Chen Hao's arms were still trembling, and the beam was pressing down on his shoulders, making them numb. When Susan and Carl lifted the alloy support, he almost fell headfirst.

"Alright." Karl wiped his face. "If you keep going, you'll either get crushed to death or collapse from exhaustion."

Chen Hao didn't reply, squatting on the ground panting. He touched his back; the spot where he had hit the wall still hurt, but it was better than being frozen stiff.

Nana stood in front of the control panel, swiping her finger across the surface. The screen flickered twice, illuminating only a small area.

“The main power supply is off,” she said. “We’re currently relying on a makeshift battery pack, and the output is unstable.”

“Then don’t expect it to do too much.” Carl untied the safety rope and walked towards the power box. “First, lock everything that can be secured. If the ship keeps rocking, all the parts will fall apart.”

Susan had already started disassembling the cable connectors. She used clips to secure the loose data cables one by one; her movements were slow but steady.

Chen Hao got up and picked up the scrap metal strips from the ground. "I'll go find a welding torch."

“It’s on the third shelf of the cabinet on the right,” Susan said without looking up. “I used it when I was fixing the fan last time.”

Chen Hao pulled out the welding torch and tested the flame. The flame flickered and went out. He pressed it twice more before it reignited.

"This thing is more fragile than my life," he muttered, squatting down next to the control panel to start welding the guardrail.

Carl wrapped the chain around the bottom of the power supply box, around the bracket, and tightened it. The chain made a scraping sound as he gritted his teeth and tightened the buckle.

“This ship used to be maintained, didn’t it?” he said. “Now it feels like we’re hammering the last nail into a coffin.”

"Don't sound so pessimistic." Chen Hao's hand trembled, and the solder joint became crooked. "I still want to live a few more days."

"You're so fat, a storm could throw you out like a cannonball."

"But we have to bomb others first."

Nana suddenly looked up: "The pressure on the port side has increased by twelve percent, and the hull is slightly deformed."

"Again?" Susan stopped what she was doing.

“It wasn’t an impact.” Nana stared at the data. “The storm’s gravity is changing; the direction has shifted.”

"Which side?" Chen Hao asked.

"Straight ahead."

She pulled up a star chart, but the image was choppy and indistinct. The coordinates were blurry, and only a few barely discernible star markers were visible.

“All the external sensors are destroyed,” she said. “The radar is out of service, the optical lens still works, but the field of view is limited.”

“Then let’s use the human eye.” Chen Hao put down the welding torch. “There’s no other way anyway.”

Susan took a flat lens from her toolbox and handed it to Carl. "This is a spare lens for the drone; the focus is adjustable."

Carl took it, mounted it on the tripod, and aimed it at the porthole. Outside, everything was gray and white; the storm churned the space like a flowing fog.

“I can’t see anything,” he said.

“Wait until the particle stream weakens,” Nana said. “There will be a brief period of calm every thirty seconds, during which we can capture the background stars.”

They took turns standing in front of the camera. Every half minute, someone would lean in to take a look and note the changes in the stars' positions.

Chen Hao was in charge of taking notes. He drew several lines on the paper, connecting them at an angle.

"Compared to the last calibration, it's off by about seven degrees," he said.

"Correct course." Nana entered the parameters and manually adjusted the thruster output.

The boat rocked slightly, and the tilt angle returned to normal.

“It works,” Carl said.

“For now.” Nana didn’t relax. “The storm is still accelerating; we just haven’t been directly torn apart yet.”

Susan suddenly spoke up: "Over there!"

She pointed at the camera. A glimmer of light flashed through the gray fog, only to be quickly obscured again.

"Wait a little longer," Nana said.

Ten seconds later, the light spots reappeared. This time there were three, arranged in a triangle, moving towards this direction.

“Not fragments,” Carl said softly. “Too neat.”

"Could it be another surviving ship?" Chen Hao asked.

“To maintain formation in a storm like this?” Karl shook his head. “Either it’s automatic, or… it’s intelligent.”

Nana immediately shut down all active signal transmitters. Several lights on the control panel went out.

“Don’t let them find us,” she said.

Chen Hao moved closer to the camera. The light flashed again; the distance had clearly decreased.

“Let’s see if it follows,” he said. “I’ll move the boat.”

He gently pushed the control stick. The ship made a slight adjustment to its direction, a very minor one.

In less than five seconds, the three points of light deflected in unison and continued to approach them.

“We’ve caught up.” Susan’s voice lowered.

“It’s not a coincidence.” Karl grabbed the safety rope. “Preparing for an emergency jump?”

“We don’t have enough energy,” Nana said. “The warp drive requires at least one complete crystal to start, and we only have half a bar of energy left.”

"Then hide." Chen Hao sat back in the passenger seat. "Turn off the lights, don't make a sound, and be like a stone."

Only the emergency red light remained on in the main control room. The four people secured their safety ropes and took their posts.

Nana continued calculating the flight path deviation, her fingers swiping rapidly across the panel. Occasionally, a blue light flashed in her pupils—a reaction to data being retrieved from the knowledge base.

Susan stood guard at the right-hand entrance, wrench in hand. Carl checked the power box latches to make sure they weren't loose.

Chen Hao stared out the porthole. Gray fog churned, and specks of light appeared and disappeared intermittently.

"Do you think they're coming for us?" he asked in a low voice.

“I don’t know,” Nana said, “but they changed their trajectory, which means they noticed our movements.”

"So, did what we just did amount to waving goodbye?"

"Possibly."

"I should have swung it a few more times."

No one laughed. The atmosphere was too tense; no one could relax.

Another wave of gravitational shock hit. The ship rocked violently, and the overhead pipes emitted a screeching sound.

The camera lens was shaken askew, and Carl rushed over to straighten it. He had just adjusted the focus when he saw two new points of light appear in the distance.

“The numbers have increased,” he said.

“The five target groups are approaching at a steady pace,” Nana said, looking at the simulation results.

"If they crash into us, can we withstand it?" Chen Hao asked.

“The outer shell can withstand a maximum of three impacts of equal intensity,” Nana said. “After that, the structure will break.”

"That means if we do it two more times, we'll become a parts delivery service."

"That is, if they actually do crash."

"Or what? Invite us for tea?"

Susan suddenly reached out and pressed the alarm test button. After a short beep, the system reported that everything was normal.

“If they get close, I’ll press it,” she said.

“Don’t be too hasty,” Carl said. “The noise might attract more.”

"I know."

Nana switched to passive detection mode and zoomed in on the optical image. The image was shaking violently, but she forced the frame rate to stabilize.

The five points of light are arranged in a rhombus, with the middle one being slightly larger and the other four distributed at the corners.

“It’s like some kind of formation,” she said.

"Patrol team?" Chen Hao asked, "Or a hunting squad?"

“It’s not like a natural phenomenon.” Susan stared at the screen. “Only artificial intelligence can achieve this kind of regularity.”

"Then the question arises," Chen Hao leaned back in his seat, "are they friend or foe?"

“In a place like this, there’s no such thing as friend or foe,” Karl said. “The living are the enemies.”

“Pessimistic,” Chen Hao said. “I’d rather believe that there are polite aliens in the universe.”

"Then go and say hello."

"Let's wait until they get closer."

Nana did not participate in the conversation. She was retrieving navigation models from the robot's knowledge base to compare with the current situation.

There are no completely matching cases in the database, but one record mentions "autonomous tracking units in high-risk airspace," which is part of an ancient early warning system.

She retrieved the information and quickly filtered for available parameters.

“If they are part of a defense mechanism,” she said, “then we’ve trespassed into an area we shouldn’t be in.”

"So you've been caught red-handed trespassing?" Chen Hao asked. "Can you apply for probation?"

“No,” Nana said. “Besides, they don’t judge, they just eliminate.”

What happens after it's cleared?

"The ship was destroyed and everyone died."

"That's very direct."

That's the truth.

Susan glanced at the energy reading in the corner. The red number flashed silently, less than eight percent remaining.

“Even if they don’t come, we won’t last long,” she said.

"Let's take a gamble." Chen Hao gripped the handrail tightly. "Either we get hit and die, or we starve to death. Which one do we choose?"

“None of them will be chosen,” Carl said. “We haven’t lost yet.”

Nana suddenly raised her hand and tapped the screen.

"They slowed down."

Everyone looked at the camera. The five points of light stopped in the distance, no longer moving forward.

"Stopped?" Chen Hao squinted. "Are they observing?"

“It’s highly likely,” Nana said. “They’re assessing the threat level.”

“Then we’ll play dead,” Chen Hao said in a low voice. “Stay still, keep the lights off, and don’t breathe.”

“You can stop breathing, but you can’t stop your heartbeat,” Susan said.

"Try to be as quiet as possible."

Time ticked by. The ship was still rocking, but inside it was so quiet you could hear each other breathing.

Ten minutes.

Twenty minutes.

The point of light remained suspended in place, neither moving closer nor leaving.

“What are they waiting for?” Karl asked in a low voice.

“Maybe we should make the first move,” Chen Hao said. “Whoever moves first will be a sitting duck.”

Nana tapped her fingers lightly on the panel. She was calculating the timing of the next gravitational tide.

The storm is expected to intensify again in six minutes.

At that time, the ship will shake more violently, and it will be impossible to hide.

“A decision has to be made,” she said. “Either take the risk of a jump, even if it’s just a small one, or remain silent and gamble that they won’t attack first.”

“Jet transitions consume energy,” Susan said. “Once it’s used, there’s no going back.”

“If you don’t move, you might be dragged into the heart of the storm,” Carl said. “You’ll die the same way.”

Chen Hao stared at the screen. Five dots of light seemed to be nailed there, coldly watching them.

“I have an idea,” he said, “but it might not be reliable.”

“Speak,” Nana said, looking at him.

“We faked a malfunction,” he said. “We shut down more systems so they would think we were broken.”

"How do we install it?" Carl asked.

"Cut off some power to create the illusion of being out of contact. Then release some debris to make it appear as if the structure has disintegrated."

"Where did the wreckage come from?" Susan asked.

“The warehouse is full of junk,” Chen Hao said. “If we just throw a few out, they might just leave.”

Nana quickly calculates the feasibility.

“There is a 37 percent chance of successfully misleading someone,” she said. “But if it fails and exposes the intention to jump, it will immediately trigger a crackdown.”

“A 30% chance is better than waiting to die,” Chen Hao said. “It’s better than sitting there being watched to death.”

Carl paused for a few seconds, then nodded: "Let's do it."

Susan picked up the toolkit: "I'll go prepare the release port."

Nana began writing a program to simulate system crash signals.

Carl checked the jump preparation circuit to ensure it could be activated at the last minute.

Chen Hao took one last look out the porthole.

The five points of light remained still.

He said softly:

"Brothers, are you ready to act?"