Chapter 990: Breakpoint

Chapter 990: Breaking Point

On the bridge of the Orion-class missile cruiser, a man with a commanding presence stood before the panoramic window of the cockpit.

His chiseled features were sharply defined, his jet-black hair neatly combed without a single strand out of place.

His name was Zhao Tianhe, rank Colonel, around forty years old. He was the captain of this starship and the supreme commander of its three thousand crew members.

Gazing unblinkingly at the boundless starfield beyond the window, he spoke after a long silence.

"Still not moving?"

The navigator’s face showed a hint of difficulty.

"We've entered the hyperspace lane, but... for some reason, it seems we've come to a halt."

He phrased it tactfully, as he himself was uncertain about what was happening.

Normally, when they entered a hyperspace lane, the starfield outside the window would instantly transform into a deep blue-violet, and after a violent shudder, a daylight-bright light would emerge from the black void at the center ahead.

But none of that had happened.

What was eerie was that the warp drive had clearly been activated, and all data indicated they were inside the hyperspace lane—just "stuck" at the entrance.

Zhao Tianhe said nothing. Beside him, a woman in her thirties wore a stunned expression.

"How is that possible? Entering a hyperspace lane without moving... Can a hyperspace jump actually be halted? This is... unheard of!"

Her name was Wu Mengke, the executive officer of the Orion-class missile cruiser's First Division—the ship's command department.

In layman's terms, this position was the captain's deputy, responsible for assisting the captain in managing the ship's daily affairs and arranging the duties of the service department.

The organizational structure of the People's Union Aerospace Force closely resembled that of old-era navies, though with some differences in specific functions.

Zhao Tianhe sank into thought, his expression gradually growing solemn.

As his deputy had said, nothing like this had ever happened since the founding of the People's Union Aerospace Force.

No—

Strictly speaking, it had never occurred since humanity stepped into the interstellar age and developed the warp drive!

The navigator spoke slowly, continuing.

"...That's the strangest part. We've already run checks—the engine is functioning perfectly, no anomalies detected. As you said, it's as if we're stuck at the entrance of the hyperspace lane."

"Can you be sure it's the entrance?" Zhao Tianhe suddenly asked.

The navigator froze, about to nod, but then shook his head with a troubled expression.

"This... can't be confirmed."

Hyperspace was not classical space; it was a tunnel bridging massive celestial bodies.

Within this tunnel, only point-to-point movement was possible, and coordinates in classical space or distances relative to massive bodies could not be measured.

Silence fell over the bridge.

The crew members present exchanged glances, none speaking.

After a long moment, Zhao Tianhe turned to the still-pondering Executive Officer Wu and asked in a low voice.

"What do you think it could be?"

"I don't know. If I'm just guessing based on imagination, the possibilities are too many," Wu Mengke replied, now calmer, shaking her head with a complex expression. "Perhaps the scientists from the Fifth Department can give us a reasonable explanation."

Zhao Tianhe nodded, his gaze returning to the window, his face grave.

"I hope so."

He had a foreboding feeling.

And as time passed, that foreboding grew stronger...

Just then, hurried footsteps echoed from the bridge entrance. An officer strode swiftly through the open alloy door, reporting with urgency.

"Report! Collision on the lower deck! An unidentified flying object has struck us!"

Murmurs of astonishment spread across the bridge.

Without hesitation, Zhao Tianhe strode to a terminal and looked at the holographic screen.

The operator at the terminal swallowed nervously, speaking in a flustered tone.

"No hull damage detected... Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

The officer insisted.

"Impossible! My people are on the scene! We've already sealed off the damaged area according to the emergency protocol in the safety manual!"

Operator: "But—"

Ignoring their argument, Zhao Tianhe stared intently at the screen. At the same moment, a look of astonishment appeared on his stern face.

The deflector shield was functioning perfectly.

Hull integrity checks also showed everything normal...

But he trusted his crew—they had no reason to lie, especially when there was no need.

Wu Mengke stepped up beside him, her expression equally complex.

"Strange things just keep piling up... Do you think it could be a trick from the Gemini?"

Zhao Tianhe replied in a tone that brooked no argument.

"They're dead."

Wu Mengke countered.

"And if they aren't? No one actually went up to confirm."

"...There's no need to confirm. We did penetrate their shields—that's a settled fact. Let's not discuss this further."

He spoke flatly, then paused before continuing.

"And even if, by some miracle, they escaped, there's no way they could have locked us in a hyperspace lane."

A hyperspace lane could be closed—just create a large gravity well to disturb the nearby gravitational field. That wasn't difficult.

But to close an already opened hyperspace lane was utterly impossible.

At least, not with the technological means currently known to humanity.

Wu Mengke sighed.

"Then it must be aliens interfering in our war."

"Unless there's solid evidence of their existence, I'd rather not make baseless assumptions."

With that, Zhao Tianhe turned to the officer at the bridge entrance.

"Can you identify what struck us?"

The officer was evidently still confirming, his finger pressed to his ear for a long moment before he replied with a peculiar expression.

"It's a... uh, a lifeboat-class civilian vessel? My subordinates aren't sure... but there's no friendly IFF signal."

"A civilian vessel?"

Wu Mengke's eyebrows lifted slightly, the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes spreading a faint trace of surprise.

"How could a civilian spacecraft be here?"

"Maybe it's a radical organization's terrorist, or perhaps some unlucky journalist... Is there anything on it?" Zhao Tianhe looked at the officer and continued asking.

After confirming the situation on-site through the communication system, the officer turned to the captain and spoke.

"We found a hibernation pod on the spacecraft, inside which lay a youth who looked about seventeen or eighteen... He... claimed to be from an organization called the Alliance? Belonging to the Burning Corps..."

"The Alliance? The Burning Corps?" Wu Mengke's expression shifted slightly, murmuring to herself, "Could he really be an alien..."

Zhao Tianhe's expression was also somewhat strange, staring at the officer as he continued.

"What else did he say?"

"He said quite a bit..."

The officer was silent for a moment, then his expression suddenly changed, and he looked up.

"He got into a fight with our people..."

...

In the bionic repair room of the Engineering and Maintenance Department, Luo Yi, who had successfully subdued a certain youth, was leaning against the operating table, letting the mechanical arm suspended above fiddle with his left arm.

Standing beside the control terminal, Koala, now in work clothes, skillfully operated a tablet, cutting open the bionic skin on Luo Yi's left arm and pulling out a burnt-black metal tube from inside.

"The capacitor is fried... Need to replace it with a new one."

"Is it serious?" The big guy standing nearby with his arms crossed frowned and asked.

His name was Xiao Yong, and like Luo Yi, he belonged to the space combat squad under the Sixth Division, also holding the rank of Sergeant.

"Serious... not really, just a fried capacitor. Capacitors are the one thing I'm never short of," Koala grinned, shaking his head. "But these youngsters sure are ruthless—going for the kill right from the start."

"Young people really don't know their own strength. Whoever gave him that bionic surgery must be tired of living," Xiao Yong couldn't help cursing.

According to the Bionic Management Act, bionic limbs are prohibited from installing harmful plug-ins, especially on minors whose bodies haven't fully developed.

They had already preserved the evidence and would file a public prosecution against those involved once they returned to Earth.

Sitting on the operating table, Luo Yi looked at his newly replaced right bionic hand, was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

"That guy has been on the battlefield."

Xiao Yong, standing beside him, raised an eyebrow.

"You mean he's a soldier?"

"Yes."

Seeing Luo Yi nod, Xiao Yong was taken aback and lowered his arms from his chest.

"...Do we have soldiers that young?"

An eighteen-year-old should still be in high school, right? Joining the military would require at least a college degree.

As for the colonial rebels...

Those guys should be nothing but ashes by now.

Luo Yi looked up at him and said, "Didn't you hear him say he's from the Alliance?"

Xiao Yong frowned.

"Do you really believe what he said?"

Luo Yi's expression was complicated, and he shook his head.

"I don't know, but his reaction speed and combat skills are not weak... In fact, if he hadn't just been thawed out, I might not have been able to subdue him alone."

Xiao Yong stared at him in surprise.

"Are you kidding me? That kid?"

Luo Yi looked at him seriously and said, "I'm not joking. I'm serious."

That guy could anticipate his attacks and instinctively react, but his body just couldn't keep up.

This was definitely not a skill honed on the training ground; it could only have been learned in close-quarters combat.

There was only one doubt.

As his comrade said, the kid was too young—in their eyes, he seemed like a child who hadn't grown up.

Just then, an unexpected voice cut in from the repair room's entrance.

"I agree with Sergeant Luo Yi. That kid is no civilian. He's a soldier, but different from you all... He's come through the wasteland."

Three pairs of surprised eyes turned to the doorway, where their "shipboard chaplain" was staggering in, drunk, holding a bottle of whiskey, even letting out a burp as he crossed the threshold.

Xiao Yong frowned.

"The wasteland? Is that some movie?"

The Fifth Division was the least noticeable department on the entire missile cruiser.

It was said to be established to deal with the unpredictable cosmic environment, but since its inception, no one had ever heard of a Fifth Division on any starship actually being useful.

Those scientists traveling with the ship couldn't repair engines, had no say in strategic deployment, and their only use was producing a pile of academic garbage called papers.

He didn't deny the contributions of physicists to the Prosperity Era; he just doubted whether it was necessary to equip every starship with a research team.

Facing Sergeant Xiao Yong's skepticism, Wu Xinghuan couldn't help but burp again, wiping his mouth apologetically.

"Movie? Not that kind of thing... This kid comes from our future, or rather, he is our future."

Koala looked at him with a strange expression.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Xiao Yong also sneered, disdainfully saying, "That kid? If he's our future, then humanity is truly hopeless."

"Haha, don't say that. Who hasn't been young? I bet you were a bigger jerk when you were young, and probably not as skilled as him." Wu Xinghuan let out a weird laugh, glanced around at everyone present, cleared his throat, and continued, "Also, let me tell you all some bad news: our ship is stuck in a hyperspace lane... and that time traveler might be the reason we're stuck."

The room fell into an eerie silence. Three pairs of eyes looked at each other blankly, exchanging looks of confusion.

Hyperspace lane...

Stuck?

Seeing the other two looking at him, Koala quickly raised his hands and said, "Don't look at me... I've never heard of such a thing, and fixing the FTL engine isn't my job."

Xiao Yong couldn't help asking, "Aren't you the engineering director?"

Koala coughed and explained, "The Fourth Division's full name is the Engineering and Maintenance Department. The hyperspace engine is the maintenance department's job, handled by specialized engineers... And such critical equipment is directly managed by the First Division, which is the captain's side."

Xiao Yong was getting a headache from all this, so he tapped his own skull.

"We have too many departments. Some need to be cut."

Koala snapped his fingers.

"Great idea. I think the Fifth Division is redundant too."

"Cough," Wu Xinghuan hid the bottle in his hand behind his back, looking embarrassed. "Is this really the time to talk about that…"

"I need to sort this out…" Luo Yi pressed his index finger to his brow, frowning as he thought for a moment. "You mean that kid came from the future? And our future… is a wasteland? In other words… our world is destroyed?"

"The world isn't destroyed. Our civilization just moved from one historical stage to the next," Wu Xinghuan finally got the topic back on track and quickly seized the chance to continue. "Did you notice the clothes he was wearing? That's a shelter jacket, not some knockoff."

Xiao Yong let out a cold laugh.

"You'd be embarrassed if he's just some cosplayer."

Wu Xinghuan stared at him with bright eyes, a hint of barely contained excitement in his voice.

"But he clearly isn't. We found spores of a mutant slime mold on him—spores we've never seen before!"

The room fell silent again.

This time, not just Xiao Yong, but Luo Yi's expression changed too.

Wu Xinghuan, however, didn't care and kept rambling on.

"I know this is hard to accept, but this is what happens in the future! In the distant future, people have achieved symbiosis with the mutant slime mold. They're no longer lethal to us, and we no longer see them as enemies. We've become part of each other."

"Bullshit," Xiao Yong cursed. "If that's the case, then all this fighting was for nothing?"

Looking at this stubborn brute who couldn't accept it, Wu Xinghuan shrugged and smiled.

"From a personal perspective, maybe so. But from the height of civilization, when has it ever been otherwise? We can't view civilization's problems from an individual level, nor can we look down on individuals from civilization's height. Problems on the same dimension must be studied from the same dimensional perspective. Believe it or not, that's the truth… I need to refine my theory. You should feel honored—you're on the same ship as the future rising star of physics."

"What does that have to do with a rising star in physics?" Koala scratched his furry head, confused.

"Isn't it obvious?" Wu Xinghuan smiled, spreading his arms and revealing the bottle he'd hidden behind his back. "Time is reversible. So is the motion of matter. So is entropy. I've discovered a new physics."

"I think you're fucking crazy."

Xiao Yong snatched the bottle from his hand and took a gulp, ignoring the latter's protests.

He still couldn't accept it.

After three years of war, this was the final outcome? And in the distant future, these spirited youngsters would not only install combat cybernetics without a second thought but also fly quasi-spaceships with anti-gravity devices, scurrying around the universe like cockroaches?

If that was the ending, it might as well be annihilation.

Luo Yi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"You said we're stuck?"

"Yes, exactly."

Seeing the bottle emptied, Wu Xinghuan gave up on trying to get it back.

Luo Yi stared speechlessly at this smug bastard—the so-called future academic giant.

"I'll take your word for now, but since it's already like this… you'd better think about how to get us out of trouble first."

Hearing this, Wu Xinghuan's face once again lit up with a confident smile.

"It's actually quite simple. I don't know if that guy fell into a black hole or crashed into some neutron star or something, but he stumbled into our timeline by accident."

"So?" Luo Yi didn't think it was simple at all, and his head was already starting to ache.

But the Dr. Wu standing before him clearly had a different view.

"So we just need to figure out what happened to him before he got here, and then send him back."

After hearing this, the three people in the repair bay were stunned.

Was it really that simple?

It sounded like tidying up a spilled box and then closing the lid.

Luo Yi's eyes held a hint of doubt, but looking at Dr. Wu's bright, intense gaze, he couldn't help but believe a little.

At least this guy was a professional.

"Looks like our Fifth Division is finally going to be useful," Koala shrugged. "On the eve of the war's end, we save a kid from the future, and also save over three thousand crew members."

"My achievements are far greater than that. I believe many years from now, you'll recall this meeting… and the approachable me."

Wu Xinghuan made an exaggerated bow, as if his feet were already on the awards podium.

Xiao Yong snorted through his nose, still wearing that contemptuous expression.

"As stupid as this sounds, let's give it a try anyway…"

The home planet had been affected by the war, but it was far from sinking into a wasteland.

Especially making peace with the mutant slime mold…

Wouldn't that mean the radicals who screwed everything up had won in the end?

No way!

"Let's solve the immediate problem first."

Luo Yi didn't want to think about things that far off. He'd been away from home too long and just wanted to go back.

If peace was made, so be it.

The universe was vast. Besides Alpha Centauri, there were countless galaxies. Giving them one star wouldn't hurt.

Letting the other side live was also letting himself live.

Besides, that planet originally belonged to "Gaia." They had been living there just fine. If human colony ships hadn't disturbed their peaceful dreams, they'd probably have kept playing among themselves until the entire universe reached heat death.

From the Human Union's perspective, the three-year war was undoubtedly glorious, but from the other side's view, it might not be.

Getting up from the operating table, he stretched his arm and turned his gaze to Dr. Wu, who stood at the door.

"That kid named… Yeshu? Where is he now?"

Wu Xinghuan smiled.

"In the medical bay. Xiao Lin checked him over. He's basically fine now."

Luo Yi nodded.

"Let's go see him."

"I'm coming too." Koala raised his arm, hastily shut down the equipment, and followed behind the three.

Though security on the ship was the Third Division's job, how could he miss out on something this interesting?

Besides, someone had said this was a moment to witness history!

The four arrived at the medical bay door, where quite a few people had already gathered.

Not just doctors and nurses from the Medical and Life Support Division, but also people from other departments, even senior officers from the Ship Command Division.

Luo Yi even spotted an AI expert from the "Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Division" here.

He hadn't expected the Tenth Division to come join the fun.

Luo Yi's heart sank slightly, and he couldn't help glancing at Dr. Wu beside him.

This big mouth...

Without a doubt, the news that this kid was from the future had spread. Now all the crew knew that a visitor from the future had come aboard their ship.

"Make way, let me in..."

Wu Xinghuan raised his arm, like a celebrity, and pushed his way to the center of the 'stage.'

Seeing this guy from the Fifth Division, the people gathered around made way, watching curiously to see what he intended to do.

He walked straight up to the boy sitting dazed on the treatment bed, and with a kind smile, crouched beside him.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Wu Xinghuan, and I'm a scientist here."

Ye Shi looked at him, feeling that this man didn't seem like a scientist, but rather a clown.

But then he thought of the people from the Academy, and he relaxed, nodding expressionlessly.

"Oh."

His mind was in a mess now.

On one hand, after so long, he wasn't sure if Jiang Xuezhou was still alive.

On the other hand, he couldn't figure out what exactly his situation was.

Two possibilities.

Either he was in some one-life instance, or he had truly time-traveled.

Seriously considering the latter case was a bit foolish, but he couldn't help being panicked.

A-Guang still hadn't responded to him, and his forum buddies couldn't be reached because they weren't offline.

He even regretted a bit that he should have let Fang Chang stay in the cockpit instead of himself.

If it were Brother Fang Chang, he would definitely solve the problem in no time...

Or Old Bai would be fine too.

At least that guy might handle things more maturely.

Ye Shi carefully recalled his gaming career; it seemed most of the time he relied on 'recklessness' rather than brains.

"I might be able to help you." Wu Xinghuan looked at the boy before him with a sincere face, trying to win his trust.

"Help me?" Ye Shi turned his head slightly to look at him, a playful smile suddenly curling at the corner of his mouth. "You?"

As he spoke, he already smelled the alcohol on him.

This guy reminded him of Mosquito; no one was more unreliable than that guy.

In comparison, A-Wei might be a bit more reliable, at least he hadn't actually messed things up.

But this guy probably didn't realize he was still drunk, and continued talking endlessly.

"According to my deduction, you probably ran into some trouble during hyperspace movement. I might be able to help you... It would be good for both of us."

Ye Shi looked at him with a playful expression.

"From that, your deduction seems rather unreliable. My research ship doesn't have a warp drive; at most it uses anti-gravity devices for takeoff and landing from the surface. It can't do hyperspace navigation."

Wu Xinghuan gestured with his fingers and continued.

"I know, but the technical principle of anti-gravity devices is actually similar to warp drives, just a different use of gravitons. And... uh, maybe that was just an escape pod, and you have other ships nearby—"

This guy was probably too drunk to even speak clearly.

Ye Shi curled his lip and continued.

"That was a research ship organized by the Academy. I don't have any other ships, only this one. You should have heard of the Academy; I remember this organization existed before the war too."

"It's an academic organization... Wait, do you mean they played a big role after the war?" Wu Xinghuan looked at him in surprise, as if he had discovered some huge secret.

Ye Shi could guess what he was thinking; this guy had probably already figured out which big tree to cling to after returning to Earth.

But this guy was clearly overthinking.

As for why...

"We hit a neutron torpedo. Even if we didn't hit it directly... that thing exploded near us. I'm not sure how much the deflector shield blocked, but the ship lost control, and then we crashed into you..."

At this point, Ye Shi paused for a moment, looked into the excited eyes of this so-called scientist, and said something that made both him and everyone present feel their hands and feet go cold in an instant.

"Guess what I was going there for? Or rather, why did we crash into you?"

"That's right, I was going to dig graves."

"Your graves."