The Lantian Star System.
Because the Lantian Star System was the neighboring system nearest by voyage to the Water-Lily Star System, its star-gate had already been commandeered by the imperial military, over 80% of its carrying capacity given to ferrying imperial-military fleets!
At the same time, at the point where the Lantian Star System joined the Water-Lily Star System, great batches of imperial-military fleets drove, batch after batch, into interstellar edge-space bound for the Water-Lily Star System.
The Lantian Star System had, at this moment, gone to a grade-1 combat-readiness state too, its lord's fleet cooperating across the board with the imperial-military fleet, and mobilizing every resource it could to aid the imperial-military fleet.
For if the interstellar bug-race in the Water-Lily Star System weren't brought under control, then when the "bug-plague" spread, the first to suffer would be their own Lantian Star System.
And at this moment, amid this string of imperial fleets, a ship in blue-and-white paint with gracefully curving lines appeared among them; its wholly different paint made this ship stand out as a plain not-belonging.
"Commander, we've reached the interstellar edge-space at the join of the Lantian Star System and the Water-Lily Star System safely!" Lilith reported to Zhao Chen.
Looking at the pitch-black interstellar edge-space before him, without a single point of light to be seen—
Zhao Chen looked to Chu Xuan beside him. "You still have the right to regret it now."
From the Northstar Star System of the North Wind Star Region all the way to the Lantian Star System of the Azure Star Region, it was thanks to Chu Xuan's Chu-family-eldest-miss identity that Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser could reach here so fast at all.
Above all that last stretch, applying to use the Lantian Star System's star-gate.
Because the Lantian Star System's star-gate had been commandeered by the imperial military, near enough every civilian ship's application was turned back.
It was only with Chu Xuan stepping forward that they got top priority outright and reached the Lantian Star System smoothly.
"This young miss, from birth to now, has never known how the word 'regret' is even written!" Chu Xuan wore a wholly fearless smile.
"Charlotte, run a fresh check on every module of the hull." Zhao Chen instructed gravely.
For this was the T3 Blizzard's first true combat voyage; bear in mind that the trial-voyage training beforehand hadn't been fully completed.
Trust as he did in his own technical blueprints, and in the T2 Iron-Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ship's quality control—
—the needful caution and care were needed all the same.
"Yes." Charlotte at once went to see to it, and soon reported: "Every department across the ship is without any problem. Every module of the ship runs entirely normally; there's no issue of any kind."
Zhao Chen drew a deep breath. "Engage the grade-6 warp engine; prepare to cross interstellar edge-space!"
"Warp-engine course pre-set complete; next comes the acceleration phase; warp travel begins in 10 minutes. Within 10 minutes, all crew enter deep-sea mode! Repeat — within 10 minutes, all crew enter deep-sea mode! Remember, we're about to enter a combat zone; on exit from deep-sea mode, all ship combat-station personnel must return to their combat stations within one minute! Is that understood!" Charlotte's grave voice carried through every department and section of the whole ship.
Near enough all the crewwomen of every department cried out those two words in one voice: "Understood!"
Though this cry, up on the bridge, Zhao Chen and the others couldn't hear.
Zhao Chen lay down in his hibernation pod; the T3 Blizzard's hibernation pods were quite comfortable, the "hangover feeling" on waking much diminished.
"On this warp voyage, we'll spend 35 hours crossing interstellar edge-space, and reach the outer edge zone of the interstellar-bug-race-controlled region outright," Lilith said to Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen nodded and closed his eyes.
The good of a grade-6 warp engine was that it could greatly shorten the journey.
Were Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard to set out now from the Arctic Fox Star System for the Owl Dragon System, it would need under two days.
To put it by way of comparison: from one point to another, a grade-1 warp engine needed 100 days; then a grade-2 warp engine needed only 50; a grade-3 warp engine only 25 days; a grade-4 warp engine only 12 days; and so on.
Generally a T1 ship would be fitted with a grade-1 or grade-2 warp engine, and a T2 ship a grade-3 or grade-4 warp engine.
Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard was fitted with a grade-6 warp engine!
The warp engine's invention had, beyond star-gate technology, greatly drawn near the distances between star systems.
Back to the present.
Zhao Chen turned that time over in his mind: 35 hours!
"Little sis, wait for your big brother a while longer."
Under the hibernation pod's lulling, Zhao Chen sank into sleep.
He didn't know how long had passed when a voice sounded at his ear; in an instant Zhao Chen came clear-headed.
"Blizzard intelligent-system advisory: the hull has been released from warp-travel state and reached the designated point; now in autopilot mode."
Setting out from the Northstar Star System, after a voyage of three days from first to last, Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard reached the Water-Lily Star System at last.
The very instant Zhao Chen opened his eyes, he was back in his captain's chair.
In a mere few dozen seconds, the whole bridge returned to the combat-ready state it had held before hibernation.
"Open the ship's radar; scout the surroundings at once! Open the comm channels; receive every comm signal around!" Lilith gave order after order.
"Report — ship radar scan complete. No suspicious targets found within ship-radar range."
"Report — we've caught some faint comm signals, but they're all calls for aid sent from the surrounding planets. The Water-Lily Star System's lord's fleet and imperial-military fleet have already abandoned this stretch, choosing to hold fast to the remaining one-third of the region and wait for support to arrive." the crew reported.
Zhao Chen opened the star-map, two dots flashing upon it.
One dot was where Zhao Chen's T3 Blizzard was; the other was where the two academies' fleet had last made contact.
"Next comes the greatest difficulty we'll face. Ahead of us there may be a great many interstellar bug-race; we have to find a way to cross this sea of bugs!" Chu Xuan said gravely at his side.
They had but one ship; the moment the T3 Blizzard got tangled up by the interstellar bug-race along the way, there'd be only one outcome!
Ship destroyed, all aboard dead!
"What other way is there — we charge through, that's all," Zhao Chen said heavily.
Chu Xuan looked at Zhao Chen, dumbfounded — as bluntly as that?
"We don't know where the interstellar bug-race are spread; all we can do now is gamble on our luck. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line — we gamble on this route!" Zhao Chen looked to Charlotte. "Prepare to engage Blizzard Extreme-Cruise Mode."
Charlotte nodded and passed the order: "By the captain's order, prepare to engage Blizzard Extreme-Cruise Mode!"
Blizzard Extreme-Cruise Mode?
Chu Xuan was taken aback — what technology was this?
Could it be that by this technology they could cross the sea of bugs outright?