wandering planet

The lifeboat obtained from Faust was once a safe and happy home for Jiang Che and the others.

They took it through Greia F, passed through Virgil and Nini, and finally arrived at the Black Sea, where they met Song Junxing.

Pierre still clearly remembers that night on Greia F, when they were repairing the lifeboat, Jiang Che lit a fire and started to roast enoki mushrooms and salt and pepper shrimp.Tang Mo climbed to the top of the lifeboat and sang a song he couldn't understand.

But unlike what he imagined, the lifeboat has no chance to enter the museum.Human beings on the earth have no chance to touch or even look at it.

There will be no silver nameplate engraving its deeds, and Pierre's name will not appear beside the lifeboat.It would explode, and the collapsed rock formations would bury it, fragments embedded deep in the rock and earth of the crab shell, forever inseparable from the desolate planet.

The Phoenix's stockpile of explosives filled half the room of the lifeboat, and it became a dangerous explosives jar.

And the people sitting in the lifeboat are just as dangerous.

"Slight impact will not detonate the bomb." Fei Lian told Pierre and Ovid, "I have reset the detonation method of all bombs, you can rest assured."

Song Junxing was sitting in the small ship, and was pushed into the lifeboat by the huge metal arm that was already inflexible.

Pierre and Ovid will drive the lifeboat loaded with bombs and small boats to land, enter the cave, and reach the place suitable for detonation.

The two pilots would then leave the wheelhouse of the lifeboat and immediately enter the small ship.After the small ships left the lifeboat, Song Junxing had to carry them out of the cave as quickly as possible and return to the Phoenix.

Lin Ni was very worried: "Is the process clear?"

"Understood." Pierre and Ovid readjusted the time through Fei Lian and Song Junxing on the small ship, "After the bomb detonates, we have 5 minutes to get out. It takes 20 seconds to run from the pilothouse to the small ship. It will take three and a half minutes for the small ship to leave the lifeboat and escape the cave at full speed. The time should be enough."

Jiang Che didn't think that the 1 minute of spare time could be called "enough".

He didn't want Ovid, who had just recovered, to participate in this activity, but Lin Ni couldn't leave the Phoenix. Although he and Tang Mo had learned the knowledge of navigating ships, they were not as familiar as the three of them.

"Don't waste time." Fei Lian said, "Get ready to set sail."

Jiang Che couldn't help but grasped Ovid's hand tightly.

No one said a word about the risks—everyone understood that the move was risky.But it's worth it if you can destroy a raider colony.

Moreover, even if the person who landed fails, the Phoenix is ​​still above the crab shell and can start to leave at any time, and the route back to the earth can still be drawn.

"You can refuse." Linney said to them, "I am the captain of the Phoenix, but I have no right to require you to be involved in danger."

But no one said anything.Even Pierre didn't say a word.

"This is a predator." Song Junxing finally said to Lin Ni, "This is also the route back to Earth. It is normal for us to go back to the route and clean it up by the way."

He even comforted Lin Ni: "It's safe, don't worry about me."

He leaned over and smiled affectionately and presumptuously on Lin Ni's shoulder.Linney didn't push him away.

Jiang Che didn't think he could stop Ovid.This was a choice made by Ovid, who also saw the need to clean up these marauders.

"Goodbye." Ovid kissed the back of his hand, "I want to eat a hamburger, this time you must make it for me."

He took his hand away, and his cold fingertips ran across Jiang Che's hot palm.

The energy source of the lifeboat is seriously insufficient.Fei Lian calculated how little energy was left, and it could allow the lifeboat to arrive at the predetermined location, but it needed the pilot's extremely precise manipulation so as not to waste any energy.

The hatch closed, and Pierre and Ovid turned their attention away from the farewellers and opened the console.

They hadn't turned on the console of the lifeship for a long time, and the lights for instructions and commands lit up one after another, and both of them had the same feeling: they had returned to the journey of the Sirius planetary belt.

Ovid observed the data of the lifeboat and started the program.Pierre adjusted various instruments, and after a while, he gave Fei Lian permission to open the hatch.

The weightlessness was sudden, but the seat belts kept them firmly in place.

The lifeboat slid backwards through a hole in the bottom of the Phoenix, broke away from the Phoenix, and fell into space.

The crab shell was just below them. Ten seconds later, the gravity balancer of the lifeboat resumed operation, and the feeling of weightlessness disappeared, and they sat firmly in the cab.

It's just that the small ship that occupied the rear cabin of the lifeboat couldn't be fixed, and floated upwards at the moment of weightlessness. Song Junxing bent down to adjust his shoes at that time, didn't fasten his seat belt, and bumped hard on the top.

He held his head and moaned for a moment, then asked tremblingly, "Is it starting to descend now?"

"It's already descending." Ovid kept his eyes on the data of the lifeboat. According to Fei Lian's calculation results, they chose the shortest path in order to maximize the use of limited fuel.

After half an hour, they could finally see the cave below from the screen.

When Pierre saw this cave for the first time, he couldn't help being surprised: "It's so big!"

He is in charge of driving the lifeboat, and the palms of his hands gripping the joystick are sweating: "We are going in."

Lin Ni's voice came from the communicator.

"Be careful, go in."

At this time, in the depths of the cave, in a dark corner, a small robot the size of a palm was lying on the ground.

It ran out of power after sending the space information and route of the cave to Phoenix.

A dim light slowly passed by its side.

It was a strange creature, like a completely transparent snowman, with a small head and a large body, rolling and sliding on the ground.Its viscera seemed to be concentrated in its abdomen, where it shimmered.

"Snowman" crossed it, walked for a while, turned back, and stood beside the small robot for a while.A long and narrow tentacle suddenly protruded from the soft body, rolling up the small robot that was no longer moving from the ground.

It wrapped this strange thing into its colorless body, suddenly accelerated, and disappeared into the depths of the cave.

"Did I hear something?" Song Junxing asked suddenly.

He communicated with the lifeboat through the communication channel on the small ship: "And there seems to be thin air inside the cave? Why do I smell that disgusting sour smell?"

Ovid smelled it too.The ventilation system of the lifeboat seemed to start to operate automatically, filtering the outer layer of air and sending it into the lifeboat.

Pierre didn't dare take his eyes off the screen, and just said hurriedly, "We need to hurry up, its ventilation system seems to be broken."

"Lower." Ovid reminded him calmly, "Height, lower."

Pierre depresses the joystick slightly.He could barely hold the pole, and the sweat in his palms made it wet and slippery, and he was frightened.When looking at it from a distance, the lifeboat is small and the cave is very wide, but after entering he felt that he was wrong. It is very, very difficult to keep a lifeboat of this size running smoothly and straight in a narrow place, especially The environment inside the cave is complex and the path is rugged. Many times, the shell of the lifeboat has grazed the low rocks, and the whole ship was shaken by the impact.

"You've done a good job," said Ovid beside him. "Pierre, you're quite a captain."

This kind of compliment is not smart, Pierre gave a hoarse laugh, his eyes fixed on the screen.

The speed of the lifeboat was reduced to the minimum, and it was moving forward in the cave.

Both he and Ovid had already realized a serious problem: when the lifeboat was moving, it was too loud.

Especially when it entered such a cave, the sound seemed to be amplified at all, the sound buzzed, hit the mountain wall and bounced far away, even they who were sitting in the lifeboat could hear it.

"The energy is not enough." Ovid glanced at Pierre, "Let's speed up."

Pierre's heart stopped for a moment.Ovid's tone of voice resembled Linney's when he gave orders, which calmed him down a little.

The boom might have caught the attention of the marauders, and they couldn't afford to waste any more time.

Pierre increased the speed of the lifeboat.

Song Junxing, who had been staying in the small ship, noticed that the lifeboat was speeding up.He called Ovid a few times, but neither of the tense drivers had the heart to answer him.

"I'm going to activate the small ship." Song Junxing switched the communication channel and reported directly to the Phoenix.

Linney replied immediately: "Yes. You can handle any emergencies by yourself."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a loud noise.

The lifeboat ran out of energy and fell to the ground.

The vibration seemed to wake up all the creatures dormant in the cave.In the darkness in the distance, a dim light is slowly appearing.

"Start it!" Pierre was sweating, his eyes were red, and he swung the joystick fiercely, "The energy is still 2%, start it!"

This is not the intended landing site, and it is at least 500 meters away from the landing point.

The lifeboat suddenly vibrated, its belly rubbed against the rough ground, and slid forward for a while.

But even if it stopped completely, even the engine stopped vibrating.

Pierre was so anxious that he was about to cry: "Not yet...not yet..."

Ovid had already unbuckled his seat belt.He stood behind Pierre and grabbed his wrist firmly, making him let go of the joystick.

"Good boy, it's over." He lowered his head and pressed the button, and Pierre's seat belt popped off immediately, "You detonate, we leave now."

He stretched out his fingers and raised his hand to slap Pierre's face moderately.

"Calm down, we have to leave immediately; the predators are coming." Ovid dragged him up from his seat, "Jiang Che has cooked delicious food, and is waiting for us on the Phoenix."

The pain calmed Pierre a little.He raised his hand to wipe away the tears and the sweat that almost fell into his eyes, and pressed the detonation button.

Inside the room where the bombs were piled up, the temperature suddenly rose.

The detonation method of all bombs has been modified by Fei Lian to be detonated by a heat source.

In one corner of the room is placed the white phosphorus obtained from the white phosphorus bomb, and a grenade is placed in the white phosphorus.

The room, whose room temperature has been maintained at around 20 degrees Celsius, is gradually heating up. After 5 minutes, when the temperature rises to 40 degrees Celsius, the white phosphorus will spontaneously ignite.

The self-igniting white phosphorus ignites the grenade inside at the same time, and the heat generated by the explosion of the grenade will detonate other bombs in the room one by one.

The 5 minutes before the temperature rises to the ignition point is the time for them to escape.

"Open the hatch!" Song Junxing yelled, "Pierre! Open the hatch!"

Ovid, who had already run out of the cab, immediately took a long leg and ran back.He pushed Pierre out and let him continue running towards the small ship, searching for the button to open the hatch by himself on the console.

The hatch mentioned by Song Junxing refers to the hatch on the upper part of the lifeboat for escape.Due to the difference in air pressure inside and outside the lifeship, if the hatch is opened too early, Pierre and Ovid will be pushed out of the lifeship by the strong air pressure, but if it is opened too late, the precious 5 minutes of escape time will be delayed.

"Damn!" Song Junxing was in a hurry, "Ovid!"

Ovid finally found the button of the hatch, pressed it hard, and immediately turned around and ran towards the small ship.

The moment he retracted into the small ship, the escape hatch was fully opened.

Song Junxing immediately closed the hatch of the small ship, steered the small ship into the air, and left the lifeboat.

After the small ship left, the door of the rescue cabin was closed again, and the precious oxygen in the rescue ship was tightly compressed into the large tank again.

"Is the ventilation system off?" Pierre asked breathlessly.

"Closed." Ovid smiled, "I'll take care of things, don't worry."

Pierre sat in the seat of the small boat, his hands trembling, and he couldn't buckle up the seat belt.Ovid leaned over to help him, stroking his curls a few times.

"You did a great job, Pierre."

"But we haven't arrived at the exact location." Pierre whispered, "There is still a distance."

"It doesn't matter, it's enough." Ovid's voice was always calm, "With so many bombs, are you afraid that this cave won't collapse?"

He really is a well-trained killer.Pierre sniffled, thinking that after going back, he must clarify her misunderstanding of Ovid with Tang Mo.

Song Junxing had no intention of participating in their conversation.He was manipulating the small ship to retreat quickly.

The time to leave the lifeboat has been delayed a little.He looked at the number flashing in the corner of the screen: four minutes left before they could escape the cave.

A fiery light suddenly shot from the front.

Song Junxing cursed secretly in his heart, and quickly dodged.

But the opponent still hit the shell of the small ship.

"The stinky guys found me!" Song Junxing yelled, "It hit me! It hurts me to death!"

Ovid: "The ship was hit, not you."

The small ship was retreating quickly, with the entrance of the cave behind and the dark and gloomy settlement ahead.

It is small in size, so there is no need to worry about the obstruction of the mountain wall, and the retreat speed is much faster than the lifeboat entering.Song Junxing's heart was pounding: Even if the predators wanted to use ships to pursue them, the stranded lifeboats were still on their way out, and the ships could not pass.

There are more and more dots of light emerging from the darkness.Song Junxing could no longer recognize the shape and posture of the predator, he just wanted to escape from the cave desperately.

1 minutes left.

Ovid didn't sit still at all, he lay on the window of the cabin door of the small ship, and yelled at Song Junxing: "I see the light at the entrance of the cave!"

"They hit me!" Song Junxing laughed like crazy, "Damn! They're still beating!"

Pierre stared closely at the back of Song Junxing's head and at the screen in front of him.The lifeboat is out there in the dark, with countless marauders.

Another ray of light shot out, and this time it accurately hit the front of the small ship. The screen suddenly went dark, and all the images disappeared, leaving only the various data of the ship itself flashing on the pitch-black screen.

The small ship bumped against the mountain wall, and Song Junxing cursed again.

30 seconds left.

"Go a little to the left... yes, that's it, go straight... right, right, a little to the left..." Ovid got up from the ground, still lying on the small window, and gave Song Junxing directions.

His nose was broken by the impact just now, and blood flowed from his nostrils.

10 seconds left.

Song Junxing screamed: "Have you arrived! Have you arrived!"

The light from a stellar "tide of light" is covering this side of the crab's shell.It also illuminated the pitch-black cave, and a silver-white ship leaped out of the cave.

Immediately afterwards, the explosion began.

The oscillating shock wave exploded deep in the cave, and the huge sound was completely suppressed by the vacuum environment, without a single sound coming out.

But the rock formations began to crumble, and the plateau collapsed suddenly, as if someone had pulled away the support beneath it, and a hollow appeared in the khaki-colored rock formation, like a shattered eyeball.

The eyeballs are getting bigger and bigger, and more and more stones are collapsing.

"What about them?" Tang Mo grabbed Jiang Che's hand nervously, almost scratching his wrist, "Why can't I see it?"

"...It's safe and sound." Fei Lian said in a low voice, "The signal from the small ship is still there."

The next moment, a silver-white sphere temporarily covered by stones and dust jumped out of the constantly shattering rock formation.

Song Junxing was completely paralyzed on the seat, his palms were worn out, and there were blood stains on the joystick.Salty sweat seeped into the wound, and he grinned in pain.

"The next step is my job." Fei Lian's voice sounded in the small ship, "Mr. Song Junxing, you don't have to maneuver anymore, the pre-set procedures will allow the small ship to return to the Phoenix smoothly."

Ovid sat on the edge of the hatch, holding his nose.The pain was not too obvious, like a thin needle poking deep into his nasal cavity.He misses Jiang Che's hamburger and the temperature of his body more now.

Pierre unbuckled his seat belt and walked over to Ovid.Ovid thought he was here to comfort himself, but Pierre just lay on the small window, looking at the crab shell that was getting further and further away.

Smiling and patted Pierre's calf, Ovid leaned against him and let out a long sigh.

"Reluctant?" he asked.

"...No." Pierre whispered, "It's like the hero in the cosmic legends I heard when I was a child."

"What hero?"

Pierre mentioned several names, none of which Ovid had heard.In his childhood, no one told him any cosmic legends, or bedtime stories.

"Heroes die in the end," says Pierre.

Ovid patted his shoes carelessly. There was some dirt on it. He guessed that it might have been stained in the Phoenix breeding room, and it had already stuck to the shoes.

"Anyone dies."

Pierre looked down at him. "Aren't you afraid of death?"

No one had discussed such serious matters with him, and Ovid fell into fleeting thoughts.

"I wasn't afraid before." He smiled, "I'm afraid now."

Pierre could only hear that his tone was very gentle, but he didn't know why he was getting scared now.

"I want to go to the earth with Jiang Che." Ovid looked up at Pierre, they both have a pair of beautiful blue eyes, "Aren't you curious? The appearance of the earth, and Jiang Che's hometown, he often Those delicious and beautiful things that are on the lips. Jiang Che likes all of them so much, the earth must be a lovely place."

Pierre squatted down, full of curiosity: "What if the earth has completely changed? What Jiang Che told us was the earth before, not the earth after the 'Great Retreat'. The earth is now one-third gone , is very different from how he lived. What if the earth fails you? Do you still think it's worth it?"

"Jiang Che will not let me down." Ovid sat him beside him, "Knowing him is already worth it."

Pierre was a little confused, but seemed to understand what Ovid said.

Song Junxing kept making demands with Lin Ni in the communicator, eating this and that, doing this and doing that, it was rare that Lin Ni didn't reprimand or blame, but kept listening quietly.

Song Junxing coughed lightly, pushed his nose on his face, and said in a low voice, "Then, how about doing our hedonic behavior again?"

"What is hedonic behavior?" Jiang Che's voice came from the communicator.

Song Junxing was startled: "Jiang Che! Why are you eavesdropping!"

"No eavesdropping." Then Tang Mo's voice also came out, "Lin Ni and Fei Lian are waiting for you at the hatch, and we are watching from the cockpit. Tell me, what do you mean by hedonic behavior?"

Song Junxing heard her unconcealable laughter and cut off the communication roughly, full of dissatisfaction with Lin Ni.

And he couldn't help recalling the passages and chapters in all the books he read that were suitable for him and Linney to learn and practice hedonic behavior.

Phoenix finally bid farewell to the crab shell.

Ovid ate the hamburger made by Jiang Che, and in the next few days, Jiang Che satisfied all the dishes he ordered.

It's just that there is no chicken, so I can only use mushrooms picked from spiders as chicken, and make him a chicken steak with sauce.

Fei Lian caught a few more abnormal temperature fluctuations in this or that room on the Phoenix, but this time he was very calm and not too curious.

He couldn't understand the fun in a behavior that could be explained by biological habits.

The only small incident broke out between Ovid and the guardian of the breeding room.

"The tomatoes and onions growing in the cultivation room!" Ovid accidentally entered the cultivation room to steal some tomatoes to eat, but was shocked, "Why are they all peppers!"

"Peppers grow very fast." Tang Mo and Pierre, the guardians of the cultivation room, took out the plant notes they wrote in the cultivation room. "It is more than three times faster than tomatoes and onions."

Ovid soon realized that the prawns in tomato sauce he had been craving so much might not be available either.

Lin Ni managed to deal with Song Junxing's complaint about Jiang Che's failure to return the borrowed books, and also dealt with the tomato and pepper case, which was a headache.

"Does the captain still have to deal with such trivial matters?" He asked Fei Lian painfully.

"The captain is like this." Fei Lian comforted him kindly, "I can share your worries. Jiang Che borrowed the story of the fisherman and the octopus from Song Junxing, and I have saved it. If you are interested, I can give it to you."

"No, no, I don't have any interest." Linney rejected his offer, "Why is the transition interval so long this time? I'm going to search Homer, not be the steward of Phoenix."

"The No.17 transition will take place in three hours." Fei Lian replied.

Three hours later, Phoenix completed the No.17 transition.

A vast sea of ​​stars appeared in front of them.

The Ios star field that swallowed the Homer is just ahead.

(End of Volume [-])

Volume [-] Phoenix Route