Chapter 517 (1/2)
The Petrachelys slowly decelerated over the ruins on the moon’s surface, scanning every detail of the city. At the same time, it was moving towards the crystal-like, red area. According to data from the remote sensing equipment, the red substance was almost identical to the one from the Beinz Blood Lake.
The entire red area was extremely vast. It was estimated to be more than six million square kilometers in size and it had an irregular oval shape. The original Beinz Blood Lake seemed to be nothing compare to this. Large amounts of corroded and melted debris were visible at the edge of the red zone. The distortion of the ruins there was more severe than that of other places. It was apparently a result of long-term contact with the red substance. At the border of the red substance and the surrounding ruins, the most striking feature was undoubtedly the tentacles.
The spacecraft landed on a flat spot by the edge of the red area. Hao Ren got everyone to wear a life-support collar and led several autonomous machines to leave the spacecraft.
Nangong Sanba jumped on the spot. “This is how it feels like to land on the moon… I feel light.”
“The gravity here is actually greater than the gravity of the moon near my hometown,” Hao Ren said. He then looked up at Lily. “May I borrow your Flamejoy?”
Lily fluttered over as she brandished her claws. “Actually, I think I want to rename it and call it the Sword of Damocles…”
Vivian and Hao Ren glared at her. “No!”
Lily whined, and moved to the side with her tail between her legs, feeling dejected.
With the warm Flamejoy in hand, Hao Ren cautiously crossed the boundary between the two areas. He stepped on the frozen red lake, and scratched the ice, collecting some ice flakes as well as melted liquid. The nature of this liquid was almost indistinguishable from that of water. It was not known why the lifeblood had degenerated into this state after completing its task of annihilation and creation of life.
Then, he returned Lily’s claw before he approached the tentacles by the lakeside. He discovered that these tentacles had been in a withered state for a long time and they were different from what he saw on the earth’s surface: they were more slender, the pattern on their skin was neater, and their texture had a strong sense of metal. It looked like they were from another part of the First Born’s body… or they could be a functional spinoff.
The MDT flew around and observed the surrounding conditions, speculating the scene after the destruction of the moon’s surface. “The ancient people’s lunar ecosystem may have been completely dependent on an artificial environment. So, the atmosphere and constant temperature were gone after the city’s destruction. The Blood Tide became a large piece of ice once it receded into this area. These tentacles should be the last batch to grow from the Blood Tide before the lunar environment became completely unfit for life. Hence, no new tentacles grew, and as a result, they were all concentrated on the edge of the Blood Tide.”
“Look at the bottom of the lake.” Hao Ren lowered his head and pointed at the red, icy surface. With his extraordinary eyesight, he could vaguely see the shadows underneath the thick layer of ice, where human relics and building bases that were decomposed by the Blood Tide lay. They had been immersed in this red liquid and should be completely dissolved by now, but the unusually rapid loss of temperature following the shutdown of the lunar surface’s thermostat had caused the Blood Tide to stop prematurely and turn into red water. Parts that had decomposed halfway were frozen in state.
These phenomena were not found on any other ecological planets. The special artificial environment of the moon city had retained these valuable chunks for study.
MDT hit the ice happily. “Oh, this is a good thing! We can take a look at the decomposition process they went through!”
Hao Ren shot the MDT a sideways look. The latter was swiftly spinning on the ice like a drill bit. “Do you realize that you’re just a PDA? I have three autonomous robots here!”
The MDT then came to its senses. It quickly drifted back into the air and said, “Fine, let the autonomous robots do the drilling.”