Astral Cockroach

The Milky Way holds no secrets for humans with Level 7 technological civilization.

The only mysterious place is the planet of human origin: Earth, the mother star.

Banbu had only heard fragments about it and had no way to find its detailed information, not knowing where it was or what it looked like.

One thing was certain: humans would concentrate their strongest forces to protect Earth, their mother star, making it impossible to be seized.

The myriad creatures on this planet were similar to, yet different from, those Banbu encountered as a human. Banbu had long harbored doubts about this.

The discovery of traces of human supernatural powers deep underground made Banbu very certain of one thing: when the Zerg gods were fleeing from enemy civilizations, they conveniently snatched a habitable planet from humans and transformed it into the one beneath his feet.

Back then, the transport ship Banbu was on encountered spatial turbulence, which was probably the Zerg gods using spatial means to move the planet.

Then, discovering that the ship was full of valuable goods, they conveniently robbed them as well.

…

On both sides of the canyon, Rat King and Bai Zhu were still busy digging ditches, transforming the terrain, diverting water into the canyon, and pumping water deep underground through deep wells.

Banbu was anxious.

He landed directly at the wellhead and peered down.

As the water flowed in, the black mist surged, now spreading to the bottom of the well, a pitch-black expanse.

"This is the fusion of the Eclipse Sun and Soul Capture supernatural powers. Banbu, let me go down."

Baba was even more eager than Banbu.

Banbu released his claws.

Baba flashed and disappeared into the depths of the black mist.

Sensing the movement, Dong Zhu arrived first, curiously asking, "Banbu, what exactly is down there? Rat King and Bai Zhu won't tell me."

"That's because they don't know either," Banbu said. "I don't know either. Dong Zhu, don't ask too much, go up and take care of the Wedge Thorn's life seed plant."

"Oh…" Dong Zhu refused to leave, continuing to lie at the wellhead, peering down.

Rat King and Bai Zhu hurried over.

"Banbu, you're back so soon?"

"Banbu, is there enough water?"

Banbu unloaded the 4 electric boxes and some superconducting wires from his carapace and said, "Bai Zhu, put these things away first."

"Baba has gone down, it will have the answer soon."

"Baba is here!" Bai Zhu ran forward, lay at the wellhead, glanced down, didn't see Baba's figure, and quickly moved to carry the electric boxes.

Rat King also lay at the wellhead to check.

After waiting for a long time, more than half a day passed, and Baba still hadn't returned.

"Banbu, Baba has gone down? Could it be…" Rat King asked uncertainly, "Could something have happened?"

Bai Zhu asked, "Could Baba have run out of power? Or been affected by that corrosive force…"

"Baba's power is very sufficient." Banbu was also a little worried and inexplicably anxious. He waved his wing blades and said, "You guys continue to be busy. The rainy season is coming soon, right? Pour more water."

With that said, Banbu climbed down the well wall.

Tentatively touching the black mist, it still possessed a very strong corrosive nature that his carapace strength couldn't withstand.

"Baba's outer shell material is special and won't be affected by supernatural powers."

"I'm just afraid that its detection system will be shielded and suppressed, getting lost inside…"

Banbu couldn't think of any other way and could only return, lying at the wellhead to continue waiting.

A whole day passed, and Baba still hadn't returned.

It must have encountered some kind of unexpected situation.

He waited another three days, but there was still no news.

Banbu completely panicked and began to use his metal ability to modify the hoisting winch equipment, creating a set of air pump equipment.

…

The canyon was located in the southern subtropical region of the Southern Hemisphere continent and had a rainy climate.

Heavy rain appeared in the late spring season.

Rainwater was diverted and poured torrentially into the deep well.

At the bottom of the well, the black mist churned.

Spring passed and summer arrived, with torrential rain pouring down.

In autumn, there were often several consecutive days of overcast and rainy weather.

"Banbu, it's full! It's overflowing!"

Dong Zhu's shout came from below the cliff.

"Dong Zhu, get away!" Bai Zhu popped out of the cave dwelling on the hillside, calling out to remind.

Banbu, lying next to the Wedge Thorn tree god's bestowed seed, stood up and rushed towards the wellhead.

Rat King also emerged from the cave dwelling he had carved on the cliff face. Without Banbu's instructions, he ran to the water barrier dam on the south side and dug a gap in the dam.

The black mist overflowed from the wellhead, and as the rainwater poured down, it quickly expanded. It was a very dense gaseous substance, slowly flowing along the diversion ditch.

At the end of the canyon was a steep slope, and below the slope was a natural river.

Where the black mist and river water met, it suddenly exploded, forming large clumps of black, and then the color began to fade. Under the washing of the fine rain, while rapidly expanding, it turned gray, then white.

The white was just ordinary water vapor.

…

The same gray-white mist swirled and rose beside the wellhead.

Rat King stretched out his claws to test the black mist flowing along the ditch, immediately retracting them, fearful, "It's too powerful, I still can't withstand it."

Banbu's mind turned, and the soil and rocks on the ground were metalized, condensing into a black alloy rod. He held it and probed into the black mist at the wellhead. After waiting for a few minutes, he took it out and looked again. The alloy rod had been corroded by elemental power, covered with pin-sized holes.

"No, the corrosive power is still too strong!" Banbu said, "Keep waiting, we still need a few more rainstorms."

…

Natural weather was mostly sunny.

The autumn and winter rains were not strong enough to form a stream.

The only nearby river was 5 kilometers away and flowed along the low-lying terrain. Just digging wouldn't be enough to divert water from the river.

He could only wait.

Patiently waiting.

Rat King and Bai Zhu found an iron mine and worked hard to mine it. Banbu and Dong Zhu smelted it, carrying the finished metal back to make sections of alloy steel pipe for future use.

Winter passed and spring came, and Baba had been missing for a year.

Continuous spring rain, trickling streams, hundreds of streams converged to form torrents, pouring into the wellhead.

Correspondingly, the black mist expanded and flowed outwards, flowing out of the canyon along the ditch, merging into the river, and finally disappearing back into nature under the rain.

One spring rain after another.

Late spring season.

The torrential rain had been falling intermittently for two days, and the color of the black mist overflowing from the wellhead was noticeably dimmer.

Banbu tested again with the metal rod.

This time, the rate of erosion and decay was much slower.

"Banbu, is it okay now?" Bai Zhu asked.

"It's been a year, let's wait a little longer," Banbu said calmly, no longer as anxious as before, "Wait for the next rainstorm."

…

Six days later, the first rainstorm of early summer arrived as scheduled.

Banbu, Rat King, and Bai Zhu began to set up ground pipes and assemble the motor.

By the time the rain stopped, the erosive power of the deep well mist had weakened, making it difficult to penetrate the alloy pipe walls.

Turning on the power, the motor drove the entire air pump equipment, whirring and running.

At the pipe outlet, black mist spurted outwards.

The metal pipes were divided into 5-meter sections. Every time they extracted to a depth of 5 meters, Banbu immediately stepped forward to connect the next section.

Four days later, they finally reached the bottom.

Baba wasn't at the bottom of the well!

Banbu tied a steel rope and entered the crevice to test.

At the current concentration, his carapace could withstand the erosion of the black mist, but the soul suppression was still there. Even using the Soul Capture Secret Art, he could barely last more than 3 minutes.

The motor's power was limited, only able to extract the black mist from the crevice to a depth of about 200 meters. Any deeper, and it couldn't be pulled out.

Having waited for a year, Banbu had long since overcome his impatience and patiently waited.

This wait lasted for an entire summer.

Each time it rained, the black mist would rise a little. He would immediately use the motor to extract and discharge it into the river.

After more than a dozen repetitions, the mist concentration in the crevice turned light black. Finally, after an autumn rain, it completely transformed into a gray mist shroud. It slightly affected visibility, but its supernatural power was almost nonexistent.

Banbu expanded the space at the bottom of the well, using the metal from the air pump to once again transform it into a set of winches. He tied the steel wire and personally entered the crevice to investigate the depths of the earth.

Under the hazy gray mist, he could vaguely discern that the space below was very open.

He dropped a piece of gravel, and after a dozen seconds, the echo of it hitting the ground came back, indicating that the ground below should be hard stone.

"Baba!" Banbu shouted, stirring his mental power.

"Banbu! Be careful, don't come down!" Baba's echo came from below.

"Baba, what's going on?"

"My anti-gravity engine is also being interfered with by gravitational waves and can't start. I can't move. This is the Earth's Star-Piercing Dojo, specifically the Martial Arts Field, a forbidden area for electronic life."

Banbu crawled along the crevice, approaching the location from which Baba's voice was coming. He concentrated his mental power into a beam and quickly locked onto Baba's location.

"Baba, can you sense my mental power?"

"My photosensitive detector can still be used. I see you, don't come down!"

"Is there danger?"

"Yes." Baba said angrily, "I've been to this damn place. There's also a silent field shielding my tachyon wave detector. I've been to every Martial Arts Field in every Dojo, and they're all my least favorite places."

"Damn Zerg, they actually stole humanity's Earth, the mother star!"

Banbu asked, "What dangers are there below?"

"Idiot! In such an important place, even electronic life is restricted everywhere. The defenses must be particularly strict." Baba said, "You're a Zerg now, so you'll definitely trigger the Dojo's defense system. If you come down, you'll be reduced to ashes immediately."

"Understood." Banbu asked, "Is there a solution?"

"Yes." Baba said, "Keep pouring water, throw stones down, or other garbage, anything will do, just throw it down."