CH 296

"This is too odd. I reckon we need to go out and save Dodo. We need to go and see for ourselves what's going on outside," I said.

"We don't even know what we're facing yet. Leaving will only cause unnecessary casualties. I do not suggest that we go out now," said Baron Sisse.

"I think Dodo might have fallen under the control of something unknown. They could very well be right in front of us. We just can't see them," said Temo.

"What do you mean? Can you be clearer?" asked Old Du.

"I believe Dodo is under the control of something. That something is most likely right in front of us, but we can't see it," said Temo.

"That makes sense. Germ! It might be the work of a unique germ! After all, there are terrifying viruses that have existed for billions of years on this planet," said Zhang Xingxing.

"You mean Dodo is under the control of a germ or a group of germs?" asked Baron Sisse.

"That is very likely. Does Dodo have any weapons on them?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"Dodo is a robotic advisor. They're not equipped with any weapons," replied Old Du.

"I'll go!" said Anxashe before rushing into the airlock.

Zhang Bao'er was about to shout when Old Du pressed him down. Just like that, we watched as Anxashe rushed outside the ship. As with Dodo, his bodycam also displayed a scene of boundless white on the screen.

"Anxashe, fire your cluster laser gun. Aim at the sky to avoid hitting Dodo," ordered Zhang Xingxing.

We all gathered around the side window and looked outside. Green laser beams appeared out of nowhere. Then, an odd wail resounded. Several massive white figures appeared amid the darkness. Wailing, the figures fled into the nearby ice volcano.

Finally, Dodo and Anxashe became visible.

"My god. What monsters are those?" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er.

"Looks like I was right. Those monsters might be one of those giant ancient germs," said Temo smugly.

"Superiors, our surroundings can be clearly seen now. We're very close to the outpost, and no germs could be seen around us. Should we retreat into Markus or continue onward?" asked Anxashe.

"Forward. Since the germs have fled, take this chance to reach the outpost's door," said Zhang Xingxing.

We watched nervously as Anxashe and Dodo walked forward. Our surroundings seemed to have sunk into silence. The only noise in the air came from the storm above the crater, but it was relatively calm inside the crater. Shortly after, Anxashe and Dodo reached the door.

"This is an electronic door. It needs either identity verification or the correct password to open," said Anxashe. We could see from his bodycam that a red door stood before him.

"Anxashe, try to open the panel and smash the circuit," suggested Zhang Bao'er.

"Don't mess around. Let me try." Dodo hurriedly stopped the stupidity and plugged a probe into the door.

The outpost wasn't an important military fortification. Thus, Dodo only took several minutes to easily open it.

"Success. You can come," said Dodo in excitement. "Everyone, it is our turn to leave. Get ready and leave quickly. We need to get this done before the germs return," ordered Zhang Xingxing.

"Will we leave Markus here?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Don't worry. The ship has been equipped with an automatic flight function. It can stay in the air and remain on standby," said Temo.

When everyone was ready, we went to the airlock. I placed Bulu into my backpack and covered it with my morph-capable shield. Then, I instinctively stood at the very front of the team. The moment the indicator lit up, I walked into the airlock.

A few seconds later, the door leading outside opened. I took a wide step onto Pluto's soil. Just a year ago, I wouldn't have even imagined that I would be standing on Pluto one day, but here I was, standing on the soil of the mysterious planet that I had liked since I was a child.

Standing within the crater, I could see the violent gale high in the sky and the numerous chunks of nitrogen ice carried by the wind. The sensation I felt when standing on the ground was similar to what one would feel when standing on a mixture of soil and snow. The temperature around me was extremely low. Without my suit, I would be instantly frozen solid.

One by one, we walked out of Markus. We were roughly 10 meters from the outpost. After doing a quick headcount, I started walking forth. Instantly, a white flicker streaked out of the nearby ice volcano. Several massive white clouds appeared in front of us, blocking our path. I could see that there were some creatures resembling moving ice chunks leaving the volcano and heading toward us.

"Shit! Those monsters are back! Watch out, Canyue!" Zhang Bao'er shouted.

The monsters were standing between us and the outpost. I knew very well how powerful these germs were. Upon recalling how the laser gun had hurt them earlier, I fired my gun at them unhesitatingly.

The laser beams shot forth and struck the monsters. The beams punched through the monsters, but the remaining cloud-like monsters continued to gather. To make things worse, the moving ice chunks were also quickly gathering in front of us and combining with the damaged cloud monsters, repairing the damage I did with my laser gun.

"Shit, these germs came prepared. They seem capable of self-restoration," I said.

After resisting the first round of attacks, the germs continued to slowly advance, seemingly trying to encircle all of us.

"Watch out, everyone. Don't allow them to surround us or we will all lose our sense of direction," I warned.

At that time, Zhang Bao'er and Old Du had arrived beside me. Us brothers faced the slowly approaching germs and madly fired at them, trying to slow their approach. Zhang Bao'er led the others to fire at the approaching moving ice chunks. Under our cooperation, the cloud monsters became smaller and smaller. Even their self-restoration was slowed down considerably by us.

"Fire at will, everyone. Don't bother saving energy," I shouted. Seeing how the cloud monsters kept shrinking, we increased the intensity of our attacks.

Through the openings between these shrinking cloud monsters, I could see Anxashe also firing at the monsters.

"Three more minutes and we'll be able to clear the way," said Zhang Xingxing after making a rough calculation.

We attacked without holding back, eventually fully eliminating all the ice chunk monsters. The opening before us grew larger and larger. Before long, there would be enough space for us to run through.

Suddenly, the ice volcano erupted fiercely, sending a large number of ice chunk monsters into the air. The newcomers rushed toward us rapidly. If they were allowed to come in contact with the cloud monsters, all our previous efforts would be wasted.

"Old Du, Bao'er, cover us with flamethrowers. We'll start running through," ordered Zhang Xingxing.

My heart skipped a beat. Judging by the size of the opening thus far, there was still not enough space for us to run through.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

But since the crisis was approaching, Zhang Bao'er and Old Du did not hesitate to use their flamethrowers on the approaching reinforcements, slowing them down. Then, I saw Dondon take the lead to rush forward.

Dondon was a small fellow, so he was able to easily run through the opening. Seeing that, the rest of us focus-fired on the remaining two germs in front of us. Our cluster laser guns and mounted rifles attacked madly, flooding the germs with laser beams, tracking bullets, and even cluster bombs. Instantly, we tore the opening larger. At that point, numerous ice chunk monsters had approached after braving the flame attacks. We grabbed the opening and rushed through.

"Old Du, Bao'er, run!" After we ran through the germs, the outpost was right ahead of us. We turned around and continued attacking the rapidly closing opening to provide cover fire for both Zhang Bao'er and Old Du.

Under the cover of our concentrated firepower, the two successfully ran through before the gap closed. I heaved a breath of relief after the two were through.

"What are you doing? Can't you see me running through the enemy? Why did you fire at me?" complained Zhang Bao'er.

"Stop wasting time. Enter the outpost. Dodo, shut the door behind us," ordered Zhang Xingxing.

We turned and ran toward the outpost with the germs hot on our tails. After all of us entered the outpost, Dodo hurriedly shut the door. I could see the tentacle of one of the cloud monsters. It was reaching into the outpost, but it was severed when the door was closed.

I hurriedly took the severed part as a sample and kept it in a glass vessel I carried in my backpack. When I looked up, I noticed that everyone had been too focused on escaping and had not noticed the tentacle. Tired, everyone sat down on the floor. We were exhausted, but at least we were safe. If the cloud monsters had succeeded in surrounding us, escape would have been difficult.

"For a planet so small, this is quite a dangerous place. Even some germs can be so harmful," said Temo, still feeling the lingering fears from our intense escape.

"How can those monsters be called germs? They are basically beasts. How can germs be so big?" complained Domo.

"They are ancient germs. From the evolutionary history of organic life, ancient life forms would be much larger than their modern-day counterparts regardless of whether they were normal animals or germs," explained Dodo.

"Dodo, I managed to collect a part of the germ's body. Can you perform an analysis on it?" I requested.