Age of Cosmic Exploration

The lights in Bo Li’s room weren’t on. She lied quietly on her own bed staring into the darkness, accompanied by the sounds of her own breathing.

There was an apprehension clogging her heart, but she couldn’t tell where it came from...

Was it because of her unfinished experiments or miscalculated data? Or was it because of the final plan...

The final plan... Did he accept it? He should be on the space combat jet right now if he did...

Matter of fact, he wasn’t. Yao Yuan was actually standing outside her door. The 4 soldiers that were on guard duty saluted when they saw him approach. Yao Yuan returned the salute and said, "It’s okay, you guys are relieved of guard duty. As long as she doesn’t leave the Hope, she has the freedom to go anywhere she wants..."

After the guards left, Yao Yuan stood transfixed in front of her room door. He didn’t make to enter or knock, he just stood their quietly. The guards threw him some questioning gazes, but they didn’t dare to comment anything.

"Bo Li, I know you can hear me. I want to apologize... for what happened earlier, but make no mistake, the marshal law still stands. As a Whisperer, you’re still not allowed on the battlefield. You have to understand that if you fall into enemy hands, it will not only harm our winning prospects in this war, it will be a great loss to the Academy..."

Needless to say, Bo Li could hear him clearly. Yao Yuan perhaps didn’t realize he was using his Anima power. Bo Li, though, refused to reply. She bit down hard on her lips and could feel tears swirling in her eyes. The feeling of apprehension that was bugging her increased and it suffocated her heart...

(My death... will only be the Academy’s loss...?)

"...and..."

Yao Yuan dithered before completing his sentence, weighing what he wanted to say. "...me, it’ll be a loss for me too...

"So please don’t take such unnecessary risks again. I will never allow you on the battlefield! But... I remember everything that I’ve promised you; we’ll go to the beach together, go swimming if the sea’s safe... and lie on the beach at night to enjoy the night sky. I remember every single promise that I’ve made, and I always fulfill my words. I’ll do my best to keep my end of the bargain, and you have to promise me you’ll do the same too..."

Yao Yuan’s voice slowly petered away. Bo Li’s tears were flowing freely now. She pushed herself up from her bed and rubbed her tears away as she rushed to open the door. There was no one out there anymore.

Even so, she didn’t feel disappointed. Instead she felt warmed, intertwined with wisps of bitterness... It reminded her of her favorite tea drink, a light sweetness and warmth that always permeated her body after the initial bitterness.

"Professor Bo Li?" a soldier that passed by asked tentatively.

Bo Li coughed and replied lightly, "Can you accompany me to the lab...? I’m sure that idiot doesn’t have the foresight to tweak the propeller to its maximum setting. Let’s get to work since we still have time before the operation officially starts."

Yao Yuan saw the tired Guang Zhen off to the temporary base. Guang Zhen would be responsible for holding the safety of the base until the Hope could lift off into space. His order was to not budge from his post under any circumstance, and based on his personality, Guang Zhen would die before he would allow the base to fall.

"Ol’ Wong, I’ll leave the defense of the surface to you. For the sake of humanity... please do your best." Yao Yuan saw Guang Zhen’s diminishing figure and he sent him these parting words through his Anima power.

Without turning around, Guang Zhen lifted his hand and waved before getting on the shuttle.

"Come on, now it’s our turn."

Yao Yuan turned to address the gathered Black Star Troopers. The 110 plus troopers included new Homo Evolutis that shouldn’t even be on the battlefield. If all the troopers were to be wiped out, humanity would have suffered an indescribable loss.

"I’m not sure whether this will be our last confrontation with this alien, and there are definitely many things humanity still needs to worry about, like the safety of the planet and the well-being of our future generation, but all those things will come after we win this war!

"Let us fight for the sake of humanity, for the sake of future, for the sake of our children, and for a new home planet!"

Then all the Homo Evolutis got on their assigned combat jets. With Yao Yuan leading, they soared through the sky as their ECS systems were activated. Within a blink of an eye, they were already in space.

In front of them was the mother nest that was previously on Moon 2. One had to wonder how such a giant thing had extricated itself from the moon’s surface. Currently, it was still in Moon 2’s orbital range. Due to its size, it had to contend with Moon 2’s gravitational force, so it was travelling extremely slow.

"The first step of Operation Celestial Wolf is to clear out as many monsters as we possibly can. The mother nest requires some time before it can birth new monsters. Therefore, the more monsters we take down now, the easier it’ll be for us later. Similarly, we’ll be using guerilla tactics. This first step will last for an hour. An hour later, we’ll gather at coordinates 3612, 7161, 2351."

Yao Yuan took in a deep breath and led the troopers into the cloud of monsters. The second space war was going to start...

Back at the Hope, Ivan and Saburo were slaving in the biology lab. Their eyes were ringed with black eye from god knows how many sleepless nights. They weren’t even given rest when the soldiers came back and went for their forty winks. The 2 of them only managed short naps in between quick meals.

The pressure on them only increased after 20 more infected were sent into quarantine. Among the 20 were Ren Tao and Zhang Heng. One of them was a rare Thinker and the other was the best Diviner. Yao Yuan gave specific orders that they must be saved no matter what.

But it was easier said than done.

It was already a miracle for a planet to be able to support life. However, the evolution of the creatures on it would definitely be different from that of Earth’s. The same could be said of its microorganisms. A common virus on this planet might be fatal to humanity because mankind didn’t develop immunity against it.

"There’s just no way. We’ve tried all the antibiotics we have. Even the lab rats have entered metabolic shock from ingestion of so many medicines. Obviously, one or more of the virus strands are activated by our antibiotics. Instead of suppressing it, the medicines are activating it." Ivan sighed in defeat.

Saburo glared at the test tubes of samples with bloodshot eyes. The whole situation reminded him of the tragedy that he had once experienced, but as frustrated as he was, he had to concede. "You’re right. It would be much easier if there was only 1 virus or bacteria. In that case, we could use the electromagnetic cellular separator, but... these people took in the air of the planet. They were contaminated by a whole bouquet of bacteria and viruses that live in the air. Of the earlier patients, a few of them died from internal bleeding. If the symptoms are the same, this new batch of patients will die in the next 30 minutes."

"Things definitely would be a lot easier if they had been contaminated by one or two viruses or bacteria, but now... I don’t think even medical technology from the 5th revolution could save them in such a short period of time..." Ivan concurred.

Saburo balled his fists and growled, "If only there was an immune system that could counter any and all viruses and bacteria... Wait a minute, Professor Ivan! We do have something like that, an organism that has perfect immunity! Yes...

"We’ll use the alien cells to create the vaccine!"