Ross 128B, the largest mining star in human history, is located 10.89 light-years from the solar system and is located on the dark side of the spiral arm of the beta of Virgo.

The planetary belt at night is beautiful.

One open-pit ore after another shimmered mysteriously in the shimmering light.

Ross is still asleep.

Eridium ore, a lilac metal deposit, as an upgraded product of uranium-235, allowed mankind to start the era of interstellar colonization in advance.

But it also distorted the order and ran rampant with the chaebol.

Capital, in control.

The unequal distribution of energy has led to the fission of cities into upper and lower cities.

The same goes for Cottage City.

In terms of administrative division, the city of Kotte has nine administrative districts.

But for most people, there are only two districts in Kote – Upper Town and Lower Town Gori.

Uptown has an abundant energy supply, a majestic urban shield that can almost insulate itself from natural disasters, and a standard of living comparable to that of the home planet.

The lower city is short of energy, its protection is broken, and it is full of crime and filth.

Alleys full of sewage, scrapped bionic prosthetics, girls selling meat...

As for the wilderness outside the city, the formed corps is out of ten and seven returns, and ordinary people are worried.

Only the transporters, who were forced to make ends meet, had to travel back and forth between the mine and the city in hoverboats.

A.D. 2291.

September 16.

End of the XIII century.

Half a month earlier, four Kurt transport ships to and from the mine had gone missing.

This is a big case for energy cities that rely on eridium ore for food.

For this reason, the city lord of Kot specially sent an escort corps to escort the transport.

The result was no different from before, and all the boats and people disappeared into the reckless yellow sand.

For a while, the people of Cotter City were panicked.

The Coronavirus City Law Enforcement Department was ordered to take over the case.

Four hundred and thirty kilometers northwest of the city of Kotte...

Yellow sand reckless...

A tall man stands on the bow of the Liebherr L-shaped hovership, wearing dust goggles, holding a spectroscopic scope, and holding a half-burned cigarette in his mouth.

"Fourteen kilometers to the northwest sandstorm arrives, ready to land, received a reply, over."

"Copy that, start landing, over."

The Liebherr carrier weighs 500 tonnes and weighs more than 2,000 tonnes when fully loaded with ore.

Due to the special vein structure of Ross, it is extremely difficult to open a road outside the city, and the cost and energy supply also block the possibility of fossil fuel transporters.

As a result, this type of mag-suspended spacecraft became the first choice for transporting ore veins.

There are no major drawbacks other than slow movement, low ground clearance, and susceptibility to magnetic fields.

When the sandstorm comes, a huge amount of heavy gold dust will affect the power output, and the suspension ship can only temporarily avoid the edge.

The hull of the ship landed slowly, the captain went to the storage room to check the ore situation, and the crew came from the cockpit to the living cabin one after another to enjoy a short leisure.

A middle-aged man with a beard handed a cold beer to the observer who came in from outside the cabin.

"Mr. Chen Mo, what did you find?"

Chen Mo took the beer and shook his head.

The bearded man is the first mate of the transport ship and the liaison person who docked with Chen Mo this time.

No one but him knows the true identity of the new observer.

Seeing Chen Mo shaking his head, the first mate breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's all right..."

"Boom!!"

Before the words fell, the port side of the transport ship was hit, and the hull of more than 2,000 tons was violently blown up and tilted at a 45-degree angle.

During the impact, everyone in the living cabin was thrown to the side of the cabin.

After the explosion, the hull rocked back, and the crew members, who had just risen, fell back again.

Everyone was full of meat, but only Chen Mo grabbed the railing and got up steadily.

Overboard sand and dust.

The flames were everywhere.

After two gunshots, a terrible scream rang out from the storage room.

Then the transport ship fell silent again.

As soon as everyone got up, Chen Mo had already sat on the captain's seat and opened the storage room for monitoring.

In the center of the screen, a monstrous creature covered in black bone armor is gnawing on the corpse of the captain on the ground, feeling the prying eyes, and smashing the camera with a backhand claw.

Facing the screen of snowflakes, there was a muffled sound of human bones being chewed, and the faces of everyone in the cabin turned pale.

"The hovering device of the main engine has been displaced, and now the ship can't move a single step."

Chen Mo called up the damage to the hull and faced everyone.

"If no one overhauls it, when that Root[note 1] finishes gnawing on the captain's body, it'll be our turn... By the way, the one below seems to be an anomaly, and it can't be killed without heavy firepower armor-piercing bullets. ”

The faces of everyone in the living cabin became more and more ugly.

"Now the highest position among the living is the first mate." Chen Mo looked at the bearded man: "What should I do next?" ”

The bearded man pondered for a moment and took the daily fortune box from the wall.

"According to the old rules, draw a red card and come out consciously."

Everyone looked at each other.

"If no one objects, that's acquiescence." The first mate put the lucky box on the console: "According to probability... It should be that the sooner you draw a red, the less likely you are, right? Who comes first? ”

There was no answer for a long time.

"I'll do it."

Chen Mo took two steps forward and took out a paper card from the box.

Blue.

The first mate nodded and motioned for the next person.

One by one, one drew cards, and after three blue cards in a row, it was a big rosacea man with a pothole in his face that caught red.

Chen acquiesced to him, this big man was the head of the ship's transporters, and he had a bit of prestige.

The big one's expression changed slightly when he got the red card, he squinted at Chen Mo, glanced at the people around him, and turned his head to the first mate: "I think... We elected a new captain. ”

"What?" The first mate didn't react for a while.

"I got my red card, I'm the new captain, right?" The big man flashed the dagger at his waist, and several transporters surrounded him.

No one said that if you got a red card, you should repair the engine, and the big man took advantage of the loophole to play a word game.

The first mate looked at Chen Mo as if asking for help, and found that Chen Mo didn't pay attention to him at all, and studied the operation board of the suspension ship by himself.

The first mate had no choice but to bite the bullet and reply, "That's right, you're the new captain." ”

"Then ask the observer to go around the power chamber." The big man smiled at Chen Mo, who was sitting firmly in the captain's seat.

Chen Mo, who had just finished browsing the hull structure diagram, closed the operation interface, didn't say a word, got up and smashed the fire emergency box next to him with his elbow, and took out the cold fire axe and carried it on his shoulder.

The big one took a step back.

"The ventilation duct 45*45 is too narrow for me to get into, I need someone to climb from the ventilation duct to the power compartment to repair the engine, and I am responsible for attracting Root's attention." Chen Mo observed the ventilation pipe on his head.

The big man looked at the muscles looming under Chen Mo's coat, and couldn't help but push out the rickety mechanic stationed on the ship: "Let this old thing help you." ”

Chen Mo glanced at the old mechanic.

"Can you fix the engine?"

"Yes."

"How long will it take?"

"I don't know... As long as the core is not damaged, it can be repaired in two hours. ”

"The engine is just out of place and easy to repair, the main problem is that the second-stage thruster board is burned, how long will it take to repair it?"

The mechanic looked up at Chen Mo and groaned for a long time.

"An hour."

"In this case, I'll go to the storage room to check the situation first, and then you can go to the ventilation pipe after making sure it's safe."

The old mechanic nodded gratefully.

Chen Mo didn't say anything more, unscrewed the isolation door leading to the storage room, and went down the spiral ladder with a fire axe.

Several transporters hurriedly locked the door of the storage room.

Listening to the sound of the latch sitting, Chen Mo's face became cold.

He walked down the spiral ladder with a fire axe in his hand, but he didn't find Root.

The circuit is broken a lot, and the lights are dim and flickering.

The fragments of limbs and plasma fat that had been minced by the mouthparts of Lut were covered with minced meat.

Chen Mo forcibly endured his nausea, covered his mouth and nose and continued to move forward.

The storage room soon came to an end, and behind the hatch was the power room.

A shadow slowly peeked out behind him.

The shadow was stretched extremely long by the light, giving Chen Mo enough time to react.

Twisting his waist and turning his hips, the fire axe slashed backwards with all his might, taking advantage of the gap in Lute's blocking, Chen Mo slipped out from under Lute with a shovel, took out the Boe knife he carried with him and slashed at Lute's carapace.

"Boom!"

The quenched carbon steel boy lost its kinetic energy less than half a centimeter into the shell, and Root, who was inconvenient to turn around, also swept Chen Mo's chest with his tail.

Like crashing into a high-speed train, Chen Mo flew five or six meters upside down, and his back slammed against the warehouse wall with a muffled sound.

Normal people come to such a moment, and they don't die and go to half a life, but Chen Mo didn't pause at all after he landed, rolled on the spot, avoided the sharp claws swung by Root, and retreated towards the living cabin.

Through the dim light, he could see the whole picture of this lute.

The shoulder height is more than two meters, the body length is three meters away, the head is oval and slender, and the eight compound eyes are shining with a faint green light.

There are two rows of vertical exhaust vents on the back, the limbs are slender and slender, and the entire body is attached to the outside of the hideous pitch-black exoskeleton, and the tail is not a hook spine, but a bit like a bird's beak, faintly flashing with purple light.

The most striking thing is its round abdominal cavity.

Chen Mo held the Boyi knife and licked his lips.

This beast is by no means invincible, so we have to find a way to lure it to the power room, and find a chance to detonate the circuit to see if we can kill it.

Root didn't continue to pursue Chen Mo, its dark green compound eyes flashed a few times, and it picked up a corpse from the ground that had been eaten and only the upper half of its body was left, and its tail flicked through the corpse's head.

Plasma escapes.

Immediately after that, a purple light flashed at the tip of the tail, stimulating the corpse like electricity.

After a convulsion, the corpse slowly raised its head in a trembling state and opened its cloudy eyes.

The mouth is crooked and slanted like a stroke, and it closes one by one.

"Branch... Kurt... City. ”

"What?" Chen Mo retreated.

"With... I'll go, Branch... Special City. ”

Chen Mo raised his eyes.

"I... Need... Meat. Rout controlled the corpse and chattered to Chen: "I... Yes, meat, meat... Carnivorous..."

Chen Mo only felt that his scalp was numb, and the scene of the huge monster holding half a human corpse in his hand and talking to people should only be seen in nightmares.

"Can you understand human language?"

"Take me to... Kurt... City... I... Need... More meat..."

"If you can understand me, take two steps back."

Lute paused slightly, clamped the corpse, and stepped back, keeping a safe distance from Chen Mo.

Chen Mo breathed a sigh of relief and took the Boi knife back to his waist.

"Now, only I can drive this hovership, so you can't eat me, understand?"

Root seemed to understand whether he understood or not, and nodded at the elongated oval head.

"Good... In order to drive the hoverboat, I need one thing. Chen Mo glanced at the surrounding environment: "That thing is probably in your stomach." ”

Rute stared at Chen Mo in confusion.

"The stomach is the digestive organ."

Rutter pondered for a moment, his chest squirming, and then vomited the remains of a human body mixed with a large amount of yellow-green digestive juice from his mouthparts.

The rotten and fishy stench smoked Chen Mo and couldn't open his eyes.

Under Lute's gaze, Chen Mo put his hand into the rotten flesh and began to search.

It's about two or three minutes.

He finally found a black plug-in like a USB flash drive—it was the ship-wide authority of the former captain.

Can be used to start the self-destruct program.

As long as the power compartment's secondary thruster board is repaired, the self-destruct mechanism can be activated.

By the way...

He also touched the captain's gun.

【Release 1】Ross protists, one of the apex predators. English name - Looter, translated as predator/snatcher, individual differences are large, the length of 160cm~270cm, with a silicon-based exoskeleton, is a carbon-silicon bibase creature, it is difficult to destroy without heavy firepower, and the image of ordinary Looter is similar to the alien in the movie. Due to unknown factors, a very small number of Lut will mutate into a different type of Lut, gaining a variety of strange abilities.