Chapter 17: Rescue

Chapter 17: Rescue

The spacecraft had descended deeply, and the pale sky above them had shrunk to a pinpoint.

As they continued their descent, Rong Mi occasionally caught sight of deep scratches on the icy rock walls beside them, as if made by an advanced Ice Butterfly attempting to climb upward, only to be dragged back down by a larger predator below.

The place was permeated with Lu Yi's frigid spiritual energy, making one's eyesight less effective than their spiritual perception when looking into the distance.

The searchlight at the bottom of the spacecraft illuminated the area with a bright white light, casting its beam deep into the crevasse.

Rong Mi saw an enormous ice crystal.

A gigantic ice crystal, much larger than the spacecraft, buried deep within the planet, stretching out in all directions along the cavern, its extent seemingly endless.

Beneath the ice crystal, indistinct blue wings could be discerned, adorned with blood-red hues.

Those red hues were flowing rapidly, forming eerie patterns of dots and lines before dispersing.

Upon sensing the spotlight from the bottom of the spacecraft, the Ice Butterfly angrily flapped its wings, striking against the ice crystal with great force.

"Vibrating..."

A faint humming sound emerged from beneath the ice.

It was incredibly powerful. The ice crystals cracked under its strikes, but new layers of ice quickly grew to mend the fractures.

"Boom!!"

Then, another impact followed.

Failing to break through the ice, the butterfly's wings beneath it suddenly closed, revealing several crimson tentacles that emerged from below.

Each tentacle was as wide as a starship, attempting to pierce through the ice, but to no avail.

After several attempts, the thick tentacles dispersed, exposing a human-like head beneath the ice.

Its skin was fair, and the head pressed tightly against the ice, with its crimson eyes fixated on the starship. The eyes had no pupils, only chaotic, swirling black spots, resembling a pool of blood with swarming mosquitoes on its surface.

Rong Mi: "..."

This ice butterfly's single eye was larger than their entire starship!

The higher the rank of an ice butterfly, the more beautiful its appearance.

But if that face was dozens or even hundreds of times larger than an ordinary human's... It was truly hard to appreciate its beauty.

Not to mention the floating black within its eyes, which seemed to be the incubating eggs of lower-level ice butterflies...

"Buzz—"

The humming sound echoed again through the ice. As those huge crimson eyes gazed over, a faint red hue appeared in the air around the starship.

High-ranking ice butterflies possessed the ability to attack across space.

Toxic and corrosive ice butterfly energy particles rapidly gathered around the starship. However, at the same time, the silver spiritual energy encircling the vessel suddenly surged, forming icy silver blades that sliced through the red mist, freezing it into snowflakes that fell down.

"...Don't stare at me," Rong Mi said, his voice laced with disgust as he met the level-five ice butterfly's crimson gaze. "This thing... No matter how many times I see it, I can never get used to it. Close your eyes right now!"

A deep purple spiritual energy vibrated along with his words.

"hum ——"

Under Rong Mi's control, thousands of threads of mental energy resonated. The triangular perimeter in midair quivered, emitting a sound akin to the ice butterfly's wing vibrations in the air.

The deep purple triangle spun in the sky, its oscillation wavelengths overlapping and alternating in a unique pattern.

This particular resonance pattern was the result of Rong Mi observing and recording the energy characteristics of the ice butterflies, experimenting repeatedly in actual combat, and finally finding a solution.

In the era of interstellar nomads, the distance between different fleets was vast, and the relay space stations scattered sparsely throughout the universe were often damaged by ice butterfly attacks.

Rong Mi had witnessed many tragedies of people being devoured by the insectoids due to delayed support when she worked as a therapist. With her acute sensitivity to mental energy and persistent experimentation, she spent eight years gradually uncovering the pattern.

As the constant frequency oscillation persisted, the crimson eyes beneath the ice began to rotate, slowly revealing their whites. The blue butterfly wings rose upward, covering the creature's head and body.

This was the posture the ice butterfly assumed when sleeping.

The frequency of the wings striking the ice decreased, ceasing their tremors, and the buzzing of the ice butterfly gradually faded.

Ten minutes later, the planet was left in utter silence.

"Enough," Rong Mi sighed in relief. "It won't awaken anytime soon, at least not for another seventy or eighty days. That's ample time for the support fleet to surround and eliminate it... Trust me, defrost it and see for yourself."

Manipulating mental energy with such precision was quite draining, especially after Rong Mi's recent battle with the high-ranking Ice Butterfly. Despite his seemingly effortless induction of the larger creature, he was left slightly breathless afterward, wiping his face to discover a sheen of sweat.

Around the starship, the silver mental energy flickered out one by one.

The drifting snow in the sky ceased and froze ground began to thaw.

The mechas that had been suspended in mid-air by the ice were now dragged down to the earth as the ice columns melted.

As Lu Yi maneuvered the starship upward, Rong Mi remembered something and raised his hand.

A purple glow illuminated the cannons above the starship, unleashing a burst of mental energy flames upon the white competition starship that had toppled nearby. Instantly, its outer shell turned black from the scorching heat, and all internal wiring was burned and destroyed.

The purple flames vanished as swiftly as they appeared, extinguished once their purpose was fulfilled.

Rong Mi glanced at Lu Yi and explained, "I suspect that starship might have a device that lured the high-ranking Ice Butterfly to awaken."

Civilian starships equipped with special luring devices... This was no trivial matter.

This device is typically employed in combat zones to lure Ice Butterflies into a trap, allowing for their mass capture at a predetermined location.

Due to its hazards, the lure mechanism is strictly controlled within military circles. Even for ordinary Ice Butterflies, only those with the rank of Division Commander or higher have the authority to operate it, let alone for high-ranking ones.

Lu Yi no longer forced himself to exert his mental energy.

He pulled off his helmet, his expression cold and his brows knitted as he said, "I'll have the military look into it."

Rong Mi also removed his helmet, leaning forward to examine Lu Yi's mental domain.

"You've expended a great deal of mental energy," Lu Yi remarked, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Rest first."

"I dare not." Rong Mi approached, pressing a hand on Lu Yi's shoulder to gently push him back while reaching for a button on the side of the pilot's seat with the other hand, his fingers tightening around it.

The pilot's seat tilted backward with Lu Yi still in it. The Admiral's face was cold as he tried to prop himself up using the seat.

But Rong Mi was quicker.

The young man bent one leg, placing it against Lu Yi's side. He straddled the driver's seat, firmly blocking Lu Yi's path upward from above.

"{Silver Wolves}!" The silver wolf, which had been crouching at Lu Yi's feet, leaped up and landed on Rong Mi, its paws clasping around his wrists in an attempt to deter him.

But the wolf's actions were mere gestures; it held back, fearing that its sharp claws might hurt Rong Mi. Rong Mi seized the opportunity, lifting the wolf and cradling it in his embrace.

"Behave," Rong Mi tapped the wolf's head, then pushed it into Lu Yi's arms. "Hold onto it!"

Lu Yi: "..."

He gazed directly at Rong Mi, his eyes shrouded in ambiguity.

"Why, didn't expect to be restrained so easily?" Rong Mi chuckled. "I know you're incredibly capable usually, but that was when your condition was still good... Can you still hear me?"

Lu Yi furrowed his brows.

"And your vision must be fading too, right?" Rong Mi reached out and covered his eyes. "Relax, I'll take a look at your mental domain."

"Fall asleep if you can't hold on... I promise you'll open your eyes to the world again."

"Oh, right, there should be mental energy replenishment fluid in your starship, right? I'll probably need some after treating you..."

Amidst the young man's muttering, Lu Yi tried his best to relax, sensing Rong Mi's manipulation of mental energy as it delved into his mental domain.

The Admiral didn't put up much resistance, allowing Rong Mi to smoothly enter his mental sea.

Before entering, Rong Mi had speculated about Lu Yi's mental domain.

It should resemble the Silver Wolves' mental seas he had encountered before—chaotic silver waters, a corrupted spirit tree poisoned by the insectoids, and a sky above the sea also tinged with a pale silver hue.

However, after seeing Lu Yi's mental domain, Rong Mi realized he had underestimated the severity of the soldier's condition.

Before him was a tempestuous silver-black ocean, with swirling waves towering high, completely submerging the spirit tree. Rong Mi couldn't even locate the position of Lu Yi's spirit tree, let alone assess its state. Judging from the vast expanse of black that permeated the water, the situation seemed far from optimistic.

High above this silver-black sea hung another, slightly paler silver expanse of water. The upper sea also concealed hidden eddies but appeared more tranquil. A spirit tree reached down from the inverted water, its branches visible.

This region's color was fainter, almost like an illusion, yet several tangible water columns connected the two domains.

Tornado-like water columns moved across the surface, with deep black intermingling in the silver. Corrupted mental energy, now turned black, surged upward from the lower body of water, merging into the inverted, somewhat illusory seawater. It was then absorbed by the spirit tree within that vast sea.

Rong Mi: "..."

Rong Mi recognized it - the suspended spiritual sea above corresponded to Silver Wolves' mental domain.

Sure enough, Lu Yi's and Silver Wolves' spiritual seas were interconnected, both presenting formidable challenges.

The young man fell silent for a moment, muttering to himself, "Seems like I'll have my work cut out for me from now on..."

A jet-black wave, tinged with silver, crashed down from above with a roar that seemed capable of shattering heaven and earth. Rong Mi quickly regained his composure, releasing a purplish mist.

At all costs, he had to pull Lu Yi back from the brink of death!