"Is the Xuan Star Civilization impatient? They think they can devour us with just one spaceship? Shoot it down!"
"No, Minister, this doesn't look like a spaceship from the Xuan Star Civilization. Instead, it has some of our human construction style."
"What?! Let me see!!!"
Li Wenfei immediately projected the image of the small spacecraft onto the large screen.
"Minister, look here, look here. These designs all conform to our human aesthetic standards for machinery. Tell me, wasn't this sent by General Hu Yu?"
How long until we can contact each other again?
"We're circling the spatial vortex too fast; it'll probably take several more hours for them to catch up with us."
"Immediately order the communications ship to engage the vortex at full speed, reduce its speed, and make contact as soon as possible."
Luo Zhigao was 90% certain who this small spaceship belonged to. Besides Hu Yu, who else could send a spaceship into the vortex at this time?
Like Luo Zhigao, everyone had guessed it, but they still had to wait for final confirmation. At this moment, it would be no exaggeration to describe them as anxious. They were both excited and anxious. Time seemed to stand still, and a few hours felt like tens of thousands of years.
One hour
Two hours
Three hours
The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer: one million kilometers, five hundred thousand kilometers, one hundred thousand kilometers, one hundred kilometers...
"Open the hatch!"
At Luo Zhigao's command, the hatch opened, and the small silver spaceship came to a smooth stop inside the communications ship.
Holographic projections lit up inside the communications ship, displaying images of Hu Yu, Wen Zhonghua, several generals, and a group of academicians. Before these holographic projections lit up, images of Luo Zhigao and others had already been waiting inside the ship.
When the two met, they were speechless for a moment. They stared at each other without moving, as if time and space had stood still. Finally, someone burst into tears first, followed by Hu Yu and Luo Zhigao. The sound of their crying infected everyone like a spell. These were tears of reunion after a long separation, tears of joy turned to sorrow, and tears of longing between loved ones.
A thousand years ago, they parted hastily and never heard from each other again. Now, upon meeting again, these strong men who had fought among the stars could no longer hold back their tears of bittersweet joy. Each of them was sobbing softly, yet their faces wore smiles.
This deep-rooted bond of kinship moved everyone. Even though they hadn't seen each other for a thousand years, a single message from Luo Zhigao was enough for Hu Yu to travel over 30,000 light-years to risk his life to rescue him. Who else but his own compatriots could do that?
"General Hu Yu, why are you doing this to yourself?" Luo Zhigao choked back tears.
"Minister, please stop. We're family. If I don't come to save you, am I just going to watch my own people die?"
"Good, good. I have no regrets about dying because you came. General Hu, I now order you to leave immediately, far away from here, the farther the better."
"Minister, I cannot carry out this order. Punish me after we've weathered the crisis."
"You..."
"Minister, since we've come here, we must have something to rely on. Minister, could you tell us about the current situation?" Academician Zeng said from the side.
"Minister, Academician Zeng is right. Our fleet is only 200 light-years away, with 50 million warships and a speed of 1800 times the speed of light. We can maneuver here at any time."
"You've broken the speed of light barrier a thousand times? Have you really reached the stage of Small Star Sector Civilization?"
"No, not yet. We just used some clever tricks, but we're only one step away from becoming Small Star Sector Civilization, and we could break through at any moment."
"Alright, since that's the case, perhaps you really can save us. Let me tell you about the current situation."
More than fifty years ago, the Xuan Star Civilization suddenly attacked our rest base. Knowing we were no match for them, we fled in panic. Just as the Xuan Star Civilization's fleet was about to catch up with us, we discovered this spatial vortex. In order to find a glimmer of hope, we risked entering the vortex.
Thirty years ago, Academician Gao Zhengyang discovered that the tail of the vortex could potentially transmit information, so I sent two messages. Unexpectedly, things were arranged in the dark, and I received your reply in just one year.
We are now in this vortex, falling towards the center every moment. Recently, we abandoned some warships and concentrated our energy, but we can only last for five or six years at most. After that, our energy will be exhausted, and we will inevitably be torn apart by the extremely distorted space at the center.
However, the Xuan Star Civilization's fleet dared not enter this spatial vortex. Inside the vortex, everything is driven by conventional power engines. The speed of spatial movement here has exceeded twice the speed of light, and no conventional power engine can resist this speed. Therefore, we are falling towards the center of the vortex day by day.
If your fleet shows itself, it will surely be attacked by the Xuan Star Civilization. Therefore, do not act rashly before you have a foolproof plan. Even if we all die, I do not want to implicate you. You must continue to complete the tasks assigned by the leader. When you have the strength, then come and avenge us.
By the way, this Xuan Star Civilization is just someone else's henchman, but I don't know exactly which civilization it is. We've made too many enemies over the years.
"He's being manipulated again!"
"What? What do you mean by 'again'?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Minister. Please continue. What is the strength of this Xuan Star Civilization?"
" The Xuan Star Civilization has only entered the Small Star Region stage in the last few hundred years. Their travel speed reaches 3,000 times the speed of light. In addition to antimatter, their attack methods include a strange trick that can directly shrink our warships. After the attack is completed, the warship will rapidly expand and disintegrate, rendering any defense useless. Academician Gao Zhengyang speculates that this may be a technology similar to space compression."
"Space compression? It's space compression again!" Hu Yu exclaimed.
"Have you met him?"
"Oh, I've seen it once by chance, Minister. What is the range of this type of attack used by the Xuan Star Civilization?"
"The range seems small, at most five kilometers. For warships longer than that, they can only reduce the size of a portion of the warship, but that's still fatal for a warship."
Are there any other attack methods?
"Nothing else is unusual; these are all attack methods we understand, only the energy level and power output are higher."
"Okay, I understand. Academician Zeng, you organize the fleet scientists and Academician Gao to study how to escape this spatial vortex. We are now preparing to supply energy to Minister Luo's fleet to allow them to hold out longer. Ideally, we will launch our attack at the same time you rescue Minister Luo."
General Hu, are you really confident?
"We didn't have any before, but now we have some, at least enough to compete."
"The leader was right about you. Good, I'll wait for your good news." Luo Zhigao said with a pleased smile.
Communication was established, and scientists from both fleets immediately began exchanging ideas. Although they knew very little about each other, this did not hinder their cooperation in the slightest. Messages were transmitted to each other without reservation. These messages contained not only technology and hard work, but also trust and expectation—something that no other two civilizations could achieve.