Did it fall somewhere else? But wasn’t the ground flat underground? Or were we ambushed by pests? But I didn’t sense any battle at all?

The Star Guardian Divine Soldiers were momentarily silent, then made a swift decision!

No matter! Forward!

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The Star Guardian Divine Soldiers were fearless! They marched forward in the empty void! Forward! Forward!

Break through the void! Break through the stars! Break through the abyss! Break all the way through! Stride forward!

"Gurgle, gurgle?"

Then a shadow appeared in the dense fog!

Pests!

The Divine Soldiers stopped immediately, revealing their guns and maces, their entire bodies surging with gang power, divine light shining all around!

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle—!!"

Then with a swish, that shadow screamed miserably and flew off to the right, as if snatched away by something.

The Divine Soldiers exchanged looks, and the soldier on the right swung the heavy hammer, crouched down, and leapt with force.

"Boom—!!!"

The Hammer Soldier erupted in place! Charging like a wild bull! Running wildly! For a moment, smoke billowed, sand and stones shook violently, crackling against the Divine Soldiers’ golden armor! "Clang, clang, clang, clang!" A tidal wave of sound surged up! In the blink of an eye, it disappeared into the void, chasing after the "gurgle, gurgle!"

"Clang! Clang!"

So the remaining two soldiers didn’t waste words either, continuing to stride forward, shoulder to shoulder, crossing out of the dark void abyss, breaking out of the empty, dead silence!

"Hiss."

Then the darkness before their eyes changed in color.

From the black of the void, it turned into a deep, dark black.

If before was a void, a nothingness, where even the concept of light didn’t exist.

Then this place now is purely buried underground, airtight, pitch black.

And relying on the golden armor and Divine Soldiers, the two soldiers could see clearly.

This seemed to be an underground cave, the ground a dark pool, perhaps an underground river. And above, a shadow, when illuminated by divine light, reflecting a faint golden light. Clearly visible was a guardship lost of power and shields, somehow out of control, like a bird with broken wings, fallen into the subterranean abyss, lodged in the tunnel’s cavern, its bow deeply buried in the pool.

It’s the South Heavenly Gate.

Is it found then?

"Dong, dong, dong."

A sound came from within the South Heavenly Gate, something was hiding inside the ship.

Pests.

The two soldiers exchanged another look, reaching a tacit understanding, flanking left and right, creeping towards the spaceship.

Interestingly enough, the Divine Soldiers had been making earth-shattering noises all the way, drum-like in sound, but now the two soldiers were tip-toeing, not making a sound, resembling a cat hunting a mouse for a touch of humor.

Of course, anyone with clear eyes would understand that with such stature and weight, being able to hold their breath and make no sound showed they had reached a realm of blending hardness and softness, their control over force and strength being at its peak. The more restrained their aura, making not a whisper, meant their entire musculature was taut with stored power, like a tightly drawn bow, ready at any moment to release a deadly strike imbued with hundreds of gravitational forces.

And that mace-wielding Divine Soldier charged ahead, penetrating deep into the ship’s cabin through the wide-open hatch, as if invited by the owner, heading straight to the ship’s gene repair pool at last.

It seemed the ship’s crash caused damage, with gene repair fluid spilling out, mingling with ground water, becoming milky and uncertain like muddied oil.

Then the Divine Soldier found the source of the "dong dong" sounds.

It was a head.

A head, like a ball, bouncing "dong dong dong" by the gene pool, excitedly flip-flopping, rising and falling, with black blood spurting from its eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, its pupils frantically darting, brainwaves in complete chaos, only messages of "interesting, interesting, interesting..." could be received.

Pests!

"Bang!"

The Divine Soldier immediately swung its mace, splitting open the head silently, spewing out a mass of fig-seed-like fleshy sprouts. The sprouts scattered all over the ground, wriggling like living things, as if maggots bursting from a fly’s backside, writhing in the liquid.

Expel!

"Boom!"

The Divine Soldier raised a hand, spraying out golden flames, burning and expelling these filthy abominations completely.

In the flickering light and shadow of the flames, the maggots raised their heads, dancing with the fire, seemingly unafraid of the purification, instead bathing in the brilliant entropy, welcoming a rebirth.

Then the scene froze.

Gao Cheng was pointing, finger raised, at the twisted shadow vaguely reflected in the water illuminated by the fire.

"What is this?"

Mingming’s calm voice came through from CD-SSC-Deneb-319,

"Communication noise."

"Communication noise?"

Gao Cheng frowned, staring at the projection of the Jade, the black shadow looking like a stain, or maybe a tentacle... was it a cable or something?

But before Gao Cheng could take a closer look, an internal contract slapped him in the face.

"Mission complete, sign here."

"Wait, isn’t it over just like that?"

"Weren’t you expelling pests?"

Gao Cheng stared at the contract, with its red-stamped photo, speechless,

"So, that’s it? This is the pest that took down my ship? How did it sink an escort ship, may I ask?"

CD-SSC-Deneb-319 replied calmly,

"If you want to know how it was sunk, you should apply for an execution of the monster investigation agreement. I wouldn’t know just by expelling pests; perhaps it was magnetic interference."

"Magnetic inter..."

Gao Cheng held his forehead,

"Then what about my bride? Surely the bride was recovered?"

CD-SSC-Deneb-319 quickly responded,

"You blasted it to death."

Gao Cheng had an expression of disbelief,

"Blasted to death? That was an official product in the same line as the first generation! A captain’s machine! Still, a customer-customized reinforced limited edition! Wasn’t it beyond escort-level firepower to be able to kill it!?"

CD-SSC-Deneb-319 answered instantly,

"Oh, then it’s probably buried, temporarily not discovered, there’s signal interference."

"I’m... ugh... how long will it take to salvage the ship?"

"Need to re-declare the salvage agreement, the sequence priority is low, estimated at one cycle."

Damn!

Of course, Gao Cheng also knew in his heart, it could actually be salvaged in an instant, but the company was like that, once the process started, even the smallest things required signing off, stamping, and reporting, stringing you along with a host of sequences.

After all, the work never ends. Whether you do more or less, you get the same pay, so naturally, don’t do if you don’t have to, all the workers quietly understood the unspoken rule of skimming by with minimal effort.

"Alright, alright, I’ll declare, I’ll declare, get it salvaged, restore the view, complete disinfection, and archive the log." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

But Gao Cheng didn’t have the time to deal with someone else’s bug, he just wanted to muddle through.

After all, everyone knows, the Grand Expedition Platform is very busy.