Stellaris: Earth Alliance

Chapter 3 Investigating Anomalies
The landing craft passed through the dense virgin forest and landed in an open area near a river.

A large number of engineering equipment drove out of the landing craft on their own. Although they did not have the intelligence of 550A, they still possessed extremely high intelligence.

Completely unmanned engineering operations were carried out day and night, and a simple outpost was soon established.

Four aircraft-mounted heavy machine guns and a red laser cannon that could rotate at any angle were erected.

"Take it."

Liu Wenhan handed two semi-automatic pistols to Qin Xu and Chen Xiaomeng, and then took one and inserted it into his waist.

Next came an automatic rifle, which only Qin Xu was allowed to carry, while Liu Wenhan and Chen Xiaomeng held boxes of scientific instruments.

"Qin Xu, just be responsible for protecting me and Chen Xiaomeng. You are not responsible for other things."

After in-depth communication with Qin Xu, Liu Wenhan has figured out the level of Qin Xu's scientific knowledge, which can be described as appalling.

It can be said that it is a miracle to have access to a deep space fleet composed entirely of cutting-edge scientists.

"it is good."

Qin Xu is also very self-aware and knows how much he weighs.

"Set off."

Liu Wenhan is the oldest and most experienced among the three, so it is natural to form a group centered on him.

On the way, the two recorded information while using instruments to analyze the surrounding air, animals, plants, soil, etc., and finally came to a rough conclusion.

"On a terrestrial planet with a habitability of 75%, the air contains unknown ingredients, and we don't know what impact it will have on the human body."

Chen Xiaomeng looked at the data analyzed by the instrument and said.

"It's a pity, if it weren't for the problem with the atmospheric composition, we can take off the helmet now."

Liu Wenhan said with some regret.

"Discover new anomalies."

The voice of 550A suddenly appeared, and Liu Wenhan immediately put down the work at hand and took out the communicator.

"The coordinates displayed by 550A are 3 kilometers ahead of us, but we have already gone far into the forest. If we go, it will be night when we come back."

Liu Wenhan consulted the opinions of the other two people.

"I think it's okay. Right, Qin Xu."

Chen Xiaomeng looked at Qin Xu who was playing with ants on the ground and said.

Qin Xu originally wanted to join their research, but after listening to a few words, all of which were professional terms, he gave up after he couldn't understand any of them.

With no one to care about him, he could only find things to do to pass the time.

"Why ask me?"

"Running at night is different from daytime. When you meet a beast during the day, you can kill it tens of meters away. At night, you may only have one chance to shoot. If you miss one shot, you may have no chance... But I think you It should be possible."

Chen Xiaomeng explained very considerately, because she knew that if she didn't explain clearly, Qin Xu's next sentence would definitely be "why".

"Are you serious?"

But it was Liu Wenhan who asked this question first and said with some surprise.He didn't know that Qin Xu was specially recruited for shooting, and he was the only one in the past.

"Not all scientific idiots can join the deep space fleet."

Chen Xiaomeng simply nodded.

Qin Xu: "..."

"Ahem, okay, needless to say, just have a chance to shoot."

Qin Xu said helplessly.

"So what 550A said last time is true?"

Chen Xiaomeng took the opportunity to ask.

"How do I know? I hit it right, but what he said was too mysterious. I just used ordinary predictions and a little luck."

"It's not a prejudgment."

550A, which had been silent, suddenly spoke again, startling Qin Xu.

"...Okay, it's just my luck, okay. Can't you just let me brag?"

Qin Xu pretended to be dissatisfied and said.

Liu Wenhan asked questions beside him, not understanding what they were talking about.

550A clearly felt that Qin Xu was changing the topic.

But now he knew what was on Qin Xu, so he didn't hold on to it all the time.

The three of them hurried on, passing through several kilometers of forest, and finally arrived at a relatively open area.

The surrounding trees were broken in half, and many trees still had signs of burning.

"alert."

Liu Wenhan stopped the two of them and said to Qin Xu.

Qin Xu nodded and put the automatic rifle in a ready-to-fire state.

The three of them approached cautiously. Chen Xiaomeng was the first to see clearly the structure of the wreckage and said in surprise.

"This is the remains of a frigate. Although this structure has never been seen before, it does meet the combat needs of the frigate, and it is better than our current frigate hull structure."

"It's so dilapidated. I don't know how many years it's been here... The unknown writing is not ours, nor is it Kuilak's."

"Let's position ourselves and set up a temporary research institute here tomorrow."

Liu Wenhan said excitedly. "If it's broken like this, is there any research value?"

Qin Xu was a little confused. In his opinion, this was just a piece of scrap metal.

"Of course there is, otherwise how do you think our hyperspace engine was developed? It was also discovered by digging graves. Without a hyperspace engine, there are no hyperspace channels. To put it bluntly, our civilization will be trapped in the solar system for the rest of its life. Not to mention the Centauri galaxy, which is now 4 light-years away."

As Liu Wenhan spoke, he contacted the scientific research ship.

"Just looking at the hull structure of this frigate, it is already more advanced than what we are using now."

As Chen Xiaomeng spoke, he used instruments to scan the wreckage of the dilapidated frigate.

After a long period of computer analysis, comparison, and modeling, a new technology appeared in Chen Xiaomeng's communicator.

"Acquire 1% progress in improving frigate hull technology."

"The network is currently open, and scientific and technological data have been automatically uploaded to the Earth Science Research Center. The project research has been assigned to Dr. Rod Dougherty of the School of Engineering."

"Alert, outpost under attack. Alert, outpost under attack."

With the sudden alarm, Liu Wenhan and Chen Xiaomeng woke up suddenly.

Qin Xu immediately picked up his gun and alerted the surroundings.

Liu Wenhan immediately contacted the person in charge of the outpost.

"What happened over there?"

"Bang bang bang bang... chirp, chirp."

The channel was filled with the sound of continuous heavy machine gun fire and bursts of red laser weapons.

The sound was so noisy that I couldn't hear what was being said over there, or in other words, no one was talking at all at the moment.

"Damn."

Liu Wenhan cursed nervously. Already sensing that something was wrong, he immediately contacted the Mozi research ship in outer space.

"Team [-], where are you now?"

The other person spoke first, and Liu Wenhan immediately replied: "In the forest 6 kilometers north of the outpost. What happened over there?"

"The outpost has fallen. Stay where you are and don't move. We have locked your position and the landing craft will be here soon."

"Who is the attacker? Can't even four heavy machine guns and a laser cannon withstand it?"

Liu Wenhan was so nervous that he unconsciously raised his voice.

"They are bugs, but heavy machine gun bullets cannot penetrate their carapace. Only laser weapons can kill the target."

"Are you sure that thing is a bug?"

Liu Wenhan felt unbelievable.

"We don't know either...wait a minute, we have detected scattered insect swarms moving north. Don't stay where you are. Go north, quickly! Our landing craft will follow you!"

"go!"

Liu Wenhan put down the communicator and shouted at the two of them.

Qin Xu and Chen Xiaomeng also heard the situation and immediately followed Xiang Bei.

"stop!"

After walking forward for two or three minutes, Qin Xu suddenly yelled at the two people in front of him, and then immediately fired three shots into the empty space next to Liu Wenhan.

Chen Xiaomeng stopped instinctively. She knew that Qin Xu was special. The more dangerous and scared she was, the more she would unconditionally obey Qin Xu's orders.

A beetle the size of a washbasin crossed in front of Chen Xiaomeng.

Obviously, the beetle did not expect the opponent to stop suddenly and pounced directly.

Liu Wenhan was so panicked that he couldn't hear what Qin Xu said at this time. Even if he heard it, he wouldn't follow it.

Qin Xu's shots directly hit the beetle that wanted to pounce on Liu Wenhan. Even if it couldn't penetrate the carapace, the kinetic energy of the bullets made the beetle, which was only the size of a washbasin, fly away.

However, the beetle that attacked Chen Xiaomeng just missed. Just when he was about to turn around and attack Chen Xiaomeng, Qin Xu jumped in front of Chen Xiaomeng.

He flew up and stepped on the beetle to the ground. The automatic rifle fired two shots against the beetle's carapace.

The first shot did not break through the defense and made the sound of metal hitting steel bars. The second shot made a crisp cracking sound, and then green liquid shot out.

"What? Who said it couldn't be penetrated? I was scared to death."

Chen Xiaomeng stared at the beetle standing in front of him, stepped on the beetle and fired a few times, then smiled, and Qin Xu, who said such words carelessly, was stunned for a while.

Liu Wenhan was so frightened that he fell to the ground.

It's not that the opponent is so scary, it's mainly that the outpost has four airborne heavy machine guns that can be breached, which makes it a little more scary for some reason.

The beetle was knocked away by the bullet for a distance, and then rushed towards Liu Wenhan.

Qin Xu repeated his old trick, first firing a shot to knock the opponent off balance, then stepping up and stomping it to the ground. The muzzle of the automatic rifle hit the beetle's carapace, and there were two shots.

The beetle exploded this time, green blood flying like shrapnel.

But fortunately, this liquid does not have any properties that will kill it if touched.

"Let's go. Although we can kill them, we will still die if the number of bugs increases."

Qin Xu reached out to Liu Wenhan, whose legs were trembling as he sat on the ground.

Liu Wenhan, who was in his 40s, looked at himself in a sorry state, and then at Qin Xu, who was strolling in the courtyard but was only in his 20s.

But when he thought about his specialty, he felt relieved. He stretched out his hand and held Qin Xu's hand, and was pulled to stand up.

(End of this chapter)