Chapter 52: Trapped in an Empty City
Dean led the team and set off overnight.
The town they were heading to was the central city of Planet C44 - Sictes City, which was also one of the most populous cities on this small planet.
This was why Dean felt that this was information deliberately leaked by the defector Faye. From a fugitive's perspective, most people wouldn't choose the central area of a particular place as their hiding place. Central areas are crowded, mixed, and full of intertwined forces, making them the most vulnerable to revealing one's whereabouts.
Unless... the hider feels that he is absolutely safe in this place.
In the dark night, the black-haired deputy commander, riding in a flying vehicle in stealth mode, kept simulating in his mind what might happen in half an hour.
He recalled everything from their successful landing on the planet, to the attitude of the C44 residents towards them, and finally to the reconnaissance team's discovery of traces of the defectors... Everything went smoothly and peacefully, like the night before a storm.
The aircraft was a bit large, making it inconvenient to conduct reconnaissance operations. After Dean and his team arrived outside the city, they stored their aircraft in storage, traveled light, and infiltrated the city of Hictes.
The strange thing is: looking around, the city is dark, without a trace of light.
Unlike other towns they had seen, which were bustling and cheerful during the day, Hictes at night was like a dead city with no one living there.
They quickly searched along the way, but couldn't find anyone.
"What's going on in this town?" A soldier in the team couldn't help but ask.
"There are no street lights, and the residents of this city seem to have disappeared into thin air."
"Something's wrong..." The deputy captain frowned and asked, "Master Dean, should we continue the search?"
Dean pondered for a few seconds and decisively gave the order: "Stop the action and return to the safe zone."
However, before they could finish their words, each of them heard a rustling sound, like the rustling of sleeves.
"Everyone, be on alert!" The deputy commander's eyes narrowed and he shouted in a deep voice. He quickly turned the plasma blaster in his hand and aimed it at the darkness where the subtle sound came from.
"Don't be nervous, it's me, Fayi." A gray-haired man wearing a black cloak, who seemed to have melted into the air, walked towards him from a distance.
He walked straight towards the light source illuminated by the action team's portable light source before stopping.
"Isn't this Deputy Commander Dean, who always takes care of things himself? Why are you leaving right after arriving? Are you not planning to arrest me anymore?"
The already tense atmosphere became even more tense because of the gray-haired man's words.
This city is so dark and gloomy that even with a portable light source, it can only drive away part of the darkness around it.
The place where Fayi was standing at this moment was half light and half dark. If she took a step forward, she would be in the light source range illuminated by Dean and his group. If she took a step back, she would be in a vast expanse of lonely darkness.
The man stood in the gray, his expression unfathomable.
Dean raised his hand and gestured for them to remain vigilant. "Faye, if you betray the Federation, you must bear the due punishment."
It was obvious that Fayi's appearance alone was not to confess his guilt, but...
They have been looking forward to it for a long time, and there is a backup plan waiting for them.
"Oh? Then..." Fay looked at them with a half-smile, his eyes hinting at indifference. He said nonchalantly, "Have you ever thought about the consequences of chasing C44?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the slight rustling sound that he had heard not long ago was getting closer and closer.
All around, "shadows" gradually appeared silently.
And more and more.
"Are they... residents of the city of Sictes?!" the team members exclaimed in surprise.
This group of "shadows" got closer and closer, surrounding them almost silently.
"Stop!" Dean raised his blaster and warned sternly. However, at this moment, no resident listened to him.
The black crowd kept walking, and they were completely different from the C44 residents that the team had encountered during the day.
This group of residents seemed to be controlling their uncoordinated bodies, moving towards them step by step with patience, eagerness and excitement.
When this group of people walked into the range of the light source, Dean and others were horrified to find that the residents of Sictes at this time looked like ferocious beasts with their faces torn off, revealing their evil fangs, their eyes glowing green, and they looked extremely weird in the dark night.
Obviously, they can no longer be called human beings.
"What's wrong with these people?" The team members quickly changed to a back-to-back defensive posture. "Are they under mind control?"
Dean pursed his lips, held the gun steadily at Faye, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
"Bang--"
After the gunshot, the person whose blood splattered was not the unarmed defector Fay, but a certain Siketes resident who stood beside him and suddenly blocked the bullet for him.
Fayi was still standing in her original position intact, and slowly, she gave Dean a fierce and complacent smile.
"Take good care of this. It's my gift to you." The gray-haired man turned and left, waving goodbye and leaving a message, "We'll meet again soon."
After saying this, the residents of Sictes rushed forward.
They are not fast and their attacking skills are not superb, but they are numerous.
Dean and others persisted for a long time, from defense to active attack, but still could not escape from this black vortex.
"Where is the other team?" Dean raised his hand to deal with the group of enemies closest to them, and asked with a serious face.
The deputy captain was equally powerful, and a mere round-robin attack wouldn't do them any harm for now. Taking a breather, he raised his voice and replied, "The rest of us will support us outside the city. But there are too many enemies! We must fight our way out to escape."
If it is an air battle or a wider area, the mechas they brought will be very practical weapons.
However... it was pitch dark here, and the enemies surrounded them tightly in circles. They could only rely on their portable light sources and their better-than-normal vision and hearing to fight in the dark.
If you lose focus for a moment or pause in raising your gun, you will most likely be submerged in the black crowd.
The deputy captain's eyes were serious. While firing, he told Dean about his findings, "Sir, something is wrong. These natives don't seem to be under mental control, either artificially or with drugs. Instead, they seem..."
"Infected." Dean continued his words, his eyes deep and filled with boundless anger.
A few months ago, he met humans parasitized by Zerg on an alien planet.
The Tarri, a smaller and rarer species of Zerg, are able to silently parasitize humans. Once successfully parasitized, they slowly suck the host's blood, gradually assimilating and eroding the host's brain and spirit.
When they first become parasites, they usually only subtly influence the host's brain to save energy, causing changes in the host's personality and behavior. After a long period of parasitism, they completely "take over" the host's brain, assimilating their consciousness and body for their own use.
The lifespan of humans infected by the parasite is less than half a year.
In other words, this parasitic insect race is always looking for a habitat and always causing harm to other races.
Humans who have been parasitized by them suffer severe damage to their bodies and brains, and often die in a miserable and horrifying manner.
He sensed the "smell" of the Tarri worm on the residents of Sictes. Furthermore, judging by their appearance, they had clearly been parasitized for a long time and were beyond cure.
Thinking back, Dean was shocked to realize——
The entire planet C44 is actually filled with a disgusting smell.
Lightning protection:
The "Zerg" in this book is set as a purely villain race, which is somewhat different from the settings in science fiction literature and video games with interstellar war themes.
(No brain, many bugs, please forgive me, my dears quq)
(End of this chapter)
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