The Petrachelys did not land on the planet; it cautiously circled the planet a few times and learned as much as it could before they touched down. It was a strange flying planet, traveling alone in space.
At first glance, the planet was flying with the help of a series of massive thrusters. There were more than 160 huge engine nozzles as big as mountains on its surface, but only a quarter of them were fired up. Behind the planet, there were plasmic exhaust flames, which went as far as a thousand kilometers. Together, they looked like a weird but huge comet with a tail, creating a spectacular scene in space. Except for those huge thrusters and exhaust flames, the rest of the planet was lifeless—no vegetation was visible on the surface, while the oceans and lands were frozen over with ice that had not melted for years. Ninety percent of the planet was dark. The only bright area was around the giant thrusters, as it was seemingly illuminated by the exhaust flames.
Zombie planet , Hao Ren thought.
It was like a zombie of the celestial world. It was dead but the thrusters were still faithfully carrying out orders to fly the planet away.
“There are only traces of life on the surface of the planet: lower organisms, algae, or other single-celled creatures were detected,” the MDT’s voice interrupted Hao Ren’s thoughts. “No traces of large, advanced life forms have been found. They may be of course buried underground. There is a shield layer on the surface of the planet, which may have formed from the geomagnetic field. This could be the reason why it survived the supernova more than 10,000 years ago.”
“Any other dangerous things?” Vivian turned around and asked.
Light flashed on the MDT as it tried to pull more information from the spacecraft’s radar system. “Nothing yet,” the MDT replied.
Hao Ren had a thought. “Y’lisabet, stay on the spacecraft with the cat and fish. The rest, follow me. Let’s check out the planet down there. MDT, you stay too. You’re going to keep the spacecraft in the orbit and back us up from space if something happens down there.”
Hao Ren had learned from his last encounter in Io. He realized the importance of support and reinforcement. Whenever he went out to explore an unfamiliar planet, leaving behind a support team in space could be useful—had he gone ahead without the MDT’s support in the orbit of Io, he would have been trapped and frozen in the ice.
The MDT immediately knew the importance of its role. Shaking its body, the MDT proudly said, “You got it!”
Y’lisabet pursed her lips, feeling upset. She looked at the dumb cat who was lying on the ground, and Lil Pea, who was yawning on the dumb cat’s head. Feeling slighted, she said, “Am I just your daughter and the cat’s nanny? I can help too!”
Y’zaks flicked his daughter with his finger, landing her five meters away. “Listen to your uncle and stay back in the spaceship.”
Y’lisabet gave in, running back and crying. “Alright…”
Hao Ren was wide-eyed. Though he knew that the way demons raised their kids were a little crazy, he still found it a miracle for Y’lisabet to survive to this day. The little girl was tough! Imagine that: when Y’zaks flicked her away, he could hear a sonic boom.
The spacecraft found an open landing spot on the equator of the rogue planet. It hovered above it and teleported everyone directly onto the planet surface.
The planet was covered in badlands. They walked out of the teleportation beam and saw the endless snowfields, bare hills, and dark sky. The idle thrusters stuck out like faint shadows in the distance. Behind the shadows was light, which came from the plasmic exhaust flames. Those were the only things on the planet that were worth seeing.
Their surroundings were quiet. Weird, low-pitched roars that were extremely weak and indiscernible seemingly came from the massive thrusters in the distance. The thin atmosphere prevented sound from traveling far. With their superhuman senses, they could only hear the sound ever so vaguely. In fact, the planet retained its atmosphere, but the ultra-low temperature had turned gases into solid ice on the surface of the planet. Essentially, Hao Ren was standing on solidified carbon dioxide and many other gases.
The spacecraft had scanned the environment below before they landed. Except special guys like Hao Ren and Y’zaks, the others were wearing life-support collars. Lily stomped her feet on the ground and sent gray dust flying. “Looks like no one’s been here.”
Nangong Wuyue looked into the distant darkness. She could hardly hide the worry on her face. Nangong Sanba was scratching his jaw, frowning. Vivian looked at them and knew that the two were feeling hopeless. Trying to remind them, Vivian said, “Can sirens and demon hunters survive in this environment? If so, for how long?”
Only then did Wuyue realize that her parents may have survived on the planet. She carefully took off her life-support collar and knitted her brows together. “It’s… uncomfortable, but not life-threatening. We could survive for a long period, relying solely on heat energy and liquid water—if we can find a source. The planet has a magnetic field, so it would shield us from cosmic radiations. My mom will be able to live in this environment.”
“For a hundred years?” asked Lily.
Wuyue frowned. “…Theoretically, yes. Sirens can live as long as there is water, but here… maybe mom survived the hundred-year journey in space by hibernating in a frozen state. At most, she’ll lose some memory and energy. Sirens are like water; we can exist in three different states. Sometimes when the environment turns extreme, sirens survive by changing into one of the three states.”
Awed by the siren ability, Lily could imagine the sight of Nangong Wuyue melting, and evaporating according to the different seasons. It suddenly felt magical and horrific at the same time.
Nangong Sanba was still scratching his jaw in deep thought. “Dad isn’t as strong as the other demon hunters. He may not be able to survive this place, but with mom’s help, he may have been able to make it through these hundred years. Demon hunters have some surviving skills in extreme conditions too.”
“Anyway, if they’ve survived on this planet, they would have surely gone in that direction.” Y’zaks pointed into the distance, where several huge flares were rising from the horizon. “The thrusters. That’s the only place on the whole planet with heat and liquid water.”
Hao Ren immediately yanked out his official ride from his Dimensional Pocket—the tiny Northstar. “Climb in. We’re going to the thrusters.”
The little Northstar hustled across the icy planet, kicking up large amounts of eye-catching ice and snow in its path. The whole scene looked like a group of white monsters running on the ground. Hao Ren did not travel by teleportation or flight. He wanted to see the surroundings as he was very interested in the planet.
Much of the scenery was monotonous. Only boundless white and grey greeted them, but something strange began to appear as they approached the thrusters. The massive, dark nozzles and steel scaffolds stuck out of the snow as though they had actually grown out of the earth. One was reminded of vines surrounding its fruits, and thousands of roots propping up giant trees. The size of the pipes and scaffolds was massive. From their appearance, one could not help but think of the First Born. They spread across the dark earth, looking strange under the starlight.
Their car passed silently under a huge steel scaffold. Lily poked her head out of the window, watching in surprise as mentally repressive black shadows flew past above her. As a young, literary woman, she suddenly felt a little sad.
While these things still worked, where was their maker?