Chapter 666
Chapter 666 - 646: Newcomer’s Arrival
1,488 words
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8 min read
Before their eyes was nothing but flames.
Thick smoke suffused their nostrils and swaddled everything around in intense flames.
Perhaps it was due to the high oxygen content in this place’s air—the flames burned much brighter than those in the world they had been used to. The fire shot straight up into the sky.
In the air, there was an eerie hint of sulfur.
Lu Ping’an moved a slight two steps and almost stumbled... the gravity here was clearly lighter than Earth’s. He would need some time to adapt and adjust.
"What’s the status of the base camp? How far is it?"
"According to our data, it should be less than three kilometers. Uh... our landing point seems a bit off, maybe by dozens of kilometers."
The experienced operator quickly checked the local coordinates against the map.
Unlike the Silent Mountain Range, which has completely lost its spatial defense system, this world shared the same reluctance to the gods’ arbitrary visits.
Normally, the descent from space is challenging and sometimes even more expensive than launch... But dropping a single-use descent capsule is the simplest and most practical method currently.
Empowered with supernatural abilities, fortified with "Feathering," "Lightweight," and "Gravity Resistance" properties, the descent capsule, in most cases, can guarantee a relatively stable fall from a distance.
But due to its low cost, don’t expect any "airborne transfer" or "mid-course redirection" abilities... to top it off, it is typically an easy target with its landing point often varying largely off course.
If it weren’t for the relatively safe world, this landing method would be extremely risky, but it is indeed cheap... Hearing that they were only off by a few kilometers, while the travelers breathed a sigh of relief, their faces expressed shock.
𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"According to our data, wasn’t this supposed to be a green eco-friendly planet? Why so much fire? I thought we landed in a volcanic area."
"This is ridiculous... At this distance, we should be within the range of the telecommunications base station. Why isn’t the two-way radio responding at all?"
"It’s normal, the last message was sent at least a month ago, anything could have happened since then... brace yourselves for the worst."
After a simple communications exchange, the passengers formed a temporary team and began to organize their belongings, along with what remained of the wreckage.
Compared with the previous landing, this drop was slightly harsher, but according to other travelers’ feedback, this seemed to be a normal phenomenon.
"Setting up a stable air-to-ground teleportation portal, even in a world with a lax spatial isolation, is costly and consumes a lot..."
This journey of "poverty tourism" had left an overly deep impression on Lu Ping’an and left him somewhat speechless.
But now, looking at the sea of fire around him, other thoughts would have to wait till they found safety.
This is when their vehicles proved their worth... although no one could confirm whether the oil brought along could be replenished here.
"How are the specialists doing?"
"They’re fine... Most of them are unconscious, but the Healer checked on them. Most of the people are okay. A few seem to have internal bleeding, the Healer needs a relatively stable environment to administer further treatment."
Lu Ping’an noticed a few "delicate and fragile" "normal people" within the crowd.
This is the difference between major forces’ Exotic Realm exploration and independent exploration teams. For some functional purposes, they bring actual commoners along.
Long-term operations in a certain place require the localization of technology, science, crafts, and even industry—something indispensable. Even though the Scholar series professionals are formidable, they cannot make up for gaps across all industries.
Only a major force could afford to use the precious "follower quota" to include such delicate normal research scholars. Back then, many Churches purchased unlimited ship ticket quotas, partly for this very reason.
Now, these specialists’ conditions were quite serious... They could not physically compare with the real professionals. After undergoing space transfer, a zero-gravity environment, falling, spinning headfirst—these series of "travel adventures," a normal battle-professional might feel slightly unwell. But by the time of landing, most of these experts were basically unconscious.
But it was not the time to sleep now. The dangerous surrounding environment forced the leader to wake them up by all means.
All sorts of electronic devices were turned on, but the harsh environment and the strange local physical laws made most of the devices useless... They were not useless, but needed time to adjust and adapt.
The awakened researchers started to rush around, but most of them looked terrible, displaying expressions of doubting their life from time to time... Their past knowledge and experience needed some time to be reshaped. At least a lot of knowledge from Earth was basically useless here.
They tried to use machines and experience to find the local situation, explore their team’s coordinates, and preferably, contact directly via radio signals... But amidst everyone’s expectant gaze, there was only one failure after another.
The first thing that worked was a "white pigeon".
In mid-air, the paper-made white pigeon flapped its wings gently, flew straight towards the south... at least the direction possibly pointed out as south by the compass.
"It can find my blood relatives... Follow it, help me disperse some flames, my guide-pigeon is afraid of fire..."
The amendment of physical laws caused some problems with Earth-based devices built on Earth’s physical laws, but the abilities and taboo items of professionals can still work across worlds.
Looking at this familiar paper bird, Lu Ping’an seemed thoughtful.
"Su Zhizhu, your relative?" Lu Ping’an had the big cat ask.
"It seems to be an uncle of mine, looks a bit familiar, might have met at a party before..."
They really are a family, but that paper pigeon does not seem to have the ability to cross space, otherwise it would have focused on Lu Ping’an.
On the way, there were flames everywhere, but the strange thing was that there were gaps in between the sea of fire, Lu Ping’an noticed that the real burning part seemed to be underground...
"...strange, ordinary flames, why can it burn so long."
Lu Ping’an deliberately came over, tasted the local flames, confirmed that it was just ordinary flames, but the surrounding environment and the taste in the air seemed to have been burning for at least several days.
What’s strange was, this environment is maintaining a balance, although it is high temperature, it has not reached lethal levels, while the breathing is a bit difficult, it is still tolerable... as if this abominable sea of fire is still a part of the natural cycle, able to maintain a stable balance with its surroundings.
But now, obviously it is not the time to stay and explore.
Ordinary flames naturally cannot stop these real professionals... but some poor guys might already be needing oxygen tanks.
The experts one after another fell, either laid into the carrier, or were carried by others... Their initial experience is probably worse than terrible, this environment where they can die at any moment, should make them seriously consider whether they should change their job.
Looking around, it was still a sea of fire, if the whole world is like this, the death of mortals is only a matter of time.
Luckily, before the reserve emergency resources ran out, Lu Ping’an’s team also found a "safe zone".
It was a wide river, the surrounding area is relatively open, and very suitable for camping.
And in the river, there were a large number of exotic beasts... Judging from their sharp teeth, they are not so friendly.
Some were like fish, some were like lizards, leisurely floating in the river, the most obvious feature is probably the smallest cubs, all have a body length of about one to two meters.
With a slightly safer area, the team took a little break, the paper pigeon also moved along the river... This journey has become somewhat easier, at least the experts have confirmed that the local water source can be drunk directly.
But the real target was not found until six hours later... the guide who seemed to be from the Su family called down the paper pigeon and smeared it with blood several times.
Those ordinary people in this harsh environment, sleep then wake, wake then faint, and vomit from time to time... As the journey went on, Lu Ping’an who was getting more and more energetic finally confirmed that he probably really wasn’t human anymore.
Finally, the group came across a vast blue lake at a corner of the large river. They saw the distant view of flocks and a group of buildings. Everyone exhaled relievedly.
"Thankfully, they just moved the base, and didn’t lose all the people..."
— End of Chapter 666 —