Chapter 424: Chapter 424: Eerie

"Damn it, we finally made it out alive. Woperi, bring up the optical imaging, quick! See if those damn bugs are still chasing us."

Hopka shouted at Woperi.

"Yes, sir!"

Woperi immediately began operating the controls.

The resulting image showed no sign of the swarm.

"There’s nothing! They didn’t follow us!"

Woperi shouted in pleasant surprise.

"That’s great."

Long Ming and the others all let out a sigh of relief.

Just then, an operator suddenly spoke up, his voice filled with excitement.

"Colonel, we’ve received a CSW emergency pulse signal from the Ocean!"

"What did you say?"

Long Ming and the others were shocked when they heard this.

"Where’s the signal source?"

Hopka asked ecstatically.

"It’s not far from us, right here on this planet!"

The operator said, overjoyed.

"Haha! No wonder I couldn’t find the Ocean. So they were chased into the space rift by the bugs too."

Hopka immediately burst out laughing.

"Don’t celebrate too early. Our ship seems to be damaged,"

Long Ming calmly reminded Colonel Hopka.

The smile on Hopka’s face froze. He then said, annoyed.

"I can’t worry about that now! Woperi, try hailing the Ocean. See if you get a response."

"Yes, sir!"

Woperi immediately got to work.

"Ocean, this is the Azure Blue. Do you read? Please respond!"

...

Woperi activated the communications device and hailed them.

Unfortunately, the comms channel was met with dead silence. There was no response.

"It’s no good. No response!"

Woperi said to Hopka.

"That’s impossible. With so many communication devices, there should be some kind of response. Could something have happened inside the ship?"

Hopka immediately felt that something was wrong.

"Colonel, what should we do then?"

Woperi and the others asked with grave expressions.

"This won’t do. We have to go over there and check out the situation!"

Hopka said in a low voice.

Hearing this, Long Ming spoke up to Hopka.

"Why don’t you guys go? I can’t fly, so I’ll just stay here and watch the ship."

"Dream on. You’re coming with us, and that’s final!"

Hopka rejected Long Ming’s request without a second thought.

Although he really hated this guy, Long Ming.

Hopka still highly acknowledged Long Ming’s strength.

’This kid was able to snatch the stock solution from right under our noses and even defeated me. That alone is enough to prove his strength.’

’There’s definitely something wrong on the Ocean since they’re not responding. No matter what, I have to drag this guy along. If we’re going to die, we’ll die together!’

"That’s right. I think it’s safer to bring Red Ghost along."

Chen Hong and another man also agreed to bring Long Ming.

Although they didn’t like Long Ming either, the fact that he could withstand Colonel Hopka’s attacks back at the spaceport was enough to show his strength. At a time like this, the more combat power, the better.

"The problem is, I can’t fly!"

Long Ming replied, speechless.

"So what if you can’t fly? You think we can’t carry you?"

Hopka retorted irritably.

"Then who’s going to stay behind and guard the ship?"

Long Ming asked, a bit resigned.

"Fakadon, you stay behind. Take some men and start repairs on the Azure Blue. Wait for our orders."

Hopka left one of his right-hand men behind.

"Yes, sir!"

Fakadon responded in a low voice.

"Woperi, and you three, you’re with me!"

Hopka left, taking Long Ming and the other three with him.

「Shortly after.」

Docking port 1 of the Azure Blue opened.

Hopka led Long Ming and the others down the ramp.

Long Ming scanned his surroundings. Dark red rocks were everywhere. The entire planet was dead silent and incredibly oppressive, giving one an eerie, skin-crawling sensation.

"Woperi, you carry Red Ghost!"

Hopka said to Woperi, who was piloting a Storm Envoy.

"Understood!"

Woperi flew behind Long Ming, reached out, and grabbed him.

"Let’s move out!"

Hopka led the group, flying low toward the signal’s source.

At that moment, shadowy figures emitting black particles watched Long Ming’s group from a distance.

As Long Ming gazed out over the dark red landscape, he felt that something was not quite right.

Just then, a nerve seemed to twitch, and he whipped his head around to look back, but he saw nothing.

"What’s wrong?"

Woperi also turned his head back, confused.

"Nothing. It was probably my imagination."

Long Ming said, his expression shifting uncertainly.

「Over an hour later.」

A fifty-kilometer-long, pufferfish-shaped, gray-painted, and badly damaged Class-5 transport ship came into view.

"The Ocean!"

Hopka ecstatically accelerated toward it.

Soon, they landed on the hull of the Ocean and jumped through a ruptured opening.

THUD~

The group landed smoothly inside a damaged corridor.

The entire corridor was very dark.

The main lights were out, with only the emergency lights still on.

"Colonel, should we search further inside?"

Woperi asked in a low voice.

"Let’s go. We’ll check the central control room first."

Hopka said to Long Ming and the others in a low voice.

"Alright!"

Long Ming and the others nodded.

They immediately started walking down the corridor.

But after walking for a long time, they hadn’t seen a single person, living or dead.

"Colonel, this isn’t right! It’s one thing not to see anyone alive, but how come we haven’t even seen a single body?"

Woperi said, a chill running down his spine.

"I don’t know. Everyone, stay alert!"

Hopka also felt that something was seriously wrong.

Long Ming’s brow furrowed. Although the Ocean was severely damaged and had crashed here, it hadn’t suffered a major explosion. Under normal circumstances, many people should have survived.

Besides, they had started the search and rescue operation right after the ship’s accident. Not much time had passed, so it was illogical that they hadn’t seen anyone.

RUSTLE~

Suddenly, Long Ming’s ears picked up a very strange sound.

The sound seemed to surround him, making him feel inexplicably flustered and panicked.

"Who’s there?"

Long Ming whipped his head around to look behind him.

Hopka and the others jumped in fright, raising their weapons and looking down the dark corridor behind them.

However, the dim corridor was empty.

"What the hell are you doing? Don’t give false alarms, alright?"

Hopka said to Long Ming irritably.

"No, something feels wrong. I keep feeling like someone is watching us."

Long Ming said to Hopka, his voice hoarse.

"What feels wrong? My scanner isn’t picking up any anomalies."

Hopka cranked the scanner’s power to maximum, but it still detected nothing.

"My scanner isn’t picking up anything either."

"Same here!"

...

Chen Hong and the others chimed in.

Long Ming said with a dark expression.

’Did I get it wrong?’

"Whether you were wrong or not, everyone be careful. This ship seems cursed!"

Hopka didn’t completely dismiss Long Ming’s warning just because they hadn’t found anything.

"Got it."

Chen Hong and the others replied.

"Let’s go!"

Hopka led the group and continued toward the central control room.

They soon arrived at the entrance to the central control room.

"Go in!"

Hopka took the lead and rushed inside.

Long Ming and the others immediately followed.

The vast central control room was a mess, but there were still no signs of life, nor any bodies.

"Strange. Where is everyone?"

Hopka looked as if he’d seen a ghost.

"Where did they all go?"

Woperi and the others were also extremely unsettled, looking around everywhere for any trace.

"Why don’t we check the operations log first? See if there are any clues left behind."

Long Ming suggested to Hopka.

"Woperi, go see if you can still boot up the console!"

Hopka turned his head to look at Woperi.

"Yes, sir!"

Woperi immediately went forward to check the console.

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