A few days later.
The massive solar storm caused by Venus's fall to the sun has moved away from Jupiter's orbit and is heading towards Saturn, which is much farther away.
After confirming that there was no danger, the human fleet replenished its helium-3 reserves and resumed its journey to the Kuiper Belt.
Under Zero's control, the Hall thrusters at the stern of the 1251 starships emitted intense light, propelling all the starships away from the massive Jupiter.
Within a star system, the starship's acceleration and speed are not fast.
The reason is quite simple.
They need to use asteroids within the solar system for "training".
Although we have passed through the relatively dense asteroid belt, you never know how many asteroids you might encounter along the way in the solar system.
For example, right now.
Shortly after leaving Jupiter, a piercing alarm sounded in the command center of the Earth.
[Asteroid Impact Alert!]
A row of bright characters appeared on the holographic image directly in front of the command center.
[Maximum diameter of an asteroid: 5 kilometers]
[Asteroid coordinates: X (573.4267 km); Y (-328.7123 km); Z (1038.3422 km)]
The coordinates are accurate to the level of 0.1 meters, and the numbers on the coordinates continue to change over time.
The coordinates here are naturally a three-dimensional coordinate system established with the Earth as the origin. The X-axis represents the left and right sides of the Earth, the Y-axis represents the up and down, and the Z-axis represents the front and back.
Using this coordinate positioning method, starship pilots can locate target objects extremely quickly.
"An asteroid with a diameter of five thousand meters..."
Lu Yongchang raised an eyebrow slightly and turned to Zhao Zijie beside him, saying, "Use electromagnetic cannons and high-energy lasers to deal with it."
Upon hearing Lü Yongchang's order, Zhao Zijie's expression turned slightly serious. He nodded and pressed the communication button on the control panel in front of him.
“【Golden Crow】B31, please respond upon receipt.”
With almost no delay, a clear voice came through the communication device.
“【Golden Crow】B31 received.”
"Speaking."
Without any hesitation, Zhao Zijie reached out and pressed a few buttons on the control panel in front of him.
"B31, there is an asteroid with a maximum diameter of five kilometers 1,100 kilometers away from you. According to calculations, its trajectory coincides with that of the fleet."
"The solution and the asteroid's exact location have been sent to your onboard computer."
"Solve it immediately."
The words had barely left his mouth when a response came from the communication device: "B31 received!"
A few seconds later, a series of flashes of light and several extremely bright laser beams appeared in the lower right corner of the Earth.
The innocent asteroid didn't even last a few seconds under the impact of the electromagnetic cannon and high-energy laser before turning into dust.
"Report: The objective has been successfully achieved."
As the report sounded, a new notification flashed across the holographic image directly in front of the command center.
The alert has been lifted.
Lu Yongchang nodded slowly as he watched the group gradually become more familiar with the process.
"Yongchang, it seems your training method is quite effective," Fang Xu chuckled and said in a low voice.
Faced with Fang Xu's praise, Lü Yongchang shook his head and gave a helpless smile.
"I had no other choice but to do this."
"Once we leave the solar system, everyone will have to go into hibernation."
"Once hibernation ends, we'll be going to fight the Proxima Centauri civilization."
"With such a tight schedule, this is the only way I can choose to conduct simulation training."
Indeed, all of this was a training mission assigned by Lü Yongchang.
He ordered the Zero's automatic interception function to be disabled, and all interception operations were to be manually performed by the starship pilots, in order to allow these starship pilots to adapt to space combat as soon as possible.
Fang Xu ignored Lü Yongchang's complaints and instead said cheerfully, "It seems to be working quite well now."
"At least, they are much more skilled at operating the equipment than before."
"Just imagine what it would be like in the asteroid belt... tsk tsk tsk, it would be a truly horrific sight."
Lü Yongchang shook his head with a wry smile.
To train these pilots, he specifically instructed Zero to choose a route with the highest density of asteroids.
The result was predictable.
If Zero hadn't taken over most of the Golden Crow battleships at a crucial moment, the human fleet would probably have suffered casualties before even leaving the solar system.
But the benefits of that terrifying incident were also enormous.
At least, these starship pilots were much more skilled at attacking their targets.
Thinking of this, Lü Yongchang shook his head and sighed, "It's a pity that there are still too few asteroids in the solar system."
Fang Xu rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Forget it."
"Why don't you look back and see what kind of ravages the asteroid belt has been in?"
Lu Yongchang's face stiffened, and he scratched his head with an embarrassed smile: "Isn't this all to improve their proficiency as much as possible?"
"Even improving your proficiency shouldn't require circling the asteroid belt three or four times, right?!" Fang Xu complained again. "If this were ancient times, you would definitely be a master at confiscating property."
"Cough cough!"
Seeing the strange looks he was getting from some of the researchers around him, Lü Yongchang's lips twitched, and after coughing twice, he changed the subject.
"Hey you, Academician Mo Zeyang, come with me."
After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the command center.
...
Upon hearing his name called, Mo Zeyang abruptly raised his head and looked at the command post beside him.
Upon seeing that Lü Yongchang had already walked out of the command center, he quickly reached out and pressed the controller on his wristwatch.
The magnetic force of several electromagnetic devices connected to the chair on the back of the spacesuit disappeared instantly.
Then, with the help of electromagnetic boots, he stood up from the chair and walked quickly toward the door of the command center.
As soon as he stepped out the door, he saw Lü Yongchang standing by the porthole, silently gazing at Jupiter, which had shrunk into a small sphere.
"Professor, is there something you need?"
He slowed his pace, walked to Lü Yongchang's side, and asked softly.
Upon hearing the voice, Lü Yongchang turned to look at Mo Zeyang and said with a gentle smile, "Academician Mo, how is the research and development of the photonic computer progressing?"
Upon hearing the question, Mo Zeyang's expression instantly became somewhat dry.
"Professor, there's still not much progress."
"Unlike quantum computers with superconducting circuits, photonic computers require entirely new architectures and more advanced manufacturing technologies."
"At present, it seems that we do not have that capability."
Lü Yongchang's face darkened slightly.
As a threshold for a level two civilization in the technology tree system, the photonic computer inevitably presents unique challenges, which is to be expected.
But he never expected that a photonic computer technology would hold them back for two whole years!
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