ICAWZ Chapter 1

[Rose begins upon the thorns, and the galaxy turns amidst the passing years. People often marvel at the boundless tenderness of the universe, capable of allowing two unrelated specks of dust to traverse billions of light-years, eventually meeting at the end of time…]

In the deep and mysterious forest, branches and leaves tremble, and the pale moonlight spills down, causing the layers of soil to reflect a faint blue light.

Scarlet fire ants roam around the tree roots, emitting corrosive saliva in strands, marking their nests. Their swollen abdomens are as large as an adult human fist, with a red-black striped exoskeleton that appears exceptionally tough.

In this place seldom visited by humans, it seems as if it has been abandoned by the divine. However, upon closer listening, one can discern many subtle rustlings, as if countless wild beasts are lurking in the shadows.

Lu Yuan has been surviving in this mysterious place for a full five days, traveling on foot for the same duration. Along the way, he has passed by three lakes, two marshes, including a sea of roses, yet he still hasn’t come across any traces of human presence.

If given the chance to choose again, he would definitely not sign up for that peculiar tour group. This way, he wouldn’t have ended up in this unfamiliar place due to the tour bus overturning on a mountain road by a stroke of bad luck.

Lu Yuan once felt as if he were getting farther and farther away from home.

This “home” isn’t a small-scale reference to a single house or a few relatives; it encompasses an entire blue planet and the myriad human communities residing on it.

Whether it’s the dense forest that emits a blue glow at night, the soil unusually soft with transparent crystals, or the unidentified bird with three heads spouting fire, none of it resembles anything that could exist on Earth.

He doesn’t want to admit it, but he seems to have fallen into a rift in spacetime, traversing into another world.

Lu Yuan opens his black backpack, finding only a lighter, a partially filled bottle of mineral water, a few changes of clothes, and a yellow sun hat.

On the sun hat, there’s an inscription:

“Little Yellow Duck Tour Group.”

Though the mountainous area Lu Yuan is touring is an obscure destination, he vaguely remembered that there were more than just himself on the tour bus back then – at least three or four other tourists. Now, he can only hope to find the route himself and reunite with them as soon as possible.

Humans are social creatures; even in the face of death, they seek a sense of belonging.

Lu Yuan finishes the last drops of mineral water, then leans against a tree to rest. Both his strength and provisions are nearly depleted. If he doesn’t find rescue soon, he might not make it out of this place alive.

The dark canopy of the sky was slashed open by a razor-sharp blade, gradually revealing a faint green streak. The moon and the aurora, a rare combination, illuminated the ground, and the soil took on that mysterious bluish hue.

This dense forest harbors many creatures, resembling species mutated after genetic alterations.

When Lu Yuan fell into this place, he accidentally got bitten on the calf by a strange purple-striped belly snake. He had bled to cleanse the poison, crudely bandaging the wound with the gauze from his medical kit to avoid attracting wild beasts with the scent of blood. However, the long journey took its toll. Instead of healing, the wound became inflamed and swollen, triggering a high fever.

“Creak—”

A three-headed white crow suddenly circled above, finally flapping its wings and landing on a tree branch. It had three heads—one facing right, one facing left, and the central head fixedly staring at the dying Lu Yuan beneath, its eyes reflecting a glossy metallic black.

It was waiting for this human to succumb, ready to feast. Yet, it seemed to hesitate, as if wary of something, refraining from approaching.

Unbeknownst to them, the sky gradually brightened.

Lu Yuan, pale-faced, leaned against the tree trunk. His vision darkened, and his consciousness began to blur. He frowned, tightly wrapping his jacket around the split wound. However, the thick blood still trickled down his ankle, dripping onto the soil with a faint tapping sound.

A swarm of fire ants was originally moving back and forth beside Lu Yuan, intending to feast on his flesh. However, upon suddenly catching the scent of fresh blood, the entire swarm dispersed and fled as if encountering a natural enemy.

The three-headed white crow perched on the tree also cawed twice, flapping its wings loudly as it soared into the sky, causing a rustling of trembling leaves.

A search battleship happened to fly over from above the dense forest. The pilot, observing the anomaly through the porthole, expressed confusion with a puzzled sound. Opening the topographical scanner, after precise positioning, the breathtaking view of the canyon below appeared on the display screen.

On the intricate route map, a red dot was faintly blinking with diminishing intensity.

The pilot maneuvered the battleship to hover above the dense forest, double-checking the information. Then, turning back towards the crew behind, they asked, “Report: Biological traces detected in the C3 restricted zone. Shall we descend to investigate?”

There were about a dozen individuals on the battleship, all dressed in military combat uniforms, carrying rifles at their waists. A golden insect-shaped emblem adorned their left shoulders, indicating they belonged to the same military unit. Upon hearing the pilot’s words, they collectively raised their eyebrows, expressing surprise.

“Yulejia, I think you really need to get your eyes checked at the interstellar hospital. The C3 restricted zone has long been contaminated by energy stones and is off-limits. No one dares to go there.”

The silver-haired zerg picked up a high-powered telescope and peered outside, but the undulating expanse of the polluted mist in the dense forest revealed nothing but gray. Aside from spotting a few three-headed white crows, he gained nothing.

The silver-haired zerg eventually discarded the telescope and sat back in his original position. He possessed a pair of crimson and splendid eyes, appearing exceptionally dangerous. Lazily lifting his eyelids, he said, “Only the Zerg God would dare to come to such a cursed place.”

Yulejia attempted to lower the battleship’s altitude for better exploration of the forest. Unhappy, he spoke up, “Yusto, you can doubt my eyes, but you shouldn’t doubt my instruments. The mutated beings in the C3 restricted zone all have temperatures below 6 degrees. Now, the detector is showing a red dot, indicating that there is at least one living organism with a temperature above 35 degrees inside.”

Yusto sat with his legs crossed on the chair, the black, knee-high military boots shining brightly and reflecting light. In his hands, he held a silver energy gun with a loaded chamber, casually tossing it up and catching it intermittently. “Perhaps the level of contamination has increased, and those mutated beings have undergone a second mutation,” he mused.

Yulejia, intrigued, responded, “In that case, we should definitely go down and assess the situation. A second mutation needs to be reported to the military. It would be even better if we could capture a C3 mutated being and take it back.”

Another companion chimed in, “Enough, I have no interest in those strange mutated beings. If you say there’s a male zerg down there, I might consider it.”

“Male zerg? You’re not qualified for such a rare and precious thing. Instead, think about how to become an Empire Marshal sooner; that’s more plausible.”

“So, are we not going down? There might be male zergs at tonight’s military banquet, so you’d better not make me late.”

As they spoke, Yusto, who had been sitting and resting, finally stood up from his position. He walked straight to the cabin door, deftly reloading his gun with energy rounds. While doing so, he said to his talking companion, “Compared to those mindless and foolish male zergs, I think C3 mutated beings are more interesting.”

“Hey, Yusto, even though they’re foolish, they’re quite tempting, aren’t they?”

“A pile of zerg shit emitting pheromones is undoubtedly tempting.”

So said Yusto.

The battleship finally landed on nearby flat ground. Yusto and his team changed into white protective suits, donned goggles, and, armed with their guns, cautiously entered the restricted zone amidst the swirling mists of contamination.

A fragment of a boundary stone stood nearby, weathered and decayed by time. It remained silent, having stood there for who knows how many centuries, yet the faintly recognizable ancient zerg script engraved on it still told a story:

“I once journeyed to the land of gunpowder, witnessed the fall of white crows,

I once chased the setting sun, reversed the wheel of fate within the temple,

But now, I shall rest here, listening to the whispers of the divine.

Rotten ground, living beings cease to tread.”

As the wind swept through, the leaves rustled softly, and deep within the dark and endless forest, it felt as if a hollow, ancient eye was silently watching them—a gaze saturated with the essence of death and decay.

Yusto used his fingertip, clad in white gloves, to gently brush over the dusty boundary stone. He then flicked away the dirt on his fingertip, its color as dark as ink. “Pollution index C3+. Didn’t those folks at the research institute claim to be continuously purifying the energy stones? Is this their achievement?”

“That’s not our concern,” Yulejia said, giving a kick to the boundary stone. A piece of gravel rolled off, its sound echoing conspicuously in the silent forest. “Oh, this piece of rock looks even older than my grandfather.”

Yusto frowned slightly, turning to him. “Damn it, don’t rattle the snake in the grass.”

Yulejia shrugged, expressing helplessness.

Maintaining formation, they moved forward slowly, using the barrels of their guns to delicately push aside the grass, revealing clearer surroundings.

Though Lu Yuan, seated under a tree, was in a state of blurred consciousness, he still keenly heard an unusual sound. Alert, he opened his eyes, concerned that a large wild beast might be approaching. He immediately propped himself up against the tree trunk, struggled to stand, and drew a folding knife from his backpack, positioning himself behind the tree.

Encountering a wild animal in the forest, the best approach is to hide. Of course, if you can run fast enough, that’s also a viable option.

Unfortunately, Lu Yuan was now dragging a half-useless leg, almost disabled. Apart from hiding, he had no other options.

Leaning against the tree trunk, he exhaled slowly, trying to calm the sharp pain emanating from his wounded leg. His stern brows furrowed intensely.

This is bad…

Lu Yuan heard the rustling sound drawing nearer, and with an emotionless expression, he tightened his grip on the folding knife, thinking that he might as well fight to the end. He had been involved in the underworld since childhood, a school bully in his younger years, and later, a societal menace. After all these years, he had never lost a fight.

Just as Lu Yuan entered a state of heightened alert, Yusto’s team also approached slowly. The detector clearly displayed a red dot 50 meters away from them, blinking more and more frequently.

C3 mutated beings were extremely dangerous, especially if that red dot was a result of a second mutation.

Yusto signaled his teammates behind him, forming a semi-encircling formation and approaching Lu Yuan cautiously, ready to strike at any moment. However, when the bushes were pushed aside, they were surprised to find not the expected second mutation but an injured zerg in black clothing hiding behind the tree.

“Who are you?!”

Yusto looked astonished, not expecting to find any living creature here. He immediately aimed his gun at Lu Yuan. However, in that moment of distraction, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his wrist, and the gun slipped from his hand, discharging and missing the target.

“Bang—”

The gunshot echoed through the woods, hitting a white crow and startling numerous birds into flight.

Lu Yuan, momentarily forgetting about his injured leg, reflexively spun around, kicked away Yusto’s gun, and then, due to the pain in his leg, involuntarily knelt on the ground. Immediately, over a dozen varied warning sounds rang out overhead.

“Don’t move!”

“Don’t move!”

Lu Yuan instinctively looked up, only to find a dozen or so pitch-black guns pointed directly at him. The muzzles were aligned in unison.

Lu Yuan froze. “…”

One of the female zergs noticed the knife in his hand and spoke sternly, “Drop the weapon!”

Lu Yuan looked at the dozen or so guns in front of him. After a brief hesitation, he decisively threw the knife used for cutting apples not far away. “…”

Damn it, can’t fight them.

 

 

 

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Author’s note:

Lu Yuan: This is so damn frustrating!