Chapter 40 Start_1

"Hmm."

Cao Ge glanced at the technician walking on the steel column and nodded his head.

"After you get there, restart the engine as quickly as possible," Cao Ge said.

"Everyone else, aim your guns at the monsters below and be ready to fire and cover the technicians," Cao Ge standing on the edge of the corridor, said, looking down at the monsters below.

"Clang~"

Due to the passage of time, the steel column was covered with rust and could break at any moment.

The personnel above had to ensure their balance while also being gentle enough not to completely snap the already shaky steel column, requiring tremendous mental strength and high physical control.

"Bang~"

Things never develop in the way people hope, and following Murphy's Law, anything that can go wrong will probably go wrong.

With no warning, the steel column broke; the technician above fell, but with a fierce leap, he was lucky to grab a protruding steel rod.

He didn't fall, but he also couldn't climb up by himself.

His life was momentarily preserved, but his feet were only about two meters away from those monsters, who could grab him just by standing on top of each other.

"Bang bang bang!"

The broken column smashed to the ground, instantly crushing four or five mutated monsters.

"Aaaaahhhhh!!!!"

The huge noise instantly woke the monsters underground, and a chaotic dance of demons began, with their gaping maws roaring at the living.

Although there was no formal order, they roughly divided into two groups; one side climbed towards their location while the other headed towards Dell, who was hanging from the broken edge.

Seeing this scene, Cao Ge spent only a moment considering, then leaped down from where he stood, plunging five meters to the ground.

"Guy, cover Dell," Cao Ge shouted.

After landing and finding his footing, Cao Ge started sprinting around the circular corridor, looking for a passage across. Soon, he found a route from the other side of the corridor, another steel column, also rust-covered, but at this point, he couldn't care less.

This was his first action, and he had to show the responsibility expected of him. Only by doing so could he lead them better in the future. In short, no one could die, not in front of him.

"Thump! Thump!" Cao Ge fired continuously, killing the mutated monsters that had just climbed up, then jumped onto the steel column. With time pressing, he could no longer afford to pay attention to balance and force; he just wanted to get across quickly.

So, unsurprisingly, the steel column broke.

"Boom!"

However, fortunately, due to his incredible speed, he had already reached the other side when the column broke.

Cao Ge quickly reached where Dell had fallen, then lay down and reached out his hand.

"Grab my hand," Cao Ge shouted.

From a distance, Guy and the others, seeing Cao Ge and Dell at the edge of the platform, immediately shouted, "Cover the minister!"

After speaking, they opened fire on the monsters beneath Dell's feet.

"Snap!"

Their hands met, and Cao Ge began to pull upward with force. Dell's body started to rise, and soon, Cao Ge had pulled him up to the platform from midair.

Watching the monsters clambering over one another, trying to ascend, Cao Ge turned to Dell and said, "Hurry up and restart the engine, I'll take care of them."

With that, Cao Ge raised his gun and fired at the climbing monsters.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The monsters moved quickly; in the dark environment and at a distance, Cao Ge couldn't guarantee every shot would hit its mark.

Dell approached the engine column, removed the iron cover with his hands, plugged in a data cable to the interface, and connected it to his computer.

"Ding!"

The computer screen displayed the engine's status, detailing the spaceship's damage level and various parameters.

After some adjustments, Dell saw no major problems and immediately pressed the reboot option.

......

"One percent,"

"Five percent,"

"Seven percent,"

..............

The progress bar on the computer moved slowly, and as it buffered, the temperature on the massive engine column in front of them continued to rise. Lights began to flicker on some delicate instruments, and the equipment in the power cabin was gradually starting up.

The entire power cabin was in chaos.

Hundreds of monsters split up and climbed up at an incredibly fast pace. The five of them had guns in their hands, but it still wasn't enough.

Very soon, monsters had climbed up onto their platform.

Guy and the others could no longer provide effective support at this point, as the height they were at had been overwhelmed by monsters; they could only clear them out.

However, fortunately, there weren't many monsters around Cao Ge. Although he was alone, he could still hold his ground with the gun in his hand.

"Dell, how much longer?" Cao Ge asked loudly while shooting.

"Sixty percent,"

"Sixty-one percent,"

"Sixty-two percent,"

.........

"About one more minute," Dell yelled back.

Despite using all available means, it still took a little bit of time. The engine needed to heat up slowly, and the various instruments in the power cabin needed to start up following a certain procedure. This was already the time after omitting most of the nonessential operations; according to the safety manual, starting the spaceship engine should take at least half an hour, but he had shortened this to two minutes, which was the limit. If it were reduced further, the engine would malfunction and, in severe cases, explode.

Cao Ge looked back at the progress bar on the computer.

"Damn!" Cao Ge couldn't help but curse, using a term that only he from his previous life would say.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Bullets flew wildly. A dozen corpses had already fallen around them, and there were still monsters climbing up from the edges continuously.

Quickly running out of bullets, Cao Ge promptly pulled out a magazine from his waist and reloaded, then continued to fire at the oncoming monsters.

Since there were too many monsters, it was impossible for him to achieve headshots with every bullet, which meant he needed several shots to kill a monster.

The bodies of these monsters were stronger than humans'; a shot in a trivial spot wouldn't hurt them at all; other than the head, only multiple shots to the chest could deprive them of their vitality.

As time ticked away, this critical minute seemed to pass especially slowly.

"Ninety-six percent,"

"Ninety-seven percent,"

"Ninety-eight percent,"

"Ninety-nine percent,"

"One hundred percent,"

"Minister, we've done it,"

"Bang!"

Suddenly, giant smoke plumes erupted from beneath the engine, and the immense heat instantaneously spread throughout the power cabin, melting the monsters that hadn't climbed up in an instant.

The whole power cabin started to shake.

The spaceship regained power.

A few minutes later, once the engine stabilized, the temperature in the power cabin slowly began to decrease.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Cao Ge pulled the trigger, taking down the last few monsters, restoring complete calm to the power cabin.

"Minister, are you guys okay?" Guy shouted from the other side.

"We're fine, we've succeeded," Cao Ge said with a rare smile on his face.