Chapter 459: New Insights (1/2)

Chapter 459: New Insights

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chong did not expect the chase to last for 24 days.

Had it not been for Mu, Han Jia's holographic scanning system would not have been enough for him to keep up with the red-tailed beast. On the ninth day, he began to consider end the pursuit and return to base. Inside the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, numerous rocks and planetary bodies of sizes were everywhere. It was easy to lose one's way, and even Mu could not guarantee identifying their location.

However, Ye Chong decided to continue his pursuit for a very specific reason.

Once they entered the Calamitous Asteroid Belt, Ye Chong deployed Mu immediately. With that, they quickly verified that the red-tailed beast was immune to pure energy attacks. Perhaps it was not immune to all kinds of energy based weapons, but Mu's Recursion rifle was at least ineffective against it.

Of course, that was only one of the reasons Ye Chong continued the pursuit. What made him continue on was an incident that happened on the ninth day, which was the day that he began to consider giving up the chase.

He remembered clearly what happened that day. He was very tired then. He would not have been able to survive for nine days without his strong determination and Mu's assistance.

The red-tailed beast was alert and cunning, with astonishing stamina. Even after nine days of continuous pursuit, the creature showed no signs of fatigue. It seemed to understand Han Jia's weakness, and always flew into areas with many obstacles.

This spelled much suffering for Ye Chong, who had to keep up his concentration in order to avoid the floating rocks all around him. That was why he was exhausted physically and mentally sooner than expected.

There was another concern, and that was the food supply. Han Jia's food storage was always full, as it was Ye Chong's habit. Besides, he had quite a number of nutrition pills. However, he had to take into account the return journey. Besides, there was always the possibility of losing his way in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Allowing for some unexpected incidents, the food he had was barely enough. After all, long distance travelling in outer space was meant to be done with starships, not mechs.

At Han Jia's maximum speed, nine days of flying amounted to a very huge distance. This meant that they were deep inside the asteroid belt by now. Mu had warned Ye Chong time and again that the further in they went, the more likely it was for them to lose their way. Even with Mu's help, the probability of losing their way right now was already at 41 percent.

However, just when Ye Chong decided to turn back, the feed from the holographic screen made him stop in his tracks.

After days of escaping, the red-tailed beast did not look so good as well. Its black outer shell gleamed with a faint metallic glimmer, much fainter than when Ye Chong first saw the creature. Its crimson red eyes still looked obstinate and alert, but the veins that began to show in the eyes indicated that it was not at its best. The creature's body looked shrunken and weaker, like it could give up at any time. Only the red tipped tail continued to shine brightly and threateningly.

The creature seemed to have sped up. The minor change immediately got Ye Chong's attention. After days of pursuit, he was getting used to their normal flying speed and rhythm.

In front of the creature was a innocent looking rock. The rock was not particularly large, about three meters across and roughly spherical, with an inconspicuous dark brown exterior.

The red-tailed beast behaved oddly for the first time in their long chase. Ye Chong stopped whatever he was occupied with and observed closely.

The red-tailed beast approached the rock, and stabbed its tail into the rock. The tough rock seemed to be easily penetrated by the creature's tail. The tail went all the way in, and Ye Chong gasped at the spectacle.

What was the creature doing? One the one hand, he was surprised by the strength of the creature's tail, and on the other hand, he could not understand what it was doing.

The red-tailed beast rattled its tail. Crack! The rock fragmented into dozens of pieces and exploded outwards. It was chilling to watch.

The red-tailed beast now held in its tail a fist-sized yellow rock that glowed faintly.

A transmutated energy ore! Ye Chong recognized what it was immediately, surprised by what he saw. These transmutated energy ores often stored a significant amount of energy. Before this, he managed to gather a lot of these transmutated energy ores from the underground cave. That was also where he obtained a few teardrop mineralite, encountered the eerie black hole, the eight-fingered hand, and that chilling screech.

”Ye, it's an energy ore!” Mu sounded surprised.