Chapter 32: Deliverance
Translator: Lonelytree-EFT Editor: Lucas
When the gust of the sandstorm started gathering, Yao Yuan’s senses were practically singing. He could feel a strong surge of malice coming their way. It was pure and unadulterated. There was no hidden agenda; it just wanted to eat.
The feeling of malice was so intense that it knocked Yao Yuan off his feet. He could see the room spinning as he went down. Before he lost consciousness completely though, he bit down hard on his lower lip. The shot of pain inspired a moment of lucidity, and Yao Yuan managed to rally himself off of that. Pulling himself back from the brink of collapse, he was granted a closer look of their adversary.
The skeletal flower was most probably a crustacean because its every surface, from its bony petals to the stalk it grew out of, was covered with a hardened shell. The scariest aspect though was its size. Standing upright, it stretched to at least a hundred meters tall, while it covered almost twenty meters from one end of its bud to another. When it was in bloom, it would grow even bigger. That could explain the ease with which it engulfed one of the hovercrafts.
The hovercraft wasn’t a completely organic object. Its engine probably exploded when it came into contact with the creature’s digestive juices. The blast shredded the bud into pieces. Black ooze was flung around as the stalk started spasming crazily like a man losing his head. They knew that the ooze was highly corrosive, because the moment it hit the ground, the affected area melted. The creature’s demise pocked the ground around them with craters of all sizes.
The hovercraft closest to the flower was showered with a healthy dose of its vile liquid which ate through the metal like butter. Even the people within were not spared. The acid was so highly corrosive that the hovercraft’s unlucky passengers didn’t have the time to respond before they were melted off. It took less than three seconds for the hovercraft with all of its carry-ons to be completely disintegrated.
“ove away! Steer the hovercraft away from that liquid!” Yao Yuan yelled. “eep your helmets on; this gas might be toxic too!”
Yao Yuan’s command tore the operators of the three remaining hovercrafts out of their shock. They immediately steered the hovercraft away from the general trajectory of the liquid spray. The rest of the people quickly switched on their helmets. They ran to investigate the spot where the explosion had occurred, but it was shrouded behind a wall of acidic fog.
Two hovercrafts, the lives of forty soldiers, and four Black Stars were lost in the blink of an eye. It showcased how truly fragile humanity was amidst the wide cosmos…
Staring at the toxic mist, Yao Yuan was at a loss for words. What was solid barely a minute ago was now a cloud of roiling gas. Out of nowhere, he heard a shot of gunfire from the shuttle. Using a pair of military-grade binoculars, Yao Yuan could see a person waving two makeshift flags by the shuttle.
Yao Yuan quickly communicated to the two other hovercrafts, “There are people stranded on the shuttle and those are the people that we’ve come to save. Be on alert, but move the
hovercraft towards the shuttle.”
Fear was written clearly on the soldiers’ faces. They would be eaten alive by another one of those flower creatures if they absconded from the hovercraft. A few of the soldiers even started yelling dissention, refusing to risk their safety for others. Faced with such open opposition, Yao Yuan’s expression turned darkly serious. Abandonment of orders was no longer a misdemeanor but a heavy offense. Reading Yao Yuan’s expression, all of the Black Stars stood ready to step in should things continue to escalate.
At that moment, a unit captain came forth with a message. “ajor, it doesn’t appear like the person was waving the flags for no reason. It is incredibly probable that he was a Navy SEAL and is communicating with us through semaphore!”
This threw Yao Yuan for a loop and he quickly returned his attention to the person waving the flag. Hurriedly, he asked, “What is he trying to say? Can you translate?”
The captain hesitated before replying, “I will try my best, major. But semaphore is normally used to signal situations at sea, so this might not make any sense… He is repeating four signals. First, dangerous carriage; second, cease your intention; third, danger ahead; and fourth, diving operation under progress, so keep distance.”
Yao Yuan waved one of the nearby soldiers to bring him a piece of paper. As the captain went through the meaning of the man’s flag signals, he jotted them down. When he finished, he turned to the captain and said, “Thank you, captain. Please continue to keep an eye on the soldier. If he signals something different, please let me know.”
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