Chapter 219 : Chapter 219 Is it you calling me?
That genius girl of Spatio-temporal Studies, who was once confident and proud to the outside world, became closed off and silent once again, remaining taciturn all day long.
Since Mu's departure, the living environment of the Azure Star deteriorated at a rate visible to the naked eye; the disaster that took his life was merely a precursor.
Snow fell year-round, and the minimum temperature in human settlements plummeted to over thirty degrees below zero, and it was still falling.
In just half a year, the extreme cold broke through minus fifty degrees Celsius.
Many cities had to use Spatial Studies technology to partition and isolate areas, erecting special spatial walls for centralized heating control to barely withstand the invasion of the cold wave.
Thanks to the United Government's significant technological advancements in the field of Spatial Studies, humanity was not only spared from being forced into underground bunkers, but was also able to maintain livestock and crops.
Even so, the increasingly severe environment weighed heavily on the hearts of all scientists—
If things continued like this, perhaps humanity would perish within the fog of remembrance even before the Red Giant erupted.
Various emergency plans were proposed, among which the Jump Project, which no one dared to attempt lightly again, returned to the highest priority.
Identifying the root cause of the problem, finding the missing correct space jump coordinates, and saving the Azure Star from the brink of destruction became matters of extreme urgency.
Over a hundred spaceships, representing the United Government's highest technological standards, were constructed one after another. After continuous disputes and tugs-of-war between various parties, the candidates for the mission were finally finalized.
The saturated Deliverance mission, [Space-time Coordinates], officially began in May of the azure calendar year 2143.
"..."
Herta slowly exhaled a breath she had been holding for a long time.
Reliving this deeply etched memory with her own eyes brought nothing but added sorrow, along with the helplessness and nostalgia of seeing how things had changed.
The memory images before her shattered and reorganized.
As a brand-new scene formed, Herta fell silent in her heart.
"Do you guys actually still want to go back?!"
"We almost died passing through the fog zone last time. Now that we've finally escaped, honestly, haven't you thought about looking for a new civilization?"
"The ship's fuel is limited; think it through!"
The atmosphere inside the ship became strange, and different thoughts flashed through the minds of the four people.
After a while, the pilot, co-pilot, and another scientist reached a consensus.
Three gazes, each carrying different intentions, fell simultaneously upon the expressionless young girl.
"Herta, your family and ancestors all died to save the world, and so did Mu. Don't you want to stay away from that disaster-stricken planet?"
"Come with us. The ship's energy can still support us across two thousand light-years. There's a high probability of finding a new human civilization."
"Exactly... why risk diving back into the fog of remembrance? If we happen to fall into the deeper Labyrinth Zone, it'll be certain death."
Facing the repeated persuasion of the three, there was no emotional fluctuation on Herta's face as her calm gaze swept across their eyes one by one.
"If you want to leave, then leave. But the ship stays."
Her simple, almost sentence-like tone instantly ignited the anger of the three.
Leave the ship?
Without the ship, how could they leave? What an ungrateful brat.
"Since you refuse to do this the easy way, then you'll just have to die!"
"I've been annoyed by you for a long time anyway. If it weren't for your family, how could the Azure Star have become like this? How could we have become like this?!"
"Remember to be born into a better family in your next life."
The pilot's eyes gleamed with murderous intent. He was just about to strike with the other two to get rid of the seemingly defenseless girl.
But in the next second—
A gap suddenly opened beneath their seats, and both the people and their chairs were swallowed into it as the safety buckles automatically unlatched.
By the time the empty seats returned to their original positions, the three people who had been sitting there had been ejected directly into outer space like trash.
Herta calmly walked to the pilot's seat and sat down, fastened her seatbelt, and looked indifferently at the figures gradually receding into space.
The core technology of the Space-time series spaceships had been provided and designed by her personally.
Without her, the United Government would never have been able to build a ship with such incredible speed.
Next would be her embarking on the journey home alone, and it was after that that she met Qi Zhimu.
But why... can't I remember the reason for the crash?
Just as the thought flashed, the world she was in changed again, laying out the answer directly before her eyes.
While flying over a certain Memory-Substance World, translucent humanoid Virtual Substance Wraiths appeared by the ship's engines without warning and destroyed them.
Power was completely lost; the ship's fate was sealed.
At the final moment, she sent out a one-way distress signal that could only be used once.
"..."
Witnessing the entire crash process, Herta was stunned, and several profound images surfaced in her mind—
Not long after meeting Qi Zhimu, he had told a story that was actually an accident and not at all heartwarming.
A coincidence...?
She shook off her messy thoughts, and the scene before her switched once more.
One emergency rescue ship after another, bearing the United Government's logo, followed the coordinates of the distress signal and entered the same Memory-Substance World in succession.
The outcome was always the same: their engines were destroyed by Virtual Substance Wraiths, and they could no longer control the ships.
Most of the ships were destroyed with all hands lost; a few managed to eject escape pods in time, but the landing devices failed one after another.
Even if some landing devices opened successfully, they would be targeted by the wraiths in mid-air.
It seemed that as long as something was floating in the air, whether it was a vehicle or a person with an open parachute, it would be subjected to indiscriminate hostility and hunting.
This was exactly the same as the setting of the wraiths that Qi Zhimu had once described...
So her crash back then was also because of these wraiths?
If Qi Zhimu had seen the entire process, then could he be found nearby in advance?
Fate did not seem willing to grant her wish this time.
She still couldn't find Qi Zhimu, and the switching scenes had nothing to do with him either, instead arriving inside another spaceship.
Codename: 013.
Herta's gaze narrowed.
She remembered this ship; the information Helena gave her clearly recorded that all four people on No. 013 belonged to the rebels.
They weren't performing a Deliverance mission at all; they were responsible for intercepting and destroying the ships that truly carried the mission.
At this moment, Ship 013 had just successfully destroyed No. 074.
"Success. Begin searching for the next target."
A cold voice echoed in the cabin.
The pilot turned the flight direction and was about to fly toward the nearest coordinates shown on the detection radar when a sudden change occurred.
The man sitting in the back row silently unbuckled his seatbelt and drew a short knife hidden on his person.
After a brief silence, he rushed out like an arrow leaving a bow.
Puchi—
Three dull sounds rang out in succession, leaving behind three pairs of eyes that would not close in death.
In less than two seconds, the man had cleanly and efficiently dealt with all his companions, then quickly rushed to the dashboard and control console, his hands trembling as he retrieved unknown data.
Standing from a third-person perspective, Herta saw it clearly.
He was looking for the coordinate information carried by the distress signal and obtained two video clips, both of which showed the process of the wraiths destroying the ship's engines.
The records showed that these two clips were uploaded to the entire network by the last two rescue ships before they crashed.
They were also the ships that last responded to the support signal; there was no further follow-up.
Obviously, knowing that indiscriminate Virtual Substance Wraiths were entrenched there, no ship dared to go for rescue anymore.
Losing a ship in the Memory-Substance World, especially in the Labyrinth Zone, was almost no different from death.
...What did this man who killed his companions intend to do?
Herta's heart was filled with confusion.
But she never expected that the low voice the man uttered would carry a bone-deep sense of familiarity.
"...Little Ta, are you calling me...?"
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