Do Not Play with Fire

[Damn it, how dare you attack me! Human expedition team, you're all dead!]

It has to be said that it was truly a miracle that the Positron Cannon could hit the target on its first shot, which prompted the Silver Mist Consciousness to send another angry message.

Although the shot pierced through the hole, the damage to the Silver Mist seemed minimal. During observation, it was discovered that the Silver Mist slightly shifted and then patched up the large hole.

"Positron Cannon recharge preparation, target correction parameters XXX, YYY, ZZZ, correct firing data. Hope's Steering Engine parameter correction 12.7"

It's okay if I can't kill it; I'll just treat it as practice. Anyway, the distance is getting further and further apart, so there's no need to worry about Silver Mist coming up at the last minute.

However, just as everyone on the bridge was thinking the same thing, an extremely tense voice suddenly shouted.

"Commander Yue, another patch of Silver Mist detected, coordinates 7739, 0689, 336. It's moving very fast; we're calculating its trajectory."

With just one sentence, the atmosphere on the bridge plummeted to below freezing. The joy of hitting the Silver Mist with the first shot vanished instantly, as if the air had frozen.

"What!?" Yue Yuan was stunned and quickly shouted, "Switch the information to the large screen and evaluate it immediately. Be quick. 'Tianhe Light' computing power fully cooperates with the orbital trajectory calculation! Cancel the second round of Positron Cannon attack."

As soon as he finished speaking, the large screen flickered and turned into a dynamic map of the Ross 154 Star System.

On the map, a large cylindrical icon represents the Hope spacecraft. Behind the Hope spacecraft is a solid line, and in front of it is a dashed line. Parameters such as relative velocity, acceleration, and the angle between the ecliptic plane are also marked on it.

As seen in the image, Hope is currently flying out of the Star System, tracing a clockwise arc at an angle of 7° to the ecliptic plane of Ross 154 Star.

The cloud-like icon composed of several small red dots behind the Hope is the Silver Mist Consciousness that has been chasing it, and it is also marked with various dynamic parameters.

It is easy for people to understand at a glance.

Originally, the map only showed these two icons and a large patch of Silver Mist far behind, but now, as if the radar had been refreshed, another patch of Silver Mist has appeared on the other side.

Based on the detected data, this Silver Mist is larger than the one that the Hope could no longer catch up with, and it may not be just one entity.

"Commander Yue, we've calculated it. This batch of Silver Mist has quietly arrived in the orbit of planet Ross 154-6 sometime ago, using the planet's magnetic field to accelerate, and is now heading towards our route at an extremely high speed to intercept us."

As a staff member quickly answered, the data on the dynamic map was also updated.

Yue Yuan quickly looked up and found that, just like the Hope, that large patch of Silver Mist had displayed various dynamic parameters such as acceleration, speed, trajectory, and orbital deflection.

"Commander Yue, we've fallen into a trap! The Silver Mist must have used that patch of Silver Mist as bait to lure us into a false sense of security, while secretly it was likely making multiple orbits around planet Ross 154-6 to accelerate!"

"Damn it! This Silver Mist is faster than us. Calculations show that in one hour and fifteen minutes, it will meet us at the coordinates XXX, YYY, ZZZ ahead of us!"

"What, what should we do!"

Hearing the reports and shouts, Yue Yuan's brows furrowed deeply. "What should I do?" he asked himself.

He now regretted his actions towards the Silver Mist behind him. He should have just sped up and run. If he had fled at full speed from the beginning, even if this other Silver Mist had appeared, this whole thing wouldn't have happened.

He shouldn't have wasted so much time talking to that Silver Mist, and he shouldn't have bothered with the Positron Cannon firing. Yue Yuan was filled with regret. He could see from the data that the Hope's speed wouldn't have decreased if he hadn't adjusted its attitude for firing.

They've already been deceived once by the Silver Mist Consciousness, why haven't they learned their lesson and are still dawdling here?

Yes, after the orbital Hydrogen Bomb Array destroyed a large area of Silver Mist and it was calculated that Silver Mist could not catch up with this result, Yue Yuan and everyone on the bridge forgot that the opponent was a Level 3 Civilization creation.

Although he was just a miner, the level of technology he employed was something that humans could only look up to.

Such a dangerous thing, yet humans leisurely ran and provoked it, unaware that such a high-level being also possessed methods unknown to humans.

Yue Yuan instantly realized that when Hope was pushed out of the Ross 154-7 orbit by the Fusion Thruster, the Silver Mist that had come into space at that time had already discovered that humans possessed Controlled Nuclear Fusion technology.

However, the Silver Mist did not make a fuss or directly say that it had been deceived by humans. Instead, it used a counter-strategy, sending one part of the Silver Mist to attract human attention while another large part quietly detoured to Ross 154-6 and used the planet to perform multiple orbital accelerations.

Grass

Thinking of this, even Yue Yuan, who doesn't usually swear, couldn't help but blurt out a curse.

Knowing that Silver Mist was a deceitful consciousness, one should have realized that there were likely traps everywhere in the other party's words and actions.

But I was still careless.

[Human Expedition Team, stop immediately, I have something to say to you.] At this moment, the Silver Mist, which was gradually moving away from the Hope, sent another message.

"What the hell are you talking about!" Yue Yuan ignored it and said solemnly in the bridge, "Can the Hope increase its speed again?"

"Yes!" the Science Officer immediately gave an affirmative answer, speaking very decisively. Then, the dreaded 'but' still came. "However, the Hope's current acceleration is already the limit for an average human. If we increase the thrust further, the spacecraft can handle it, but the people can't!"

"How much thrust redundancy does the Hope have?" Yue Yuan asked again.

"Around 82 Gs, the thrust of the Fusion Thruster is very strong, Commander Yue, but we humans cannot withstand it," this time it was the Engine Crew leader who answered.

Humans are so fragile.

Despite having achieved Controlled Nuclear Fusion and reached that level of technology, he was unable to fully utilize it due to his fragile physical body.

In fact, after the realization of Controlled Nuclear Fusion, humanity has already discovered this problem, which is why Xu Zhenyi and Yi Kai discussed Acceleration Buffer Fluid and human enhancement, but these are still in the conceptual stage.

"Playing with fire will only lead to self-destruction!" Yue Yuan felt a bitter taste in his mouth. He was actually playing with fire with a civilization two levels above humanity. "Can we change the Hope's route to avoid the interception of that batch of Silver Mist?" After thinking for a second, Yue Yuan immediately shouted to the Science Officer.

"Impossible. At that location, that group of Silver Mist could also use the strong magnetic fields of the Ross 154 Star and the two large planets to correct their course." The Science Officer replied while constantly processing various data parameters. "Moreover, once we change course, we will have to Attitude Adjustment. In that case, the Hope's speed will decrease again, and then that group of Silver Mist will catch up with us in less than an hour and fifteen minutes."