Chapter 1 After Landing

Having pierced through the planet's atmosphere, the Huarongdao descended onto a vast expanse of "Jie Land."

As the name suggests, this land was primarily composed of a substance known as "Jie Ore." This was a very cheap mineral, found on many planets in this star system. Although Jie Ore had a wide range of uses, it was hardly a rare mineral. To compare it to a substance on Earth... its value was only slightly higher than ordinary dirt.

Chee—ooo—

Accompanied by the distinct sounds of "old-fashioned" spaceship air valves and mechanical rhythms, the hatch of the Huarongdao opened.

Green Meteor, Feng Bujue, Bananivore, and Serra J were the first to disembark.

Before long, Fleaman, who had been out of sight for a while, finally made his appearance...

Brother Jue had assumed that this fellow named "Flea," with his high-pitched voice, would be a very small hero, perhaps even the size of an actual flea.

However... in reality, Fleaman's physique was quite normal, roughly that of a human teenager. Moreover... his skin appeared soft, without any hard shell, bearing no resemblance to an invertebrate or arthropod.

In short... nothing about his appearance, including his chosen attire, suggested any connection to insects.

Of course, Fleaman's appearance differed significantly from that of an Earthling; he didn't resemble any known species on Earth. Overall, he was a slender, humanoid being with amber-colored skin and narrow, slightly curved limbs.

Although Fleaman lacked obvious facial features (nor did he wear a mask), his senses were clearly quite sharp... one might even say highly developed.

"Just give me a few seconds, guys." After stepping off the ship, Fleaman waved to the other four heroes, then lowered his head and began manipulating a remote control device in his hands.

Beep beep beep—

Each of Fleaman's hands had six nimble, hook-like fingers. After a series of rapid manipulations, he used the remote to put the ship into "stealth" mode.

As the massive ship "disappeared" in a flicker of light and shadow, Fleaman announced, "The ship's coordinates are Star Latitude 189, Star Longitude 9712..." He looked up at his teammates. "My memory's not so good, so help me remember it. If I lose the remote and forget the coordinates, or if I die... you know what to do."

From these words, it was easy to see that Fleaman was a pessimist and a very practical person. He didn't beat around the bush and acted decisively.

These were qualities that Feng Bujue greatly admired.

"Heh heh... don't worry." Bananivore was the first to respond, "I've already memorized it."

"Very good." Hearing it face to face, Fleaman's voice was even more shrill than on the radio. "Now, I'd like to confirm one more thing..." As he spoke, he swept a serious gaze (though no one could see his eyes or any change in expression) across everyone's faces. "Does anyone have any objections to me being in charge of this operation?" He paused briefly, focusing his gaze on Brother Jue's face (though Brother Jue had no idea where he was looking). "If you do, I want you to say so now. Don't keep it bottled up or use insubordinate behavior during the mission to tell me."

"I have no objections," Green Meteor replied immediately.

"Neither do I," Serra J added.

"I have no objections either," Bananivore chimed in.

"Whatever you say." Feng Bujue smiled at Fleaman, "... Captain." He emphasized the word "Captain."

Hearing their answers, Fleaman nodded with satisfaction and continued, "Then... let's talk about the next steps as we go."

He really didn't waste any time. Before the words were even out of his mouth, he started running.

The others didn't say much, just quickly followed.

"Bananivore, give us a brief update on the current situation," Fleaman said, without looking back, a few seconds later.

"Okay." Bananivore stuck his tongue out (yes, he used his tongue) and pressed (licked) the side of his mechanical helmet, then remained silent for a moment before replying, "Hmm... you confirmed the direction we're heading when you landed, right?"

"Yes, it's about forty huer (a unit of distance in this universe, 1 huer is approximately 1024 meters) from the edge of the 'Shady Highlands'," Fleaman replied.

"Hmm... the rangefinder on the ship might be a bit off, within one huer," Bananivore said, pointing straight ahead. "But... the direction is right; if we go straight ahead for another forty or so huer, we'll reach the main battlefield of this incident." He paused, then added, "Right now, the standoff between the Bratty Star People and the Plaza Dance Star People continues. The latter have a slight advantage, while the people of other planets are observing quietly, hoping to reap the benefits."

"Um..." At this point, Feng Bujue interrupted with a look of doubt, "Bananivore, how do you know the current situation on the battlefield?"

"Huh? Don't you know?" Bananivore replied, "There are United Super Alliance satellites in orbit around this planet." As he spoke, he rolled his eyes upward. "My helmet can receive images from the satellites."

"I see..." Brother Jue had a good habit: in situations where there was no conflict of interest, he always "wasn't ashamed to ask," even if he was laughed at. He knew that missing an opportunity to gather information because of pretending to understand was truly foolish. "Um... I have another question... why did we land so far away?"

"Because there are Beggar Star People here." This time, it was Fleaman who answered him. "The Beggar Star People's reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance capabilities are among the best in the universe. Even though this operation used an older model ship with a harder-to-detect signal, coming this close was the limit... any closer and we risk being discovered."

"Oh..." Feng Bujue responded, then asked, "What about parachuting from the air, forty huer above the ground? That would be faster and less effort, and the ship could just hover."

Before he could finish his idea, the others started laughing.

"Haha... Pokerface, you're overthinking it, right?" Green Meteor laughed. "Even I know that old-fashioned ships use a ton of energy to hover. If the Huarongdao hovers, it'll probably be forced to make an emergency landing in less than half a day due to lack of power."

"Also... at a height of forty huer, we'd be in the mesosphere of this planet. If we jumped out without any protective gear, we'd be frozen solid instantly," Serra J added. "Even a semi-mechanical body like mine... might not survive, let alone you flesh-and-blood creatures."

"Besides..." Bananivore added, "For the five of us, a mere forty huer is just a blink of an eye, isn't it?"

"Heh... heh heh..." Feng Bujue chuckled awkwardly, "Yeah, you're right."

Actually, Brother Jue was thinking, "Even running at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour... it would still take twenty minutes. What do you mean, 'just a blink of an eye'? Just how strong are you guys?"

Indeed, in terms of instantaneous speed, Feng Bujue was second to none of the four beside him, but... sustained, high-speed running was a different matter.

After all, Brother Jue was a "player," and players... inevitably faced the issue of a stamina limit.

"Pokerface." Two seconds later, Fleaman spoke again, turning his head to Brother Jue. "Even though you're a Galaxy-Level Hero, you're still a rookie... allow me to show off my seniority and give you some advice..."

"Please, enlighten me." Feng Bujue was happy to listen to this kind of information.

"In the future... after you accept a mission in the system, you can immediately go to the United Super Alliance's database to retrieve knowledge related to the mission and download it to your Hero ID card," Fleaman continued. "For example... the history of the planet where the crisis occurred, related races, cultural background, etc. With your permissions... you can basically access all of that." He paused slightly, then added, "For example, with this mission, if you had downloaded the information beforehand, you could have quickly read through it on the way here and learned a lot. You would have known the basic stuff I just explained... without us having to tell you."

"Oh... I see." Feng Bujue replied with a serious expression.

Brother Jue really needed this kind of explanation, because the United Super Alliance's Hero Self-Service Terminal had a lot of complicated functions, and the Hero ID card had many uses (without an instruction manual). Although Feng Bujue knew that he could look up information, he didn't know that he could download it to the card. When he accepted the mission, the "assembly time" was very tight, so Brother Jue didn't stay in the dorm to check the information, and just ran out directly. If he had known that he could download it, he would have definitely brought a lot of background information and read it all on the ship.

"Alright, forget about this mission, since I'm in charge anyway," Fleaman said after a while. "In short... everyone follow my pace, get to the scene, and see the actual situation before we make a decision."

"Hey! I've been waiting for you to say that!" Green Meteor was already itching to get started. "Walking around like this is not even a warm up."

"Yeah, look at me, only using two legs, it's so awkward," Serra J added.

"What the..." Feng Bujue was shocked when he heard those two's words, and complained in his heart, "Hey hey... we're already running at about 25 kilometers per hour (about seven meters per second), what are you guys trying to do? There's a gorilla in the team wearing heavy armor! Speaking of which... that gorilla has been 'running' on its arms the whole time! Moving at high speed with those almost demonic movements without even panting..."

"Heh heh..." And the next second, Bananivore said something that made Brother Jue's balls crack, "... Then... I'll turn on flight mode too."

"You damn ape..." Feng Bujue immediately exclaimed in his heart, "You even have this move... that's too despicable! Are you a phone?"

"Pokerface, are you okay?" Fleaman asked, seeing that Brother Jue hadn't responded, just to be sure.

"Hahaha... what are you talking about?" Green Meteor laughed at this time, "A Galaxy-Level Hero being dropped by us? Ha! How would he chase criminals then?"

"Haha..." Even Serra J, who didn't like to laugh much, joined in with a smile, "Yeah, even if he can't keep up with us by running, he'll use flight or teleportation, right?" He turned to Brother Jue and said, "Right, Pokerface?"

"Ah..." Feng Bujue stared blankly and replied, "I... I'll run."

With the conversation having reached this point, he could only answer like that...

"Okay." So, Fleaman nodded, his eyes (yes, he had eyes) gleaming, "Then we'll..."

Just as those four words came out of his mouth, it was seen that... Fleaman's body was rapidly secreting a dark blue liquid, which solidified almost as soon as it seeped out of his skin, instantly forming a blue "carapace."

"...Run!" As Fleaman said the second half of that sentence, he was like a cannonball shooting into the sky... "Boom!" He bounced off the ground and flew far, far ahead in the blink of an eye...

"Hmph... easy." Green Meteor snorted when he saw this, and then began to increase the range of his body's movements.

Squeak squeak squeak...

In a series of gradually accelerating joint friction sounds, this guy, who was twice the size of an average Earthling, transformed into a green shadow and instantly chased forward.

Following him, Serra J and Bananivore also showed their abilities... one transformed into "Horse Mode," running fiercely on all fours; the other simply flew up, using the jet device on his back to dash out at "Mach speed."

"This is a bunch of goddamn beasts!" Feng Bujue watched the three figures disappear in a cloud of dust, not leaving him even a chance to bluff, truly helpless.

With things having come this far, he had to find a way on his own...

Although [Void Step] had the effect of "maximum running speed increased to twice," for this kind of long-distance endurance running, "average speed" and "conserving stamina" were the most important. In this regard, [Void Step] was actually not as good as Brother Jue's first pair of footgear, [Jazz Dance], whose effect, "increases the maximum speed of running, greatly reduces the consumption of stamina when walking or running for a long time," was perfect for this situation.

Unfortunately... that assumption wasn't valid...

"What to do?" Brother Jue thought as he sped up to catch up, "Should I shave my head and catch up?"

Indeed, if he used [Chuck Norris' Shaving Razor], he would definitely be able to catch up easily, and finish the "forty huer" before everyone else, without even panting. But... using this trump card at this moment was undoubtedly inappropriate.

Feng Bujue looked at the shadows getting further and further ahead, and quickly estimated his running speed and the rate of stamina consumption... After considering it for ten seconds, he made a decision—activate [Demon Descent]!