Huff... huff!
Realizing that they had left the Main Universe and actually set foot in the rainforest of an unknown planet, Sanderson's breathing grew slightly more rapid.
Although Sanderson and his teammates, as the company's Advance Team, had been selected as elites from among retired soldiers across the entire company and even the world, it was impossible to say he wasn't nervous at all in a situation like this.
Yet Sanderson's condition remained unaffected.
After a brief survey of the surroundings, Sanderson quickly moved forward as planned, crouching about fifteen meters from the Space Gate while maintaining a five-meter distance from his two teammates.
Immediately afterward, all the Advance Team members stationed in the Relic Base passed through the Space Gate and arrived in this alien rainforest.
"Huh... This isn't Earth, is it?"
In the lower-left corner of his visor, his teammate nicknamed Scarecrow asked over the squad's communications channel.
"Atmospheric pressure is 0.9, gravity is 0.8g, and carbon dioxide levels exceed 18%. That's only the rough scan from our individual systems. What do you think?" Soap replied first.
"Stay alert." The squad leader, whose nickname and surname were both Price, did not seem to have much of a sense of humor. The moment he passed through the Space Gate, he issued an order:
"Roach and Soap, you two are a team. Scout toward our ten o'clock direction. Ghost and Zero, you two take the two o'clock direction and try to find an open area in this rainforest, but remember—don't get greedy.
"The rest of you, establish a defensive position here and begin setting up a wired communications base station. We need to establish real-time contact with the base as soon as possible."
"Understood," Soap, Ghost, and the rest of the Advance Team answered in unison, except for Sanderson.
"..." Sanderson, focused on whether there were any threats nearby, merely nodded in acknowledgment.
After that.
Four Advance Team members equipped with mechanical exoskeletons placed large equipment cases on the ground, unlatched them, and began setting up the Wired Base Station.
After sending two small drones into the air, Price and the remaining five team members sought advantageous terrain and stood by, establishing overlapping fields of fire to ensure the Wired Base Station could be constructed without interruption.
As for Sanderson, he followed Soap, who outranked him by one rank, and began scouting toward the Space Gate's front left.
"..."
By then, Sanderson had already lowered his heart rate to between sixty and seventy. Holding the modular prototype rifle the company had developed based on the AR rifle platform, he advanced steadily.
However, after he and Soap had walked nearly a hundred meters and the Space Gate had long vanished from sight...
"Guh...! ...Guh!"
The cries of unknown animals suddenly rang out. Sanderson immediately disengaged the safety, heightened his vigilance, and aimed his rifle toward the source.
Soap also raised his weapon and reminded him, "Wait for my command before opening fire. Don't expose us too early."
"..." Sanderson gave a slight nod to show that he understood.
"Guh guh!!"
Rustle! Rustle!
The sounds became increasingly distinct, and the unknown animals drew ever closer. At last, they quickly pushed through the dense foliage and entered the pair's field of view.
They were a group of blue "monkeys," each about one and a half meters long and remarkably nimble-looking.
Seeing them, Sanderson finally took his index finger off the trigger.
At the same time, his visor HUD automatically locked onto one of the "monkeys" and magnified the image, allowing him to observe it more closely.
They had one pair of eyes, three pairs of limbs, and squirrel-like skin membranes—or gliding sails—along both sides of their bodies. This allowed them not only to climb and swing quickly, but also to glide briefly from branch to branch.
In just a few seconds, the group of blue monkeys swept over their heads and disappeared into the forest.
After confirming that the threat had temporarily passed, Soap lowered his rifle and crouched beside the roots of a massive tree. Looking at the blue beetles crawling through the soil, then at the many blue-and-pink plants nearby, he smiled and said:
"The creatures and plants on this planet seem to love blue. I wonder if there are blue people here too? And I wonder whether they even have males and females."
"..." Sanderson shrugged, indicating that he did not care.
"Forgot you're the quiet type. Fine, let's go."
Soap rose with little interest and moved several paces ahead, continuing the scouting mission alongside Sanderson.
Over the next few minutes, the two encountered creatures that looked like horses, except they were more than twice the size of Earth horses and likewise possessed three pairs of legs.
Based solely on the information they had gathered so far, it seemed that things on this planet were, on average, two to three times larger than those on Earth.
Fortunately, the creatures they encountered were fairly docile and showed little aggression, so there was no need to retreat or call for support.
However, several types of insects crawling through the soil showed signs of trying to bore through their protective suits. It seemed that rainforest environments were not particularly friendly to humans, no matter the planet.
At that moment.
The two drones flying above the treetops also shared their live footage, displaying it beside the Miniature Radar in the upper-left corner of their visors.
Through the drones' view, Sanderson and Soap saw a vast open area roughly four hundred meters ahead of them.
"Move."
"..."
The two quickened their pace through the dense forest. Sunlight filtering through the leaves "split" the rainforest into strips, making their eyes slightly uncomfortable.
Squinting, they passed through the edge of the forest.
Once they reached the open area without obstruction, everything suddenly opened up before them.
Except...
"Holy shit!"
The sight before them made even Soap, who disliked swearing, unable to suppress his exclamation.
They had arrived at the edge of a barren, desolate cliff. Looking into the distance, they discovered that the "mountains" below the precipice...
Were several peaks floating in midair, entwined around one another!
Stepping a little farther forward and looking down, they could see spreading mist and another rainforest at a lower elevation.
Looking up.
Besides the star providing daylight for this planet, there was also a gas giant occupying nearly one-fifth of the sky, indirectly explaining why the sunlight here was somewhat excessive.
As combat personnel, Sanderson and Soap possessed far less technical and scientific knowledge than the researchers, but they still could not help marveling inwardly at the wonders of the universe.
"The wired communications base station has been established. Testing is underway..." At that moment, Price's voice once again sounded over the squad channel. "Testing complete. Soap, Roach, Ghost, Zero, immediately share your visor feeds with command."
Hearing that.
The two stopped admiring the alien scenery and transmitted their recorded footage to the Relic Base in the Main Universe through the Wired Base Station.
The rest was for the technical staff and researchers to worry about. They were only responsible for scouting and fighting.
(End of chapter)