental tendrils quickly extended towards the mist in front of him. As the mental tendrils flexibly probed into the depths of the mist, the mist in front of them automatically dispersed, revealing a path wide enough for them to pass through.

In Yu Ran’s mind, a gentle voice sounded, “Ranran, long time no see.”