Chapter 442: Wreckage
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
They drifted into the spaceship slowly through the hole in the center of the ship's wreckage. Everyone was careful, including Y'zaks.
The huge hole, cracked deck, and structure of the spacecraft, which was earlier hidden in the dark; all these suddenly appeared in front of them that even Vivian, who was rarely afraid of anything felt a little nervous. Additionally, the strange tentacles that grew out of the hole gave her goosebumps. Hao Ren and Y'zaks floated at the front of the team. Y'zaks summoned a demonic flame to disperse the darkness in the hole, but the dim light made the giant tentacles around them look grim and eerie. Those tentacles were tangled up in the surrounding armour debris like a shadow monster that spread from the abyss of sin, and that made everyone shudder.
Y'lisabet once led a man there before to explore, so she climbed onto Y'zaks's shoulder to give directions. They found an entrance on one side of the wall under the little girl's guidance: It seemed like an explosion had happened there, and some of the tentacles were blown off, revealing a dark passage.
Hao Ren was the first one to enter the channel. He found that the number of tentacles in the channel was slightly lesser, but it had also been occupied by the First Born. Thick roots pierced the surrounding walls and ceilings, twisting and growing around them. Of course, just like elsewhere, the tentacles here were already "dead".
Hao Ren took the MDT out. "Check the surroundings," he said.
The data terminal emitted a faint blue light, scanning key clues hidden behind the walls of the corridor and muttered, "The ship isn't recorded in the Xi Ling Empire's database. Its probably not a product of a civilisation under the Empire's rule, but it looks very advanced."
Lily had her tail tucked and she followed Hao Ren from behind, brandishing her Frostfire Claws. She would poke the tentacles anxiously from time to time as she passed by to confirm that the First Born there had completely died. She kept saying, "They seem to be completely dead... This feels a little bit like cement when I touch it…"
Y'lisabet looked curiously at their cautious and nervous behaviour while she pointed the way. She asked, "Are these tentacles horrible? Have you guys seen the First Born before?"
"Yes, it's very powerful, and humans would basically be killed in seconds. However, I've only seen this thing in the other world." Hao Ren nodded and said, "I can't figure out how it came to be here... So, the First Born can even travel from another world? When did time traveling get so easy?"
Y'lisabet was surprised. "Very strong? Even stronger than Dad?"
Y'zaks smiled and nodded. "Much stronger than me. I tried to smash it with a meteorite but I still couldn't kill this thing— didn't expect to see a dead one here."
Y'lisabet was shocked and began to get a little scared when she recalled the time she led a team to explore the place for several days. Meanwhile, the data terminal completed scanning a wide range of the channel and discovered a few things about the state of the tentacles as well as the spacecraft. "The First Born appears to have grown with the ship."
"Grown with the ship?" Hao Ren was astonished.
"Yes." The data terminal was floated up and down as it explained, "The tentacles invaded the ship's various structures, which did not happen in a short period of time. According to the distribution of the tentacles and the deformation of the spacecraft's structure, this invasion process should have lasted for a while—like a growth process."
Vivian released her Blood Mist to cover the surface of the tentacles along the way and easily corroded a large chunk of the tentacles. She then collected a biological sample of it at the same time. She looked interested and said, "I never thought the First Born would naturally die... I thought they were imperishable."
"How did it die?" Hao Ren asked curiously.
"It starved to death." Vivian smirked. "The nutrients in the tentacles are basically gone, and some of the biological tissue have signs of self-digestion. The difference is obvious when compared with the sample of the First Born I found in The Plane of Dreams earlier on. These tentacles are obviously malnourished."
Hao Ren was shocked. "Starved to death!? How can the First Born starve to death?"
"No matter how strong it is, it's still a living creature. Whatever it does it'll have to consume energy, but it's not like the goddess, who can create things out of nothing," Vivian was dispersing the Blood Mist and telling them her speculation. "I guess the First Born was accidentally dropped here, probably a plane crash."
Lily wielded her Flamejoy, and was enthusiastically "cutting the grass". When she heard Vivian's words, she looked up to ask, "How do you know it was an accident?"
Vivian stared at her and said, "The First Born is obviously a highly intelligent being. How could anyone with a normal brain find a place that would cause starvation upon himself? It appears as though it crashed on the spaceship, then got hurt and couldn't get away."
Lily looked at Vivian from head to toe and said, "But, before you met our landlord, you would starve yourself wherever you go..."
"My situation was different!" Vivian said angrily.
"Enough, can you two not quarrel right now?" Hao Ren quickly came in between the two enemies. "Lily, you continue to scratching the walls. Vivian, you have a point. I also think it was a plane crash. Don't forget, there's a big hole in the ship. According to the hole's diameter, I don't think it's likely that the people on the ship opened the door in a peaceful and friendly situation..."
They went deep into the spaceship along the passage, which was completely eroded by the tentacles. The farther they went the wider the path became. They seemed to have entered the main corridor of the spaceship from a certain passage, but the situation there was equally bad: the First Born had fully integrated into the ship. Its tentacles occupied all corners of the ship.
After searching around in the main corridor, they finally saw something.
They arrived at a rectangular hall, which looked like the main control room of the ship.
The hall was also covered with tentacles or roots. The black withered tentacles made the hall as eerie as the jungle. They could see some alloy pillars of different sizes in between the tentacles. The pillars were supposed to be the spaceship's control board, but now, they had become supporting pillars for the First Born to support its roots.
"It looks like the 'core'." Hao Ren noticed the peculiarity of the place in a glance: a lot of roots seemed to spread from this spot. Huge, big roots that were far bigger than the rest stretched out from the holes in the walls. The tangled tentacles on the ground were interwoven at the centre of the hall. In the middle of all the roots, a large batch of dead biological tissue could be seen.
The pile of things could only be described as "a batch of biological tissue" as the First Born's appearance had always been abstract. Even a biologist would not know what to call it.
Lily help up her Flamejoy, cautiously drifting forward. At the same time, she sniffed her surroundings solemnly and said, "I smell the stench of death…"
"Stop acting. You can't smell anything on a life-sustaining neckband," said Hao Ren. He came to the centre of the hall and stopped at the edge of the large, nameless biological debris. He bent forward to look at the withered, dead tissue and said, "This First Born is much smaller than the one we dealt with in the Gnarled Grove. Its body makes it look like its just this big. Is this considered a cub?"
"Severe malnutrition leads to the inability to grow," Vivian said as she looked at the centre of the debris. She hesitated for a while and decided to release a small bat. The little bat fluttered and disappeared into the air…
"Come back! Come back!" Vivian said quickly.
Hao Ren covered his face and said, "This place has no air. Don't suffocate your bat."
After Vivian turned the bat into Blood Mist and took it back, Y'lisabet pointed to the middle of the indescribable dead tissue and said, "The core of the energy has been plucked from it. At that time, they were wrapped in a layer of fossil shell. They kept glowing, so I dug the core out."
Hao Ren looked up and found something at the area Y'lisabet was pointing to: Some thick shells that looked like plant pods were scattered there. Some broken "leaf stalks" were also visible around the thick shells.
"'The core of the energy is the First Born's seed?" Nangong Wuyue muttered while she touched her chin.
"In comparison," Hao Ren frowned and said, "I feel that this First Born isn't the same as the one we met in The Plane of Dreams."