Sky-cracking Rider

Chapter 1224 1193: Troop Breed

The thermal insulation of the feathers is quite good, especially the dense down feathers near the base, which have even better insulation properties. Perhaps this is why a snowy continent like Antarctica accommodates a small population of the Feathered Tribe. With their large wings wrapped around them, it's like having a natural down jacket, which other species' fur struggles to match.

Especially the Feathered Tribe who have lived for generations in Antarctica, their down feathers are more developed, making their wings fluffier and thicker. In addition, the Feathered Tribe's elemental affinity is inherently high, and most possess casting abilities that can resist severe cold. Coupled with the equipment provided by the Silan Royal Family, they are hardly affected in temperatures as low as mid-negative Celsius.

In the small square in the center of the town, a massive creature emerged from a spatial system alchemy storage device. Its size rivaled that of an adult blue whale on the Blue Star, if not larger. It had an intimidating head composed of bone armor with a few seam lines, four pairs of fin-like limbs protruding from the sides of its belly covered in layers of large scale armor, and the rest of its body was thickly covered with white hair. Each strand was coarse, reflecting a waxy sheen under the lights. A cluster of narrow dorsal spines ran from head to tail, with a shark-like caudal fin equipped with sharp spines, resembling a gigantic claw.

It was clear that the Cold Abyss Beast was very adept at ice crawling and snow traversal, even capable of swimming beneath thick snow layers like a fish in water, then suddenly darting out to devour its prey.

The Cold Abyss Beast, with its malevolent appearance, lay quietly on its side on the ground, baring its teeth with no breath. Over a dozen purple liquid spots were oozing out of its body, particularly with visible bullet holes in the scale armor covering its head, presumably caused by penetrating wounds from a railgun combat rifle.

The kinetic energy from the full-power firing of railgun weapons is difficult for most life forms on Cangqiong Star to withstand, even for a giant dragon. Without defensive spells, large-caliber railgun weaponry's fierce focused fire remains overpowering.

These Cold Abyss Beasts are hard to spot at the edges of the Antarctic Continent; it's only 500 kilometers inland from the coastline to the continent's center that serves as their range of activity. The densely packed glaciers and ice rivers provide a haven for the Cold Abyss Beasts.

Adam: Parasite detected.

The Artificial Intelligence AI "Adam" suddenly displayed a subtitle prompt. Some operations are executed automatically as part of routine vigilance scanning, requiring no manual execution.

Chen Fei: "Hmm?"

The naked eye AR visual assistance effect constructed a three-dimensional model of the internal structure of this Cold Abyss Beast within the viewport, highlighting a small headless humanoid silhouette near the back of its head with an emphasis. A penetrating trajectory happened to pass through the location where the head vanished.

Without a doubt, a direct headshot.

No wonder these young Feathered Tribe hunters managed to hunt this parasitized Cold Abyss Beast so effortlessly. The intentional sudden strike from the railgun combat rifle indeed yielded remarkable results.

"What's wrong?"

Princess Lin Ziyu noticed the anomaly in Chen Fei's tone.

"This Cold Abyss Beast is the host of the 'Sagali' troop breed parasite."

Chen Fei's voice wasn't loud, yet more than one person heard it—Princess Lin Ziyu, the maid Fei Dani, Shadow Guard Lize Jina, and the White City Lord Knight...

"Ah, ah! This is the host of the 'Sagali,' the 'Sagali'?"

S-Class Space Ability User Heseman Brown croaked from deep within his throat and then raised his finger to point at the then-inside-out, thoroughly lifeless predator unique to Antarctica.

Having followed Chen Fei, he had ample dealings with the "Sagali" civilization. However, in most encounters, it was conflict outside the visual range; before seeing "Sagali's" main body, the opponent was already gone, or even reduced to ashes.

The previously garrulous and lively scene gradually quieted down. Many people looked at Chen Fei with suspicion. To many life forms of the Cangqiong Star civilization, the "Sagali" presence was tantamount to a taboo. They wondered what evidence this Human Race member had to declare that this Cold Abyss Beast was indeed a "Sagali" host.

"Are you sure?"

Princess Lin Ziyu's expression became solemn, suddenly uncovering a parasitic species—especially one within the Antarctic Continent.

Knight, the person in charge of the Silan Royal Family's secret perennial base "White City" in the heartland of Antarctica, suppressed his internal shock and hastily asked, "Is it 'Sagali'? Is it really the 'Sagali' host?"

Who would have imagined that the prey the young hunters brought back concealed a parasitic species? This was indeed significant.

"A dissection on-site will reveal it! Inside the edge of the head's exoskeleton, two feet under the skin, there's a cyst-like cavity, and it's in there. The parasitic species is the parasitic species, and the host is the host; it won't affect the taste."

Chen Fei pointed to the corpse of the Cold Abyss Beast, where the "Sagali" parasitic species lay hidden.

He wouldn't eat a humanoid parasitic species, but he would still sample the Cold Abyss Beast—words like these could only be uttered by individuals from the Blue Star's First Sovereignty.

"Understood!"

The lead among the young Feathered Tribe hunters immediately drew a sharp hunting knife, his wings fluttering gently. With a push from the airflow, he leapt onto the spine of the Cold Abyss Beast, aimed, and thrust the knife deeply into the spot.

Other young Feathered Tribe members also drew their respective hunting knives, assisting in dissecting the tissue near the head. The coarse white hair was effortlessly severed, and the resilient skin below couldn't withstand the sharp hunting blade.

Amid the purple blood and the dark red muscle fibers interspersed with large and small round fat particles, a strange cyst-like tissue was found after some searching. The hunter's knife lightly sliced the surface of the sac, and pale yellow liquid immediately gushed out, washing away the surrounding purple beast blood.

The leading Feathered Tribe youth was also quite courageous, directly reaching his hand into the cyst-like tissue, feeling around for a moment, his expression slightly changed, he looked around and shouted loudly: "Found it!"

As soon as the words fell, he forcibly pulled out a humanoid body resembling a headless infant from within the round "cyst-like" tissue.

In the center of the town square, the Feathered Tribe people gathered around the Cold Abyss Beast's corpse, watching the headless "Sagali" troop breed corpse in the youth's hand, collectively let out loud exclaims, creating an uproar on the scene.

The Cold Abyss Beasts are not of the Human Race, and the difference in DNA genetic information is across family, genus, and species, even across class, naturally making it impossible for human embryos to be nurtured, even the back of the head isn't the location of genital organs, therefore finding humanoid biological forms here only suggests one possibility, genuine "Sagali", and of the troop breed.

Species parasitized by "Sagali" experience a qualitative leap in combat power and must not be mistaken for ordinary Cold Abyss Beasts. However, these young Feathered Tribe people managed to take down the troop breed "Sagali" host using an ambush surprise attack, and a volley of shots successfully exploded the troop breed's head. The enemy never had a chance to counterattack, indeed incredibly lucky.

If this head-blasted parasitic species wasn't a troop breed, but a general breed, especially if wary, these Feathered Tribe youth might not have succeeded so easily, perhaps even suffered casualties.

"Chen Fei, you were right! Looks like Antarctica is going to be troubled too."

Princess Lin Ziyu's tone grew colder as she realized the crisis facing the "White City" base.

If it weren't for the Feathered Tribe people stationed here still preserving hunting traditions, they might have never suspected the "Sagali" cunningly lurking right under the nose in Cangqiong Star.

Originally believed that the extreme climate of Antarctica should be a pure land, a place "Sagali" would disdain, but now it seems to have become a hideout under the lamp's shadow.

The White City Lord Knight thought it over carefully, and earnestly said, "This... is definitely the first time discovering this, we've hunted Cold Abyss Beasts before, but never found 'Sagali'." If not clarified, he might get blamed for not reporting known information, a disaster without cause.

One cannot allow others to sleep soundly near one's bed, "White City" has become more than just Silan Royal Family's emergency refuge, but also a crucial monitoring hub over the entirety of Antarctica. Princess Lin Ziyu promptly granted this secret permanent base a new mission.

"Indeed! The strategic significance of 'White City' has changed, not only does the daily alert range need to expand, but also the patrol scope to cover the entire continent."

"Parasitic Species" are the mortal enemies of all beings in Cangqiong Star, it's unlikely for the responsible Knight to betray.

"As you command, Your Highness!"

Knight quickly knelt on the ground to accept the command.

It was not only for Her Royal Highness the Princess's order but also for the families and lives of all Feathered Tribe people at the "White City" base. Once targeted by "Sagali", everyone here, young and old, male and female, wouldn't be spared. Even without this order, he would have done it, perhaps even more thoroughly.

"Knight City Lord, I trust you won't let me, let your clansmen down."

Princess Lin Ziyu nodded, monitoring and patrolling was inherently a skill these Feathered Tribe people excelled at. Coupled with advanced weaponry, even a frontal encounter with the "Sagali" host, troop breed or general breed, could be contested.

The order for upgraded surveillance and patrol was swiftly issued.

The dissection operation of the Cold Abyss Beast continued, after all, besides removing the "Sagali" troop breed's corpse, the host remains edible, the generations living in the harsh cold lands among Feathered Tribe people wouldn't waste a morsel of food.

"Should the 'Stargate' still be placed here?"

Chen Fei was worried about the safety of the White City's secret permanent base.

"Place it! Anyway, as long as the 'Stargate' original isn't transferred over here, no one can snatch it!"

Her Royal Highness the Princess showed no hesitation.

Compared to the Dimensional Gate and Longinus, the chance of a 'Stargate' being seized was minimal, no one could forcibly take the 'Stargate' from Chen Fei's Spatial Branding or Boundary Pearl Life Space.

Knight City Lord arranged for Princess Lin Ziyu a secure interior mountain space offering convenient transportation and relatively concealed location, near the City Lord's office.

Compared to the two other successfully acquired coordinates locations, the 'Stargate' installation point in "White City" was easier to hide. As long as the 'Stargate' wasn't projected, no one would know this small library could connect elsewhere, the coordinates signify direct access to the Blue Star, and they could establish linking passages among each other.

The Feathered Tribe elders and youth collectively worked together. When the 'Stargate' coordinates were obtained, a giant Cold Abyss Beast had already been torn apart into eight pieces, and portions for hosting the princess line and group had been acquired, beginning the preliminary processing before cooking and preparation for cooking.