Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 29: The Whirlpool of Sorrow

I instinctively lifted my gun and rushed onto the deck. A group of gigantic life forms had appeared from the sea. Each of them was some sort of cylindrical life form. They moved by hopping up and down from the sea, creating massive waves each time they dropped back into the water.

"These monsters look so weird. I can't determine which part is the head and which is the rear," Zhang Xingxing's voice rang out beside me. I turned my head and saw that she had arrived beside me unknowingly.

The Brightlings fired their massive cannons at the giant creatures, chasing them away from the ship's path to prevent any collisions. The loud rumble that had awakened me came from one of these cannons.

"These creatures move in such a unique manner. I wonder what's the concept behind their form," I wondered.

At this time, Old Du and Amethyst joined us.

"We call these large migratory animals kadoka," Amethyst explained in the Gliesen language.

"Kadoka? What does that mean?" I asked.

"Kadoka means to disseminate. These giant creatures constantly migrate, their travels bringing with them numerous different species to different parts of the sea," replied Amethyst.

"Will they attack other animals?" I asked.

"No. They are very docile. They live on nutrients in the seawater. Their impressive size greatly deters all predators from preying on them," Amethyst replied.

"Predators? What are you referring to?" I continued asking.

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Amethyst glanced at me and said, "There are no fixed forms for sea predators on Sirius B. Each new life form we encounter might be a dangerous predator. Here, only prey exists in a fixed form."

"This world is too weird," I mused after listening to the explanation.

The kadokas slowly moved away from our ships. The surface of the sea gleamed in a purple glow under the sunshine of Sirius A. Gradually, we entered an area enveloped in mist.

"Canyue, do you think we'll be able to get the energy we need from Terror Island?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

I turned to look at her. She was looking at me with an expectant look. I knew the trip would be a dangerous one, but I had never been too supportive of the league's principle of optimal selection.

I believe we will succeed," I replied firmly.

A joyful smile bloomed on Zhang Xingxing's face. She looked at Sirius A in the sky and said, "After we find Father, I'll have him help us apply for pardon. If we really have no choice, we will travel to other star systems and search for our new home."

I felt joy hearing her words. In truth, I had enjoyed my time with this noble lady. Although there was a gap between our positions in society, the heart of a youngster would always be more pure and kind.

Time always flew by when one was enjoying oneself. The three days of peace and the ocean tour quickly ended. The ship's alarm suddenly blazed, notifying everyone to man their posts. We had arrived at the whirlpool zone. We equipped our suits in accordance with the command before gathering on the deck.

Titan, the priest's son, was clad in Bright's unique combat outfit. He looked rather capable in his martial outfit. He was giving an explanation about the whirlpool zone, aided by Amethyst as the translator.

On the sea surface about 30 kilometers ahead of us, the sea was no longer visible. A storm covered the area with churning clouds and massive seven-colored lightning bolts. Here, all life forms, avian or aquatic, had vanished.

"We are about to enter the big whirlpool zone. The massive whirlpool will appear abruptly from the seabed and open its gigantic maw and swallow everything in its path," Titan said.

"Can we observe the whirlpool from here?" Old Du asked.

"No. The big whirlpool is not a fixed existence. Its appearance has always been unpredictable," replied Titan.

"How do we avoid being swallowed by the whirlpool?" I asked.

"Nobody has managed to cross the whirlpool zone for tens of thousands of years. Today, with the flying fish, we might be able to cross this zone," Titan said.

"The storm is very intense. Can Blueflash and the others withstand it?" Zhang Bao'er asked, worried.

"Therefore, we need to get as far as possible on our ships. The ship ahead of us will be the vanguard. We will follow closely behind. We will be ready to leave with the flying fish at a moment's notice. The moment the whirlpool appears to swallow the ship, we will take to the skies," Titan said.

"We can fly away, but what about the others? The flying fish won't be able to take so many people," Zhang Xingxing interrupted.

Titan looked at her with eyes as profound as the universe. Slowly, he said, "They are all prepared to sacrifice themselves for the tribe. To return to our homeland, sacrifices are necessary."

We all sank into silence. I was greatly alarmed. I did not expect the sacrifice of dozens of young Brightlings just for the sake of our mission. A sense of sorrow welled within me.

"Yes, civilization and the rise to glory always go hand in hand with blood," Dodo remarked.

With everything in place and ready, Titan signaled to his aid. The order was carried out immediately as the two ships entered the stormy zone. The roaring wind in the zone moved faster than 300 kilometers per hour, 2 times faster than a force 12 hurricane on Blue. The wind was so strong that everything not tightly fixed onto the ship was instantly blown off.

The wind here might be slower than Jupiter's wind, but I still couldn't help but feel nervous when personally experiencing the storm and witnessing the rapidly shifting clouds and the occasional lightning bolt in the sky.

The massive storm also constantly created gigantic purple waves dozens of meters high on the sea. The Brightlings operated their ships nimbly and charged straight into the waves to avoid the fate of being overturned by the waves.

"I finally understand why these ships are so tall. It's so that the waves can't swallow us whole," I said to Zhang Xingxing.

The fierce storm was extremely dangerous, so we turned on our suits and mounted our flying fish. The Brightlings' combat outfit was not powered by energy. They were contending against the power of nature armed with sheer perseverance and courage.

Titan and Amethyst were respectively passengers on Zhang Bao'er's and Zhang Xingxing's mounts, ready to react to the whirlpool that might appear at any time. The ships continued advancing for about an hour. The closer we got to the island, the fiercer the wind. At this point, the wind had reached the speed of 500 kilometers per hour.

Under me, Blueflash was also having a hard time remaining on the ship due to the storm. It latched tightly onto the steel deck with its gigantic claws, barely able to maintain its balance. The mist grew deeper and our visibility dropped. Before long, our surroundings sank into darkness, with the occasional lightning bolt bringing us illumination, allowing us to see the silhouette of the ship ahead of us.

"Everyone, turn on your laser probes. Visibility is too low for us to see around us with our naked eyes," Zhang Xingxing commanded.

At the same time I turned on my laser probe, my earpieces transmitted the voices of fearful screams to my ears. In the blink of an eye, a monstrous black cyclone appeared atop the ship in front of us.

The black cyclone carried with it ice and water, raining hail and chunks of ice atop the ship. The massive chunks of ice smashed into the ship's command room, causing the people in it to hurriedly move out of the way. The cyclone spun faster and faster, and from the eye of the cycle, a black hole appeared. It enlarged rapidly, slowly covering the entire topmost part of the ship. When the Brightlings on the ship saw the black hole, they did not appear fearful. Rather, they sat down and started praying, allowing the hailstones to harvest their lives.

"Are we not helping them? They won't last much longer," I shouted to Titan over the storm.

Titan shook his head. Instead, he ordered to have the ship steered away from the black cyclone. The black hole in the air grew larger and larger, akin to a massive maw that chomped down on the ship below it. In the span of a few seconds, the ship was swallowed by the black cycle, and the seawater abruptly parted, revealing a black abyss of immeasurable depth.

With the ship in tow, the black super cyclone entered the black hole. After the black rolling clouds entered, the seawater came back together, covering the black hole. Just like that, an entire ship's worth of lives was gone in the span of seconds.

"The divine whirlpool," Titan mumbled to himself.

"Why did the whirlpool appear from the sky instead of the sea?" Zhang Bao'er asked.

"The big whirlpool does not have a fixed form. Like this world, it can appear in all sorts of forms," Titan replied. "This is not the time to mourn. Let's continue."

Looking at his determined eyes, I couldn't help but feel respect for him. At the same time, I also rejoiced at the fact that we had traveled with them. Otherwise, it was unlikely that we would reach Terror Island with such a terrible environment around it.

Having lost a ship, we no longer had a vanguard to provide us with cover. The remaining ship continued braving the storm, akin to a piece of leaf floating about in a berserk sea. The storm continued growing in intensity while we all prayed to not encounter another one of those massive swirling clouds.

The waves we encountered also grew in size, with some reaching a height of hundreds of meters. They were akin to water curtains covering the sky itself. Our ship constantly changed directions, stabbing through the waves, shaking intensely with each collision.

With our suits on, we were better protected from the harsh travel by our suits' automatic balancing function than the pitiful Brightlings and the flying fish. Just as we were busy praying to not encounter any other black cyclones, a 1,000-meter-tall purple wave rose before us. I could see that within the massive wave was a massive black silhouette.

"Everyone, prepare for combat! Defenses and weapons at maximum setting! Do not try to save your energy! Defensive formation!" I shouted at everyone.