Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 195: Pursuit Through The Electric Tube

Chapter 195: Pursuit Through The Electric Tube

Upon hearing the baron's words, we gripped our weapons tighter and braced ourselves for battle. However, the tube before us had not fully stopped transmitting energy. I could see that roughly 30 percent of the electrical agents were still in the tube. Before they were delivered to the ship, we wouldn't be able to enter the tube. The sounds of activity were getting nearer and nearer. In fact, we could clearly hear the footsteps in the tubes below us and the sounds of people trying to open the doors.

"Stay down, everyone. Try not to expose yourselves when they're in," whispered Jack.

"They can easily detect us with a single scan after entering," reminded Baron Sisse.

"No. Due to the electrical agents in here, the electromagnetic interference is too strong. They won't be able to detect us with scans. Also, watch your steps. Don't fall into the pool of agents. You won't survive the fall," said Jack.

I stuck my tongue out as I looked at the dark abyss below me. None of us would willingly drop into something so scary. The door right below us suddenly opened. Several soldiers armed with laser guns rushed out.

When I checked the time, I noted that they had arrived 20 minutes earlier than Jack's estimations. The empire was actually much more efficient than we had guessed. Since the tube before us was still not done transmitting energy, we had no choice but to stay down and wait with bated breaths.

"Odd. Why are these soldiers equipped with laser sights? That has never been part of the imperial army's standard equipment," muttered Jack doubtfully in a low voice.

"Perhaps that is their spoils of war from their battles with the league?" said Baron Sisse.

'What a surprise. The empire is actually so good at reproducing alien technologies? This is truly an opponent we can't look down on,' I thought to myself.

There were six soldiers among the newly arrived group. They were searching the area rapidly. One of them was heading straight in our direction. Our hearts thumped nervously. The tube was still mid-transmission, and we couldn't enter yet. Our only option was to take all six soldiers down at once.

Among us, the individuals with the highest offensive capability were me, Zhang Bao'er, Old Du, the baron, Anxashe, and Master Crystal. While on the ground, I drew a plan. Before long, each of us was assigned a target. At that point, the soldier heading our direction was starting to climb the stairs leading to our platform.

We could no longer afford to keep waiting around. I nodded at the others before we rapidly stood up and pulled our triggers under the soldiers' astonished gazes. Unfortunately, a mishap happened. All of us were able to take our targets down, except Master Crystal due to his pistol's lack of power. His target was able to block the shot with his shield. However, the soldier was stunned due to the sudden change and stood there blankly, not knowing how to react.

The soldier's stunned state did not last long. He quickly came to himself and raised his gun and opened his mouth to call for help. A fast and accurate arrow arrived with a force powerful enough to pierce through the soldier's chest, pushing the soldier into the pool of electrical charges. Anxashe's timely assistance saved us from exposure.

Before we could even calm down from our panic, the sound of a door opening came from a few other doors. If these newcomers entered before we could enter the tube, our entire plan would be foiled. However, it seemed like the heavens never fully severed one's path. Or perhaps the prophet was once again blessing us. At that moment, the tube before us stopped transmitting energy.

Jack hurriedly opened the tube's maintenance door and notified us to enter. We rushed into the tube, and I was the last to enter. The moment I was through, Jack shut the door. During the split second before the door fully shut, I saw two other doors opening outside.

We were only a second ahead of our pursuers, but that single second had bought us a lot more time for us to survive. The tube had just finished its bioelectricity transmission, so some leftover blue electrical agents could still be seen on the walls. Some were even still alive. Jack carefully led us around them as we advanced rapidly.

The tube's soundproofing was rather good. After entering, we could hear nothing outside. It would probably take them quite a while to expand their search to the tunnel we had escaped into.

"Everyone, make haste. If the tubes start transmitting energy again, all of us will die," said Jack.

"We just killed six of them. They already know that we were there, and they will probably focus on searching for us. It will be quite a while before they start transmitting energy to the ship again. Nevertheless, it is still a good idea for us to leave as soon as possible. The imperial army will come for Skyhawk in four hours," said Baron Sisse.

Hurrying up would definitely be the right choice, so we followed Jack and ran through the tube. After a while, we finally arrived at a more open space. A semi-circular bioelectrical pool had appeared before us. We could clearly see that all the blue electrical agents had been gathered into the pool, and blue electrical currents were constantly flowing within it. This pool was evidently the final destination for the electrical life forms.

A steel door blocked our path ahead. The other half of the semi-circular pool was located on the other side of the door and was most likely the door that would lead us into Skyhawk. Some blue electrical life forms were still left on the door before us. It was clear that the door acted as a divider to split the flow of the blue electrical life forms into both halves of the pool.

Since the transmission had stopped, Jack stepped forth and inserted a security code into the door. Now that we had arrived before this door, we became much less nervous than before. We would arrive inside Skyhawk after going through this door. And with this ship, we could both escape and complete our main mission. Surprisingly, Jack seemed to have encountered some trouble. Even after five minutes, the door was still shut.

"Hey, I thought you could hack through all the locks here? Why are you taking so long? Open the door already. I don't want to stay near this pool," Zhang Bao'er started complaining again.

"Odd. Why did the staff change the procedures for this security lock?" muttered Jack as he continued trying to hack through the lock.

"Jack, can you open this lock?" asked Baron Sisse.

"Definitely. Someone changed the procedures, but it won't stump me. I'm already at the code reassembly stage. The door will open in 10 minutes," said Jack confidently.

We felt relieved, so we continued waiting patiently. Standing beside Jack, I could clearly see the timer on his tablet. I felt like the nervous waiting would feel faster by staring at the timer.

Before we knew it, eight minutes had passed. We were only two minutes away from cracking the lock and leaving. I even grew excited as those thoughts entered my mind.

Since arriving at Cloudcast, everything we did had been accompanied by danger and difficulties. We only wanted to steal a ship, and we had not expected it to be so difficult. Right at that moment, a loud boom sounded from the far end of the tube.

"My god. What weird monster is going to appear this time?" asked Zhang Bao'er worriedly.

"Shit. The electric transmission has been resumed. The electrical agents will arrive soon," said Jack.

"What? I thought the baron said that they wouldn't resume the transmission of energy so soon," said Zhang Bao'er.

Clearly, the baron had guessed wrong, but it was pointless to blame him right now.

"Jack, how long will it take the electrical agents to reach us?" Baron Sisse asked.

"Only 1 minute," said Jack.

When we looked at the timer on the tablet, there were still 50 seconds. In other words, if everything proceeded smoothly, we would only have 10 seconds left to make our escape. Our hearts raced. The threat of death was so close, but the only thing we could do was wait. That was a sensation no words could capture. My adrenal glands were probably working overtime from all the nervousness.

The booming sounds grew louder and louder. Traces of blue could already be seen from the far end of the tube. In the final 20 seconds, I could clearly see the blue electrical agents on the other side of the tube. It took less than a second for the flashes I saw to turn into a surging river of blue.

The following 10 seconds were the longest 10 seconds I had ever experienced in my life. The surging blue torrent was so very near, and despair covered our faces. The blue torrent before me felt just like the ocean monster we had encountered on Sirius with its jaws wide in preparation to swallow us.

During the final moments, a beep sounded, and the door to Skyhawk opened. We had less than 10 seconds to make our escape. No order was required as everyone scrambled through the door with the blue torrent right behind us.

Jack was the first through the door, and after everyone else entered, he hurriedly inputted the command to shut the door. The surging blue torrent was blocked on the other side, but some of the blue agents still managed to slip through right before the door was closed, entering the room.

Nevertheless, the door was still able to fully shut. Only a small amount of the blue life forms could be seen on the ground. Without the support of the rest of the blue electrical agents, they could only flap helplessly on the floor. In their struggle, some almost reached us.

We hurriedly stepped back, barely avoiding them. After three minutes, all the agents finally died down, and the blue on their bodies dimmed. They finally ceased to be a threat. The past 10 seconds felt like a miraculous reversal from death to life. No words could describe our feelings. The overwhelming pressure and joy caused all of us to slump weakly onto the floor.