Chapter 17

An unknown red mist suddenly appeared on Hell Star around 1307 in the Covenant calendar, twenty-four years ago.

Once the red mist appeared, it filled the entire base. No matter what protective isolation measures were taken, the red mist could not be removed from the base. Base guards who inhaled the red mist would experience symptoms such as irritability, frenzy, increased aggression, and organ mutations.

The red mist is hard to guard against, and even wearing a gas mask can only be used as a preventive measure to delay the risk of infection, because the red mist not only invades the human body through the respiratory tract, but can also be infected as long as the body is exposed.

Later, it was discovered that this red mist contained some kind of blood-red particles, which were very similar to the blood-red substances contained in the soil of Hell Star. As long as the human body comes into contact with these particles, it will be affected and mutated.

Whether it is inhaled into the body or in contact with the skin, when it exceeds a certain amount, it will cause irreversible damage to the human body, so it is called a pollutant.

What's worse is that along with the pollutants, there are also various monsters and strange phenomena.

At that time, a certain base happened to be built in the range of this phenomenon. It lost contact with the headquarters for a time. Even if it was contacted later, serious casualties had already occurred.

Because of the spreading red fog, the bases on Hell Star fell into chaos, and even the imprisoned criminals took the opportunity to cause trouble and escape from prison, causing great pressure on the defenders.

Seeing that the situation was not good, some people in the Star Alliance proposed that all actions on Hell Star should be suspended, all affairs should be transferred to other planets, or the countries should bring the criminals back, so as not to let the guarding soldiers sacrifice in vain.

As soon as this proposal came out, it was naturally opposed by many allied countries.

Hell Star was originally determined after several years of investigation and discussion, and it has been operated for nearly 70 years.

More than 30 bases, hundreds of thousands of troops stationed, and the manpower and resources invested in them, how could they be abandoned?

Moreover, there are some powerful serious criminals on the prison planet. It is not only risky to transfer them, but there are also no prisons of the same specifications in other places to detain them.

Therefore, the Star Alliance finally stopped adding new bases on the prison planet, and the brooding plan was also shelved. They began to discuss whether to find a suitable planet to build the prison planet.

All parties have been deadlocked, and the situation is getting worse and worse.

As a result, things suddenly took a turn for the better.

Three or four years after the red fog appeared, researchers who observed the red fog found that, except in some extreme weather, the concentration of pollutants in the air was greatly reduced.

The visibility, which was only one or two meters on a sunny day, returned to normal in a very short time. Although the daylight is still insufficient, it is much better than the inconvenience and danger of the spreading red fog.

In almost one day, the red fog retreated from the human base and shrunk into every untouched corner of the planet.

Only when extreme weather comes, the concentration of pollutants in the air will increase rapidly and condense into the form of red clouds again.

However, at this time, as long as you stay indoors, stay inside the building, and close all the passages, the concentration of pollutants will not increase much, which is within the range that ordinary people can bear.

The monsters that appeared with the red mist also disappeared as the red mist receded, and only returned with the red mist in extreme weather. Although the reappearing monsters

are still as powerful and threatening, they tend to ignore buildings and only attack those who stay outdoors in extreme weather.

Because of this change, the base defenders on Hell Star finally got a chance to breathe.

Since then, the Star Alliance has gradually strengthened construction, improved the base's defense capabilities, and improved various rules and regulations. In the battle with monsters, they have summed up rich experience, which has greatly improved the safety and combat effectiveness of the base defenders.

The shelved breeding plan was also announced to be restarted after confirming the safety of Hell Star, and it has continued to this day, achieving quite good results.

However, the premise of all this is that monsters will not attack the base buildings.

Even with the experience summarized from nearly twenty years of dealing with monsters, the people in the Operations Department no longer have to run away when they encounter those monsters, and they can often counterattack.

But these are people from the Operations Department. For ordinary staff in the base, it is already amazing to be able to save their own lives, let alone fight.

Therefore, after hearing Yan Ping's judgment, Xia Jingming's face turned very ugly.

"This discovery must be reported as soon as possible!" He said in a deep voice, and other more detailed data must be collected and analyzed as soon as possible to determine whether Yan Ping's judgment is correct.

Yan Ping nodded.

"The base's intelligence core has recorded the specific situation. For the rest, we have to wait until the rain stops."

"Yes."

No matter how anxious he was, Xia Jingming knew the priorities. It was not easy to leave the logistics building at the moment.

"Then... how is the battle outside?"

"It's going well so far."

The giant spiders have teams two and three to deal with, and they don't need support for the time being. However, the situation here seems to be a little special. Yan Ping frowned and thought, and asked, "Did anything unusual happen here?"

When he just came in, he clearly felt that the atmosphere was not right, and why was only Luo Shengfei seriously injured, while everyone else seemed unharmed?

Hearing Yan Ping's doubt and vigilance, Xia Jingming glanced at Su Ci and explained the situation to Yan Ping in a low voice.

After listening to him, Yan Ping couldn't help but look at Su Ci.

In fact, he had noticed this strange young man a long time ago. In addition to the fact that he was unfamiliar, his outstanding appearance made it difficult for people not to notice him.

Facing his scrutiny and suspicion, this thin young man with a plastic red flower hairpin on his temples behaved very frankly, and even looked a little out of shape.

Yan Ping did not rush to interrogate him, but waited until Guan Zhishu helped Luo Shengfei with a simple bandage before letting her check the surveillance. His eyes never left Su Ci from beginning to end.

Although his face looked calm, his body was not relaxed, as if he could enter combat mode at any time.

Su Ci was also very calm, watching Guan Zhishu's operation with a little curiosity.

[Ding - verification passed, the order has been received, and the surveillance of the first floor lobby of the logistics department is being transferred.]

After receiving the order, Guan Zhishu directly verified her identity through the communicator in her hand, and then submitted an application to the base's intelligent core.

Not long after, a light screen jumped out of her communicator and appeared in the air. After being adjusted to the maximum, it began to play the image.

The video was shot from several angles of the first floor lobby of the logistics department. It was played in fast forward mode. It can be seen that at a certain moment, Luo Shengfei and his two companions wearing protective raincoats rushed into the first floor, followed closely by Su Ci who held up his work manual to block the rain.

Seeing this scene, Guan Zhishu looked at Su Ci strangely.

Su Ci was interested in the clear video with adjustable playback speed, which made Yan Ping, who was watching the video and observing him, frown slightly.

The video was still playing.

Soon, Su Ci and Luo Shengfei found that the metal shield and glass began to shatter, and those weird mumbling and laughter were also recorded.

After that, the four of them said a few words and started to act separately. Xia Jingming and Sun Si quickly went up the stairs and soon met Shi Yjiang, while Luo Shengfei and Su Ci, who were a step slower, encountered an accident. Not

long after, when the thin wire drilled in from the crack in the glass, the image began to become unstable until the thin wire destroyed the alarm and the surveillance video went black in an instant.

The image stopped and the rest could not be seen.

"Captain." Guan Zhishu turned his head and looked at Yan Ping, waiting for his further instructions.

Yan Ping frowned and instructed, "Camera No. 2, about 15 minutes and 40 seconds."

Guan Zhishu: "Yes."

She enlarged the camera No. 2 and saw Su Ci and Luo Shengfei in the center of the picture. This camera has a living tracking function. After Xia Jingming and the others left, it has been following the two people and shooting very clearly.

Luo Shengfei suddenly fell to the ground, Su Ci half-crouched beside him to check, and then the picture began to become unstable.

"Pause here."

Yan Ping suddenly spoke, and Guan Zhishu hurriedly followed his instructions.

He pointed at the screen and asked, "Xiao Luo, do you remember why you fell and what happened after you fell?"

Luo Shengfei opened his eyes with difficulty, trying to identify the image on the screen, and recalled it and said, "I seemed to hear someone talking in my ear, and I felt very uncomfortable... Then... Then I don't know..."

Yan Ping tapped the screen, and the image continued to play. After Luo Shengfei fell to the ground, he began to cry bitterly, and no one knew what he was saying.

"He was begging for mercy, as if he was hallucinating." Su Ci said.

Yan Ping: "It's mind control."

Guan Zhishu next to him was a little surprised, "That big spider mutated again? It didn't have this feature before, right?"

Yan Ping shook his head, "Ask the people from Team 2 and Team 3 later. They are fighting with the giant spider. If the giant spider really mutates to have the feature of mind control, they should have information."

Guan Zhishu was about to nod when he heard him continue, "Of course, if this is not a new feature of the giant spider, then it means... there are more than one monsters that invaded the logistics department just now." As

soon as he finished speaking, Guan Zhishu and others shuddered and looked at the lobby on the first floor with some fear in their hearts. If there is more than one, then... are

they really safe now?

Su Ci, on the other hand, was still listening calmly.

Yan Ping looked at Su Ci's reaction, his eyes narrowed slightly, "Your name is Su Ci, right? I've heard of you, the new trainee breeder."

Su Ci nodded.

Yan Ping continued to stare at him, "Aren't you scared?"

"Ah?" Su Ci blinked, "Oh."

Then, a frightened expression appeared on the young man's face.

Yan Ping: "..."

The man stared at Su Ci closely, his expression serious, and his brown pupils strangely turned into a pair of vertical pupils.