Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 242: Gathering Light

Chapter 242: Gathering Light

While all of us were feeling doubtful about the stop, the tarp covering the vehicle was lifted. We saw that we had arrived in the middle of a boundless wilderness. The two single-horned beasts were nowhere to be seen. The other transport vehicle was also missing. Temo alone stood beside our vehicle, slowly stuffing the black tarp into his backpack.

After hopping off the vehicle, Zhang Bao'er loudly questioned, "Where is this? It doesn't look like we reached our destination."

"If we go straight there, all of us will die. This place is an hour away from the worm colony brain. Our destination is heavily guarded, and a type of beast known as a buer is guarding it as well. Buers are even stronger than spider beasts," said Temo.

Old Du got off the vehicle and asked, "In that case, we will advance on foot. How about these laborers?"

"Just have these deadweights flee for their own lives. You won't be able to complete your mission if you bring them with you," said Temo.

The laborers started gurgling in protest at what Temo said.

"Dwarf, can you understand them? What did they say?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"You idiots actually promised to help them escape this planet? What gives you the confidence to make such a big promise?" said Temo with a look of disbelief.

"Since we've promised, we will keep it. They will stick with us. Sarje, your coming task is to protect these laborers," I ordered.

"Roger!" Sarje answered.

"What a bunch of fools," said Temo as he shook his head and walked away alone, ignoring us.

We hurriedly followed him. We were in the middle of a vast wilderness that stretched as far as the eye could see. Flickering lights could be seen on the distant horizon, and a starry sky was blanketing us. It might already be night, but it wasn't too dark since this was a three-star system.

We walked in silence for about 40 minutes. The ground was smooth, and there were no obstacles in our path, but gravity alone was enough to cause us fatigue after such a long march. Suddenly, clumps of dark smoke appeared in the distance.

"Look at that smoking place. That's your destination," said Temo as he pointed ahead.

"That's the place housing the worm colony brain? What are they burning there?" I asked.

"Yes, that's the worm colony brain. It is the sole part of the superweapon currently operational. Due to its organic nature, it must be kept running at all times. The smoke comes from the dead worms they burn there," replied Temo.

"What are we hesitating about? Let's burn all these worms to death and ruin this brain. Without the brain, the superweapon will be useless," said Zhang Bao'er.

"You're too naive, fatty. There is a terrifying number of beasts guarding the area. With the few people you have, you will die before you can even get near if you decide to attack," jeered Temo.

"Honorable Temo, do you have any good ideas that will help us approach?" asked Dodo respectfully.

"I can't think of anything for now. Dawn is near. We need to hide somewhere and wait for the next night. That would give us the time to think of something," said Temo helplessly.

While we spoke, a blue ray of light parted the horizon. Next, a yellow ray and a red ray appeared. Like a rainbow, the three rays of light brightened the world as the three stars started their ascent in the sky.

As the sky turned bright, we finally noticed a group of winged beasts in the sky and a large number of scouting droids. They seemed to be on watch duty. Directly below them was a massive building.

"Our surroundings are completely empty. The patrols in the sky can discover us at any moment. How do we hide from them?" I asked Temo.

Temo shot me a glance before shaking his head helplessly.

"Too bad we don't have enough resources with us. Otherwise, I could have printed camouflage cloaks for us," said Dodo.

Dodo's words gave me an idea.

"Dodo, we can't print anything here, but you're capable of spraying, right?" I asked.

"What? Spraying? Don't joke. Since when am I capable of that?" asked Dodo.

"I don't mean spraying in the traditional sense. I mean spraying light," I said.

"Spraying light? What in the hell are you talking about? Can you be clear?" asked Zhang Bao'er, whose curiosity was piqued by my words.

Even Temo, the ever-arrogant member of a star-level civilization, was looking at me curiously.

"Old Du, give me your backpack," I said.

Old Du did not hesitate to hand me his backpack. I placed the backpack on the ground. Then, I formed a circular morph-capable shield above it. Then, I took the scope of my gun off and faced the three rising stars with it.

"Canyue, what exactly are you doing?" asked Zhang Bao'er curiously. The others were as clueless as him.

As the three stars rose slowly, red, yellow, and blue light started approaching us. Finally, the first ray of blue landed on the scope in my hand, followed by the yellow and red rays. My scope altered the trajectory of the rays of light, sending them toward the circular shield above the backpack. And after going through the shield, the concentrated rays of light finally reached Old Du's backpack.

At the same time, I turned on my flashlight. The white ray of light went through the shield and overlapped with the red, yellow, and blue rays. At that moment, a gray reflection appeared on Old Du's black backpack.

"The colors of red, yellow, blue, and white can be combined to make something black look gray!" exclaimed Dodo in excitement.

"And gray is the natural color of this planet," said Old Du with a pensive look.

"Heh, I understand now. You planet-level folks are planning to use four different colors to create a camouflage that can hide you," said Temo.

When the others heard him, they grew excited.

"But Old Du's backpack is too small. How can it hide so many of us?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Think, Bao'er, think. The backpack is so small, can it hide anyone? Temo, can you lend us your black tarp?" I asked.

Hearing my request, Temo took out the black tarp he had used to cover the vehicle and handed it to me. The moment I took the tarp into my hand, I understood that I was holding an excellently produced item. It was big enough to cover the entire vehicle yet entirely weightless. Also, when folded, it was merely as thick as perhaps two papers stacked together.

I instructed several Wargod soldiers to help spread the tarp out. Then, I had Zhang Bao'er work with me to produce a larger shield atop the tarp. Meanwhile, Old Du and Dodo worked together to adjust two scopes and two flashlights at the correct positions to ensure the overlapped light of four colors would fall on the black tarp. When everything was done, the black tarp had become gray, providing perfect camouflage for us to hide.

"Nicely done. We can actually blend into our surroundings by using light," gasped Anxashe in admiration.

"Isn't this just mixing colors? Why are you so shocked?" said Temo, who had returned to his usual arrogant self.

At that moment, some shrieks sounded from the distance. The flying beasts seemed to have spread around to search the area, with a few heading our way.

"This is bad. The flying beasts are heading toward us!" said Sarje, who was diligently watching over the laborers.

With Sarje's warning, Anxashe propped up a corner of the tarp with an arrow. Seeing that, the other three Wargods had a look of realization as they did the same to the three other corners.

"Everyone, hide under the tarp," shouted Anxashe.

We hurriedly crawled under the tarp, people and beasts alike. Temo and I were the last ones to enter. Right after we went under the tarp, the sounds of the flying beasts resounded above us.

"Dwarf, are these flying beasts the buers you mentioned?" asked Zhang Bao'er, who was crouched in a rather odd position.

A nervous look instantly covered Temo's face as he hit Zhang Bao'er's forehead with his hand. Zhang Bao'er was about to lose his temper when a sharp screech rang out from the sky.

'Shit! These flying beasts might have extremely sensitive hearing! They must have heard Zhang Bao'er speaking!' I thought anxiously.

At that moment, I saw Temo gesturing at us to stay silent. Under the tarp, we were so nervous we didn't even dare to breathe too hard. The screeches came closer and closer, to the point I could even hear the sounds of their wings flapping. I wondered if the tarp could hide us from these beasts.

Old Du, who was crouching while facing me, made a gesture at me that meant shield. I understood his plan. He was saying that if these beasts flew low enough to knock against our shield, we would be exposed.

We waited nervously, not daring to even move. Fortunately, the screeches seemed to start going farther away after a while. Old Du nodded at me. We had probably evaded the search by sheer luck.

"Pop!" During the critical moment, someone made a sound.

Immediately, the ear-piercing screeches returned as the flying beasts flew toward us at a rapid pace.

'Shit! Looks like there's no hiding from them this time!' I thought as I gripped my gun tighter.

A few seconds later, a loud thump rang out.