At about 9:00 UTC on October 12, the reconnaissance and surveillance satellites deployed by the Commonwealth Defense Force on the interplanetary "Yi" in the low-earth orbit suddenly detected a large number of infrared radiation "radiation" with life characteristics on the ground. These infrared radiation 'shoots' are concentrated in the vicinity of the small valley that the Interstellar Marine Corps discovered to be able to 'shoot' high-energy particle beams, which Academician Zhu Hansong called "particle river crabs".

However, the satellite's remote sensing instruments cannot accurately scan the number of Yi Xing organisms, because there seems to be serious interference in the atmosphere of the "Yi" planet, which affects the 'precision' of remote sensing on various spectra.

Captain Alfonso Ovid, the commander of the Interstellar Marine Corps, who was tasked with protecting the expedition's landing site, Liberty Beachhead, was nervous. Despite his command of more than a thousand Marines, all armed with power armor and aided by hundreds of powerful combat robots, he immediately summoned the closest starship to the ground, the Hercules, to come to his aid, and asked the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Admiral Herzog, to withdraw the expedition.

"Sir, it's too dangerous for the expedition team to remain on the ground." Ovid was full of concern, "Those four-legged monsters can 'shoot' high-energy particle beams, which are no less powerful than small naval guns, and are not easy to deal with. ”

Herzog quickly decided: "Then let the scientists retreat to space first." Captain, take your men to hold the 'Freedom Beachhead'. Also, Lieutenant Commander Robb, keep your Hercules above the Freedom Beachhead, ready to provide fire support on the ground at all times. ”

"Yes, sir." In the communication system, Robb and Ovid answered in unison.

As soon as the order to retreat was delivered, the defensive line surrounding the "Liberty Beachhead" immediately reported that a large number of "particle river crabs" had gathered in the east.

Ovid hurried to the trench to the east, and in the night vision goggles, more than 5,000 meters away, a four-legged monster was forming a wedge-shaped formation, slowly pressing towards the defensive line. He hurriedly connected with Lieutenant Colonel Robb's communication, informed the enemy, and then asked the "Hercules" to launch an artillery bombardment to bombard the ground.

"My battleship can't see them." Robb said in surprise, "Reconnaissance satellites didn't find it either." It seems that there is no small interference in the atmosphere. You'll have to give me fire guidance. ”

"No problem, sir." Ovid immediately instructed a soldier to provide fire guidance for the Hercules.

As a communication 'excited' light 'shot' towards the "Hercules" in space, hundreds of meteor-like lights immediately appeared in the night sky, hitting the monster cluster on the ground, 'stirring' up an overwhelming fireball.

Once again, the humans fired first, 'provoking' the remaining four-legged monsters, who rose their heads and 'shot' as they sped up to the human field defenses in the face of heavy fire from the sky.

"Brothers, fire! Hold the line! Ovid ordered in a loud voice.

The Wehrmacht Marines launched a counterattack, pouring fire on the monsters that were rushing thousands of meters away. At the same time, unmanned fighter jets have also taken to the air to fight, launching strikes from the air against the attacking alien creatures.

The four-legged creatures of the "Yi" planet are also extremely ferocious, launching 'fine' and accurate 'shooting' attacks on humans.

The intense flash of intense firepower weaving suddenly illuminated the dark interstellar planetary environment as if it were day.

As the scale of the battle grew, the situation became very dangerous. The scientists who landed were forced to retreat and began to board space planes in batches to prepare for their return to space. The huge landing capsule also began to activate the rocket thrusters and rise off the ground.

Suddenly, seven dazzling clusters of light rose on the western horizon, flew over the chaotic battlefield, and accurately hit the landing module flying into the air with lightning speed, blowing it up into seven "gorgeous" fireballs.

Immediately after that, a large number of four-legged monsters spraying high-energy particle beams appeared on the ground in the west, and they rushed towards the "free beachhead".

"Suspend the takeoff of the scientists' space planes!" Ovid's anxious order came from the 'chaotic' and 'chaotic' communication system.

Fortunately, there was no one in the landing capsule that lifted off, otherwise the loss of life this time would have been extremely heavy.

"Suspend takeoff? Leave them all here? Lieutenant Pousey, who was in charge of directing the retreat, exclaimed in bewilderment.

"Didn't you see that our landing capsule was all destroyed? Let them stand by on the ground first. You call the fleet directly, hurry up. Ovid said nervously.

But just then, he discovered that the datalink communication with the fleet in space had been interrupted.

Subsequently, the Marines around the "Freedom Beachhead" discovered that all communication links with satellites and fleets in space had been cut off.

"What the hell is going on?!" Ovid yelled angrily and strangely.

"Sir, all the 'wave' bands of communication with space have been severely disrupted." The non-commissioned officer of communication technology replied in horror, "'excited' optical communication is also affected, and it is difficult to carry out stable transmission. ”

"Report, a large number of monsters have also appeared in the south and north! Attacking us! "Panic was heard in the communication system.

"Damn, what the hell is going on on this planet?!" Captain Ovid cried out in despair.

Due to the interruption of communications, the battleship "Hercules", which was located in a low-altitude orbit, lost fire guidance from the ground and was forced to stop bombarding the ground.

"What's going on? Is the communication all broken? The captain, Lieutenant Commander Robb, asked his communications sergeant in confusion.

"It's all interrupted, sir. Nor is it possible to relay with the help of satellites. The communications sergeant helplessly reported, "The atmosphere about a hundred kilometers above the ground is heavily ionized, shaped by the ionosphere." It is this ionosphere that interferes with our communications. ”

Immediately afterwards, the early warning sergeant also made a report: "Sir, our remote sensing system cannot observe the situation on the ground. The planet's atmosphere seems to be getting more and more cloudy. ”

"Report the situation to the general flagship immediately. Immediately launch a blind 'shot' around the 'Freedom Beachhead' to support the ground. Robb gave the order decisively.

"But, sir, it's easy to get injured by mistake." The fire control sergeant said worriedly.

"Do as I say, move faster." Robb exclaimed eagerly. Now that communication with the ground was cut off, and he couldn't see the situation clearly, he had to take this risky measure to help his companions who were under siege below.

The "free beachhead" on the ground has become precarious. More and more "particle river crabs" are pouring out of the chaotic night sky, spraying bright particle beams. The Marines on the Ring Line are under increasing pressure and could be broken through at any moment.

Fortunately, he 'shot' the Dao Light Arrow in the sky again, poking into the surging group of Yixing monsters, and 'stirring' up a frenzied shock 'wave'.

The "Hercules" adventure blind 'shot' was a powerful support for the marines around the "Freedom Beachhead", which was being besieged by the powerful "Particle River Crabs". Subsequently, the fleet command sent more than a dozen cruisers, lowered to low-earth orbit, and joined the ranks of artillery bombardment, which greatly relieved the pressure on the ground marines. The fierce offensive and defensive battle lasted for nearly an hour, and the Yixing "River Crab" herd, which had suffered heavy casualties, finally dispersed, and suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Amazingly, the ionosphere in the upper part of the atmosphere also quickly disappeared, and communication between the ground and space was restored. Both the marines who were in the line of fire just now and the officers and men of the "Hercules" who were struggling to support them all breathed a sigh of relief.

Admiral Herzog immediately ordered the entire expedition team to be withdrawn into space, leaving only the Marines to temporarily guard the landing site.

The siege of the Yixing monsters has strengthened the belief of many that the disappearance of the Thirteenth Fleet and the first expedition team has a direct connection with these strange creatures. With that comes fear for the lives of the missing. The Thirteen Fleets and the Scientific Expedition Team, totaling 100,000 people, were likely to have been completely torn to pieces by those ferocious Yixing monsters. The Bundeswehr is faced not only with creatures with powerful ground attack capabilities against interstellar planets, but also with the fleet of the new Roman Imperial Army, which is already in operation.

Eight hundred Imperial warships and hundreds of logistics supply ships are skimming the space near the planet Yi and heading for the depths of space beyond the galaxy. In the current situation, the strange behavior of the Imperial Army not only made many Wehrmacht fleet officers nervous, but also reminded them of the Imperial Army and the ferocious Yi Xing creatures.

Admiral Herzog immediately made a decision to adjust the deployment of the department, and the Fourth Fleet defended the "Yi" star field, while the Seventh Fleet continued to search for the missing Thirteenth Fleet with the rescue fleet, and sent the Fifth Fleet to track down the Imperial fleet.

Although Academician Zhu Hansong strongly demanded to return to the "Freedom Beachhead", Herzog refused his request because of the fact that in the previous war, humans had obtained enough corpses of Yixing monsters to study. The scientific expedition team can only stay in the "double E" in space, which is much safer than the ground.

The strange thing is that after the siege of "Freedom Beachhead", for several days in a row, there were no monsters on the interstellar planet "Yi". Although it is not clear where the aborigines of these interstellar planets are going, scientists have 'figured' the overall structure of the "particle river crab" in space. In order to explain his great discovery to the soldiers, Academician Zhu Hansong specially held an academic report meeting on the "Einstein Eddington" and summoned hundreds of people, including reporters accompanying the army, to explain in detail the characteristics and material composition of the "particle river crab."

In addition to the nine ovoid organs in the body, the creature has a larger ovoid organ in the head. A total of ten ovoid organs make up the entire physiology of the tank-shaped four-legged monster. The four ovoid organs that connect the four legs are responsible for the movement of each leg of the arthropod, and the four connecting parts are responsible for providing energy to the head. The front part of the body is divided into two parts, the first half is an air sac, but there is only a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen in it, and a large number of cells with gas exchange ability are distributed on the wall of the sac, and the second half is concentrated with a large number of cells and nerves similar to human brain cells, and its role is supposed to be central control. The ovoid organs of the head have a structure similar to that of a human-made particle cannon, but instead of metals and composites, they are composed of a variety of cells and ceramics.

Scientists have not been able to figure out how this creature forms a hard, dense ceramic shell. Still, Zhu Hansong announced: "They are like Professor Ulf Bernstein's vision, using dense ceramics as power armor to protect their fragile lives." But unlike our power armor, their ceramic casing is supposed to grow out of itself. Because we have not found direct evidence that its ceramic casing was made separately, we can only make such speculations at this time. ”

Zhu Hansong further pointed out: "From the perspective of the constituent substances of life, they are completely carbon-based life, just like us. Although silicon plays an extremely important role in their bodies, what really makes them have the characteristics of life is the organic substances composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and other elements and the corresponding biochemical reactions. It must be recognized that the attack ability of this creature is clearly not motivated by a competition for survival with ordinary creatures. Personally, I think that its physiological structure is designed for war, that is to say, this Yixing monster that I call the 'Particle River Crab' is a natural war machine! ”

His words immediately 'provoked' a strong response from the audience. Someone immediately asked, "Do you mean that someone made them?" ”

"No, no." Zhu Hansong hurriedly denied, "Although it cannot be ruled out that they are artificially created 'sex', we do not have direct evidence in this regard, and we only consider it from the structure of this biological individual." I must remind you that, as I said before, we do not know the environment and habits of this creature. Including where they live and what kind of social structure they have...... We don't even know how they get the energy they use to move and 'shoot' high-energy particle beams. ”

"So, do you think these creatures have anything to do with the 'strange matter' layer of the 'easy' planet?" Someone asked.

"We ask Professor Ulf Bernstein to answer this question."

The crowd immediately responded with a round of applause.

"Thank you." Bernstein expressed his feelings in the voice of Cangsang, and then explained: "I think that the current known situation can fully show that the 'strange matter' of the 'Yi' star is related to those creatures. From the results of our last expedition, the layer of 'strange matter' was fifty kilometers thick. If it's hollow, then there's no problem accommodating the creatures we encounter. At the same time, the hollowness of the 'strange matter' can also explain why the surface of this planet has low carbon and oxygen content, but it is capable of carbon-based life. ”

"Professor, are you suggesting that there is a whole new world in the 'Strange Matter' layer that is completely different from the surface?"

"Yes. If the 'Strange Matter' layer is hollow, then its interior is likely to form an environment suitable for the survival and development of life. "But please note that when I say 'what if,' the hollowness of the 'Strange Matter' layer is only a hypothesis, a hypothesis made out of an inability to explain where the creatures that attack us are hiding." We have not yet obtained any direct evidence of the hollowness of the 'Strange Matter' layer. ”

There was a lot of discussion among the audience. In fact, both Bernstein and Chen Weiyin, who was sitting on the side, are now very sure that the layer of "strange matter" that surrounds most of the surface of the planet is hollow. Because when they landed on this interstellar planet as Imperial scientists, they also found another strong circumstantial evidence - a large number of traces of running water. However, the amount of water vapor and even oxygen present in the atmosphere is much less than the total mass of water that was estimated to have existed. The "Strange Matter" layer is hollow, which can also explain the whereabouts of the vanished water.

Of course, these assumptions and inferences themselves smack of "circular arguments" and are not factually convincing.

"Mr. Academician, what do you think we should do next against this interstellar planet?"

"We'd better stay away from this interstellar planet!" The voice of the answer came from Chen Weiyin, who grabbed the question of the two academicians of the Academy of Sciences, "During the expedition in May, we found that there are cyanobacteria on this planet that have died due to lack of water. This is the creature that we humans brought from Earth to the interstellar world of Perseus Spiral, that is, this interstellar planet has already been passed by by humans before it was discovered by us, and it has polluted her. ”

Now there was another explosion of discussion in the audience. Because the discovery of cyanobacteria was not mentioned in the previous reports of Bernstein and other Imperial scientists who had surrendered to the Commonwealth of Immortals.

Chen Weiyin continued: "What I still have to explain to you is this. When we first encountered the Ixirs, they weren't like this, and they didn't have the ability to 'shoot' high-energy particle beams. But they have learned how to distinguish between heavily armed combatants and unarmed ones, and to treat them differently. Moreover, in the past battles, it was we humans who took the initiative to fire at them, and then there was a large-scale 'engagement'. ”

Bernstein followed up on Chen's words: "What Dr. Chen said is the truth. As a scientist, I personally believe that we should no longer continue to have too much contact with this interstellar planet. This planet is not suitable for us humans to habit, and there is already a group of protists with high intelligence and great abilities, so we should leave as soon as possible to avoid conflict with them. ”

Although Chen Weiyin and Bernstein's words are very reasonable, in the eyes of the audience, they are scientists from the New Roman Empire and do not represent the opinions of federal scientists. So, they focused their eyes on Zhu Hansong.

Zhu Hansong looked at the two teammates from the Empire, and turned to the audience and said, "They all make a lot of sense, but now the attack ability of Yi Xing Creature is still only on the ground. Although their particle beams are precise and powerful, they can only move on the surface of interstellar planets. And so far, in addition to the small two-legged beast encountered in May, we have only seen a variety of 'particle river crab'. Therefore, I think that we humans have an absolute advantage over Yixing creatures. We don't need to be in awe of them, we can expand and deepen our field of research, go beneath the planet's surface, and try to get rid of that 'strange matter' as soon as possible to uncover more secrets. ”

His words won unanimous praise from everyone and won warm applause.

However, Chen Weiyin and Bernstein, who were sitting next to him, showed a worried look at his words.