bioinnovel Chapter 489 Detour!
Chapter 489 Detour!
After the new route deviated from the main path, the Chaos Mech's thruster output dropped to 60%.
It's not because it saves energy.
In order to reduce energy characteristics.
The detection range of the White Light Patrol is unknown.
It leaves a trail of flame at 120 times the speed of light near the boundary of its patrol area, which is no different from handing out a business card.
Zhang Yan limited the thruster output to below 80 times the speed of light, allowing the mecha to glide slowly almost touching the wall of the channel, just like the drifting meteorites that could be seen everywhere in the channel.
The entire mech's energy readings dropped to their lowest point since the start of this mission.
"Entering a new flight segment, expected to pass through an unknown node in 36 hours."
Guan Xing stared at the navigation screen, his tone calm.
Zhang Yan did not respond.
He pushed the radar sensitivity to its limit, staring at the edge of the white residual energy zone ahead.
The residue on the screen appears as an irregular bright spot, indistinguishable from moldy stains.
The Chaos Mech's new flight path bypasses its outer edge, with a distance of twenty kilometers.
It's not far, but it's enough.
The bright spot remained motionless on the screen, without any change.
For the next fourteen hours, nothing happened.
Zhang Yan and the stargazer take turns on duty, changing shifts every six hours.
The channel was extremely quiet, with even less spatial turbulence.
This quiet is more unsettling than turbulence.
Guan Xing did not go back to the back row to rest before the second shift started.
She leaned back in the passenger seat, clutching a data tablet, her eyes unfocused.
"The records of the Heavenly Pavilion contain a total of seven eyewitness accounts of the White Light Patrolman."
When she spoke, Zhang Yan thought she was going to report data.
"Seven articles."
Zhang Yan repeated it.
"Seven within three hundred years."
Guan Xing said, "None of the information sources are from the eyewitnesses themselves."
The meaning is very clear.
No witness survived.
"The most recent instance was about two hundred years ago, when a commercial fleet passed through this area and sent out a very brief emergency beacon. Eleven years were spent tracking it, but nothing was found. Even the beacon itself disappeared."
How many people are in the fleet?
Three hundred and twelve.
The stargazer put away his tablet.
"Three hundred and twelve people, one emergency beacon, and then that was it."
There were no other sounds in the cockpit except for the low-frequency scanning sound of the radar.
"However, the commercial fleet encountered the White Light Patrol because of poor route planning; they went off the edge of a forbidden zone. We avoided it."
Guan Xing adjusted his glasses.
Zhang Yan remained silent.
This sounds more like she's talking to herself.
"Are you sure Chaos can't withstand it?"
Zhang Yan asked.
"Judging from the cuts in the wreckage, the energy density of that attack exceeded the upper limit of any known interstellar weapon."
Guan Xing calmly stated, "The shield of chaos can't even withstand the charging phase at that level."
"That's why we don't meet."
Zhang Yan said.
Guan Xing glanced at him.
"Yes, that's why we didn't meet."
She repeated it.
She later went to the back row and slept for two hours.
Zhang Yan was on duty alone.
The bright white spot on the radar screen remained motionless, showing no change whatsoever.
He maintained the Chaos Mech's speed at 78 times the speed of light, slowly circling in an arc.
Late at night, the quantum entanglement channel turned on its green light.
No live call was connected.
The source was an encrypted data packet sent by Nie Qingcheng, which was extremely small in size.
Zhang Yan clicked on it.
Everything is fine at home. Go home soon.
Eight characters.
He extracted the communication and put it into a metal box close to his body.
That metal box contained everything related to Nie Qingcheng that he had set out with.
All together, it was just a few short messages, a thirty-second phone recording, and the quiet moment on the night before she left, when her breathing was steady as she leaned against him.
He replied with a brief message before his shift ended.
It's never too late to be on the road.
She only realized after sending the message that there was a delay in the quantum entanglement channel; he might have already reached the Ruins of Return by the time she received it.
He did not retreat and continued to keep his eyes on the radar.
As Zhang Yan's third shift was drawing to a close, the sound of stargazing came from the back row.
"Two thousand kilometers away from the unknown node."
She's awake. "I've started a remote scan; the images will be ready in ten minutes."
"it is good."
Ten minutes later, the image came out.
Guan Xing paused in his breathing for a moment.
"Zhang Yan, take a look at the main screen."
On the main screen, the image returned by the remote optical detector is automatically sharpened and enlarged.
That is not a naturally formed spatial fold point.
Regular icosahedron.
A perfect geometric structure, with sides approximately two hundred kilometers long, and each triangle's face is densely covered with runes.
The arrangement of the runes is completely of the same origin as the runes on the inner wall of the first underground gate in Shennongjia, but they are denser and more complex. The underlying logic of the entire gate network has been compressed and engraved on the outer shell.
It hovers at the junction of the shipping lanes, emitting no light and utterly silent; it is a lighthouse uninhabited by anyone.
"This is man-made."
The stargazer's voice tightened, "Someone built something here."
Zhang Yan did not approach immediately, limiting the output power to the minimum, and hovered 500 kilometers away.
The Heart of Heaven jumped on its own before he could trigger it.
A faint golden pulse emanated from his chest, its frequency perfectly matching the runes on the surface of the icosahedron.
The Heart of Nature possesses an innate understanding of this structure.
"Scan its rune structure and cross-compare it with the underlying protocol of the gate network."
Zhang Yan said.
"Running."
Thirty seconds later, the results popped up.
Match rate: 99.1%.
Guan Xing stared at the number for three seconds without saying a word.
Zhang Yan pushed the control lever and slowly approached.
Over a distance of 300 kilometers, the spirit of nature has resonated so strongly that it can't stop.
The frequency of the pulsation was familiar, exactly the same as when I first approached the first gate of Shennongjia.
But even stronger is the resonance response seen at a higher level of the same kind.
"The system is attempting to establish a connection automatically."
Zhang Yan glanced at the instrument panel. "I'll disable it for now."
"Don't block it."
The stargazer spoke quickly, half a beat faster than usual, "Let it recognize it, and see what the system returns."
Zhang Yan removed the blocking command.
The golden light of the Heart of Heaven spread out from his chest.
A stream of data quietly popped up in the corner of the main screen.
[Recognizing...]
[Gate Network - Remote Relay Station - No. 47]
Construction time: Approximately 31,000 years ago
Current status: Hibernating
[Available Permissions: Maintainer Agreement]
Zhang Yan stared at the line of text.
Thirty-one thousand years ago, thousands of years before the gate network itself was built.
The builder of this thing did not intend to build a gate, but to pave a road. Before the gate was built, someone had already planned the interstellar route.
"Try to activate."
According to the Star Gazing Theory.
"I know."
Zhang Yan switched the output mode of the Heavenly Craftsmanship Heart to the maintainer's privileges and sent a set of calibration pulses to the core frequency band of the icosahedron.
Almost simultaneously, the runes on the surface of that colossal object, which was two hundred kilometers wide, began to glow.
Instead of the entire area lighting up at once, the light starts from a triangular facet at the bottom and spreads upwards row by row.
Golden light spread along the ridges of the edges, igniting each wick from the inside out.
It was slow, but unstoppable.