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Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Asleep on the spaceship, with Ji Yanran in his arms, rested The Strongest Genius in the Alliance .
Ji Yanran had avoided watching the fight against the shura prince . She had been unable to cope with the thought of Han Sen being savagely beaten or even killed, all in the desire to accompany her on an expedition . She waited outside until news of what had occurred was known . A wave of relief unlike any other washed over her, upon hearing about Han Sen's victory .
He had to have been tired, though . It was now morning, but Han Sen was still fast asleep .
Still, in space, there was no day or night cycle; therefore, it did not matter what time he chose to wake up .
All of a sudden, though, Han Sen felt an itch . He scratched it away, but it returned to plague his nose . Han Sen's sneeze woke him from his slumber .
He discovered a green unicorn beetle had climbed onto his face and had almost scrambled up into his nostrils .
Han Sen pulled it away and put the familiar beetle down on the bed .
Han Sen had received this beetle from a crystallizer ruin long ago .
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He'd had it for a very long time, but there was nothing special about it he could tell . It was a strange creature, though . In the years Han Sen had kept it, it hadn't had to drink or eat at all . It had remained the exact same as it was the first day Han Sen came into ownership of the insect .
There was one other curious aspect to the beetle . Han Sen had discovered that, if left alone without interaction for a long time, the beetle would begin to appear lazy and lifeless . And it was during this state that the creature's colors would also begin to fade or at least lessen and dim .
If Han Sen ever wished to reverse this status, all he would have to do was pick it up, interact with it, and take it around with him for a few days .
These peculiar aspects aside, for all intents and purposes, the beetle was a lame creature that provided no obvious benefit . Or at least that was how it appeared, as Han Sen was still of the belief it was special and it had a purpose . Whatever that purpose was, he just hadn't been made privy to it yet, he thought . The expedition he was about to embark on would be dangerous, though, so he made sure to bring it with him, hoping it'd prove useful somehow .
Ji Yanran was still sleeping while this occurred, so Han Sen removed himself from the bed with great care, as not to disturb her .
Suddenly, the green plating of the beetle looked strange . The creature became translucent, revealing the presence of gears and cogs inside it, all in delicate motion . It was not unlike the inner-workings of an old watch .
Han Sen was surprised, to say the least . Over the course of the last few years in which he had owned the beetle, he had yet to see anything remotely similar to this occur .
Just as Han Sen approached the little creature to examine it, there was an announcement from the ship's speakers .
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"We will be arriving at APX-706 shortly . Please convene at the meeting room before arrival . "
The announcement startled Ji Yanran from her sleep, so she quickly removed the blanket . With the slender curves and succulent portions of her divine body now on full display, Han Sen was suddenly overcome with the desire to return to bed—with her .
Unfortunately, now was not the time for that . They both got changed and went to the meeting room, as instructed .
Han Sen took the beetle with him, placing it in his pocket . He was going to check it out once the meeting was over .
The shura and humans gathered in the meeting room . Once there, they were shown an image of the planet on a projector screen .
The ruins they were going to examine were quite different from the ones Han Sen had seen before . The entire planet was crystallized, but it wasn't obvious at first glance .
On the surface of the planet, it looked like any other lush planet would . The geography was wild and inviting, cloaked in thick and unspoiled greenery .
The planet's atmosphere was primarily comprised of nitrogen and oxygen, making it an ideal candidate for future human colonization, as well .
Eventually, the spaceship touched down with a rumble .
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After they discussed what needed to be done on their mission, they separated again . They were going to start their investigation in three hours .
Due to the injuries Yu Tuoshan had incurred, they were already two days late in beginning the operation .
When the time to embark on the expedition came, the crew left the ship inside their warframes . While the atmospheric conditions had been revealed to be fine, the use of warframes was just protocol for the initial exploration of an unexplored planet . It was a precaution .
As Han Sen guided his warframe, he examined the unicorn beetle he had brought with him .
After arriving at the planet, the cogs inside the beetle had been running faster than ever .
Han Sen wasn't sure what it meant, but it interested him enough to spend most of his time examining it .
Aside from those movements, though, there was nothing different about the creature . Even the beetle's lifeforce had remained the exact same .
Eventually, they arrived at their desired location . Swiftly, they established a base of operation and proceeded to the entrance of the ruins .
Surprisingly, at the entrance of these ruins, there weren't many indicators of past crystallizer habitation . The presence of crystallizer technology was quite low, actually .
One thing Han Sen did find, though, half-hidden beneath the dense undergrowth, was a twenty-meter wide black crystal roulette board .
On that board, you could espy the presence of many lines and symbols that were commonly associated with the crystallizer civilization .
There were also markings on the board that extended all the way across . They were like partitions, or the slices of a cake that resulted in twenty portions .
Four of the slots possessed a warning sign of sorts, but Han Sen wasn't exactly sure what they meant or what they might have been indicating . No one else did either, just as no one knew what might be found deeper inside the ruins .
When Han Sen first saw the roulette board, though, he was shocked .
The symbols were identical to the ones on the beetle . They were ones he was very familiar with . He didn't even have to take another look at the beetle to confirm this .
"Are these two things connected, by some chance?" Han Sen wondered, as he placed his hand inside his pocket .
He was going to touch the beetle, but he felt something else instead . He brought his hand back out of his pocket and noticed his fingers were bleeding from a newly-formed wound .