Terra, Dream Boat One temporary survival base.

Several astronauts led by Team Leader Wei Xuan were putting on their spacesuits and other equipment.

Three others were not taking action, but all wore deeply worried expressions.

One of them couldn't help but speak up, "Team Leader, are you really going to the other survival base?"

"This is the Space Agency's order, and it's also the responsibility we should bear. If the situation with the unclear accident were ours, the astronauts on the Empire Pioneer would also have the obligation to come to our base to investigate."

"I understand, it's just... those screams were truly horrifying..."

The shrieks that had come from the communicator earlier were too terrifying. Everyone simply couldn't imagine under what circumstances the strong-willed astronauts would make such sounds.

"If they have all sacrificed themselves, we would probably be recalled, but the problem is their vital signs are still present," another astronaut who was donning his equipment said, very puzzled. "Logically speaking, if they suffered a terrible attack, there would definitely be casualties. If there are no casualties, why aren't they responding to communications?"

"That is exactly what we need to go and find out," Wei Xuan said, looking at the three staying behind at the base. "There must be some unknown threat on this planet. You who are staying behind must also be vigilant and maintain contact with us at all times." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Yes, Team Leader."

"Please be careful too, Team Leader!"

"Alright, let's set off."

Wei Xuan and the others, fully equipped, left the survival base and began heading towards the area where the Empire Pioneer astronauts were located.

The landing sites of the two manned rockets were about twenty kilometers apart. Without any vehicles and relying only on walking, it would take at least five or six hours.

However, the gravity on Terra was only about one-fifth that of Tianshui Star. Human walking efficiency on its surface was much higher, which could shorten the travel time considerably.

With the 12-hour oxygen supply each person had prepared, making two round trips wouldn't be a problem.

The group used the low gravity to bounce-walk. Everyone's movements looked somewhat comical, yet no one was in the mood to laugh.

Everyone was thinking: this planet Terra, as a satellite of Tianshui Star, had been explored multiple times with probes since the development of human aerospace technology.

If there were unknown life on this planet, it should have been detected long ago.

But if there were no unknown life, then what had scared the astronauts on the Empire Pioneer to such an extent that they had completely lost contact?

The pressure brought by this unknown fear weighed heavily on everyone's mood.

The group remained silent the entire way. Team Leader Wei Xuan only spoke a few words when making scheduled contact with the base. Before long, the Empire Pioneer appeared within everyone's line of sight.

"I see the rocket, we're almost there."

"Don't forget to stay alert to our surroundings at all times."

As they approached the survival base, everyone's mood grew tense, not knowing what they would encounter.

When the distance was only five kilometers, Wei Xuan had everyone stop. He took out the metal case he was carrying.

Placing it flat on the ground and opening it, an intelligent robot resembling a spider crawled out.

This was the "Sky Spider Explorer" specifically designed for ground reconnaissance. It was equipped with a large number of sensors, high-definition cameras, and audio recording equipment. Its specially designed 360-degree rotatable metal multiple legs could also adapt to various terrains.

Wei Xuan set the program, selected start, and it swiftly crawled towards the target survival base on its own.

As the team leader, he would not lead his team directly close to the base when the situation was unclear; that was too dangerous. It was better to let the machine scout the situation first. If there really was any danger inside the base, they could prepare in advance.

Through the receiver's screen, he observed the real-time footage captured by the Sky Spider.

It quickly crawled to the vicinity of the survival base established by the Empire Pioneer astronauts. It looked largely similar to the Dream Boat One's base, both composed of two intelligent inflatable modules: a supply module and a living module.

Under Wei Xuan's control, the Sky Spider circled the base for observation and did not find any external damage to the two modules.

Strange...

No external damage meant the astronauts were inside the inflatable modules, meaning there was no situation like "an enemy broke into the module."

Wei Xuan switched to thermal imaging mode. He could detect multiple human heat sources inside the module, the number exactly matching the astronauts, neither more nor less.

Wei Xuan put down the receiver and said to the vigilant team members, "The Sky Spider didn't detect any enemies, but the survival base modules are all in a closed state. We need to go over and unlock them. Let's go."

"Yes."

The team members, hearing that no enemies were found, slightly relaxed. Soon after, they arrived at the survival base with Wei Xuan. After carefully checking the surroundings, the result was the same as the Sky Spider's reconnaissance: no signs of any struggle were found.

Wei Xuan walked to the front of the living module. A small screen lit up at the entrance, requiring iris verification to open the door.

The astronauts from both manned rockets shared permissions. Wei Xuan lowered his head to look at the scanner, and the screen immediately turned green.

[Dream Boat One Team Leader Wei Xuan, Access Granted]

The module's outer door opened, and Wei Xuan and the others entered.

The outer door closed. At this moment, everyone either gripped their guns tightly or prepared to use their Mind Power items at any moment.

When the inner door opened, the astronauts of the Empire Pioneer immediately came into view!

"What's wrong with them—!"

They saw over a dozen astronauts—some lying on the floor, some slumped over tables, some in twisted postures. Their common point was that each had an expression of extreme terror frozen on their face, their bodies stiff as stone.

These expressions were abnormally distorted and horrifying, sending chills down the spines of Wei Xuan and his team. They immediately searched the module. Apart from the astronauts, there were no other living creatures.

The team member with medical skills examined them and said somewhat uncertainly, "Team Leader, it seems like they... due to excessive fear, their bodies have entered some kind of special stress state."

"Stress?" another person walked up to an astronaut with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, waving a hand in front of the latter's face. "Can humans become stressed to this vegetative state?"

"Logically speaking, it's not very possible. Especially so many people simultaneously falling into this bizarre state... But in this state, their heartbeats are still stable, which is why their vital signs haven't disappeared. It's simply unbelievable."

"..."

Wei Xuan remained silent and went to the side of Empire Pioneer Team Leader Robert, who was sitting at a table. The latter had his hands clutching his head, an expression of terror and gritted teeth frozen on his face. There was a fresh wound on his lip area, and on the table before him were drops of blood.

On the table were a communicator and the module control console. Wei Xuan operated it a few times, and a video began playing on the screen.

To prevent accidents, the interiors of survival bases were equipped with cameras. This meant that no matter what happened on-site, there would be recordings available for investigation.

Wei Xuan dragged the timeline to five minutes before Robert contacted him. The video played, showing the astronauts chatting and laughing, nothing seeming amiss.

Continuing the playback, over four minutes later, a sudden change occurred.

Almost at the same moment, every astronaut in the module widened their eyes. Seeing something unknown, they continuously let out piercing screams.

Team Leader Robert also screamed, but after a few seconds, he seemed to briefly calm down. He bit his own lip, ignoring the dripping blood, grabbed the communicator to contact Wei Xuan, shouted a sentence, then fell back into fear and madness.

This continued for over ten seconds before all the astronauts in the module stiffened, their expressions frozen.

The faces of everyone who watched the video turned as pale as paper. Because the recording equipment on the table was close to Robert, his shout wasn't completely drowned out by the others' screams. This time, they all heard it clearly. It was the final warning Robert issued in that moment of lucidity.

"Leave! There are demons on this planet!"