Chapter 231: Supernova 224
The 18-day space voyage was also a novel experience for Bai Zhongqi. Previously, thanks to the impressive speed of the Sacred Falcon, even journeys spanning several light years could be completed by Bai Zhongqi in just a few hours, not much different from taking a plane on Earth.
However, after truly venturing into the boundless universe, even the Sacred Falcon, traveling at Warp Speed 2, had to endure the monotonous passage of time.
Especially on the Sacred Falcon, there were not many people. Apart from Bai Zhongqi, there were only Han Jiaxue and Zero Two. Dragging Han Jiaxue into such an endless voyage, Bai Zhongqi slightly regretted. However, Han Jiaxue had always been studying subjects related to Universe Civilization relationships and Universe sociology and had some accomplishments, and as the chancellor's girlfriend, she never intended to be just an ornament. The current Han Jiaxue was already capable of handling contacts with off-Earth civilizations under coordination.
During the travel at Warp Speed 2, the warship crossing the universe's space so rapidly could not see clearly what was around it. In fact, the space that the warp bubble passed through was still material space, just not the material space people normally could access. At this level, human beings as a species could not capture anything around the warp bubble, or perhaps humans saw or perceived something but they could not depict in their minds what they saw or felt.
"Your Majesty, our journey is about to enter its final phase, just as you knew from the start. The destination we chose is unknown to us, we can only tell from observations on our planet that it centers around a white dwarf. Since white dwarfs are dim, we can't determine if there are planets around it. However, considering its low energy level, it is highly unlikely that any major interstellar civilizations exist nearby. If things are as we expect, then we can avoid the eyes and ears of nearby powerful civilizations like the Teizenese," Zero sat next to Bai Zhongqi. This AI bionic human, now possessed of a soul crafted by the Elder Race, was starting to do more and more "unnecessary" things.
She wore a short dress made of grey composite material, one of the materials used in individual armor, but fashioned very much like Earth's women's clothing. Her tan slender legs were crossed together and slightly lifted, quite a feast for the eyes.
Bai Zhongqi was now used to her state, as long as she could do her job as an assistant well, Bai Zhongqi had no mood to restrict her in other matters.
"Good, notify the Richelieu to get ready," Bai Zhongqi took a deep breath, feeling slightly appropriately nervous.
Zero didn't need to move hands or mouth; she could directly transmit the message, somewhat similar to Bai Zhongqi's Supreme Command.
Bai Zhongqi activated the restraint force on his captain's chair and fastened his seatbelt, preparing double protections.
"15 seconds to exit the warp bubble."
"Shut down warp engine, exit warp bubble, initiate plasma propulsion mode."
Bai Zhongqi, in the bridge, watched as the transparent colored warp bubble that could be seen but had no color suddenly disappeared, like walking out of a deep cave into the outside world, where all the colors and even the pitch-black space seemed to become vivid at this moment.
Swipe, Bai Zhongqi couldn't help but shield his eyes as a burst of super bright light came through.
The Sacred Falcon's visual observation system began to adjust, dimming the intense light, allowing Bai Zhongqi's eyes to regain sight. Your adventure continues at My Virtual Library Empire
But the next scene he saw horrified him.
A massive comet fragment, moving at high speed, smashed straight in their direction. Before Bai Zhongqi could react, this fragment, almost as large as a small mountain, struck the Richelieu next to the Sacred Falcon, shattering the right thruster of the Richelieu and even breaking the hull of the stern part of the ship. Openings appeared in the cabins, and Bai Zhongqi even saw two crew members of the Richelieu directly swept into space.
"Supernova explosion!" Ling yelled at this moment, and quickly raised the shield of the Sacred Falcon.
Just now, while in warp speed, most of the energy of the Sacred Falcon was provided to the Warp Engine, not to the energy shield. Seeing fragments of cosmic bodies scattering in a completely irregular fashion, she wisely activated the shield to prevent the Sacred Falcon from being damaged.
Bai Zhongqi's heart had leapt to his throat, and he ignored safety, directly jumping up from the captain's chair. The ship's dampeners ensured that the crew members were not thrown off balance by inertia despite high-speed motion or direction changing.
"Why would there be a supernova explosion here?"
A supernova explosion is a relatively rare astronomical phenomenon, occurring when a stellar body larger and more massive than the sun reaches the end of its life and "dies explosively." Once such a large mass stellar body can no longer sustain the production of energy through nuclear fusion, it undergoes gravitational collapse, releasing potential energy that heats up and disperses the outer layers of the planet. All the matter might travel at one-tenth the speed of light, emitting massive amounts of electromagnetic radiation, gamma rays, and brightness that could illuminate an entire galaxy for months, eventually turning into a neutron star or a black hole.
There are various forms of supernova explosions, but the type described above is the most common in the universe. The tremendous energy and terrifying cosmic rays produced by the stellar explosion are enough to destroy any civilization on planets within the galaxy.
In this unnamed galaxy, the powerful supernova explosion even directly ignited the nearest planet, causing this planet to explode as well, sending terrifying planetary fragments scattering at incredibly high speeds, their force even stronger than some of the main cannons of the main battle ships of interstellar civilizations.
At this critical moment, Bai Zhongqi had no one to blame. It was his decision to come to this galaxy, but no one could have expected that a white dwarf, which seemed very stable, would explode into a supernova right after Bai Zhongqi's arrival.
"Richelieu, Richelieu, report your damage status!"
Even though cosmic rays were bombarding and planetary fragments were splashing everywhere, quantum communication was still undisturbed.
Chi Jia's voice came through: "The propulsion system of the Richelieu is severely damaged, the hull is heavily wounded, and six segments of the stern are damaged, now isolated by sealing off the breached segments. The energy shield system is malfunctioning and cannot be raised. We have lost three crew members, and there are 11 crew members with minor injuries due to the collision."
Even after seeing the terrible state of the Richelieu, and even after confirmation, Bai Zhongqi still felt a chill in his heart. This escort ship had pretty much lost its normal navigation capabilities and couldn't even use its shields, facing such a dangerous situation, death was almost certain!