Chapter 1004 - This Game Is Too Realistic

**Chapter 1004: Meeting the Progenitor?** "Bang!" The deafening gunshot tore through the forest as Ye Shi, weighing the pros and cons, opted to strike first. It seemed whoever was across from him had the same idea. Just as the bullet left the chamber, a two-meter-tall shadow burst out from the trees. It was a beast that walked on all fours. Its body was low, equipped with sharp front claws, powerful hind legs, and dagger-like fangs! This creature didn't resemble a mammal; it was more akin to a reptile. The beast had the shape of a crouching wild wolf but without a single hair on its body. In its place was a layer of oily, gleaming scales! What startled Ye Shi was the creature's acute sense of danger. Almost as if it could sense his attack, it ducked under his line of fire in the mere fractions of a second before he pulled the trigger. At first glance, it appeared like pure chance. But for someone attuned to perception like Ye Shi, he knew exactly what was happening! "Watch out!" A belated warning came through the comms channel as the distance between them rapidly closed from twenty meters to less than ten. Despite being outfitted with powered armor, Ye Shi didn't let his guard down. He quickly adjusted his aim to track the creature's movements, switched to full auto mode, and unleashed two bursts of fire. His wasteland experience reminded him that even with powered armor, invulnerability wasn’t guaranteed. Especially against "dangerous species" like Deathclaws, which could still make minced meat out of a rookie in powered armor! “I see you!” The suppressive burst of bullets forced the creature into evasion, and eventually, it got hit. The 7mm bullets pierced its keratinous scales, leaving bleeding bullet holes on its body. “Roar—!” The creature's pained cry escaped its lips, and a flicker of fear flashed in its pea-sized green eyes. However— Instead of turning tail and fleeing, it gathered its last ounce of courage for a final charge, opening its bloody maw wide as it lunged at Ye Shi’s face. The ferocity of its assault was akin to a truck coming head-on; Ye Shi could even smell the foul breath washing over him. Yet, being a seasoned veteran, not exactly mighty or agile but skilled enough, he wasn't about to be wiped by such a wild creature. He sidestepped the terrifyingly powerful bite and raised his rifle, using its butt to block the rushing claws. With agility, he drew the machete meant for pioneering from his belt, and with lightning speed, he slashed at the creature's neck. Driven by both powered armor and muscle, the sharp blade sliced through like lightning, severing its head cleanly. Dark red blood gushed from the neck's gaping wound, sizzling as it landed on the verdant grass. Looking at the blood he instinctively dodged, Ye Shi showed a surprised expression. Just then, a concerned voice echoed from the comms channel. "Are you alright?" "Minor scene, not a big issue." Ye Shi shook his head, glancing at the machete in his hand. He wiped the blood off on a nearby broad leaf before sliding it back into its sheath. This place was downright eerie. He couldn’t resist glancing again at the mist-laden grass, muttering to himself. "Damn... Is this blood actually acidic?" Even stranger was that the grass, misted by the blood, appeared to flourish even more as though it had been nourished. Truly bewildering. Jiang Xuezhou's voice came through the comms. "It might not be acid; it could be some dehydrating substance we don’t understand... There are sample kits and test tubes on the ship. Could you collect some samples if possible?" "You don't have to be so polite, I was just about to do that." In "Wasteland OL," continually collecting alien species compendium entries was a task with notable contribution points and silver rewards. This creature was an alien species, much more impressive than mere polar bears, wasn't it? Ye Shi took a trip back to the ship to get some professional sampling tools, collecting the creature’s blood, saliva, and various tissue cells. He labeled them and stored them in a cold sample box. While he was busy with this, the stench of the beast’s corpse had already attracted a host of odd little critters. There were bugs with straws, rotund beetles, a bunch of ant-like yet not quite ant insects, and small four-legged beasts lurking at the forest's edge, hesitating to approach. With powered armor, Ye Shi wasn’t worried about bugs crawling on him, but it was still a nuisance. "Scram, get lost." Seeing more and more insects, he wearily pulled out a white phosphorus grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it nearby. As the blinding white light flared up and the pungent smoke spread around, it finally drove the insects away. Seizing the moment when the insects scattered, Ye Shi hurried to finish his sampling work. After completing his tasks, he returned to the research ship. Venturing out again, he found that the head had been nibbled down to bare bones. Ye Shi suddenly felt as though this place resembled an enlarged version of the Hundred Yue Strait. Unlike the latter, however, he didn’t notice anything akin to the original Nagorian microbial strain. Here, it was simply a traditional food chain amongst species, without any deeper DNA exchange. "...Could Gaia be dead?" He wasn’t sure if the concept of death applied to Gaia, but the question arose involuntarily in his mind. Especially since, since his landing, the only threat he'd encountered was merely a single alien species. Initially, he presumed the entire planet would be an adversary. Indeed, this wasn't just Ye Shi’s puzzle; Jiang Xuezhou shared the same bewilderment. The place wasn't particularly safe, yet it didn’t seem as perilous as imagined. Perhaps because they hadn’t been there long enough, and the massive planet hadn’t realized they were there… “We should move quickly, perhaps we can leave before Gaia notices us.” “I’ll do my best.” After replying to Jiang Xuezhou, Ye Shi moved the dead beast’s body farther away and buried it. He then returned to the vicinity of the ship, spreading some feces found in the beast’s intestines around. This was Jiang Xuezhou's suggestion. It was said that carnivore feces could repel other beasts. Though unsure if this earthly survival method worked on an alien planet, Ye Shi grimaced and did it anyway. After these tasks, he rubbed his armored gloves on a tree’s trunk, nearly scraping off the bark before he stopped. He then lugged heavy equipment out from the research ship. These were devices Jiang Xuezhou had painstakingly crafted from materials aboard the Orpheus-class missile cruiser’s engineering workshop. There were temporary signal bases supporting mid-range reception, ground meteorological stations, drone charging stations, solar panels, and metal hydrogen batteries, to name a few. With these devices, they could at least ensure connectivity within 50 kilometers around the research ship. It was evident Jiang Xuezhou cared deeply for Ye Shi’s safety—more so than Ye Shi himself did. Back when he did missions around Dawn City, he and his brothers from the Flame Legion always dove headfirst into thickets face-first, considering death a quick trip back to the city base. Finally completing his preparations, Ye Shi strapped on a towering supply crate and, followed by a quadcopter drone, set off toward the black box signal from the wreckage of the Gemini-class missile cruiser. According to the official background material, humanity once constructed a network of roads and orbital transport systems connecting colonies on Planet Gaia. The largest human community housed over a million people. Yet, for some reason, Jiang Xuezhou’s drones, soaring high, saw nothing but lush tropical rainforests. Any traces of civilization seemed erased, leaving only wildly growing and bizarre flora. Ye Shi could only play the part of a classic pioneer, machete in hand, striving to weave through tree trunks and vines, praying not to encounter any bizarre alien species along the way. Honestly, he had thought more than once about simply throwing a firebomb to solve his problems. Yet, knowing this planet was a living entity, he tamped down that impulse. Gaia may not be aware of him, but starting a fire might be hard to overlook. Fortunately, perhaps it was the sense of danger deep within the forest that kept other fierce creatures at bay, and Ye Shi encountered no other predators like the one before. As for the poisonous insects that occasionally attacked, their attempts were thwarted by the outer shell of his powered armor. Only once did something truly startle him. While traversing a more open broadleaf forest, dark brown tendrils were intertwined between the towering trees, resembling dried vines. Initially, Ye Shi also assumed they were vines and didn't give it much thought, raising his machete to strike. But the moment he chopped into the ten-meter-high vine net, dark green blood splattered all over him. Instantly, the "dead net" came to life, unraveling into arm-thick brown serpents, which rained down from above like a sudden shower. The snakes writhed on the ground in a berserk manner, lunging toward him as if determined to kill him then and there. Faced with the dense swarm of snakes, Ye Shi felt his sanity plunging. In a panic, he waved a flare stick wildly, using the acrid smoke and flickering flames to break through the encirclement. He stumbled through the forest for quite a distance, finally relaxing when he was sure the writhing snake swarm hadn’t pursued him. Tossing away the spent flare stick, he caught his breath. A four-rotor drone wobbled behind him, and Xiaojian's voice came through the comms. "I analyzed the photos taken earlier... Those appear to be some sort of cord-like reptilian species, forming a net by connecting head to tail between tree trunks. All signs suggest they lack teeth and aren't interested in prey larger than their mouths... You could've just gone around them." “Damn it, what a mess…” Ye Shi panted, propping his hands on his knees and muttering, “Hanging there pretending to be dead—I thought they were vines…” “Uh, actually, they might have been…” Jiang Xuezhou trailed off, prompting Ye Shi's curiosity. “What might they have been doing?” Jiang Xuezhou hesitated, finally replying in an awkward tone. “They… might have been mating.” “Pfft!” Hearing this over the comms, Ye Shi almost choked on his own saliva. Great. It seemed he had disturbed them. “...Alright, enough about those trivial matters. The valley I spotted from above is just ahead. Its dense and tall vegetation might affect the signal, so be very careful,” Jiang Xuezhou quickly shifted the subject back on track. “Got it.” Ye Shi was equally eager to move on and set off with his load after a brief rest. As he approached the valley, the terrain became noticeably more rugged, and the wildlife around was more abundant. Passing through a thicket, he stumbled upon a series of depressions over half a meter wide and several centimeters deep in the ground, resembling the footprints of some large creature. "...There's likely something huge around here." Water was probably nearby. He snapped a few photos of the tracks and heightened his vigilance. And just as he anticipated, as he emerged from a cluster of grass, he heard the gentle murmur of a stream ahead. The drone, hovering behind him, flew ahead, prompting Ye Shi to quicken his pace. Soon, a winding stream came into view, accompanied by a scene of unmatched beauty. Thick, pillar-like tree trunks lined the meandering stream, their deep brown surfaces covered in iridescent moss and broad leaves as tall as a person. Tiny light particles floated among the trees and leaves, resembling dancing sprites and forming a dazzling river of stars in the air. Nearby the shaded stream, a dozen massive mammals, standing four to five meters tall, were quietly drinking with their triangular heads dipped into the water. Lost in the breathtaking view, Ye Shi almost forgot about the lurking dangers. Sensing his presence, one of the triangular heads lifted, but seemingly unthreatened, it soon returned to drinking, ignoring him. “So beautiful…” Xiaojian's voice echoed through the comms, clearly captivated by the magnificent scene. “Indeed, even the forests of the Hundred Yue Province pale in comparison... What puzzles me is: where is Gaia?” Regaining his senses, Ye Shi muttered and began looking for a way to cross the stream. That's when he noticed a band of dark green crystal veins mirroring the high ground upstream. “Is that... a crystal deposit?” Ye Shi's face lit up with surprise as he approached the sparkling formation. Rows of dark green crystals appeared to grow from the rock face, extending into its deeper recesses. Was there a copper mineral vein nearby? As he pondered, he moved closer and discovered, to his shock, that beetle-like creatures scurried beneath the tiny crystals. These creatures carried condensed dark green gems on their backs, moving back and forth along crevices and surfaces. Occasionally, a green crystal fell from their backs, seemingly contributing to the formation of these crystal deposits! “Is this some kind of organic material?!” Astonished, Ye Shi tapped the ground with a fist-sized awl. The crystals were remarkably hard—possibly tougher than diamonds—leaving scratches on the awl's surface. At that moment, Jiang Xuezhou's excited voice pierced through the comms. “Collect some samples!” “Got it… I’m on it.” Ye Shi replied hastily and pried a sizable chunk off the wall. Turns out, women do love shiny things. Of course, it might also be for scientific research. Even Ye Shi was curious about what this material was and how much it could fetch back on Earth. And he wondered, had this crystallization been recent, or was it here over 200 years ago? If it was a new discovery, he might be the first to find these dark green crystals. In "Wasteland OL" terms, the first discoverer gets the privilege to name it. Should he call it "Ye Crystal" or "Night Crystal"? While Ye Shi quietly mused over the name, a rustling noise nearby snapped him back to reality. Instinctively, Ye Shi looked up, freezing at what he saw. A humanoid figure with pale green skin stood there. In its hand was a spear about half as tall as a human, its tip made from the same dark green crystal. Those deep blue eyes stared unblinkingly at him, seemingly perplexed by the sight of his armored figure. Seeing the creature's pale green skin, Ye Shi felt his heart leap into his throat. “Whoa?” Mutants?! But— How could this be?! Ye Shi distinctly remembered how mutants were created—a biolab accident in the Cloud Province in the Wasteland Era 44. Even with accelerated reproduction, mutants couldn't possibly have spread to Planet Gaia! No time to dwell on it, Ye Shi’s index finger flicked off the rifle’s safety and hovered near the trigger. Yet, at that crucial moment, an urgent voice shouted through the comms. “Wait, Ye Shi! This might not be a mutant! Hold your fire!” As the voice echoed, rustling noises emerged from the undergrowth, and dozens of figures appeared before him. As soon as the drinking mammals at the river's edge noticed the "little green men," they raised their heads and let out a howl before turning to flee. Clearly, these creatures had suffered at the hands of the "little green men." Simultaneously, Ye Shi witnessed an even more jaw-dropping sight— A winged reptile, a pterosaur, flapped above! Unlike those he’d seen in dinosaur museums, this one was also adorned with dark green crystals, and the tips of the little green men's spears seemed to be fashioned from its body. This was a hunting party! Ye Shi's mind raced. Unsure of how to proceed with the situation unfolding, one among the two or three dozen figures stepped forward—an elder looking slightly more advanced in years. The elder's skin was wrinkled, and his face bore a disarray of whiskers. With tear-filled eyes, he chanted in an unintelligible language before suddenly dropping to his knees. This unexpected gesture startled Ye Shi, just as it seemed to surprise the little green men behind him. However, after the elder uttered a few words, the sturdy young men behind him set down their weapons, then prostrated themselves with devout expressions. "What are you doing? Please get up!" Ye Shi said, half-laughing and crying, only to remember they probably didn't understand his words. But just as the thought crossed his mind, the elder managed to speak a few halting words in the Union's language. "Greetings... Ancestor... Sir." To be continued.