Interstellar Survival: Invasion

After taking a step back, the young beast blanked out slightly. It then started stepping forward again, looking incredibly curious about Bulu. Before the young beast reached us, Bulu leaped into my arms. With Bulu in my hands, it felt as though I was holding a safety charm. I could see that the smile had vanished from the beast's face, replaced by a look of admiration.

"Bulu, can you control this mechanical beast? Showcase your strength," I said to Bulu, not afraid that it wouldn't be able to understand me.

The mechanical beast had arrived beside me. As a precaution, I still kept my hand near my laser pistol. However, the beast's eyes were completely on Bulu. It spared zero attention to me and did not look like it was going to attack. Suddenly, it raised its steel paw and slowly placed it on Bulu's body. When I saw that, my nervous heart calmed. Clearly, the beast was displaying a high level of admiration for Bulu.

Grabbing the rare opportunity, I decided to start acting like Bulu's master. Thus, I mustered my courage and reached for the mechanical beast's head with my left hand. I could clearly hear some disturbances coming from the bush. Perhaps my action had shocked all the other creatures. After all, for the creatures in this valley, the mechanical beast was the king. Reaching out to touch the king was an extremely risky move.

While the mechanical beast was still fully focused on Bulu, I finally placed my left palm on its head. I was feeling extremely nervous, worried that something bad would happen. The mechanical beast moved slightly the moment it felt my touch. It even growled, but fortunately, its paw was still resting on Bulu's body, and it had not avoided my touch.

Seeing that the beast seemed to have accepted my touch, my courage grew. My hand moved faster as I stroked the beast's head and moved toward its neck. At first, the young beast seemed unwilling to be stroked, but slowly, it stopped caring. It was fully engrossed in its admiration for a superior life form.

I believed that the time was ripe to gain further control over this mechanical beast. This was an extremely rare chance. Thus, I stood up and placed Bulu on my shoulder. That action alarmed the mechanical beast. It had been fully focused on Bulu and had not expected me to place Bulu on my shoulder. It became even more shocked when it saw how obedient Bulu was. As Bulu stayed on my shoulder, the liquid in its body flowed faster, and its body glowed even brighter than before.

At that point, even the dumbest life form would be able to see the relationship between this superior life form and me. The young mechanical beast gained a whole new level of respect for me, and its attitude toward me changed completely.

It took two steps backward with a look of deep contemplation in its eyes. Suddenly, it stood up, turned around, and walked away. While walking, it kept looking back at me, as though it was asking for me to follow.

Upon understanding what the young mechanical beast was trying to say, I brought Bulu and followed the beast. I did not forget to pick up the laser gun on the ground. The dark valley was filled with bushes containing numerous small bugs. When I followed the young beast into the bushes, the startled bugs flew everywhere. While in the air, the bugs glowed purple, looking like fireflies.

Deeper into the bushes, I started hearing different sounds. I guessed that there were probably more different creatures nearby. They were merely staying away due to their fear of the mechanical beast.

Just like that, I followed the young beast deep into the forest. Slowly, the ground we walked on started inclining upward. The path was rugged and led toward the peak. On both sides of the path, many mechanical components could be seen.

'Do these mechanical creatures derive their energy from other mechanical creatures? In that case, this young beast is probably taking me to its lair,' I guessed inwardly.

Deep in the mountain, the light from the stars was fully covered by the lush trees. Thus, Bulu's shiny body also served as my lamp. Finally, the three of us—three life forms from different worlds—stopped before a big and dark cave. From the hissing wind coming from the cave, there seemed to be other entrances that led to it. At that point, I only had 30 minutes before Zhang Xingxing's appointed withdrawal time. The young beast howled at the cave, and a few seconds later, a reply came.

'So this really is the beast's lair. Damn that divine bird. It can't beat this beast so it brought me here as a trial?' I complained inwardly and tightened the grip around my gun before following the young beast into the cave.

After entering the cave, I saw more mechanical components on the ground. The path inside the cave was rugged as well. After taking numerous turns, we arrived at a relatively large cavern.

The cavern was inside a mountain. A ray of light was shining down from a hole at the top of the cavern. At the other end of the cavern was a naturally formed stone platform. Atop the platform was a massive mechanical beast. It was lying motionless on it, and numerous mechanical components could be seen around it.

Following the young beast, I slowly approached the big fellow. I noticed that the big fellow looked rather weak, completely unlike the strong and healthy young beast. It remained still even when I was standing right beside the platform.

At that moment, I finally noticed a bent spear protruding from the beast's body. The spear looked old and was filled with rust stains. It almost looked like it had become one with the beast.

"My god. Don't tell me this is the same spear thrown by King Nichnawa. So the mechanical beast from back then had stayed alive to now?" I exclaimed, shocked by the vitality of the mechanical beast.

The young beast leaped onto the platform and lowered its head before calling out to the sleeping old beast. It was behaving very affectionately. At the same time, I noticed that among the piles of mechanical components around the old beast was a complete body. However, the body looked extremely old. It was also missing a head.

Realization dawned on me. Back then, the mechanical beast the divine bird fought had two children. One was killed by the divine bird while the other survived. The surviving child had helped its mother live on.

While I was in thought, the old mechanical beast finally reacted. It slowly raised its head and looked at me and Bulu. From its dim eyes, I could even see a slight trace of gladness. Clearly, this beast that had been injured for hundreds of years could not pose any threat to us, so I put my gun away.

I saw the old beast mutter to the young beast. Next, the young beast leaped off the platform and started leading us somewhere else. I followed doubtfully, and after taking a turn, we entered a smaller cave. The second cave was much brighter, with numerous sources of light that illuminated the drawings on the wall.

The drawings were large and colorful, and I stepped forward to study them. The drawings depicted the life of a mechanical beast and the numerous hunts it had participated in. I saw the old mechanical beast give birth to a small mechanical beast. Based on the movement of the stars depicted in the drawings, the old mechanical beast had been pregnant for 50 years before giving birth to its first child.

A few years later, the divine bird appeared to prey on the young beast. Then, an ox-headed individual armed with a spear, a bow, and an arrow appeared and injured the mother beast. Without a doubt, that was the scene of King Nichnawa saving the divine bird from the mother beast.

From the drawings, I saw that when King Nichnawa injured the mother beast, it was already pregnant with a second child. I finally understood why the mother beast had decided to flee instead of fighting King Nichnawa to the death. I was greatly touched by the mother beast's persistence to keep living despite the miserable fate it had suffered.

The mother beast remained pregnant for 100 years before giving birth to its second child. The delay was perhaps caused by its injuries. One could only imagine the immense suffering it had undergone during that period of time. With the spear still in its body, the mother beast continued to move around to hunt for prey. Slowly, her injuries worsened to the point they became irreversible.

"This is how a truly honorable king should behave. As the king of this valley, the mother beast has behaved in a way befitting of a king among beasts." I was filled with admiration.

The story took a turn, and the young beast turned into its mother's caretaker. It would remain by its mother's side until the final moments. At that time, a human clad in a spacesuit and a crown appeared bearing a round creature. At that point, my head buzzed with shock. Clearly, the drawing depicted me and Bulu.

"Prophet! Is this another prophecy of the prophet? Has Nomo been here before? But Nomo should be long dead. These drawings are only hundreds of years old." I was extremely doubtful.

I could feel that Bulu was as confused as I was.

These drawings shouldn't be the work of the prophet. In that case, who was the person who had made these drawings? And how had that person predicted our appearance here? I sank into deep thought, trying to solve this puzzle. Suddenly, a painful roar came from the mother beast's cave.