Chapter 38: Second Preliminary Match (Part 3)
"Bang!" Inside Lieyang's starship, Feren pounded the control panel. His face darkened, and he cursed softly before standing up and turning to leave.
Ming Yan's brow furrowed, clearly dissatisfied with the way things had ended. He followed Feren out of the starship's cockpit, turning back to look at Song Lan as he reached the door.
"Think about it carefully," he said coldly, "designing the next starship. That's your job."
Song Lan: "..."
He nodded obediently, but tightened his fingers.
Only low- and medium-grade materials could be used... He hadn't faced such a restriction in a long time, and for a moment he didn't know where to start. The most troublesome part of building a starship that met Feren's requirements was the gun barrel.
Feren prefers offensive barrels with high energy thresholds and short charge times.
As a double-S-rank vessel, his psychic strength and durability are extremely high. Feren's psychic power possesses the properties of "mark stacking" and "strong focus," making his firing akin to a perpetual motion machine: his psychic power can be concentrated into extremely high-density energy barrages, and multiple strikes on the same location can trigger a terrifying energy explosion whose sum is far greater than the sum of its parts.
The gun barrel Fei Lun currently used was the product of Song Lan's repeated improvements over the past few years. The barrel's charge time and energy threshold were improved entirely through the use of high-quality materials, yet even then, Fei Lun would occasionally dislike it. If he used low- or mid-grade materials, he would be forced to improve upon the existing standard barrel, and standard barrels with high energy thresholds typically had long charge times.
...Except for the Lambda cannon improved by designer LUCE, which was used by Wucai in the previous game.
Song Lan's eyes dimmed slightly.
He hesitated for a moment and opened his StarNet Bank account.
With a week left until the next competition, he still had to spend considerable time refining the standard gun barrel, adding a mental power circuit to meet Feren's needs...
Purchasing a suitable standard gun barrel improvement blueprint has become the most reasonable and quickest method.
Because he had once clashed with LUCE outside the modeling room, he remembered the star network appearance of this designer who was being sought by the Third Legion.
He didn't even tell Mingyan that he had seen LUCE twice this week in the senior designer reading area of the library at the Star Network Designer Headquarters.
This designer, who has begun to be called a genius, is very hardworking. He often appears in the library early in the morning to study the design drafts in front of the spread-out information screen.
*
"A-choo."
In the starship cockpit, Mingyu couldn't help but sneeze, rubbed his nose and stood up.
"Someone's talking about you, Brother Lu?" Redhead said distractedly as he spun the light screen in front of him. His attention quickly returned to the star map on the screen, and he asked in confusion, "Why is the star map provided for this competition incomplete? I can't even see the surroundings right now! It's all black with missing data! How do we get out?"
"Our starship is heading southwest, following the movements of the swarm of spotted snails," Ming Yu said. "Snail species usually live in cold currents, and we are in the area where the spotted snails are most densely populated, which is the center of the cold current..."
Mingyu's fingers moved across the star map.
"This star sea is the dying star sea of the central star, facing collapse. The energy in the star sea is either in a state of turbulent activity or has weakened to the point of near extinction. The cold tide zones are formed as the energy of the star sea disappears. So... we should be at this location on the star map, the boundary farthest from all the resource stars."
"We need to go in the opposite direction," Mingyu said. His spiritual power radiated outward, spreading across the starry sea in the predetermined direction.
"This colorful observer has clearly found the right direction!" the rabbit commentator praised. "His mental power has a very high ductility, almost enough to penetrate the cold wave zone! It's an astonishing ductility. Regardless of other aspects, this ductility indicator must be above Grade A..."
"Come to think of it, we didn't seem to see this observer releasing any mental energy in the last match," he said, somewhat puzzled. "I always thought the colorful observer's mental energy wasn't flexible enough to leave the starship's cannon barrel, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
"According to the team data, Wucaibanlan has five observers." Because each team was searching for a way out, the competition wasn't intense right now. Commentator Rabbit opened Wucaibanlan's team data, intending to read through it during this downtime.
He really liked this dark horse that had not lost to the Ranger in a narrow encounter, so he temporarily froze the picture on the colorful game screen and clicked on the team information card.
"The names of the colorful observers are all very easy to remember!" The plush rabbit took a look and said with a mixture of laughter and tears, "Red, orange, green, blue, and purple... no wonder they are called colorful!" As he spoke, he slid his hand down casually.
"Huh?" The furry paw froze on the light screen.
"Just before this competition! Colorful submitted a request to change the roles of their team members! One of their original members has been added as an observer... It's... it's designer LUCE!"
"A starship designer also serves as an observer?!" the rabbit host pricked up his ears, exclaiming in disbelief. "What a rare change! And right before this match! I can't help but wonder! This beautiful blue mental energy... belongs to LUCE, right?!"
Inside the Third Legion office, Ming's mother, Zhao Ying, watched the live broadcast of the Star Navigation Competition and tapped the table in a bad mood.
Her beloved son Mingyan had just left the competition in a less than dignified manner, and soon after, her subordinates came in to report. Although they had not yet received any news about LUCE, they found that their arch-rival, the Mu family, and the Star Navigation Department's talent center were also looking for someone.
If LUCE is also an observer with advanced mental power, then they must not let this talent go! And... they must not let their mortal enemy, the Mu family, find him first!
"Ah...A-choo!" In the cab, Mingyu, who was being missed by others, sneezed again.
Mu Baixing tilted his head slightly and asked calmly, "Caught a cold?"
"No!" Mingyu wondered, "It's just that my nose itches..."
"Rest when you need to," the man said calmly, "Don't get too tired."
"I can fly any kind of starship." He paused for a moment before adding, "I promise to take you to the Star Region Tournament."
Mingyu: “…”
Mingyu thought of Mu Boxing's performance in the mining area and wanted to tell him to stop pretending, just like before, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. The designer hesitated for a moment and could only say sincerely, "You're really good, then."
Mu Baixing curled the corners of his lips.
The smile was fleeting, but Red Hair saw it clearly. He hissed and couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "I've only met Brother LU a few times, and I've almost used up all the facial expressions I could have in the past six months..."
Mingyu was holding onto his observation helmet, oblivious to the red-haired man's mosquito-like mumbling. He turned the electronic pen in his hand and refocused his attention on the star map.
"We don't know when the collapse will begin, so we need to hurry." He used an electronic pen to draw a route on the star map. "The activity of the scutellaria will soon cease. Based on the direction of energy flow, we'd better leave the cold tide zone from here. We can be out of their activity area within half an hour."
"Then we'll approach the central star from here, spiraling inward and collecting energy changes in the starry sea." Ming Yu said seriously, "My mental threads can sense energy changes from afar. If we reach the central energy field within twenty miles of the central star and it's safe, we can continue deeper. Otherwise, we'll have to turn around and leave."
"Okay." Mu Baixing pulled the engine start switch and said calmly, "I'll do as you say."
The activity of the scutellaria spp. stopped.
Invisible to the naked eye, spiral shells floated in the universe, containing all the soft matter. The starship then set sail again.
Its flight was steady and gradually accelerated. The blue mental power filaments released by Mingyu in the outer circle concentrated and floated in the direction of the front. From a distance, it looked like a backward fluorescent jellyfish.
This was a small star sea, and a complete traverse would take nearly three days. Besides the central star, the entire sea contained only three resource stars currently being mined and one barren star of no value. After leaving the cold tide zone and passing through a calm region where energy had nearly vanished, they entered the interior of the star sea.
After more than ten hours of sailing, the surrounding energy activities began to become chaotic and agitated.
"The energy field near the central star is probably even more unstable." Mingyu confirmed the surrounding situation and asked Mu Baixing to change the route several times. "The situation is not optimistic... We may have to return before we reach within 20 miles of the central star."
He frowned, feeling that the activity in the central energy field was disconcerting.
Those chaotic energy fluctuations are more than just a sign of the impending collapse of the dead star's core.
"Rest." Mu Baixing said, "We have entered the area where the star map data is complete. Withdraw your mental power and let them watch."
Mingyu's endurance was only C-level, so he couldn't connect to the starship for long. He took off his observer helmet and asked the red-haired men to assist Mu Boxing in navigation through the instruments. Then he stretched his body and looked out the window.
The starship is passing by a white space station.
The pure white cross hovered above the giant, ochre-colored planet, appearing incredibly small. Yet, compared to the starship they were aboard, the space station was enormous.
It has three starship ports, two of which are adjacent, allowing it to dock with a short-distance cargo starship on a resource star for resource delivery while also docking with a long-distance transport starship, with the cargo bays of the two starships connected by a conveyor belt. The space station also has another backup starship port for takeoff and landing of small exploration starships or cruise ships.
Mingyu sat up straight and as the starship slid past the perimeter of the space station, he could clearly see the star domain logo painted on its outside.
Four narrow triangular petals open outward, connected by a smooth and intricate golden grass symbol. Beneath the lowest petal hangs an upside-down white bird, wings spread, ready to take flight.
Mingyu widened his eyes slightly.
This is the northern star region that has been destroyed, with most of it swallowed up by the Black Tide Star Sea, and a small part of it becoming the symbol of the free star region.
Mingyu's expression paused slightly, and he turned his head to look at the space station logo that was gradually being left behind by the starship.
"Rustle, rustle..." At the same time, a communication request signal suddenly came from the starship's communicator.
"This is X... Xinghai No. 3 Resource Star Station... Urgent help..." The voice on the communication channel was intermittent due to the interference of Xinghai's active energy waves. The speaker had a strong local accent. Red Hair pressed hard on his helmet to hear more clearly. "Swish, swish..."
"...are there even 'indigenous people' simulated in this virtual map?" The emergency call was barely finished when chaotic energy waves disrupted it, turning it into a cacophony of noise. Redhead was baffled, wondering, "Didn't the background description of the competition say that all development teams should have evacuated? What's this about the galaxy? I can't even make out... Why is the signal disconnected?"
"Hey, Boss! In this special situation, shouldn't we go and take a look?" In the cockpit, Red Hair asked while trying to call back, "But won't this waste time exploring the star sea energy map? The collapse is about to happen, and time waits for no one..."
"Go check it out," Mingyu said. "We can't ignore the emergency signal."
Although this is a virtual star map, all the scenes are too real, and Mingyu unconsciously regards this place as the real world.
Mu Baixing's gaze swept across the space station in the sea of stars outside the window.
His expression was indifferent. He pulled the joystick with a slight force, steered the starship to a different direction, and skillfully sent a docking request to the docking port of the space station.
"beep--"
A moment later, a slight sound indicating successful docking was heard from the cockpit.
Mu Baixing pulled off his driving helmet and disconnected from the starship.
"I'll go in." Unsure of the station's operational status, he took off his breathing mask from the wall, stood up, and walked out of the cockpit. "Everyone else, stay in your respective positions and be ready for emergency takeoff at any time."
Mingyu: “…”
Mingyu stood up immediately, took off the breathing mask and put it on his face, and followed him.
Mu Baixing stopped, frowned and turned to look at him.
"I have a high level of mental acuity," the designer said logically. "If you enter the space station alone, you might not be able to find the source of the distress signal."
The ship's mental strength is very high, but its reaction to the surrounding energy is very slow.
"Hurry up." Mingyu said, gently pushing Mu Baixing on the back, "Don't waste time."
Mu Baixing stopped arguing, turned around, and walked towards the transfer cabin.
Dark blue threads of mental power passed around him, slid across the ground, and probed into the space station before Mu Boxing opened the hatch.
Mingyu shuddered unconsciously.
Perhaps because the exploration team had already evacuated the Star Sea, the space station was now closed. All lighting facilities were turned off, the oxygen system had stopped working, and the constant temperature system was running at the lowest temperature the space station's circuits could withstand, making Mingyu shrink from the cold.
Mu Baixing reached out to unbutton his clothes, took off the driver's uniform jacket and handed it to Mingyu.
Mingyu: “…”
The man wore only a black sleeveless T-shirt beneath his uniform. His arms were defined by sharp, flowing muscles, and his cold, pale skin stood out even in the dim light. Seeing Mingyu refuse to take it, he simply draped the shirt over Mingyu and continued forward.
Mingyu: “…”
He felt even colder as he looked at Mu Boxing, but seeing that he didn't care and that he was walking quickly forward, he could only put on the man's uniform, which was one size larger than his own, and hurried to follow him. Bright blue mental threads spread with his footsteps, passing the entrance of the space station and seeing the numbered sign in front of the transfer module door.
"X7 Xinghai No. 3 Space Station."
Mingyu paused.
"X7?" He had a vague impression of this number.
It seemed like he was in a history class. Mingyu frowned and tried to recall, remembering that while he was distracted, he heard the old professor making a long and serious statement on the podium.
"Star Sea X7 is a small resource sea jointly developed by the Central Star Region and the Northern Celtic Star Region. Even before the destruction of the Northern Star Region, its location was extremely dangerous, located just outside the intersection of the Northern Star Region and the Black Tide. However, due to humanity's lack of high-concentration energy minerals, the Star Navigation Department, after preliminary research, has deemed it safe to mine."
"At the time, the Central Star Region and the Northern Star Region signed a joint mining agreement and formed a joint mining organization. Rumor has it that because the rare resources produced by Star Sea X7 are so precious, even the Celtic royal family of the Northern Star Region has participated in the mining process..."
Mingyu tried hard to recall the introduction he heard while half asleep in class.
"Safe mining did indeed continue for a year, but then disaster struck... The central star of Star Sea X7 was devoured from within by the Black Tide Star Beast left behind by the Black Tide Sun, causing a collapse and triggering a small-scale Black Tide energy explosion."
Mingyu widened his eyes slightly.
"Some say this accident was a prelude to the expansion of the Black Tide, a harbinger of the Dawn War. Others believe the Black Tide's energy erupted from the Central Star ten years before the Dawn War. Although it caused the Celtic Star Region to shrink, it was merely an accidental consequence..."
"What's even more controversial is that the results of the Xinghai accident investigation have never been made public. Rumors circulate that this is related to the struggle within the Celtic royal family in the Northern Star Region at the time..."
Mu Baixing had already entered the space station, passed through the transfer bay, and was about to enter the inner passage when he saw that the door leading into the space station was locked. The man looked cold and reached out, his slender fingers covering the heavy door panel.
The next moment, a dark golden spirit erupted from his palm with a fierceness that contrasted sharply with his indifferent expression. Its power drew a brilliantly colored X-shaped mark, scattering sparks as it violently sliced through the thick, silver-gray door.
With a resounding bang, the thick door panel was ripped apart by spiritual power, and fragments collapsed to the ground. Scattered golden spiritual light particles brushed Mingyu's cheek. The designer came to his senses and looked at Mu Baixing's back. Subconsciously, he stretched out his palm, and his fingertips brushed against the fading light spots.
Mu Baixing's mental power would not harm Mingyu, but the designer read some violentness from his energy fluctuations, which was different from his usual calmness.
He was slightly startled and subconsciously said, "Brother Mu?"
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