Chen Hao stared at the main screen. The moment the countdown reached zero, the ship seemed to crash into an invisible membrane.

The light slanted slightly, like a shadow swaying on water that had been stepped on. The numbers on the dashboard jumped twice before returning to normal, but the background star map had changed shape; the stars were stretched into thin strips, curving slightly in one direction.

"It's in," he said.

The voice wasn't loud, sounding like a soliloquy, yet also like announcing to everyone: We're officially clocking in for work now.

Nana immediately brought up the space curvature monitoring interface, where data was scrolling rapidly. She didn't speak, but simply zoomed in on the screen, pointing to a series of fluctuating values ​​in the upper right corner. The value, which had been stable, was now slowly climbing, increasing slightly every ten seconds.

Carl poked his head out of the equipment hatch. "Where's the fuel?"

"39.8," Nana reported. "It's still dropping, and the speed hasn't changed."

Susan leaned back in the passenger seat, her hand still gripping the seatbelt. The jolt had caused her to hit the corner of the dashboard, scraping her left arm, but she ignored it. She only asked one question: "How much longer can I hold on?"

“At the current rate of consumption,” Nana quickly calculated, “the normal mode will last for a maximum of three hours and twenty-seven minutes. Once the emergency power is activated, the range will be reduced to forty-three minutes.”

"Then let's go." Chen Hao patted the armrest. "Anyway, we're going to die, so we might as well die faster."

No one objected.

Carl immediately got up to check the backup power lines, while Susan turned around and shut down the redundant lighting and temperature control systems. The cabin lights went out one by one, until only the backlight of the main control panel remained on. Nana unlocked Level 3 access and typed a series of commands on the virtual keyboard.

"Emergency power protocol loading... Confirming activation conditions."

"Confirmed." Chen Hao nodded.

"Energy circuit connected, preparing for ignition."

"Wait a minute." Karl suddenly reached out. "Reduce the output power first. The battery pack is severely aged; going full power directly might cause it to explode."

Nana adjusted the parameters, reducing the initial thrust to 60%.

"That's fine."

"start up."

Buzz—

A deep rumble came from the bottom of the ship, as if an old engine had been forcibly awakened. Then, the entire ship jolted violently, the seat locks creaked, everyone leaned forward, and were then pulled back sharply by their seatbelts.

The dashboard was flashing erratically, several red lights came on simultaneously, the navigation system indicated abnormal thrust, and the vehicle's attitude was slightly off.

"Stay steady!" Chen Hao gripped the control stick tightly with both hands, his eyes fixed on the heading indicator, but the screen was shaking so badly that the numbers were hard to see.

"Speed ​​increased to 1.7 times," Nana said. "Current fuel consumption rate has doubled, with 39.2% remaining. Emergency mode is expected to last for forty-one minutes."

“The engine temperature is rising.” Carl stared at the voltmeter. “If this continues, the voltage regulator won’t be able to hold up.”

“I know.” Nana switched to voice navigation. “Heading remains at 117, curvature changes by +0.03 per minute, and the spatial distortion is intensifying.”

Chen Hao gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead. The red mark on his wrist was no longer just shiny; its edges were starting to bleed outwards, flickering like a broken light bulb. He quietly slipped his hand into his pocket, making sure no one saw.

"Is there... something ahead?" Susan suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at the main screen.

A circular shadow appeared in the previously pitch-black area ahead. It wasn't the pure black of a black hole, but a deep gray so dark it absorbed light. The surrounding space seemed to be squeezed by an invisible hand, slowly rolling towards the center.

The background of the star map is stretched into an arc, as if the entire universe is tilting towards that point.

“The detection radar has no physical feedback,” Nana said, pulling up the scan results. “But it has a gravitational field, and its intensity continues to increase.”

“The navigation system just popped up a warning,” Carl pointed to the corner, “'No way forward,' recommends returning to base.”

"Can it be done?"

"No. System locked, turning command invalid."

“Then let’s keep going,” Chen Hao said. “There’s no other way anyway.”

"Fuel level is 38.6%," Nana warned. "It will drop below the 35% critical level in seven minutes."

"We'll talk about it when we get there." Chen Hao took a breath. "Turning back now is just asking for trouble, so we might as well see what it's up to."

The ship began to shake more violently as soon as he finished speaking.

With a snap, a panel above them came loose and hit the control panel, only to be caught by Susan. She didn't make a sound, but quickly and efficiently secured the panel back in place with emergency tape.

Carl pressed his ear to the communicator, listening to the engine noise. "The output is unstable; I have to adjust the voltage manually."

He knelt on the ground, holding the adjustment knob in one hand and the thermometer in the other, his forehead covered in sweat.

"Thrust decreased by 5%," Nana reported. "Speed ​​dropped to 1.5 times."

"Don't let it fall too much," Chen Hao said. "We don't want to drift here and wait to die."

“I’m trying my best.” Karl’s hands didn’t stop.

Nana suddenly looked up. "The curvature of space is changing at an accelerated rate of +0.08 per minute. At this rate, we will enter the no-escape zone in seven minutes."

"What do you mean?" Chen Hao asked.

"Once you cross a certain distance, gravity will exceed the engine's maximum thrust. Even running at full power, you won't be able to break free."

"That means they're doomed."

"yes."

The cabin was quiet for a few seconds.

Then Chen Hao laughed, "So the question now is, will we be sucked in and die, or will we die when the fuel runs out?"

No one responded.

Susan glanced down at the injury on her arm, then looked up at the ever-expanding gray area ahead. Her hand remained gripping the seatbelt, her knuckles turning slightly white.

Karl was still adjusting the voltage, muttering the voltage value to himself.

Nana continued monitoring the data stream, speaking a little faster than usual, "Fuel remaining at 37.1%, emergency mode has been running for twelve minutes. We recommend assessing whether to terminate it early."

"What if it stops?" Chen Hao countered, "Just float around and wait for it to come and suck it up?"

"Perhaps we could try reducing the thrust and extending the service life."

"Isn't that just a slow death?"

"At least it won't run out immediately."

"I'm not doing it." Chen Hao shook his head. "Since it's open, let's go all the way. At worst, we can go in and see if there's a toilet inside."

Nana didn't laugh, but her tone softened slightly, "Are you sure you want to keep getting closer?"

“What else?” he said. “It won’t let us stop, won’t let us go around, won’t let us back up, and now it’s even constantly sending signals. Isn’t this just forcing us to go in and register? Fine, I’ll register! I’ll make sure it remembers everything!”

As he spoke, his hand touched the control lever again.

In that instant, the light filament on my wrist brushed against the metal rod, leaving a brief bright mark, like a spark when striking a match.

He quickly withdrew his hand.

Nobody noticed.

"The course is stable," Nana said. "We are 4.2 light-minutes away from the gravitational source and are expected to enter the capture orbit in five minutes and eighteen seconds."

"Five minutes to live," Chen Hao grinned. "Enough to tell a joke."

No one laughed.

Carl suddenly looked up. "There's a strange noise coming from the engine, like worn bearings."

Can it be repaired?

"We can't shut down the machine now, otherwise it might not be able to be lit again."

“Then let it play,” Chen Hao said. “Anyway, noise counts as background music.”

Nana accessed the knowledge base and quickly searched for high-dimensional collapse models. Several lines of theoretical formulas appeared on the screen; she glanced at them and frowned slightly.

"This structure...theoretically cannot form naturally."

"What do you mean?" Susan asked.

"It could be a man-made trap, or it could be some kind of experimental residue."

“Registration…could this be part of the experiment?” Carl said. “Everyone who comes in is being recorded?”

“Possibly,” Nana nodded. “Some closed testing zones in the old days had similar mechanisms that automatically collected data from those who entered.”

"So we're... being sampled now?" Chen Hao touched his face. "Hopefully we won't have blood drawn."

“No physical contact is needed,” Nana said. “As long as you enter the sphere of influence, energy fluctuations, biosignals, and navigation trajectories will be detected.”

"So it's been charging for electricity, but it's actually charging for admission?" Chen Hao said. "You should have said so earlier, I brought some change."

The atmosphere inside the cabin was tense, but those words still made Karl's lips twitch.

Susan remained silent, her gaze fixed ahead.

The dark area grew larger and larger, now occupying half of the main screen. The surrounding starlight was completely distorted, like water being swept into a washing machine.

"Fuel remaining at 35.0%," Nana reported. "Entering a critical state."

How long can the emergency mode last?

"Thirty-seven minutes."

"That's enough," Chen Hao said. "Let's go a little further ahead. I want to see what it really looks like."

"What are you planning to do?" Susan turned to look at him for the first time.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just want it to know that someone has come in and came in without saying hello.”

After he finished speaking, he put his hand back on the control stick.

The light filament seeped out again, this time more noticeably, leaving a faint mark on the metal surface.

He didn't pull his hand away.

On the main screen, the flight path is straight ahead.

Ahead, the dark center slowly expands, like a silent, open mouth.

The ship was still vibrating, the engines were roaring, and the data was fluctuating.

Nana stood beside the control panel, her eyes rapidly scanning the information stream, her speech quickening.

Karl knelt at the equipment hatch, holding the voltage regulator in his hand and his ear pressed against the communicator.

Susan gripped the seatbelt, her eyes fixed on the road ahead.

Chen Hao sat in the driver's seat, sweat beading on his forehead, his wrist glowing, his fingers gripping the throttle button.

The gray area filled the entire screen.