Chapter 90: What in the world is that thing?

Du Yun’s cry jolted everyone awake from the dream that rescue was just within reach. They all looked up at once, and the sight before them left them stunned.

The sky, once a clear blue, was rapidly darkening beneath the sudden appearance of countless tiny black specks. They moved with astonishing speed, and though still high above, Du Yun almost seemed to hear the whistling shriek they made as they tore through the air.

Those standing on the ground stared upward in mute horror, as if they had been hurled back to that dreadful moment when the person beside them had abruptly turned into a zombie. They forgot how to speak, forgot how to move, and even forgot the small starship that was supposed to be arriving any moment.

“What is going on? Weren’t there supposed to be only one starship?” the Mediterranean man said shakily, sweat streaming down his face until he looked as though he had just been hauled out of water.

“Yes, what is this?” The others snapped out of their stupor one after another, staring at the black dots in the sky as they grew larger and larger, fear-stricken and at a loss for what to do.

“Into the shelter. Don’t come out!” The Boss was watching the sky through his binoculars, and his expression changed as well. He spoke with grave urgency, grabbed Du Yun’s hand, and pulled her hard toward the underground shelter.

“Tell Lia to prepare the escape!” he called over his shoulder.

Big Strong’s face changed drastically at once. He hurriedly spoke into the communicator, his words coming fast and sharp, while Du Yun was dragged stumbling into the shelter by the Boss.

Everyone took refuge inside. After the hatch over the passage was closed, they huddled in twos and threes in the corners, trembling with terror.

Only Du Yun and the Boss stood before the monitor at the entrance, watching the situation outside.

“What are those?” Du Yun watched the dark dots grow larger and larger and could not help asking in her mind.

“I don’t know. They look a bit like starships,” Duzhi’s voice was full of confusion too. The black dots were still too far away to see clearly.

And in his database, there was no information about this planet being massively invaded after its zombification, so in regard to those dots, Duzhi and Du Yun were equally blind.

“Those look like small starships too,” the Boss said slowly, frowning at the monitor.

If they were small starships, then sending out thousands of them in one go was only within the power of a supergiant world like Imperial Star. What exactly were they here to do? Were they a rescue force sent by the government, or was there some other plot behind it?

Before Du Yun and the others could make sense of anything, the Haimo, the first starship to appear in their line of sight, suddenly dipped downward. Du Yun had barely realized what was happening when a massive burst of fire erupted from the ship.

“Ah!” she could not help crying out softly. Watching the Haimo, which had been descending smoothly, suddenly plunge downward, she felt utterly dismayed. What was falling was not merely a small starship. It was their hope of leaving this zombie planet.

“Damn it!” The Boss clenched his fist and slammed it hard against the wall, his eyes fixed on the Haimo, now engulfed in flames. Then the ship burst into an even larger blaze, and numerous fragments broke away from it.

“Boss, Lia and the others have flown out in the escape pod,” Big Strong reported hurriedly after maintaining contact with Lia and the others through the communicator. Only then did he receive the exact news.

“As long as they got out,” the Boss said, his lips pressed tightly together. He watched the Haimo, now nothing more than a mass of fire, his expression unreadable.

“Oh my god, the starship was blown up!” The people who had been hiding in the corners somehow crowded over as well, and just in time saw the Haimo fall into the sea after exploding. They could not help crying out in shock.

“How could this happen?” Red Plum shrieked, her face going pale. She raised a trembling hand and pointed at the monitor screen. Seeing that no one paid her any attention, she turned on Iron Hammer with clenched teeth. “With the starship gone, how are we supposed to get out of this cursed place?”

“How are we supposed to get out? Who the hell knows how to get out! Didn’t you see all those black dots in the sky? That starship was shot down by them. If we take one of their blasts by accident, we’ll be blown so clean there won’t even be bone fragments left. And you’re still asking how to leave?” Iron Hammer had been frightened out of his wits as well, so how could he possibly tolerate the woman yelling at him? He snapped back angrily at once.

Du Yun kept her eyes fixed on the screen. She had the nagging sense that those black dots in the sky were deeply unusual. It was not merely their sheer number; they gave her a feeling of unease that she could not quite explain.

At first they had only been tiny specks falling from the heavens, and nothing seemed amiss. Then, as if receiving some command, the specks suddenly scattered and flew off in all directions. In just a few breaths, only a handful of scattered points remained in the sky, while the rest had vanished without a trace.

“What on earth is going on?” Du Yun stared at the black dots in the sky as they drew nearer and gradually revealed shapes resembling starships, and she was shocked all over again.

“Are those starships?” If each black dot was one starship, then how many starships were there in that sky, packed so densely with black specks?

“Are these starships here to rescue us? Should we go out and take a look?” Du Yun frowned as the outlines of the ships became clearer and clearer, until she could almost make out the jagged iron armor on their hulls. Her confusion only deepened, and she even felt a restless urge to move.

“Wait and see first.” The Boss studied the monitor for a long while before finally reaching this conclusion. He had never seen ships like these before, and they looked unsettling in a way he could not define. It was better to wait and see.

Just as they were speaking, someone suddenly dashed past them without warning, rushing straight upward and crashing into the heavy lid of the underground shelter. Yet even then he would not stop, continuing to ram himself against it again and again as though driven mad.

“What is he doing? Stop him!” Du Yun cried out at once, only to realize that everyone in the shelter, except for her and the Boss, had a glassy look in their eyes. One by one, they seemed to be drawn by something, as though they wanted to rush out.

“What is wrong with them?” Du Yun was horrified. Something must have happened that she did not know about, and more than likely it had something to do with whatever was in the sky.

“What on earth is that thing? How can it affect people’s minds to this extent?” Du Yun turned back to the image on the monitor. The black speck that had once been no bigger than a grain of millet had now become a huge disc hanging in the sky.