Chapter Fifty-Six: The Search

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Search

Liu Shaoyu once came across a saying, though he could not recall where: A person's life is an endless search. Searching for others. Searching for oneself.

“Damn it, what kind of godforsaken place is this? Not even a single line of communication works!” Monkey slammed his palm on the control console, frustration etched across his face.

“It’s not entirely useless, is it? We can still reach each other within a kilometer,” Long Ruyuan replied with a wry smile, thick with irony.

In an age where communications could connect across star systems, a range of just one kilometer felt like a cruel joke.

“How do you feel?” The ship pierced the planet’s atmosphere, entering a haze that was as dense and uncertain as Liu Shaoyu’s mood.

He only smiled faintly without answering. Yet...

“Get yourself ready, kid,” Liu Shaoyu waved his hand, finally speaking.

The vessel had entered the planet’s atmosphere. This blue was unlike Earth’s—a blue shrouded in mystery.

“Planetary environment analysis complete,” Thomas’s voice announced, and a data report appeared before their eyes. Whenever Liu Shaoyu was present, Thomas would take over the ship’s AI system. After all, he was a bit more clever.

Everyone looked at different parts of the report. Liu Shaoyu would carefully examine the atmospheric composition, radiation, mass, gravity—whether he truly understood it or not was another matter. Long Ruyuan also read through each item, though who knew if he really grasped it.

As for Monkey, he always skipped straight to the last line:

Theoretical analysis: Human exposure to this planet’s atmosphere results in death within fifteen seconds.

Yes... Monkey thought that was quite enough. If there were any other warnings, Thomas would highlight them in another color. As it stood, there were no further precautions—just don’t expose your body.

“How anything could survive here is beyond me,” Monkey muttered, turning up his mouth.

He was, of course, referring to the desolate species that inhabited this system.

“This universe is a wondrous place, isn’t it?” Long Ruyuan replied with a laugh.

“Alright, Captain... But how are we supposed to find Xin Qingyi?” Monkey was always impatient, uneasy with the uncertainty of their situation.

“The intel gave us their last coordinates before entering the planet—the same spot we used. Let’s see if we can find any clues,” Liu Shaoyu said quietly.

Uncertainty? He didn’t like it either. But life itself was nothing if not uncertain.

“Prepare for landing,” Thomas dutifully announced.

“Same routine. Long Ruyuan, you’re on watch. Monkey! Let’s move!” Liu Shaoyu patted the slouching Monkey on the shoulder as he rose.

“And this time, don’t sneak off to mess around with the ship,” Long Ruyuan joked.

“Yeah, yeah! Stay in touch!” Monkey called back, but Liu Shaoyu had already vanished from the control room.

Once footsteps had faded, Long Ruyuan began issuing commands. “Switch battleship to defense mode. Activate planetary surface monitoring. Initiate temporary combat command system. Initiate...” With each command, a gray square on the display flickered blue—blue, the same shade as this planet.

Suited up, Liu Shaoyu and Monkey stepped onto alien soil.

“The temperature’s set, but why do I still feel cold?” Monkey shivered inside his armor.

“Psychological,” Liu Shaoyu replied, checking the internal temperature—twenty degrees Celsius. It was usually comfortable, but today, for some reason, he still felt a chill. Perhaps it was the aftereffect of three days’ unconsciousness.

“Look over there.” Liu Shaoyu gazed into the distance. Their landing site was flat—a likely reason Xin Qingyi’s team had chosen it as well.

From afar, they could see signs of ground subsidence. If not naturally caused, it had to be a mark left by a landing ship. This planet’s greater gravity and lack of wind meant such an imprint could last for a very long time.

“It’s too far. I’ll go check it out,” Monkey said.

Soon after, his voice came over the comms, “Confirmed—ship landing marks.”

Their luck was good; Xin Qingyi’s landing site was close by. The choice of landing spot had a distinct academy style—a legacy of their shared training. Flat terrain, high visibility—always best, unless you wanted to park in the middle of a square during a battle and invite disaster.

“Wait for me. Ruyuan, landing site confirmed. Sending you the coordinates—bring the ship over.”

But the next steps would not be so easy.

“Set up devices centered here. Build a map.”

Some tasks were better left to the robots. The devices Liu Shaoyu referred to were miniature base points, much like those used in the Republic’s Glory project, though smaller. They functioned the same.

“Strange. If this was a mining mission, Xin Qingyi should have already set up a base point. Why can’t I find one?” A sense of unease crept over Liu Shaoyu. He scanned all frequencies. Apart from his own newly placed base point, there was no other signal. Was interference truly so strong?

He could only hope it was due to the planet’s powerful magnetic field. But... this magnetic isolation had seemed to weaken as they entered the atmosphere. With internal fixed base points, even in a heavy pulse magnetic environment, one could read pulse data, adjust emission frequencies, and synchronize with the planet’s field.

In such circumstances, communication range should have improved greatly. If Xin Qingyi wanted to set up a command system here, the radio frequency should be within a margin of plus or minus 0.5 units of the planet’s magnetic value.

“Could the value be even more precise? There’s no enemy command center here… Why be so cautious?” Liu Shaoyu shook his head and shifted the frequency one more notch, running through them one by one.

Thank goodness Thomas was a robot—otherwise, Liu Shaoyu would have collapsed long before finding Xin Qingyi, swamped by data.

“Unknown frequency detected.” Finally, at a shift of 0.00000X, he found something.

“Patch it through.”

A burst of white noise crackled and broke through.

“What is that?” Liu Shaoyu frowned.

“Analyzing...” Thomas responded, already at work.

A line of symbols appeared on the screen: "```---```"

“Morse code?!” Liu Shaoyu exclaimed.

SOS. The meaning stunned him—why this? Something must have happened!

Indeed, the worst had come to pass.

“Give me the coordinates, Monkey! Let’s check it out!” Liu Shaoyu shouted.

As soon as he had the analysis, he shared the data to the operations platform. Monkey and Liu Shaoyu fired up their engines, racing toward the source.

“Faster... faster...” Liu Shaoyu urged silently, his face calm despite the anxiety churning inside him.

His expression, hidden behind his helmet, was one of utter composure—the calmest he had ever been. If Monkey could see, he would know.

One minute later, two armored figures—one black, one yellow—appeared above a desolate plain.

Below, fragments of wreckage littered the ground.

“What is that...?”

“Bodies,” Liu Shaoyu answered in a cold voice.

What had happened here?

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