Chapter 1129: Awakening

As there was ample time, the 32 strong teams mutually studied their opponents almost thoroughly, all wanting to take the lead in this battle. It would be best to win and preserve their strength to its greatest extent at the same time.

It was the same for the Dynasty battle team. They were facing the Sirius Star team, who although have yet to be in the top ten, were no doubt a super strong team. This could be understood from within Elite Academy X, where the leading person was also Sirius Star's Earth-rank warrior. And as the leader of a top ranking team, his Earth rank would be at the same level, at least an Earth 1 standard. This time's SIG was a battle between military schools in name, but, in fact, people who were already in the military were also taking part. However, Elite Academy X's representative team were definitely real students, and this would be a slight disadvantage.

Lear's problem now was that Zhou Yun, Pang Tong, and Anluda were against Luo Fei being the scout, and Luo Fei, that fatty, was also a coward himself; he had actually requested to be the substitute.

These three people - Zhou Yun, Pang Tong, Anluda - were very important to Lear. This was the first time that there were members outside of the Solar System supporting him after he became a Saint candidate, which was a good start. Lear was not sure if they had gotten the news or if the Saint had arranged it, so he gave them face. At the same time, the three of their strengths were certainly not bad, but Lear had recently realized that there was something not right. The three of them had a lot of shortcomings, often criticising the Dynasty battle team, and although they were still somewhat respectful to him, the respect given seemed as if treating him like A Dou, as if he, this Saint candidate, would be completely useless if he left them.

Zhou Yun was still understandable. However, there was something not right with Pang Tong and Anluda, and Zhou Yun seemed to have been drawn over by the two of them, causing the team to be slightly ununited. The Mayans could not be counted on, as their contract will come to an end when this SIG finished, so the Dynasty battle team had to attain results in this SIG, and they needed to be the champions. The basic requirement was to enter the top eight, though it would be more ideal if they could enter the top four. Lear was still very clear of the current situation.

Essentially, Lear hoped that Luo Fei would contribute a little, but Luo Fei had actually wussed out. As the general, he had to draw out his own rules in order to please everyone, and Luo Fei was weak.

Lear could not have an outburst on the spot. After the battle preparation meeting ended, Lear made Luo Fei stay back.

The meeting room was silent. Luo Fei hung his head down. Lear did not speak, so Luo Fei even more so did not dare to speak.

After some time, Lear looked at Luo Fei. "Do you feel that you are a burden?"

Luo Fei lowered his head. Deep down, his heart was indeed filled with inferiority. Seeing the bright and cheerful Zhou Yun and others alike, regardless of image or disposition, he was lacking. Sometimes, he himself felt ashamed to go out with Lear, he felt that he could not even be counted as a follower.

Today, what Lear was facing was no longer the Earth that he was able to take control of, neither were they in the familiar Solar System - it was the completely unknown Milky Way Alliance. To strategize in this world, there would be a lot of things to do, so Lear would have no time to constantly look after Luo Fei.

"In this world, the only person that can look down on you is yourself. Luo Fei, think through clearly whether you want to continue on or go back. I'll give you a chance to decide."

Lear patted Luo Fei's shoulder and left the room.

In this world, Luo Fei was the only one who Lear would allow a choice.

The Sirius Star team was very strong, and Lear did not dare to take them lightly. If he was slightly careless and capsized in a gutter, even if he wanted to pick himself back up, it would be hard and on the Saint's side. He would not be given a second chance. He could weigh the pros and cons.

In the Asura battle team, Olivios had also prepared himself. This was the last time he and Mars would battle together. Olivios knew what his own problem was: he needed to be more strong. He had already found out which world Wang Zheng was in currently, and he was very clear on what his Ability X was. He did not expect that Wang Zheng's physical technique to be nearly perfect. He was a mountain that had to be turned over, as the Heavenly Overlord Attack was about exceeding the strong to be even stronger.

Upon finding out that the explorer ship was missing, the exploration team in deep space immediately sent out a battleship to search for it.

"Star Deer V6, Star Deer V6, this is No.10 Battleship. If you receive this, please respond."

In deep space, the No.10 Battleship advanced at cruising speed, in search of the missing explorer ship.

The radar scanning energy watch switched on and analysed the residue index. The Star Deer V6 explorer ship had stopped here ten hours ago. Then, as if jumping down the chasm of a cliff, its energy residue instantly disappeared.

This feeling was as if a person right in front of you had suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.

"This is impossible. If the conserved energy could be found, there is no way it could disappear with no reason."

Ruhrut did not have a good feeling.

As a senior warship captain in the coalition, Ruhrut had extremely remarkable deep space travelling experiences. Having innumerables explorations in deep space, he had faced countless dangers and eerie situations, but the feeling he had this time was different from the previous times.

There was no energy residue, which meant that the Star Deer V6's entire engine, including the survival mode, were completely shut down.

This was space, no one would do such a thing...

Wait, there is still a hypothesis. If there was a mothership that swallowed the explorer ship, like the law of the jungle, it could also result in such an effect.

"Expand the capability level of scanning"

"Noted. The range?"

"Full bandwidth! Immediately!"

"Yes, Sir. Scanning capability level upgraded to full bandwidth."

"Starting scan."

In total silence, information flowed alternately like tide waters.

The energy watch in front of Ruhrut turned from microscopic to macroscopic.

A huge digital figure reflected in Ruhrut's eyes. As someone with more than twenty years of experience travelling in deep space as a ship captain, Ruhrut almost immediately could tell that there was a problem. "Turn on all engines, fly off with the fastest speed..."

Boom...

In a flash, the entire ship shook violently.

"Warning! Warning! The main engine is shutting down!"

"Request emergency help, no, send out a warning..."

Ruhrut saw the information officer's pale white face even before his words had ended. He lifted his head up again. The scene shown on the warship's viewfinder screen caused him to be unable to even utter a word.

Captain meeting.

Meng Tian quietly listened in on the captains' intense argument.

Ruhrut's No.10 Battleship had lost contact!

Although the news was sealed off at first, the higher-ups of the fleet all agreed that it seemed like a storm was coming.

Ruhrut was a senior captain with twenty-three years of exploration travelling experience. With his capability, if a search and rescue mission was not extremely dangerous, there would not be an issue of losing contact.

The main issue in the argument between the captains was whether the fleet should rapidly retreat or immediately open up a search and rescue for the No.10 Battleship.

It was very obvious that retreating could ensure their safety. To the deep space exploration fleet, although losing a warship was serious, it was still within an acceptable range.

And the dangers that they would face if they stayed was unknown.

They did not know nor understood, so they feared.

"Silence!"

The highest ranked commander in the fleet, Lieutenant General Hobb, waved his hands and a constellation diagram opened up on the meeting table.

In the middle of the constellation diagram was a dull death planet.

This was also where the exploration ship and No.10 Battleship last returned information before losing contact. It was very obvious that the problem and risks could be due to this planet.

Lieutenant General Hobb continued to speak. "The scan shows that the planet's vital energy index has passed ninety. This should be a planet flourishing with life, but when observing from space, it looks like a dead rock planet without water.

Suddenly, the just quietened down meeting hall was filled with discussions in low volumes again.

"Vital energy does not mean that there is life. Under different circumstances of disturbances, the scanning results would show very different results. On the constellation map, through observations from space, it could be seen that this could be a space collapse. A turbulence in the space collapse could cause the scan results to show that it is a planet with life."

A senior captain stood up and gave his opinion. "If No.10 was wrecked and fell into this planet, by theory, the survival rate is ten percent at max.

It was evident that this was a captain who did not want to risk staying behind.

Hobb nodded his head. A missing warship could be seen as a normal loss - deep space voyages had never been one hundred percent without accidents. However, a high level warship directed by a captain with extensive experience in the Milky Way Alliance had lost contact. This was certainly no less shocking than encountering an 8-magnitude earthquake.

According to the Milky Way Alliance's deep space exploration regulations, when faced with these sorts of circumstances, the decision could not be made by the commander alone. All captains would have rights to raise their opinions, and the next move taken by the fleet would be decided through voting.

"The first option is to avoid risk. We would leave behind three explorer rescue ships to do a search and rescue. The fleet would immediately fly to the Milky Way Alliance's signal coverage area and report the situation, leaving the decision of the next step to them. The second option would be to have us execute the search and rescue operation and the target would be this planet. Everyone should understand that time is life if you encounter danger in deep space."

As the Lieutenant General's voice fell, the previously ongoing discussions became even more intense.

Actually, most of the captains were more inclined to the first proposition of avoiding risk, as no one wanted to face the danger. There was no one present who dared to say they were more cautious than Ruhrut, and since Ruhrut had lost contact, this proved that it was a huge risk. There were all sorts of possibilities, from an interstellar storm that could annihilate the entire fleet, to the Zerg...

And if they had really plummeted into that planet...

The results would only be even worse; rescuing would also be difficult.

However, the last words Hobb had said had touched the soft side of people's hearts. Upon encountering danger in deep space, in an unfamiliar galaxy where human signal could not cover, the faster the rescue was carried out, the greater the possibility of survival. Every one of them was a warship captain, and no one could guarantee that they would not face any difficulties in the future. If they chose to avoid risk today, when their turn to get rescued came, others might choose to do the same.

Being lost in deep space, isolated, was a horribly frightening matter.

A number of captains were all looking at Lieutenant General Hobb, but they could not tell from his stiff face which option he was more inclined to. Was it a neutral stance?

In the midst of the fierce debate, the captains were split into three factions. The first faction insisted on retreating and letting the Milky Way Alliance send out a stronger fleet to handle the danger. Another faction hoped to immediately carry out the search and rescue operation in full force. The third was the neutral faction that did not want to take responsibility.

The argument between them could not come to an end. Both the radicals and the conservatives had reasonable motives.

At this moment, an aloof female voice spoke up. "General, I want to say a few words."

Hobb turned his head and looked. "Substitute Captain Meng Tian.... Please speak."

Meng Tian's cold face was calm as usual, and her voice was also very peaceful. "All whom are present here are my elders. I believe everyone has already felt that there is something wrong. The disappearance of the explorer ship and patrol ship were not conventional physical phenomenons."