Meteorite Star.
The morning sun had just risen, and the plains were littered with the corpses of Hell Tigers, like countless soggy, dirty sacks. Two trains were stopped on the tracks, with a long train that had overturned long ago ahead of them.
An officer blew his whistle, and the mechs and human soldiers disembarked from the trains, operating machinery to begin repairing the road. They first cleared away the scrapped, overturned long train, then laid the tracks.
Various mechanical sounds buzzed, and soldiers crawled over the scrapped train like ants crawling on corpses.
The officer watched from the side, his brow furrowed.
Many human corpses were being dragged out of the train. They had already rotted down to the bone, but there were no maggots because there were no flies on the entire Meteorite Star. The decaying corpses were sometimes bloated and sometimes shriveled, exhibiting different colors due to different human races. They all flowed with yellowish-green foul water, and the stench could be smelled from far away. kanshu5.xi
In addition to the corpses, several large boxes were specially prepared to hold the personal belongings cleared from the train. From small ladies' handbags to large suitcases, all were covered in dust and dried blood that looked like date pits.
It was hard to imagine how terrified these victims were when the beast tide arrived.
The first carriage vibrated slowly and was soon dismantled into a pile of parts. Mechs used electromagnets and buckets to clear the parts, then laid the tracks.
Soon, the entire section of the road was repaired.
The officer blew his whistle again, and the soldiers returned to their trains, setting off to continue their advance.
"All personnel, prepare yourselves. We will encounter a small beast tide in ten minutes!" the officer's voice broadcasted throughout the train.
The soldiers inside were unhurried, their faces wearing a leisurely expression as if on vacation. Some were brewing tea, some were playing cards, and a female soldier was engrossed in reading a bestseller, "If Jiang Yexing Had Love." When the train passed through spectacular scenery, the soldiers raised their phones to take pictures of the outside and post them on their social media to gain followers.
Last night, these soldiers had fought six waves of beast tides. At least the Hell Tigers active nearby no longer excited them. They would have to be on high alert again at least a week later, by which time the troops would enter the beast tide zone of a new species.
At the front of the train, the officer leaned against the window, scrolling through his phone.
His phone displayed the interface of a housing app. The bonus he would receive after finishing the mission on Meteorite Star should be enough to buy a large house outright. The officer had been looking at houses online for the past few days and had already shortlisted a few candidates.
Suddenly, a cry of alarm came from outside the window.
The officer put away his phone, pressed the intercom on his shoulder, and asked, "Which carriage is shouting?"
"Carriage 6!" the intercom replied immediately. "An electronic parasite has burrowed into Walsh's leg! What should we do about this!"
hysterical screams could still be heard from the intercom, and a group of people were arguing in panic.
"Can he feel the bug's location?" the officer asked angrily. "Shoot at the bug's location!"
A gunshot immediately rang out from the intercom, and all voices stopped.
Then there was another gunshot, several in a row.
The officer sprinted towards carriage six and quickly arrived.
A thin white soldier lay on the floor, having fainted from the pain. His right leg was broken, and the wound was bleeding like a pomegranate.
Medics were frantically lifting the unconscious Walsh to drag him towards the rear of the train, where there was a medical bay that could reprint his severed leg. Walsh's broken leg was still bleeding profusely, leaving bloodstains on the floor that looked like they had been wiped with rags.
Everyone stared at the severed leg on the ground.
The leg trembled slightly, and then, before everyone's eyes, a glint of silver emerged from the bloody knee. It was a white worm, about a finger long and as thick as a noodle, with a metallic head.
The officer grabbed a can of yellow peaches from nearby, poured the peaches onto the ground with a splash, and quickly covered the worm with the can.
Trapped in the can, the worm began to forcefully hit the glass with its head, its strength terrifying.
"Is this an electronic parasite?" a soldier asked, his face filled with fear.
No one answered. It seemed to be the case.
The officer switched to using his boot to hold down the can and bent down to look at the electronic parasite inside. It was wriggling, searching for an escape route.
A moment later, with clanging footsteps, Walsh, covered in sweat, returned. He only had his left leg wearing pants and a military boot. His right leg was bare, covered in fluffy golden hair, and he returned barefoot. It seemed the medical bay had reprinted his leg and transfused blood for him.
"How did this worm get into your leg?" the officer asked.
"It crawled in from the firing port," Walsh said, his face full of lingering fear. "When I saw it, it jumped from the firing port and landed directly on my pants. It bit and went in. I didn't dare to pull it out. I was bitten by a leech once, and that kind of worm couldn't be pulled out, so I slapped it hard with my hand, and it burrowed in within a few seconds. Once it burrowed in, my entire leg went numb."
The officer opened the intercom. "Mission aborted, prepare for return. All carriages, be aware of electronic parasites. There are bugs on the train."
The soldiers all lowered their heads and looked at the ground, their movements like searching for dropped coins or catching cockroaches. The entire carriage was in a state of panic. Electronic parasites could control the brains of wild beasts, and perhaps human brains as well?
After being controlled by a parasite, would a person who recovered still be the same person?
A moment later, gunshots and angry curses erupted from the rear carriages.
...
Above Meteorite Star, a Nebula-class spaceship hovered silently, its volume as vast as a small city, emitting a faint blue glow from its surface.
By a window on the side of the spaceship, Jiang Ye and Cen Yemeng were embracing, their breaths coming in rapid gasps.
"Honey, this isn't good. They're still fighting below... We should be more restrained..." Cen Yemeng reached up and clutched her hair, tilting her head back, her expression pained.
"What fighting? It's just a one-sided slaughter of wild beasts." Jiang Ye gently pinched her calf. "Kick a little, I like your calf muscles tensing."
The dark office desk screen suddenly lit up, glowing red, indicating an urgent military situation.
Jiang Ye was startled, released his wife, and walked to the desk with weak legs.
Cen Yemeng, feeling weak all over, leaned against the window, her hair disheveled, looking at her husband. She rubbed her flushed face with her hand and took a deep breath.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"A train soldier was bitten by an electronic parasite," Jiang Ye said with a grave expression. "More than forty electronic parasites crawled onto that train. It must have happened when they briefly stopped to repair the railway."
Cen Yemeng said nothing. She reached out and opened the small air vent by the window, setting it to cold air, and brought her flushed face close to it to cool down and clear her head.
"I think our landing plan should be postponed. These parasites crawling around in the wild is already terrifying. If we accidentally encounter one and can't get it out in time, it might burrow into someone's brain," Jiang Ye said. "We should continue to command from the spaceship."
"Okay," Cen Yemeng nodded. "I quite like this windowsill. It's wide, and the leather covering on it is soft. Kneeling on it is very comfortable." kanδん
"Don't talk nonsense. Go drink some water. I need to handle this matter," Jiang Ye said as he sat down at the desk.