The Highest Bounty

Chapter 36: Interstellar Storm

In the cabin, Gu Ding could feel the Kittyhawk Model shaking slightly.

“The aftermath is still some distance away from us. So far, it hasn’t affected us greatly.” Neptune still sounded a little pessimistic. “I’ve already changed the Kittyhawk Model’s route, but according to the calculations based on the Kittyhawk Model’s maximum speed, we still can’t totally avoid the effects of the aftermath. The best we can do is to evade the epicenter of the impact as much as possible.”

“What will happen if we are affected?” Gu Ding had heard of some things related to the Interstellar Course when he was in the Basic Military Academy. From what he heard, encounters with interstellar storms were quite serious. For example, the spacecraft would disintegrate, and most life forms would be ripped into pieces in an instant.

“The spacecraft’s instruments will stop working. If we’re lucky, the spacecraft will only be slightly damaged, but will deviate from its course. If we’re unlucky, the spacecraft might get hit by stray meteorites and be destroyed.” Neptune continued, “I will do my best to navigate the spacecraft and evade the meteorites. However, you should be mentally prepared in the event that the spacecraft is destroyed.”

“What can I do?” Even though Gu Ding had taken spacecraft piloting as an elective back in the Basic Military Academy, after a year of classes, he had only gone through three lessons with simulated piloting, while the rest were all theory lessons. Moreover, he had undergone those classes when he first entered the Basic Military Academy, which was more than two years ago. Therefore, he knew that he would not do a better job at piloting the spacecraft than Neptune.

“You should enter the escape cabin first. Fortunately, I had helped you to choose a D-class escape cabin which is better quality. Back then, I considered the possibilities of something like this happening. Even if the spacecraft is destroyed, it shouldn’t be too big of the problem.” The escape cabin that Neptune had chosen back then possessed a short-distance flight function and was controllable too. It cost almost half a million Star Credits, which was why Gu Ding objected at the time.

However, Neptune had said, “Those who often travel through the cosmos know that the escape cabin is more important than the aircraft itself. If the aircraft is destroyed, you can buy a new one, but if the escape cabin is destroyed, you won’t ever get a second chance.

After hearing his words, Gu Ding decided to compromise and let the merchant install this escape cabin.

Just as Gu Ding was heading into the aftermath of the interstellar storm, almost all the video channels of Skyriver Sector started simultaneously broadcasting the same piece of news.

“There has been a collision between Gulan and Great Luminance of the Skyriver Sector. This has caused a large-scale interstellar storm. Residents of nearby planets are advised to not panic and to enter the corresponding areas to take refuge in accordance with the instructions of the local government. Spacecraft nearby are advised to change course as soon as possible and leave the affected areas. This interstellar storm is estimated to end in 20 days. Please pay close attention to your safety during this period. As soon as the storm ends, we will make the corresponding announcements …”

This short video broadcast caused a lot of people to panic. Gulan was an ancient star that had existed for more than tens of billions of years, and was one of the biggest stars in the Skyriver Sector. On the other hand, Great Luminance had only existed for around two billion years, but was the biggest star in the Skyriver Sector. Even though scientists had considered the collision of these two stars very early on, according to their calculations back then, the probability of these two planets colliding was relatively small, standing at less than one percent. Even so, such unlikely events often occurred throughout the history of science. There was also a saying in the scientific community that went, “Many times it is unreliable to speak with probability.”

The collision of the stars would also cause the two different small galaxies to be utterly destroyed. Fortunately, the two stars’ temperatures were so high that it caused the surface temperatures of the various planets within the small galaxies to be well in the thousands of degrees. It was completely unsuitable for the survival of living beings, so they were all no-habitable zones.

“The position of Gulan and Great Luminance…” Parma was shocked when she heard the news, then immediately responded, “Gu Ding’s ship should pass through here, so his current position should be here…”

Parma’s wristwatch was no ordinary wristwatch. It was a high-end product that was worth millions of Star Credits and had many functions which the common civilian wristwatch did not. Thus, it took little effort for her to calculate the possible position of the Kittyhawk Model. Looking at the location of the red dot on the projection of the wristwatch, she saw that there was some overlap with the area of the interstellar storm’s aftermath that had been shown in the broadcast just now. There was a nervous tremor in her heart, and she quickly dialed Gu Ding’s number.

“The person you’ve called is currently unavailable…” The voice from the wristwatch’s communication headset reported.

She was unsatisfied, and called a few more times, only to receive the same response every time. Feeling helpless, she dialed Modican’s number.

“Parma, what’s wrong?” Under normal circumstances, it was rare for Parma to call him. Even when she had encountered problems regarding the refining of medicine, she would usually just leave a message and wait for him to reply. Unless she was having an emergency, she would not call him.

“Teacher, there was a video broadcast just now about the news of the collision between Gulan and Great Luminance. All the nearby districts are being affected by a large-scale interstellar storm.”

“I saw that too. Cerule might be slightly affected by the aftermath, but it will be cut off by the atmosphere, so you don’t have to worry about it.” Modican thought Parma was panicking because of the news, and that was why she had called him, so he comforted her immediately. He even laughed to himself. ‘Women sure are timid.’

“That’s not what I wanted to say. When I saw the video, I suddenly recalled that Gu Ding’s route would be passing through the area, so I calculated his current position. The results of the calculations show that he’s currently in a district which might be affected by the aftermath of the interstellar storm. When I tried to call him just now, the calls could not get through. This kind of prompt will only appear when it’s a place where the Skynet signal can’t reach, right?” Parma explained a hastily.

“No way, give me a moment. What kind of spacecraft is he on? I’ll calculate it too.” Modican also felt his chest tighten. The apprentice which he had been so close to getting was now encountering this kind of situation, so it was making him nervous too. However, he could not believe Parma’s calculations and needed to check them himself, just be make sure.

“It’s the Kittyhawk Model.” Just as Parma finished speaking, Modican transferred the data of the Kittyhawk Model into his calculations tool. In less than two seconds, the results were out, as a red dot appeared on the projection of the star map. It was the same as Parma’s calculation’s results, and was within the area of the interstellar storm’s aftermath.

“How could this be?” Modican was in disbelief and calculated it again. The position of the red dot remained unchanged.

“Gu Ding will be fine, right?” Parma asked cautiously upon hearing the silence from the other end of the line.

After a moment of silence, Modican finally accepted the reality of the situation. “We’ll only be able to ask for help from those on nearby planets to search for them after the interstellar storm subsides. There’s no point in us being anxious now.”

He hung up Parma’s call, and Modican clenched his fist. “It was not an easy feat to find such a talented pharmacologist in the Skyriver Sector. He better not die!”

Meanwhile, on the other side, Gu Ding had already climbed into the escape cabin. The Kittyhawk was about to welcome the first wave of the interstellar storm’s aftermath’s attacks…