Chapter 504: The First Interstellar War (III) (2/2)

”Mayor…”

Luo Yuan heard their conversation, he waved his hand, ”Go check out what is going on. Don't be stressed. Go on!”

To humans, getting a couple of battleships damaged was nothing. With the high manufacturing rates, such battleships only require five to six days to build. In less than a month, they could easily be replenished. The only problem was their lack of resources.

Yuan Guoqing returned to his with a look of unease on his face. Luo Yuan looked at the screen but everything seemed to be normal. He frowned as he looked at the battleships that did not stop their approach on the beast but continued their attacks. He knew very well that as the spaceship was too far away from the battle so the video that they were watching on the screen was delayed by a few minutes.

As time passed, the battleships on the screen grew closer and they were now less than 10 kilometers from the creature. In outer space, such distances were considered to be risky to both the beast and the battleships as it would only take then less than a second to collide into each other. Luo Yuan's eyes did not leave the screen as he used his foresight to foresee accidents that would happen. Perhaps it sensed that its life was being threatened as it finally realized something was attacking it. The glow in the beast grew brighter and before long, it opened its mouth wide and shot a blue ray into the dark space.

All the battleship engines died, even the one that was quite a distance away.

”Investigate the damages on the battleships!” Luo Yuan commanded the artificial intelligence system in a serious tone.

”Gamma rays were detected and they lasted 15 nanoseconds. The radiation was 100,000,000 MeV and this was without a doubt, the reason why the battleships lost contact. The radiation levels were close to what a supernova that exploded 60 years ago would give off.”

Luo Yuan was shocked, knowing full well that this pathetic figure was not the true impact of the gamma rays as the figure was measured from ten million kilometers away. If its power was measured at point blank, it would be beyond human comprehension. After all, interstellar battleships were not meant to fly outside of space as they were made with the consideration of the environment they were meant to fly in - space. Its defense toward radiation and electromagnetic waves were quite strong and regular gamma rays and solar wind could do nothing to it unless it was beyond its defensive limits.

…

Luo Yuan noticed that the initially blur image of the interstellar creature on the screen that was initially blur due to interference was now clear. Its body was riddled with holes that were caused by the electromagnetic bullets. Blood was collecting into balls that floated around it, looking like pieces of precious stones. The interstellar creature seemed to have used up all the energy its in body which caused it to be completely silent now. Not only had it depleted its layer of energy, it did not even move any further. It looked like a dead body that floated around in space.

Luo Yuan stared at the gigantic beast for a long time and had an epiphany. He asked the artificial intelligence system ”Can the spaceship’s laser hit it?”

There were four main particle guns, four main electromagnetic guns and 125 laser guns on the spaceship. The first two was not suitable for long-distance attack. Although the particle gun could use the help of an accelerator to reach sub-light speeds, but particles were not as easy to control as photons. Since electromagnetic guns were too slow, by the time the weapon was ready, the target would have left its original point by a few thousand kilometers.

Though the beast did not seem like it was moving, everything was actually moving in space. Be it the sun or the planets nearby, the gravity of the planets would move it an a stunning speed.

On the other hand, laser guns would mainly serve as backups whose main purpose was to destroy small asteroids that were blocking the way. Its strength was weaker than the former two but it was sufficient to kill an interstellar creature that had lost its strength.

”Captain, unfortunately, the probability for the laser to hit the target is only 0.000167%!” The artificial intelligence system replied.

The probability was no difference than zero.

The artificial intelligence system then explained, ”The target is near the sun and its gravity would distort the light. I've detected the target and its actual location is estimated to be 12’ to 35’ [1]. Moreover, the star surfaces seemed violent and fluid like it could explode at any moment. The unusual changes in movements would cause small changes to gravity which in turn will cause the data to be unpredictable. However, if we are within one million kilometers, the success rate would go up to 1.45%.”

Luo Yuan instantly disagreed with the artificial intelligence system's suggestion in his mind. First of all, the first test flight had just ended and it was not wise to travel again. Even if he decided to fly there, it would take a long time to reach the destination. As the spaceship was not an unmanned craft, he had to consider if others could take the pressure of acceleration which had to maintained at 1G because they were human. At that rate, they would need three to four days to arrive and by then, with the strong Will the interstellar creature had, it would already have recovered. If they were unlucky and the creature decided to release another burst of gamma rays, their spaceship might just stop working.

Luo Yuan was solemn as he looked at the motionless interstellar creature. It was a rare chance and if he was to miss this opportunity, he had no idea when would be the perfect time.

”Please open the top cabin. I’ll be going into space.” Luo Yuan said to the artificial intelligence system after thinking for awhile.

”Copy that, opening the top cabin…”

Soon, he left the spaceship and ventured into space. He turned around to look at the spaceship as he initiated his space-time bubble and left.

Translator Notes:

[1] Unsure of the measurement unit the author is using so it is maintained as 12' to 35'. Likely that the author is talking about degrees.