Age of Cosmic Exploration

In that brief eye contact, Yao Yuan no longer saw the condescension and frost that were previously there. In its faltering gaze, Yao Yuan saw that it treated him as an equal. Of course, there was still caution and even an underlying tone of pleading.

"Can you hear me? Regardless, I doubt you can understand. Then again, you should be fine sensing malice or murderous intent," Yao Yuan said.

The male super species took a few steps back, but it didn’t prepare for attack or escape. It lowered its head slightly and stared curiously at Yao Yuan. There was brilliance in its eyes, proving that it was much more sophisticated than common critters.

Yao Yuan scratched his head, having second thoughts that he could communicate with these creatures. The lack of a common language was one issue, and even though these creatures were more clever than common beasts, they still hadn’t reached sentience like humanity had. Their intelligence was probably only slightly better than orangutans’, chimpanzees’, and dolphins’.

Lastly, before this, there was animosity on both sides. The super species had killed one trooper and Yao Yuan had stolen their baby.

Yao Yuan decided to continue trying. He activated his Anima power to communicate his intention to the super species. He only wanted to heal its wound and not hurt it. However, whenever he took a step forward, even when unarmed, the male super species took a corresponding step back. Perhaps the creature thought the man before it could extend its claw from its red exoskeleton whenever he wanted.

Yao Yuan was helpless because the male super species was already at the edge of the forest. A few more steps and it would run straight back into the forest. He had no choice but to stop where he was and figure out another tactic. Before he could come up with anything, the female super species gave out her drumlike roar and the male super species tensed immediately. They turned and disappeared into the jungle.

The first attempt at communication failed...

Yao Yuan repeated the same thing for an entire week, but it was to no avail. The female super species would give out her call every time the male super species made brief eye contact with Yao Yuan. They kept racing back into the jungle no matter what Yao Yuan did. Yao Yuan even tried putting out some food around the area, but it was no use.

However, the male super species got increasingly weakened. Its rotted leg was so bent out of shape that it could barely stand on it anymore. If this continued, it would die from bacterial infection soon...

On the ninth day, Yao Yuan returned to his usual post. The super species would appear at 11 AM and leave at 11:30 AM. It had become a routine.

On that day, Yao Yuan had waited until it was 11:30 AM, but there was still no sign of the two super species. Yao Yuan had many things to handle, so he couldn’t possibly spend the rest of the day waiting. When it was almost 12, Yao Yuan decided he had to head back to the Hope. However, when the shuttle came to pick him up, he felt a source of malice approaching. He instinctually lifted up his gun. The smaller female super species leaped into the open. Weirdly enough, it wasn’t accompanied by its bigger counterpart. Yao Yuan’s Diviner power told him this wasn’t some ambush set up by the super species.

Before Yao Yuan could make out what had happened, the female super species roared at him. The sound was like the beatings of drums, but Yao Yuan heard the anxiety and fear laced into it. Then the female super species leaped back into the forest. She ran for about 10 meters, stopped and turned around to look at Yao Yuan.

Yao Yuan understood immediately what had happened. The male super species was dying from infection and the female had come to him asking for help. Because the super species hadn’t fallen ill before, they probably thought the sickness was caused by the sawblade wound. They had no one to turn to but its owner, Yao Yuan.

Yao Yuan didn’t hesitate and followed the female super species into the forest. Of course, he didn’t forget to pack his weapons. He also activated his signal relay, so if anything happened, he could hold out until reinforcements arrived.

20 minutes later, Yao Yuan was led by the female super species to a dry outcrop in the middle of the jungle. The trees in the area were comparatively sparse, so some sunlight managed to filter through the foliage. The time was about 12 in the afternoon but it was almost dusk on that planet.

The male super species was lying atop of a pile of plush leaves and branches. Its injured leg was so infected that Yao Yuan could see the bones peeking through. Some maggots like insects had already gathered around the festering wound.

Noticing the approaching sound, the male super species opened its eyes weakly. It opened its mouth lamely and its saliva dripped vertically to the ground. It was obvious the creature was skirting death; the once king of the jungle was now barely strong enough to stand up on its own.

Yao Yuan sighed as he approached the male super species. Suddenly, a shadow flashed before him. The female super species blocked his way, hissing at him.

"... I have to heal him, or he’ll die. Can you understand me?" Yao Yuan said as he retrieved from his backpack the antibiotic. This antibiotic was tested using the baby super species’ blood. It could help the super species gain immunity against Earth’s viruses. Of course, the male super species was so far gone, the most the antibiotic could do was stop the infection but not heal it. Amputation was necessary; it truly depended on the male super species whether it could ultimately survive or not.

Yao Yuan used his Anima power to communicate his intention. He had no idea whether the soulweb could cross language barriers, but it was his best option. The female super species appeared to hesitate. She issued a low growl while sneaking a look at her partner lying helplessly behind her. The male super species was too weak to even close his mouth now.

Yao Yuan ignored the female super species and strode to the male super species’ side. The female growled lightly, but it followed behind Yao Yuan. Beads of liquid flowed out of her eyes. Like mankind, she was crying for her loss. She used her serrated tongue to lick the male super species’ eyes and mouth, moistening them.

Yao Yuan swatted away the insects on the wound. He tossed out a white pill from his pack of antibiotic before crushing it into paste. He then spread it generously over the male’s leg wound. He should have applied disinfectant before applying the antibiotic, but he figured if he took out the cleaning alcohol, the female super species would have the wrong idea that he was prepping her partner for preservation, since that was how they preserved food.

One of the super species’ pearls of wisdom was they knew that dipping meat in sea water before airing them dry would help with preservation.

After the white paste was spread evenly, Yao Yuan removed from his toolkit several tubes of liquids. These colorless liquids were some of the latest antibiotic potions. He twisted one open and poured it down the creature’s throat. Since the creature was too weak to close its mouth completely, some of the liquid leaked out. Yao Yuan propped its head up to help the liquid go down.

The male super species was in a daze, while the female paced anxiously around him. She kept alternating between hissing at Yao Yuan and licking her partner’s face, consoling him.

Witnessing these two super species’ extremely humane actions, Yao Yuan was silent. He could feel his heart shaking, especially when the tears fell out of the female beast’s eyes. It reminded him of his encounter with that special her...

After the liquids were all poured, Yao Yuan sat back down the floor. He used his Anima power to communicate with the two super species. "That’s the best I can do. The rest will depend on his luck. However, your species has a physical quality that is about 1,000 times greater than ours, so the chance of him recovering is extremely high... But to be safe, we have to remove his leg. The bone, muscle, and marrow within are completely rotted." Yao Yuan took a quick look around the wounded leg. He was right, the tendons had all rotted away; the only thing keeping it attached to the body was the iron-like muscle fibers.

Yao Yuan hesitated for a moment before deciding against calling the medical crew to carry out the amputation. After all, he was dealing with a pair of super species; if something went wrong in the process, he might be able to take them down, but the innocent medical crew would not be able to escape certain death. He could let the doctors take such an unnecessary risk. Furthermore, the super species’ enhanced metabolism would render the anesthesia useless, and that would increase the chance of the surgery going awry.

"Fine, I guess I’ll see this to the end."

Yao Yuan sighed as he stood up. His action was so sudden that it spooked the female super species. He ignored her hissing and headed into the jungle. He came back 20 minutes later with the body of a 40 to 50 kilogram lizard on his back.

By the time he returned, the male super species’ mouth was closed and his head was turned towards Yao Yuan’s general direction. His eyes, though, were as unfocused as ever.