Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 224: Life Amid Crisis

Chapter 224: Life Amid Crisis

Bulu's words caused my heart to beat even faster as I stared at the sludge beast, waiting to see what was going to happen next.

"Bulu, whats going on?" I asked nervously.

"The sludge beast is self-reproducing. It is going to produce many small sludge beasts that it can use to search for us. With the army of small sludge beasts, we won't be able to hide anymore," said Bulu.

"What are we waiting for, then? We can only attack. We'll seize the advantage by attacking first!" I said.

I stopped hiding and rushed forth while roaring, "Zhang Bao'er, attack!"

My loud shout surprised the two monsters in the cavern. The two were stunned, not knowing how to react. I did not hesitate and fired a shot at the sludge beast's belly. Perhaps the sludge beast had not expected its prey to attack.

The sludge beast was careless and suffered from it. Its enlarged belly was its weak point, and it was directly pierced through by my shot. A bunch of immature small sludge beasts poured out of the torn belly before piling onto the ground. The only thing they could do was shudder.

The sneak attack was successful, and the self-reproduction plan was interrupted. I even started feeling smug from my success. Right at that moment, I felt a gust of wind from above me. When I looked up, a giant blade was already falling down toward me. It moved at such a speed that there was no way I could avoid it.

At the final moment, time seemed to stop as the blade halted a few centimeters away from my head. I grabbed the precious chance to roll away. The moment I moved out of the way, the blade struck the ground, creating a loud sound and a massive crack.

I broke out in a cold sweat at the sight of the destruction. It was then that I noticed that Bulu, who remained on my shoulder, was shining with a blinding red light. I knew very well that the momentary pause of time earlier was a feat Bulu had accomplished with all its strength. Suddenly, a laser beam struck Dirk's back, instantly assaulting Dirk with intense pain.

"You dare bully my brother? I'm going to mess you up!" Zhang Bao'er's voice rang out.

I saw that both Zhang Bao'er and Domo also only had their handheld laser pistols with them. They were shooting furiously at Dirk, but the oppressive figure remained standing despite being hit. He was even able to approach them while dragging his blade behind him.

At that moment, the sludge beast finally recovered from the pain of having its belly blasted apart. It raised its head and looked at me before roaring loudly. The loud roar reverberated throughout the cavern, tormenting our eardrums.

I was already feeling rather agitated. The roar further annoyed me, and I fired several more shots at its big mouth. Surprisingly, the sludge beast actually dropped to the ground and started thrashing around in pain.

"That's not its mouth. That's its nose! It's a very sensitive organ used to detect sound waves. The laser shots might have dealt massive damage to it!" Bulu's reminder sounded in my head.

With the reminder, I raised my gun and unleashed a bunch of shots at the sludge beast, taking great care to aim at every single orifice on its body. My fierce assault caused the sludge beast to thrash around painfully. It fled toward one of the tunnels, crying in pain.

Meanwhile, Zhang Bao'er and Domo were being chased by Dirk and his blade. The two had been forced to retreat into a tunnel as well. With his massive body, Dirk was unable to enter the tunnel. Thus, he turned around to face me instead. At that moment, only the two of us were left in the cavern. For some reason, I didn't feel like running anymore. In any case, this was a confrontation I couldn't avoid. I decided to face it calmly.

While dragging the blade behind him, Dirk approached me one step at a time. I did not stand there doing nothing. While observing my opponent, I never stopped shooting at him. I could clearly see the damage dealt to Dirk's body, but the fellow seemed completely unperturbed by the damage. He continued slowly walking toward me.

At that moment, Bulu lit up like a tiny sun. I knew a mind battle between Bulu and Dirk had erupted. In fact, Bulu's mind attacks were why Dirk was walking so slowly. The cavern was not exactly big, so even when walking slowly, Dirk eventually reached me. He raised his blade once again. At that moment, Zhang Bao'er and Domo reappeared and fired shots at Dirk's back, ruining his swing.

Dirk merely shot the two a glance before raising his blade once again. A sudden "bang" rang out as Domo knocked into the wall. The sludge beast, who had escaped into a tunnel, had returned and tackled Domo.

"Domo!" Zhang Bao'er roared before turning around to face the sludge beast. The two thus engaged each other in a battle.

Free from interference, Dirk raised his blade in preparation to bring it down on me. During that critical moment, Bulu leaped from my shoulder. When it was between me and Dirk, its body started changing. The light from its body turned from red to purple.

And the moment Bulu changed color, Dirk froze. I immediately understood that the ultimate showdown between two mind control experts had begun. The cavern was filled with an atmosphere of extreme nervousness. Meanwhile, Zhang Bao'er had beaten the sludge beast into retreat and was checking up on Domo.

Before my eyes, the two mind control masters remained unmoving as they contended with each other. Any carelessness would result in instant defeat. Time passed, and after roughly 10 minutes, I suddenly noticed that Bulu's body was trembling violently. The flow of liquid in its body was incredibly fast. It was clear Bulu was having an extremely hard time. Suddenly, a trace of green invaded Bulu's body. The green slowly nibbled away at the purple, slowly moving toward Bulu's feelers.

'This is bad! Bulu's mind control is not as powerful as the monster's. It won't be able to hang on much longer,' I thought anxiously.

The situation was urgent, but I was completely helpless. I couldn't think of any way to help.

"Zhang Bao'er, Bulu can't hang on anymore. Think of something!" I shouted.

Zhang Bao'er gave me a thumbs up and lifted Domo before running over.

"How's Domo? Is he alive?" I asked.

"Li Canyue, do I look like someone who will die so easily?" protested Domo who looked visibly uncomfortable being carried around.

"This fellow was merely knocked unconscious from the impact. He's awake now," said Zhang Bao'er as he placed Domo on the ground.

At that point, they noticed the unfavorable confrontation as well. Half of Bulu's body had been invaded by the green light. It wasn't going to last any longer. Seeing that, Zhang Bao'er did not hesitate to raise his gun and shoot furiously. I did the same, attempting to help Bulu.

Dirk's flesh flew everywhere as we bombarded his body, but the freak persisted in prioritizing Bulu due to its importance. He ignored our attacks and continued dealing with Bulu. Our attacks did not do anything, and the green light was slowly reaching Bulu's feelers.

"Damn it! Why do we only have these shitty pistols? Without any heavy weapons, I reckon we will all die here," cursed Zhang Bao'er.

From the ground, Domo suddenly said in a weak voice, "This won't do. Guys, see if this thing can help."

We both turned around and saw Domo taking out a small case from his pocket with trembling hands.

"Why are you hiding your trump card in such a critical situation?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"Fatty, the thing in this case is extremely precious. Remember to return any leftovers to me!" said Domo with a painful look on his face.

"What treasure is this that you're so reluctant to part with?" muttered Zhang Bao'er as he opened the case. A gelatin-like object appeared before our eyes.

"Th-th-this is s-solidified time! Domo, you also" Zhang Bao'er was so shocked he couldn't even speak properly.

Since we were running out of time, I couldn't afford to think too much. I snatched the case from Zhang Bao'er's hand. But at that moment, I encountered a new problem. Where should I smear the solidified time for it to work? There was only a small amount of solidified time available. If I used it wrongly, there would be no return.

I suddenly recalled my experience in the Dark Hall. After stabbing my hand into solidified time, I had entered a land of illusion. A sense of realization hit me. By then, the green light had reached the lower half of Bulu's feelers. I did not have any time to hesitate or think. I quickly walked up to Dirk and smeared the solidified time on his right hand. Zhang Bao'er also ran over to help. The two of us worked together to cover Dirk's right hand with solidified time.

"Hey, leave some for me!" shouted Domo as his heart ached.

"Stop shouting. Everything here is an illusion. Your actual stuff is still out there in the real world. Don't forget to give me half later. You have been accusing me of being a thief every single day, but it turns out you also stole some. What a despicable person," said Zhang Bao'er furiously.

"Birds of a feather flock together, birds of a feather flock together," replied Domo. He did not offer a retort since it was obvious he was wrong.

While smearing the solidified time, I noticed that Dirk was wearing a silver ring on the little finger of his right hand. Since the ring was in the way of the solidified time, I took it off and put it in my pocket. Shortly after, we had smeared all the solidified time over Dirk's right hand. I noted happily that the green light had stopped spreading on Bulu's body.

"I think we succeeded!" shouted Zhang Bao'er as he jumped in excitement.

I was just as excited. The solidified time seemed to have worked, messing up Dirk's perception of time. While I was feeling happy, Dirk's left hand suddenly moved. A heavy fist punched right into my face. My vision turned dark, and I fainted immediately.