On October 9, 2918, the three fleets of the Commonwealth Defense Force, escorting the research fleet and the rescue fleet, entered the gravitational range of the interstellar planet "Yi", and joined a small advance fleet composed of fifty cruisers that had arrived in advance. (This book is reprinted from the Κxs Literature Network)

Wehrmacht General Conrad? Herzog immediately ordered a search of the range of a hundred light-years around the planet "Yi".

The unmanned reconnaissance ship immediately flew close to the planet Yi and launched reconnaissance and communications satellites in low-earth orbit in order to find missing persons who may be on the ground. The Federation warships were divided into small and medium-sized formations, escorting rescue ships and hospital ships designed by the Door to search for the missing 13th Fleet in all directions. For a time, thousands of unmanned reconnaissance ships, notification ships, warships, and other spacecraft, as well as aerospace aircraft, shuttled around the black-colored planet. The interstellar planets, which have been lonely in the deep space beyond the Milky Way for thousands of years, have suddenly become very lively.

On the "Einstein Eddington", Chen Weiyin originally thought that the federal fleet was searching in space, and it was none of his business, and he was staying in his room enjoying classical yellow music, immersed in Elgar's famous "Enigma Variations" with its melodious and grand vocal range. Suddenly, the deputy leader of the expedition team, Ulf? Bernstein sent a message informing her to come to the academic center for a meeting and to prepare to land on the surface of Planet Yi.

Zhu Hansong, an academician of the Interstellar Federal Academy of Sciences, announced plans to land on the surface of the planet "Yi". Together, he and Bernstein will lead the expedition to the landing site established by the Imperial expedition, as Professor Bernstein and Wehrmacht Captain Robb have reported that they have been attacked by unidentified creatures in the vicinity. Also landing is an interstellar Marine Corps of more than 1,000 men, who will search the ground for the missing first expedition of the Federation.

The landing operation was carried out smoothly, with seven huge conical landing modules and more than 100 aerospace planes passing through the dense atmosphere saturated with hydrogen and landing on the high ground where the New Roman Empire expedition had landed. The Bundeswehr named the plateau "Freedom Beachhead" and re-excavated trenches around it, creating a field line of defense to defend the landing module of the expedition.

In fact, they are the third group of humans ushered in by the so-called "Free Beachhead", where the first federal expedition team also landed, but the equipment and traces they left behind have now been erased.

The revisit of the old place made Chen Weiyin feel a little emotional. It was in this dark place that she was separated from Jiang Ziyue, and fell into the hands of that hateful Robb, and then fell into the hostile Perseus Federation. I didn't expect to return here today, but I did it as a scientist of the Perseus Interstellar Federation, under the heavy escort and surveillance of the Bundeswehr. Fate is really playing tricks on people.

But at this moment, through the communication satellite, a 'private' communication request received her power armor.

"Hey, Dr. Chen, isn't it a bit of a kinship to go back to your old place?" Robb mischievously said, "Remember our encounter there?" ”

"Encounter?" Chen Weiyin repeated in an annoyed tone that sounded like a 'wave' and 'color' color, "If that can also be called an encounter, it only shows how naïve and ignorant you are." ”

"Don't say that. Look up at the sky and you should be able to see a bright star. Robb's tone sounded quite relaxed, and it seemed that he was in a good mood.

Chen Weiyin looked up at the sky, and sure enough, he saw a particularly bright big star with blue and white light slowly crossing the sky. It was the battleship Hercules that had entered low-earth orbit, and the bright blue-and-white glow was the tail flame of its ion thrusters.

"I am commanded to protect you." Robb said happily.

"Protect me?"

"To be exact, to protect your expedition team." Robb added, "Of course, that includes you. ”

Chen Weiyin immediately shot back: "What about guarding? Come and spy on us, let's just say it, don't say it so grandiosely. A bunch of hypocrites! ”

"Hehe, don't say that about me. I never lie to you. Robb argued, and then sighed: "It's really hard to be a good person these days." ”

"Then do your duty as a guardian, Mr. Good Man." After Chen Weiyin finished speaking, he immediately terminated the correspondence and stopped talking nonsense with him.

After ending the correspondence with Robb, Chen Weiyin immediately joined the others in the new investigation work. This time, they will go directly to the basin about twenty kilometers east of where the unknown creature was found, and look for the monsters that have attacked them.

The goal of the federal biologist Zhu Hansong is very clear, he refers to the creatures reported by Bernstein and Robb as Yixing creatures, and this landing operation will also 'get' at least one or two corpses of Yixing creatures. Under his leadership, the scientists, escorted by the Marine Corps, divided into two teams and marched towards the hills and mountains around the Eastern Basin.

During the march, Bernstein said to Chen Weiyin in the communication system: "Chen, have you noticed that the equipment we left behind and the fortifications built by the Imperial Marines are gone?" ”

"At first, I felt strange, but then I thought that it should have been recovered by the previous federal scientific expedition team." Chen Weiyin was not surprised.

"No, I talked to Academician Zhu. He said that their first scientific expedition team also landed here, and now they can't see all the equipment, and they can't even find the traces left by the rocket launch of the landing module. Bernstein's voice trembled slightly, "Maybe they've all been captured by those monsters." ”

Bernstein's words don't seem at all like those of a serious scientist, but like some frightened child telling a monster story. However, he is a complete layman in the study of extraterrestrial creatures, unlike Zhu Hansong, who has a wealth of knowledge and a high-minded attitude towards extraterrestrial creatures.

"Professor, we haven't found any direct evidence that the missing expeditions and fleets are connected to those monsters." Chen Weiyin reminded. She didn't believe that the monsters were that powerful. So, she continued: "Even if the disappearance of the scientific expedition team on the ground is related to them, what about the fleet in space? Could those monsters be able to fly into the sky and swallow ships and warships in their stomachs? ”

Although Bernstein immediately thought of those mysterious creatures when he learned of the disappearance of the Thirteenth Fleet and the first scientific expedition, he could not answer the student's rhetorical question. He had no choice but to say, "Have you noticed that in June, we encountered those monsters in the small valley in front of us, and they did not take the initiative to attack us. ”

"No, they did attack us on their own initiative...... "but by that time Robb had already arrived behind us with the Marines of the Federation Army, and the monsters seemed to ignore us and went straight for them." ”

"Yes, I carefully recalled it later. This detail has been missing. "It means that they are perfectly capable of discerning the threat we humans pose to them, that they are not hostile to them at the time, and that they recognize the power of heavily armed Union Marines." ”

"This only further confirms that there is a possible connection between the disappearance of the federal expedition team and them, but the disappearance of the entire fleet is still unexplained." Chen Weiyin said disappointedly that she was not happy with the new discoveries she had made with her mentor. In fact, she cares a lot about the missing scientists and soldiers.

"Academician Zhu and us, the fleet has not yet found the radio signals left by the missing fleet and the scientific expedition team. If something major had happened, it would have been impossible for so many warships to not even have time to send a distress signal......"

"Stop!" Suddenly the public communication channel came to Marine Corps Commander Alfonso? Captain Ovid exclaimed nervously, "Defensive formation!" ”

The officers and men of the Marine Corps immediately formed a circular defensive formation around the scientists, pointing all their weapons at the dark sky outside.

"What's going on, Captain Ovid?" Zhu Hansong asked calmly.

"The spearhead found an unidentified creature three thousand meters ahead." "But the remote sensing system of the reconnaissance satellite did not detect them." ”

Zhu Hansong smiled lightly and said, "It seems to be quite weird." Can you determine the quantity? ”

"There are about a dozen of them in the low-light night vision device." Ovid replied.

"Captain, you actually say 'head' in Chinese? The quantifier 'head' usually has to be a large 'milky' animal such as cattle and sheep. Zhu Hansong lectured, because an analysis of the images taken by Bernstein and Robb in June showed that the monsters were not the size of ostriches, and they were slightly similar in appearance.

"That's what the spearhead reported, academician. They're still moving in place, so they shouldn't have noticed us. Ovid respectfully reported, and transmitted the real-time images taken by the front soldiers to Zhu Hansong's power armor,

Zhu Hansong, who saw the image, exclaimed excitedly: "Great, stay here, Ulf, come with me, let's go and see." ”

"Okay, Academician Zhu." Bernstein replied in horror, then walked behind Zhu Hansong and Ovid to the spot where the spearhead was in front of him.

"Teacher, I'll go with you." Chen Weiyin said and followed them.

Behind a small hill, with the help of the observation instrument of the power armor itself, Chen Weiyin and the others saw that at a distance of about a kilometer, there was a row of four-legged large animals slowly moving north.

They are very strange-looking, with four long 'legs' with distinct arthropods supporting a flat body, and a streamlined head in the middle of the body. There is also a protrusion in front of the head. Outwardly, they don't look like the usual large animals, but rather like the land tanks and chariots that humans used to use, except that they have four legs. Each of these animals is about five meters long, more than one meter tall to the top of the head, and nearly two meters wide on the front.

A total of twelve, at intervals of ten meters, were moving in a straight line on the ground from south to north at a slow speed of five kilometers per hour, gradually sinking into a small valley running north-south.

"New breed?" Zhu Hansong exclaimed in surprise.

"I haven't seen it before." Bernstein said, "It seems that this planet is really strange." ”

Zhu Hansong asked the Marine Corps soldier who was in charge of searching for the open way, "Sergeant, how is the surrounding situation?" Are there any other Yixing creatures? ”

"We haven't found any other creatures other than this group of monsters."

Zhu Hansong hurriedly shouted, "Okay." Captain Ovid, gather your men and prepare to capture these guys alive. ”

"Did you say you were captured alive, Academician Zhu?"

"It's best to capture them all alive, and at worst, get a whole corpse." Zhu Hansong can't wait to 'get' a corpse back to be dissected.

"Yes, Academician." Ovid immediately led the soldiers into action, preparing to round up the creatures.

"Academician Zhu, why don't we observe them first?" Chen Weiyin advised, "It is not a scientific approach to kill them directly. ”

"Dr. Chen, don't you have an interest in discovering such large creatures on an interstellar planet in the Wandering Universe?" Zhu Hansong said with a smile, "Although they are very ugly, they are just like you, and they are often attractive to middle-aged men like me." ”

"......" Hearing Zhu Hansong's yellow 'color' joke, Chen Weiyin felt very uncomfortable and could only be speechless.

Captain Ovid divided the sixty-odd men into two groups, one to the north, to the north exit of the valley, ready to attack the creatures head-on, and the other to guard the south exit, ready to cut off their retreat. With human experience in hunting animals, a frontal attack usually causes the animals to turn around and flee immediately, at which point they fall into the trap of the Marines behind them.

The favourable terrain strengthened Ovid's already full confidence. The Marines in front launched an attack as scheduled at a distance of nearly a thousand meters, and fired a missile at the ground not far in front of the monster, causing a violent explosion.

However, the situation did not go as smoothly as the Union Marines had imagined. The monsters did not turn around and collapse as expected, on the contrary, the leader immediately stopped, quickly raised his head high, and the protrusion in front of it cracked and 'shot' a dazzling light, which 'shone' on the ground in front of the marines, causing a 'fierce' explosion.

The powerful shock 'wave' not only kicked up a cloud of sand and dust, but also knocked over several nearby Marines in heavy power armor.

"It's a particle cannon!" The exclamations of the Federation Interstellar Marine Corps soldiers were heard in the communal communication channel.

"What!?" Ovid and Zhu Hansong exclaimed almost simultaneously.

Before the soldiers could react, the other monsters attacked in the same way, striking at the human marines in front and behind.

"Fire and kill them!" Ovid quickly gave the order, "Lieutenant Pusey, bring the cover scientists back to camp!" Be quick. ”

Officers and soldiers returned fire, pouring missiles, particle beams, and 'excited' light onto the monsters in the valley. The bare valley was immediately lit up by fireballs and flashes of light.

Ovid's deputy, Lowe? Lieutenant Pucci led the rest of the soldiers to protect the scientists and drove back to the "Freedom Beachhead".

Back at the camp, scientists, including Zhu Hansong, who had a strong sense of superiority over extraterrestrial creatures, were shocked. These Yixing creatures are actually able to 'shoot' high-energy particle beams! One can't help but be more worried about the fate of the 13th fleet and the first scientific expedition personnel who have disappeared.

"I suggest we should leave this planet right away." Bernstein looked back at the East and made a suggestion in the communication system.

The mountains in the east were still flashing with the bright light of explosions, and there was a rumbling sound like rolling thunder.

Although Zhu Hansong was also frightened just now, he was not willing to give up, on the contrary, he exclaimed in surprise: "Ulf, the Yixing creature that appeared in front of us is definitely the biggest scientific discovery in human history!" How can we stop in the face of this great discovery? Even if you are crushed to pieces, you have to complete the study of these creatures. ”

"But Academician Zhu, they are actually able to 'shoot' particle beams!" Chen Weiyin solemnly reminded, "Do you think that just because of the competition of species, these creatures have evolved particle cannons? We're now dealing with a horde of war machines, not friendly creatures. ”

"Doctor, didn't humans create particle cannons in the process of evolution?" Zhu Hansong immediately retorted, "And it's not for competition with other species, but just for the sake of human beings' own intraspecific competition." Since we can evolve such a thing as a high-energy particle cannon, it shows that these creatures definitely have a high degree of intelligence, and we can't let it go. If you scientists in New Rome get scared, you can retreat to the 'Double E' right away. ”

This 'provoked' Bernstein, who said firmly: "I'm not afraid, I'm just thinking about everyone's safety." If the Marines can keep us all safe, I won't leave. ”

"Teacher......" Chen Weiyin was about to persuade his mentor, but was interrupted by the other party.

Bernstein said to her, "Chen, you can go first." ”

"No, if you don't think you should back down so easily, I'll follow you as well." Chen Weiyin said solemnly.

Seeing the appearance of an unidentified creature with great power, Luo? While Lieutenant Pusey briefed the fleet command on the situation, he recalled all the search teams sent out and concentrated all the forces of the Marine Corps on the field line around the "Liberty Beachhead."

The fighting in the Eastern Valley gradually subsided, but half of the soldiers who had rushed back were already gone. And that's not even counting Captain Ovid. The surviving soldiers reported that they had sacrificed half of their brethren to kill ten four-legged monsters, and that the other four managed to break through the blockade south of the valley and escape. When they cleaned up the battlefield, they didn't find Ovid's body. Due to the great power of the weapons used, the Yixing monsters that were killed were all blown to pieces, and these soldiers only brought back a small number of stumps of the monsters.

In the laboratory of the landing module, Zhu Hansong took the largest fragment and looked at it carefully, and said, "It looks like a ceramic piece." ”

Several leading scientists gathered around carefully observed the fragments, and Chen Weiyin picked up one of the soft things with a camera and said to everyone: "This should be carbonized tissue, like 'meat'." ”

"Didn't you report that this planet was low in carbon?" Zhu Hansong asked.

"But that doesn't mean there aren't carbonaceae." Chen Weiyin replied-for-tat.

At this time, Lieutenant Pusey was heard outside, "Alfonso is back!" And a big guy! ”