Shadows of the Deep Space

"Boss, when we reach the Abyss of Descent, can we meet Teacher Mia?"

"We should be able to."

Su Ming replied with a smile.

"Great, finally we get to see Teacher!"

"Boss, do you think Teacher Mia will be surprised to see us?"

"Yeah, especially you, Boss! You're a Vice Admiral now."

...

Rhein and others joked around.

"She should be very surprised."

Su Ming imagined the meeting scene and spoke happily.

"Boss, who do you think has a higher military rank, Teacher Mia or you? Could it be that yours is higher?"

Ankaga asked curiously.

"It should be Teacher Mia. She led her team independently to support in the Abyss of Descent."

Su Ming thought for a moment and replied.

"Boss, you're leading a team independently now too?"

Rhein reminded with a laugh.

"Well, I'm not sure about that."

Su Ming replied with a wry smile.

His military rank being higher than Mia's would be quite surprising.

However, Su Ming thought, it probably wasn't the case since Teacher Mia seemed to have furthered her studies a long time ago.

Just as they were enjoying their chat, the scanning device suddenly emitted a warning sound, followed by a prompt popping up.

"Notice: Weak distress signal detected."

Timi reported to Su Ming immediately after seeing it.

"Officer Su Ming, a distress signal is detected, identification code SCW-8544, it's an encrypted breakpoint signal from a Federation special escape pod."

Upon hearing Timi's words, Su Ming's expression turned serious, and he spoke up at once.

"Timi, try to see if you can establish communication."

"Yes!"

Timi immediately began operations.

"Locking onto the signal source."

"Decrypting the encrypted signal, establishing communication."

"Communication successfully established."

.....

Upon successful communication establishment, Timi immediately asked.

"This is the Federation Sunshine, who are you? What's happening?"

The communication device emitted a background noise, and then an extremely weak voice sounded.

"Help me, help...."

The cry for help suddenly stopped.

Timi frowned and spoke again.

"Hello, can you hear me?"

Unfortunately, no matter how Timi asked, there was no response from the other side.

Timi reported the situation to Su Ming.

"Officer Su Ming, it seems the other party has lost consciousness."

"Where is the signal source located? How far is it?"

Su Ming asked with furrowed brows upon hearing this.

"The signal source is at coordinates 2913, 2341, 4922, approximately 1.32 million kilometers away."

Timi immediately provided the precise coordinates.

Rhein and others looked at Su Ming and asked.

"Boss, should we save them or not, could this be a trap?"

"Yeah, and would the rescue delay our mission? After all, we're currently escorting crucial weapons and supplies."

...

Su Ming's expression changed, then he rose and said.

"You all stay here, I'll go for the rescue."

"Boss, that's too risky, why don't we go?"

Rhein quickly volunteered when he saw Su Ming intending to rescue.

"No need, I'll go in stealth mode, and I'll retreat at the first sign of trouble!"

Su Ming said, then walked straight toward the lift platform.

Little Grey and Celeste immediately followed him.

...

A few minutes later.

Swoosh!

The exit of the Sunshine opened.

Su Ming controlled the Shadow Lord to fly out, then activated Stealth Kill Mode, swiftly heading to the coordinates.

Inside the cockpit.

Celeste curiously asked.

"Su Ming, I feel something's not quite right."

"I feel it too, that's why I'm coming to the rescue myself."

Su Ming replied solemnly.

It's surprising that there's someone from the Federation here asking for help, using a highly encrypted distress signal nonetheless.

Soon the Shadow Lord flew into a meteorite zone.

At this moment, Celeste excitedly spoke.

"There it is!"

Su Ming adjusted the optical image to look over, and immediately saw an escape pod floating within the meteorite cluster.

He began scanning the escape pod.

"PDSW-04 type escape pod, internal energy remaining at 11%, oxygen nearly depleted...."

"Not good, no oxygen left! And that guy isn't wearing protective clothing."

Su Ming said gravely after seeing the prompt.

"This is troublesome, this Mecha isn't equipped with an auxiliary oxygen pipe."

Celeste said, tilting her head.

"We'll risk it, get him back."

Su Ming controlled the Mecha to rush over, grabbing the escape pod, then fully boosted the engines and sped back toward the Sunshine with the Shadow Lord.

Then he opened the communication channel and said.

"Timi, have Rhein and the doctors waiting for me in the hangar."

"Understood!"

Timi responded immediately.

...

In the Sunshine's Hangar No. 1.

Rhein and others, along with several female doctors, waited tensely.

Click!

At this moment, the entrance of the access tunnel opened, Su Ming piloted the Shadow Lord to the designated position and stopped, then placed the escape pod on the ground.

Rhein and the others immediately rushed forward to swiftly open the escape pod from the outside. Suddenly, a young man in a captain's uniform, with a face as pale as paper, came into view.

"Quick, lift him out!"

Rhein and the others hurriedly carried the man out.

The doctor quickly stepped forward to check.

Su Ming opened the cockpit at that moment, jumped down and asked.

"How is he, still alive?"

"Officer, there are no signs of life, he's dead."

Doctor Yun Yue reported anxiously.

At this point, Celeste floated over, scanned the body of the dead man, then spoke up.

"Move aside, let me handle it!"

Upon hearing this, Su Ming and the others quickly stepped aside.

Celeste floated in front of the young man, her white spherical body extended several metallic needles, piercing into various parts of his body.