The fleet did not approach rashly, but remained Stealth, releasing a miniature space-based probe satellite to slowly approach the planet's outer space and continuously scan the planet's surface.
Inside the ship's cabin, a virtual screen displayed satellite scans. The surface showed numerous cities, but the streets were deserted and desolate, littered with trash, resembling the scene left behind by hastily evacuated civilians.
"This colony appears to be abandoned." Nero swiped his finger across the virtual screen, scanning one deserted city after another.
"Let's check the life signal detector," the squad leader gestured.
Nero responded, switched to the control interface of the space-based satellite, and quickly set it up. This thing was a product of the Legion. Although he did not make it, it was very easy to operate.
This scout unit has about two thousand legion warriors, the vast majority of whom are Grade C superhumans. Only the commander is Grade B, and Nero is the strongest besides the commander. He is also the best mechanic in this scout unit, and basically all the mechanical devices carried by the unit are operated by him.
Soon, the scan results appeared on the screen. The life signal points on the ground were sparse, the densest in the wild, where they were all wild animals, while in the city, there were only a few scattered intelligent life signal points.
Mia's eyes lit up, "There are still people in the city!"
"They're probably civilians who didn't want to evacuate." Nero breathed a sigh of relief. One of their missions was to capture as many Kunde Race civilians as possible and bring them back for interrogation.
"Kid, check the military strength of this planet. If everything's okay, let's land," the captain said.
Nero nodded and scanned it.
Everyone stared at the screen, waiting for the results. At that very moment, in the quantum network invisible to everyone, a set of data that had been lying in wait intercepted the information stream transmitted back by the satellite probe without anyone noticing, and quietly altered the intelligence presented to everyone.
"Hmm... There are no enemy ships around, and the military bases on the surface are not showing any unusual activity. It seems the enemy has completely abandoned this colony, leaving no troops behind." Nero glanced at the scan results and read them aloud.
The captain chuckled. "That makes things easier. The commander has given the order: everyone, pay attention, we're about to land."
The fleet moved swiftly, with most of the warships entering the atmosphere and beginning their descent towards the city. Only three warships, including the commander's ship, remained in outer space to provide support.
Meanwhile, a medium-sized Kunde Race fleet, consisting of about a hundred ships, was resting and recuperating at a floating military base high above the colony. The base was camouflaged and concealed, with reflectors activated to blend into the environment, making it appear almost transparent.
A large number of operators were busy in the main control room of the airborne military base. In the blink of an eye, an operator of a detection radar suddenly saw a signal of abnormal atmospheric fluctuation flash across the radar screen. However, upon closer inspection, the signal disappeared, and everything appeared to be normal.
"Am I seeing things?" the Kunde Race operator wondered, and ordered the radar to perform another scan.
The detection results showed that not only was there no problem with the atmosphere, but even the radar failed to detect Nero and his crew who had landed so brazenly.
"It must be a false alarm." Seeing this, the operator looked away.
The scout team failed to locate the military base, and the military base failed to detect the scout team either. They were so close yet could not see each other; for the time being, they were both blind.
The mastermind behind this was Han Xiao's mechanical unit hidden in the scout team's spaceship, which used virtual technology to directly tamper with the scan results of both sides.
--The situation has completely fallen into Master Han's script.
Before long, the spaceship landed safely in the city. The various combat teams put on their equipment, disembarked, and stood in the desolate streets.
"Come on, let's assign tasks."
The team leaders held a brief meeting, and in the end, all the teams were divided into three groups. One group stayed behind on the spaceship to prevent any accidents, another group went to capture the remaining civilians in the city and gather intelligence, and the rest scattered to search for nearby special facilities, such as various factories, energy plants, etc. There was also an abandoned military base on the outskirts of the city.
With their responsibilities defined, the teams split up. Nero and Mia's team was tasked with exploring the abandoned military base in the suburbs. They traveled together to their destination in a heavily armed hovercraft.
Inside the carriage, the members of both combat teams remained silent. Nero looked left and right, coughed, stood up, moved next to Mia, and plopped down next to her.
Mia, who was maintaining her weapon, glanced at him, then continued working on it, asking casually, "Why are you sitting here?"
"I just wanted to have a chat." Nero scratched his cheek. "We've been busy fighting lately, so we haven't talked much."
"What's there to talk about?" Mia rolled her eyes and said irritably, "You don't even get enough sleep every day, do you think I don't need rest like you?"
Nero was speechless for a moment, then said, "Actually, I can teach you how to combat fatigue; I have a lot of experience in this area."
"Do I, a martial artist, need you to teach me?" Mia chuckled.
Nero said seriously, "As a martial artist, you need to learn this ability even more. Mechanics don't need much physical strength, but it's different for you. Without physical strength, a martial artist's combat power drops drastically, and I'm afraid you'll encounter danger."
"You do seem to care about me." Mia glanced at Nero sideways.
"I told you I would protect you," Nero grinned.
"Hmph, stop laughing, you look stupid when you laugh."
Mia snorted, turned her head away, and after a few seconds, turned back and asked casually, "How do I train for that fatigue resistance thing you mentioned?"
Nero touched the bridge of his nose and said seriously, "First, you need to change your sleeping habits. When you're tired, keep your brain running at high speed. It'll be the hardest part at first. I've been there, I have experience, and I can help you. Just call me when you feel sleepy."
Mia nodded, then suddenly felt something was off.
"You think I only contact you when I want to sleep? Are you flirting with me?!"
A surge of shame and anger welled up inside Nero Mia in the chest armor, making a dull thud.
"Huh, did I say something?" Nero was completely confused. The armor was thick enough that he didn't feel any pain.
Mia was about to say something when she suddenly realized that everyone in the carriage had their eyes fixed on the two of them, their gazes filled with a mix of emotions—teasing, gratified, envious, and jealous—as if they were watching a young couple flirting.
A blush suddenly rose to her cheeks. Mia glared at Nero, then lowered her head in embarrassment, falling silent. She focused on maintaining her weapon, holding the sharpener as if trying to create a trail of sparks.
Nero scratched his head, wanting to say something more, but then he saw the captain sitting diagonally opposite him winking at him and secretly using sign language. He made a loose fist with one hand, and with the other hand, he extended a finger and poked it twice inside the fist's hollow—a universal interstellar gesture, the meaning of which was self-evident.
--Hey kid, stop dawdling and get to base when it's time.
"Old rogue..." Nero couldn't help but mutter upon seeing this.
Just then, the detection radars of everyone in the carriage simultaneously detected the anomaly.
"Beep beep, two abnormal energy sources detected."
Everyone immediately stopped smiling and checked the radar. Suddenly, two signals appeared on the screen: one pointing to the underground of the military base, and the other pointing to the distant wilderness, far away from here.
"That's strange. Why didn't we detect it before, but we only found it now? Is this thing broken?" The deputy captain patted the radar, somewhat puzzled.
"No matter what, we have to go and see."
The captain glanced around and said to Mia's team, "Looks like we'll have to split up. When we get to the military base, drop our team off in the vehicle first, then you guys go check for any unusual signals in the wilderness."
With the plan finalized, the hovercar quickly arrived at the outskirts of the military base. Nero's entire squad disembarked and watched Mia and her squad drive away, disappearing into the distance. The two parted ways once again.
"Kid, stop looking and get to work."
Seeing that Nero was staring in the direction the car had left, the captain snapped his fingers near Nero's ear to make him look away.
Nero steadied himself and caught up with his teammates, though he seemed somewhat distracted.
For some reason, just a moment ago, he suddenly felt uneasy.
With something on his mind, Nero followed the team to explore the military base, found the abandoned elevator, and arrived at the intricate underground base to investigate the "abnormal signal" displayed on the radar.
"Alert! Unknown target detected!"
More than ten minutes later, the Kunde Race floating base in the sky suddenly regained its sight, its years-long cataracts cured, and it suddenly discovered the scout force's spaceship that had landed on the ground.
The entire base's garrison was startled and hurriedly sprang into action.
The intelligence was quickly delivered to the base commander, who stared wide-eyed in his office, filled with shock and anger.
"When did these enemies land? How come we didn't spot them before? You failed in your duty!"
The radar team leader argued, "The radar didn't react at all; the enemy scouts must have used more advanced stealth equipment to evade our detection!"
"That's terrifying! They have this kind of technology. If they had attacked this base, they might already have succeeded!" The base commander felt a chill run down his spine, then erupted in fury. "Sneaking in like this, do they think we don't exist?!"
"Sir, think about it, the enemy has such capabilities, yet they don't launch a surprise attack on us, but instead land on the surface. Why is that?"
Upon hearing this, the base commander's eyes flashed, and he slammed his hand on the table, shouting:
"I understand now. They knew we were here, yet they didn't attack. This means their forces are extremely weak, and even if they launched a surprise attack, they wouldn't be confident of taking us down! They dared to ignore us, brazenly gathering intelligence right under our noses—that's outrageous! They must pay the price!"
After a pause, the base commander abruptly stood up and shouted, "Order the fleet to move out, surround the enemy, and don't let a single one escape!"
"Sir, try to capture them alive. The higher-ups want superhumans for research; this is an opportunity," his adjutant reminded him.
The base commander's eyes lit up with delight, and he quickly said, "Right, right, I almost forgot! The higher-ups need superhumans. These guys are practically handing themselves a piece of the pie! Capture them alive and bring them back to report!"
Beneath the abandoned military base, Nero's team was exploring the underground base. The power supply had long been cut off, and it was pitch black and utterly silent. The only sounds they could hear were each other's breathing and footsteps echoing in the empty corridors, creating a rather eerie atmosphere.
Nero released several small mechanical scout bees, emitting bright light to guide the way and illuminate the underground base.
Without electricity, all the base's access control systems are ineffective, and they can only be forced open. A few high-energy molten steel shots are enough to turn the tightly closed metal doors into molten steel, allowing for unimpeded passage.
After following the team for a while, Nero's intuition grew stronger, and he couldn't help but speak up:
"Captain, I have a bad feeling about this."
"What's wrong?" the captain asked, turning his head.
I can't quite explain it, it's just a gut feeling.
"I see..." The captain frowned and gestured, "Then you take a few men and follow behind to guard the rear. I'll go with the others to check for abnormal signals."
After saying that, the captain selected a few teammates to follow Nero, and then led the others to continue forward.
Nero waited for a while, and finally the captain's confused voice came through the communication channel.
"We've reached the source of the abnormal signal, but there's nothing here."
Nero's heart skipped a beat. He quickly opened the shared vision and saw the scene on the captain's side: an empty warehouse, not a single hair in sight.
However, the radar signal was exactly right here, with the altitude and distance matching perfectly; they hadn't gone astray.
"Was it a radar false alarm?" Nero swallowed hard. "Or..."
Boom!!
Before he could even react, a violent tremor erupted!
"Warning! High-energy attack Detection! Take cover immediately!"
Rumble--
The sound of artillery fire rang in their ears, and the dome and pillars of the underground base suddenly collapsed!
The base's structure instantly disintegrated, with each floor shattering and revealing a dark, bottomless pit leading to deeper underground levels.
Nero only had time to activate his shield to protect himself before being blasted away by the shockwave of the explosion, crashing through the corridor wall and plummeting downwards.
He could no longer pay attention to the gasps of his teammates coming through the communication channel; he was too preoccupied with his own predicament to care about anything else, his mind filled only with astonishment.
How could we have been attacked so suddenly?!
It's been confirmed that there are no garrison troops on this planet!
At this moment, Nero couldn't think of any other explanation; in his eyes, there was only one possibility:
"Damn it, this colony is a trap! The enemy must have deliberately laid an ambush elsewhere, using warp to attack. We've fallen for it!"
The thought had barely crossed his mind when Nero hit rock bottom and crashed heavily to the ground.
Bang!!
The impact created a human-shaped crater in the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Hiss!" The enormous recoil force made his whole body tremble violently, and he couldn't help but groan.
Before he could even stand up, a large amount of rubble and metal crashed down on him, suddenly magnifying in his vision!
Nero felt a chill run down his spine, gritted his teeth, and raised his arms to create a shield to protect himself.
Bang bang bang!
Countless pieces of debris rained down, filling every inch of Nero's vision and burying him completely.
Meanwhile, in the abandoned city not far away, the Kunde Race fleet, which had belatedly launched a fierce attack, had already clashed with the other combat teams left behind on the spaceship. Energy cannons shot out in all directions, piercing through one deserted building after another.
Rumble rumble--
Numerous buildings collapsed, and smoke and dust filled the air.
Several Kunde Race warships hovered above the abandoned military base, their cannons firing at full power and energy cannons unleashing a barrage of attacks on the base.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The warships only ceased their attack and put away their cannons after the entire base had been bombed and reduced to ruins.
The hatch opened with a whoosh, and squads of Kunde Race armored soldiers jumped out of the ship, landing with a series of thuds. After adjusting their positions, they formed ranks and headed to the underground base with their weapons.
Nero and his companions' life signals were detected by the Kunde Race's radar, and the soldiers' objective was to capture this isolated squad of superhumans without the protection of a fleet.
"Good! The operation is going smoothly!"
At that moment, in the command center of the floating base, the Kunde Race base commander smiled with satisfaction.
Unbeknownst to him, a highly stealthy mechanical force was hovering outside the window, silently watching him.