Chen Hao's hand was still on the control stick. The light filaments slowly crawled across the metal surface as before, but this time they did not cause any system anomalies. He tried to pull his hand back; his palm was covered with a thin layer of sweat and was cold and stiff.

The main control room was so quiet you could hear the rhythm of their breathing. Susan sat against the wall, her toolbox on her lap, her eyes half-closed. Carl squatted at the equipment hatch opening, tightening the last fixing bolt, his movements so slow they seemed to be counting seconds.

Nana stood in front of the control panel, watching the data stream flow past her eyes, line after line, without stopping.

“The starboard crack has been sealed,” she said. “The sealing test has passed, and the depressurization rate has been reduced to 0.1 Pa per hour.”

"That means we won't leak to death." Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief and slumped heavily into his seat. "That's good. I thought we were going to be blown by the wind all the way to the next galaxy."

“The temperature at the propulsion shaft connection is stable.” Karl put away the wrench. “The curvature stabilizer interface is also normal. Although the soldering isn’t very neat, it can hold up.”

"Being ugly is better than being scrapped," Chen Hao said. "I'm the same way; I'm ugly, but I'm tough."

No one laughed, but Susan's eyelids twitched.

Nana pulled up the ship's status map; there were three more green blocks than half an hour ago. The energy circuit had successfully restarted, the life support system was operating smoothly, the external sensors were still black, but basic navigation had been restored.

“The boat can still move,” she said.

"Then let's go." Chen Hao patted the handrail. "Don't wait for it to fall apart on its own."

Just as he reached for the speed control lever, the alarm went off.

A red light flashed, and the entire main screen was covered by the defense system interface. The shield energy automatically charged to 67, and a scrolling message popped up in the upper right corner: **External multi-band lock-on, continuous hits, intensity increasing every eleven seconds**.

"Who pressed it?" Chen Hao was stunned. "I didn't touch it."

“It wasn’t triggered by someone.” Nana immediately switched the log records. “The defense module passed its self-check, and the alert is valid. We are under attack.”

"What?" Chen Hao looked up. "There's not a soul in sight."

“It didn’t come from the front.” Nana pulled up the energy distribution map. “The attack source is distributed in a ring shape, about 1.2 light-minutes away, and the frequency is concentrated in the sub-high-dimensional band, which coincides with the spatial rift zone that the black hole passed through when it escaped.”

"You mean..." Susan opened her eyes, "we stepped on a landmine when we passed by?"

“To be precise, the damage triggered the mechanism,” Nana continued her analysis. “There was a slight energy leak in the starboard weld, which is consistent with the characteristics of a ‘damaged ship’. This type of signal will activate the second-stage response of the preset trap.”

"A trap?" Chen Hao grinned. "The kind that automatically renews?"

“It is a defensive energy structure,” Nana said. “It has no intelligent judgment ability and only reacts to specific physical states. Damage, leakage, and non-standard curvature fluctuations will all be identified as intrusion targets.”

“So it doesn’t discriminate.” Carl rubbed his temples. “Whoever gets hurt is unlucky.”

"We're just moving targets right now." Chen Hao stared at the shield value fluctuating on the screen. "How long will it last?"

"Currently, it's a pulse every eleven seconds," Nana replied. "The fourth wave just ended, the shield has dropped by eight percent, and the cooling system has triggered an alarm."

"So ruthless after only four waves?" Susan sat up straight. "Are they going to just rip the lid off later?"

“It’s possible,” Nana said. “Based on the current rate of increase, the ninth wave will break through the shield’s critical point.”

The cabin was silent for a few seconds.

"Should we turn off the defense system?" Chen Hao asked. "To save power, since we haven't seen any enemies anyway."

"No way." Nana refused decisively. "The first wave of attack can penetrate the shell, and the life support system cannot withstand the impact."

"Then let it stay open," Chen Hao shrugged. "Let it shoot, we'll go somewhere far away."

“The problem is we’re already inside the trap zone.” Carl pulled up the trajectory replay. “That fissure zone was a ring structure. We went through half of it, but the other half is still inside.”

“So—” Susan’s voice lowered, “we’re riding on detonators right now?”

"Pretty much," Chen Hao nodded, "and he hasn't even moved his butt yet."

Nana quickly browsed through the relevant entries in the robot's knowledge base, the screen constantly refreshing the parameter models. Her speech was steady, but each word was timed precisely, as if afraid that if she slowed down even a fraction of a beat, she would be disconnected.

“I suggest reducing the signal signature,” she said. “Shutting down non-essential power outputs and reducing leakage could weaken the lockdown.”

"Then shut them down." Chen Hao waved his hand. "Shut down everything except the engine and shield, anything else that can be saved."

Susan immediately took action, shutting down the lighting, temperature control, and backup communications one by one. The main lights went out, leaving only the instrument backlights casting a pale blue glow. The cabin temperature dropped two degrees, and the air became heavy.

“The shield frequency can be adjusted,” Nana continued. “Try off-frequency resonance to slightly increase resistance.”

"You adjust it, I'm listening." Chen Hao leaned back in his chair, his eyes fixed on the screen. "Just don't let it explode."

Nana began typing commands, her fingers moving rapidly across the virtual keyboard. The shield's energy fluctuation curve gradually shifted from its original frequency band, creating a slight misalignment with the attack wave.

“The adjustment is complete,” she said. “Resistance is expected to increase by five to seven percent.”

"What can you do with that?" Chen Hao asked.

"Enough to hold out until the seventh wave," she said.

"Can't we think of something else before the sixth wave?" Susan interjected. "Just taking hits like this is too passive."

“That makes sense.” Chen Hao turned his head. “Karl, do we have anything else we can throw? Maybe we can fake a corpse and throw it as a target?”

“No stock.” Carl shook his head. “Even the spare batteries were taken to patch the wiring.”

"Then we can only wait," Chen Hao sighed. "Wait until it gets tired of fighting, or until we've fixed it."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the fifth wave arrived.

The ship shuddered slightly, as if it had been pushed from behind. The shield value dropped from 67 to 59, and the cooling system alarmed again, indicating that the heat pipes in area B3 were overheating.

"Activate the backup channel," Chen Hao ordered.

Carl immediately got up, reached for the manual valve on the side of the bulkhead, and turned it twice with force. The pipe made a muffled sound, and the temperature reading began to drop.

"We've stabilized," he said.

“The shield can last for three more rounds,” Nana said, looking at the simulation. “But if the attack intensity continues to rise, the seventh wave may cause localized punctures.”

"Where to puncture?" Chen Hao asked.

“It’s most likely the left-wing fuel tank,” she said. “The outer shell there is thinner and already shows signs of wear and tear.”

“If it breaks down, we’ll run out of gas.” Chen Hao stroked his chin. “We can’t call a tow truck on the street with this car.”

“There’s another way,” Nana suddenly said.

"Don't even mention asking me to defuse a bomb." Chen Hao raised his hand. "I'm too fat, I can't fit in."

“You don’t need to go in,” she said. “We can proactively release a interference signal to mimic the state of a completed structural repair, causing the trap to mistakenly believe that the target has moved out of the damaged area.”

"Sounds like he's faking his death." Chen Hao squinted. "Is it plausible?"

"The success rate is estimated at 41 percent," she said.

"It's a bit higher than rolling over in your sleep," Chen Hao said. "Let's do it."

“We need to extract a stable output waveform from the main engine to simulate a healthy operating state,” Nana said. “At the same time, we need to cut off all sources of leakage, including residual signals from the welds.”

“I can shut it down,” Carl said, “but only for ten seconds. Once the leak is cut off, the shield will also be temporarily disconnected.”

"That's enough." Chen Hao nodded. "You get ready, Nana will send the signal at the same time, and I'll read my last words from the side."

Carl took a deep breath and placed his fingers on the isolation gate. Nana brought up the launch program, setting the countdown to ten seconds.

"three."

"two."

"one."

The gate closed, the leakage signal disappeared, and the shield energy instantly dropped to thirty-four.

At the same time, interference waves are emitted.

The main screen remained silent for a few seconds.

The attack interval has been extended to thirteen seconds.

The intensity decreased by 12 percent.

“It works,” Nana said.

"Don't get too excited," Chen Hao said, staring at the screen. "It might just be using a different stance."

The next second, the shield value dropped by another five points.

Then, the sixth wave arrived ahead of schedule.

The interval shortened from thirteen seconds to nine seconds, and the intensity rebounded.

“It’s gotten smarter,” Carl said softly.

“It’s not cleverness.” Nana examined the waveform changes. “It’s the trap entering hunting mode. Once it detects a signal interruption and then reappears, it’s judged as a disguise, and the attack will escalate.”

"So our attempt to play dead failed, and now we've come back to life," Chen Hao said with a wry smile. "It's even more excited now."

The alarm blared again, the shield dropped below fifty, the cooling system went into full alarm mode, and the heat sink in Zone B began to smoke.

Susan picked up a fire extinguisher to put out the fire, but Carl stopped her.

“Don’t move it,” he said. “That’s the exhaust port; it’s the protective layer that’s burning.”

"Our ship is being roasted and attacked at the same time right now," Chen Hao said, looking at the instruments. "We're living worse than delivery guys."

Nana is still adjusting the frequency, but the data feedback is getting slower and slower. Her speaking rhythm has noticeably slowed down, as if she has to pause and confirm each sentence.

“The seventh wave is coming,” she said. “I recommend everyone stay in their assigned positions.”

Chen Hao gripped the armrests tightly, Susan shrank into her seat, and Carl squatted at the equipment hatch, his hand resting on the voltage regulator.

The shield curve on the main screen was shaking violently.

The attack wave is approaching.

The ship shuddered slightly.

The shield value plummeted to thirty-eight.

Then, it stopped falling.

The eighth wave disappeared.

Everyone stared at the screen and waited for ten seconds.

There was no movement.

"It stopped?" Susan asked.

“No.” Nana stared at the data stream. “It’s a trap…the target has been shifted.”

"What do you mean?" Chen Hao frowned.

“Another aircraft has entered the area,” she said. “It has a stronger signal and is more damaged. The trap has been re-locked.”

"Are there other unlucky guys?" Chen Hao was stunned.

“It’s about 2.3 light-minutes away from us,” Nana said. “It’s approaching the rift zone from the back.”

"Did you escape too?" Susan asked.

“It’s uncertain,” Nana said, “but right now it looks more like a target than we are.”

Chen Hao was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled.

"It seems that sometimes, it's better to be badly injured than to live a long life."