Chapter 588: Return I
All the students and shooters returned obediently to their designed stronghold under Ye Chong's orders, where they awaited for further instructions. Even Jin Weidong was asked to return to the stronghold. Before this, he was asked by Ye Chong to purchase a large amount of supplies.
The warehouse was becoming the largest structure in their stronghold. It was fully stocked with supplies. Their next expedition was going to take a long time. They would most likely not return to their stronghold very soon. Ye Chong had used up all the food they had to make nutrition pills, so that they could bring more of them. Nutrition pills were not appetizing, but they were small and convenient to carry about. Besides, it provided all the energy and nutrients they needed.
As a precaution, Ye Chong made enough nutrition pills to last everyone in the warship for three years. Huge containers of nutrition pills were neatly arranged on the ship. The ship's cargo hold was also loaded with other supplies. No one knew what laid ahead of them. The better prepared they were, the more likely they would survive. Ye Chong was never one to complain about complicated preparation works.
He had also brought many top grade energy crystals to make sure they had enough power in Darkniss. Even the vastly influential Yan Family took a lot of effort to procure all the energy crystals they needed. Ye Chong paid an equivalent price for these energy crystals. However, the energy crystals still did not seem enough for him. The teardrop mineralite would be his backup power source for the warship Darkniss.
Nevertheless, he could not use up all the teardrop mineralite he had. If they really found a spatial window that led to the He Yue Galaxy, the teardrop mineralites were necessary to make the spatial window wider.
All the students had their orders. They knew that a long journey was ahead of them. These young people were very excited by the prospects. Many of them dreamed of adventuring in uncharted territories, but no one knew what their destination would be. The shooters were used to it, however. Every Level 6 shooter had their fair share of risky expeditions.
Jin Weidong and his comrades tried to glean some information from Ye Chong about the expedition, but they all failed.
In fact, they were only worried that Ye Chong would want to attack another country. Eastern Cloud was now at its peak in power; Northern Lands was prosperous; both countries were too powerful to make an enemy of. They knew exactly the kind of military strength Ye Chong had. Ye Chong had soldiers from all three countries, but Western Frost nationals were outnumbered by the other two.
They hoped that Ye Chong would not attack any of these countries. As long as Ye Chong did not attack their home countries, they would be more than willing to follow his lead. Hence, Jin Weidong and his comrades were worried that Ye Chong would choose Western Frost as his next target. After all, Ye Chong was now a man with great power, and no man in his position would be anything less than ambitious.
When all the preparations were done, Ye Chong ordered for them to depart.
They left three strongholds behind, leaving everything but some of the high precision equipment. Ye Chong never returned to these strongholds. These three abandoned strongholds were later on viewed as miracles. Shooters who ventured into Darkniss were all afraid of these three magnificent structures. Anything that tried to approach the stronghold would be killed. The overwhelming firepower was terrifying. No one knew that the strongholds were actually unoccupied. Ye Chong gave the extra supplies he had to Mei Wu. He had invited Mei Wu to join him for this expedition, but Mei Wu had politely declined.
It was only 400 years later that Darkniss was accessible to common people. The mystery behind these three strongholds were gradually unraveled then. That was another story, however, that had nothing to do with Ye Chong now.
Ye Chong's order to abandon the strongholds surprised his students. They could not understand why their commander would abandon them, considering how sturdy those buildings were and all the things they left inside. Having lived in the strongholds for so long, some of the students missed the place.
The commander's orders were to be followed to the letter, however. Building another stronghold would not be a challenge anyway. That was how the students consoled themselves. Nevertheless, they soon grew used to life on their ship.
When Jin Weidong and his comrades saw their ship heading towards the Sea of Threads, they all felt relieved. Darkniss was now Ye Chong's territory. Since the students hunted outside everyday, the animal population in Darkniss had greatly reduced. Despite the threat of these humans, the animals did not dare to migrate further inwards beyond the Sea of Threads.
The warship Darkniss flew at a low altitude, a suffocating presence in the darkness of Darkniss. The animals on the ground could not fathom what this giant being was. They laid low and trembled in fear, hiding their heads inside the fungus threads.
The Sea of Threads seemed so wide and endless. The threads swayed gently, creating an illusion of ripples in the field of colloid fungi. Harvesting works on the Sea of Threads did not seem to affect it much.
"Switch to optical view." The wide and spectacular view of the Sea of Threads came onto the screen.
Inside the warship, people gasped in awe. They had never ventured into the Sea of Threads before. Even the harvesting works were done only at the edges of the place.
Once they were inside the Sea of Threads, all connections they had with the strongholds were lost. The Sea of Threads blocked all forms of signals.
The Sea of Threads was dead quiet. There was nothing but the wide field of blue threads. As time passed, the crew became bored of this monotonous view.
Crew members in the bridge remained on duty, while the rest of the students resumed their normal routines. Warship Darkniss had all the facilities they needed. Crew members could train like they did before onboard the ship.
Of course, the ship was not fitted with any entertainment facilities, as was Ye Chong's wish.
Warship Darkniss maintained a high velocity course through the Sea of Threads. There were no obstacles in their flight path, and no wild animals to disrupt their journey.
The flight went on smoothly! It took only three days for them to clear the Sea of Threads. The colloid fungi did not interfere with the ship's flight capabilities, but they were a natural deterrent for wild animals. Since animals in Darkniss were sensitive creatures, they harboured a deep and primitive fear against the Sea of Threads, where their senses were significantly affected.
No animal had ever tried to breach the Sea of Threads. Even the six-fingered red-tailed beast had chosen the dangerous path in the crack to cross the Sea of Threads.
Once the students realized that they were out of the Sea of Threads, they felt most energetic. The students looked at the holographic screens in their rooms, curious of what was outside.
Before Matron Rui Bing and her companions arrived, no human had ever set foot into this place. Sha Ya had never heard of the place. Even the most legendary shooter in history, Lascher, had never been here before. Sha Ya studied the unending mountain ranges on the holographic screen, carried away by its magnificence.
Ye Chong followed Sang Kan's directions and direct the ship towards where they first arrived in this world.
The 10-kilometer long warship flew less than three kilometers from the ground. Seen from down below, the structure was terrifying. As the ship dragged its shadow across the earth, the wild animals ran away as fast as they could. Even the snowshade leopard made its escape without delay. The students felt proud that the powerful animal was so intimidated.
The warship did not fly too quickly, since the area was unfamiliar to them. For everyone's safety, Ye Chong decided against a speedy course towards their destination.
"Sir, we found something." A crew member reported excitedly through the comm device in Ye Chong's ear.
Ye Chong felt invigorated. They had been flying for days without anything interesting to show for. He asked promptly, "What is it?"
"We scanned the area and found no metals or energy crystals in the vicinity." The students had learned to use the word "metal", which was actually just gravstone.
"No metals or energy crystals?" Ye Chong thought to himself in puzzlement. This new place was separated from the familiar Darkniss by the Sea of Threads, but these two places were in fact not too far apart. How could there be such a huge difference in the environment? This was a qualitative distinction, not a quantitative one.
As Ye Chong considered the matter, the crew member continued, "We also found traces of mining."
"Mining?" Ye Chong opened his eyes wide. The first thought that came to him was - were there any other humans in this place?
"Link the feed here." Ye Chong ordered calmly.
Ye Chong studied the holographic screen intently. There were traces of digging on the ground, and some holes left behind. Ye Chong studied the marks and dismissed the possibility of human mining. He could not think of any human tools that would leave marks like these. The holes were uneven in width and depth. Some of them looked like they were left behind a long time ago.
Soon, a mech emerged from the warship Darkniss to collect earth samples from these holes. Analysis results soon confirmed that there was a much higher metal content in the earth compared to its surroundings. The holes must have been where metal ores were buried.
However, scanning results from their warship concluded that there were almost no metals in this place.
This might seem like a petty issue for some, since they no longer needed metals, but Ye Chong thought of a different and related problem. This was because he knew that animals like the snowshade leopards and red-tailed beasts were dependent on metals. Now that they were no metals here, they would have to find another place to survive.
Was this the reason for the invasion of the red-tailed beasts?
Ye Chong could not be sure, but he could tell that this was probably a huge contributing factor. WIthout metals and energy crystals, these animals could not live and prosper in this place.
If he was a red-tailed beast, he would definitely find a new place to call home.
However, Ye Chong could not understand how the red-tailed beasts could possibly manipulate spatial windows. It was an infinitely complicated skill. He went through his memories, and found that that might not be the case. He remembered the red-tailed beasts entering He Yue Galaxy through spatial windows, but the creatures had never used spatial windows in battle.
He remembered also the eight-fingered red-tailed beast he saw in the underground cave and the spatial window in there. Ye Chong had obtained a sizable amount of teardrop mineralites that time, and met the red-tailed beast for the very first time. That spatial window must have been a naturally occurring one.
Perhaps Aried was right. Perhaps this new place had many naturally occurring spatial windows.
Ye Chong felt excited about the implications of his deductions. If they could really find a spatial window that led to the He Yue Galaxy, he would be able to return to Mu and Shang.
In the whole wide world, only Mu and Shang, Rui Bing and a few other people meant so much to Ye Chong.
Darkniss made its slow way forward. They encountered snowshade leopards and Gold Dragons, and even stronger animals. Curiously, they did not see any red-tailed beasts. Their territories must be entirely separate from these other creatures.
Sang Kan had an excellent sense of direction. He did not even lose his way in the Red Sea, much less in a place where he had traveled through before.
On the bridge, Ye Chong stood upright before the holographic screen. Rui Bing was in her white training garb, standing quietly beside him. The students all knew of Matron Rui Bing's quiet temperament, but they respected her regardless. On the one hand, she was their commander's wife. They all heard Sang Kan referred to Rui Bing as Madam, so it was only natural for them to assume this. Besides, Ye Chong never corrected their way of addressing her. This further convinced them that they were right about Rui Bing's status.
The Matron's strength was another reason she gained respect from the students. Few knew exactly how powerful she was, but Sang Kan was easy to gauge. After all, he was always eager to train with the students. Even someone as strong as Sang Kan spoke of the Matron's abilities with great respect.
Whenever the Commander went on an important operation, he would only ever bring the Matron with him. This further increased the mystery surrounding Rui Bing.
"Sir, look!" A crew member cried out suddenly and pointed in front of them.
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