Section 341 Blue Nebula
To safely fly out of the asteroid ring, the starship was equipped with numerous mechanical arms, making it look just like a mining vessel. Carefully clearing the floating rocks around it, the Rock slowly made its way out of the ring. The little boy's bodyguards truly lived up to their elite status, each operating with extreme professionalism.
Ye Zhong connected with the base. The situation with Sanpu and the others remained unchanged. Ye Zhong didn't tell them about his current predicament, only saying he had some matters to attend to and would need a considerable amount of time before returning to the base. He explicitly stated that he would be out of contact for a long time and that all decisions were to be made by Sanpu. Everyone at the base was immersed in endless training; who would have thought of Ye Zhong's current situation? But even if they knew, there was nothing they could do, which was the main reason Ye Zhong didn't inform them.
Long-distance space travel was incredibly monotonous and tedious. The formulation lab had been taken over by Feisi, who spent almost all her time there, beginning her research on the data from the blue chip.
"If we follow your design, it's indeed feasible, but..." The old man, Po Che, furrowed his brows, staring at Ye Zhong's design scheme on the holographic screen. "But are you sure this kind of aircraft has any killing power? Their attacks are far too simplistic." Displayed prominently on the holographic screen was the Impact Mecha.
"If it has high flight speed and agile maneuverability, its killing power is quite considerable," Ye Zhong explained.
"It places too much strain on the pilot!" Po Che shook his head.
"Then we enhance the pilot's physical fitness." Was there any need to worry about the physical fitness of those Sang tribesmen?
"Pure physical impact requires very high material hardness," Po Che said dismissively.
"Hmm, no need to worry about that. I've already found suitable materials." The bone materials grown under high gravity from Qian Yu Di possessed exceptionally outstanding physical properties.
"Alright then, I'll give it a try." Po Che hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement.
With the help of this professor, who had profound expertise in ancient machinery, the perfection of the Impact Mecha was just around the corner. Ye Zhong naturally didn't let this opportunity slip, following Po Che every day. Po Che was quite surprised by this. Ancient machinery had completely fallen out of favor; this was the first time he had encountered someone so interested in it. For someone who had devoted his entire life to ancient machinery, there was probably nothing more gratifying. He naturally imparted all his knowledge without reservation.
Ye Zhong took this chance to absorb everything voraciously, frequently asking questions about things that had previously puzzled him. Sometimes the little boy also came to listen, but he would soon curl his lip in disdain, saying, "Learning ancient machinery isn't as practical as studying optical circuits." Ye Zhong couldn't be bothered to explain.
Rui Bing diligently practiced her routines every day. Since the first day her father taught her combat, she had never missed a single day's practice. Perseverance was the primary quality that enabled her to become a Jie Zhe. In contrast, Rui Su, who had more innate talent than her, now only possessed average skills. Ye Zhong gave her the method of Ming Xi from the Zong Suo and the data from the Shu Cheng Masters, to see if it could help her. Ye Zhong was never stingy with his companions.
Everyone stared at the holographic screen, involuntarily holding their breath. On the screen, a small fleet passed by about five hundred kilometers away from them. In space, five hundred kilometers was no different from brushing past someone on the street. The fleet consisted of thirty starships, with mechas occasionally flying out from them, providing protection around the fleet.
Everyone's hearts were in their throats. If they were discovered now, or if someone on a whim decided to fire a shot at this large rock, they would be in serious trouble.
The Rock continued its slow flight, but they dared not accelerate now, fearing it would alert the other party.
Time crawled by agonizingly slowly. Everyone felt extremely anxious. Moments like these were an extreme test of psychological fortitude.
Time passed minute by minute, second by second.
When the fleet disappeared behind them, everyone finally let out a sigh of relief. The first major hurdle had been passed. Even Ye Zhong had felt somewhat tense just then, let alone the others. Those with poorer psychological resilience now looked completely drained.
A crisis that passes by slowly, right before your eyes, exerts far greater pressure than one that flashes by in an instant.
"Are we really going into the nebula?" Po Che asked quietly, his brows furrowed with unconcealed worry.
Ye Zhong nodded: "Yes, we're going in!" His calm voice carried a note of firmness. He couldn't think of any other way to leave Zhou Jian Star, which was already isolated. But if they didn't leave, encountering the Three Great Families would definitely be very bad.
Ye Zhong wasn't confident enough in his facial disguise to believe it could fool the Three Great Families. Almost every encounter with people from the Three Great Families had been dangerous. It was precisely this point that drove Ye Zhong's urgent desire to leave Zhou Jian Star.
Rui Bing was indifferent about the destination; she only wished to stay by Ye Zhong's side. Gently touching the Guardian Ring on her finger, Rui Bing's gaze softened. Since Rui Bing remained silent, the others consciously refrained from speaking. The little boy was quite excited about entering the nebula, but his bodyguards all wore expressions of concern.
As soon as they entered the nebula, the Rock shuddered violently. Its already slow speed decreased to a snail's pace. Ye Zhong immediately ordered the decoupling of the camouflaging rock layer on the starship's exterior. The Rock's speed promptly increased somewhat.
"Turn on the optical system," Po Che reminded them. "Inside here, holographic scanning is less effective than the optical system." He then added: "All communication equipment is unusable here, but the interstellar positioning system works." The fact that the positioning system worked meant they could choose to retreat if necessary.
Unbeknownst to Ye Zhong and the others, about five hours after they entered the nebula, the Three Great Families' fleet passed not far from the location where Ye Zhong's group had flown into the nebula.
In the universe, every nebula is immense. Some nebulae encompass regions even vaster than an entire star domain. What exactly is the scene inside these nebulae? No one knows. What are the planets within these nebulae like? Are they dead, devoid of any life, or do they host unique organisms? Again, no one knows.
The Blue Nebula was boundless, even more vast and magnificent than an ocean. Within the nebula, the light from some stars pierced through the pale blue clouds, like gems adorning a piece of blue gauze, shimmering with brilliant radiance.
The nebula was entirely different in nature from the Red Mist Sea Ye Zhong had encountered before. The red mist in the Red Mist Sea was like fog and could become increasingly viscous. But the nebula seemed illusory, without any substantial feeling. Yet, the blue nebula was indeed distributed all around the starship.
Like smoke, like illusion, the nebula occasionally shimmered with extremely faint traces of light from within its虚幻substance.
Soon, the Rock, like a fish beginning to adapt to the surrounding waters, resumed its normal speed, as if the nebula had no effect on it whatsoever.
"Space jumps are possible within the nebula, but we need to reach the previous jump point first," Po Che said.
"Grandpa Po Che, how did you find that jump point last time?" Feisi was curious about this.
The question clearly touched a sore spot for Po Che. His expression darkened. "That time, we encountered a Snowrace Clan starship inside. They were utterly unreasonable and actually opened fire on us. We were no match for them, so we had no choice but to flee. But their starship's performance was far superior to ours. Seeing that they would catch up to us soon, we had no alternative but to initiate a space jump. We originally thought we were surely doomed. Who knew that heaven was playing a rather ironic joke on us? It actually sent us to the Natural Star Zone."
The little boy chimed in, "The old man is absolutely right! Those great families like the Snowrace are all no good!" As he spoke, he kept waving his little fists, as if seeking justice for Po Che.
Po Che felt greatly comforted and affectionately patted the little boy's head. The boy thoroughly enjoyed this gesture from Po Che, narrowing his eyes like a contented cat. The expressions on the faces of the little boy's bodyguards became very unnatural, and some even showed hints of bitter smiles. As for the scarred man beside the boy, he remained as expressionless as ever.
At this moment, Po Che was like an old grandfather telling stories to his grandson. The little boy, chin in hand, listened with rapt attention.
"The nebula is incredibly beautiful. When we looked at it from the outside, we often marveled at its beauty. But when we truly entered the nebula, I realized it was even more magnificent inside. Only by actually entering the nebula can one feel its vastness, its boundlessness. That time, everything was calm at first, and our hearts gradually settled... until the thirty-fifth day, when we encountered danger!"
Now, not only the little boy but everyone who was free gathered around.
"We encountered an eddy current. It was tremendously powerful. We saw with our own eyes a small celestial body over a hundred kilometers in diameter get sucked into it. Before it even reached the center of the eddy, it was torn to pieces! At that time, we were all terrified, breaking out in cold sweat. Everyone desperately controlled the starship, trying to break free from the eddy's pull. We pushed the engines to the maximum. We could only just stabilize the starship, completely unable to escape. This situation lasted for three whole days. After three days, the eddy's suction force gradually began to weaken, and we were fortunate enough to break free from it."
Just as everyone was listening intently, someone suddenly shouted, "Look! What's that outside?"