Chapter 24: Strange Bird
He saw an unidentified creature. It was pitch-black, with enormous wings, resembling some kind of monstrous bird.
This monstrous bird stood about two and a half meters tall, with a wingspan of at least four to five meters. It possessed a massive maw filled with sharp protrusions—whether they were teeth or something else was impossible to tell.
It had suddenly appeared beside one of the Clones, lowered its head, and in a single bite, snapped the Clone in half, tore it apart, and swallowed it.
’What is that thing!’
The thought flashed through Li Qingsong’s tens of thousands of brains simultaneously.
This was a vacuum! Without the protection of a Space Suit, a Clone would die in a minute at most! And the temperature here was extremely low, a frigid negative two hundred-plus degrees Celsius!
On top of that, there was intense, high-energy interstellar radiation, enough to destroy the DNA of any living organism!
’How could this unidentified creature possibly survive in such an environment!’
Li Qingsong’s thoughts raced, and a new idea even surfaced in his mind: ’How many of these monsters are there? Could this strange creature be the reason for the sudden disappearance of my compatriots from Earth?’
Human Civilization’s technological level far surpassed his own. If even they were annihilated by this kind of monster, then he likely wouldn’t stand a chance against it!
Li Qingsong instantly grew solemn.
With a single thought, thousands of Clones at the over one hundred sub-bases scattered outside the main base—specifically those working on the exterior—simultaneously stopped what they were doing and rushed into the base structures.
At the main base, numerous Clones also sprang into action, moving out in squads toward the perimeter to guard against any surprises.
Although only this one base had encountered the monstrous bird, and only a single one had been seen, who knew if there were more of them elsewhere on Ceres.
Regardless, it was best to be cautious.
There were also over a hundred Clones inside Base 45.
Li Qingsong gritted his teeth. He commanded these Clones to grab anything nearby that could be used as a weapon—kitchen knives, steel pipes, wrenches, and the like—and simultaneously charge the monstrous bird that had just devoured one of their own.
The ferocious bird let out a silent roar, its grotesque mouth wide open, and charged fearlessly toward the Clones.
The fearless Clones met its charge, striking with the weapons in their hands.
Li Qingsong was sending these Clones to their deaths. His purpose was simple: to test the combat capabilities of this unidentified creature.
’If this creature is overwhelmingly powerful, impervious to weapons, capable of extraordinary feats, and can wipe out hundreds in a single blow, then I should just abandon this base and flee immediately aboard the Deep Space Spaceship.’
Under these circumstances, gore flew as the hundred-odd Clones were torn apart, and one by one, their connections to him severed.
A severed connection meant they were dead.
But Li Qingsong didn’t feel any anxiety. Instead, he let out a long sigh of relief.
He saw that the monstrous bird was not, in fact, impervious to weapons.
One Clone, swinging a kitchen knife with all its might, had actually managed to gash the monster’s wing.
Another Clone thrust a sharpened steel pipe forward, piercing a dozen or so centimeters into the creature’s body. A large amount of unidentifiable fluid gushed out and promptly froze solid.
Finally, at the cost of more than twenty Clones, the monstrous bird collapsed to the ground, motionless.
’It wasn’t this kind of monster that caused Human Civilization to disappear!’
Li Qingsong reached an instant conclusion in his mind.
A monster that could be killed by Clones wielding kitchen knives and steel pipes... even a hundred million of them would have been a drop in the bucket for Human Civilization.
Several Clones cautiously approached and, under the glare of their lights, began to carefully examine the creature’s physical structure.
Li Qingsong saw that the outside of the creature’s body was covered in a distinct layer of ice, hard as steel. But inside this frozen shell, there was a certain level of warmth; some unknown substances remained in a liquid state, able to flow.
At the same time, he realized its wings probably weren’t for flight. Li Qingsong couldn’t see any sufficiently powerful muscles or muscle-like structures.
’Such large wings, but not for flight. Could they be... some kind of net for collecting materials?’
’What does it rely on for survival? What is its food source?’
He had them dissect the creature’s stomach—it was clearly a stomach, as the corpse of the first Clone to die was inside.
Besides the corpse, Li Qingsong also saw some melted substances.
He recognized them at a glance.
Inside were methane, ethane, acetonitrile, Tolin, formaldehyde, and more.
These were all organic compounds!
A somewhat staggering thought occurred to Li Qingsong.
’Could this thing be a space-faring organism?’
’It feeds on a planet’s simple organic compounds for food and energy. Once it depletes a planet’s edible organics, it migrates through space, using its giant wings as a collection net to gather cosmic dust for sustenance, supporting itself until it reaches another planet, where it repeats the process...’
’This... this... Do creatures like this really exist in the Cosmos?’
Li Qingsong’s knowledge of biology made him subconsciously reject the possibility. But now, the physical evidence was laid out right in front of him, forcing him to accept it.
’If that’s the case, then this is bad.’
’Obviously, in the vast sea of stars, planets are the scarcest resource.’
’Every planet here contains vast quantities of the organic matter they desperately need. To these monstrous birds, each planet must be like a lush, fertile pasture to a herd of cattle.’
’What’s more, there’s a huge amount of Clone activity on Ceres, and these activities produce large quantities of even more complex organic compounds.’
’The human body itself is composed of these complex organic compounds.’
’Perhaps these complex organics are even more attractive to these creatures.’
’If simple organic compounds are like wild vegetables and steamed buns, then humans, livestock, aquatic life, and grains are a gourmet feast!’
’Maybe my activities on Ceres are what attracted this monstrous bird in the first place!’
Li Qingsong’s mind raced.
At this moment, the only thing Li Qingsong could hope for was that the number of these monstrous birds arriving on Ceres wouldn’t be too large.
Don’t forget, Li Qingsong had not developed even a sliver of weapons technology. Other than kitchen knives and steel pipes, he had no weapons at all!
Who could have imagined that such a creature existed in the Cosmos, and that it would have the bad luck—or rather, his bad luck—to show up right on his doorstep.
The Clones began dragging the creature’s corpse, intending to take it back to the main base for further research.
But just then, the ground suddenly began to tremble slightly.
Swinging a massive searchlight over, the Clones witnessed a terrifying sight.
The dark red surface of Ceres was now covered by a teeming, black mass of monstrous birds.
At this moment, at least a thousand of the monstrous birds were charging toward Base 45!