Alien Scenery

"Hoo... hoo!"

Sensing that they had left the main universe and were now standing firmly within the rainforest of an unknown planet, Sanderson's breathing quickened slightly.

Although Sanderson and his teammates were elites selected from the entire company and even from retired soldiers worldwide to serve as the company's vanguard, it was impossible to say he wasn't nervous given the circumstances.

Yet, Sanderson's state remained unaffected.

After a brief, sweeping observation, Sanderson followed the plan, stepping forward quickly to crouch about 15 meters from the portal, maintaining a five-meter distance from his two teammates.

Immediately after, all the vanguard members within the ruin base passed through the portal, arriving in this alien rainforest.

"Whoa... this isn't Earth, is it?"

In the bottom-left corner of his visor, his comrade, nicknamed Scarecrow, asked over the squad's communication channel.

"Nine atmospheres of pressure, 8g of gravity, carbon dioxide content over 18%—that's just the rough scan from our individual systems. What do you think?" Soap responded first.

"Stay alert." The team leader, whose nickname and surname were both Price, seemed to lack a sense of humor. After passing through the portal, he immediately issued orders:

"Roach, Soap, you two group up and scout toward the 10 o'clock position from our current location. Ghost, Zero, you two take 2 o'clock. Try to find an open area in this rainforest, but remember, don't get greedy.

The rest of you, establish a defensive perimeter here and begin setting up the wired communication base station. We need to establish real-time contact with the base as soon as possible."

"Understood." Except for Sanderson, Soap, Ghost, and the entire vanguard responded in unison.

Sanderson, focusing his attention on whether there were any nearby threats, simply nodded to indicate he understood.

Next.

The four vanguard members equipped with mechanical exoskeletons placed the large equipment cases on the ground, opened the latches, and began setting up the wired base station.

Price and the remaining five members, after releasing two small drones into the air, sought out favorable terrain to stand by, establishing crossfire points to ensure the construction of the wired base station proceeded smoothly.

As for Sanderson, he followed Soap, who was one rank higher than him, to begin scouting toward the front-left of the portal.

At this moment, Sanderson had already lowered his heart rate to between 60 and 70 beats per minute, moving steadily while holding the modular prototype rifle developed by the company based on the AR series.

However, when he and Soap had walked nearly a hundred meters and the portal had long since vanished from their line of sight...

"Goo...! ...Goo!"

The cries of unknown animals erupted suddenly, causing Sanderson to immediately disengage the safety, heighten his vigilance, and aim his muzzle toward the source of the sound.

Soap also raised his rifle to aim, reminding him, "Wait for my command before firing. Don't expose ourselves too early."

Sanderson nodded slightly to show he understood.

"Goo-goo!!"

Rustle! Rustle!

The movement became increasingly distinct, and the unknown animals drew closer, finally darting through the dense foliage and appearing in their field of vision.

It was a group of blue "monkeys," about a meter and a half long, looking extremely agile.

Seeing this, Sanderson moved his index finger away from the trigger.

At the same time, his visor's HUD automatically locked onto one of the "monkeys," magnifying the image to allow for a more careful observation.

They had one pair of eyes, three pairs of limbs, and skin flaps—or sails—on both sides of their bodies similar to those of a flying squirrel on Earth, allowing them not only to climb and swing rapidly but also to glide briefly between branches.

In just a few seconds, the group of blue monkeys swept over their heads and vanished into the dense forest.

Confirming that the threat had temporarily passed, Soap lowered his muzzle and crouched beside the roots of a giant tree. Watching a blue beetle crawling on the soil and looking at the numerous blue and pink plants nearby, he laughed:

"The creatures and plants on this planet seem to love the color blue. I wonder if there are blue people? And I wonder if they distinguish between male and female."

Sanderson shrugged, indicating he didn't care.

"Forgot you're a stone-faced mute. Never mind, let's go."

Soap stood up, bored, and took a few steps ahead, coordinating with Sanderson to continue the scouting mission.

Over the next few minutes, the two encountered creatures that looked like horses but were more than twice the size of those on Earth, and they also possessed three pairs of limbs.

Based on the information they had gathered so far, it seemed that the scale of things on this planet was two to three times higher than the average on Earth.

Fortunately, the creatures they encountered were relatively gentle and not very aggressive, meaning they didn't need to retreat or call for support.

However, among the insects crawling on the soil, a few species showed an intent to burrow through their protective suits. It seemed that no matter the planet, any rainforest environment was not particularly friendly to humans.

At this moment.

The two drones flying above the forest shared the real-time footage they had captured, displaying it next to the miniature radar in the top-left corner of their visors.

Through the drone's perspective, Sanderson and Soap saw that about four hundred meters ahead of them, there was an extremely open area.

"Let's go."

The two quickened their pace through the dense forest, seeing the rainforest "divided" by rays of sunlight piercing through the leaves, which made their eyes feel slightly uncomfortable.

Squinting, they passed through the edge.

After arriving at the open area without obstruction, everything seemed to suddenly widen before them.

Just...

"Holy shit!"

The mere sight before them was enough to make even Soap, who rarely cursed, unable to hold back his exclamation.

Because they had arrived at the edge of a bare, barren cliff, and as they gazed into the distance, they discovered that the "surrounding mountains" beneath the precipice were...

Several mountain peaks floating in mid-air, winding around one another!

Walking a little further forward and looking down, one could see mist permeating the air and another rainforest situated on lower terrain.

Looking up.

Aside from the star providing daylight to this planet, there was also a gas giant occupying nearly one-fifth of the sky, which explained why the sunlight here was somewhat excessive.

As combat personnel, Sanderson and Soap lacked the extensive knowledge base of the technical and research staff, but they too could not help but secretly marvel at the wonders of the universe and nature.

"Wired communication base station established, testing in progress..." Just then, Price's voice rang out once more over the team channel. "Test complete. Soap, Roach, Ghost, Zero, share your visor feeds with the command center immediately."

Upon hearing this.

The two stopped admiring the alien scenery and transmitted the footage they had captured to the ruins base in the main universe via the wired base station.

The rest was for the technical and research staff to worry about; they were only responsible for reconnaissance and combat.