Interstellar Survival: Invasion

"All of you are mad! You're really going to go down the waterfall? It's too high!" said Domo fearfully.

"That seems to be our only choice for now. I wonder if we're lucky or unlucky to meet that fiend. Since we still have some time, we might as well try to get to it. If we can't find that fellow at the border, we'll give up," decided Zhang Xingxing after some hesitation.

Having received our order from the commander, we started moving. Since we still needed to trek 40 kilometers through the jungle and mountain, we couldn't afford to waste more time.

Once again, we entered the field of needles. But with a new target and our previous experience, we were able to advance much faster. The field of needles was about 10 kilometers wide. After spending about two hours, we finally left the annoying area and entered an area with mosses. There, our speed increased further. After going up the slope for about 30 kilometers, we started hearing a deafening sound in the air.

The sound clearly came from the nearby mountain peak. Our target was near. Although the sound of the waterfall was rather scary, with the protection of our suits, we were actually excited and started jogging forward. Soon, we reached the peak. However, we gasped at what we saw.

What we saw below the towering peak did not look like a waterfall. Rather, it was so massive it looked more like a hanging ocean. The curtain of water dropped down directly into a deep, blue body of water. The force from the drop filled the valley with vapor, but we still could see the distant endless river. The river flowed onward until it reached a drop of elevation, turning into another waterfall. In that manner, the waterway continued all the way to the dark border.

Through detailed observation, we noted that amid the curtain of water and the flowing river were massive boulders. The water constantly smashed into the boulders with a massive force. If a regular life form was to hit one of these boulders while in the water, the life form would probably die immediately.

"This so-called collection of waterfalls is too scary. Are we really going to jump down?" asked Zhang Bao'er fearfully.

"Our morph-capable shields should be strong enough to withstand the force of the water, right?" Zhang Xingxing asked Dodo.

"Our shields are definitely capable of defending us against the force of the water. It wouldn't even use as much energy as flight," said Dodo.

I reached out and felt the vapor in the air. The vapor was rather low in temperature, and the water was probably also low in temperature.

"Let's get going. We don't have much time left," said Baron Sisse. I suddenly felt as if I had constantly been in endless races against time since joining the fleet.

"You're all planet-level individuals. I'll go first. Follow me," volunteered the great sovereign.

Dodo contacted Markus once again, informing the ship of our decision and requesting Temo's assistance the moment the ship was done recharging. With all preparations done, the great sovereign leaped off the cliff without warning.

"We'll meet at the end of the waterfall," the great sovereign's voice rang out from below.

Seeing that the great sovereign had leaped, we couldn't stay behind. One after another, we leaped off the cliff. I leaped behind Zhang Xingxing, and I could see her falling quickly into the hanging sea. Less than three seconds later, I entered the waterfall as well. A massive force immediately came at me. According to my system, the water was around 10 degrees in temperature. With my shield on, I allowed the current to push me forward.

After a short while, my vision cleared up, and I felt a massive weightless sensation. At the same time, I also felt as though I was carrying an incredibly heavy burden on my back, a burden that was pushing me down to the abyss below at an even faster speed.

Before long, I fell into the deep blue abyss I saw from the peak. The depth of the body of water was far beyond my imagination. The fall into the water lasted over 10 minutes before the current started pushing me forward. All in all, the drop had brought me roughly 100 meters into the water.

The current forward was not calm either. It roared and pushed me forward at a rapid speed. I encountered several boulders in the water, but fortunately, my morph-capable shield was protecting me. Otherwise, a single collision would be enough to take my life.

"Is everyone alright?" I heard Zhang Xingxing's concerned voice coming from the communicator.

I was relieved to hear her voice. Since she could ask that question, it showed that she was fine herself. At the very least, she had survived the first fall. The team answered one after another. From what I could hear, everyone had safely survived the first waterfall.

Before long, I reached the second waterfall. Different from the first waterfall, the second waterfall was a 45-degree drop. Countless sharp rocks could be seen sticking out of the water. That was far scarier than our previous waterfall even though it was a 90-degree drop. This descent would be even more energy intensive for our suits.

The current continued pushing us forward, occasionally throwing us out of the water from the sheer force of the current. Our morph-capable shields performed incredibly well in protecting our weak bodies.

If our operation was a rafting expedition, then it would be the most difficult rafting expedition ever. After we spent half an hour constantly colliding with things and being thrown around in the water, the water suddenly inclined downward. We were falling down yet another waterfall.

"Is there an end to this shit?" cursed Zhang Bao'er.

"According to Temo's report, we're only one-third through. Be patient," reminded Dodo.

Upon hearing Dodo's voice, I suddenly recalled that the two robots did not really have any defensive mechanisms on them. The harsh collisions must have damaged their bodies considerably.

"Great sovereign, are you fine?" I asked, knowing that Bob's body was weaker than Dodo's enhanced alloy body.

"I'm fine. Are you facing an issue?" asked the great sovereign. Surprisingly, the great sovereign sounded rather relaxed.

"I'm fine. I was just worried about your body's status with all these collisions," I said.

"How will any of those rocks hit me? I can just evade them," said the great sovereign.

All of us had clearly survived the previous two trials. Relieved, I sank into silence as the current continued bringing me down the waterfall. Suddenly, an intense impact hit me and threw me into the air. When I started falling again, I noticed that instead of water, I was now falling onto a sheet of ice.

The temperature down there was clearly much lower, to the point some of the water had turned into ice while falling. The constant accumulation of ice down in the valley had formed a thick bed of ice below us. When we came in contact with the bed of ice, we started rolling forward like snowballs. The sheet of ice was inclined slightly downward, so we continued rolling forward at a rapid speed.

'We don't even know the number of waterfalls still ahead of us. I feel like we have been falling long enough to reach the planet's core,' I thought. As the speed of our movement increased, I started growing anxious.

Sure enough, after we moved about 300 kilometers forward, we encountered yet another drop.

"Was Temo's information even right? Are we really heading toward the dark side?" asked Domo, who was clearly starting to feel disoriented from the intense movement.

However, this drop was unlike all our previous drops. While falling, I could see the dropping ice melt rapidly. At the same time, the temperature around me was increasing. It almost felt like we were dropping into a boiling body of water.

"This is bad. We're getting near the core. The temperature down there is nearly 100 degrees. Can anyone get to me and give me some protection?" shouted the great sovereign.

I saw Old Du and Anxashe use their thrusters to move toward the great sovereign before extending their shields to it. A minute later, all of us fell into the boiling river. The river was about 100 degrees in temperature. If it wasn't for our shields, we would have been cooked alive.

"Just what kind of a place is this? Did Temo lead us all the way here to be cooked alive?" scolded Zhang Bao'er.

Domo, who never liked Temo, joined in as well. I could imagine Temo's ears turning red from anger at all the curses being thrown his way. The boiling river brought us to an even lower altitude, and we were still completely clueless as to where we were being brought to.

"Canyue, Baron, if we continue, would we fall into lava? That would be troublesome. I don't know if Dodo, Domo, and the great sovereign can survive that kind of temperature. Also, falling into lava will quickly exhaust our energy supply. We won't be able to last long in lava," said Zhang Xingxing.

"I am confident in the scan results of a star-level individual like Temo. We should continue trusting him," said Baron Sisse. He clearly approved of Temo's technological prowess.

"We're already here. Returning is impossible. We can only improvise," I replied helplessly, leaving everything to fate.