Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 17: New Member In Sirius B's Forest

The three hours were over in the blink of an eye. Dodo's data had been finalized as well. Oxygen was present in Sirius B's air, and its surface pressure was similar to Blue's. In fact, this was a celestial body rather suitable for Bluelings' habitation. A fixed star, a white dwarf, actually had a habitable environment. This discovery alone was enough to shake the league.

After the team finished their preparations, Zhang Xingxing suggested that Zhang Bao'er and Dodo remained in the ship to repair and maintain the ship due to the extensive damage to the ship. Meanwhile, she, Old Du, and I would explore our surroundings with the Kangaroo vehicle. As we no longer had any probe robots with us, we had to personally perform all the explorations.

After everyone received their tasks, the Kangaroo vehicle was lowered from the ship. Zhang Xingxing granted me the honor of placing the first footstep on Sirius B. Although I believed that Captain Zhang Han and his group were the first ones to step foot on Sirius B, it was still unconfirmed. Thus, I intentionally left a deep footprint on the ground while Old Du recorded the entire process.

'This is the footprint of Li Canyue, the first footprint the league placed on a white dwarf!' I couldn't help but grow excited at that thought.

Done with our photo shoot, the three of us climbed onto the Kangaroo and departed. This was a world of blue and purple. The plants here were purple in color while their leaves were in the shape of tentacles. These plants seemed rather sensitive and would actually withdraw the moment they sensed movement around them.

Meanwhile, numerous life forms glided through the air, kept afloat by their featherless wings. We also saw numerous tiny, chubby life forms merrily flying through the air with complete disregard for aerodynamics and physics.

We were very curious. With the existence of gravity, how were these little fellows hovering in the air? Unfortunately, we were on a search and rescue mission. Thus, the uncovering of this secret would have to wait.

On the ground, numerous crustacean-like animals with six limbs were crawling about, living in flocks. The particularly large one we saw was most likely the alpha of the flock because it alone was leading a group of smaller animals. The animals appeared curious about our vehicle. In their eyes, we were the actual aliens.

Driven by Old Du, the Kangaroo did not take long to reach the edge of a forest. The trees were towering, their massive canopies completely covering the forest from sunlight. However, many tiny dots of light could be seen in the forest itself, as though there were countless sparkling stars in it. These were most likely the eyes of the forest's residents or actual glowing plants.

After exchanging looks, we drove into the forest without hesitating. The moment we entered, our surroundings darkened. The plants in the forest were rather peculiar. There were two general types of plants, which in Blue's terms, were basically shrubs or ancient trees. In short, the plants here were either knee-length or as high as a skyscraper, with no in-between.

We drove our vehicle through the dense shrub that completely covered the ground, encountering many tiny, leaping animals as we traveled. What left the deepest impression on me was an animal that looked like a worm with bamboo joints and the ears of a rabbit. That creature had been startled by our vehicle and had quickly jumped out of our way.

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While traveling, Old Du constantly scanned for the Milky Way ship's signal. Our Kangaroo vehicle was capable of scanning a range of 100 square kilometers at a time. Thus far, our scanners had not picked up any signals.

Suddenly, the vehicle's communicator rang out, "Canyue, Canyue, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Dodo. Please speak," I replied.

"Canyue, we detected an odd electromagnetic signal moving in a consistent frequency. After tracking the signal, we found that it originated 800 kilometers to your east. I suggest you take a look," said Dodo.

"Roger. Please send us the exact coordinates. We'll go immediately."

We turned the vehicle around and started heading toward our new target. After driving for about 500 kilometers, the landscape before us opened into a basin. The basin had appeared rather suddenly, as though someone had forcefully pushed a cork into a bottle. The edge of the basin was flat and smooth, and the basin itself was at least 1,000 meters deep. The basin was large, and at a glance, it was probably over a thousand square kilometers in size.

"Looks like there's no driving around this basin," I remarked.

Old Du replied, "I believe we will need to travel through the basin to complete the final 300 kilometers of our journey."

Zhang Xingxing agreed. Since nobody objected, we prepared our equipment, weapons, scanners, and suits before leaving the vehicle. Outside, the wind and sunlight were gentle. The environment was intoxicatingly beautiful.

After setting up our respective anchors, we descended to the bottom of the basin. When we checked our energy levels, we noted that we had 36 hours' worth of energy left. To save energy, we decided to make the trip on our legs.

The bottom of the valley was similarly a world of purple shrubs. As we advanced, many tiny, glowing, translucent animals jumped about in a manner similar to the insects of Blue. We were perhaps the first intruders in hundreds of millions of years.

After walking for about three hours, we did not encounter any surprises. At that time, Zhang Xingxing told us to stop and rest. Thus, we rested below a rather big tree and started chomping on our space rations.

Although Dodo had said that the environment here was fit for human habitation, to be safe, we decided to take our meals in our suits. After having a space cracker, I leaned against the tree root and rested. Suddenly, I heard rustling sounds behind me. I jumped to my feet and turned to see a silly-looking little thief trying to steal my crackers.

Zhang Xingxing and Zhang Bao'er heard the commotion and came over as well. We could see that the creature had a body filled with sparkling blue dots. It had four short limbs and an even shorter tail, with a head the shape of a cat's and a pair of big eyes. It looked incredibly lovable as it hid in the underbrush while reaching out for my crackers with one of its limbs.

"Sooo cute!" Zhang Xingxing exclaimed.

"You little fellow," I said.

Just as I was about to grab the creature, Old Du stopped me. He then removed the cracker wrapping and placed it on the ground. When the little creature saw that we showed no malice, it hobbled out of the bush before chomping on the cracker hungrily. It turned out that one of its rear limbs had been injured. While eating, the creature cooed at us. Before long, it finished the cracker. Then, it looked at my pack before cooing at us, telling us that it was still hungry.

"If I give you more, I'll starve to death myself," I said, amused.

At this time, Zhang Xingxing crouched down and offered her own cracker. The little fellow took the gift without any hesitation.

"It's injured. Let's take it with us," said Zhang Xingxing.

In fact, from the moment Zhang Xingxing fed the little fellow, I had known that she would take it with us. After all, those of the fairer sex were usually more susceptible to the charms of a cute and pitiful animal. At her demand, Old Du took out his laser probe and performed a full scan of the little creature before nodding at me.

I lifted the little fellow whose belly was bulging from the meal and placed it into my bag, leaving only its head outside. The little fellow seemed aware that we were taking it with us. It constantly cooed at Zhang Xingxing while gazing at us with its big eyes.

"Since this little fellow is such a glutton, why don't we name it Little Pig?" I suggested.

"What a horrible name for such an adorable fellow. It has been abandoned by its companions after sustaining an injury. We should name it Dondon," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Dondon, Dondon," she called out to the little fellow.

The little creature stared at Zhang Xingxing with its big eyes, and the two seemed to be exchanging affection through eye contact alone. With Dondon in tow, we continued our journey. After about 3 hours, Old Du's probe indicated that we were only 100 kilometers away from our target.

"Perhaps the secret is right before us. Hang on, everyone. We'll arrive soon," said Old Du.

Fueled by hope, we advanced with renewed vigor. Soon, we reached the other end of the basin. A cliff about a thousand meters tall stood ahead of us. With our thrusters, we soared to the top of the basin. And after advancing for a few more kilometers, the flora around us started turning sparse. Suddenly, an entirely new terrain appeared before us.