CH 175

"That's not my footprint," I hurriedly said.

Everyone was alarmed by my words. Even Baron Sisse stopped his work and ran over. Together, we studied the footprint.

"Are you sure this isn't a footprint left by one of you?" asked Wind Spirit.

"Definitely not. This footprint is bigger than our feet. Also, the pattern on the sole is completely different," I said.

"Weird. Why is there a lone footprint here? There's no signs of any climbing either," said Old Du.

"It has been decades. The climbing signs have probably disappeared with time," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Why is this footprint still here? From the design of the pattern, this footprint must have also been here for decades," said Old Du.

"Regardless, this footprint proves that there must be someone else here at one point. From its shape, this was probably left by a Blueling," said Baron Sisse.

The little fellow Dondon was incredibly curious. As he couldn't see the footprint due to his height, he tried jumping to get a look. While he jumped, he left a clear pawprint on the platform. When I saw the pawprint, an idea rose in my mind.

"This is a signal. The footprint wasn't left from climbing. Rather, someone had intentionally left it behind as a reminder to those who would come later," I said.

Everyone sank into thought. From the position of the footprint, it did seem like something someone had intentionally left behind.

"What kind of a clue is this? What is this footprint trying to say?" asked Wind Spirit.

"This can provide a lot of valuable information. Firstly, it proves that a Blueling was here. Secondly, that person was probably aware of what had happened here. Also, from the position of the footprint, the individual could either be in the cockpit or behind the side door," I said.

"Nothing was found in the cockpit. In other words, this Blueling might have left a sign behind before entering the side room while being chased," said Old Du.

"Yes. Therefore, we need to quickly get in the side room, and the truth will be unveiled," urged Zhang Bao'er.

Baron Sisse went to the dashboard and pressed the button. The side door immediately opened. The first thing we saw was the other half of the withered corpse on the floor. Unlike the head of a lizard we had expected to see, we actually saw a lion-like head. The face of the corpse looked incomparably savage. Its dead hand was tightly gripping a raygun.

"My god. Has the beast army learned to use weapons? How dangerous are they?" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er.

"Canyue, be careful. My laser probe indicates that there is life inside that room," Dodo's reminder came from the communicator.

We were both excited and nervous when hearing that. I couldn't help but grip my laser gun tighter as a precaution. Behind the side door was a long and winding corridor. Because of that, we couldn't see what waited beyond the corridor. Zhang Bao'er and I walked in front with our guns raised. The others followed closely behind us.

After taking the bend, two more withered corpses appeared before us. These corpses clearly belonged to the same species as the severed corpse at the entrance. However, these two lion creatures were actually killed by rayguns—a charred hole could be seen in each of their chests.

"Looks like there was a bloody battle here. Just who were these beasts pursuing?" I muttered.

"Perhaps it's Captain Fangfang or the mysterious Blueling," said Zhang Bao'er.

Along the corridor, room after room could be seen. However, the doors to these rooms were all locked. We noticed that one of the doors was open. After nodding at each other, we rushed toward the opened door.

I found with astonishment that from the side, a trace of red light could be seen inside the room. After Zhang Bao'er charged inside with his gun raised, astonishment covered his face. I followed behind him and saw that beyond the opened door was a massive room. Inside the room were dozens of the lion-like corpses. The red light was coming from within the pile of corpses.

"What is that red light? Why are there so many corpses piled here?" asked Dondon.

"Little cat, that’s what we’re trying to find out," said Zhang Bao'er.

"I'll take a look," said Baron Sisse. He stepped forth and started studying the corpses.

Suddenly, the baron looked up and said, "These creatures are all dead. They are piled against a life support pod. Come help me remove these corpses. Let's see what's hidden inside the pod."

Everyone's interest was piqued. Zhang Bao'er and Old Du immediately stepped forth to move the corpses away. They had always been the most suitable individuals in our group to carry out hard labor like this.

All these corpses were facing downward, as though they had suddenly dropped dead while charging ahead. Oddly, no wound could be found on any of them. We had no idea how they had been killed.

After our hard laborers were done with their job, the life support pod with flickering red light was revealed before us. Clearly, this pod was still active. On its screen, the red indicator was constantly flashing, resulting in the red flash we saw earlier.

At the top part of the pod was a glass window. Through the glass, we could see a sleeping individual in the pod. Oddly, the individual was clad in armor and was in a position with their back facing the window. Because of that, we weren't able to determine the species of the life form in the pod.

"What creature is in this pod? Can we open the pod and wake it up? We can just question it for all the answers we need," said Zhang Bao'er eagerly.

"Wait. I need to study this equipment to find out how we can activate and wake the occupant up," said Baron Sisse.

Numerous tiny tubes could be seen all over the pod. In the middle of the tube system, some sort of red liquid could be seen flowing inside. The red liquid seemed to be the source of energy for the slumbering individual. After checking, we saw that the liquid came from a tank under the floor. Under the tank was another tube system connected to two neighboring rooms. Clearly, the energy source was in the neighboring rooms.

"The alarm of this pod is active. Seems like its energy supply is running low. We need to supply the pod with more energy or it won't have enough energy to wake the person inside. If we forcefully wake this person, we might kill them," said Baron Sisse.

"Looks like we need to look for more energy sources from the neighboring rooms. But when we were on the way, I noticed that all the doors were locked," said Old Du.

"That won't be an issue. All the doors here can be opened through the dashboard. These doors are all locked with an air pressure system. We don't even need any power to open them. I'll look for the door symbols and open them on the dashboard," said Baron Sisse.

We all left the room. The baron did not take long to find the symbol of a neighboring room. He returned to the dashboard shortly after the door opened. The scene inside the room was one that we would not be able to forget. The room was filled with massive transparent nutrition tanks. Each nutrition tank was filled with a red liquid, and soaked within the liquid was a lion-faced creature.

The tanks to the left were connected to the tube system and looked to be in a sort of perpetual cycle where they supplied energy back to themselves. Meanwhile, the tanks to the right were almost emptied of the red liquid. The lion-faced creatures in these tanks were all leaning against the tanks.

A massive tube was hanging off the ceiling. The tube further split into numerous smaller tubes that were connected to these almost empty tanks. Every now and then, some red liquid would trickle into the tubes from the tanks.

"Good heavens. These lion creatures are actually energy sources? The red liquid harvested from their bodies is being used as an energy supply to maintain the life support pod next door. No wonder the pod is still operational after so many years," said Old Du with astonishment.

"No, I don't think the red liquid comes from these creatures. On the contrary, the red liquid was probably meant to be the nutrition fluid for these creatures. However, the life support pod had siphoned the liquid away," said Baron Sisse, who had just entered the room.

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"What makes you think so, Baron?" I asked in astonishment.

"Firstly, from my observation of these tubes, part of their materials are different from the tubes on the left. Clearly, these tubes had been modified at one point. Secondly, I noticed that the lion-faced creatures in the left tanks are probably still alive. The red liquid is probably why," said Baron Sisse.

"What? These lion-faced creatures are still alive? That is unbelievable," exclaimed Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes, and their hearts are clearly still beating. There is still life in them," said the baron.

"Canyue, give the order to kill these beasts! It will be troublesome for us if they wake up," said Wind Spirit anxiously.

"You don't have to be afraid. These creatures are still in the growth process. Due to the lack of nutrition, they have only been able to stay alive but not grow," said Baron Sisse.

Wind Spirit was visibly relieved after hearing that.

"I understand. The owner of the life support pod might have modified these tubes to redirect the nutritional fluid to their own pod from these tanks. After so many years, the nutritional fluid has almost dried up. Thus, the life support pod's alarm is blinking non-stop. The creatures on the right tanks are all dead due to the lack of nutritional fluid. As for the creatures to the left, they are still alive after so many years thanks to their supply of nutritional fluid," I concluded.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"In other words, to wake up the master of the life support pod, we need to redirect the left tubes and supply the pod with more energy," said Old Du, causing everyone to grow excited.

We did not hesitate and started working on it.

"Wait, I have a question. If the redirection tubes were all made by the old man sleeping in the pod, why are there a pile of creatures atop his pod? I thought the baron said that these creatures couldn't wake up yet due to their incomplete growth?" asked Wind Spirit. That was quite a difficult question to answer.