He dragged the corpses away, then carefully scraped off the dried bloodstains. He looked at the closed door before him, feeling both hesitant and expectant.
Without a doubt, the two sides must have been fighting over something behind the door, one attacking, while the other defending. He just didn't know whether the door concealed a pathway to escape or some hidden treasure.
(Let's get to work. We've already come this far. It would be a real regret to die because of a fear of some danger.)
Convinced that he would not live much longer and might as well take a gamble, Newman took the hilt from the side of his exoskeleton armor and infused it with his own Magic Power. With a 'buzz,' a stream of azure surged forth as the Light Saber instantly materialized.
He held the hilt and slowly cut through the door. The molten metal liquid and strange fumes filled the air—if it weren't for his top-grade protective suit, he might have been poisoned to death on the spot.
After an intense cutting session, the door finally fell, raising a cloud of dust and rust. Newman put away his Light Saber, took two steps forward, and, feeling extremely weak, had to lean on the wall for a breathing break.
(I'm getting old; I can hardly wield the Light Saber anymore.)
During his rest, he surveyed the room and was somewhat pleased to discover that it was not an escape passage but some sort of high-end research laboratory. The various equipment still largely retained their original state, which suggested that the protection here was exceptionally good, such that even the planet's deadly toxins and radiation had not interfered with the lab's interior.
After resting for a while, he continued forward, constantly checking the equipment in hopes of finding something like a Memory Chip or other recorded materials. Finally, his attention settled on a sealed Awakening pod.
As if by some strange induction, although he had not yet opened it, he believed there should be some form of living creature inside.
However, this was indeed not the place to open it, as if there was a living creature inside, it would likely die quickly upon exposure to the lethal toxins and radiation.
Grasping the heavy Awakening pod, Newman tried to move it but found it too heavy. He summoned an Autonomous Unit for assistance and quickly crafted a makeshift trolley on the spot, then placed the Awakening pod onto it.
After all this effort, he tugged the heavy pod down the corridor, but this return journey was not as easy as the trip in.
In order to transport the Awakening pod out, he had to stop dozens of times to clear the passage, taking twelve days to reach the surface, by which point his supplies were nearly exhausted.
Still some distance from the ship's docking point, Newman had to decide to abandon some of the less critical specimens and supplies in order to correctly calculate what was needed for the return trip.
He then embarked on the most challenging part of his expedition. In the last half-month, his food ran out, and he had to constantly recycle water using a purifier. His consciousness grew blurry and delirious towards the end—if not for the assistance of the AI, continuously correcting his course and guiding him away from severe blizzards, he would have likely been buried in ruins long ago.
Thankfully, that arduous journey was finally over. He made it back to the ship's docking point and boarded the ship with the heavy Awakening pod, beginning the journey home.
After about six years of travel at faster-than-light speeds in an awakened state, the ship finally returned to the nearest Federal Space Station, and everything aboard was strictly sealed and monitored.
Three months later, having been examined and cleared by a team of experts, Newman and the Awakening pod were sent to a special research space station in an uninhabited Star Domain. Afterward, the Awakening pod was opened under surveillance.
"This is..." The personnel present couldn't help but express surprise at the sight of the girl lying inside the pod, then proceeded with excited anticipation to conduct various tests and research.
About a year later, after numerous non-invasive inspections, analyses, and studies, the scientists were able to confirm the girl's identity.
"She appears to be a hybrid of the 'Light Scale Species' and human adaptors," the genetic analysis charts indicated.
"Despite inheriting some of the 'Light Scale Species' traits, the insertion of adaptor genes prevents her from using light scales for cognitive resonance, which means she is cut off from the 'Netvein' and cannot serve as a foundational node for the Throne of God."
"To prevent the 'newborn species' from being contaminated by the original human genes, there was some kind of reproductive isolation from the outset, and the birth of this girl breaks that taboo."
"She is likely not a product of normal reproduction but an experimental subject created by the original humans to counter the 'newborn species'—a product of genetic engineering that grants her the advantages of the 'Light Scale Species' without becoming a nourishing node for the Black Sun."
"No wonder that Rescue Association was exterminated by the 'Light Scale Species' back then; it's likely their plans were discovered and exposed."
"Now, what to do with this girl? According to the current federal laws, she doesn't qualify to be recognized as a 'person'."
"Unless there are unexpected developments, she might have to live her whole life in a laboratory, or perhaps we need not awaken her at all, letting her remain a living specimen in eternal slumber."
Initially, the verdict was set, but upon awakening, the excavator Newman strongly opposed this decision.
"Why not let her come back to life? She poses no threat to the existence of the Federation as she is, and isn't her birth precisely the wish and miracle of those pioneers? They found another way. If we follow this path, maybe we can even put an end to everything from the Fifth Epoch."