The violet sky of Dead Omen Star churned with ominous portent, its clouds roiling like a cauldron of ink as the winds howled across the crimson dunes. The Empire's team, battered but resolute, stood at the cave's edge, their mechs scarred from the harrowing escape through the Creeping Rose's lair. The air, though cleansed of the cave's sickly miasma, carried a gritty bite, laced with the dust of a brewing storm. The notification of the competition's restricted zone reached the Federation team swiftly, a ripple of unease spreading through their ranks like a chill wind.
"A Queen Bug on Dead Omen?" a student's voice trembled, the words barely audible over the keening gale.
"Calm yourselves," Dai Sheng snapped, his tone icy yet commanding. Though he had relinquished his role as the Federation's commander after the first round, his authority lingered, quelling the murmurs of panic. "It's merely in incubation. If a Queen had emerged, they wouldn't leave us students here to clutter the battlefield."
"Dai Sheng's right," Zhou Ying said, her gaze distant, her mind sifting through possibilities. "A Queen couldn't have been overlooked during the pre-exercise sweeps. Its presence was just discovered, and only our two military teams are on Dead Omen. It's likely the Empire team encountered it and reported it."
A murmur of awe and envy rippled through the Federation students. The Empire's score had soared, a testament to their relentless bug hunts, and the Federation had privately begrudged their prowess. To think they had faced a Queen's lair head-on was both humbling and terrifying.
"The Empire's casualties must be minimal, and the Queen is indeed incubating, or the situation wouldn't be this stable," Ya Ning said, her brow creasing. "The restricted zone marks their encounter site. We can infer their current position from that."
Zhou Ying nodded, her expression thoughtful. "Agreed."
"So… what do we do? Chase them down?" a bold student ventured, his voice tinged with reckless bravado.
"Are you mad?" another retorted. "The instructors told us to avoid clashing with the Empire. And with a Queen in play, you want to rush toward it? Tired of living?"
The impulsive suggestion was swiftly quashed. Zhou Wei, typically silent, spoke up, his voice low but firm. "We should steer clear of the restricted zone. Hunting Starbugs elsewhere could boost our score."
Janice, her tone sharp and unyielding, added, "But we need to change our approach. Since arriving on Dead Omen, we've been overly cautious. Our team's combat efficiency today is barely seventy percent of normal. Vigilance is prudent, but fear is dragging us down." She paused, her eyes narrowing as she weighed their options. "With a Queen detected, fleets are patrolling and monitoring. If we hit a crisis, we can signal for rescue and withdraw. We don't need to tiptoe anymore."
If boldness carried no lethal cost, they could afford to take risks. Zhou Ying's gaze hardened. "Then we hunt higher-tier Starbugs."
Dead Omen was a labyrinth of perils, a dark forest where monstrous creatures carved out territories, fracturing the planet into domains of dread. Zhou Ying and Zhou Wei, with their superior mental prowess, weren't blind to the dangers—especially Zhou Wei, whose instincts were honed by experience. For safety, Zhou Ying had targeted only bugs their team could reliably defeat, avoiding 3S-tier threats. This wasn't cowardice but pragmatism: they were students, not seasoned soldiers. Training should be incremental, not a plunge into the abyss. Had the exercise been confined to a controlled arena, or had Dead Omen not been chosen, Zhou Ying's caution might have held. But circumstances had shifted, and their strategy had to evolve.
By chance or fate, their path diverged from the restricted zone, leading them toward regions teeming with higher-tier Starbugs.
Meanwhile, the Empire team regrouped, their mechs clustered under the lee of a rocky outcrop. Bai Sha, her mind steadier after the detox shots, felt the fog of the Rose's gas recede, though a faint ache lingered at her temples. Xino, ever watchful, hovered nearby, his voice laced with persistent concern. "You're sure the headache's gone? No urge to dive back into that toxic pit?"
Bai Sha raised a hand in mock surrender, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "I'm fine. Let's move—back to hunting bugs." Her tone softened, almost wistful. "I just want to finish this exercise smoothly."
No more surprises, she thought, though Dead Omen seemed determined to defy her hopes. The exercise required teams to endure twenty-four hours on the planet unless one surrendered. Barely seven hours had passed, and the weight of the remaining time pressed heavily. Xino's gaze flickered to the horizon, where a bruise-purple glow spread like a plague, accompanied by a low, mournful wind. Falling stones punctuated the silence, their clatter stark against the desolate landscape.
"Storm's coming," Xino said, his voice tinged with unease.
Storms drove Starbugs into hiding, their elusive nature amplified by the chaos. Hunting would grow harder, their targets burrowing deeper into the planet's crevices. Bai Sha surveyed the sky, its violet hues swirling with ominous intent. "Check all mechs for dust and sand protection. Prep buffers to avoid injuries in the storm. I'll help."
She opened her toolkit, her hands moving with practiced ease as she reinforced her mech's seals. The storm struck faster than anticipated, a tempest that plunged Dead Omen into near-total darkness. Visibility vanished, the world reduced to a maelstrom of flying sand and debris. Pebbles pelted their mechs' shields, a relentless barrage that sounded like a hailstorm on steel. The shields held, but the onslaught tested their resilience.
They fired illumination beams, but the light was devoured by the swirling dust, like moths consumed by a ravenous void. The wind's force slowed their steps, threatening to topple them if they faltered. Moving slowly was safer; speed in this blindness risked disorientation. Xino proposed a tactic: soldiers formed groups of four, tethered by steel cables, advancing in a diamond formation. This minimized wind exposure for the group's core, allowing rotations to relieve fatigue. Handheld lights marked positions, visible only at close range. To swap places, a soldier flashed their light a number of times corresponding to the desired position, awaiting a matching response before moving.
Yu Yan held the left flank's second position, Cen Yuehuai the rear's fourth. Though rotations were planned, their group lagged, wary of Cen Yuehuai's recent collapse. She, however, felt recovered and signaled her readiness, flashing her light twice to trade with Yu Yan. He didn't respond. Undeterred, she flashed again, prompting Jiya's voice to crackle through the storm-muffled comms: "Enough… stop… Yu Yan doesn't… swap…"
Despite the fragmented transmission, Cen Yuehuai understood. Jiya, on the right flank's third position, became her target. Cen Yuehuai flashed three times; Jiya responded with four, signaling her move to the fourth position. They adjusted, the formation stabilizing as they pressed toward a sheltered slope, its leeward side free of falling rocks and buffered against the wind.
"Whew," Bai Sha exhaled, deactivating her shield to conserve energy. She stretched within her mech's cockpit, the storm's roar a dull thunder outside. "This wind's brutal."
"It's typical," Xino said, shaking his head as if to dislodge imaginary sand. "Alien planets are rarely hospitable, and Dead Omen's worse. Military and research teams build fortified zones with artificial buffers to weather storms."
Dead Omen's tempests weren't constant, but their timing was wretchedly inconvenient. The team huddled in their makeshift refuge, their mechs pressed close like sentinels in a siege. A sudden crackle burst through the public comms, the green signal light flaring for a fleeting second before fading to red. Someone was attempting contact.
Bai Sha frowned, amplifying the channel's volume. A distorted voice emerged, fractured by static: "…emergency… help… north… hurry…"
The words were barely intelligible, the tone desperate, underscored by monstrous roars and the clamor of weaponry. It wasn't an Empire signal—too garbled, too foreign. Yu Yan's voice cut through. "Federation?"
"Possibly their team, or their military escorts," Bai Sha replied, her mind racing. Cen Yuehuai sighed, frustration evident. "It's a storm. We can't reach them. Relay the signal to the fleet—they might not hear it clearly either."
Bai Sha paused, then said, "I'll tweak the receiver's frequency. It could clarify the signal."
"Now?" Cen Yuehuai's voice spiked. "It's pitch-black, and that's delicate work—impossible in a mech… Wait, Your Highness, you opened your cockpit?"
Xino and Cen Yuehuai lurched forward, forgetting their tethers, nearly toppling each other. Bai Sha, unfazed, returned swiftly, her tone amused. "You underestimate me."
She adjusted the receiver, the system humming back to life. The signal replayed, clearer now, though still laced with chaos: monstrous cries, cannon fire, and a frantic plea. "Emergency! Call for rescue! A Red-Feather Sparrow Queen in the north—fully hatched, heading your way! Run!"
The words struck like a thunderbolt. A second Queen, already born, was loose on Dead Omen, its path converging with their own.