Volume 5, Chapter 7 – The Sleeping Insect

Distant Lands Development Company.

It was the space development company that had posted the mission to pioneer Frost Island.

Frost Island was only twelve light-years from Ruilanduo Star. With the hyperspace engines on Distant Lands’ mining ships, the trip took only three hours. If hyperspace engines did not require time to start up, the journey might actually have taken just one hour.

Frost Island was not far from Ruilanduo Star. It lay beyond an asteroid belt, and no one had ever shown much interest in going there.

…

The assembly point was inside Distant Lands’ private spaceport.

Only after Zhou Jieyu and Lin Yumo arrived with their teammates did they discover that theirs was not the only team that had accepted the mission.

Looking around, there were four teams with twenty-nine people in total.

It seemed Distant Lands had truly committed itself. The company had its own dedicated mercenaries and had also paid to hire four additional teams.

Of those four teams, two consisted entirely of players, one entirely of NPCs, and one was a mixed team.

After waiting in the spaceport for about an hour, five mining ships rapidly climbed into the air and flew into the somewhat gloomy sky.

Once they entered outer space, their hyperspace engines immediately activated. After the field guidance units spent some time gathering spatial radiation, the drive signals they emitted began increasing the reactors’ output. The violently reacting reactors instantly produced an impact that caused ripples to appear in the space directly ahead of the ships. The ships then passed through the spacetime ripples and entered hyperspace.

Higher-dimensional space existed in Night of the Stars.

In the current version, however, the only way players could come into contact with the concept of higher-dimensional space was through hyperspace engines.

Hyperspace travel was not guaranteed to be completely safe.

No one knew exactly how dangerous hyperspace was. Therefore, ships using hyperspace engines generally followed fixed routes.

Of course, if someone wanted to risk their life to verify the dangers and contribute to the entire universe, no one would stop them.

And if they got lucky and discovered an excellent route, then congratulations, brother, they had struck it rich!

Even so, despite the enormous profits involved, very few people were willing to explore hyperspace routes voluntarily.

The risk was simply too great.

Overall, human lives were actually not that important.

There were countless people throughout deep space. One or two deaths hardly mattered. An exploration ship lost in hyperspace, on the other hand, was far more expensive than a human life.

This also meant that even if players wanted to make a fortune by exploring new routes, it would be extremely difficult.

To get rich, they first needed enough money to buy a spaceship.

And no matter how durable a spaceship was, it could not withstand the collapse particles in hyperspace.

…

Frost Island.

It was a polar planet whose ecosystem had completely deteriorated.

It was a rocky planet, and nitrogen and oxygen were the most abundant elements in its atmosphere. Even in the equatorial regions, where the climate was warmest, the lowest temperatures remained around minus ten degrees Celsius throughout the year.

Seen from space, the entire planet was a cold white expanse, bleak and desolate.

Yet even such bleak scenery could not suppress Zhou Jieyu’s urge to take a selfie.

She walked over to the viewport, struck a pose, smiled, and took a photo.

“…”

The corner of Lin Yumo’s mouth twitched.

She still could not understand why Zhou Jieyu was so excited. Ever since they accepted the mission, Zhou Jieyu had been inexplicably hyperactive.

“Let’s go. The NPCs are telling us to board the shuttle.”

“Let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Zhou Jieyu had already uploaded the photo she had just taken to the forum.

Oh.

Come to think of it, she had not livestreamed on the forum for a long time.

Her previous streams featuring Anran, as well as the battle between the Security Department and Morningstar, had earned Zhou Jieyu a small group of devoted fans.

All right. Time to start a new stream.

Zhou Jieyu activated the recording function and followed Lin Yumo onto the shuttle.

They changed into specialized clothing and followed the main group down to the surface of Frost Island.

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A thick layer of ice covered the rock strata. Even the exposed ground was rigid permafrost. Everything was a vast stretch of white, and after looking at it for long enough, the scenery began to feel monotonous.

“Our target is a bright point detected in orbital imagery. It isn’t far from here. However, according to our surveys, there may be unusual lifeforms on this planet. When the time comes, we’ll be relying on all of you,” Shaya, the person in charge from Distant Lands, said over the public channel.

The others immediately acknowledged him.

Thus, the planetary development team set out.

The path ahead was uneven, but it posed no real obstacle to this experienced group.

Zhou Jieyu occasionally rotated the recording camera. There were too many people around for her to provide commentary, but that was not a problem. She could add a voice-over later.

“What are you doing?” Lin Yumo asked as she moved closer to Zhou Jieyu.

“Recording a video.”

“Huh? What’s there to record? There isn’t even any beautiful scenery.”

“You have to be good at discovering the beauty around you! Yumo, you shouldn’t always wear such a stern expression either. It doesn’t look good. Life is so interesting, so why spend every day frowning and making yourself miserable?” Zhou Jieyu advised.

Lin Yumo replied, “Uh… I’m used to looking like this.”

She was not always gloomy. It was mainly because she had challenged her older sister again some time ago and lost, leaving her under excessive pressure.

Still, an aloof expression truly was Lin Yumo’s standard look.

“Then change the habit. It’s not like you can’t change it!” Zhou Jieyu continued chattering. “Huh? Did that rock just move?”

Zhou Jieyu suddenly stopped and pointed at a protruding rock directly ahead.

The rock was covered in a thick layer of frost.

“It moved?” Lin Yumo stopped as well.

“Just a little farther ahead and we’ll reach the ice mountains. We…” Halfway through speaking, Shaya noticed that the people beside him had stopped. When he turned around, he saw everyone’s attention focused on one of the outsiders.

“What is it?” Shaya asked.

“Shh!”

Zhou Jieyu made a silencing gesture at him.

What the hell…

Shaya immediately frowned. I’m the employer who hired all of you.

However, he quickly suppressed his anger because he had also realized the reason.

Zhou Jieyu raised her gun and aimed at the protruding rock.

To confirm whether she had imagined it, she had just checked the video replay. This was another advantage of being a player. The footage confirmed that the rock had indeed moved.

There might be an unusual lifeform. The moment Zhou Jieyu recalled that warning, she drew her gun without hesitation.

It was a fairly powerful rifle.

She pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

The bullet struck the rock in an instant. The ice encasing its surface immediately cracked like a spiderweb, and the bullet embedded itself deeply inside.

No movement?

“You scared me. I thought there was some kind of creature there,” someone said with relief.

“There’s nothing wrong with being cautious. No one has ever visited this planet before, after all.”

“I thought there was some kind of emergency. Hah.”

Zhou Jieyu pulled the trigger again.

Bang!

This time, the shattered ice offered little resistance. The bullet pushed aside the ice fragments and sank halfway into the rock.

“Let’s go. It looks like there isn’t a problem.”

“She must have seen it wrong…”

Before the speaker could finish the final word, the rock struck by the bullets suddenly leaped into the air.

It jumped more than two meters high. The ice covering it fell away with a loud clatter and shattered across the ground.

“…”

“…”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

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A creature disguised as a rock.

The rock landed again. Just as everyone was about to make their next move, it suddenly sprang up once more and shot toward the nearest NPC.

It was so fast that no one could react across the ten-meter distance.

Smack.

The rock slammed into the NPC’s chest.

The NPC let out a muffled grunt.

The impact had forced the sound from him. His face flushed slightly as he prepared to throw the rock away.

Wait. Why was the rock stuck to him?

Pfft!

The thought had only just appeared when intense pain erupted in his chest.

Something had instantly pierced through his chest cavity.

“Argh!”

A shrill scream rang out over the public channel.

The people nearby could no longer stand by. Lin Yumo and several others skilled in close combat charged forward at the same time.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”

Cold weapons hacked repeatedly into the rock.

Numerous cracks immediately appeared across it, but that was exactly what made the situation so shocking.

These NPCs and players were not weak, yet they had failed to cut this strange creature off the man.

“Arghhh!”

The NPC was still screaming. His face had turned bright red, and his body trembled continuously.

Lin Yumo took a step back and immediately activated a skill.

A layer of pale blue sword aura wrapped around her blade. She thrust it forward and easily pierced through the rock.

The sword aura rippled, and the NPC and the rock collapsed together.

The NPCs might not have noticed anything, but the players saw it clearly. Damage numbers of more than one thousand repeatedly burst from the rock, and additional damage values continued floating above it.

“It looks like it’s dead. What exactly is this thing?”

“It resembles a rock-armored creature. I’ll go take a look.”

“Don’t move.”

Lin Yumo stabbed it several more times before finally killing the creature completely, preventing the common scenario where a supposedly dead monster suddenly counterattacked and killed several people.

Riiip!

The rock was pulled away with great difficulty, revealing the NPC’s front to everyone.

His chest was a bloody mess, with a large wound torn open in it. Two bony claws had reached inside.

The exposed underside of the rock was a sticky body covered in blood. It was not especially broad. The rock monster itself was only about the size of a washbasin, with thick layers of stone wrapped around its body.

“…”

Level 25, Armor-Eating Beetle.

Worth 34,000 EXP each.

That was the information Lin Yumo obtained.

This planet truly was dangerous.

“Watch out!”

At that moment, another concealed rock began to move.

As chaos erupted, the Armor-Eating Beetles that had seemingly been hibernating sprang up one after another. Some even burst out from beneath the connected ice sheet.

Although more Armor-Eating Beetles were appearing, the explorers were also very powerful.

“Don’t get tangled up with them. Just drive them away. We’re not far from the bright point, so let’s get there and confirm the situation as quickly as possible!” Shaya shouted.

They had long expected that unusual creatures might exist on this barren planet. His anticipation regarding the bright point was only growing.

“Then let’s hurry,” Zhou Jieyu said to Lin Yumo.

Her firearms were not very effective against the Armor-Eating Beetles. Even several shots could only inflict light injuries because the stone armor covering them was too thick.

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“Mm!”

Armor-Eating Beetles were fast when pouncing, but chasing quickly across the ice field was much more difficult for them.

As the group ran, they disturbed a few more sleeping Armor-Eating Beetles along the way, but the creatures never managed to gather in large numbers.

They continued like this under the guidance of Distant Lands’ personnel, crossing mountains and ridges until they finally reached the area near their destination.

It was a depression between two ice mountains, roughly five meters in diameter. Sharp crystal tips protruded from the ground, radiating brilliant yellow light.

Yellow crystal!

Although no one knew what the crystal was used for, it appeared to be an extremely rich mineral deposit.

Zhou Jieyu, who was still recording, felt as if the brilliance was nearly blinding her.

“Haha! There really is something here. We’ve struck it rich this time!” A delighted smile appeared on Shaya’s face.

Judging by the reserves in this crystal mine, they could earn more than a billion Bilu from this expedition.

Their enormous investment had not been wasted.

Mobilizing such an expedition with all this effort cost tens of millions of Bilu. If they returned without any income, the board of directors would inevitably make trouble for them.

“Survey it. I’ll contact the people on the ships first.” Shaya turned to Zhou Jieyu and the others. “We’ll have to trouble you to clear out the rock monsters in the surrounding area.”

“Leave it to us.”

Shaya nodded and went to contact the people aboard the ships.

With Lin Yumo leading her, Zhou Jieyu’s EXP-grinding journey remained relaxed and enjoyable.

While they farmed EXP, another group of Distant Lands employees came down from the ships. Carrying surveying and mining equipment, they surrounded the yellow crystals and began their examination.

First, they stripped away the rock layers surrounding the crystals, then excavated downward along the edge of the deposit.

The deeper they dug, the more astonished the observers became.

Good heavens…

The crystal deposit appeared larger the farther down it went. It might even have a pyramid-shaped structure. Would that not give it a hidden value of several billion Bilu, or perhaps even more?

This…

Who would have imagined that such a valuable resource was hidden on a planet almost no one cared about?

Their blood felt as though it were boiling.

Their hearts felt as though they were about to burst into flames.

Hah…

Clang!

The mining robot tore a large chunk of rock from beside the yellow crystals. At that moment, a nearby employee suddenly cried out and fell onto the ground.

“What happened?”

Shaya squeezed forward from behind.

The moment he arrived, he saw what was inside.

The exposed portion of the yellow crystal deposit was extremely transparent. Yet within that clear crystal was a huge shadow. No one needed to look closely to recognize it as a bony claw.

Thump.

A terrible premonition suddenly struck Shaya.

“Dig a little farther down.”

The mining robot excavated another half meter downward.

Now everyone could clearly see the shadow inside. Two bony claws, a sticky abdomen, a segmented body, and large masses of crystal carried on its back. Although the covering was crystal rather than rock, everyone still recognized what it was.

An enormous Armor-Eating Beetle. It would take at least fifty or sixty ordinary Armor-Eating Beetles piled together to equal its size.

This had to be the mother beetle.

A sleeping field boss.

Every player present immediately lit up with excitement.

Shaya, however, swallowed hard.

The smaller Armor-Eating Beetles were already difficult to handle. If a beetle this large woke up, no one here would be able to withstand it.

“It’s huge!”

Zhou Jieyu hurriedly zoomed in and captured the entire giant Armor-Eating Beetle on camera.

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Scout.

“Uh…”

Her Scout could not reveal the giant Armor-Eating Beetle’s level.

Everything was question marks. Even its name was displayed as question marks.

Based on the level of her Scout, that meant the giant Armor-Eating Beetle was at least sixteen levels higher than her.

She was Level 26, so…

“A Level 44 Armor-Eating Beetle Queen,” Lin Yumo reported to Zhou Jieyu after reading the information she could see.

Forty-four?

What the hell…

No chance. Absolutely no chance.

Zhou Jieyu immediately deflated.

They could not even wear it down over time. Their attacks might not be able to penetrate the Armor-Eating Beetle Queen’s Defense at all.

“…”

Shaya’s face turned ashen.

This was exactly the sort of situation he feared most.

A mountain of treasure stood right before his eyes, yet he did not dare touch it. The frustration was unbearable.

Who knew what accident might occur if they continued digging? During interstellar pioneering, the lessons learned from entire teams being wiped out after excavating monsters could fill countless blackboards.

Shaya knew that they could not continue mining this time, or they might all die here.

But they could not simply give up either. After returning, they could see whether they could recruit more people.

“We…”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just as Shaya was about to speak, the ground suddenly began trembling. When they looked to the side, more than twenty Armor-Eating Beetles sprang out at once, and even more appeared to be rushing toward them from the distance.

“Go! Hurry! We can’t delay any longer!” Shaya shouted.

…

After changing to a new disguise, Anran returned to the Star Hunter Guild.

Since buying her new equipment and machinery, she had been analyzing those items while also building a few new things.

Whenever she had time, she also stopped by the Star Hunter Guild to check the latest situation.

New mission:

Follow-up development of Frost Island. Hunters with a strength rating of approximately G45 are required to join the party. A giant insect monster, sealed away and currently asleep, has been discovered on Frost Island.

Reward: 1.5 million EXP and twenty million Bilu.

The new mission was extremely tempting, but Anran merely glanced at it and moved on.

She had only come to check the situation and had no intention of actually accepting a mission. Besides, her current strength did not meet the mission’s requirements.

After waiting for a while, two people entered the guild from outside.

Both were dressed like typical hunters. They walked directly toward the mission board, which also meant they were heading toward Anran.

Wait.

Anran’s expression immediately changed.

Although the person’s clothing and appearance were slightly different, Anran still recognized one of them.

Level 47. It was the person she had seen at that inn.

Someone suspected of being Harrison.

Anran suspected that Harrison was not a single person, but several people.

She had not expected them to come to Okelia.

In that case, both of these people were probably professional criminals.

The other one was Level 46.

Although Anran herself was also disguised, she stood up to avoid any accidents. Pretending to examine something, she gradually edged away to the side.