In the Hyperion's command carriage, Bronya fiddled with a remote control for a bit, then shook her head somewhat dejectedly.
"No good. The drone loses connection once it goes beyond ten meters. This fog is excessively thick."
This was already the third drone they had launched. All three, without exception, disconnected and vanished after flying a certain distance.
There was definitely something strange about this fog... They might have entered a remarkable place.
"Switch to the Spider Mech. Try going by land," Shu suggested. Bronya nodded and switched remotes.
"Shu, should we wait for the energy source to recover?" Mei asked Shu during the brief pause in Bronya's operation.
"We can't act rashly. This fog gives me a very bad feeling..." Shu said gravely, his eyes looking through the window at the white fog isolating the Hyperion.
"Could these white mists be made of some kind of monster?" Kiana couldn't understand Bronya's controls, so she simply leaned against the window, peering outwards. "Otherwise, how could the fog be this thick?"
"Kiana might as well say there's some monster in the fog..." Bronya still had the spare capacity to retort while operating the controls.
"Hmm... You mean the kind that suddenly jumps out of the fog, 'Waaah—' and gives you a big scare?" Kiana actually started thinking along those lines.
"If it's a monster, do you still think it'll just be a scare?" Shu couldn't help but retort. Spending too much time with these three, he felt himself getting assimilated back into their ways.
"That's true..." Kiana had a sudden realization. "Hehe... Isn't it just a man-eating monster? Are the few of us really afraid of those?"
Saying this, she rolled up her sleeves, showing off muscle contours that were completely invisible. "However many come, we'll knock them all away!"
"Alright," Shu immediately stood up. "Mei, get a rope and tie it around Kiana's waist. We'll lower her into the fog to feed... oh, I mean, catch a couple of monsters for examination."
"Eh?!" Kiana's pupils instantly quaked. "Shu, are you getting revenge for me pulling your quilt this morning?! Hey, Mei! I was just kidding, don't actually go looking for a rope!!"
You guys are definitely ganging up to get back at me for pulling the quilt this morning!!
Just as Kiana was about to deploy her familiar move, Bronya suddenly exclaimed.
"Wait, there are really life signs in the fog!"
Shu instantly crouched down, leaning closer to the control interface.
He couldn't understand the data curves, but he could understand the red and green thermal image on the adjacent screen.
At this moment, amidst a sea of green low temperatures, a moving block of red and yellow suddenly appeared, constantly moving in front of the camera!
This clearly wasn't some high-temperature object; it was a living creature!
"What? The monster really appeared?!" Kiana jumped in fright, quickly leaning over and looking around. "Where, where? How come I can't see it? Which image is it?"
Shu and Bronya didn't have time to explain to Kiana, instead continuing to watch the screen intently together.
"Not just one... there are many!" Bronya continued controlling the deployed Spider Mech. One after another, thermal outlines of similar sizes flashed across the screen.
It seemed the Spider Mech had alerted these unknown creatures. These slow-moving beings started moving one by one. Some approached the Spider Mech, some moved away, and some ignored the mech, continuing their actions.
"37... 38..." Shu silently counted the number of appearing "creatures."
Kiana, under Mei's quiet guidance, now knew where to look.
But after looking for a couple of seconds, she suddenly frowned. "Huh... this..."
"What's wrong?" Shu turned his head to look at Kiana.
Kiana grimaced, holding it in for a long time before finally squeezing out a sentence: "They kinda look like some old grandpas and grandmas..."
Shu: "?"
As if suddenly remembering something, Shu turned back. "Bronya, try taking a picture."
"But the fog is so thick, the humidity will damage the camera, and the visibility..." Bronya reminded him.
"Try it..." Shu affirmed. "If they are really people, they can see the Spider Mech, so the camera must be able to see them."
Right, those heat sources clearly reacted to spotting the Spider Mech!
Bronya hesitated no longer and activated the camera.
A few seconds later, a photograph was displayed before everyone, plunging them all into silence.
It was a very old street. Unknown liquid flowed on the uneven white cement road surface.
Low houses built from white stones of varying sizes lined both sides of the road. There was no cement plastering the surface; white earth filled the gaps between the stones. Bundles of straw and dry branches leaned against the white wooden doorframes. Broken roof tiles were clearly visible.
No fog... This entirely white photograph even showed a small patch of azure sky...
Wasn't this just a rural village?!
Besides the building materials being strangely white, how was this different from the somewhat backward rural villages in his memory?
And those heat sources were indeed elderly people dressed in old clothes.
As well as some young children with runny noses and rustic braids!
"Shu, this..." Mei was a bit unsure.
Shu's brow was deeply furrowed. He subconsciously raised a hand to his philtrum, staring intently at the elderly people and children in the photograph.
Everyone in the photo had noticed the photographer... the Spider Mech.
Perhaps having never seen such a thing before, coupled with the fact that the Spider Mech wasn't exactly good-looking.
Many children's faces showed a mixture of fear and curiosity, shrinking behind the elderly.
Is it an illusion? Shu shook his head. Clearly, that was impossible.
What illusion could deceive both thermal sensors and mechanical cameras to this extent?
Is it a Herr...
Shu's frown deepened further. After a moment of silence, he reached out and took the rope Mei was holding (to scare Kiana).
"I'm going out, into the fog to take a look," Shu said, holding one end of the rope.
"Huh?!" Kiana instantly jumped up. "Shu, are you really going to feed... uh... really?"
Shu tied the rope around his wrist, securing it with a dead knot, and nodded.
"You guys pull the rope every five minutes. I'll pull back in response. If there's no response within three seconds, pull the rope back."
Shu instructed.
Kiana wanted to say something more, but seeing Shu already at the door, she swallowed her words back.
It's probably nothing important anyway... she thought to herself.