Chapter 54: Preliminary Round 3 (Part 7)

The Star Navigation Competition system's screen recognized the voice, the orange-green turntable stopped rotating, the external environment of the starport changed, and the conveyor belt under the starship started, sending the starship into the maintenance room.

Zimao ran out of the rear cabin carrying the repair cabin: "Brother Red, Brother Orange, Brother Green, Brother Blue——"

The few colorful-haired people in the cockpit who were frightened as if petrified suddenly moved and turned to look at him.

"Come and help!" Zimao ran up to the maintenance platform from the stairs outside the starship, "First, remove the shell of the main gun muzzle! Replace the energy storage box--"

Lanmao uttered an "oh," turned to look at the driver's seat, and whispered, "Boss..."

"Someone is in charge!" Red Hair came to his senses and pushed him out.

"Brother Mu." Mingyu bent down and pulled off Mu Baixing's driving helmet, calling him in a low voice.

Mu Baixing responded, his palms were cold, and he was pulled to stand up by Mingyu and followed him down the starship.

He frowned, his left hand pressed to his lips, his right hand gripping Mingyu's arm, his steps steady. But even after they reached the bench outside the maintenance room, he remained silent, only letting out a few muffled coughs.

Mingyu felt his body tense, as if he was using all his strength to suppress the adverse reactions in his body.

"Do you want to take medicine?" Mingyu found the first aid kit that came with the competition system, took out a box of universal emergency repair tablets, and took out the APA medicine box from his pocket, poured out a pill and fed it into Mu Baixing's mouth.

Mu Baixing frowned, seeming reluctant, but still opened his lips slightly in response to Mingyu's actions.

Mingyu's fingers were warm, and when they touched the man's lips, he did not withdraw. Instead, he went a little deeper and wiped it lightly.

Mu Baixing: “…”

Mu Baixing's body trembled slightly, and he raised his hand to hold Mingyu's wrist.

Mingyu pursed his lips and turned his eyes to look at the bright red spot on his fingertips.

He guessed correctly. Mu Baixing started coughing up blood again.

It is damage caused by excessive mental impact.

Mingyu was speechless for a moment.

It’s not that they can’t afford to lose this point.

Or...it's not that I can't get this point in other ways.

It was just that Mu Baixing chose to shoot down Lieyang's warship in front of him in such a devastating way.

Now that Mingyu had discovered him, Mu Baixing no longer tried to hide it. He relaxed slightly, leaned back against the wall, coughed a few times, and wiped the blood from his lips.

"Are you okay?" The man looked up at Mingyu, a hint of smile in his voice, "I shouldn't let you down this time, right?"

Mingyu: “…”

Mingyu couldn't speak.

I wanted to be angry, but also feel bad. I really wanted to praise Mu Ge for being so handsome, but I was choked by the pain in my heart and couldn't speak.

The young man's eyes were even a little red, he frowned and leaned forward.

He reached out his hand again, rubbed the corner of Mu Baixing's lips, and helped him wipe off the blood.

The designer's fingertips were trembling.

"Don't worry." Mu Baixing comforted, "It's only thirty seconds."

Mingyu understood.

Mu Baixing's explosive increase in mental power lasted only thirty seconds, which was a very short time. Although the high-intensity increase in mental power caused physical damage, it did not lead to mental overload. As long as he rested in time, he would recover quickly.

But the so-called fast will at least take several hours, or even a few days.

And their game isn't over yet.

Mingyu is not worried about the results of the next game, or the game after that...

He no longer cared whether they could pass this qualifying round.

If he were the only one to choose, he would even want to contact the Star Navigation Competition Organizing Committee immediately and withdraw from the competition on the spot.

But Mingyu is not the only one who cares about the outcome of the game.

Mu Baixing, Wucai Toumao and other brothers...they participated in the Star Navigation Competition not to stop there.

"You're awesome, Brother Mu." Mingyu finally spoke, "But it's not worth it."

He spoke with a nasal tone, looked into Mu Baixing's eyes, pursed his lips, and repeated, "It's not worth it."

In the next game, and the next one after that, Mu Baixing must participate in the competition with his damaged spiritual domain.

Or use a regulating valve and switch to manual operation.

But in this way, the barrel loses the energy supply of mental power, and the energy threshold will be greatly reduced.

It would be fine if they met an ordinary team, but if they met a slightly stronger team, they would be at a disadvantage.

Unless he could find a way to solve this problem, Mu Boxing would not agree to keep the regulating valve closed.

Mingyu tried his best to pull himself out of those complicated emotions.

It's complicated...but because he's so heartbroken, even Mingyu himself can't figure out what other emotions are mixed in it.

Mu Baixing couldn't be allowed to use his mental power any more intensely. Mingyu thought hard and decided to improve the energy fuse of the gun barrel. He had to find a way...

Mingyu's wrist was gently pulled down. He turned his eyes and saw Mu Baixing looking at him.

"I was distracted when I said this to you." He coughed lightly and said, "I just helped you teach Lieyang a lesson."

There was no accusation in his tone, and it even sounded like a witty remark meant to liven up the atmosphere.

Mu Baixing didn't need Mingyu to respond.

He was obviously not feeling well, as he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"Don't feel like it's a burden," he continued. "I'm willing to do it."

Mingyu: “…”

Mingyu was speechless.

After a while, he nodded vigorously and responded firmly.

If I continue to worry about whether it is worth it at this time, it would be really... a betrayal of Mu Baixing's feelings.

Just look forward.

Mingyu thought.

Make yourself stronger, so that next time, Mu Bo will not have to pay the price for him.

He wanted to be able to defeat Ming Yan and Fei Lun himself.

He also had to design the most suitable starship for Mu Boxing, and ideally, be an excellent observer. When Mu Boxing needed him, he could show off his abilities.

Mingyu rubbed his eyes and sat down next to Mu Baixing.

Then he reached out and patted his legs.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable? Do you want to take a nap?" he asked softly. "It will be more comfortable if you lie down."

"How about...Brother Mu, you lie down with your head resting on my legs?"

*

The starship's maintenance room was brightly lit. Purple-haired stood before the control panel, intently manipulating a manipulator nearly two feet wide to remove the outer wall of a gun barrel and replace the launch tube and components inside, damaged by the intense mental impact. Blue-haired stood on another platform, patching another barrel, already disassembled and set aside. He worked, climbing a half-man-high pipeline deep into the engine, welding torch in hand, and couldn't help but exclaim, "This burn is too intense... The boss's mental burst is too... too..."

Lanmao was speechless for a moment.

"It's not that we haven't encountered danger when sailing before, but it's also rare to see the boss be so... uh... scary." Green Hair was also standing on the platform, extending a hand to hand him the tools. He turned his head to glance at the sidelines, "Tell me, how many S's did that mental power just now have?"

"Three, right? There can't be only two!" Orange-haired was operating another set of robotic arms, welding the hull beneath the starship's main body. He watched intently, but continued to speak. "The Boss's burst of mental power during the first qualifying match was terrifying enough... How could it be even stronger this time? I just felt that his mental power was even more terrifying than... the one shot from that other guy that killed our team in one hit in the previous matches..."

Blue Hair: "But, why is the boss suddenly so aggressive? Do we have a grudge against the opposing team?"

Orange-haired and green-haired both shook their heads in confusion.

Red Hair: “…”

Red Hair is really disappointed with his brothers.

"What are you using your ears for!" He was repairing the engine casing. Mu Boxing's mental power overflowed from the barrel so violently that it burned and twisted the external support of the lift engine below the starship.

Red Hair: "We don't have any grudges against the other side! Brother LU does! Brother LU said before that he didn't have much connection with the starship designer on the other side. I can't say for sure about the others!"

The other three suddenly realized and looked at Mingyu on the sidelines.

"We have to stand up for LU!" several people said in unison. They all thought LUCE was great. He didn't treat them with disdain just because they weren't awakened humans, nor did he ignore their opinions. LUCE also had a good personality and was much more reliable at designing starships than Mu Boxing. His only shortcoming was that he refused to paint the starship's exterior in all the colors they requested.

They expressed respect and tolerance for LUCE's simple aesthetic.

"But is the boss really okay?" Blue Hair asked worriedly, "I've never seen the boss look so weak during space travel. We can't give him medicine right now... Should we go check it out...?"

Red Hair: “…”

"What are you looking at? You don't have the special medicine that the boss usually takes, so what's the point of looking at it? Besides, can you be a little more discerning..." He lowered his voice and muttered, "Do you know that men only show weakness in front of certain people..."

As he spoke, he glanced towards the sidelines.

Mingyu and Mu Baixing were both sitting on the rest chairs outside the maintenance area.

The designer sat on a chair with his eyes downcast. A light screen hung in front of him, but his gaze was fixed on Mu Baixing's face.

The man was lying next to him, not resting his head on Mingyu's legs, but very close.

His hair rubbed against the back of Mingyu's right hand. His long legs were bent, his arms were bent in front of his chest, and his palms fell outside the bench, with his fingertips drooping, as if he had fallen asleep.

But he didn't sleep well, his brows were still furrowed, and he coughed from time to time in his sleep. When he coughed, his fingertips curled up slightly, as if he was enduring some pain.

Mingyu looked at his face and reached out his hand to lightly stroke the ends of Mu Baixing's hair.

Training mental strength takes time and can't be accomplished overnight, but designing a starship...

It’s not impossible.

A bright blue cloud of spiritual power appeared around him. Mingyu's fingers circled the ends of Mu Baixing's hair, but his gaze gradually shifted away from his face.

Different plans for modifying the starship gun barrels gathered in his mind, were rejected one by one, and more were proposed.

After a while, Mingyu suddenly thought of something, withdrew his gaze from Mu Baixing's face, and stood up suddenly.

"Azi." Mingyu took a few steps forward, walked to the edge of the maintenance area, leaned over the half-person-high railing and called out, "Azi—"

Zimao turned around when he heard the voice and asked, "Brother LU?"

"After the barrel is repaired, don't install the functional valve yet! And don't assemble the starship yet." Ming Yu waved at him. "I have an idea. Let's go to the modeling room to review the draft first."

Zimao nodded quickly.

"No problem, Brother LU." He was concentrating on his work and had not participated in the discussion with the other brothers just now. Now when he was talking to Mingyu, he subconsciously stopped moving his injured hand.

"The boss's mental energy burned too much just now. Many parts in the starship are broken. Let's replace other parts first." Zimao said seriously, "It will take about forty minutes to replace the entire set of parts."

"Okay!" Mingyu said simply, gave him a gesture that it was okay, turned around and ran out of the maintenance room, and walked along the corridor into the modeling room.

Similar to the safety room in the first game of the Star Navigation Competition, the modeling room is also open after entering the maintenance mode, allowing starship designers to change the starship structure at any time.

Mingyu didn't have much time. Although their current score was not low, forty minutes was still not a short time. If they significantly extended the time for the starship design, they would likely widen the gap with the team ahead. Even if they successfully passed the elimination this time, the next two hours would be very dangerous.

In order to allow Mu Boxing to maintain the offensive power of the starship even when it is in manual operation, he needs to modify the circuit of the gun barrel.

This design must be added.

The existing gun barrel has two energy lines. One is the line input from the energy cabin, which carries the gas energy after the energy ore is vaporized. The other is the line connected to Mu Boxing's driving helmet, which is the input line of mental energy.

Mingyu's previously designed five functional valves were simultaneously loaded onto the two input lines. These valves controlled the rate at which energy flowed into the barrel, intermittently cutting and releasing energy in conjunction with the driver's operation, achieving different attack effects.

But at least in the next hour of the game, Mingyu felt that Mu Baixing should reduce his mental power input, especially... it would be best not to use mental weapons temporarily.

In this case, he needs to add another energy input line into the barrel to make up for the lack of mental energy input.

The simplest and most effective way is to increase the number of energy modules and carry more energy when sailing. However, this will significantly increase the weight of the starship, and if there is no time to modify the overall structure of the starship, it will inevitably reduce the starship's flexibility.

A slightly more complex method is energy transfer, such as transferring some of the energy originally input into the starship engine to input into the gun barrel. But this is also not feasible: the three star maps drawn from the Star Navigation Competition are all very complicated.

Even in the simplest rotating energy field map, they needed high-power engines to quickly overcome the energy field's gravity, allowing the starship more free space to evade. Not to mention the Star Shattered Belt map and the Barren Planet Heavy Lava Field map, where they needed to quickly change direction and ascend or descend.

The only remaining way is to attract energy from elsewhere.

...such as the artillery fire fired by the opponent.

The muzzle circuit is designed for energy storage and firing. If the energy accumulator's input line is not connected to the energy tank, but to an additional energy intake device, then they no longer need an additional energy storage device, and can return all of their attacks within a few seconds of the opponent firing a shot.

Mingyu was so engrossed in his thoughts that he nearly bumped into the doorframe as he entered the modeling room. He adjusted his glasses, which had nearly been knocked off by the doorframe, and quickly wrote and drew on the screen as he walked into the modeling room.

The first thing to install at the front of the energy intake system is a deceleration device, which will reduce the high-speed energy particles emitted by the energy cannon to medium and low speeds through layers of barriers. Then, a particle absorber will be installed to intercept and absorb the energy particles in batches into different compartments, and then simultaneously feed them into the rear pipeline. The rear of the pipeline will reconnect to the accelerator. The acceleration distance from the absorber to the input of the enemy's cannon barrel cannot be too short; the energy value must reach the threshold for vaporizing energy ore...

Although he wanted to finish the drawing quickly, he did not write any details hastily. He deduced the required values ​​in his mind and stopped from time to time to look through the list of materials.

Bright blue mental power clouds, now upgraded to A, swirled around Mingyu, spinning rapidly like a dream. Mingyu was now able to control his mental power while working on the blueprints, avoiding being completely drained of it by these clouds as he had been at the beginning.

With the help of his mental power, he quickly searched for the materials he had studied.

The material used for the energy absorption device cannot be too heavy, otherwise it will still increase the load on the starship and fail to achieve optimal results. At the same time, it needs to be able to withstand the energy fluctuations of the artillery fire and not shatter or melt in the first second of contact...

A picture suddenly flashed through Mingyu's mind.

The special exhibition hall on the tenth floor of the Starship Museum has black, cosmic-like wall panels and a light screen that lights up when Mingyu approaches.

"Because it has to withstand the powerful mental force of the Alienation-class ship, the hull of the special starship is coated with several layers of Osside's special structural membrane to reduce the speed of energy particles and prevent the mental force overflowing from the barrel from damaging the starship's hull."

"At the same time, the Kanxiu light ore used for the starship's hull has an extremely high energy durability threshold without increasing the starship's weight..."

Mingyu: That’s it!

He was now incredibly grateful to his strict and exam-loving starship designer teacher. It was a good thing he'd set up that museum midterm exam!

Mingyu selected the medium-to-high-level material Kanxiu light ore from the material list and used it as the basic material for the entire absorption device.

"drop--"

In the live broadcast room of the Star Navigation Competition, the rabbit host was a little distracted. After hearing the system prompt, he reacted a few beats slowly before looking at the prompt screen.

He had been in a daze since he saw Wucaibianlan defeat Lieyang. He couldn't get into the state after switching between several battle light screens. The overwhelming golden mental power and the doomsday scene when the star map energy field was torn from the center kept flashing before his eyes.

But no one in the live broadcast room blamed him for being distracted, because the topics in the discussion area mostly revolved around the recent duel between Wucai Bianlan and Lieyang, and the ship that was suspected to have 3S mental power.

"That shouldn't be the case..." The comments in the discussion forum were surprisingly consistent. "After the Battle of Dawn... weren't there any 3S-class ships awakened?!"

"Actually, I think the Slayer's ship's spiritual power level is approaching 3S..."

"The Killer's White Elephant's spiritual power is at its peak in the 2S! But this colorful one is different..."

"It's really different! Have any of you seen the documentary about the Dawn War? The mental pressure from the 3S bosses back then was far greater than that of the White Elephant! But this Colorful One... he's definitely on par with them..."

"That's still not as good as the 3S giants back then! The Guiding Library video materials, or that art film like New Star! The Celtic King created a golden giant..."

The rabbit moderator was busy at work, unconcerned with the discussion. Though absentminded, he dutifully responded to the prompt, saying, "Ah, someone's using top-grade construction materials."

"This special material, which only a handful of designers know how to use, is usually used to build high-performance starships! Which team is still improving their starship during such a tense match?"

He turned to the notification screen and pronounced the words he saw: "It's LUCE, the designer of the Colorful Team..."

Rabbit Anchor: “……?!”

"The Colorful Team again?!" He pricked up his ears, incredulous. "LUCE again!!"

"We just saw it all! The Colorful Team's ships' spiritual power was so intense that it burned the hull of their own starship. Are they planning to use special materials to rebuild the hull of their starship?!"

"Could it be that the attack with a strength of 3S just now... wasn't just a sudden, accidental burst... but the normal mental strength of their pilot?!"