Chapter 106: Hypnosis

Once the mechanized winch was securely anchored, the ascent became much easier. The rest of the squad didn’t have to free-climb the vertical drop like Jason did; the motorized cable did all the heavy lifting.

Jason locked the winch in place, powered it up, and hoisted the expedition team members up one by one, along with two heavy equipment crates.

Fifteen minutes later, the ten-man squad stood in a tight formation on the metal platform, sweeping their weapons across the dark expanse. The three engineers immediately got to work assembling a portable signal relay. Once it was online, they popped open the crates and deployed a swarm of automated recon drones. According to standard operating procedure, these drones would act as the vanguard.

The Federation was taking every possible precaution to ensure the expedition team’s safety.

The actual breach into the inner hull wasn’t large, barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through. Beyond the opening, there was no light, no sound, and no sign of movement…

It was entirely, suffocatingly silent.

But they had a job to do. Jason licked his dry lips and spoke quietly into his communicator. “Command, Channel 319.4, this is Jason. The signal relay is online, and the recon drones are prepped. Initiating phase two.”

“Copy that. Running diagnostics on the relay signal now…” replied the control center back on the Noah flagship.

Although there were only ten operatives standing here, an entire command center was backing them up.

“Signal integrity confirmed. Initiating drone recon sweep!”

Over twenty spider-like drones sprang to life, their twin optical sensors projecting piercing white beams into the dark. Moving in a synchronized line, they scuttled straight into the breach.

The fearless little machines did their job perfectly. Ten minutes later, the command center relayed the telemetry back to the squad.

“Interior environment looks stable. The facilities and bulkheads took heavy damage, but structural integrity is much better than the outer hull. We haven’t detected any immediate hazards. You are clear to proceed.”

“Move out,” Jason ordered, waving the squad forward. The knot of unease in his gut was tightening again, but he had to push it aside.

Even if there were hidden dangers inside, they had to face them. Besides, with the drones scouting ahead, any traps would trigger on the machines first, buying the team precious seconds to react. If they ran into something they couldn’t handle, they would fall back. They were here to scout, not to die.

Gripping his Gauss Rifle tight, Jason stepped through the breach first, taking point. Marcus followed close behind, his heavy rocket launcher resting on his shoulder. Johnny stepped in next, followed by the engineers and the medic. Shane brought up the rear, his sniper rifle raised to cover their six.

The pitch-black corridor felt like the gaping maw of a leviathan, patiently waiting for the explorers to march right into its stomach.

Fortunately, the corridor wasn’t entirely dark; the sweeping spotlights of the spider drones up ahead provided a comforting visual anchor.

Once the entire squad was inside, they formed a defensive perimeter and switched on their shoulder-mounted tactical flashlights.

These were military-grade Vanguard-2 emitters, boasting a clear illumination range of 600 meters and a continuous battery life of over 6 hours. The beams were so intense that shining them directly into a person’s eyes would cause instantaneous, crippling blindness.

The light washed over a massive pile of metallic wreckage. Jason crouched down and picked up a ring-shaped component, wiping a thin layer of dust from its surface. It looked like a machine part.

The area resembled a sprawling industrial factory, but the equipment had been completely pulverized when the UFO crashed. Honestly, the team felt a pang of disappointment; they had been hoping to find intact, salvageable technology right out of the gate.

Under the harsh glare of the flashlights, the alien metal revealed a faint, pristine luster beneath millions of years of dust. It hadn’t rusted or degraded in the slightest, a testament to material engineering that human science couldn’t even begin to replicate.

“Fan out and bag anything that looks useful,” Jason instructed the engineers, while the combat specialists maintained their overwatch.

“Hey, check this out!”

Marcus had stumbled upon the shattered remains of several automated combat mechs. He nudged a torso with his boot and realized some of the internal components were completely intact. His eyes lit up. He immediately reached for one of the mech’s heavy particle rifles, hoping to rip it free and use it, but Jason quickly stopped him.

“Leave it. You can’t fire that thing, so bag it and we’ll let the scientists look at it later.”

Jason’s Gauss Rifle had been heavily modified by Federation scientists, fitted with human-ergonomic triggers and optical sights. The alien weapons still attached to these mechs lacked standard triggers, grips, or aiming modules. Even if Marcus ripped it free, it would be a useless hunk of metal. Hearing this, Marcus grumbled but let the weapon go.

After half an hour of sweeping the room, the salvage teams had collected a decent loot, though nothing groundbreaking. With the area clear, the squad cautiously pressed forward.

They moved at a deliberate, agonizingly slow pace, strictly following the path cleared by the drones.

The science team had detected energy fluctuations deeper inside the ship, but the readings were ghost-like. They couldn’t confirm if the power source was real or a sensor echo. This uncertainty made Jason frown. What exactly was that intense wave of malice I felt earlier?

Suddenly, the communicator crackled to life. “Strike Team, move towards your left! The corridor ahead is completely structurally sound. The drones are reading zero hazards. We’re picking up intact hardware in there!”

Jason nodded and signaled the squad to pivot into the new passage.

The moment he stepped into the corridor, every hair on his body stood straight up. He froze, instantly turning back to look at Calvin.

Calvin, his face pale and contorted with suppressed panic, stared back at Jason and yelled, “There might be danger in there!”

“There’s a terminal, it looks like a mainframe or a computer interface just 100 meters down the bend!” the voice from command yelled over the communicator. In the background, Jason could hear the senior scientists screaming in pure, unadulterated excitement. “It’s right in front of you!”

Jason remained dead silent for a moment, his instincts warring with the intel. Finally, he gave the order. “Keep moving.”

Even though the drones had swept the corridor multiple times, the squad maintained flawless tactical spacing. The hallway really was miraculously intact; even the floor plating beneath their boots was free of cracks, leading straight into the heart of the ship. Jason kept his Gauss Rifle shouldered, aiming dead ahead, while Shane watched their backs.

As they walked, a strange, creeping train of thought suddenly began to echo in Jason’s mind:

Why is this corridor so perfectly straight? Where does it actually lead? What happened to all the alien lifeforms on this ship? And is there a connection between the Martian virus and this vessel? Did this ship bring the infection here?

These were the exact debates raging among the science divisions back on the flagship. Most experts believed the Martian virus was a native, primordial lifeform.

If it wasn’t, shouldn’t there be evidence of advanced alien microbes inside this ship? Why haven’t we found a single biological trace? The only logical explanation is that the Martian virus killed them all. The virus is hyper-aggressive. The alien microbes inside this ship, just like human immune systems were completely defenseless against it.

Okay, that makes sense. An advanced alien species wouldn’t fear the Martian virus because their technology could contain it. But what about their microscopic biosphere…?

What if the long-dormant virus strains we found are the only biological legacy this alien empire left behind? That would explain why their genetic structure is so insanely complex and impossible to map…

Wait a minute.

Why am I thinking about this right now?

Jason’s blood ran cold. He had completely zoned out in the middle of a high-risk hostile environment.

An Enhanced Superhuman with elite combat conditioning had just lost total cognitive focus! A violent chill spiked down his spine as he snapped back to reality.

“Stop!” Jason roared, raising his fist. “Everyone, stop right now!”

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