Forty-nine rules of the end times

Chapter 363 The Final Warning
Terra Star, Dream Boat No. 1 temporary survival base.

Several astronauts, led by team leader Wei Xuan, are putting on their spacesuits and other equipment.

The other three did not take any action, but all of them looked worried.

One of them couldn't help but ask, "Leader, are you really going to another survival base?"

"This is an order from the space agency, and it is also our responsibility. If an accident occurs and the situation is unclear, the astronauts on the Imperial Pioneer are obligated to come here to investigate."

“I understand, but… those screams were truly terrifying…”

The screams that had come from the communicator earlier were so terrifying that no one could imagine under what circumstances the resolute astronauts would make such a sound.

“If they had all perished, we would probably have been recalled, but the problem is they are still alive.” Another astronaut in gear was puzzled. “Logically, if there had been a terrible attack, there would definitely have been casualties. If there were no casualties, why didn’t they respond to communications?”

“This is what we need to investigate.” Wei Xuan looked at the three people who remained at the base. “There must be some unknown threat on this planet. You personnel who remain must also be careful and keep in constant contact with us.”

"Yes, team leader."

"Team leaders, please be careful too!"

"Okay, let's go."

Wei Xuan and his group, fully equipped, left the survival base and began their journey to the area where the Imperial Pioneer astronauts were located.

The two manned rockets landed about 20 kilometers apart. Without any vehicles, it would take at least five or six hours to reach them by foot.

However, the gravity on Terra is only about one-fifth that of Tianshui, making it much more efficient for humans to walk on, thus significantly reducing travel time.

With each person having 12 hours' worth of oxygen reserves, making two round trips shouldn't be a problem.

The group hopped and skipped along using low gravity, and each person's movements looked somewhat comical, but no one was in the mood to laugh.

Everyone is thinking that Terra, as a satellite of Tianshui, has been explored by probes many times since the development of human space technology.

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

But if there was no unknown life, what could have frightened the astronauts on the Imperial Pioneer to such an extent that they were completely cut off from communication?

The pressure from this unknown fear weighed heavily on everyone's mind.

Everyone remained silent throughout, with team leader Wei Xuan only speaking a few words during scheduled communications with the base. Before long, the Imperial Pioneer came into view.

"We can see the rocket; we're almost there."

"Don't forget to always be vigilant about your surroundings."

As they approached the survival base, everyone became tense, unsure of what they would encounter.

When they were only five kilometers away, Wei Xuan told everyone to stop and took out the metal box he was carrying.

When it was laid flat on the ground and opened, a spider-like intelligent robot crawled out.

This is the "Sky Spider Explorer," specially designed for ground exploration. It is equipped with numerous sensors, high-definition lenses, and recording equipment. Its specially designed 360-degree rotating metal legs can also adapt to various terrains.

Wei Xuan set up the program and selected to start it, and it then sped towards the target survival base on its own.

As the team leader, he wouldn't lead his team directly close to the base without knowing the situation; that would be too dangerous. He'd rather send the machine to scout the area first, so that if there was any danger within the base, they could prepare in advance.

He observed the live footage captured by the Sky Spider through the receiver's screen.

It quickly climbed to the vicinity of the survival base established by the astronauts of the Imperial Pioneer. It looked very similar to the Dreamboat-1, consisting of two intelligent inflatable cabins: a supplies cabin and a living cabin.

Under Wei Xuan's control, the Sky Spider circled the base, observing it, but found no external damage to the two compartments. Strange…

The absence of external damage indicates that the astronauts are all inside the inflatable cabin, meaning there is no possibility of an enemy breaching the cabin.

Wei Xuan switched to thermal imaging mode and was able to detect multiple human heat sources inside the cabin, the number of which matched the number of astronauts perfectly.

Wei Xuan put down the receiver and said to the team members on guard, "Tianzhu hasn't detected any enemies, but the cabins in the survival base are all locked. We need to go unlock them. Let's go now."

"Yes."

The team members breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing that no enemies had been found. A short while later, they arrived at the survival base with Wei Xuan and carefully examined the surroundings. Just like Tianzhu's reconnaissance, they found no signs of combat.

Wei Xuan walked to the front of the accommodation cabin. A small screen lit up at the door, requiring pupil verification before the door could be opened.

Astronauts on both manned rockets shared access privileges. Wei Xuan looked down at the scanner, and the screen immediately turned green.

[Dream Boat One team leader Wei Xuan, clearance granted]

The outer door of the cabin opened, and Wei Xuan and the others entered.

The outer door closed, and everyone either gripped their guns tightly or prepared to unleash their psychic powers at any moment.

As soon as the inner door opened, the Imperial Pioneers' astronauts came into view!

"What are they doing—!"

There were more than a dozen astronauts, some lying on the ground, some slumped over the table, and some in hunched positions. What they all had in common was an expression of extreme terror frozen on their faces, their bodies stiff as stone.

These expressions were so twisted and terrifying that they sent chills down Wei Xuan's spine. They immediately searched the cabin, but found no other living beings besides the astronauts.

The accompanying medical personnel examined them and were somewhat uncertain: "Team leader, it seems that... their bodies have entered some kind of special stress state due to excessive fear."

"Stress?" Another person walked up to an astronaut who was staring with his eyes wide open and mouth agape, and waved his hand in front of the latter. "Can humans be stressed to this extent, to the point of being like a vegetable?"

"Logically, it's unlikely. Especially with so many people in this strange state at the same time... Yet their heartbeats are still stable in this state, which is why their vital signs haven't disappeared. It's simply unbelievable."

"..."

Without a word, Wei Xuan went to Robert, the captain of the Imperial Pioneer, who was sitting at the table. Robert was holding his head in his hands, his face frozen in fear and gritted teeth. There was a new wound on his lip, and blood was dripping on the table in front of him.

There was a communicator and a cabin control panel on the table. Wei Xuan operated them for a few moments, and a video started playing on the screen.

To prevent accidents, the survival base is equipped with video surveillance, which means that no matter what happens on site, there will be video recordings available for investigation.

Wei Xuan rewound the clock to five minutes before Robert contacted him. The video played, showing the astronauts chatting and laughing, with nothing amiss.

Playing continues, and after a little over four minutes, a sudden change occurs.

Almost simultaneously, all the astronauts inside the capsule widened their eyes, seemingly seeing something, and began to scream in agony.

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

After this continued for more than ten seconds, all the astronauts in the cabin stiffened and froze.

Everyone who watched the video turned deathly pale. Because the recording equipment on the table was very close to Robert, his shouts weren't completely drowned out by the screams of the others. This time, they all heard it clearly; it was Robert's final warning, uttered in a moment of lucidity.

"Get out! There are demons on this planet!"

(End of this chapter)