The temperature was cold, and the surrounding area was full of jagged rocks and a barren gray surface with craters everywhere. The spaceship in outer space served as a guide. Han Xiao led the two of them in this direction. Although the gravity of this planet was high, it had little effect on Grade B superhumans. After trekking for a while, they saw the wreckage of a spaceship ahead.
This is the Goddora research vessel. Its pale gold hull is covered with black dust, and the hull is twisted due to the impact. A trench hundreds of meters long is dragged behind it, with various spaceship parts scattered around, indicating that it slid for a while after crashing.
"Hmm... completely silent, no trace of thermal imaging. I think we should go check it out," Melos said, glancing at the tactical screen.
"Oh, thank you for suggesting something nobody thought of." Han Xiao rolled his eyes.
Melos shrugged. "You're getting softer and softer. I always feel like you're targeting me."
I am only polite to strangers.
"I'm truly flattered." Melos sighed, then changed the subject, clicking his tongue and saying, "Your mecha has quite a few functions."
"What, the armor your brother left you doesn't have these functions?"
"Ha, my brother knows me too well. He knows I don't like those fancy features, so he tailored this mech to maximize my combat performance. How strong the enemy is, we'll find out after one hit, what's the point of analysis?" Melos said. "Speaking of which, those people at home have been studying my armor for a year. I even gave them my brother's laptop. They should have made some progress. How about we go back and get the armor sometime?"
Han Xiao said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to be able to offer such reliable advice."
Melos: "..."
I really want to draw my sword, but I have to keep smiling.
While casually chatting, the three arrived at the wreckage. It was a small to medium-sized research vessel with several decks, over ten meters high. More details came into view. There was a large hole in the side of the hull, and the hatches were still closed. Han Xiao peeked into the cabin; it was pitch black inside, with no light. It seemed the system was basically paralyzed.
"Go in and see if there are any survivors or corpses," Han Xiao said. Although he remembered the details of the mission, the time period was wrong, and he didn't know if there had been any subtle changes.
After walking around the cabin, Han Xiao found it empty. He switched to the tracking interface and found some messy footprints. Extracting the latest traces, he discovered that these people's activity range had not left the spaceship, and there were also traces of dragging people on the floor of some rooms.
"Yes, it's obvious the shield didn't completely protect them. Some people fainted, and all the footprints remained on the spaceship, as if everyone vanished into thin air. The hatch was closed, meaning the hole was caused by something else. It seems this planet has some special life forms, which should be the reason for the crew's disappearance."
Han Xiao spoke fluently. He walked around the scene and did a simple investigation. The situation was not much different from the mission in his previous life, so he was immediately relieved. Since his intelligence attribute had been increasing, he found that his memory had also improved, and some memories that had been blurred had become clear.
The mission evaluation depends on the investigation results, so although Han Xiao knew the location of the BOSS, he was in no hurry to go there. He went to the spaceship's main control room, found the intelligent system host, and manually Restart the spaceship system.
Buzz--
The spaceship jolted violently, and all the rooms inside lit up.
"Restart complete, self-check in progress... Damage rate 72%, most equipment malfunctioning, fuel leak, energy remaining 3%, initiating advanced energy-saving mode..."
Han Xiao pressed a few buttons. "Start shipboard recording."
"Insufficient energy, application rejected."
Switch to manual mode.
Please verify the investigator's ID number.
Han Xiao thought for a moment, opened his communicator, searched through the memo for a while, and entered Kerlodd's ID number.
"Connecting to headquarters database... Connection failed, signal is under unknown interference. Connecting to local database... Connection successful, authenticating... Authentication failed, this ID is not on the ship's crew roster."
"Goddora's operating system is garbage."
Han Xiao's lips twitched. He simply removed the main unit's casing and pulled out the smart chip, thinking he could bring the chip back to the space station as well.
They dismantled the various core components of the spaceship; bringing these back would improve their evaluation. Then, the three of them walked out of the cabin, where there were no more valuable clues.
Melos hesitated, "If the crew was captured by some kind of life form, but there are no traces of any living thing outside, then that unknown creature must be able to fly, right? How do we find it?"
Han Xiao touched the edge of the hole; it was covered with a layer of ice crystals. He said, "The other parts of the spaceship aren't frozen, only this part shows signs of freezing. The moisture came from that creature. The temperature here is so low; if there's a water source, it's probably a geothermal hot spring, likely underground. It's probably been used as a nest by that creature..."
Melos's eyes lit up. "Those investigators might still be alive?"
"I don't know either," Han Xiao said dismissively. "There's another spaceship wreck nearby, let's go take a look."
The wreckage of the second research vessel was quickly found. It was also deserted, but the traces were different this time. There were messy footprints on the outside of the spacecraft, and even signs of a battle. This vessel belonged to the second group of investigators, who were stronger. So after the crash, they still had the power to fight back, but the result was obvious: they were all defeated.
"There were more traces of ice on the ground, but no frozen blood, so no one should have died. There were very few signs of a struggle; clearly, the investigators were completely outmatched."
After examining the clues, Han Xiao expertly dismantled all the core components of the spaceship and then said, "Let's go, I roughly know where that creature is."
Following the route he remembered, Han Xiao led the two forward quickly without stopping. The normal way would be to collect more clues nearby to find the BOSS's lair, and even then, they might not find it, which would result in a lower mission evaluation. In his previous life, there were more spaceship wreckage, which meant more clues. Now, the number of clues was several times less, which was a disadvantage, but he didn't need to go through that trouble. He went directly to the location he remembered.
Soon, they found a hidden cave at the bottom of the inner circle of a crater. There were signs of excavation. The entrance was about four or five meters wide and not too narrow. The passage sloped downwards, and the three of them slid down the passage for a while before finally stepping onto the ground.
The surrounding area was a pitch-black underground space, where the temperature was much higher than on the surface. There was only one passage in front of us, and a dead end behind us.
Turning on night vision, Han Xiao walked forward for a while until he came to a fork in the road. Without hesitation, he took the left path. The temperature ahead was getting higher and higher. Melos tentatively took off his helmet, felt the temperature, and said, "This temperature is quite comfortable."
"We're almost there. Prepare for battle," Han Xiao said.
The three walked to the end of the passage, where they found an underground lake. The lake water was boiling, bubbling and steaming, and thick mist filled the air. This lake resembled a hot spring, suggesting that there must be a geothermal area beneath it to form this hot spring.
Just then, a gasp rang out from the hot spring.
Who are you?
A naked Goddora woman emerged from the hot spring, looking astonished. Water slid down her curvaceous body.
Melos's gaze first went down, then up, back and forth several times, before he suddenly realized, "You're Laini?"
"You know me?" the female Goddora asked in surprise; she was none other than Nirega's wife.
"We are mercenaries, hired by your husband to rescue you. Where are the others?" Melos asked.
"Great, finally someone has come to rescue us! The others are..."
Laini's face lit up with joy, but suddenly his expression changed, and he said urgently, "Don't just stand there, it's out!"
As soon as the words were spoken, a small whirlpool formed in the center of the hot spring lake, and something large was rising to the surface. The small lake was hit by a tsunami-like wave, and water splashed all over everyone.
Boom!
The water surged, and a strange creature leaped out of the lake, floating in mid-air, turning towards the three people on the shore.
"What... is this?" Melos's eyes widened.
"Star Roaming Beast are cosmic creatures born among the Stars. They can fly in space with their physical bodies, using planetary gravity to increase their speed to the standards of spaceships. Although they cannot teleport and often fly alone for thousands of years, their lifespan is almost infinite. They can constantly molt and renew their cells, which is extremely rare. Magicians can summon Star Roaming Beast Star Roaming Beast an ancient ritual spell for targeted teleportation that ignores physical distance, but they summon Star Roaming Beast Star Roaming Beast to hunt them, as their bodies are very rare materials."
Han Xiao quickly explained.
The Star Roaming Beast before us had a strange appearance. Its slender, bluish-purple body was tens of meters long. It had no armor or fur, and its skin was smooth with a semi-transparent texture. A hazy light shimmered beneath the skin. It had no limbs, and was narrow in the front and back and wide in the middle, with its sides extending out like fins. Its head had no facial features such as a mouth, eyes, or nose, but only a long tentacle with a crystal-clear tip. Its appearance was somewhat similar to that of an aquatic creature.
The Star Roaming Beast spun in mid-air, moving nimbly like a fish swimming in water. Its tentacles twitched, and Han Xiao immediately felt an invisible force trying to pull him towards the Star Roaming Beast, causing his body to float uncontrollably in the air.
"Drink!"
Melos struck first, unleashing a beam of light from his ship-slaying sword that struck the Star Roaming Beast's body squarely. However, the beam immediately exploded into light fragments, leaving the Star Roaming Beast completely unharmed and unrepelled.
"Don't expect to easily harm an interstellar creature capable of physically traversing the universe." Han Xiao drew his electromagnetic kinetic energy gun and fired. The bullet ricocheted off the Star Roaming Beast, escaping a minimum damage of "1".
The Star Roaming Beast's attributes immediately appeared on the panel.
--
Star Roaming Beast
grade:?
Class: [Cosmic Creature - Star Roaming Beast] (Stamina to Health conversion ratio 1:500)
Attributes: Strength?, Agility?, Stamina 500, Intelligence?, Mysticism?, Charisma 153, Luck?
Strength: 0
energy level:?
Health Points: 249986
Status: Normal
Specialty: Unknown
Skill: Unknown
--
Han Xiao nodded secretly. He already knew the attributes of the Star Roaming Beast: a cosmic creature with an extremely high HP, making it a perfect BOSS template. Moreover, its physical and magical resistance were very high, so hitting its body caused almost no damage. Players in his previous life had been wiped out here once, and only found a way to fight it on the second time.
The Star Roaming Beast's weakness is its tentacle crystals, which have almost no resistance to them. They are as vulnerable as a man's groin, and almost every attack from them can cause a true attack.
Each time the accumulated damage reaches 50,000, the Star Roaming Beast's resistance will decrease by 20%, allowing it to start dealing normal damage. The Star Roaming Beast's attack method is a telekinetic ability that allows it to control objects and deflect projectiles that hit vital points. The advantage is that its attack power is insufficient, and the only way to defeat it is to slowly whittle it down.
As for Han Xiao, as long as the enemy's attack power is limited, there is basically no threat.