Interstellar Survival: Invasion

"Horsehead Nebula of the Orion Constellation? Are you certain? The horse's head looks slightly different," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Yes, I'm certain. The Horsehead Nebula is the most conspicuous observable celestial body. It is a dark dust cloud, and like all clouds, it can shift in shape. This was especially true since we are looking at how it looked over a hundred thousand years ago. Looking at it as a whole, we can confirm that this is the Horsehead Nebula," said Dodo.

"He's right. This is the Mythic Horse Nebula of the Orion Constellation, the birthplace of gods and stars," said Plum as he turned to face everyone.

"Have you seen this before?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"This is the Creator. Our Bright Planet is orbiting Betelgeuse, a star in the Orion Constellation. Every single night when we look up at the sky, the Mythic Horse Nebula will be clearly visible. There, the immense Creator creates the various life forms of the Milky Way Galaxy, and it is the birthplace of the gods and stars of the Milky Way Galaxy.

"Mere superstition. Where are the so-called Milky Way gods? Though it is true that this is the birthplace of stars," mumbled Zhang Bao'er.

"In short, the energy source is within the Horsehead Nebula. To solve the final riddle and defeat the army of monsters, we need to head to the Horsehead Nebula," I said.

"Yes, I think so too. But how should we even get there? That place is 15 lightyears away from us. This tiny ship won't be able to reach it," said Old Du.

"Nommo might have prepared the ship you need," said Plum.

"Is that true? Where's the ship?" asked Zhang Bao'er in excitement upon hearing about a ship.

"The ship might be in the underground base of Brightstart Island. In Sirius B's third layer, apart from Terror Island, there are no other islands. To make the transport of the diamonds easier, he created an artificial island there—Brightstart Island," said Plum.

"That's an artificial island?" Zhang Bao'er exclaimed incredulously.

"Yes, and that's why everything on the island is red. It was made from the energy of Terror Island," said Plum. "Nommo told me that he had had an intense premonition from a long time ago that powerful friends would appear to help the Brightlings. Thus, he had prepared a gift for you on the island. I believe that gift must be a spaceship."

"How can we reach the base? What are we waiting for?" urged Zhang Xingxing impatiently.

"Only those from the Storm race can locate the base. However, I have something more important to handle right now," said Plum.

"What is it? We can help you with it. We'll do our best," I said.

"You won't be able to help with this. I need a few hours to transfer the Storm race's inheritance to this little fellow beside me. You gave him a name such as Dondon, but in truth, he is a talented warrior," said Plum.

"Inheritance? So will Dondon be able to speak in the future?" asked Zhang Xingxing, delighted at that thought.

Plum nodded. "Only those of the Storm race may be present for the inheritance. I hope everyone can wait outside the ship."

This was an important moment. We naturally wouldn't disturb them. After everyone left the ship, Plum shut the door. I checked the time and noted that it had been over three hours since Plum had woken up. Everyone sat in the meadow outside the ship and waited for the inheritance session to end. As for Titan and Amethyst, they sat facing each other and started meditating.

"Were all of you paying attention to the history lesson? Did you find issues with it?" Old Du was the first to speak.

"I noticed that one person was missing from the battle," I said.

"The person in black?" asked Old Du.

"Yes, him. I tried searching for him during the battle, but he was nowhere to be found," I replied.

"Is he the person who had suddenly flown away on a ship?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Possible, but we can't confirm that yet. The escape was too sudden. Even when I tried scanning it, I couldn't get a clear look at the pilot," said Old Du.

Suddenly, I recalled Zhang Xingxing's odd appearance when she saw the person in black.

"Leader Xingxing, tell us your thoughts on the recordings," said Zhang Bao'er before I could say anything.

"I think that in the Horsehead Nebula, there is a massive living warriors factory. These warriors are immensely powerful. The one to control them will control the universe. More importantly, what is the energy source of these monsters? It has been over a hundred thousand years. How far have they progressed?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"Yes. Betelgeuse is a red giant star on the verge of collapse. Also, the league has never entered the Orion Constellation," said Old Du.

"Xingxing, what do you think about the person in black?" I suddenly asked. I had yet to expose the fact that I had seen that person's arm.

"He gave me an odd feeling, familiar yet indescribable. Also, he had been whispering the entire time. We couldn't even hear him clearly," said Zhang Xingxing.

"I believe that the person Nommo referred to when he talked of a traitor must be the person in black. As for the pilot of the escaped ship, it's most likely him. What is his relationship with the giant paw army? What was the conspiracy, and what is the truth? Perhaps only by personally going there would we get an answer," I said to everyone.

"Yes, I'm in favor of Canyue's suggestion," said Old Du.

"We're going to Orion? Great! There are a lot of breathtaking stars there. The sights we can see will be spectacular," cheered Zhang Bao'er gleefully.

"We're not there to sightsee. We're there to look for the truth, a truth that can avoid a war spanning the universe. We're also looking for clues that can lead to my father," said Zhang Xingxing.

At those words, I recalled one question, a question that I needed to ask Plum. Suddenly, blue light erupted from within the ship. It seemed like passing on the inheritance was a rather intense process. The blue light flickered on and off. It was understandably difficult to pass on an inheritance of over a hundred thousand years in the span of only several hours. Time passed, and before we knew it, it had been five hours. The door of the spaceship remained shut while the blue light continued flickering, showing no signs of stopping.

"Canyue, why are the two little animals taking so much time?" Zhang Bao'er was becoming impatient.

"What are you being so impatient for? We have plenty of time. We must wait until the inheritance is over."

Several shrieks rang out from the sky. Blueflash and the others were back. Having returned from its hunt, Blueflash was happy to see me. It immediately dropped beside me and started rubbing against me. Meanwhile, Zhang Bao'er rubbed Toruk's injury with an aching heart, but Toruk appeared to be in glowing spirits. It was completely unbothered by the injury.

"Canyue, since Dondon is not done yet, why don't we fly around for a bit on Little Snow and the other flying fish?" Zhang Xingxing suddenly acted her age.

"No problem. I had the same idea. We will probably leave soon, and this might be our last time flying on them," I said as I rubbed Blueflash's head, feeling reluctant to part with it.

Zhang Xingxing then got onto her mount with a confident leap. Zhang Bao'er and I hurriedly followed suit with our respective mounts. Then, with a long shriek, the three flying fish lifted into the clouds.

The warm sea breeze and Sirius B's gentle light sprinkled over my face. After the many close brushes with death, this was the first time in a while we had some time to actually live life. Little Snow followed closely behind Blueflash, but Toruk, injured, was unable to keep up with us. It cried out in protest as we left it behind.

Zhang Xingxing and I soared higher and higher into the sky. This far up, the sky was bright and filled with many shining little life forms. Under the sunshine, they all went about their daily lives. Every single life form in the universe needed to constantly work hard to stay alive. It was as though that was a trait the Creator had installed in all living beings during the creation of life.

After flying for an indeterminate amount of time, I stopped Blueflash high in the sky. At this altitude, I had a wide field of view. I could even vaguely see the sea and the berserk storm there.

That was the same sea we had fought in, the sea where we had experienced numerous dangers. We solemnly sank into silence when we recalled our close brushes with death and the Brightlings that had sacrificed themselves.

Time spent flying had always been enjoyable yet short. I suddenly recalled that we still had something important to do. When I checked the time, I noticed that it had been 13 hours since Plum's awakening. We had spent a total of five hours flying around.

"This is bad. We spent too much time. Xingxing, we need to return quickly. The passing of the inheritance might have ended," I said urgently.

Everyone immediately turned back toward Brightstart Island. The fish carried us back to the island. The first thing I saw upon returning was Old Du dozing off on the ground. I rejoiced inwardly that the inheritance was not yet fully passed on. At the exact moment we landed, the ship's door opened. With a flash of blue, Plum and Dondon walked out.

"Little guy, can you speak now?" Zhang Bao'er asked.

Dondon looked at Zhang Bao'er. He remained silent, but the expression on his face was clearly very different from before.

"He still can't speak, but I've passed on the entire inheritance to him. The Storms had stopped using their voices over a hundred thousand years ago, so they had degenerated slightly. He needs several hours of practice before he can slowly speak," said Plum.

"Will he understand our words?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

"Yes, he is basically the same as me now. We should delay no more. I don't have much time left. We need to go look for the hidden cave," said Plum.

I checked the time. It had been 14 hours since Plum's awakening. Out of habit, I tried lifting Dondon to place him into my bag, but he refused. He blinked at me, deciding to walk on his own legs.

We moved quickly toward the depths of the forest. As far as we could see, it was a world of red. Sounds of little animals filled the forest, painting a tranquil scene. At such a moment, it was hard to relate this world with the many vicious beasts we had encountered earlier. Deep in the forest, our surroundings darkened. Without sunlight, the red grassy land started looking black.

Suddenly, Plum nodded at Dondon, then turned to face us. "Everyone, please look for a glowing red diamond somewhere on the ground here."

We split up and started searching. The area wasn't too big. Before long, Titan and Amethyst found the shining stone within a bush. After parting the bush, we could see the diamond emanating a faint yellow glow. When Dondon saw it, he immediately stepped on it. Several blue footprints appeared near the diamond. When Dondon stepped on the new footprints, more footprints appeared ahead of him. And thus, the group followed the footprints, taking a detour around the dense bush and rugged tree roots before reaching a cave that looked incredibly deep.

"It's here. Try to think of a way to get down there," said Plum.

Our suits had long run out of energy, so we couldn't even hover down. Just as we were busy thinking of a solution, Plum casually took out a rope from my bag and tied one end to the root of a massive nearby tree. Then, he activated his suit's molecular fission technology and floated into the cave while holding the other end of the rope.