Two days passed in a flash. Qin Zhongquan used some troublesome matters to send away the unnecessary crew members, and then quietly completed the departure procedure with the remaining seventy or so people. With the help of many drones outside the warship, the movement did not alarm any ambitious people outside the field.
Although discarding those redundant people made the division of labor in various workstations on the warship more difficult, the effect of streamlining was still very obvious. The overall combat efficiency tested in the following few days had greatly improved - of course, this was more likely to be the effect of last-in-line elimination and leadership inspections.
Qin Zhongquan didn't want to think about what would happen to the abandoned people. He just wanted to get away from there as quickly as possible. When the station became a small dot on the radar, he ordered the engine power to be reduced, reducing the acceleration and simulated gravity.
He had already made his choice - since the prophecy only said that there would be no stopping along the way, but did not specify how long it would take to reach the next node, he would try walking slower first - of course, nothing happened.
He didn't tell anyone about this choice, but the sharp-eyed priest and the first mate still noticed it. After the crew entered the shift, they each found an excuse to reunite near the observation window near the flight deck of the Terminal.
"You don't seem as nervous as you were a few days ago." The priest said straight to the point.
"Yes, I thought that every time I made a choice, retribution would be immediately apparent. But it's clear that there's nothing here! We're flying in a vacuum, with nothing within a radius of tens of light seconds. I can't imagine anything else that could make me pay the price." Qin Zhongquan shrugged. Although his face was pale, his spirits were indeed much better.
"That's for sure," the first mate agreed. "After all, reality isn't a game. Any feedback typically takes years to produce. Even if such an outcome did occur, it would be difficult for us, who are in the midst of it, to find even the slightest correlation between them."
"I think we can go a step further now," the priest said.
The first mate nodded: "I agree!"
"Why? But shouldn't we control variables when conducting tests?"
"Because it's meaningless," the first mate explained. "If an experiment requires the efforts of several generations to complete, then tiny changes will be infinitely magnified, but at the same time, the impact of larger changes will be infinitely diluted. There's no essential difference between changing a fraction of a second and changing a fraction of a second. Stealing millions is robbery, but stealing a dollar isn't robbery?"
"But if you rob several million, you will be wanted, but if you rob one dollar, there is a high probability that no case will be filed." Qin Zhongquan argued.
"We can go to Venus and skip all the processes in between." The priest suddenly said.
"Hey, hey, aren't you being too radical? I still want to spend a few more days on Earth dreaming!"
"What are you thinking?" the first mate asked anxiously. "The bounty on us hasn't been removed yet! Wouldn't going to Earth be a trap?"
Qin Zhongquan crossed his arms over his chest. "Speaking of which, wouldn't it be the same if we went directly to Venus? And I remember the Empire seems to have zero tolerance for stowaways. Going there requires formal channels."
"Well then!" The priest spread his hands. "Then as a second best option, you guys need to find a way to change your identities first."
"Yes, the first stop must be the moon!" the first mate said seriously. "Captain, is there anyone among us who is not wanted and is familiar with the place?"
Qin Zhongquan pondered for a moment, then shook his head regretfully. "The closest person to us is probably Gary on Mars, so we have to go to Mars before heading to the Moon. We didn't give him much funding for activities before seizing the ship, and it's probably almost gone in the past three months. I don't know where he's hiding..."
"Wait, wait, wait, you mean—we have to get to Mars as soon as possible?"
"right!"
After saying this, the three of them looked at each other, as if everything had returned to the starting point.
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