The day after Ethan and the other nonhumans arrived, they were ordered to move their camps. Pales had 29 hours and 30 minutes in a day. They were woken up at about 6 a.m. and hastily put away their tents. Under the command of several soldiers, they helped to transport so boxes with unknown contents into the military aircraft, but while Ethan had imagined that they would be flying there by aircraft, the nonhumans just watched as the large aircraft carried groups of soldiers away one after another, leaving only a small group of soldiers to lead them on foot into the forest to search for the rebel forces.
Of course, they also left them with so weapons.
However, all of them were cold weapons that ca in strange shapes and sizes. They didnt have any weapons that could shoot bullets.
Samuel took a blue weapon, which appeared like a machete and was made of an unknown material. He weighed it in his hand and asked the red-haired Sergeant Wilson, What is this?
Sergeant Wilson said with a toothpick in his mouth, Its a knife.
If we really et the horned people, do you expect us to use these unearthed cultural relics to fight against them? Are you playing a joke on us?
Sergeant Wilson stood in front of Samuel, and the two n of similar heights glared at each other fiercely.
Its already good enough that the bunch of you scums have weapons, Wilson muttered, gnashing his teeth.
Next to him, another female Alpha team leader glared at Wilson and explained, These weapons were seized from their temples. They seem to think that these weapons cursed them, and the souls of those who are killed by these weapons will be destroyed, so they are terrified of these weapons. Believe , these things may work better than guns.
The nonhumans lined up in rows to receive their weapons. Ethan got a short knife, which seed to be so kind of polished crystal. At dusk, it seed to contain a flowing purple glow. If one looked at it carefully, they would notice that there were many runes carved on the knife. They were in the language of the horned people, so Ethan didnt understand the runes.
But why were they afraid of these sacred tools?
The nonhuman troops split up into ten groups. Each troop was led by three soldiers, and they were to enter the forest from different angles and directions. Their destination was Anas City, one of the horned peoples cities about 100 kiloters away that human forces had just taken over. The city had been occupied by the rebels not long ago, but after the citys destruction, the horned people rebels who were not killed in the bombings had fled into the vast expanse of forest before them during the night and disappeared. The mission given to the nonhumans was to search for them and drive them out. Subsequently, the regular army would catch them all.
The forest was very humid. Water vapor had condensed into frost, covering each trees trunk and branches so that when one looked at the entire tree, it would look like a silver sculpture. Many insects that could emit light, like fireflies, were disturbed by their intrusion. All of them flew out from the leaves and floated in the night wind that had co quietly and unknowingly. The scene was so surreal and beautiful that Ethan could not help but try to imprint it in his mind to pass it on to Tanisiel.
Then, he actually sensed a ssage from Tanisiel.
The ssage was akin to a sudden surge of emotions and was warm and genial, as though it carried the warmth of a smile. Ethan clearly knew that the feeling was not his but one that Tanisiel had passed on to him.
They were clearly 500 light-years apart, but both of them could see the sa beautiful scenery. Ethan felt a touch of light happiness.
The cry of so kind of bird reverberated around them, sounding hollow and mysterious amid the dim light. After listening for a long ti, it sounded like a person. The ground was covered with dense vegetation, and there were unknown creatures hidden around them. The soldiers walking in front of them and behind them turned on the sonar devices installed at their waists. The infrasound frequency that human ears could not hear would be able to drive away so nearby insects. Still, they did not dare to turn the frequency of the device up too high because horned people had much more sensitive hearing than humans, and they could capture frequencies that humans couldnt.
Because they were stumbling along, they were not moving very fast. The oxygen in the air on Pales was not as high as that on Earth, so it was necessary to take a few oxygen bags out of their backpacks to breathe into. In this situation, if a fierce fight occurred with the horned people, it was estimated that they would be wiped out quickly
Ethan has seen horned people on TV. They had a layer of short translucent hair covering their skin. From a distance, it looked like a layer of skin that could reflect the surrounding environnt. A pair of hard horns that curved inwardly grew on their foreheads, appearing similar to that of a rams. Their eyes were elongated and slender, and the whites of their eyes were not visible. One could only see a pair of black eyes that resembled a cats. They could see in the dark, but they couldnt stand too much light. That was why, if the humans wanted to cause them to lose their combat effectiveness, they could temporarily blind them by shining sothing extrely bright on them. However, with the invention of goggles, this move wouldnt work every ti.
The horned people didnt like foreigners. They insisted on wearing their own heavy and dark-colored clothes and eating uncooked food. At most, they would sprinkle so salt and condints on the food. They had their own cities and culture, but they still used modern computers and machines to advance their knowledge. Additionally, they kept their bloodthirsty temperants. Every year, each city would hold a hunting contest, and the horned person who won first place would be considered a hero.
The Earthlings always thought of them as uncivilized barbarians. They would even think that their intelligence was not as high as other planetary races that were comparatively more open to other people. Still, Ethan always thought that people just didnt understand them enough. Every ti he saw their uniquely cold and dull expressions on TV, they would always give him an uncomfortable feeling. He always felt that there were clusters of light shining in the depths of those eyes, and there were invisible sneers hidden in the corners of their lips.
Ethan didnt want to ss with them at all.
For an entire two days, they didnt see even a shadow of soone. On the third day, Derek found a strange spherical object hanging on a tree, made out of wooden rods and string knotted together. So people said it was a bird nest, but it was obvious that the knot had been tied by soone. As they went forward, they passed more braided balls hung on the trees, and Ethan grew increasingly uneasy. He suspected that they were similar to the wooden figures that witches used to hang on trees to curse people in ancient tis.
They were now deep in the forest on the mountains, far away from any horned peoples cities. Could it be that the fleeing horned people rebels made these things?
Did they really have the ti to craft so many of these objects that appeared very complicated?
Of course, he didnt believe in witchcraft, but he had an inexplicable intuition that the current situation was not good. Recently, he didnt know if it was a coincidence or not, but his intuition seed to have grown sharper. It was as though he was more sensitive to the surrounding environnt, but similarly, he would also perceive fear stronger than ordinary people.
However, what he needed to control most was fear.
He whispered to Samuel, We shouldnt go any further
Samuel glanced at him. Do we have a choice?
Typhoeus patted him on the shoulder as if to comfort him. Ethan just shook his head with a wry smile and tightened his grip on the knife in his hand.
They set up camp at about 26 oclock that night. On Pales, the ti on each day was too long, and the difference between day and night was too small. They spent a day walking, but it felt like they had walked for two days and nights. After dinner, Ethan was exhausted as he lay in his sleeping bag. However, when he was about to sleep, he suddenly heard a strange sound coming from sowhere in the forest. He didnt know whether it was a singing or hissing sound.
He sat up and listened, trying to decipher if it was a bird. However, after a while, he was sure that it was soones voice, though he was unsure whether they were crying out in pain or joy. He also had no way to determine the direction the sound was coming from. It seed that no matter how he turned his head, the sound ca from every direction. It seed especially creepy among the faint rustling of the grass and the buzzing of flying insects.
Several other soldiers and nonhumans also sat up alertly, so it was evident that he did not imagine the voice.
Wilson took out a gun and quickly pointed to so nonhumans and another soldier near him, and quietly ordered, You guys, co with . Dont make a sound.
Ethan was not among those chosen, but Samuel followed him. Typhoeus moved to his side and said in a low voice, Could it be a horned person Ive heard that they have very strange beliefs, and they often scream and jump around as though they are crazy. They also tie up living animals and directly cut their stomachs open to wipe the blood on their bodies.
Ethan didnt know how to evaluate this matter, so he could only reply, Anyway, its unlikely that its our people who are calling out.
Theyre planning sothing. Leaning against another tree, Derek chewed on gum that ca from who knew where and said, I helped the big wigs intercept so information from the Ophiuchus Alliance. They had contacted the horned people rebels and said they would help them prepare to rebel.
Prepare? What preparations? Ethan asked.
Derek shrugged. Thats not sothing I would be able to ask about. Anyway, it cant be good if the Ophiuchus Alliance is involved.
About an hour later, Wilson and the rest ca back, but they all looked puzzled and worried. The other soldiers asked about the situation, but Wilson just waved his hand casually and said, It seems like it was a birds cry. It was a false alarm.
A birds cry?
Ethan was pretty sure it wasnt a birds cry. He looked at Samuel, who just shrugged. We looked for the source of the sound and saw a fire in the woods. However, when we snuck up to the fire, the fire went out within re monts, and the sound disappeared. On the spot where the fire should have been, we couldnt even find a charred branch, and we didnt see a shadow of anything. We were close enough that if soone tried to run away, we would have seen it. But, no one was there, and the fire seed to have never existed, Samuel said, shaking his head, It couldnt be that we were all collectively hallucinating, right?
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