Chapter 590: Return III (1/2)

Chapter 590: Return III

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

”No!” Aried jolted out of his trance and shouted. ”Stop! Quick, stop the ship!” His face was drained of blood.

”Halt!” Ye Chong gave the order without delay. Darkniss slowly came to a stop. Ye Chong looked to Aried and asked, ”What is it?”

Aried stuttered, ”This is spatial crack… No… There are cracks in space… It's unstable…” He was not making much sense, perhaps because of feeling too nervous.

Ye Chong frowned. ”Try again.”

Aried inhaled deeply and gathered himself. ”There are cracks in the space around here. These are small regions of chaotic spatial dimensions. These cracks in space move slowly, and anything in its way will be sliced into pieces. Our bodies cannot withstand spatial cracks. Besides, they are not visible to the naked eye. This place is dangerous. If our warship encounters a region with spatial cracks, everything in the warship, including us, will be cut into pieces.” He pointed to the holographic screen. ”Just like that rock!”

Everyone in the bridge looked horrified.

Aried paused for a moment, and then continued to explain quickly. ”Spatial cracks are caused by instabilities in space. So far, there are no theories to explain their method of formation, but the cracks are threats to us, without a doubt. Spatial cracks can destroy anything in this world, no matter how strong it is. However, few spatial cracks were ever observed, located in only a few places with spatial instability. We have too little research on them. I don't know much about them myself.”

Ye Chong looked calm. His composure soothed the panic in his crew members, for they trusted their commander. They believed that he would think up a way to counter this threat.

”What do you suggest?” Ye Chong asked Aried. He was the expert in this matter. Surely he must have a plan.

”We have no sensors to detect spatial cracks on this ship, so we can only build one from scratch. Quick! I need a good engineer.” Aried did not hesitate to ask for what he needed. This was not the time to be polite. If they were to find themselves in the path of a spatial crack, they would be finished.

”Alright! I'll help you.” Ye Chong did not hesitate to lend a hand either. He was the best man for the job on the ship.

Just as the two men began to leave, Sha Ya broke her silence. ”Perhaps I can help.”

Everyone looked at her. She still wore her typical calm expression, but her voice no longer sounded so hoarse. ”I can sense them.”

Aried stopped to absorb her words, and then blurted out with joy, ”Right right right, how could I have forgotten about you? You can sense the structure of spatial windows. These spatial cracks will not be a problem for you.”

Zeep! Suddenly, one of the holographic screens went dark. Someone reported, ”Hummingbird 311 was attacked and destroyed.” From the other holographic screens, they could see clearly how the Hummingbird was destroyed. It was on its way back to the ship when the entire bird structure suddenly collapsed into pieces. It was chilling to watch!

Everyone watched the Hummingbird silently broke into pieces in midair. It all happened in less than a second, without any warning. Nothing came into contact with the Hummingbird when it happened. The machine simply burst into pieces just like that, without any clear indication of why or how it happened. It was still uncertainty that left a strong impression in the crew.

”30 degrees off the radius vector!” Sha Ya suddenly raised her voice.

The bridge burst into activity after the initial silence. Crew members quickly directed the warship towards the right.

Ye Chong shook his head inside. These students needed more experience and training. His expression betrayed none of his thoughts. He knew that, as their leader, he must maintain a calm image so that his soldiers could stay calm as well.

As expected, the students quickly recovered from the initial shock and panic. They listened carefully to Sha Ya's instructions and directed their ship accordingly. Darkniss advanced as slow as possible.

The bridge was silent except for Sha Ya's directions. Aside from the few crew members in charge of flying the warship, the other crew members held their breaths and stared at the holographics screens.

Sha Ya knew the terminologies. She had gone through the same training as these students. Moreover, she had good spatial awareness. Darkniss flew without any issue.

Nevertheless, everyone on the ship did not relax. In fact, they were tensed. They had seen rocks of different sizes crumbling on the screens. Of all the Hummingbirds they deployed, only three made it back. The others were all metal scraps now.

Ye Chong took a glance at Sha Ya, focused on her parapsychic feedback, and then turned to Aried. ”Will there be danger ahead of us?”

Aried smiled bitterly. ”I don't know. Spatial cracks are rarely discovered, and they are too dangerous. Any experiments done on them were by powerful and resourceful research organizations. Someone like me never stood a chance. I've never heard of any significant results from their research so far. We know simply too little about them.”

Ye Chong went quiet. He considered for a moment, and then asked, ”Is it possible to have spatial windows around here?”

Aried nodded. ”Where there are spatial cracks, it is very likely to have spatial windows too. As long as there is enough energy to stimulate it …”

Aried and Ye Chong exchanged a look.

Aried suddenly got excited. ”Spatial windows, right, it's spatial windows! There must be spatial windows that lead elsewhere in this place! Perhaps the red-tailed beasts entered the He Yue Galaxy through here. Right! It's very likely the case!”

The possibility for returning to the He Yue Galaxy was real. Standing beside Ye Chong, Rui Bing's eyes gleamed with hope.

”We need to survive this first.” Ye Chong's calm voice shook Aried out of his excitement. Aried considered their situation for a while, and then raised his head. ”We can only rely on Sha Ya for now. Regions with spatial cracks are usually not very big. They are actually regions with spatial instability. Once the region reached a certain size, space will collapsed back into itself. Based on the current speed, however, it will take a few days.”

Everyone looked towards Sha Ya, who had shut her eyes and looked very peaceful.

The warship had flown for two days. Aside from the one time when it brushed past a spatial crack on its side, the journey was uneventful. The close call left a half-meter deep gash in the thick hull armor. There were crack marks inside the gash. Everyone felt chilled when it happened, but the hull was soon repaired.

Ye Chong had never flown a ship so slowly, but he had no choice. Some things were best left to the professionals. This was something Ye Chong learned a long time ago.