Reboot the Galaxy

Chapter 22 respectively

At the edge of the dark cave entrance, a mech peered out from the wall. After a while, it retreated back into the cave and walked a short distance into a cavity more than ten meters wide.

At the base of the wall, Ruan Huzhong was sitting against the wall in a daze. The left arm of his mecha had disappeared, and his entire body was covered with glaring wounds, some of which were even deeper and had pierced through the armor, exposing the mechanical structure inside.

Thanks to a tight airtight system surrounding the cockpit, a more tragic situation was averted.

However, as things stand, his mech has almost lost its combat capability: it can't use the electromagnetic gun with only one arm, let alone the huge plasma gun.

"Have they all left?" Ruan Huzhong asked breathlessly, his strength slowly returning.

Ruan Zhicheng walked to the front and squatted down: "Let's retreat. They seem unaware that we're here."

"Ah, I see..." Ruan Huzhong stared at the ground and understood the reason.

The ground was just ordinary rock and gravel, no longer covered with the black slime.

After escaping from the hatchery, they had been guided by Xavier. Although they were surrounded by oviparous creatures along the way, and they also got separated from Charon, and their mechs were severely damaged, they eventually managed to escape the pursuit of the oviparous creatures.

Xavier led them to this place, a place without the black slime.

Since escaping here, the oviparous creatures seemed to have suddenly lost their sense of them and stopped chasing them.

Ruan Zhicheng sighed and said, "The chances of Chalong being safe are getting smaller and smaller."

Both men fell silent; the Kachin organization's proud trio was about to disappear in the blink of an eye.

The sound of mechs running could be heard coming from an opening in the cavity; it sounded like there was more than one.

The two Vietnamese men stared intently at the cave entrance. Soon they saw three damaged mechs emerge from the darkness, each bearing an outrageously long list of African names.

They were greatly disappointed and turned their heads away, ignoring it.

"You're here too? That's great!" Mpuent was out of breath and spoke in broken sentences.

"Why didn't you go with your 'great benefactor'?"

Ruan Zhicheng scoffed, "Or are you saying you abandoned him?"

Mpuente took two steps back in surprise: "Di Yan clearly ran out, didn't he come here?"

Ruan Zhicheng scoffed and turned away, ignoring the group of Africans. He was now very annoyed and angry.

Ruan Huzhong asked, "Did you get separated from him too?"

Mpuente affirmed the story and recounted the events of that time. Nguyen Hu Trung listened attentively, and after he finished, he looked up at the cave ceiling, closed his eyes, and pondered for a long time.

The five mechs rested huddled together in this small cavity for over twenty minutes. Then, the sound of machinery crushing rocks came from one of the openings again, the footsteps unhurried, suggesting that only one mech was present.

Ruan Zhicheng suddenly stood up, while Ruan Huzhong stared intently at the cave entrance.

A single-soldier mech emerged from the cave entrance. Its surface was covered in scratches, but they were less severe compared to the others.

Upon seeing who it was, the two Vietnamese were quite disappointed, while the three members of the African team were so happy they almost jumped up from the ground.

"Thank God you're still safe!"

Surrounded by people, Di Yan smiled, a sense of relief at surviving a disaster in his eyes: "I was worried about you all. It's good that everyone is alright."

"Who said everything's alright?"

A sudden, unfriendly voice pierced Di Yan's eardrums. He looked over Mpuente's shoulder and saw Ruan Huzhong sitting against the wall, his arm broken, staring straight at him.

Even though the mecha has no head and you can't see its expression, Di Yan can still feel that gaze.

"Chalong? He's not with you?" Di Yan looked around, his voice filled with worry.

"No." Ruan Zhicheng turned around, crossed his arms, and looked at the dark hole in the wall, as if hoping that someone else would come out.

Di Yan was silent for a moment before saying, "This was truly a sudden event. We should be thankful that we didn't perish at the hands of the aliens. Since Charon hasn't returned yet, let's wait for him. Xavier will surely guide him here."

"Yes, we will not abandon any of our teammates!" Mpuent said with righteous indignation.

Silence enveloped the small space; no one spoke again, and Di Yan breathed a sigh of relief for the time being.

Just a few dozen seconds later, Xavier's voice suddenly rang out: "Enter through the hole on your right, and follow my instructions for the rest of the way."

Not only Di Yan, but everyone else received their respective orders.

"Should we leave? Chalon hasn't come back yet..." Mpuente seemed flustered, looking at Diyan and then at his two brothers from the Kachin organization.

"You guys go, we're not leaving."

Ruan Huzhong said sullenly, "Zhicheng, go and check the other cave entrances. If you see Chalong, go and meet him."

Ruan Zhicheng immediately crawled into the hole and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?"

Di Yan narrowed his eyes, paused, and continued, "The situation will become even more difficult later on. Without your help, the four of us might be in danger."

Ruan Huzhong used his remaining arm to support himself as he stood up, and stood opposite Di Yan, coldly saying:

"If you want to leave, then leave. We can't abandon our brothers."

"You are disobeying orders."

Di Yan said coldly, "Xavier has ordered us to set off, which may lead to Charon and us meeting in a new place. There's no point in you just waiting here."

"I fucking don't care what kind of bullshit robots they are, obeying them was the worst decision I've ever made!"

Ruan Huzhong could no longer contain his emotions. "First, I listened to the robot and jumped into this damned cave; then I listened to it again and woke up those damned eggs, which resulted in hundreds and thousands of insects chasing and biting us. We barely escaped with our lives, and now you want me to abandon Charon and run away?!"

Di Yan smiled helplessly, his right hand pointing backward until it touched Charon's plasma gun, stroking the cold barrel for a while before putting it down.

"Well... I wish you good luck."

Di Yan turned to Mpuent and said, "Let's go."

Under Ruan Huzhong's grief-stricken gaze, the four mechs entered the cave one after another and gradually disappeared into the distance.

He returned to the base of the wall, slid down slowly, and sat on the ground again.

Inside the tunnel, Di Yan led his three African brothers forward. The surroundings were silent, with only the soft rustling sound of steel crushing small clods of earth.

Mpuente seemed somewhat shaken; the terrifying images of those oviparous creatures were deeply etched into his mind: "There are only four of us, can we manage?"

"I believe Xavier won't let us die so easily."

Di Yan's tone left no room for doubt: "It must have already considered what the objective of the operation should be."

"But……"

"Have some confidence in yourself." Di Yan smiled relaxedly. "No matter what happens, just stick close to me and everything will be fine."

The other three lack confidence the most right now, and Di Yan had no choice but to do this.

But even he himself was unsure about Xavier's attitude and stance.

However, Xavier's instructions represented orders from his superiors, and although he did not yet understand the underlying principles, he did not intend to disobey military orders.

Who knows if someone else will come after him if he breaks a taboo?

The good news is that the four of them followed Xavier's instructions for more than an hour and saw nothing along the way.

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Di Yan asked, "Xavier, where are we going?"

Xavier stated the answer directly: "The route I've arranged for you has bypassed all the dangers, allowing you to support the other half of the team as quickly as possible."

"Your other half? Who are they?"

"Yes, they are currently taking a short rest 29 kilometers away, and will continue their journey soon."

"What are their mission objectives?"

"They are advancing outwards along the lines of the alien territory, covering a total distance of approximately 87 kilometers, after which they will begin deploying special frequency signalers."

"87 kilometers! The alien species' territory is that vast?"

"From the current perspective, the route that your eighth squad needs to take to advance outwards is the shortest, while the other squads generally need to advance over a hundred kilometers."

Di Yan was speechless, astonished by the mutant's abnormal expansion ability.

The four of them continued forward in silence for another half hour. After turning a corner, the eerie black slime reappeared on the ground ahead.

"There's...there's danger!"

Almost instinctively, the sight of these ominous things again sent chills down Mpuent's spine.

"Let's keep going, and keep quiet," Di Yan calmly led the group from the front.

Although he hadn't encountered any danger on the way, the black slime covering the ground was enough to make him uneasy. He was also afraid that the oviparous creatures would come over because of the smell.

By questioning Xavier, Di Yan learned that the road they were currently on was the only way to catch up with the team ahead. There were no more forks in the road for about a kilometer ahead, and they could only follow this road to the end.

After confirming that there was no danger in front or behind, the four of them started jogging, hoping to leave this ominous place as soon as possible.

The journey was tedious and boring, and night had fallen, with the team ahead getting closer and closer.

The four ran and stopped intermittently, and finally at 23:21, several flickering lights appeared in the darkness ahead; those were the searchlights of the mechs.

Hearing the commotion behind them, the group turned around, and He Xu immediately came forward to greet them: "Di Yan, what brings you here?"

"We've completed our mission and are here to support you," Di Yan said, panting.

An Zaiyin was shocked when he saw the damage to Di Yan and the others' mechs: "What happened to you? How did you get so many injuries?"

"Yeah, why are there only four of you?"

Naohiko Enmura also chimed in, asking, "Chalon was supposed to come with us, but we discovered he hadn't followed us shortly after we set off. He must have gone with you guys, right?"

Di Yan then recounted their experiences to everyone, omitting the details of his killing of Cha Long and insisting that he did not know Cha Long's whereabouts. Ruan Zhicheng and Ruan Huzhong decided to stay and wait, which is why everyone parted ways.

"You've come from afar, you must be tired. Why don't we rest here for a while?" After listening to Di Yan's story, Isayama Wasabi was filled with admiration for them.

Di Yan waved his hand and said, "No need, I rested well while I was telling the story. Let's continue, time is short and the task is important."

The nine mechs thus merged into one and headed together toward the edge of the alien species' territory.

After traveling dozens of kilometers, they roughly figured out the patterns of the alien territory.

The tunnel leading down from the surface is a path that leads directly to a nest, while the actual nest is a three-dimensional network composed of many layers, like a maze.

In most of its area, the ground is covered with a kind of black slime, which is roughly used for sensing and positioning. This experience comes from the personal experience of Di Yan and others.

The nest is not an endless net; it has boundaries and covers a three-dimensional area. It is precisely because there are many independent nests that they constitute important "nodes" in the alien territory.

Between the individual nests, tunnels connect them directly, much like highways between cities.

Overall, the nests are distributed radially around the volcano, varying in size, with the intervals between each nest ranging from about eight or nine kilometers to more than ten kilometers.

During their journey, they traversed at least three lairs, following the route arranged by Xavier. They were able to skillfully avoid almost all dangers, and the few scattered mutants they occasionally encountered posed no real threat to them.

After passing through another straight "highway" tunnel, the group found themselves facing three forks in the road.

"Enter through the middle opening," Xavier told Di Yan.

"If nothing unexpected happens, we'll have to part ways again." He Xu gave a wry smile; he was used to it.

"Which way are you going?" Di Yan asked him.

"middle."

Di Yan gestured forward: "Let's go, me too."

"Oh my god, is this some kind of ghost?!"

He sighed in surprise and followed closely behind.

Ahn Jae-in also entered the middle cave entrance, while the other six were divided into two groups by Xavier and entered the left and right cave entrances respectively.

"Oh my, I never thought we'd finally be able to work together!" He Xu muttered to himself.

"That's not necessarily true; there's a second hurdle."

Di Yan pointed forward, and in the dim light, two more forks in the road appeared.

Suddenly disappointed, He Xu reluctantly stepped into the left-hand opening at Xavier's command.

An Zaiyin and Di Yan entered the cave on the right side of the path. He broke the silence first, saying, "I don't understand why Xavier would send you to such a dangerous place?"

Di Yan turned to look at him, and An Zaiyin quickly explained, "I mean, in the end you didn't stop the eggs from hatching, and they didn't chase after us. But why send you there and increase the danger? Have you thought about that?"

"no."

Di Yan answered decisively, "I believe Xavier is prioritizing the overall situation, and this is an order from above. I don't need to think too much; I just need to carry it out."

Ahn Jae-in fell silent. The two had not gone far when two more paths appeared ahead.

"It seems we'll have to part ways again." Ahn Jae-in smiled slightly.

"Hmm," Di Yan replied casually, and then walked alone into the right-hand side path.

The situation inside the tunnel this time was very different. Not far ahead, the tunnel became much narrower, with the width decreasing from five or six meters to three or four meters. In some places, the mechs even had to turn sideways to pass through.

After walking several hundred meters, he seemed to squeeze out through a hole, and the outside space suddenly opened up.

This was a large hall, several tens of meters wide, which Di Yan was already used to seeing.

But here he saw hordes of living, native alien species.

They were fuller and rounder than any corpses he had ever seen, and they were slowly wriggling. The ones at the edge of the hall were wriggling faster, and soon they disappeared into the hole.

To Di Yan's astonishment, he saw hundreds of native alien species gathered here, as if they were performing some kind of "mysterious ritual".