Peach Blossoms in Chang'an

Chapter 230 Survival from desperate situation

The alarm sounded like an invisible hand, tightly strangling Wu Tao and Hu Bugui's throats. The spacecraft was shaking violently, as if it would be torn apart at any time. Hu Bugui tightly grasped the control stick, trying to stabilize the spacecraft, but an invisible force dragged them into a huge vortex.

"Hold on tight!" Hu Bugui yelled, while holding Wu Tao tightly under him.

Time and space were distorted, light was disordered, and the spaceship was like a fallen leaf drifting in the wind. Wu Tao felt dizzy, and his ears were filled with piercing alarms and the groaning of twisted metal.

After an unknown amount of time, the turbulence finally stopped. Hu Bugui slowly raised his head, and the scene in front of him made him gasp. On the control panel of the spacecraft, various indicator lights flashed wildly. The cabin, which was originally full of technology, was now in tatters, and the air was filled with a burnt smell.

"Are we... still alive?" Wu Tao's voice trembled a little.

Hu Bugui patted her shoulder gently, signaling her to rest assured, and then began to check the damage to the spacecraft. His face became more and more ugly, and finally, he sighed and said, "The energy system is completely paralyzed, and the communication equipment is also damaged. We are trapped here."

Wu Tao's heart sank. She struggled to get up and looked out through the broken porthole. Outside the window was a desolate scene. The dark red land was covered with strange rocks. In the distance were towering mountains. The mountains were bare without any vegetation. The sky was gray and hazy. No sun or stars could be seen.

"What is this place?" Wu Tao murmured to himself, his voice filled with fear and despair.

"An... unknown planet." Hu Bugui's voice was low and hoarse, "We were drawn into a space-time rift. This is... another space-time."

Despair, like a huge net, enveloped the two. At this moment, a strange roar came from a distance, breaking the silence. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui looked in the direction of the sound at the same time, only to see a huge black shadow slowly approaching them...

The shadow was getting closer and closer, and Wu Tao and Hu Bugui saw its true face. It was a creature they had never seen before, as big as a rhinoceros, covered with thick scales, and a pair of scarlet eyes flashing with ferocity.

"What kind of monster is this?!" Wu Tao exclaimed. Before Hu Bugui could answer, the monster had already rushed over. Hu Bugui grabbed Wu Tao, and the two of them dodged the monster's attack in a panic.

"We have to leave here!" Hu Bugui said, pulling Wu Tao in the opposite direction of the spaceship. The monster chased after them, and the heavy footsteps shook the ground slightly.

The planet seemed to be full of malice towards them. In addition to the terrible monsters, there were also various natural disasters: sudden rainstorms, scorching sun that could scorch people, and highly toxic miasma... Wu Tao and Hu Bugui were struggling on the brink of life and death, and every day was like the last day.

One day, they were looking for food. Suddenly, Wu Tao felt empty under his feet and fell down.

"Wu Tao!" Hu Bugui exclaimed and jumped down without thinking.

The process of falling seemed to last a century. Wu Tao only felt the whistling of wind in her ears and darkness in front of her eyes. After an unknown amount of time, she fell heavily to the ground and felt as if all the bones in her body were falling apart.

"Wu Tao, are you okay?" Hu Bugui's voice came from above, with a hint of anxiety.

Wu Tao struggled to get up, and with the weak light, she found herself in a huge cave. The walls of the cave were as smooth as a mirror, with no cracks to be seen. Looking up, she could only see a distant bright spot, which was the faint light coming in from the cave entrance.

"I'm fine." Wu Tao responded, his voice trembling. "Where is this place?"

"I don't know, we seem to have fallen into a cave." Hu Bugui's voice echoed in the empty cave, "Be careful, it's dangerous here."

The two of them walked forward cautiously in the dim light. The cave was quiet, with only the sound of their footsteps echoing. Suddenly, Wu Tao felt something loose under her feet, and before she could react, a stone slab collapsed and she fell down again.

"Wu Tao!" Hu Bugui reached out to grab her, but only grabbed a corner of her clothes. He jumped down without hesitation, hugged Wu Tao tightly, and the two fell into darkness together.

After an unknown amount of time, the fall finally stopped. Wu Tao raised her head in shock and found that they were in a more spacious cave. With the weak light, she saw some strange patterns carved on the walls of the cave.

"What is this place?" Wu Tao murmured to himself, an inexplicable sense of familiarity coming over him.

Hu Bugui also noticed the patterns. He observed them carefully, frowning. Suddenly, he seemed to have discovered something, pointed at one of the patterns and said, "Look, does this look like the logo on our spaceship?"

Wu Tao looked in the direction of Hu Bugui's finger. Sure enough, the pattern was exactly the same as the logo on their spaceship, only older and more mysterious...

Wu Tao's heartbeat suddenly accelerated. The pattern was exactly the same as the logo on their crashed spacecraft, but it was more mottled, as if it was a mark left by the knife of time. An inexplicable premonition came to his mind. Could it be that this place had some connection with the time and space they came from?

"Could it be that... someone has been here before? Someone from our world?" Wu Tao's voice trembled slightly, with a hint of disbelief and hope.

Hu Bugui didn't say anything, but stared at the patterns with a burning gaze, as if he wanted to see through them. He reached out and gently stroked the ancient lines, the rough touch coming from his fingertips, carrying the weight and vicissitudes of history.

"Maybe," Hu Bugui's voice was low and trembling, even he himself was not aware of it. "Maybe, we can find a way back here."

The two walked along the walls of the cave, carefully searching for clues. The cave was deep and winding, and no one knew where it led. They walked along the moss-covered stone steps and through the caves covered with stalactites. The air was filled with a damp and decayed smell, as if time had stopped flowing here.

Finally, at the end of the cave, they found a huge stone door. The stone door was tightly closed, with complex patterns carved on it, faintly emitting a mysterious power.

"What's going to happen next?" Wu Tao murmured to himself, with an inexplicable excitement and fear surging in his heart at the same time.

Hu Bugui didn't say anything. He walked to the stone gate and carefully observed the patterns on it.

"This looks like some kind of mechanism," Hu Bugui pointed to a groove on the stone door and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this should require a key."

The two searched carefully near the stone gate, and finally, among a pile of rocks, they found a stone with a strange shape.

"Look, does this look similar?" Wu Tao picked up the stone and handed it to Hu Bugui.

Hu Bugui took the stone, examined it carefully, nodded and said, "Yes, this should be it."

He carefully fit the stone into the groove on the stone door. With a slight "click" sound, the stone door slowly opened, revealing a deep passage.

On both sides of the passage, there is a lamp that burns every few meters, emitting a faint light and illuminating the road ahead.

"Be careful, there must be other mechanisms here." Hu Bugui reminded.

They walked forward cautiously along the passage.

At the end of the passage was a wide stone chamber. In the center of the chamber stood a high platform, on which was placed a crystal ball, emitting a soft glow.

"What is that?" Wu Tao asked, pointing at the crystal ball.

"I don't know, let's go and take a look." Hu Bugui said, pulling Wu Tao towards the platform.

However, just as they stepped onto the first step of the platform, the surrounding walls suddenly began to move, and countless sharp arrows shot out from the gaps in the walls, blocking their retreat.

"Be careful!" Hu Bugui protected Wu Tao behind him and waved the dagger in his hand to block the sharp arrows.

"It seems that we have triggered the mechanism." Wu Tao's voice was a little nervous, but extremely calm.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here." Hu Bugui's voice was steady and powerful, giving Wu Tao an infinite sense of security.

They stood back to back, observing their surroundings vigilantly, looking for a way to crack the mechanism.

The crystal ball emitted a soft light, as if it was quietly observing all this, and as if it was laughing at their ignorance...

The light of the crystal ball flickered in the stone chamber, as if mocking their helplessness. Sharp arrows rained down, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui dodged flexibly, but they could not break through the siege. They knew that only by breaking the mechanism could they find a way out.

"Could those patterns be some kind of clues?" Wu Tao carefully observed the patterns on the wall while blocking the sharp arrows.

Hu Bugui followed her gaze and saw that the patterns were simple and mysterious, and seemed to contain some kind of rules. He pondered for a moment, and a light bulb suddenly flashed in his mind, "I think I know!"

He pointed to one of the patterns and said, "Look, does this look like the pattern of the Big Dipper?"

Wu Tao took a closer look and found that, sure enough, the positions and shapes of the seven dots were exactly the same as those of the Big Dipper.

"The Big Dipper..." Wu Tao muttered to himself, and suddenly thought of something, "I know! The design of this stone chamber may have been based on astrology!"

Based on their understanding of the stars, they found the mechanisms that corresponded to the patterns on the wall and activated them in a specific order. As the last mechanism was activated, the mechanisms in the stone chamber stopped working and the sharp arrow disappeared.

"We succeeded!" Wu Tao said happily.

They passed through the stone chamber and came to a more spacious cave. In the center of the cave, there was a huge metal spaceship parked, which was the one they had crashed!

"Our spaceship!" Wu Tao ran towards the spaceship excitedly, stroking the cold metal shell, tears flashing in his eyes.

They entered the spacecraft and found that the internal facilities were well preserved. After some efforts, they finally repaired the power system and the spacecraft came to life again.

"Are you ready? We are going home!" Hu Bugui looked at Wu Tao, his eyes full of tenderness and expectation.

"Yeah!" Wu Tao nodded vigorously, a happy smile on his face.

The spacecraft slowly rose into the air, penetrated the thick rock layer, and arrived at the outer space of the planet. However, just as they were about to enter the jump channel, an alarm suddenly sounded throughout the cockpit.

"What's going on?" Wu Tao's face changed.

Hu Bugui stared at the screen in front of him with a serious expression, "It's a meteor shower, we encountered a meteor shower!"

In the space, countless meteor fragments were coming towards them like dense raindrops, at such a fast speed that there was no escape.

"Quick, activate the defense system!" Hu Bugui shouted loudly.

The spacecraft's energy shield was activated to the maximum, but it still seemed vulnerable in the face of such a dense meteor shower.

"We can't go on like this. The shield won't last long!" Wu Tao said anxiously.

Hu Bugui held the joystick tightly, with a gleam of determination in his eyes, "Tao'er, hold on tight!"

He pushed the joystick hard, and the spacecraft shuttled through the gaps in the meteor shower, surrounded by danger...