First Interstellar Guide Chapter 73: Deformed Creature 

Chapter 73: Deformed Creature 

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The next morning, after waking up, Lu Zexuan used the token given to him by his father to summon someone – a sentinel with a silver wolf as their spirit body. This agent is currently working at the Federal Investigation Division and happened to be on weekend rotation leave, resting at the White Tower dormitory.

The silver wolf went to the cafeteria for breakfast and “coincidentally” ran into Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran. At the moment they brushed past each other, Lu Zexuan swiftly slipped a note into his hand.

Sitting by the window, Lu Zexuan said to Yu Ran, “Consider this trip as a vacation. I’ll take you for a few more days of fun.”

Yu Ran nodded in agreement, “Yeah, I’ve been feeling a bit tired lately.”

The sentinel sat not far away, quietly eating his meal, clearly overhearing Lu Zexuan and Yu Ran’s conversation.

Back at the dormitory, he opened the note in his hand, which read, “Pass on to my father, if anything happens to me and Yu Ran, ask him to personally visit the planet beneath the Wormhole in the Southern Triangle Constellation. Cancel the plan if both Ranran and I are safe. Do not act rashly.”

After reading the information on the note, the sentinel tore it up and flushed it down the toilet. As agents cultivated by the Lu family, it was their duty to obey the Lu family’s instructions and pledge to protect the safety of the heir to the Lu family. If Lu Zexuan appeared to be in danger, they must find a way to inform the old general as soon as possible. He quickly changed his clothes, pretending to go shopping, and left the White Tower in a hovercar.

Meanwhile, Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan returned to the dormitory after breakfast. Lu Zexuan handed over the summoning token to Yu Ran.

Yu Ran already knew about the existence of this secret team of the Lu family. Now, in this life-threatening situation, it might be more appropriate to entrust these people to Yu Ran for deployment. Lu Zexuan would play the role of a “puppet” next, with no chance to make any extra moves.

Yu Ran carefully kept the token and placed it into the necklace around his neck.

After a while, his communicator buzzed, and he heard the voice of his “cousin” Rong Yingying, “Ranran, are you ready? I’m here to pick you up.” Yu Ran replied, “Okay, cousin, we’re coming out now.”

The two changed into convenient camouflage outfits and took the elevator downstairs.

As they stepped out, they saw Rong Yingying waiting for them in the central square. She waved to Yu Ran and said with a smile, “Ranran, over here! The car is ready. Let’s go.”

Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan followed her side by side and got into the backseat of the hovercar. This time, Rong Yingying didn’t use anesthesia on Yu Ran because the car was heading straight to the space station of the capital star – as Yu Ran guessed, the “base” mentioned by that big shot was indeed not on the capital star.

After half an hour, the car arrived at the space station. The two passed through security checks and boarded an interstellar passenger spaceship. Since this was a “vacation”, Lu Zexuan certainly couldn’t travel around in a military starship. Taking a civilian spaceship was a more reasonable way to travel. The people from the Dark Night Organization had even bought them VIP first-class tickets – heading to Norma Planet B73.

Rong Yingying waved goodbye to them, “Goodbye! Have fun.”

Yu Ran waved back with a smile. The moment the spaceship took off, his smile quickly disappeared, and he said in his mind, “Norma B73 base… I’ve known about the existence of this base for a long time. The neurotoxin released by the bloodthirsty flowers on this planet is the source material for their drug research.”

Lu Zexuan said, “This should only be one of their experimental bases. Their real headquarters must not be in Norma. It seems that the big shot doesn’t trust us enough and wants to test us again by arranging the meeting place in Norma?”

Yu Ran remained silent for a moment and said, “Let’s adapt to the situation.”

The distance between the capital star and Norma was very far, but with the opening of the space quantum leap, the ultra-fast route, a civilian spaceship could reach its destination in just over half an hour. After resting in the cabin for a while, they heard a notification sound in their ears, “Dear passengers, we have arrived at Norma Planet B73…”

There was a knock on the door, and the flight attendant came to escort them personally, “Two VIP guests, please follow me.”

VIP passengers could disembark in advance. The two followed the flight attendant and went out to the airport pickup area, where they saw a familiar woman. She waved to them with a smile, “Ranran!”

It was Yu Ran’s “aunt”, Rong Yingying’s mother. Lu Zexuan had seen her once in the hospital and had some impression of her. Her smile was just like Rong Yingying’s, indicating she was also being controlled.

The two walked over calmly, and Yu Ran smiled, “Auntie, long time no see.”

The woman said warmly, “Yingying told me you were coming to Norma, so I came early to pick you up. Let’s go, I’ve prepared a table of good food to welcome you.” She ushered the two into the car and set the navigation route.

Planet B73 was a desolate resource planet, where most of the people had already been controlled by the organization. Yu Ran had once lurked here for a while to carry out a mission, so he knew the situation on this planet and the approximate location of the base. Therefore, the prominent figure didn’t bother to use anesthesia to conceal things and directly had her drive Yu Ran to the boundary of the safe zone.

The boundary of the safe zone was protected by an electromagnetic defense net reaching tens of meters high, making it impossible to leave. But miraculously, after she parked the car in a vacant lot, the ground beneath them suddenly sank—

The sudden sensation of weightlessness made Yu Ran furrow his brow slightly, while Lu Zexuan’s face remained expressionless, but in his mind, he remarked, “So it’s an underground base, no wonder the military patrols didn’t notice anything amiss.”

The underground base’s depth was unknown. The car kept descending for hundreds of meters before finally coming to a suspended stop. A deep and dark passage appeared before them. The car drove into the underground passage and, after passing the first security door’s verification, continued to move swiftly forward.

The surrounding darkness threatened to engulf them. Yu Ran even had a faint feeling that he and Lu Zexuan were stepping into the depths of hell step by step. The hovercar traveled underground for a long time, passing through multiple verifications, and finally reached its destination after 10 minutes. A dazzling white light appeared before them.

Yu Ran looked up and saw a huge building several dozen stories high ahead. The exterior of the building was painted in alternating black and red colors, with many strange runes painted on it. Those runes, like seals drawn in blood, had a bizarre dark style, combined with its underground location, giving people a strong psychological discomfort.

Yu Ran said, “Activate the shared senses.”

In the mental world, the two began to share their senses.

Lu Zexuan’s sharp eyes could clearly see the situation on the rooftop—turns out, this was where the Bloodthirsty Flowers grew and proliferated. The densely packed Bloodthirsty Flowers surrounded the building. Through the skylights, one could see that the Bloodthirsty Flowers were growing extremely vigorously, with layers of red petals, as if soaked in blood.

Building the base in the depths of the contaminated area not only allowed them to use the Bloodthirsty Flowers’ neurotoxins for drug research on-site, but also, since the outside world considered Bloodthirsty Flowers to be highly aggressive plants, the juice they released could instantly corrode a human, so no one dared to explore the contaminated area filled with Bloodthirsty Flowers. Even though the federal government had sent people in to explore, those people would all be wiped out by the Dark Night Organization.

This base was very safe and very secretive. The Marshal had long known that there was their base on Planet B73 but had been unable to pinpoint its exact location—never did he expect that they were actually in the center of the contaminated area, constructing a huge underground skyscraper.

Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan stopped in front of the building, and immediately people wearing masks came to meet them. Familiar bronze masks, but who was behind them was unknown. The person didn’t say anything and turned to walk ahead, Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan had no choice but to follow.

Inside the building, there were many laboratories. These laboratories were neatly arranged, and through the glass windows, one could see many advanced instruments and equipment inside. If it weren’t for the extremely eerie location of this building, Yu Ran would even think that they had come to some research center.

The masked person led them to the 18th floor and stopped. Unlike other floors filled with laboratories, this floor had a ceiling height of over 10 meters, resembling an enlarged version of a wildlife park. Tough iron nets divided it into individual rooms, where some strange creatures were kept…

No, they weren’t animals.

Yu Ran realized what they were, and his heart couldn’t help but tighten.

—The “monsters” locked up in these cages should all be distorted sentinels, failed experiments! A sentinel with a distorted spirit body of a snake was locked in the first cage. Its head still resembled that of a human, but below the neck, it had completely turned into a snake. Its body twisted and coiled together, with a human-like head constantly surveying its surroundings, occasionally sticking out its tongue, like a venomous snake.

This eerie scene of a “human-headed snake-bodied” creature sent chills down Yu Ran’s spine.

Next to it was a spirit body distorted sentinel with the body of a fish, kept in a huge fish tank-like room. Her face was very delicate, and when she was still in human form, she should have been a beauty. Now, after the distortion, her legs had turned into a tail, and her whole body was covered with fish scales. She floated motionless in the fish tank, her eyes staring blankly at Yu Ran and Lu Zexuan passing by.

Yu Ran had a strong, ominous premonition. He immediately issued an order in the mental world, “Nine Tails, block all information in Zexuan’s mind.”

Nine Tails Fox: “Received.”

Lu Zexuan’s vision suddenly turned into a vast expanse of white, unable to see anything, as if shrouded in dense fog. Over the years, leading the Eagle Special Forces, he had encountered distorted sentinels frequently, so seeing the distorted snake and fish earlier didn’t cause much change in his expression.

Yu Ran blocked his perception, obviously concerned that there might be more unpleasant scenes ahead. Lu Zexuan naturally cooperated fully, sticking closely to Yu Ran without any expression on his face.

At that moment, a familiar mechanical voice echoed from the ceiling, “Yu Ran, welcome to Experiment Base Number One. These are all failed experiments, which I’ve locked up for further research. Don’t you find it resembles an intriguing and fun wildlife park here?”

Yu Ran, restraining his urge to curse, smiled, “Indeed, it’s quite amusing, much more fun than the zoo on the capital planet.”

The voice continued, “Humans are truly fascinating, especially sentinels after distortion. Their appearances vary widely and are quite adorable. Human-headed snake-bodied, human-wolf hybrids, as well as lions, bears, crocodiles, lizards, and various marine creatures—I have a rich variety of distortions here. However, they’re not very obedient. After all, distorted sentinels have lost their brains after distortion, leaving only their instinct to attack. So, I’ve put them in cages.”

Yu Ran looked at the massive net before him and asked, “Is this a high-voltage electromagnetic net? Will it immediately stun them upon contact?”

The mechanical voice replied, “Exactly. If they repeatedly touch this net, their bodies might even be burnt. Some distorted species are too stubborn, struggling incessantly even when half of their bodies are burnt, not feeling any pain.”

Yu Ran was speechless. What a psychological deviant! In his eyes, human lives were like grass. Distorted sentinels had become his playthings?!

Countless cameras blinked on the ceiling. The person sitting in the control room watched Yu Ran’s expression and smiled, “Keep moving forward, there’s something even more entertaining ahead. This is my favorite pet, also the only S-grade distorted sentinel here.”

Yu Ran heard the sound of his own heart pounding fiercely. S-grade sentinels were extremely rare in the first place, and he actually kept an S-grade distorted species… A sense of dread enveloped Yu Ran’s heart, making his heart ache like needles pricking.

Beside him, Lu Zexuan, with his perception blocked by Nine Tailed Fox in the mental world, couldn’t see or hear anything. In this situation, his acting couldn’t be exposed; he simply maintained an expressionless demeanor.

The key was Yu Ran. He couldn’t show any signs of unease.

Yu Ran quickly adjusted his expression, continuing to walk forward with a curious smile, “An S-grade distorted sentinel? I’ve never seen one before. I’ve heard that S-grade distorted sentinels have terrifying combat capabilities, enough to destroy a human city. How do you control it?”

The mechanical voice replied, “You’ll see.”

Yu Ran’s steps were brisk, but his mood was incredibly heavy—he had already guessed who it was.

At the end of the corridor was a massive cage. The space in this cage was almost as large as a football field, surrounded by a dense network of high-voltage wires. And at the center of that cage… was a huge golden eagle.

—A golden eagle, a raptor spirit body inherited from the Lu family. However, this golden eagle was somewhat different from General Lu’s. Below its neck, there was a circle of pure white feathers, resembling a white necklace. Its large body occupied half of the cage, but the majestic aerial predator now looked extremely miserable.

Many of its feathers were charred, its wings forcibly broken, and its body and neck tightly bound by thick iron chains, so much so that its head couldn’t move at all. Above the golden eagle’s neck was an exceptionally handsome face. Sharp eyebrows and eyes, a high nose bridge, inheriting the excellent facial genes of the Lu family. It bore some resemblance to Lu Zexuan. However, his face was devoid of any lively expression. At this moment, his eyes, once bright, were now as black as ink.

His gaze was vacant, as if dead yet alive.

—Major General Lu Cheng’an, distorted after the distortion, was actually locked up in this lightless place!