Translator: AnubisTL
They seized the opportunity to ask the weary-faced commander the questions that had been weighing on their minds.
"General, the creatures attacking us seem to be of fixed types. And it's as if..." Jieming chose his words carefully, "...as if they're some kind of mass-produced cannon fodder?"
The commander glanced at Jieming in surprise, seemingly not expecting the "technical advisor" to have noticed.
He nodded, his voice heavy. "You're right. These are just their expendable shock troops. The real trouble is what follows—the 'Blue-Skinned Ghosts.' They possess higher intelligence and pilot those bizarre vehicles. They are the true commanders and the ones who are truly difficult to deal with."
"Blue-Skinned Ghosts?" Rex seized upon the name. "Do you have any samples or prisoners we could study?"
"The name comes from their blue skin," the commander explained. "We've captured some wreckage, but not much. They seem to have some kind of self-destruct mechanism, or their comrades recover them in time. It's very difficult to obtain a complete specimen for research." He shook his head. "We don't have any intact remains on hand right now."
Jieming and Rex were disappointed.
For the next few days, they were on their best behavior.
They stopped asking to go to the danger zones, instead focusing on analyzing the observation data provided by the base. Occasionally, under absolute protection, they ventured to the base's perimeter to collect environmental parameters. It wasn't that Jieming and Rex didn't want more data; they simply knew that, in their current state—suppressed to the level of ordinary humans—stepping onto the battlefield would be a death sentence.
Their "cooperation" and "professionalism" won the commander's favor, and the security level was gradually lowered. In fact, to satisfy their request for "more detailed battlefield environmental data," the commander specially arranged for an experienced, well-equipped squad to escort them to a region relatively close to the front lines—a place where a minor skirmish had just taken place—for a "field survey."
However, during this survey, an accident occurred.
"Attention! Enemy attack!"
As the shrill alarm blared, Jieming and Rex swiftly ducked behind the security squad.
Only after confirming they weren't walking into an ambush did they dare to cautiously observe the so-called enemy through their long-range scanners.
It was a squad of about a dozen "alien" units, a mixed force of Molten Core Hounds and two crudely designed walking mechs with insect-like jointed limbs. For some reason, they had breached the forward security perimeter and appeared on the flanking hills, running straight into Jieming's escort squad.
The enemy seemed equally surprised by the encounter. While the two walking mechs had yet to react, the surrounding bioweapons had already assumed attack stances.
"Protect the technicians!" the Escort Captain roared. The well-trained soldiers immediately fanned out into a defensive formation.
Energy rifles spat searing beams of light, and automated batteries rapidly deployed from the transport vehicles, establishing a makeshift defensive line.
The battle erupted with sudden, fierce intensity.
Fireballs spewed by the Molten Core Hounds exploded against the energy shields in brilliant, deadly halos. The walking mechs' rapid-fire energy weapons tore scorched furrows into the ground.
The escort squad, with their superior firepower and advanced equipment, held a decisive advantage.
Their marksmanship was precise, their coordination seamless. They swiftly suppressed and annihilated the isolated enemy squad.
The entire engagement had been a tense but ultimately safe affair. Under the soldiers' tight protection, Jieming and Rex had felt little real threat.
Yet, their eyes remained fixed on the two walking mechs that had been targeted with such focus, now crippled and smoldering.
As the battle ended, the soldiers began clearing the field.
They cautiously checked each "corpse," ensuring every enemy was completely neutralized.
"Sir! We've found a mech here! The core is destroyed, but the chassis is relatively intact!" a soldier reported loudly.
Jieming and Rex's hearts leaped. They exchanged a glance, and Rex immediately addressed the Escort Captain. "Captain, this relatively intact enemy vehicle is of immense research value! It could help us find their weaknesses. Please allow us to bring it back to the base for analysis!"
The Captain looked at the two technical experts—still visibly shaken but ever mindful of their duties—and then at the strange, damaged, yet structurally sound mech.
After a moment's consideration, the captain nodded.
He didn't expect Jieming and his team to find anything new. After all, they had studied these "Blue-Skinned Ghosts" countless times before.
But he also knew how insatiable the researchers' curiosity could be. Besides, with the transport vehicle to do the heavy lifting, it wouldn't be much trouble.
More importantly, having this thing would allow them to end their tedious escort duty early and return home.
So, with the soldiers' help, the "alien" mecha—still reeking of burnt metal and strange oil—was carefully loaded onto the transport and driven back to the secret research warehouse at the rear base.
With the commander's tacit approval, the two experts immediately threw themselves into the dissection and analysis of the mecha.
They pried open the twisted, deformed armor, revealing the cockpit within. Inside lay the lifeless remains of the pilot.
Just as the commander had described, this was a non-humanoid creature.
Its skin was an unnatural indigo blue. Its build was slightly more slender than a normal human's, with a somewhat oversized head. While its facial features were seventy or eighty percent similar to a human's, it also possessed numerous octopus-like tentacles and lacked any obvious hair.
However, when Rex used the base's medical scanning equipment to perform a deep anatomical analysis, he made an even more astonishing discovery.
"Jieming, look here!" Rex pointed to the internal structural diagram of the creature constructed on the holographic projection, his voice trembling with suppressed excitement. "Next to its circulatory system, this parallel network of tubes—similar to a neural network but distinct... This structure, the distribution of these potential nodes..."
Jieming focused his gaze. As a wizard, he was all too familiar with how energy flowed within a living body.
The complex network of meridians before him, though different in detail from any cultivation system he knew, shared the same overall framework and key node placements. It was clearly designed to efficiently channel and contain some form of transcendent energy!
In other words, this was a biological foundation capable of spellcasting!
Furthermore, this species might theoretically have been born with superpowers.
It was just that under the suppression of this plane's unique rules, their innate advantages had been erased, leaving them to be utterly crushed by humans.
Jieming and Rex exchanged a glance, both seeing the same understanding in each other's eyes.
"On my travels, except for a few rare cases, the dominant species on those planets has always been human," Jieming said suddenly.
"Based on that, the 'indigenous' civilization of this plane is most likely the human society we're in right now," Rex said in a low voice. "And these 'aliens'—including those cannon fodder creatures from before—any non-humanoid being is specifically designated by this plane's 'System' as a 'hostile faction.'"
After all, the living environments of humans and other species were worlds apart. Moreover, according to Jieming's records over the past few years, the alien races humans faced in the news were far from just one.
With such an obvious disparity in living conditions, unless the being behind the scenes had some peculiar fetish, it meant this plane's architect had casted humans as the protagonists.
"But why?" Rex pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting a cold light. "With the power this System has shown, maintaining absolute peace—or even uniting all species—would be effortless. Why go to such painstaking trouble to orchestrate a continuous, seemingly pointless interstellar war?"
Jieming shook his head regretfully.
This new question, of course, could not be answered.
But for explorers, the questions themselves were the signposts to the truth.
At the very least, Jieming and his companion now knew that these wars were not natural occurrences, but were "designed."
The purpose behind designing this war might just be one of the key keys to unraveling this entire mystery.
(End of the Chapter)
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