Chapter 300: The Eerie Colony
Twelve days later, the expeditionary fleet arrived in the Red Dust Star system.
Each ship released carbon nanotube cables, and by assisting and towing each other, they managed to decelerate, entering Red Dust Star's synchronous orbit, and then continuously lowering their altitude to a near-surface orbit.
Red Dust Star is an iron-red, barren planet orbiting a K-type red main-sequence star. Its environment is very similar to Mars in reality, but its volume is much larger than Mars, with a radius exceeding 8,000 kilometers. Its atmosphere contains almost no oxygen, and its gravity is 1.4 times that of Earth.
“Executive Officer, ground photography has been completed.”
Jubian skillfully completed the standard exploration procedure.
The photos were then displayed on the holographic nautical chart table in front of Lu Yuan, automatically generating a 3D model.
“The facilities look quite intact—”
Xian Yu stroked his chin.
“Look, this is the residential area, these should be processing plants, this is the radar station, and there are even anti-aircraft missile emplacements. There are no signs of damage, which is indeed a bit unusual.”
“Have any distress signals been detected nearby?” Lu Yuan asked.
“No,” the communications officer replied.
“Our radar stealth has failed. Since the radar station below is intact, they should have seen us by now. Did they not actively send a request for identity confirmation?”
“Absolutely not. Down there—it’s dead silent!”
“Alright,” Lu Yuan said, “then let’s actively hail them. Everyone, prepare for landing.”
“Yes!”
The female player serving as the communications officer cleared her throat.
“—Calling Red Dust Star Mining Colony, this is the Cangyuan Future Technology fleet, requesting to land.”
Lu Yuan had prepared for no response, but to his surprise, as soon as the communications officer finished speaking, a reply came immediately from the ground.
“You may land. Please follow the ground optical indicators and descend to Landing Zone One.”
“They’ve been watching the radar screen and communications device the whole time!” Ye Xing, who had been temporarily summoned, turned his head from the second radar operator’s position. “What does that mean?”
“Playing dead, hoping we’re just passing through,” Caoyuan a Caoyuan said lightly. “But at the same time, they don’t seem too worried about us being aggressive. Is it because Cangyuan Future Technology’s good reputation has spread?”
“No. I think, from an outsider’s perspective, we are a rather ‘belligerent’ force,” Xian Yu shook his head. “The other party gives me the feeling that they simply don’t care.”
“Who wouldn’t care about their own safety?”
“Good question—”
“Let’s go down and see.”
Lu Yuan made up his mind.
“Raise the alert level to yellow. Everyone put on power armor or power soft armor. Unless there’s a special need, do not take it off.” “Yes!”
“Launch the carrier-based aircraft to provide full escort during the landing. After landing, remain vigilant, but in your words and actions, still show basic courtesy to the hosts.”
Because all the landing attitude control engines had been fully repaired on the way, and the weather above the mining base was relatively clear, there were no technical difficulties with the landing.
However, because the warship’s thermal insulation shell was damaged, to avoid destructive high temperatures caused by intense friction with the air during high-speed flight, a conventional landing attitude could not be used.
Each ship could only descend slowly at subsonic speed, with its “tail” facing down, and its main engines, which were still operational, fully engaged to counteract gravity.
For a nuclear-powered ship equipped with a Zero Element Furnace, the additional fuel consumption caused by this “stunt” was negligible; it just meant that the landing time would extend from the usual ten-odd minutes to over an hour and a half.
Finally, the fleet passed through the light brown planetary atmosphere and settled smoothly onto the flat, solid ground.
“Arrival! It’s time to start the event, time to start the event!”
“Woohoo~ Let’s go!”
Each ship dispatched its Investigators and Soldier players, as well as higher-level Sailor players, to form a 30-person advance ground investigation team.
Caoyuan a Caoyuan played the role of the leader, while the Executive Officer himself mingled among them, disguised as an ordinary employee.
Beep beep!
In the distance, an electric off-road vehicle drove across the lifeless red wasteland, honking its horn as it approached, finally stopping in front of the investigation team.
Five locals got out of the car. The one in the lead wore a blue and white, very administrative-looking, but rather bulky hardshell spacesuit.
Inside the helmet, a spotlight illuminated an old-fashioned middle-aged man’s face with ginger-yellow hair and a high forehead. His beard looked like it hadn’t been trimmed in a while.
“Varuyev, Chief Engineer, General Manager.”
The other party introduced himself in the simplest possible way, with a stern face.
“What do you need?”
Not even a welcome?—He has a bit of a bad temper.
Normally, Lu Yuan liked pragmatic people, but at this moment, the other party’s extreme pragmatism made him feel a little strange and uncomfortable.
“Hello, Chief Engineer Va!” Caoyuan a Caoyuan stepped forward. “We need to repair our warships. We heard that you have workshops and equipment here, and we hope to rent them. The price is negotiable.”
For this long journey, the fleet brought 3 billion electronic encrypted credit points, and more could be sent from the branch if needed.
The Chief Engineer stared directly at Cangyuan Future Technology’s five warships, pondering in place for a full ten seconds.
Then, his head slowly turned back to Caoyuan a Caoyuan.
“Understood. I will arrange for people to allocate the resources you need as quickly as possible.”
“That’s excellent! Thank you for your assistance!” Caoyuan a Caoyuan handed over a pad. “This contains the components your side needs to manufacture, along with relevant technical specifications.”
“Hmm—”
Chief Engineer Va merely glanced at it.
“You need to repair warship armor and engines? Nothing else needs repairing? If you only repair the stealth profile and don’t re-patch the coating, the stealth effect will also drop significantly.” Before the fleet set sail, it carried a considerable reserve of materials for emergency repairs.
This included several machines for spraying stealth coatings and anti-laser plating, which were also crammed into the simple repair workshop of the “Wuyi” class, leaving no space for repairing carrier-based aircraft.
Important equipment and precision components damaged in battle, as well as various coatings on the outer surface of the armor, could be slowly repaired on the way.
Only those large components, whose size exceeded the limitations of small 3D printers—even if small parts were printed first and then precision welded—would simply not be completed in time.
Of course, there was no need for outsiders to know such details.
“No need. Approximately how many days will it take to complete? Please make it as soon as possible!”
Chief Engineer Va again stood silently in place, thinking for a moment.
“That depends on how much you are willing to pay. If you are willing to rent all the integrated forging and additive manufacturing equipment in the base, it will take two days, 11 hours, and 35 minutes.”
After a brief silence, Black Smoke asked, “Can we discuss the details at your base?”
“Of course.”
Chief Engineer Va readily agreed, then performed a standard 180-degree turn and led the way.
The four accompanying individuals returned to the vehicle without needing to communicate, driving back.
The members of the ground exploration team remained silent.
At this moment, these experts had all noticed something amiss.
The pad displayed by Caoyuan a Caoyuan didn’t say “we need to repair armor and engines”; it merely listed hundreds of component names, approximate specifications, and required raw materials.
That Chief Engineer named Varuyev, after looking for less than a second, was actually able to analyze what they could be assembled into, and precisely calculate the working hours down to the minute?
Okay, even if this was because he had bionic eyes with automatic scanning and analysis functions.
But what was that just now?
Leading guests, he didn’t need to tell his companions, “You guys drive back first”?
That should be common courtesy, right?
Even if these few people were old acquaintances and had an extraordinary level of tacit understanding, it was certain that they did not frequently receive outside visitors here.
Even a team with the highest level of tacit understanding, when doing something unfamiliar or receiving unfamiliar guests, would definitely need to communicate with each other!
Besides that, the other party’s demeanor and actions also had an indescribably awkward quality.
Lu Yuan silently walked to the front of the team, discreetly raising his pad behind his back.
The pad read: “Team communication: high-intensity quantum encryption activated” and “Do not use the loudspeaker to speak casually.”
High-intensity quantum encryption would introduce a 500 to 1000 millisecond decryption delay to in-team radio voice, making it unsuitable during combat. The benefit was complete assurance against eavesdropping.
Currently, Chief Engineer Va could at most sense that the guests behind him were whispering, but he would absolutely not be able to know the content of their conversation.
【Jin Yi Ye Xing】: “What’s wrong with these people? Are they all psionics?”
【Bei Hai Xian Yu】: “Or maybe they just have brainwave-emitting prosthetics installed.”
【Jin Yi Ye Xing】: “But this kind of external brain prosthetic is a Star Alliance cutting-edge product, very expensive! If they could afford it, they wouldn’t come to such a remote place to mine, would they? Are they enduring hardship unnecessarily?”
【Shenceng Jubian】: “Ye Xing is right. It makes sense for the Chief Engineer to be equipped, it might be a company perk. But if the other four also have them, then something is off. I’ve researched this; it’s very rare in the Star Alliance, and some core components can only come from archaeological excavations.”
【Fang Xue Hou Tian Tai Jian】: “Agreed. If it were me, I’d take off the prosthetic and sell it in a heartbeat to live a carefree life.”
【Caoyuan a Caoyuan】: “Also, Chief Engineer Varuyev didn’t mention anything about being out of contact here, nor did he ask us to send a distress signal, which indicates they don’t wish to re-establish contact with the outside world. And they seem completely unconcerned about our weapons.”
【Nan Guo de Xue】: “As a 10-year veteran of horror games, I’m already smelling the scent of a strange plot.”
【Old Man Emitting Black Smoke】: “Hiss—let’s not, my heart isn’t good at my age.”
【Jin Yi Ye Xing】: “Should we just scan that Varuyev?”
【Executive Officer】: “No. I feel it’s very likely he would notice, and it’s hard to predict what changes that might cause. Let’s ensure the warships are repaired first.”
Twenty minutes later, the group entered the pyramid-shaped living quarters building.
The interior space here wasn’t cramped, but everything looked very old. The safety warning signs on the walls were rusty, and the painted slogans were almost unreadable.
In the corridor, all security cameras rotated silently, their gaze following the team closely.
“The conditions here are much better than on our ship!” Ye Xing said, lying without changing his expression. “Can we move in tonight, Chief Engineer? I’ll pay extra!”
Chief Engineer Va thought for two seconds and said, “There are a few empty rooms, but the fee will be very high.”
“No problem, we have money.”
“...Alright then. The restaurant is ahead. We’ll discuss the repairs there.”
The restaurant door opened.
Inside was a wide hall where hundreds of miners were relaxing, chatting, playing cards, and passing the time, occasionally laughing and cursing.
Finally seeing a scene full of life and encountering humans more normal than the Chief Engineer, the players’ tense spirits finally relaxed a bit.
Only Ye Xing and the Executive Officer were exceptions.
Both, by coincidence, looked back at the restaurant door.
This was not a very thick airtight door; its soundproofing was limited and could not block the two pairs of ears with the highest perception attributes in Cangyuan Future Technology.
Lu Yuan was certain that before the door opened, the restaurant had been completely silent.
“Please.”
The Chief Engineer led everyone to the leadership dining area, where the seats were more comfortable.
Along the way, Lu Yuan observed the location of the food service counter and, based on the flow of the entire space, found a chair that should have the highest daily usage rate in the entire restaurant but was currently empty.
While no one else was paying attention, he lightly brushed his fingertip across it, picking up a layer of dust from the seat.
No one had sat here for a long time...
Either the miners here had some taboo about this chair, or they didn’t need to eat.