The silent vacuum of space.
The pitch-black boundless world.
The tiny flying vessel.
One steadfast step forward.
Shi Tiexin, sealed inside full armor, hovered at the spacecraft's hatch. He looked back at the distant sun, whose rays crossed 1.58 billion kilometers to fall upon him.
His black armor reflected not the slightest glimmer. The Superstate Material had shifted into ultra-light-absorption mode, making him utterly one with the black vacuum of space.
He turned again toward the direction indicated by the ship's prow. That was the battlefield he was about to enter.
The Trash Hypercube.
Eighty thousand kilometers away.
Chu Feiyan's voice rang in his mind. "We're still eighty thousand kilometers from the target. Why are you leaving the ship now?"
Shi Tiexin did not explain.
Time quietly passed. Shi Tiexin remained silently suspended at the hatch, seemingly without moving at all.
But upon closer inspection, his position was actually shifting relative to the spacecraft.
Chu Feiyan asked, "Why are we moving away from the ship?"
Shi Tiexin still did not explain.
In truth, he was not moving away from the ship. The ship was moving away from him.
A faint plume burst from the lateral thrusters, quietly altering the spacecraft's trajectory. At first, the change was slight, and the ship drifted away meter by meter. But according to Shi Tiexin's settings, at a critical moment it would abruptly veer hard, then, after a complex evasive maneuver, circle around the garbage mountain from thirty thousand kilometers away, preserving their route of retreat.
And when it changed course, that would be the signal to charge.
Chu Feiyan seemed to understand. "Wait, you... you're not planning a solo assault, are you?!"
Shi Tiexin still said nothing. He merely smiled faintly.
He gazed in the target's direction, his eyes gleaming brightly.
"Are you insane?!