Decision

"Captain, there were no signs of a struggle nearby. The patrol was subdued in an instant," a team member reported.

A team member who was inspecting the control platform looked up. "Found it, Captain! We've located the spot where the patrol's signal last disappeared."

Where?

"One kilometer to the northwest."

"Send the coordinates to the Gunboat. Gunboat, be on alert and follow. All units, pay attention to the surrounding situation. Assemble in groups of three at the coordinates."

The patrol team's combat uniforms not only integrate a vital signs monitoring system but also a locator. The special operations Special Operations Team's operators easily located the last known location of the signal by using the historical information on the instruments left behind by the patrol team.

"Captain, there are some pressure marks here. The marks are very fresh, and they don't look like they were left by the patrol team." A team member noticed something unusual during the march. There was a faint passage in the grass, and its shape was slightly different from the ones left by the Riken Person.

"Looks like we're heading in the right direction. Everyone be careful and be ready to fight at any moment. Gunboat, watch our surroundings," the Captain ordered after glancing at the tracks.

Under the cover of Gunboat, the one-kilometer distance was covered in the blink of an eye, without encountering any attacks along the way.

"Captain, the signal disappeared in this area."

The Captain nodded and made a hand gesture, and the team immediately dispersed to carefully search the vicinity.

"Captain, the detector shows there's a cavity beneath our feet, and a cave below," a team member holding a detector suddenly shouted.

"Look around, there should be a cave entrance nearby."

"Captain, over here, there's a hole here." A team member slipped on his right foot and discovered a hole hidden in the thick grass.

The Captain instructed several team members to clear the entrance to the hole. It was a hole less than two meters in diameter, originally covered with thick weeds, so even walking on it would only result in a slight sinking sensation. If it weren't for the team member carrying a heavy weapon, they might not have even noticed it.

"Be careful, scout. Send a few Mechanical Spider down to check the situation," the Captain ordered.

The scout took out a box from his person, opened it, and several metal blocks unfolded, transforming into several Mechanical Spider over twenty centimeters in size. After a brief inspection, he connected the monitor on the control platform to the camera device on the Mechanical Spider. Once the image appeared, the Mechanical Spider jumped into the cave under his control.

The cave was pitch black and deep, but fortunately, the Mechanical Spider was equipped with infrared detectors and infrared vision, which allowed it to still provide some video footage in this environment.

Several Mechanical Spider carefully crawled through the cave, their overhead cameras rotating to transmit as much information as possible back.

As they ventured deeper into the cave, it gradually expanded. Just as everyone was concentrating intently, the screen suddenly flickered a few times and then turned into a black and white static display.

"What's going on?" the Captain asked, frowning.

"Losing the signal could mean two things: either strong magnetic interference, or something destroyed the Mechanical Spider, killing it instantly," the scout said.

"Captain, what should we do?"

For his own safety and that of his teammates, the Captain had reviewed relevant information about Big Origin Star several times beforehand.

The mission report from Hasmu's elite guard, though relatively simple, was the part he focused on studying. Because of the similarity in their troop types, he knew that the mission he would receive would have a high degree of overlap with the one Hasmu had received.

Hasmu Squad was wiped out in an Underground Cavern, and it is suspected that they detonated Tactical Nuclear Bomb they were carrying.

This made him extremely cautious when facing environments like caves at this time.

Going down there is extremely dangerous. When Hasmu Squad of 50 men went down, none of them came back. If these people go down rashly, they probably won't fare much better.

Although this Crypt may not be that dangerous, what if? You only have one life.

After much deliberation, the Captain dared not act rashly and could only report the situation to his superiors, briefly explaining his concerns.

"General, the reports from the several Special Operations Team we've dispatched are all similar. Following the trails, they all eventually found the entrance to an underground cave. The reconnaissance equipment lost contact shortly after entering. Based on previous mission experience, they are now awaiting further instructions."

Upon hearing the staff officer's report, General Masai frowned. He had reviewed the data transmitted back by the Cat Ear Spaceship dozens of times, but the Cat Ear Spaceship had only been attacked at the very end after operating and exploring the planet for several years. Why were they being attacked so frequently when it was their turn?

Based on the principle that many hands make light work, an emergency operational meeting was convened, with numerous captains and staff officers in attendance for a heated discussion.

"Could there be a civilized race hiding underground?"

"It doesn't seem likely. If they did, why would they ignore the satellites overhead?"

"That makes sense. The Cat Ear Spaceship was attacked in the outer orbit of T855, which means the attackers had space travel capabilities."

"Could it be that two civilizations arose in this galaxy? One in T855, and one in T853?"

"I don't see it that way. If a civilized race exists on T853, not only would it be a satellite, but also a fusion-reaction monster wouldn't allow it to exist."

"Perhaps that monster is a product of this civilization!"

"Speaking of which, where did that monster go?"

"It's probably dormant somewhere. Our satellites have marked several suspicious locations, but unfortunately we haven't had time to check them out yet."

"Didn't our experts speculate that the monster came from ancient times? Could it be that more strange species survived, and one of them is in a dormant state? And the battle with the Cat Ear Spaceship awakened them?" a captain suggested.

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent, secretly considering this line of thought, and the meeting became quiet for a moment.

"This possibility cannot be ruled out."

"And this possibility is quite high, making it even more convincing."

"If that's the case, then this awakened species must be one that reproduces extremely quickly. Our bases are spread across five continents, yet they were attacked almost simultaneously."

"So, you're saying they also have remote collaborative capabilities?"

"How could such a creature exist?"

"Why is that impossible? There are even life forms capable of fusion reactions, so what's impossible about remote coordination? Our Riken Star had such life forms back then, it's just that the coordination range wasn't this large."

"I can attest to this. There is a historical record of a similar creature that possessed eusocial characteristics, but it later became extinct. However, their influence typically only extended to a few kilometers."

"If that's the case, then this creature would be far more difficult to deal with than that mobile Nuclear Bomb."

"What's the point of guessing here? I suggest we concentrate our forces and first capture an underground passage to see what's hidden inside."

"That makes sense, I second that!"

"..."

"But our forces can't be deployed effectively, and having more men doesn't offer any advantage."

"We still need to send an elite team in."

"In that case, why don't we just dig it up? We brought a lot of heavy machinery with us this time to terraform the planet."

"I think it's a good idea, I second that."

I second that.

I second that.

"..."