Galaxy Domination Guide

"Captain Jun Jiushao, prepare our landing craft, and get ready to land in the target area," Sang Jishi said gravely.

Jun Jiushao manipulated the control panel in front of her with practiced grace, her delicate face composed, "Preparations complete, the landing craft can deploy at any time."

Sang Jishi held this ancient-style sister in high esteem, revealing a smile amidst his seriousness, "You can participate in this landing mission. The first landing on Mars should be a decent experience for you Earthlings."

Jun Jiushao struggled briefly, but did not object, and stood up. The crew's training uniform highlighted her beautifully slender figure. She saluted Sang Jishi, left her battle station, and said, "Thank you, Captain."

Sang Jishi waved his hand dismissively.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Jun Jiushao asked him a question, "Captain, you're a Samoa Star native. It's said in the database that Samoa Star natives can breathe air from any atmosphere, as long as there is a trace of oxygen. Is that true?"

Sang Jishi laughed, "Indeed it is, but the higher the toxicity of the atmosphere, the more our activities are limited. However, this ability isn't much of a big deal since you all wear Individual Armor that automatically filters the air."

Jun Jiushao nodded, bid farewell to Sang Jishi, and joined the landing squad.

In the landing craft were altogether eight people, each unable to hide their excitement. After all, they would be the first Earthlings to set foot on Martian soil.

To Jun Jiushao's arrival, a few in the landing craft showed no surprise. Having excelled at the academy and being extremely popular, she had quite become the academy goddess in just three months.

There was another woman in the team, medic Yin Qiao, responsible for dealing with emergencies and administering first aid.

Jun Jiushao was not very familiar with Yin Qiao. They nodded at each other as a form of greeting.

At that moment, Huang Quan from the landing squad jokingly teased Taschwe, "Hey, the Captain asked you to mop the floor, have you finished it yet or are you setting off with us like this?"

Taschwe, slightly aggravated and embarrassed, retorted, "I'll mop it after I return from Mars, it won't be too late. Seriously unlucky, with so many maintenance robots on board, and yet manual labor is wasted on such tasks."

Huang Quan ruthlessly shot back, "It's specifically to torment you that you're made to do this."

Taschwe snorted twice and ignored his teasing friend, calling out, "Captain Chi, please go over the mission requirements quickly."

Since it was a training mission, the landing squad's task was announced on the spot, to simulate the sudden missions that could arise during actual interstellar travel and exploration.

The young and handsome officer Chi Jia with his clear eyes and distinguished appearance said, "Alright, no more idle talk. Our mission is to survey Sailor Valley in the southern hemisphere of Mars. It's not difficult, mainly for intelligence gathering and sample collection, and we expect to complete it within four hours."

Taschwe lamented, "Such a low-tech task, unmanned drones could do it. We're the first Earthlings to land on Mars, shouldn't we be planting a Star Alliance flag and taking a few impressive photos, saying some lines like 'one small step for me, one giant leap for mankind'?"

Captain Chi Jia looked at Taschwe and said flatly, "Because we have no need to engage in those useless acts. Human field surveys and drone surveys are ultimately different; we can provide more subjective impressions which are significantly helpful in enhancing the Star Alliance's understanding of the celestial bodies within the Solar System."

Huang Quan laughed and said, "Then let's do it this way."

Huang Quan himself came from a distinguished background, but at the academy, he was nowhere near as haughty as he had been in the Imperial Capital. The academy was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, much like this person named Chi Jia, who before entering the academy, was an obscure junior officer.

But now, he's the top student in the academy, and even has the hope of becoming the first person from Earth in the Star Alliance to be a starship captain.

Huang Quan could imagine that if Chi Jia really took over as captain of a Universe Army warship right after graduation—regardless of the type of ship—his future prospects would be boundless. Given his utilitarian view of life, such a person was definitely worth cultivating a good relationship with.

The landing craft was piloted by Taschwe. Though he couldn't fly a fighter jet in the Martian skies, being able to fly the landing craft was somewhat comforting. Taschwe's flying talent was beyond doubt, which was why he remained at the academy despite sometimes being quite troublesome. If given the chance to grow, he might become even more outstanding than many of the current pilots of Iridium Star.

The landing craft left the mothership, the Dragon Spring Ship, with engines firing. But mainly, it relied on Mars's own gravity to bring the spaceship down to the planet. As it passed through the atmosphere, the landing craft quickly arrived at its target location—Sailor Valley.

This canyon, longer and deeper than any on Earth, was a geological wonder within the entire Solar System. The chasm, thousands of meters deep, contained copious water streams and even liquid water. This had once filled humanity with hopes of settling on Mars, as the Martian water resources were quite abundant.

The landing craft delved deeper into Sailor Valley, with Taschwe piloting the ship in the direction of the valley's crevice.

"My goodness, this is truly spectacular," Taschwe exclaimed as he opened the observation system, turning the cabin around him transparent, allowing him to see the ever-changing landscape below.

Raging rivers tumbled through the canyon, a sight hard to imagine on a desert planet. An even more astounding sight soon appeared; at a break in the valley where the river vanished, a river of magma emerged from a volcanic vent in the Earth's crust and flowed through another channel in the canyon.

"This is truly a miracle," Jun Jiushao couldn't help but marvel.

Even as Taschwe piloted the craft at mach 5, the ship was still able to capture every frame of the scenery it passed. As the craft approached the end of Sailor Valley, the squad seemed to catch sight of something incredible.

"Hey, do you see what I see? It's not just my eyes playing tricks on me, right?" Taschwe shouted in surprise.

Chi Jia stepped forward, holding onto the back of his chair, and said solemnly as he looked at the image on the screen, "The thing you're seeing, it's the same as what we're seeing."

Huang Quan also exclaimed, "This… this is unscientific, isn't it?"

The magma river surged forward in the canyon, and in the center of the valley ahead, a colossal pit, or perhaps a giant hole, appeared in the riverbed. Yet all the magma completely bypassed this giant hole, flowing elsewhere.

Jun Jiushao, staring at that dark and deep pit, said, "This shouldn't be natural; perhaps it was artificially created."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Chi Jia decided, "Report back to the mothership. We're only conducting preliminary exploration. The work that follows isn't something we're equipped to handle."

There was a slight silence, and Chi Jia could see that the team members were clearly not content.

No one knew what lay beneath that giant hole, what kind of force could part the magma, forcing it to detour. The squad, with only three months of training, was not ready to face such a thing.