The journey after their escape grew even quieter.
The Ice Worm attack had been like a bucket of cold water over their heads, making everyone more keenly aware of the brutality of this star region. The "relatively safe route" Ash of the Boundary Patrol had mentioned was likely a conclusion based on their own formidable strength and technology. For Neji and his group, danger lurked everywhere.
The Orderkeeper's hull bore mottled traces of corrosion from the Ice Worm's energy fluid, and the damage to its starboard side had yet to be fully repaired. It always carried a faint, unstable tremor as it traveled. Energy consumption was faster than expected, forcing Xuan to readjust the allocation plan, shut down some nonessential systems, and reduce cruising speed to conserve power.
The route was further revised, becoming even more circuitous, almost skimming the edges of areas marked on the star chart as "energy turbulence zones" or "unstable space belts." The travel time stretched to an anxiety-inducing length.
They took turns standing watch, their nerves constantly taut. Neji spent most of his time in the main control room, monitoring the route while slowly using Chaos True Essence to restore the Purifying Source Crystal and recover his own depleted strength, all while remaining alert to the slightest unusual fluctuation outside.
The journey was not entirely without gains. They avoided several regions with obvious energy disturbances and observed some peculiar cosmic phenomena. Once, they spotted a small interstellar dust storm in the distance, rainbow auroras flowing through the dust clouds—breathtakingly beautiful, yet concealing violent electromagnetic turbulence. Another time, they detected a dying star far away spewing out a dazzling planetary nebula, like a flower blooming in the cosmos, though its interior was filled with deadly high-energy radiation.
But those magnificent sights could not dispel the heavy