Chapter 127 The Penrose Triangle
The goat's words made the atmosphere inside and outside the interrogation room heavy.
The Penrose Triangle, a spatial trap that could have trapped Caesar.
A multicolored black, a high-dimensional fragment capable of triggering spatial anomalies.
Caesar was now essentially locked in a nuclear trap. He was practically within striking distance of the Alliance's territory.
This is indeed not a scheme that the You family could have devised.
Situ Linchen had always suspected that there were higher-level traitors within the council, but he had no evidence.
"Who is behind this?" Situ Linchen demanded sharply.
The goat shook his head: "I was being blackmailed by them, so naturally I thought about finding a way to get leverage against them. But that line was very well hidden. I used all the channels outside the circle, but I couldn't find any trace of it."
Behind the one-way glass, Situ Linchen's chief of staff's finger hovered over the control panel of the lie detector.
The goat's testimony confirmed their worst suspicions. But the subsequent interrogation yielded no further information.
Situ Linchen and Ning Shuyin exchanged a glance and walked out of the interrogation room with solemn expressions.
"The highest priority now is to find that high-dimensional fragment and destroy it far away from the Alliance."
That night, the Allied Fleet staff room was sleepless.
The wartime star map coordinates were repeatedly calibrated, and the spatial analysis model was processed at high speed overnight.
At dawn the following day, a light assault warship assembled overnight was docked at the military launch platform of the Alice Space Station.
Situ Linchen and Ning Shuyin both appeared in the warship's command center.
Zhou Zhiheng sat opposite them.
As a businessman, he should have had nothing to do with this operation.
At least during last night's discussion of the plan, Situ Linchen made it clear: "This is not a business negotiation, Zhou Zhiheng, you don't need to participate in the rescue."
However, Zhou Zhiheng's gaze swept over Ning Shuyin: "If she wants to go, then I will go with her. Otherwise, I will take her away as her boss."
Situ Linchen: "..."
In the end, Zhou Zhiheng boarded the warship. But he did not come alone.
He convened Zhou's top space analysts overnight to form a support team for the rescue operation.
At this moment, the fleet's search and rescue experts, as well as Zhou's space technology analysts, are giving a detailed report.
"Marshal, the Penrose Triangle is a theoretically unsolvable spatial paradox. Conventional search and rescue operations may cause more fleets to get lost within it."
Search and rescue experts pulled up a dynamic simulation image. In the image, a small ant is moving forward on a Möbius strip.
"Based on our preliminary exploration of the coordinates, this Penrose triangle utilizes a fourth spatial dimension to bend three-dimensional space, so that the exit in three-dimensional space is seamlessly connected back to the entrance."
"Those who fall into it are like ants crawling on a Möbius strip, thinking they are walking in a straight line, but in reality they can never escape this cycle."
Zhou Zhiheng interlaced his fingers and coldly looked at the simulation diagram: "This is not just a Möbius strip. Its internal structure will be irregularly twisted due to Caesar's power fluctuations, making it even more complex."
The Zhou family's space-time repair pod utilizes space technology, and he has a deep understanding of the factors influencing space structures.
“Yes, Chairman Zhou is right.” The search and rescue expert nodded and continued, “Currently, there are two possible solutions.”
"Option one is to launch an attack from a higher dimension. It's like making a planar structure jump out of the paper."
He spoke as he demonstrated on the structural diagram.
One hand simply lifted the ant off the Möbius strip.
“By building a temporary dimensional bridge, we can send the rescue team to the outside of the trap and safely bring Caesar out. This is the Alliance’s most mature method for dealing with rescues in anomalous spaces.”
“But…” The expert’s gaze turned to the analyst Zhou Zhiheng had brought.
The analyst immediately chimed in: "Because there is a high-dimensional substance in the space, any dimensional ascension operation may stimulate it, and once a chain reaction is triggered, the consequences are unpredictable."
“Then, only option two remains.” The analyst unfolded his drawings. “Use a singularity bomb, also known as a phase resonance bomb, to forcibly open an exit at the structural singularity of the Penrose triangle.”
"The moment this gap appears, Caesar, who is trapped inside, will be pushed out along with the higher-dimensional fragments by the powerful spatial tension."
A moment of silence fell over the command center.
Option one is far too risky. But option two is not necessarily safe either.
"Option one is a mature technology, while the effectiveness of option two in the history of space rescue is rarely verified. How do you ensure that the impact point calculation of the singularity bomb is accurate?" a senior officer asked in a deep voice. "What if it causes a spatial anomaly and the surrounding fleet is also sucked in?"
He voiced the concerns of most people.
“We cannot guarantee absolute accuracy,” the analyst replied honestly, “but we do not have a third option.”
Another suffocating silence ensued.
All eyes, heavy or resolute, were turned to the person who could make the final decision.
“Plan two,” Situ Linchen said.
The warship was approaching its destination. Ning Shuyin, dressed in a striking black combat uniform, stood by the porthole of the small warship.
A white sphere the size of a basketball floated up outside the window—it was a space beacon.
After approaching the coordinates, the ship will fire a beacon at short intervals.
Once they spot a beacon that had been left behind by the voyage suddenly flying towards them after traveling some distance, it means they have arrived at their destination.
"Report, there is a fluctuation in the signal of beacon number 9!" a technician suddenly shouted.
On the live feed, the image of Beacon 9 was stretched and distorted on the screen, as if being torn apart by an invisible force.
“It’s been swept up,” the search and rescue expert exclaimed. “Right there, start calculating.”
The experts inside the command center began their focused calculations. An hour later, a coordinate was calculated.
"Initiate phase resonance missile launch procedure, countdown in progress."
"All auxiliary ships retreat to a safe distance and deploy their receiving arrays. Main ship engine power reduced to minimum, energy shield activated."
A phase resonance bullet was fired, aimed at the unseen singularity in the void.
Ning Shuyin's senses were activated. She wanted to use this to find out where Caesar was.
The space ahead was like a piece of clay that had been repeatedly folded, and the threads of perception penetrated the nothingness hidden within the folds.
"Success!" the technician shouted excitedly from the back.
But Ning Shuyin sensed that something was wrong.
Her power seemed to have entered a bottomless, ever-turning abyss.
The space in front of them not only didn't spew out anything, but instead resembled a black hole, frantically sucking up everything around it.
"Warning! Spatial structure collapse! Abnormally strong gravity!"
The alarm blared throughout the command center, and the warship began to shake violently.
"Engine overload! Shield failure!"
"More than 30% of the ship's structure has been damaged!"
"Abandon ship!" Situ Linchen made a decisive move, grabbing Ning Shuyin's hand and pushing her toward the nearest escape route. "Get into the escape pod, hurry up."
Single-person escape pods popped out from the walls of the corridor.
"Everyone, enter the single escape pods."
In the chaos, Ning Shuyin hurriedly ran into one of the cabins, and the door closed in front of her.
In her last moments of vision, she saw Situ Linchen and Zhou Zhiheng also enter different escape pods.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
One by one, escape pods detached from the warship. Then, the colossal vessel was torn apart by space itself.
And those small, spherical escape pods also couldn't escape being swallowed up by the spatial turbulence.
They were all sucked into that darkness.
When Ning Shuyin regained consciousness, she felt as if she were floating in a warm ocean.
The surrounding area consisted of broken escape pods.
There are no up, down, left, or right here, only the soft liquid enveloping her.
She felt no restriction on her body and could move freely as if swimming.
She tried to activate her supernatural abilities, but strangely found that her perception was amplified infinitely here.
She could see very far. There were two familiar points of light—Situ Linchen and Zhou Zhiheng.
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