In the dimmer regions of the morning twilight line on Rimu Star, in this area before dawn.
Chen Mingâs spaceship deliberately chose this time to plunge into the atmosphere.
As orange-red flames generated by high temperatures gradually appeared in Chen Mingâs view.
The surface of the spaceshipâs porthole gradually rose with retractable metal panels to isolate the heat.
The temperature inside the spaceship slightly increased but remained generally stable.
During this period, all Chen Ming could do was wait.
But soon, the shipâs body suddenly trembled slightly.
This was the landing moduleâs cushioning system at work, indicating the spaceship was about to approach the surface.
Shortly after, the metal panels protecting the porthole retracted, and the most dangerous time before landing was over.
The light of the star refracted from one end of Rimu Starâs horizon, introducing a scene Chen Ming had never seen before into his eyes.
A forest of green plants with patterns resembling snail shells.
Chen Ming was full of curiosity, unable to resist wanting to go over and see these novel plants.
But Chen Ming quickly restrained himself, not forgetting the important task at hand.
Finding a specific landing location.
In space, only a general terrain can be seen, and the maps in the terminal cannot be accurately depicted in meters.
So the final landing spot had to be confirmed on-site.
Chen Mingâs idea was to find a river to ensure his water supply first.
However, one could not land directly beside the river to prevent floods or other possible dangerous creatures.
Aside from that, Chen Ming didnât have high requirements for the landing spot.
So he quickly found a suitable place.
A hilltop, with a certain curvature beside it, but itâs quite flat on top, very suitable for the spaceship to dock.
And as long as one walks a short distance to another small hill nearby, a river not far away can be seen.
After confirming the position, Chen Ming prepared to land.
Just as the spaceship passed a forest, a swarm of things suddenly flew out of the forest, rushing toward the spaceship.
A group of creatures the size of basketballs, looking like blue balloons.
Chen Mingâs spaceship was slowing down, preparing to land, and didnât have time to shake them off.
Almost instantly, these balloon creatures covered the entire porthole, completely blocking the view from Chen Mingâs captainâs room.
At the same time, Chen Ming felt a noticeable vibration on the spaceship.
It was these strange creatures colliding against his spaceship.
Chen Ming immediately gave up landing and quickly accelerated the spaceship, planning to reconsider after shaking them off.
But the main engine at the tail of the spaceship was turned off after entering the atmosphere, with only the secondary engines running, it couldnât get much faster.
It could only barely push aside the balloon creatures in front, the distance between the spaceship and them still couldnât be extended.
Moreover, the spaceshipâs main engine wasnât meant for atmospheric operation, starting it could have worse consequences than being chased by these balloons.
This was the meticulously chosen landing site; Chen Ming didnât want to give up easily.
He could only let the spaceship fly upwards for a distance and hover in the sky.
Reluctantly distancing himself a little from the balloon swarm.
Watching the increasing number of balloons behind the spaceship, Chen Ming frowned and pulled out a terminal, photographing them.
He then performed a picture search in those planet introduction e-books.
Chen Ming wasnât very hopeful, but unexpectedly the terminal quickly identified the corresponding creature.
A page full of densely packed text appeared on the terminal.
But Chen Mingâs attention was all on controlling the spaceship and couldnât be distracted to read, so he pressed the voice playback button.
"Airborne jellyfish, also known as balloon jellyfish, gentle in nature, living in plains, hills, and other areas..."
"Gentle? Doesnât seem like it."
Chen Mingâs mind ignored the irrelevant content of the terminalâs narration, focusing on the main point.
Their earlier behavior, and the current content captured by the external camera on the spaceship, clearly showed that these airborne jellyfish looked like they wanted to devour him, extremely aggressive.
Could it be that he had intruded into their territory?
As this thought crossed Chen Mingâs mind, the voice broadcast reached this segment.
"...Main movement by drifting with the wind, no territorial awareness..."
"?"
Chen Ming maneuvered the spaceship around a few airborne jellyfish and glanced at the terminalâs content during this interval.
While he couldnât make out the text, Chen Ming could see the illustrations accompanying the text.
It was clear that the airborne jellyfish in the pictures and those now pursuing behind the spaceship were the same species, with no mention of any other subspecies having aggressive temperaments.
Chen Ming glanced again at the large group of airborne jellyfish chasing behind the spaceship and shook his head slightly.
Nothing could be done about it.
Chen Ming connected with the cameras of the two machine guns without any psychological burden.
The machine guns rotated and fired directly at the rear.
The large-caliber bullets only needed a slight touch to make these balloon-like airborne jellyfish deflate, losing their ability to float in the air.
If a bullet hit directly, it could even shatter the airborne jellyfish, bursting into a mass of shattered light blue gel and slightly darker body fluid.
Seeing the machine guns were effective against the airborne jellyfish, Chen Ming began to shorten his circular hovering distance, gradually guiding the not-so-intelligent airborne jellyfish into a cluster.
Every shot fired by the machine guns pierced through the giant bundle of airborne jellyfish, extremely efficient.
But as time ticked by, the bullets of the machine guns were being consumed rapidly, and yet the number of airborne jellyfish behind the spaceship did not reduce.
Even other airborne jellyfish were flying toward Chen Mingâs spaceship from various places, carried by the wind.
They were not only replenishing the numbers of airborne jellyfish but also blocking the direction of Chen Mingâs flight.
Several times Chen Ming couldnât avoid a massive group of airborne jellyfish and had to crash into them, smashing them to bits.
Only to leave behind those jelly-like substances and their light blue body fluid.
With the bullet count dwindling and the number of airborne jellyfish colliding with the spaceship increasing.
Chen Ming was even considering how he might escape.
Just when these airborne jellyfish became too numerous for Chen Ming to handle.
One airborne jellyfish approached the left side of the spaceship, sticking closely near the machine gun, the sparks from the continuously flickering arc at the muzzle touched it ever so slightly.
The next moment, this airborne jellyfish.
Exploded.
At the same time, the terminal on Chen Mingâs leg happened to broadcast this segment.
"...Filled with flammable gas and fluid inside, prone to explosion..."
The explosion of the airborne jellyfish ignited by the machine gunâs sparks acted like a chain reaction.
Directly detonating other airborne jellyfishâs fluids and gels clinging to the spaceship armor.
The spaceship was violently shaking.
The terminal abruptly fell to the ground, cutting off the voice broadcast.
"Damn."
Chen Ming barely maintained his posture amid the violent shaking and hurriedly fastened his seatbelt.
Glancing at the terminal on the floor, unsure whether it was broken or just accidentally touched a button that stopped its operation, the increasing number of airborne jellyfish outside, the dwindling bullets.
And the machine gunâs firing rate couldnât keep up with the airborne jellyfishâs growth.
Chen Ming knew very well that relying only on Iron Ore No.âs two machine guns, he couldnât clear out these airborne jellyfish while ensuring the spaceshipâs safety.
If they were to be bombed again, the spaceship might even crash.
Without much hesitation, Chen Ming stabilized the spaceshipâs posture, tilted the bow directly perpendicular to the ground, and ascended again, flying toward high altitude.