Chapter 221
The eagle spread its wings and soared, its wings covering the sky, with countless shining stars in the background. Each one was a star like a blazing purgatory.
In front of the eagle's iron beak, there are several black "elephant trunks", which look like a person's hand reaching out from the lake, with curled fingers, about to be pounced on by the eagle.
This is the incubator of stars, where many suns are being born. Some stop growing early and become dim brown dwarfs; some thrive and become hot and terrifying blue giants. But even ordinary brown dwarfs are terrifying existences that humans cannot resist.
This is where the legendary interstellar bridge is located, and it is also the dream place of countless people - the Pillars of Creation.
In the imagination of countless people, the Pillar of Creation is a place full of gold and treasures, where many people became rich overnight and countless legendary stories were staged. But in fact, the number of spaceships exploring here is tens of millions times more than those who retired after success, and countless people buried their lives, love, family and lives here.
This is the hatchery.
This is also a cemetery.
This is where the dream begins.
This is also where life ends.
The interior of the Pillar of Creation is too dangerous, and most spacecraft have never approached it, but only wandered in space far away from it. Because there have been many supernova explosions here, there is no habitable planet in the nearby star field where people can survive for a long time.
Countless spaceships were sailing endlessly in the dark space. Although they could see the magnificent nebula with no end in sight, they never dared to approach it and could only watch from afar. There was only one spaceship around them. They were eager to find treasure day and night, but they often wandered for months without even seeing a larger stone.
Living in such an environment for a long time would undoubtedly be a huge torture to one's will and spirit, which is why brothels like Liukasao are so popular.
In an oblate spaceship, Dai Guang, a young man from the Four-Eyed Tribe with thin hands and feet, a protruding forehead and a thin face, was lying on the table in boredom, muttering: "Ah... I want to go home... I want to stand on the ground... When are we going to Liukasao again? I miss the little sister there..."
"Something seems to have happened in Liukasao. I heard that many people died there. I don't know if it will continue to be open in the future." said a teammate.
"What?" Dai Guang slammed the table and yelled, "What's going on? Liukasao is my spiritual pillar. Who are these bastards who dare to attack it? I'm going to kill them!"
"It was done by the Singer Pirates. Go ahead and kill them." Captain Aburgo of the Winged Clan walked in and said.
"Sing...Singer Star Pirates?" Dai Guang lay down again, crying and saying, "It's over. My spiritual support is gone..."
"The spaceship seems to be still there. I heard that they defeated the pirates and the Singer pirate group was almost wiped out." said Yabao.
"Really? What a capable bunch of guys." Another teammate took a sip of water and said nonchalantly, his eyes fixed on the detection screen. Those complex curves, waveforms and dense data would make ordinary people dizzy at a glance, but this person was looking at it very attentively.
"Hey, what's so good about this? I haven't found anything yet." Dai Guang said weakly. He no longer expected to find any treasures, and only looked forward to the day when he could go to the surface or Liukasao for repairs.
Just as he was speaking, suddenly a wave line on the screen suddenly emerged and climbed to a high peak. In an instant, it pressed all the other normal wave lines under its feet, and a large amount of data emerged like a waterfall.
A shrill alarm sounded instantly.
"Wait, what's going on!" The person observing the data jumped up in shock and shouted, "Turn around! Stop now!"
"What do you mean by turning around? This is not on the ground!" Captain Abel shouted! Then he asked, "Cas?"
At this time, Cass, who was driving the spacecraft, was sweating profusely while operating it and said, "It's turning! It's at full power."
The alarms were getting louder and louder, and everyone was getting nervous. However, at this moment, the power of an individual was very weak. They could do nothing but gather in front of the screen, watching the data jumping on it with bated breath.
They did not look at the optical screen, because both previous detections and their naked eyes told them that there was nothing around them except the empty dark vacuum, not even a large stone.
But this is what’s scary about the universe—the most dangerous things are often not those that can be seen, such as meteorites or stars.
The most dangerous things are those invisible things, such as neutron flows, radiation pulses, black holes that appear suddenly like ghosts, and even air currents evaporated by high temperatures, which are also deadly dangers.
Faced with such danger, mortal vision is the most unreliable thing. Experienced captains and drivers can rely on the frequently jumping data from various detection instruments to analyze the danger and avoid it in advance.
Of course, the judgment of intelligent control system is more accurate and faster than that of human beings. But not everyone has the money to install high-performance intelligent control system on their spacecraft. Now the relatively excellent detection system on their spacecraft has already used up the savings of several generations of Captain Yabao.
Space seems boundless, but because spacecraft travel at very high speeds and are affected by various factors such as energy, gravity, cosmic rays, etc., they are subject to even greater restrictions than cars on the ground.
This time they forcibly deviated from the planned orbit. Even if everything turned out to be safe afterwards, the energy loss rate would be over 30 percent. Considering the amount of energy that needed to be reserved to avoid accidents, they might have to return a month in advance.
This voyage would be a fruitless one, with no profit except losses. If they returned like this, they might not even be able to organize the next expedition, and Aburgo could declare bankruptcy.
The universe is full of unpredictable dangers, and no one knows which will come first, danger or luck, in the next moment.
Dai Guang secretly glanced at Yabao and saw that his facial muscles were tense and his expression was very ugly, but as the waves gradually slid away and the alarm began to stop, his expression eased a little.
No matter what, being able to return safely is already a victory.
Just when everyone relaxed their minds, a sharp wave peak suddenly appeared on the line that had not yet returned to normal. At the same time, the entire hull of the spacecraft shook violently!
With the shrill alarm and flashing red lights, everyone's faces turned pale.
The screen clearly showed that a huge wound appeared on the rear side of their spacecraft, as if a piece of butter was gently pulled by a red-hot knife, and then... the spacecraft's vital energy transmission system and power steering system were severely damaged.
The automatic sensing sealed door has been opened, and everyone is not in danger of being sucked into the vacuum for the time being, but... this is of no avail.
On the screen, the damaged area of the spacecraft was expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye, and countless fine cracks began to spread like growing vines.
The entire spacecraft was shaking and jumping at this time. Everyone had to hold on to the handrails beside them to stabilize their bodies. Countless objects that were magnetically attached to the brackets and walls began to shift quietly , and the floor under their feet made a creaking sound.
Yabao never knew that his precious spaceship, which he regarded as his life, was so fragile.
“Click… click… click…”
A series of piercing sounds sounded overhead, and the lights went out in a row. No one noticed when the alarm stopped, and the temperature in the room began to drop sharply. They all looked up and saw one, two, three... dozens of cracks appearing on the smooth jade-like alloy plate above their heads.
Everyone's mind went blank for a moment.
After a while, Yabao's lips trembled, and he looked at everyone and said in a hoarse voice: "Everyone, I... I am honored to work with you. I'm sorry... I can't take you home."
Everyone stared at him blankly. After a moment, one of them shouted, "Alice, I love you! I've wanted to say this for a long time. I want to marry you! And have three children!"
The woman named Alice burst into tears, rushed over and hugged his neck, and the two kissed each other wildly.
Someone murmured and cried, "I... I want to go home, I miss my mother... I really want to drink the pork rib soup made by my mother again..."
Someone said blankly: "Damn it! I am only two days away from completing the game... I haven't finished eating the cake in the refrigerator... I also... I just adopted a Tamagotchi not long ago, it will starve to death without me..."
Some people are so depressed and desperate that they don't want to say a word. They lie on a chair like a salted fish, close their eyes and wait for the final moment to come.
As early as when they set out on this journey, they knew that death could come at any time. Before they set out, they had left a suicide note and bought a high amount of insurance. No one reacted excessively at this time, and no one blamed Captain Aburg. After all, this kind of thing can only be said that they were unlucky, and they can't blame anyone else.
After everyone finished speaking their last wishes, they said goodbye to each other. Alice and her new boyfriend had kissed until they felt nothing. Abel also adjusted his suicide note three times on the computer. Everyone suddenly realized something and looked at each other, even feeling a little lost.
How come you are still alive?
They looked up and found that the crack above their heads had disappeared, as if what they had just seen was an illusion.
After a few seconds, the shaking of the ship stabilized, the lights lit up again, the temperature began to rise, and soon, the frozen fingers began to warm up.
The screens of all sizes flashed a few times, and the pictures reappeared. All the data were normal, and there were no longer any abnormal changes that would make people's heart beat faster.
The only thing that could prove that what had just happened was not a dream was that the hull detection system showed that the damage on the spacecraft still existed, but it was no longer expanding.
Yabao called a crew member, and the two put on space suits, passed through the sealed door, and went to check the location of the damaged spacecraft. After a few minutes, they came back with strange expressions.
In Yabao's hand, he was holding a huge, shiny red object that seemed to have the golden light of wealth.
"Longevity Jade!"
Everyone screamed together.
Why did they risk death at any time, endure the loneliness, solitude, helplessness, boredom and other tortures during the long voyage, and come here with Yabao? Isn't it just to find something like this?
With this, they can go home happily. They no longer have to worry about the end of their lives, nor worry about trivial matters such as food, clothing, housing and transportation. They can have a very beautiful... or at least a very rich second half of their lives.
Even though they had just experienced a life-and-death crisis, everyone immediately regained their spirits. They stared at the longevity jade in Aburg's arms, wanting to reach out and touch it, but they were afraid that it was just a dream like before.
Yabao handed the longevity jade to the people around him and asked them to pass it around. He took off the helmet of his space suit, and without being as excited as the others, he looked around at everyone's faces, and then looked at Dai Guang, whose reaction was unusual.
"Dai Guang, did you...just see something?"
Only then did everyone realize that Dian Guang's face looked very strange, as if he had seen something that subverted his life.
Dai Guang hesitated for a moment before stammering, "I...I...if I tell you, you definitely won't believe it..."
"Go ahead," Abel said numbly, "nothing can shock me now..."
"I... I just saw a person outside the spaceship... No, maybe it was a ghost... maybe it was a god..."
