321: A life-or-death race against time in the turbulent flow

Wen Youyi, Aila, and Senior Brother Zhang flew like three silver bullets toward the dark golden light sphere at the center of the time vortex.

Micro-thrusters on the backs of their spacesuits spewed blue exhaust, and the protective shield formed by the Starlight Feathers rippled under the tearing force of the time turbulence.

"Faster!" Wen Youyi shouted in the communication channel, "Those attack craft are catching up!"

Behind them, three small attack craft of the Star Devourers had already passed through the gaps in the time turbulence, pursuing relentlessly.

These attack craft had ferocious designs, resembling three dark golden metal locusts, and dangerous light began to gather at the energy cannon muzzles on their bows.

Aila analyzed data rapidly while flying: [No, we cannot outpace them in a straight line! We must use the time turbulence to create obstacles!]

She called up the real-time space-time map just transmitted back by the "Hidden Dragon" — it marked the locations and intensities of dozens of areas with abnormal time flow rates nearby.

Some areas had extremely slow time flow, where entering would be like falling into glue; some had extremely fast time flow, where one second inside could mean a minute passing outside; and others had chaotic time flows, where one might enter in 2024 and come out in 2023.

"Senior Brother Zhang, calculate the optimal evasion route!" Wen Youyi shouted.

Data streams scrolled crazily across Senior Brother Zhang's lenses: "At ten o'clock ahead, there is a 'time slow-motion bubble,' about thirty meters in diameter, with a time flow rate one-thousandth of the outside! We can use it!"

"How?"

"We fly in, and fly out before the Star Devourers' attack craft follow!" Senior Brother Zhang spoke extremely fast, "Inside that slow-motion bubble, we will feel time slow down, but outside time is normal. We can adjust our posture inside, and when the attack craft get close, we suddenly rush out, catching them in a time difference!"

"What's the risk?" Wen Youyi asked.

"If we stay inside too long, when we come out, several hours might have passed outside!" Aila added, "The energy of the Starlight Feathers cannot support us that long!"

Wen Youyi's eyes sharpened: "Let's do it! Execute!"

The three of them adjusted their direction simultaneously, rushing toward the time slow-motion bubble that was almost invisible to the naked eye.

The moment they entered, the world seemed to have been pressed to slow-motion.

Wen Youyi could clearly see every detail of his own hand movements, the flames spewed by the thrusters looked like solidified blue silk, and even his thoughts seemed to slow down — but strangely, his consciousness could still think at a normal speed.

The protective shield of the Starlight Feathers offset most of the time influence, but could not eliminate it completely.

Through the translucent boundary of the slow-motion bubble, they could see the three attack craft approaching at "normal speed."

Seen from inside the slow-motion bubble, their speed was as fast as three golden lightning bolts.

"Now!" Senior Brother Zhang calculated the timing, "Three, two, one — charge!"

The three of them started their thrusters at maximum power simultaneously, rushing out from the other side of the slow-motion bubble!

From the outside, the three of them seemed to have suddenly "flashed" a distance — one second they were in place, the next they appeared a hundred meters away.

And the three attack craft clearly hadn't anticipated this tactic; unable to stop in time, they dove straight into the slow-motion bubble!

"Success!" Senior Brother Zhang said excitedly.

Inside the slow-motion bubble, the movements of the three attack craft instantly became like snails crawling.

They tried to turn around to chase, but according to external time, this process would take at least ten minutes.

And Wen Youyi and the other two had taken this opportunity to advance another several hundred meters!

Less than half the distance remained to the dark golden light sphere at the center of the vortex!

"Don't celebrate too early." Aila warned, [Look ahead!]

Ahead, the time turbulence was denser.

Countless time bubbles of varying sizes floated like soap bubbles, some overlapping to form more complex space-time structures.

The most troublesome part was the spiral vortex around the light sphere — the time flow there was completely chaotic; one second one might be flying forward, and the next second find themselves moving backward.

"How do we get through this?" Senior Brother Zhang's face turned pale.

Wen Youyi stared at the chaotic area, his programmer instincts beginning to analyze.

In his eyes, those chaotic time flows were like lines of code riddled with bugs, seemingly disordered, but as long as one could find the patterns...

"Aila, can you scan for the 'nodes' of the time flow?" He asked, "Like key variables in a program, find them and we can clear up the logic!"

Aila immediately understood what he meant: [Scanning... Found them! There are seven relatively stable 'anchor points' in this chaotic area, and the time flows rotate around them! As long as we pass through these seven anchor points in order, we can safely reach the center!]

She marked the positions of the seven anchor points on the display screens of their helmets, connecting them into a tortuous but clear path.

"Go!" Wen Youyi took the lead and flew toward the first anchor point.

This was an obstacle race in a four-dimensional maze.

At the first anchor point, the time flow was normal, but space was distorted — they had to fly around the anchor point three times, like going through a spiral slide, to continue forward.

At the second anchor point, the time flow was fast and slow, and they had to accelerate when it was "fast" and decelerate when it was "slow," like dancing a bizarre waltz.

The third anchor point was even more outrageous — time there was "layered."

When Wen Youyi flew in, he felt as if he existed at three different points in time simultaneously: one was the present where he was flying, one was the past when he had just entered, and one was the future he was about to reach.

That feeling was like schizophrenia; if not for the protection of the Starlight Feathers, he might have already gone insane.

"Hold on!" Aila's voice stabilized his consciousness like an anchor, [Focus on the present! Don't be disturbed by your other time-line selves!]

Wen Youyi gritted his teeth, forcing himself to look only at what was in front of him.

When passing through the third anchor point, he found himself breaking into a cold sweat — the humidity control System inside his spacesuit activated immediately, but that feeling of palpitation lingered for a long time.

"Boss! How are things on your end?" Zhao Iron Pillar's voice came through the communication channel, accompanied by the background sound of energy weapons firing, "I can't hold on much longer! These bastards sent more ships!"

Wen Youyi looked back — indeed, five more attack craft had flown out from the direction of the Star Devourers' main ship, two of which were chasing Zhao Iron Pillar's transport craft, while the other three were bypassing the time slow-motion bubble and flanking them.

"Iron Pillar, don't fight them head-on, retreat while fighting, and head back to 'hope'!" Wen Youyi ordered, "Senior Brother Li, get ready to provide support! 'hope' can move closer slowly, use the 'Wide-Area Interference Ripple' to create chaos!"

"Understood!" Senior Brother Li's voice came through, "But Boss, you need to hurry! There's less than half an hour left in the window period!"

Time was tight.

Wen Youyi and the other two accelerated and rushed toward the fourth anchor point.

Just then, the unexpected happened!

A Star Devourers attack craft didn't take a detour, but instead charged directly toward the time turbulence area!

It had clearly activated some kind of space-time stabilization device, with a layer of dark golden light film covering the hull, forcibly tearing a path through the chaotic time flow!

"They are sparing no cost!" Aila's expression changed, [That device consumes a massive amount of energy; they can't hold it for long, but it's enough to catch up to us!]

Sure enough, the attack craft approached with astonishing speed, and the cannon muzzle on its bow had already locked onto Wen Youyi!

"Scatter!" Wen Youyi roared.

The three of them immediately scattered in three directions.

Almost simultaneously, a beam of dark golden energy grazed Wen Youyi's spacesuit and hit a time bubble not far away.

The time bubble instantly expanded and exploded, releasing a cluster of distorted light and shadow — inside, several blurry figures actually appeared, wearing ancient uniforms, looking like astronauts from a long-lost civilization.

"Space-time memory residue!" Senior Brother Zhang exclaimed, "The time bubble explosion released images from a point in the past!"

Those figures "looked" around blankly, then dissipated like smoke.

But this interference caused the pilot of that attack craft to freeze for a moment — and that was the moment!

Wen Youyi was quick-witted and pulled an "Energy Burst Bomb" from his waist — this was the smallest individual weapon on "hope," not very powerful, but enough to create chaos.

He threw it toward another time bubble in front of the attack craft!

The burst bomb exploded, and another time bubble ruptured.

This time it released a combat scene — two starships with strange designs were exchanging fire, energy beams flying everywhere.

Although it was just a replay of the past, the "phantoms" of those energy beams happened to block the attack craft's path!

The pilot of the attack craft was clearly stunned by this sudden "ghost attack" and subconsciously performed an evasive maneuver.

This evasion caused it to deviate from the optimal pursuit route and be pulled off course by a suddenly accelerating time flow.

"Beautiful!" Aila praised, [Use the environment to create obstacles! Quick, keep moving!]

The three of them took the opportunity to rush toward the fifth anchor point.

At this moment, they were less than two hundred meters away from the dark golden light sphere at the center.

The energy fluctuations emitted by the light sphere were becoming increasingly intense, and the master key in Wen Youyi's arms began to heat up and vibrate, as if responding.

But the crisis had not yet been resolved.

Although that attack craft had been diverted, the other two had already bypassed the outer time turbulence and were flanking them from both sides.

Worse still, from the direction of the Star Devourers' flagship, a massive main cannon was charging—they clearly intended to destroy the fragment directly if they couldn't obtain it themselves!

"They're going to destroy the fragment!" Aila exclaimed, [Main cannon charging at 70%! Expected to fire in twenty breaths!]

Twenty breaths!

Wen Youyi's brain was working at an unprecedented speed.

He looked at the two remaining anchor points, then at the flanking attack craft, and finally at the charging main cannon.

A crazy plan took shape in his mind.

"Aila, Senior Brother Zhang, you go to the sixth anchor point!" he shouted, "I'll go to the seventh! Then we'll meet at the center!"

"What are you doing?" Senior Brother Zhang asked urgently.

"No time to explain! Follow orders!"

Aila gave him a deep look, then grabbed Senior Brother Zhang and flew toward the sixth anchor point.

Wen Youyi, however, turned around and headed in another direction—not toward the seventh anchor point, but straight at the flanking attack craft on the right!

"Boss, are you crazy?!" Zhao Iron Pillar screamed over the communication channel.

Wen Youyi wasn't crazy.

He had calculated clearly: the pilot of the attack craft had their attention entirely on him and wouldn't expect him to approach proactively.

And in his hand, he still had something he hadn't used—the "Space-Time Key" obtained from the Starlight Sanctuary!

This key could open a space-time channel leading to twenty-four hours ago, but it could only be used once.

It was originally reserved as a last resort for survival, but now...

"Now!"

When he was less than fifty meters from the attack craft, Wen Youyi pulled out the Space-Time Key and activated it violently!

A silver rift opened before him, like a mouth devouring everything.

Wen Youyi didn't even think; he charged toward the rift—but he didn't charge into the rift; he flew past, grazing its edge!

The pilot of the attack craft clearly hadn't expected this move, and by the time they reacted, it was too late to turn.

The entire attack craft plunged headlong into the space-time rift!

The rift closed instantly.

And that attack craft... vanished.

It wasn't destroyed; it had been sent to this Star Domain twenty-four hours ago.

At that time, there was no Star Devourers fleet here, no time turbulence, only a calm starry sky.

By the time it realized what happened and flew back, everything would have long since ended.

One dealt with.

But the other attack craft had already opened fire!

Several energy beams shot toward Wen Youyi!

Wen Youyi made a sharp turn, dodging most of the attacks, but one still grazed his left arm.

The spacesuit immediately sounded an alarm—left arm joint damaged, thruster efficiency dropped by 30%!

"Wen Youyi!" Aila's voice was full of anxiety.

"I'm fine!" Wen Youyi gritted his teeth, "Keep moving! What's the main cannon's charge level?"

[85%! Fifteen breaths left!]

Wen Youyi glanced at the distance—he was still one hundred meters from the seventh anchor point and three hundred meters from the center light sphere.

At his current speed, coupled with his injury, there was no way he would make it in time!

Unless...

He looked at the attack craft on the left, a flash of determination in his eyes.

"Iron Pillar, fire a shot at me!"

"What?!" Zhao Iron Pillar thought he had misheard.

"Fire at me! Use interference shells, hit between me and that attack craft! I need to create a large enough energy disturbance!"

Although Zhao Iron Pillar didn't understand, his trust in Wen Youyi made him execute the order without hesitation.

The small interference cannon on the transport craft fired, and a ball of silvery-white interference energy exploded between Wen Youyi and the attack craft!

The shockwave and energy turbulence generated by the explosion caused a chain reaction in the time turbulence zone!

Several surrounding time bubbles were detonated simultaneously, releasing more residues of space-time memory.

For a moment, the entire area was filled with phantoms of various civilizations—warships in battle, fleeing spacecraft, exploring research teams... it was like a holographic movie spanning ten thousand years.

The sensors of that attack craft overloaded instantly, and the pilot lost their target lock.

Wen Youyi, using the shockwave from the explosion and the full thrust of his own thrusters, shot toward the seventh anchor point—the very last one—at an astonishing speed, like a stone thrown from a catapult!

Fifty meters, thirty meters, ten meters...

He rushed into the anchor point area!

The flow of time here was ten times faster than the outside!

Staying in the anchor point for one second meant ten seconds passed outside!

But Wen Youyi couldn't stay—the main cannon was already at 95% charge!

Almost the instant he rushed into the anchor point, he adjusted his direction and sprinted with all his might toward the central light sphere!

The one hundred and fifty meters from the anchor point to the light sphere took him less than three seconds from an outside perspective.

But under the influence of the accelerated time flow within the anchor point, he actually used thirty seconds to adjust his posture, aim, and reach out—

His hand touched that dark golden light sphere.

[Main cannon charging 98%... 99%...]

The light sphere instantly merged into his hand, turning into a warm, palm-sized metal fragment, its patterns perfectly matching the master key.

[100%! Main cannon fully charged! Fire—]

A torrent of dark golden energy, over a hundred meters in diameter, erupted from the muzzle of the Star Devourers' flagship, rushing straight at the position where Wen Youyi had been!

But Wen Youyi was no longer there.

The moment he touched the fragment, he had initiated the return procedure.

Aila and Senior Brother Zhang met him at the sixth anchor point, and after the three reunited, they flew back toward hope without looking back.

The energy torrent from the main cannon struck the original location of the light sphere, turning that already chaotic space-time into a complete mess.

The time turbulence was detonated, forming a massive space-time vortex that swallowed all three Star Devourers attack craft that were still nearby.

And the three of them, with the support of hope, narrowly escaped the boundaries of the Forgotten Corridor.

When they stumbled back to the bridge and took off their spacesuits, everyone collapsed to the floor.

A sharp pain shot from Wen Youyi's left arm—although the graze from earlier wasn't fatal, under the influence of the time turbulence, the wound displayed a bizarre time dislocation: some cells were in the state of having just been injured, some had already healed, and some... seemed like they hadn't been injured yet?

"Senior Sister Mu! Quick!" Zhao Iron Pillar supported Wen Youyi and shouted toward the medical bay.

Mu Wanqing rushed over, and upon seeing Wen Youyi's wound, she gasped: "This is... time trauma? I need to use 'Space-Time Stabilizer,' but there isn't much left on the ship..."

"Use what you have." Wen Youyi endured the pain and pulled the newly obtained fragment from his clothes.

The fragment automatically fused with the master key, and as the light flowed, the master key became one step more complete.

It now had three fragments—the original master key, one obtained from the Green Scale, plus this one.

"We... got it." He smiled, a smile that looked a bit ugly, but very satisfying.

Aila also slumped in her chair, holding the data pad she had just recorded: "We didn't just get the fragment; we also collected a vast amount of data on the time turbulence. This data... is priceless."

Senior Brother Zhang looked lingeringly fearful: "That was really too dangerous just now. That Space-Time Key... was used up."

"It was worth it," Wen Youyi said. "A single-use item in exchange for a star key fragment and everyone's lives—that's not a bad trade."

Old K walked over, looking at the master key in Wen Youyi's hand, the red light in his mechanical eyes softening significantly: "Kid, you're much better than the team I was with back in the day. They only thought about picking up trash when they went in; you... you went in for a real adventure."

Just then, the alarm on hope suddenly sounded!

[Large-scale spatial fluctuation detected! Location: direction of the Forgotten Corridor exit! Characteristics: matches the Star Devourers' main fleet! Number... over thirty ships!]

Wen Youyi's expression changed: "Their main fleet is here! Quick, start the engines, leave here at full speed!"

The thrusters of hope erupted with blue flames at maximum power, speeding off into the depths of the starry sky.

Behind them, at the exit of the Forgotten Corridor, a massive fleet composed of over thirty Star Devourers warships had just completed their warp.

On the largest mothership in the center of the fleet, that "Star Crusher" made of pure energy emitted a cold thought:

[The fragment... has been taken.]

[Tracking energy signal... target locked...]

[Pursue.]

The hunt began again.

But this time, the hunter had an extra fragment in hand, and a little more hope.

(End of chapter)