Chapter 5: Sand Beast

A creature that looked a bit like a turtle was lying on a patch of sandy ground not far from Fatty Lei. It stretched its neck, closed its eyes contentedly, and enjoyed the short warm period of the day.

Just like the Solar System, in this Star Sector, more than twenty Planets revolved continuously around the largest self-igniting Planet, forming a small star system.

That creature which resembled a turtle was called the Sand Beast. It was a species unique to this Star Sector. Besides the Planet Fatty Lei was on, almost every Planet in this small star system had this kind of creature.

Their hard shells were densely covered with sharp spines. Their long and thin tails had a poison sac connected to the inside of their bodies.

If it encountered danger, it would swiftly swing its long tail and stab the poison sac into other creatures.

It was said that the venom could even kill a juvenile Star Dragon. (Star Dragon: The largest creature within the Empire. This creature was huge, with long fangs, a thick neck and limbs, and a bulky body. It was carnivorous…)

Fatty Lei carefully lay on the sand dune. He wrapped a piece of torn cloth around his head, leaving only his eyes exposed, making him look like a terrorist.

“Is that creature the Sand Beast? I didn’t expect Kalong’s audio diary to record so many things. And that guy even included three-dimensional pictures. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have known that creature which looks like a turtle is the Sand Beast.”

It turned out that Kalong’s audio diary had a section about the Sand Beast. Kalong also drew his own hand-drawn three-dimensional images, so Fatty Lei had some understanding of it.

Actually, this squad leader Kalong, who was cut in two by a Bug, had a biggest wish to become an interstellar traveler, traveling around to record the species of various Star Sectors and the cultures of intelligent beings’ nations.

But since the Divine Glory Empire and the Free Federation started the war, his dream was shattered.

Until he died in this nameless barren land.

But no matter what, his audio diary did give Fatty Lei a lot of help.

“This Sand Beast has a hard shell, but it fears the cold the most! As long as the temperature gets too low, its shell will crack, and its body functions will go into hibernation. Then it won’t be any threat at all.” Fatty Lei, lying behind the sand dune not far away, recalled the records about the Sand Beast from Kalong’s diary. He stuck out his tongue and licked his dry, cracked lips. “That diary mentioned that the Sand Beast’s meat is very tasty, and it stores dozens of kilograms of water inside its body. These are exactly what I need right now.”

A gust of wind blew, sweeping up the Yellow Sand from the ground.

Luckily, Fatty Lei had wrapped his head with cloth strips, but he still had to squint to prevent the Yellow Sand from getting into his eyes.

Fatty Lei hadn’t drunk any water for three days, and hadn’t eaten any food for two days.

The food inside the Military Outpost was all eaten by Fatty Lei two days ago, without even a crumb left.

If it weren’t for this, Fatty Lei wouldn’t have left that Military Outpost.

“I must catch this guy. Its meat and the water sac under its shell are my guarantee for survival.” Fatty Lei muttered quietly to encourage himself, but his face didn’t look good. “Oh, but the weather isn’t cold at all now, so it’s really hard to deal with it at the moment.” Fatty Lei thought that he still couldn’t handle the Sand Beast and couldn’t help feeling disheartened.

“If I wait until the temperature drops at night, it wouldn’t be impossible to dig it out from under the sand. But the problem is, if I wait until night, the temperature drop plus the Planetary Storm would probably kill me first.” Fatty Lei thought to himself, recalling the climate changes he had experienced on this Planet over the past two months.

He took the Laser Rifle from his back and aimed it at the Sand Beast that was enjoying the warmth.

Fatty Lei moved his finger on the trigger several times but couldn’t make up his mind.

Logically, he could just shoot this Sand Beast dead, then peel off its hard shell and take its fresh meat and water sac. So why was Fatty Lei being so careful?

Actually, it wasn’t Fatty Lei’s fault, because Kalong’s audio diary had records. Although this Sand Beast looked clumsy, its crawling speed in the Desert was actually very fast.

If it was attacked, it would immediately counterattack the assailant, stinging them with its tail spike filled with highly toxic venom.

If the attacker was within a radius of one hundred and fifty meters from the Sand Beast, then sorry, basically your life would be gone.

That’s what Kalong’s diary recorded.

Thinking about the records on the Sand Beast in Kalong’s diary, Fatty Lei felt very uneasy.

“This guy looks just like a big turtle. Is it really as powerful as that guy said?” Fatty Lei didn’t know much about this creature, so he was somewhat skeptical. But no matter what, Fatty Lei thought it was better to be careful. After all, in this strange World, he was just a reckless intruder.

“Whether it’s true or not, I’d better be careful. Better to believe it exists than not, so I don’t die unfairly later.” Fatty Lei took a deep breath and put down the Laser Rifle in his hand.

Fatty Lei lay there, visually estimating the distance between his position and the Sand Beast.

“Hmm, about fifty or sixty meters. According to the conversion in Kalong’s diary, if I attack it and it discovers me, it would only need a short three seconds to rush to me and give me a hit with its venom-filled tail.”

Fatty Lei looked at the lazy Sand Beast and couldn’t help twitching his mouth.

“My time is running out. I must return to the Military Outpost before the Planetary Storm starts. Otherwise, when the storm comes, my outcome won’t be good.” Fatty Lei’s face turned pale as he remembered the Planetary Storm that occurred regularly every day on this Planet. “I must get this Sand Beast back before the Planetary Storm arrives.”

“Removing the hard shell, this Sand Beast has at least fifty jin of meat. If the water sac inside its body is big enough, five kilograms of water should be enough for me to drink for a few days.” Thinking that he could eat delicious meat and drink water, Fatty Lei couldn’t help swallowing his saliva.

It seemed that being hungry and thirsty for several days really made Fatty Lei suffer.

Fatty Lei slowly retreated behind the sand dune, turned over, reached into his chest and felt around for a while. Then he took out a slender object from the pocket of his black military uniform.

“Hehe! Luckily, that guy Kalong left an audio diary and also left a method to capture the Sand Beast. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t have any way to deal with the Sand Beast.” Fatty Lei chuckled as he looked at the slender metal tube in his hand.

This slender metal tube was the ‘Strong Hypnotic Injection’ he found in the Military Outpost based on Kalong’s audio diary.

According to the audio diary, this injection could be loaded into the Laser Rifle. Then, by lowering the Laser Rifle’s power, the liquid in the injection would vaporize into the laser beam. When shot into the body, it would produce a hypnotic effect.

“Aha~” Fatty Lei’s face was full of smiles. “With this thing, capturing this Sand Beast should be easy.” Fatty Lei inserted the slender metal needle tube into a small hole at the tail of the Laser Rifle. After adjusting the energy output of the Laser Rifle, he aimed at the Sand Beast again.

Taking a deep breath, Fatty Lei leaned close to the scope.

The Sand Beast not far away seemed to sense some danger around. It opened its eyes and turned its horned head.

“Swish! Swish! Swish swish!”

Its slender tail suddenly stood upright behind it. The end of the tail, like a rattlesnake, shook rapidly and made ‘swish swish’ sounds.

“Hum!”

A faint blue light, almost invisible to the naked eye, shot out from behind the sand dune.

The Sand Beast left an Afterimage where it was and charged rapidly towards this direction.

Through the Laser Rifle’s scope, Fatty Lei saw clearly. When the Sand Beast launched its attack, it completely ignored its large size. Its thick limbs moved swiftly on the Desert as if on flat ground, completely unaffected by the Desert terrain. It charged towards him with claws bared.

Fatty Lei didn’t dare to stay long. Just as he put away the Laser Rifle and tried to get up from the sand dune, the Sand Beast had already rushed to him.

Fatty Lei shuddered. “My god! This is too fast!” Although Kalong’s audio diary recorded that this kind of Sand Beast was fast, Fatty Lei never imagined it could be this fast.

From the time he shot to the time he stood up, it was only three or four seconds. He never expected that the Sand Beast could discover his position and charge over so quickly.

But now Fatty Lei had no chance to react. The Sand Beast had already rushed to Fatty Lei. Its slender tail swung, making a ‘swish’ sound as it stabbed straight towards Fatty Lei’s face.

At this moment, Fatty Lei’s whole body stiffened and turned cold. His mind went completely blank, totally frightened out of his wits.

The needle-like tip, its sharp point gleaming with a cold light.

Fatty Lei could see it very clearly, but he could only watch that gleaming sharp point quickly stabbing towards him.

Was Fatty Lei’s life really going to end here?

Actually, even Fatty Lei himself thought he was done for.

Just as Fatty Lei waited for death, the originally fierce Sand Beast tail tip, which was stabbing rapidly towards him, stopped suspended one centimeter away from Fatty Lei’s forehead.

Time seemed to stop. Fatty Lei even felt the air freeze.

Just as Fatty Lei’s brain slowly started to think again, the Sand Beast’s tail tip suddenly drooped down crookedly.

“The strong hypnotic took effect!”