Hyberian Wars Chronicles

Qianlong had been driving for three hours when Aina's communication request came through.

He accepted the communication request.

"What are you doing? You've deviated from the work area," Aina questioned immediately as her image appeared.

Qianlong felt a bit of a headache, unsure how to respond.

"I feel like the weather is a bit off," he finally chose to reply, bracing himself.

Aina did not scold Qianlong but instinctively pulled up the values on the scanner. It was indeed outside the normal range, but the scanner had not issued a warning.

However, Aina frowned. With her extensive experience, she quickly pulled up the values from an hour ago, her expression wavering.

"Don't deviate any further; find shelter nearby," Aina replied before directly closing the communication. She began trying to connect with the Fat Fish.

But she found that the communication was cut off and could not connect.

This situation was quite normal; they had anticipated such issues before the operation, but it was still frustrating when it happened at a critical moment.

Jones connected with Aina, asking in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I don't know if I'm overthinking it, but the pressure values seem to be fluctuating quite a bit."

"Let me check. It is indeed deviating quite a lot, but it's not yet in the warning range. What do you think? Have you contacted the Fat Fish? They should have a clearer view from up there."

"Find shelter nearby and wait for a while. If nothing happens, we can consider it an early rest," Aina decided without hesitation.

"Okay, we'll do as you say."

After their discussion, Aina glanced at the target location Qianlong was heading towards; he was still deviating.

Aina did not correct him again. Once was a reminder, and since he was so insistent, she felt no obligation to intervene further.

Qianlong was also quite puzzled as to why Phantom indicated such a significant deviation in position.

When he finally reached the designated coordinates, he was completely shocked. It was a massive pit, resembling a crater left by a meteorite impact.

It was an excellent shelter, as the geological structure of this pit was very solid due to the impact, making it safer for concealment.

Qianlong descended into the pit, found a corner, and activated the fixing device.

The massive Harvester mecha opened gaps in its abdomen and back, extending a fixed frame. The head of the fixed frame was a conical drill that began to penetrate the solid surface. After drilling to a certain depth, the head expanded into hooked claws.

"Fixing in progress..."

"Fixing mode activated."

Qianlong stretched, and at that moment, the scanner began to emit a piercing alarm.

"Abnormal airflow detected!"

Qianlong quickly operated the controls to silence the alarm; Phantom's calculations were correct.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the Fat Fish, Quake sat at the control panel, scratching his head, feeling utterly perplexed. The scanner showed no response, and the information channel had unexpectedly cut off.

"One must remain calm and patient while working," said an old man with a head full of white hair, dressed in the captain's uniform. He was the captain of the Fat Fish.

There were a total of four captains on the Fat Fish: one captain and three vice-captains, with Quake being the youngest and a key trainee.

"I feel like the atmospheric resistance seems to have intensified. Could it be that severe weather is developing below?" Quake asked.

"There's a possibility of that, but what we need to do now is trust them," the old captain replied steadily.

At that moment, an image popped up.

"Captain Demiken, how's the situation on your end?"

The image that appeared was Kola, the captain of the giant plunderer ship Mushroom, a middle-aged woman with flaxen hair, gray eyes, and a voluptuous figure, exuding the aura of a mature woman.

Seeing Kola's image, Quake hurriedly made way, seemingly intimidated by her.

Kola clearly noticed Quake's reaction, but she had no time to deal with him as she was facing a significant problem.

"We've lost contact and have no feedback for now. According to the planned schedule, everyone should be working."

"Three hours ago, the scanner detected abnormal weather fluctuations, and I lost contact with the miners. Even the escort team's communication has been cut off. To be safe, I launched the Explorer, Gray Mushroom."

"What was the result?" Captain Demiken inquired.

"Very bad. Gray Mushroom lost contact shortly after entering the atmosphere, and the last feedback was quite grim: a storm is approaching."

Upon hearing Kola's words, everyone fell silent.

"Stop the operation?" Demiken asked.

"We can't stop the operation now, nor can we. This matter has already been reported to the higher-ups, and the feedback is to trust them and continue operations."

Demiken fell into deep thought. "Wish them good luck."

Qianlong began to doubt whether this was just a simple storm. According to Phantom's explanation, a cyclone was forming, and the storm had not yet fully developed.

Even so, he could already feel the power of the storm approaching.

The massive extractor was starting to sway, and the system continuously issued warnings.

The communication signal with Aina had been cut off not long ago.

"Activate the optical imaging system," Qianlong inputted the command.

Suddenly, the external effects became visible, and Qianlong was taken aback. In the distance, towering storms were forming, with countless debris being swept up, thunder and lightning flashing, and the entire world dimming as if it were the end of days.

If the extractor were to be swept up, it would likely be disastrous.

"Is this kind of weather common, Phantom?"

"Each celestial body has different conditions and disasters, but this is not uncommon; it's just a matter of varying power levels," Phantom answered.

Qianlong took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

The storm began to sweep in, and the extractor's body started to shake violently.

Qianlong kept his eyes on the values on the screen; it was bad. The most direct sensation was the shaking and the rapid drop in temperature.

"Suggest increasing the life support system's power," Phantom provided a prompt.

Qianlong couldn't help but shiver; it was just too cold. Even with his excellent cold resistance, he was struggling. He increased the power of the life support system, but it only improved slightly.

Various alarms continued to sound in the cockpit.

"External joints of the machine are starting to freeze."

"There shouldn't be much moisture in the air here, right? How can it freeze?" Qianlong felt something was off.

"It's caused by the storm," Phantom explained.

"Are we in the center of the storm?" Qianlong asked.

"No, I'm only at the edge of the storm. According to calculations, the storm is not passing directly over us," Phantom replied.

Qianlong began to worry about Aina and Jones, but they should be fine; their operational direction seemed safer.

He suddenly understood why the Fat Fish hadn't immediately followed them down; it was for safety's

sake.

Time passed slowly as the storm continued to rage.

Qianlong moved his wrist slightly; it felt a bit stiff.

(End of Chapter)