Age of Cosmic Exploration

The metabolism of the super species was truly something else. One hour after consuming the lizard Yao Yuan hunted, the originally dying super species slowly stood up. He was still shaking, but its condition was already several times better than before.

Yao Yuan himself was surprised by the tenacity of these super species. Thankfully, they didn’t reproduce much. Based on the latest surveillance, there was at most 10,000 to 30,000 super species populating the entire planet. Relative to other animal species, this number meant that they were facing extinction. This was, after all, a completely untouched natural paradise, so their number shouldn’t be so little.

Based on this observation, the Academy came up with a conclusion. Even if humanity didn’t arrive at this planet, the super species would eventually die off in the next thousands of years, doomed by its own lack of reproduction.

When Yao Yuan was mulling over all this, the male super species suddenly growled at him before limping away.

What just happened?

Yao Yuan was confused because the low growl was neither hostile nor friendly. If anything, it felt like a perfunctory greeting. The fact that the male super species had left without much ado confused Yao Yuan as well. Could he be going to get some stuff to repay Yao Yuan?

However, using his Diviner power, Yao Yuan could tell that the two super species had returned deep into the jungle. They didn’t show signs of wanting to return. Yao Yuan curiously stared at the clump of trees that they had disappeared into.

Perhaps because the super species was used to being the ruler of the planet, they weren’t used to being given aid. Furthermore, their own young was forcefully taken away by Yao Yuan. It was already a miracle in itself that they hadn’t come after Yao Yuan.

Yao Yuan decided to shrug the super species’ curious behavior off. All in all, he had received a piece of important information: the super species was more intelligent than the Academy gave them credit for. As long as they weren’t sentient enough to purposely attack humanity, the cleverer these creatures were, the better. This was because it meant that the possibility of communication and co-existence was higher.

That afternoon, Yao Yuan returned to the Hope to attend to his business, and he received good news from Saburo. The public use version for the Ultimate Vaccine was completed, but it still needed to go through animal trials and simulated human trials. The simulated human trial was something created by the central mainframe. After both trials were proved successful, the vaccine could be given to the public.

Yao Yuan was understandably glad, but he was cautious enough to order the news be silenced. He didn’t want raise the people’s hopes up for nothing.

The morning after, Yao Yuan returned to the spot at the forest fringe. This time, both super species had arrived on time. Each of them had in their jaw a beast that weighed about 10 kilograms. The male super species had recovered nicely; he was no longer shaking uncontrollably. However, his leg was still rotting, and the decay had gotten worse. The bugs that Yao Yuan removed from the day before had returned.

This time Yao Yuan was surprised by the super species’ reactions. The male growled at him before squatting down a few meters before him. He extended his injured leg towards Yao Yuan and kept blinking at him. Even though there was no verbal communication, the meaning was clear. He wanted Yao Yuan to continue applying the antibiotic; he understood its purpose now.

Without a word, Yao Yuan took out the antibiotic and the male beast just laid there motionless. He didn’t even twitch. He stared silently at Yao Yuan. Yao Yuan frowned as he inspected the wound, adding, "The rot has penetrated deep into the tissue. You have to get it amputated. Can you understand me? This leg is already ruined; we have to cut if off or you will die."

Yao Yuan tried using his Anima power to communicate even though he had no idea whether it had any use. Suddenly, the male super species picked himself up. It startled Yao Yuan so much that he involuntarily jumped a few feet back. However, the beast didn’t attack him, he bit on his rotted leg, and with a twist of his neck, tore it right off. The leg landed with a heavy thunk, and the area was immediately drenched with blood that poured out of the beast’s open wound.

"F*ck." Yao Yuan cursed as he rushed forward to push the male super species back into a lying position. He squished the antibiotic pill and smothered it all over the wounded stump. However, the wound was so big that the blood simply wouldn’t stop. Yao Yuan applied the biggest pressure he could to stop the bleeding.

Yao Yuan screamed into his communicator, "This is Captain Yao Yuan, send me a medic... No, the Defense Army’s military surgeon unit. I need them to bring along all the equipment necessary for amputation. Also, remember to pack the latest nutrient potions and an abundance of manmade blood. My current coordinates are... Be quick. Also, bring the baby super species."

At that moment, Yao Yuan finally confirmed that it was possible to communicate with the super species, but of course, the Anima power still played a huge role. Yao Yuan had a feeling that these two super species would be the bridge that helped improve the relationship between mankind and other super species. Yao Yuan believed firmly that, based on their intelligence, the super species had their own channel of communication among themselves.

Yao Yuan believed that this pair of super species which had received not only contact but also aid from humanity would be the key to reaching the rest of the super species.

With this hope in his heart, Yao Yuan decided to go for a bet. After witnessing that the super species was clever enough to differentiate between things that meant them harm and things that could help them, Yao Yuan prayed they would show an intelligence that was greater than common beasts in the next few hours, or else... they might be forced into extinction.

In less than 10 minutes, a shuttle appeared above them. The male beast had been greatly weakened from blood loss. He tried to stand up but was forced down by Yao Yuan. The female super species, though, kept roaring at the sky while making intermittent eye contact with the male super species.

"Don’t be afraid, they’re here to save you, not hurt you. They’re here to save you..."

Yao Yuan kept repeating this, consoling them using his Anima power. However, the female super species kept hopping about agitatedly. However, her agitation didn’t appear to be one born out of fear or even hostility.

When the shuttle landed, to Yao Yuan’s anxiety and surprise, the female super species left the male super species’ side and raced towards the shuttle. Yao Yuan knew that the super species’ jaw was strong enough to bite through the space armor. Even though the outer material of the shuttle’s walls was strong, they were still weaker than the material used in the space armor. If the super species went rabid, the shuttle would be torn apart like paper, and the people within...

As Yao Yuan stood up to chase after the female super species, she suddenly stopped. She gave out a series of chirping noises at a spot 10 meters away from the shuttle. The chirpings weren’t as striking as her usual drum-like roars. In fact, they sounded gentle and maternal.

Watching this, Yao Yuan sighed in relief. He reapplied pressure on the male super species’ wound and activated his Diviner power to predict possible danger. Other than that, he kept consoling both super species using his Anima power. He certainly had his hands full.

The shuttle landed carefully on the ground. In fact, the people inside the shuttle were also nervous as hell. Thankfully, they weren’t Black Star Troopers, so even though they had heard people on the Hope mention super species, they had no clue as to how scary they could be. To them, the lizard lookalike didn’t really look that threatening. After the shuttle landed, a group of medical doctors descended from it.

The female super species couldn’t contain herself anymore. She surged forward like a flash of lightning, and before any of the crew members could react, she was already in front of the person who held in his hands a glass box. The person saw a flash of claws, and before he could react, the box in his hands fell to the ground in shattered pieces. When he came to, he saw that the female super species had in her mouth the snow-white baby super species. The chirping continued from the depths of her stomach and her tongue kept licking her baby playfully.

Everyone was caught by surprise, but after noticing that the person who previously held the box was unharmed, they rushed to aid the male super species and left the female and her child alone. The person who held the box stood rooted, his face as white as a sheet of paper.

A female doctor who passed him asked, "What are you doing? Too spooked by what happened?"

The person replied under his breath, "You have no idea... the glass box was created using the most sturdy nano bulletproof glass. It was used as the Hope’s external windows. It could withstand collision with stray meteorites practically unharmed, but just now...

"This six-legged lizard... sure is scary."