CH 174

After arriving before the emergency door, we did not urge Dondon to open the door from the inside. Rather, we waited silently for him to recover. From the real-time cameras, we saw Dondon slowly stand up. He seemed to have arrived inside some sort of machine, so he had yet to truly reach the inside of the cockpit.

The little fellow pushed at the tiny opening above him. Just like that, he pushed open the dashboard that had remained unused for decades. He climbed out of the dashboard and entered the cockpit.

Dondon stood atop the massive dashboard in the dark cockpit. Oddly, he couldn't see outside the window from within the cockpit. When he squeezed through the tube, his regular searchlights had been broken. Thus, he only had an emergency searchlight that could only illuminate a small area around him.

"Dondon, we're hitting the door. You can move toward the door following the noise," I said.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

A series of thuds guided Dondon in the correct direction as he started heading toward the door. Shortly after, we saw from the stream that Dondon had arrived before the door. Dodo had Dondon study the door in detail while we looked through the stream. We eventually discovered something that looked like a switch to the right of the door.

"Dondon, try that switch. It is probably the button to open the door," said Dodo.

Dondon did not hesitate and opened the lid covering the button and pushed down.

The sound of gears spinning rang out. Shortly after, a cloud of dust fell down from the top of the door as the door slowly opened. The door had only opened enough to reveal a gap when Wind Spirit rushed through impatiently. We also quickly followed Wind Spirit in.

Inside, we saw Dondon standing there smiling foolishly at us in his ragged outfit. Wind Spirit immediately jumped forth, held his neck, and started shouting at him. Meanwhile, Dondon was enjoying the sensation of being the hero of the day.

Suddenly, the dumb Zhang Bao'er lifted Dondon and started inquiring about his well-being. That action caused both Dondon and Wind Spirit to be speechless. After the emotional reunion, we returned to our mission. All of us used our searchlights and started studying our surroundings.

This was a massive cockpit. Everything in the cockpit made it look like a room that had been abandoned for decades. The cockpit was extremely messy with tools and countless pieces of equipment overturned on the floor. The scene reminded me of a high-speed chase. Even after decades, the scene in the cockpit made it seem like the chase had happened only moments ago.

We searched our surroundings while Baron Sisse lay down on the dashboard to inspect the corresponding control equipment. The rest of us focused on looking for the sole functional life support equipment.

The darkness shrouding the window of the cockpit attracted my attention. I approached the pilot's seat and shone my light onto the window. I found that the window was actually covered tightly by a thick black cloth from the other side.

'Weird. Why is the window covered? Were they afraid that outsiders would discover the contents of this room?' I wondered.

"Come over here. I found something," Zhang Bao'er suddenly shouted.

I rushed over and saw that Zhang Bao'er was standing before a side door in the cockpit. On the spot where the door touched the floor, we could see half the body of an unknown life form. This was the lower body of a life form we had never seen before. The dried legs had three toes each. The life form also had a big tail that resembled a lizard's tail. Even more astonishing was the fact that this lower body was clad in a combat outfit.

"Old Du, Canyue, what creature is this? It does not look like an Eternal or any other life form we had seen before," said Zhang Bao'er in astonishment.

"In my memories, I don't recall seeing this weird life form," I said after some thought.

"Yeah, I've never seen this life form before. From this half body we're seeing, it looks like a lizard that can walk on two legs," said Old Du.

"A lizard that can walk on two legs? Are you saying that instead of being an alien, this life form is related to the emperor's beast army?" Zhang Bao'er asked.

"That's only a guess. From the circumstances surrounding this corpse, it had probably been crushed to death by a door that had suddenly shut on it," said Old Du.

"This would be easy. We can just open the door to see what this creature looks like," suggested Zhang Bao'er in a straightforward manner.

"Don't be in a rush to open the door. Old Du, call Baron Sisse over. See if he recognizes this life form," I said.

At this time, I noticed Dondon and Wind Spirit standing behind me. They were both studying the corpse as well. From Wind Spirit's expression, I could see a clear look of disgust.

"Princess, you are well-traveled. Have you seen this life form before?" I asked.

"I have never seen this disgusting thing before. If I actually see them, I will definitely eliminate them," said Wind Spirit with a frown.

"Dodo, do you see this corpse? Try to match it against the creatures in our database. See if you can find anything," I suddenly ordered when I recalled that Dodo was also in the communication channel with us.

"Commander, I performed a search the moment this corpse was discovered. There is no match among our known civilized life forms," said Dodo.

As we spoke, Baron Sisse walked over and crouched down to take a closer look at the corpse.

A few minutes later, he stood up and said, "I think I saw this life form before."

Everyone grew excited and started focusing on what the baron was going to say.

"When I was a child, I once followed my father and King Xido to Eternal to attend an interstellar banquet. That was about 15 years ago, not long after the Divine Empire conquered Akko," said the baron.

"Baron, Captain Fangfang was already missing at the time, right?" Zhang Bao'er suddenly said.

"Yes. But I was still a child, so I didn't know much about Captain Fangfang. The gathering of adults was boring for me. Thus, I only stayed for a bit before running to the garden to play. The imperial garden is massive. I ran and ran, and eventually, I got lost," said Baron Sisse.

"And then you encountered this life form by pure accident?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"No, I did not encounter this life form, but I intruded upon the central part of the palace by accident. That was a place with dark soil and sparse vegetation. On the ground, I clearly saw a set of footprints that was of the exact same shape as this life form's feet. The footprints I saw came from only two legs, so it was clear they were left by a being walking on two legs," said the baron.

"You discovered the footsteps of a living version of this creature? Why didn't you try to follow the footsteps?" asked Zhang Bao'er regretfully.

"I intended to do so, but I was caught by a Gando warrior," said the baron, also feeling greatly regretful.

"At the very least, we're now sure that this life form once existed in the imperial palace. Emperor Fille is most definitely aware of this life form. The disappearance of this ship could very well be related to the emperor himself," I analyzed.

"That's very likely. From the position of this creature, it was probably pursuing something. Its target had probably escaped through the side door. We might get our answer after getting through the side door," said Old Du.

Baron Sisse continued studying the side door, seemingly looking for a way to open it.

"This side door can be opened through the main dashboard," said the baron as he turned back to face us.

"How do you know that?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"I checked the ship's control system earlier. Although this was a cruiser from 20 years ago, its general control does not differ much from a modern cruiser. I discovered that the ship's engine system is still in excellent condition and that it can still be turned on. However, the ship's entire internal database has been deleted, and the deletion looks suspiciously intentional," said the baron.

"How is any of that related to the opening of this door?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

The baron ignored Bao'er and continued, "On the dashboard, there is a row of digits and symbols. I discovered one of them on the side door. The corresponding button on the dashboard is probably the switch for this door."

"I have a question. This creature was mid-pursuit before dropping dead. And the ship's database had been wiped. Additionally, there is a switch outside the side door. I keep having a feeling that there was someone else watching as everything happened," said Old Du.

Everyone's hair stood on end when they heard his words. Wind Spirit, who started trembling, was especially affected.

"We did perform a detailed search on the ship. No other corpses were found," said Zhang Bao'er.

"I suggest you perform another search. Otherwise, things will be very troublesome if the door is locked behind us the moment we walk through," said Wind Spirit.

"What are you talking about? It has been decades. Who can survive in this ship for so long?" questioned Zhang Bao'er.

"How are you sure this whole thing isn't a trap programmed into the ship's system?" rebuked Wind Spirit.

Her words were actually reasonable, so as a precaution, we decided to search the cockpit again. We split up and used our laser probes to scan the area. Eventually, 30 minutes passed without any results. We all confirmed that no other life form existed in the room apart from us.

"There are no other lives here. I reckon we need to open the side door if we want an answer," said Baron Sisse.

Everyone agreed unanimously with the baron. We all turned our shields to a higher level of power while waiting for the baron to open the door.

"Canyue, you sure are hardworking. There is clearly nothing above the cabinet, but you still insisted on climbing up to check," joked Zhang Bao'er.

I was wondering what Bao'er was saying when I looked at where his searchlight was pointing and saw the footprint of a Blueling on a desk beside the side door. More importantly, the footprint did not belong to any of us.