Chapter 22: Wipe out
Wipe out
Within the steel container was a shocking 10 metre long giant ice block; sparkling and translucent, the ice displayed its forbidden contents extravagantly. Trapped inside was something astonishingly shaped like tree roots, twisted and intertwined, with many strands of white lingering around it. It had a length of at least 7-8 metres. The item revealed a meaty texture, while still exuberating a flavour of flora within. Thus, it was simply too difficult to determine its origins at this moment.
Upon witnessing such an event, numerous contestants groaned depressedly, and staggered several steps back, with some having blood oozing from their nose and mouth. Zi in particular suffered the strongest reaction. She straightforwardly shut her eyes, and sat down exhaustively like a withered flower, as though she had just received a severe blow.
Sheyan instantly realized that she wasn’t the only exception, and spirit/intelligence based contestants were all affected. As for himself, one with poor spirit and pitiful intelligence, utterly devoid of elemental energy or spiritual force; he widened his eyes as he swept his gaze around, having not the slightest trifling sensation affecting him. It was clear, that object must’ve emitted violent spirit ripples. Thus, the stronger one’s spirit or intelligence, the more severe one was affected.
Under the insatiable pressure of countless wild beasts, the ice block was rapidly chiselled away, and ultimately melted to the ground completely. As for that ‘tree-roots’ object, once it had interacted with the ground, massive roots sprouted from it and drilled deep into the ground. Instantly, numerous visibly thin white threads seemingly released and extended out in all directions, resulting in the ‘tree-roots’ object decomposing with unbelievable pace. Through the naked eye, one could vividly see its size dissolving into thin air; and within lesser than short 3 minutes, it utterly decomposed.
“That’s…….! The movie mentioned this before, that various kinds of mystical neural links exists between Pandora’s flora, trees and the ground! Every tree possesses millions of links, like a computer network or the human’s nervous system; connecting the entire planet into one body of neural network! Those fine spirit threads, are like the mediums of connection between organisms.” Sheyan’s mind immediately flashed with enlightenment.
“Sure enough, my guess was correct! The group of RDA workers definitely had acquired something viewed with extreme significance by the mesmerizing divine Eywa of Pandora! Observing how that object dissolved, it was probably an important nourishment for the divine Eywa. Perhaps something like salt to the humans; just requiring a minute consumption daily, but definitely still essential!”
“Ho, from what I’ve observed today, then I can reach the next deduction that……the divine Eywa’s main body, may perhaps resemble that of the inherent characteristics of fungus on earth.”
Since the root cause of the beast horde crisis had been thoroughly rooted out, the waves of feverish and agitated beasts started dispersing. Another thought formed within Sheyan’s heart, yet he wasn’t in a hurry to say it. Instead, he quickly spoke to Yuan Zhan.
“I have good news, the communication system of the valkyrie is ruined, probably destroyed during its violent crash landing. The latest issued message would only probably be the final emergency warning to the mother warship in space before crashing, or to Hell’s gate* base. In other words, they have no further means of external contact. Which goes to say that whatever we have done here, it is completely oblivious to the mother warship. Delving deeper, our current hostility with the RDA company will gradually subside within 24 hours, and return back to ‘amicable’.”
(TN:* Hell’s gate is the main centre for all human colonial activities on Pandora, and contains the moon’s only spaceport)
Hush! The pale faced Zi gently exhaled, and she gave off her orders.
“According to the information I’ve gathered, the engine we have to guard entailed by the mission isn’t huge. It is right here, above this core control room. Thus, 3 of us will keep guard over there….although those beasts have withdrawn, it doesn’t mean that the engine is fully invulnerable. From now on till mission completion, we will rotate in 3 hour shifts……..Reef, since we are already allied, your people must participate.”
Reef lightly replied.
“Sure, of course.”
Zi coughed gently for a while, before continuing.
“Next, Archeaphill, Yuan Zhan and Reef please stay behind. Since we are in collaboration now, and we possess two top-notch prestigious MT at the present stage, let’s discuss how we can maximize our present interests. The rest, you are free to roam about.”
Upon hearing that, Sheyan and Mogensha started heading towards the bottom deck of the shuttle, appearing as if they wanted to return to the battlefield and clear it for loots. However, once they left the surveillance of the Illume-union personnels, Sheyan took a sudden detour and headed towards the pathway channel towards the shuttle’s cabins. Mogensha curiously asked.
“Why are we heading there for?”
Sheyan whispered sneakily.
“Based on my inference, there should be something else waiting for us to uncover.”
Mogensha shook his head.
“Boss, you’re underestimating the Illume-union. I believe that when we were busy with other stuffs, they’ve already cleaned up the entire place like a dog licking its bone! Moreover, those RDA deserters wouldn’t possibly leave behind any valuable item. Damned! I suddenly have a brilliant idea, we should head over and search the crash site of those bastards.”
Sheyan smiled humbly.
“You’re wrong. There’s another place they haven’t entered, and there should be something valuable there.”
As he spoke, that silver-white metallic identification card shimmered brilliantly within his fingers.
***************
Within the narrow steel space, a simple decorated cabinet stood silently. It was a monotonous sky blue cabinet, standing atop a greyish patterned fur rug. Such a scenery greeted Sheyan and Mogensha’s view.
Behind them, a metallic sliding door had been opened, with a silver-white card inserted within the card slot.
Mogensha directly used the nuzzle of his golden AK to wrench open a armoire by the side. His eyes suddenly glittered.
SN-9 ‘WASP’ Revolver. (The same type of revolver utilized by Colonel Miles Quaritch in the movies)
Grade: Black
This weapon is infusible with a horcrux
State: Mildly damaged.
Equipment position: Single-handed
Length: 228 cm
Weight: 11kg
Pre-installed component: Torchlight and Infrared remote sensor (Dismountable). Firearm effective range extended to 300 metres.
Attack power: 60-80
Details: Perceptive sense +2 / Agility +5
Details: Strength -2 / Physique -1 / Charm -3 / Intelligence -1
Magazine capacity: x4 (Mildly damaged state: Originally x8)
Shooting speed: 0.3 seconds/ round.
Equipment requirement: Agility 30 points, Perceptive sense 25 points, ‘Basic Long range combat’ lvl 5.
Weapon special ability: Wasp’ Stinger – When attacking, 33% chance of neglecting 50% of defence, and deal penetrative damages*. Its effect holds precedence.
(TN: *Penetrative damages is like crushing damages, a special effect)
***********
This revolver should’ve previously been carelessly dumped into the cabinet after its original owner had discovered a slight malfunction; intending to repair it after finishing whatever work he had on hand. Who knew, his work would last forever!
No doubt, this revolver became Mogensha’s possession. This weapon wasn’t powerful because of other reasons but solely its pre-installed component! For a sniper, that torchlight and infrared remote sensor was of little value; but to a rifleman, this undoubtedly enhanced one’s effective shooting range by several folds!
Moreover, that precedence penetrative effect of 33% was a rather high probability, and further contained a 50% of defence negating property. Complimenting this weapon with Mogensha’s personal abilities, though it was just a revolver, the resultant threatening might was definitely not inferior to any small scale sniper rifle.
After reaping this benefit, Mogensha continued rummaging through; although he found nothing else, he was already fully satisfied. Gazing at the daydreaming Sheyan standing in front of a desk, he slapped his shoulder.
“Boss, it’s not bad already. Even though this revolver is black grade, it is definitely better than some silver storyline grade equipments! Even if we can’t find anything else, it’s not bad already.”
Sheyan’s lips curled into an enigmatic smile.
“You’re wrong, our biggest harvest is this.”
Mogensha suspiciously glanced down towards Sheyan’s fingers. Within it, was a shocking sky-blue padlocked diary, written with careless handwriting. Sheyan was currently browsing through its contents.
Today. January, day 3. Oh, wrong, day 2. God bless me, I keep forgetting this damned devilish planet has 25 hours in a day.
We just received orders to explore area ‘VII’ today. I suspect those giant blue-skinned monkeys are watching us.
God bless us. I heard those Na’vis are segregated into civilized clans and uncivilized aborigines. Simply speaking, you can associate those uncivilized aborigines with that man-eating tribe of humans in New Guinea. In their eyes, humans and direhorses are the same, they are both categorized as food.
Fortunately, the Na’vis near Hell’s Gate are all civilized clans. They are willing to interact harmoniously with the humans. This was one of the main reason Hell’s Gate was able to be established.
“…………..”
………….
Day 11, January. Flood! Oh my, oh my! Why is there a flood occurring in this season, if i didn’t climb up a fern, I would’ve probably been swept away by the muddy river. Something happened with Bambo’s oxygen mask inside the flood. I personally witnessed his complexion turning into the color of a boiled tomato…….
”
Alright, alright. I know Mr Smith would express his apology and just tell us that this was just an accident, outside of their expectations. But the frequency of such accident is really too high!