Chapter 425: Recordings
Chapter 425: Chapter 425: Recordings
Long Ming and the others stood to one side, watching Woperi inspect the control console.
Woperi disconnected two wires from under the console, then opened a hidden panel on the Mechanical God’s waist, revealing an interface inside. He then plugged the wires in.
Long Ming was stunned by the sight. ’I never thought a Mechanical God could be used like this.’
The seconds ticked by.
VMMMM—
The console’s virtual screen suddenly lit up.
"It’s working!"
Woperi’s face lit up with joy.
"Quick, check the logs!"
Colonel Hopka urged Woperi.
"Right!"
Woperi immediately started searching for the emergency logs.
He soon found a series of audio recordings and hit play.
KSHHH—
A burst of static-filled background noise erupted.
"Commander Dimulu, the ship is out of control! We’re in a rapid descent!"
"Activate the emergency anti-gravity system, now!"
"Everyone, brace for impact!"
...
BOOM—
Accompanied by the sound of a violent tremor, the recording cut off abruptly.
"Is there more?"
Hopka asked, his nerves on edge.
"Yes, I’ll play the next one!"
Woperi quickly played the next audio log.
"Commander Dimulu, we don’t know what planet we’ve crash-landed on. The Ocean’s main power system is damaged; we’re running on backup power."
"I know. Rescue the injured and try to repair the ship."
"Yes, sir!"
...
"Sir, what do we do now? We’ve lost contact!"
"Keep sending out a distress signal. Don’t we still have two emergency escape ships? Send people out in them to transmit a rescue message immediately. We have to get a distress signal out, no matter what it takes! We can’t go down here!"
...
"So Dimulu and the others survived. Are there any more recordings?"
Hopka’s expression was ecstatic.
"There’s another one from two days later."
Woperi immediately played the next audio log.
"Sir, what now? The escape ships we sent out have lost contact, and we can’t get a distress signal through!"
"I know. We’ll think of something else!"
"The problem is, we don’t have much power left."
"Isn’t the main power system fixed yet?"
"No, it’s badly damaged. It’s not a quick fix."
...
Just then, a panicked voice cut through the recording.
"It’s over. We’re hopeless now, completely trapped here."
"Zhao Rui, calm down!"
"Calm down? How can you tell me to calm down? I’m getting married soon! I don’t want to die here! I don’t want to die! I want to go home! I want to go home..."
"Zhao Rui, are you crazy?! Stop attacking randomly!"
...
At this, a puzzled look appeared on Long Ming’s face. He asked Hopka in a hoarse voice,
"Hopka, which legion are the soldiers on the Ocean from?"
"They’re from our Second Legion, of course. Why do you ask?"
Colonel Hopka shot Long Ming an annoyed look.
"No reason, just asking."
"Hmph, what you really want to ask is why a soldier from the Second Legion has such poor discipline, right?"
Antilo cut in directly.
"How could that be! Every soldier in the Second Legion is a battle-hardened veteran! Some have even fought in wars between civilizations!"
"Then how did this soldier break down so easily? It feels like his discipline isn’t much better than a soldier from the Forty-Second Legion."
"That was an anomaly!"
Hopka retorted with a frown.
"Heh heh, could it be you’ve been accepting too many nobles through the back door?"
Chen Hong jeered with a cold laugh.
"Bullshit! It’s just one individual with poor mental fortitude!"
Colonel Hopka’s face darkened with displeasure.
As they argued, more voices filled with terror were heard from the recording.
"I don’t want to die!"
"I want to get out of this godforsaken place!"
"Calm down!"
...
Then, the recording suddenly stopped.
Hearing this, Colonel Hopka’s face instantly turned as black as charcoal.
"Did you hear that? It sounds like more than one of them broke down. One is an anomaly, but this many can’t all be anomalies, right?"
Antilo said with a sneer.
"Hmph, what’s so strange about it? Maybe they were newly assigned interns. In any case, this doesn’t represent the Second Legion."
Hopka stubbornly refused to admit it, unwilling to concede that their quality was lacking.
But in his mind, he was cursing them out viciously. ’Damn it, this is a total disgrace!’
Hearing this, a glimmer flickered in Long Ming’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything more. His expression simply grew more solemn.
"Hmph, enough of this. Are there any more audio logs?"
Chen Hong asked with a cold laugh.
"No, that was the last one."
Woperi replied, shaking his head.
"So what’s next? All we can confirm is that they were alive after the crash. We don’t have any other clues."
Antilo looked up at Hopka and asked.
Hopka’s expression shifted constantly before he finally spoke.
"I’ll stay here in the central control room to look for clues. The rest of you, spread out and search the ship for the classified case. See if Dr. Anus left it on board."
"Alright."
Long Ming and the others nodded.
"But I must remind you of one thing: if you do find the classified case, no one is to open it without authorization. The consequences will be extremely severe!"
Hopka warned Long Ming and the others, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Hmph. You don’t need to remind us."
Chen Hong and his companion snorted coldly, then turned and left.
Long Ming said nothing and walked straight out of the central control room.
...
「A short while later.」
Long Ming searched the Ocean alone.
The corridors were pitch-black and incredibly gloomy.
This didn’t affect Long Ming, however.
The only thing that puzzled Long Ming was that he hadn’t seen a single person or body. It was too strange. Furthermore, the ship’s facilities were all well-preserved. Aside from the damage from external attacks and the impact, he didn’t see many other problems.
Just then, Long Ming reached the door to a room, pushed open the ajar door, and peered inside.
The room was very well decorated, with a leather sofa and various electronic entertainment devices.
’As expected of the Second Legion. Their living conditions are leagues ahead of the Forty-Second Legion.’
Long Ming mused with some emotion.
The conditions and benefits of the two legions were completely incomparable.
Long Ming continued his search.
In fact, he felt the probability of finding the classified case on the ship wasn’t high. Normally, for something so important, Dr. Anus would have stored it in his own personal safe.
But that was just a theory, so he still had to search patiently.
RUSTLE...
Suddenly, Long Ming’s nerves tingled again. He felt as if something was following him, and he spun around to look behind him.
But the corridor behind him was empty.
"That’s strange. Am I losing my mind?"
Long Ming muttered to himself, turned back, and continued walking.