A blinding blue covered the sky, and with a wail, the flame demon dropped us and started struggling against something in the sky. A massive blue creature was gliding through the air. It had the appearance of a fish and had a pair of sharp claws. It clawed at the flame demon's head. 

As the flame demon madly tore at the flying creature, feather-like things started falling off the flying fish's body. Surprisingly, the moment the feathers separated from the flying fish, they all turned into blue radiance before slowly fading into nothingness. 

The two giants wrestled, and due to the flame demon's earlier exhaustion, its body turned from a lava state to a purple rock state, a transformation that greatly weakened the beast.

The blue flying fish clawed at the flame demon's head madly, filling the world around them with countless rocks and blue radiance, the fight growing more and more intense. 

Apart from me, everyone else in the ship was still unconscious. The repeated impact filled my entire body with aching pain, and I felt too weak to even lift my finger.

While witnessing the battle between the two colossus beasts, I suddenly recalled that my weapons were rather effective against the stones during my fight with the massive creature in Jupiter II. Now that the flame demon was no longer covered in lava, this should be my perfect opportunity to attack. Sure, I might be in pain and couldn't move, but Dodo was still around.

"Dodo, Dodo, check the weaponry system and see if it's still functioning," I said.

"Weaponry system? I'll check immediately. All data normal. The ship is still combat capable," said Dodo.

"Gather every single cluster bomb we have and bombard the flame demon," I yelled.

"About that…I'm a pilot droid. I am forbidden from operating any weapons by law," said Dodo after some hesitation.

"Screw the law. It's merely something put in place on Blue to avoid a machine insurrection. Don't forget that there is also a law that decrees that all androids must obey Bluelings unconditionally. As a Blueling, I hereby command you to remove your weapon restriction. Aim the cannons at the flame demon's legs and fire. Take care not to harm the blue creature."

"Roger. On it," Dodo replied.

After calibrating the targeting system, Dodo pressed the confirmation button and unleashed hundreds of cluster bombs upon the flame demon. After a series of ear-splitting explosions, the world before us became covered in dust. When the dust settled, we could see that the flame demon had been seriously injured. Both its legs had been annihilated, and it was sprawled on the ground.

"We succeeded!" Dodo yelled in excitement.

I nodded in joy. Instantly, the blue flying fish shrieked and pounced on the flame demon's head. The fish clawed madly, ripping the single horn from the flame demon's head, causing the flame demon to wail in pain.

Because the flame demon was on the verge of death, it used all its remaining strength and wrapped its four limbs around the flying fish and squeezed with all its strength, pressing the fish against its rocky body.

"This is bad. The dying flame demon seems to be intending to release yet another shockwave," I said.

The flame demon's body swelled up and turned deep purple. Its limbs held the flying fish in a deadlock as it opened its massive mouth in preparation to deal a fatal attack on the fish.

"Dodo, use the translocation tech and shift over our defensive shield. Wrap it around the flame demon's head," I yelled.

Dodo understood what I was getting at. It did as told and extracted the energy required for a defensive shield. Then, it created a smaller shield with the ship's weapons before covering the flame demon's head with the translocation technology.

At almost the exact same moment, the flame demon released a powerful shockwave from its mouth. The small shield blocked a majority of the shockwave, causing the shockwave to reverberate inside the bowl-shaped shield and jolt apart half of the flame demon's head.

However, the flame demon's final attack was too powerful. Part of the attack managed to break through the shield and strike the flying fish. Then, the flame demon released its hold, allowing the fish to be blasted away by the shockwave. 

The world sank into silence. With only half a head left, the flame demon made a final howl and then collapsed and died.

After several minutes, the tenacious blue fish staggered back onto its feet. Seeming rather intelligent, the fish glanced at me, then shrieked and flew into the sky with the flame demon's horn. Up and down it moved as it flapped its wings, slowly flying off into the horizon, leaving a trail of blue in its path.

'That was too thrilling. Those two monsters are too powerful,' I thought. 'I didn't expect to encounter freaks like them so soon. I wonder just what kind of monsters are still waiting for me here. It's lucky that the blue fish appeared when it did and saved all of us.'

As my thoughts drifted back to my companions, I hurriedly checked Zhang Xingxing, Old Du, and Zhang Bao'er. Fortunately, they were merely unconscious from the crash. After about half an hour, everyone woke up one after another, leaving Dondon the only unconscious one in the party. 

When Dodo told everyone what had happened when they were unconscious, they all shivered. Meanwhile, Zhang Bao'er persisted in questioning Dodo about the blue flying fish, asking if the fish looked like a blue phoenix.

After Zhang Xingxing and Dodo inspected the ship, they found that the mechanical and defensive systems were badly damaged. The ship could no longer fly. As for the Kangaroo, we had left the vehicle at the other end of the lava plain. Thus, our only option was to pack up useful equipment and travel on foot.

The good news was that the flame demon had blasted us out of the lava plain and straight onto the black mountain. Dodo scanned the mountain and discovered an enormous artificial structure about an hour away from us. After charging our suits full of energy with Mimas I's supply, I lifted Dondon and started walking toward our destination.

The black mountain's terrain was filled with massive boulders. No life could be seen on the mountain, and even the sky above the mountain seemed to have been purged of everything. None of the seven-colored clouds that were so prevalent here could be seen, and Sirius A was the sole backdrop in the sky, like a massive eye gazing upon us.

Before we knew it, Dodo spoke. "We're here," it said, signaling our arrival.

When we raised our heads, a massive spaceship-like construct was presented before our eyes. We rushed toward the spaceship. Half the hull of the ship had stabbed into the mountain, and its surroundings contained signs of a massive crash. The entire spaceship was sleek and glossy, and no lifting mechanism was visible from the outside. In fact, not even a door or a window could be seen.

"What should we do now? What secret is hidden within this ship?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Split up and search," I said.

We thus split into two groups and scanned the ship independently. I was partnered with Zhang Xingxing. As for Dondon, it was still unconscious in my bag. Old Du and the others were in a group. Because Dodo was still unhappy with me, it insisted on joining Old Du's group.

This was my very first time carrying out a mission with Zhang Xingxing alone. In truth, I greatly envied her. She came from a famous family, and at a young age, she was already a major in the fleet. Things us children of the poor longed for had all been handed to her easily. A massive gap existed between our respective places in society.

But here on an interstellar exploration mission, I had obtained the opportunity to work with the elites of society. At that thought, I became more certain that Zhang Bao'er's action of convincing me to join the fleet had been heaven’s providence.

"Canyue, over here," Zhang Xingxing's voice pulled me back to reality.

I hurried over.

"Look, what is this?" Zhang Xingxing asked.

I looked to where she was pointing, but I saw nothing.

"There's nothing there?" I questioned.

"Look closer. There's something atop the ship," said Zhang Xingxing.

After checking my probe once again, I discovered that above the ship, slight changes in the air could be detected. It could very well be the ship's ventilation system.

"Those of the fairer gender are truly more observant," I exclaimed in admiration.

I immediately contacted Old Du and Zhang Bao'er. Shortly after, everyone was gathered. From Dodo's scans, nothing was found except the change in the airflow above the ship. There might be an entrance there. After a short discussion, we decided to work together and climb to the top of the ship with our thrusters.

We moved immediately after drawing a plan. I was the first to activate my thrusters and leap onto the ship. Everyone else followed closely behind. The top of the ship was the size of a football field, and the bottom half of the ship's hull was buried in the mountain.

When we reached our target, we discovered a ventilation hole about one square meter in size covered in a mesh net. Dodo performed an analysis and found that there was a turn ten meters through the hole. That turn probably led directly to the inside of the ship. This hole might be our way inside.

"Prepare to enter," Zhang Xingxing commanded without hesitation.

"Xingxing, Dodo, and I will enter. Old Du and Bao'er, stay outside to provide support," I said. "There might be other monsters inside. If anything happens, the two of you will be able to save us."

My suggestion was firmly rejected. Old Du and Zhang Bao'er insisted on going with us. Seeing how resolute they were, I did not try to change their mind. 

Meanwhile, Dodo was still busy scanning the composition of the ship's hull. It determined that a large amount of alkene could be found in it.

"Alkene? Isn't that one of the materials for hardened plastic?" I asked.

"Yes," Dodo replied. "At present, we mainly use alkene in the production of hardened plastic. In fact, Blue's hardened plastic tech has reached a high level where our hardened plastics are good enough to replace steel in many instances. However, this technology only saw its rise after 2070 on Blue. But based on my initial scan, this ship must have been here for over 10,000 years. This is probably a coincidence."

"We can't afford to wait. If the hull is really made from a mixture of alkene and steel, it shouldn't be too hard for us to enter. We need to think of a way to open up a path inside," said Xingxing.