CH 58

Zhang Bao'er and I followed the line of prisoners out of the power plant, reaching the surface work area with all the energy panels. The first thing we noticed upon stepping outside was the massive Betelgeuse hanging in the sky, its red surface constantly churning from the nuclear fusion within the star. I could clearly see the solar prominences around the star, which were spurting far away into space.

Betelgeuse's boiling surface was akin to a pot of boiling red porridge, a pot of porridge that had brought the surface temperature of the planet to 400 degrees Celsius. The prisoners around us started groaning in suffering from the heat.

"Bao'er, our energy shield will only last us 45 minutes. Let's split up and install the timed cluster bombs. Reconvene here in 35 minutes," I said.

"Alright. On it," said Zhang Bao'er.

We discarded the batteries we were carrying and split up to install the cluster bombs. The surface was filled with over a thousand light panels. I picked three groups of panels to install my bombs. The explosion of each bomb would cover about 10 panels around it.

I noticed that the pedestal under each panel was installed with five massive batteries. The prisoners were the ones in charge of carrying these batteries back to the power plant after they were fully charged. Naturally, the prisoners were also the ones in charge of replacing the full batteries with empty batteries.

'The energy transmission technology here is too bad. Don't they know they can just lay out some sort of wire to transmit the energy back to their power plant? They're actually doing this manually!' I thought.

I pitied the prisoners forced to work here. It was most certainly painful to exchange batteries in such a vile environment. I installed the cluster bombs at a rapid speed. The sole advantage of working in such an environment was that you wouldn't be attacked by a group of soldiers or air defense drones.

At the speed of one bomb per minute, I quickly installed 30 cluster bombs. By my estimates, these bombs would cover more than 300 panels in their explosions. Although that did not cover everything they had here, I was running out of time.

I quickly returned to the agreed meeting location. If Zhang Bao'er had moved at a similar speed, both of us would be able to damage about 60 percent of their panels. The remaining panels would only have enough energy to last 20 minutes. That was just enough time for us to reach the docking bay. 

After waiting for about a minute, Bao'er returned.

"Everything went smoothly," Zhang Bao'er said.

We immediately started to retreat. My gaze suddenly landed on the prisoners still working around us.

"Bao'er, after our withdrawal, what about them? Some of them will be injured," I said.

"Canyue, we're running out of time. We can't do anything else. These people are all prisoners. They are probably all criminals," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Some of them must have been wrongly accused as well. Just look at the prince," I said.

"Then what should we do? We don't have time to try anything," said Zhang Bao'er.

After giving it a thought, I took out my gun and fired at a nearby light panel. The laser ray from my gun pierced right through the panel and created a violent explosion. The panel slowly fell apart in the midst of the explosion. All the prisoners blanked out upon witnessing the explosion.

"Run! The panels are malfunctioning! They are going to explode soon!" I shouted.

The prisoners immediately broke out into a chaotic run toward the gate.

"Canyue, you're really quite something!" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er in admiration.

We ran with the crowd. At the gate, a group of Eternal guards charged toward us.

"Did anyone see the person who fired a laser gun?" shouted the leader of the guards.

"At the back! There are a few guys with guns at the back!" shouted Zhang Bao'er.

The guards then ran out of the gate. Because there were more prisoners running over, the gate immediately became crowded with people. At this point, Zhang Bao'er and I were already experienced with dealing with numerous emergencies. A situation like this couldn't pose any difficulty to us. We did not take long to get away and reach the prince's hiding spot.

"Canyue, over here! Fast!" the prince's voice rang out from the side.

Then, a transparent curtain dropped down on me and Zhang Bao'er. We immediately vanished from view. Because the hall was in chaos, nobody noticed that two people had suddenly vanished into thin air.

"Mission completed. Let's leave," I said.

We returned from the same path we entered. I could see the prisoners all returning to the power plant while the guards were slowly regaining control over the situation. They were inspecting the prisoners one by one.

'Good thing we were able to leave in time,' I celebrated inwardly.

We soon arrived at the agreed-upon location. There, I called out for Zhang Xingxing and the others, but no reply came.

"Canyue, the bombs will detonate in five minutes. We only have about 20 minutes to withdraw. When I checked earlier, there were only two shuttles that could directly reach the docking bay from here," said Dondon.

"Why is Zhang Xingxing's team not here yet? Did something happen?" I muttered.

"Final three minutes," Dondon reported.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

"Canyue, Canyue, where are you?" Zhang Xingxing's voice finally rang out from my earpiece.

"I'm at the agreed-upon location. You're finally back," I replied to the communicator.

"We're in position as well. There's no time. Head to the shuttle station immediately," commanded Zhang Xingxing.

Our groups rushed toward the shuttle station. Due to the explosion earlier, many additional guards had been redeployed to the power plant, so there were fewer guards at the shuttle station.

Taking advantage of the lax security, our two groups were able to quickly go through the checkpoint and arrive before the shuttles. Only two of the shuttles at the station were heading directly to the docking bay. We all entered one of the shuttles and started heading toward the docking bay.

The moment our shuttle started moving, a series of shockwaves rippled over the planet's surface. Thanks to the cluster bombs, numerous light panels collapsed, and a thick mushroom cloud rose from within the power plant.

"Good lord. Leader, how many bombs did you plant?" asked Zhang Bao'er as he stuck his tongue out.

"We installed the bombs in the reactor to create the largest explosion possible," said Zhang Xingxing.

The explosions proved to be effective; our shuttle started shaking violently.

"This is the result of a lack of electrical power. The remaining energy will last them 20 minutes. I hope that will be enough for us to reach the docking bay," said Domo.

The shuttle gradually distanced itself from the chaotic power plant, leaving for outer space. We temporarily shut down our defensive systems to preserve as much energy as we could. Lidu's residential district also seemed to have been affected by the loss of energy. The lights turned off one after another, sinking the district into darkness.

"If the energy supply does not return in 24 hours, the temperature of the inner planet will drop to negative 500 degrees. Everyone there might freeze to death," said Domo.

"What? Why didn't you say that earlier?" Zhang Xingxing cried out in shock.

"If that happens, we will be in much bigger trouble," I said.

"Don't worry. The energy supply will definitely recover within 24 hours," said Domo.

"Why are you so sure?" I asked.

"Orion Constellation does not lack powerful energy sources. The empire has long prepared backup energy in their reserves," explained Domo.

"We will be reaching our destination shortly," Dondon suddenly said.

Everyone looked out the window. The planet's third defensive layer, the immigration checkpoint, was visible. Countless spaceships could be seen at the docking bay, all locked in place by the electromagnetic system.

"We need to make this quick. The electromagnetic system here will fail in a few minutes. Take that chance to board your ship," said Domo.

As the shuttle approached the dock, we saw countless aliens in the midst of protesting the travel restrictions.

"There are so many people here. There's no longer any need for the cloaks of invisibility. The cloaks are running out of energy anyway," said Domo.

Then, I saw Domo reach out for the invisible cloak. He said, "Huh? Why is the cloak missing?"

Upon hearing that, my head snapped to face Zhang Bao'er. That fellow was seated in the corner with his mouth shut, looking at the dock with all his attention.

"Damn fatty! You must have stolen my cloak!" said Domo.

"Bao'er, return it," commanded Zhang Xingxing.

Zhang Bao'er was about to argue, but with the leader's command, he could only return the cloak helplessly.

"I put it away because I was afraid it would get dirty," said Zhang Bao'er.

'That blockhead. He doesn't even know to pick a better timing to make his move,' I grumbled inwardly.

Immediately, the shuttle reached the dock. We all hopped off and joined the crowd of protesting aliens. The large crowd was angrily protesting the travel restriction. Some were even throwing excrement at the Eternal soldiers standing guard.

"These soldiers are quite well-disciplined to be able to tolerate this," said Zhang Bao'er.

As the protest grew more and more rowdy, the dock's energy supply ended with a crack. The entire dock sank into darkness. We immediately turned on our infrared vision system and moved accurately toward Fearless through the route mapped by our probes. Without an energy supply, the dock rapidly dropped in temperature. Layers of ice started forming on the surface of the numerous bodies on the dock.

"This is bad, leader. Our defensive shield will only last 10 minutes. We're stuck in the crowd. If we can't get to the ship in time, we'll freeze to death," said Old Du with his usual calm.

Titan, Amethyst, and the prince started shivering from the drop in temperature.

In a moment of desperation, Zhang Bao'er shouted, "Everyone, quickly get on your ships! The temperature is dropping dangerously fast! The ships are no longer locked by their electromagnetic system! We're all free to leave!"

The seemingly most ordinary trick seemed to work excellently. The protestors who were still protesting just a moment ago turned into a stampede rushing toward the docked spaceships.

The soldiers on guard became so cold they couldn't even be bothered with the crowd anymore. Even the soldiers were abandoning their posts to rush toward their respective spaceships. Thus, the crowd broke apart. We started heading toward Fearless with the prince, Amethyst, and Titan in tow.

The temperature continued dropping. Eventually, it reached negative 20 degrees. The prince almost couldn't move anymore. Zhang Xingxing and I shared our final bit of energy despite the blinking yellow light warning us of the low energy levels. While supporting each other, we sprinted toward our ship.

I could clearly feel my breath turning frosty. The blood in my veins felt like it was no longer flowing. At that point, Fearless was only a few steps away from us. Suddenly, the world around me blacked out as I lost consciousness.