Gu Ding had only taken virology for one semester. When the virology professor suddenly resigned, the military academy had been unable to recruit another virology teacher, and the course had simply been abandoned.
Later, Gu Ding had heard some rumors about that teacher. Supposedly, that unremarkable little old man had once been quite famous in the Universe Sea. Gu Ding had always treated such rumors as mere gossip and never taken them seriously.
To him, the little old man's identity was unimportant. What mattered was that after attending his classes, Gu Ding, who had previously had no interest whatsoever in virology, had developed a strong interest in it. Even after the academy canceled the course, he would occasionally go to the library to look up materials related to virology.
And virology was a branch of pharmacology, so Gu Ding was not opposed to becoming a pharmacist either.
Hearing Gu Ding's reminder, Sea Emperor fell silent for a moment. "I suspected that too, but there's no information on this kind of virus in my database. The closest one is codenamed X. It was used as a biological weapon in a certain ancient biological civilization. It could greatly increase the strength of Virus Infected and evolve by devouring genetic fragments. It also encompassed all DNA and RNA viruses, yet they did not attack each other. But judging from these fish, they seem to want to devour every living thing they see, even members of their own kind."
"Some scientists from that ancient biological civilization believed that viruses instinctively possessed an awareness of survival and expansion, so infected hosts of the same virus generally did not violate one another. But these fish in the sea are devouring each other like this, which would undoubtedly cut off the virus's chances of expanding on a large scale and even destroy its own viability. That's why I didn't initially think they had been infected by a virus," Sea Emperor continued. "But aside from viral infection, there's no other explanation for this madness. No matter what, this planet definitely isn't a safe landing point. You should put on your armor. It'll be safer."
Gu Ding summoned his armor and wrapped himself up tightly. In an unknown situation like this, even though he was usually rather carefree, he knew he had to be cautious now.
A moment later, Sea Emperor's voice came again, this time carrying a trace of delight. "I just received some good news."
"Don't tell me the Interstellar Storm has stopped?" Gu Ding guessed uncertainly.
"No. How could it be that fast? You're overthinking it." Sea Emperor kept him in suspense before continuing, "Although communications outside the planet are blocked, I just tried connecting to the planet's internal network and actually got through."
"Are you sure you didn't make a mistake? This Gray Star Region is close to the Tianhe Star Region and has been abandoned for more than fifty years. That means there hasn't been a human on this planet for at least fifty years. How could there still be a network?"
"If this planet's technology was advanced enough and its use of solar energy had reached a sufficient level, let alone fifty years, it could potentially last even five hundred years." Sea Emperor felt that Gu Ding was underestimating the power of technology. "And fortunately, among the machines still operating, one is the mainframe of a Science Laboratory. It contains not only a great deal of old research data, but also all surveillance records from recent years concerning these Virus Infected creatures on the planet."
"What I really want to know is whether there are any intact ships on this planet." Gu Ding was also thinking that if there was an intact ship here, he would not need to wait for the Federal Government to send someone to rescue him. After all, he was now an Interstellar Pirate, even if he did not have so much as half a Star Coin on his head.
Thinking about his bounty made Gu Ding feel somewhat depressed. He had only left Deep Sea Star a few days ago, yet he had already ended up in this godforsaken place. Forget about doing something grand enough to shock the Federal Government—he did not even know when he would be able to leave.
"There's a Ship Factory near the port. But your top priority is to get onto land as quickly as possible. According to the surveillance records, there's something extremely terrifying in the sea, with combat power at least comparable to a Fifth Order Gene Body, perhaps even close to that of a Sixth-Order Gene Body warrior." Sea Emperor did not seem particularly anxious as he said this. "However, that thing fears light and usually does not come out during the day. Once night falls, though, your situation will become very dangerous."
"How long until nightfall?" Gu Ding knew his own limits. Even with the combat boost from the Limitless Body Technique and his armor, he was only comparable to a Second-Order Gene Body warrior. Against a Third-Order Gene Body, he basically had no chance of winning. As for Fourth-Order and above, there was a high chance he would be killed instantly. No matter what kind of monster was in this sea, as long as it possessed combat power comparable to a Fifth Order Gene Body, his survival rate would be infinitely close to zero.
"This planet takes approximately seventy hours to complete one rotation. Daytime lasts forty hours, and there are roughly thirty-five hours left before darkness falls." Sea Emperor had already grasped most of the planet's basic information. "The closest coastline is about two thousand kilometers to the southeast. Your luck isn't bad. The Escape Pod has just enough energy left to get you to sea level. Traveling across the water, you should reach shore in about ten hours."
Gu Ding looked around and realized that on this planet, he could not even tell east from west or north from south. He scratched his head. "Then I'll have to rely on you. By the way, does this planet rotate from west to east too?"
"That's right, so the star appears in the east every morning." Sea Emperor knew that Gu Ding asked because he was completely unable to distinguish directions. He controlled the Escape Pod and sped toward the southeast, cutting a long white trail across the sea.
Those ten hours felt extraordinarily long to Gu Ding. The Escape Pod's interior was limited in space, so he could only lie inside without moving. At such high speed, if his body was not secured, he could easily be flung out.
Other than its bottom, the Escape Pod was transparent on every side. Along the way, Gu Ding saw all kinds of fish, nearly all of them in frenzied and savage states. Quite a few were even larger than the Escape Pod. Upon seeing it, they gave chase like madmen, only giving up after being left far behind.
After enduring ten long hours, Gu Ding finally heard Sea Emperor's voice again from inside the Escape Pod. "We've reached the shore."
Gu Ding opened the hatch and sat up, letting out a long breath. "Finally."
"All of the Escape Pod's energy has been used up. You'll have to rely on your own two feet for the rest of the journey." Sea Emperor brought another piece of bad news.
"About how far is that ship factory from here?" Gu Ding knew it was time to train his stamina.
"A little over six hundred kilometers." Sea Emperor gave an estimate. "I've seen your physical fitness test results. You can cover one hundred kilometers in five hours, but afterward, you need at least half an hour of rest to recover your stamina. Adding the various situations you may encounter along the way, it will take you at least two days to arrive."
After putting the food and water into his Storage Space, Gu Ding began sprinting in the direction Sea Emperor indicated.
(I'm sorry, brothers and sisters. I've let you down. I padded out another chapter, and it came so late too. I've really been stuck badly. The main outline for this section is done, but filling in the details is so difficult. Although there are viruses involved, it won't turn into an apocalypse novel, so you can rest assured. I'll do my best to finish the second chapter soon, though it will probably be after midnight, so don't wait up. Tomorrow's first chapter will probably be delayed until noon.)
Before you continue