251: Chapter 251 Negotiation

The warship's attacks were ineffective. Laser Cannons, nuclear bombs, and Antimatter bombs—they had tried them all, but without exception, some became part of the White Dwarf, while others were swallowed by the Star-Eating Beast.

They had absolutely no effect on the Star-Eating Beast; to it, nuclear bombs were nothing more than popcorn.

Gao Yuan was stunned.

But there was nothing he could do.

In this place, every step was fraught with peril.

Gao Yuan was suddenly caught in a dilemma. Was there really no way? Would he have to abandon the Ideal Star?

He was unwilling to accept this.

He believed there had to be a way, and he began to study the White Dwarf.

Since he couldn't deal with the Star-Eating Beast directly, could he use the White Dwarf to eliminate it?

Gao Yuan had used this kind of method back when he was a novice to deal with Jupiter's creatures. Because a White Dwarf has immense gravity, many passing nebulae and gas clouds are torn apart by it, causing a massive amount of matter to enter the White Dwarf.

According to the monitor's calculations, over a hundred million tons of matter entered the White Dwarf every second.

Theoretically, as a White Dwarf's mass continues to increase, its internal pressure also continues to rise. When this pressure reaches a critical value, the internal atomic structure collapses and enters a state of fusion. At that point, the White Dwarf, like a White Giant, would release a massive burst of high-energy rays.

This is a Nova Explosion.

White Dwarfs undergo Nova Explosions at regular intervals. When the atoms inside a White Dwarf fuse into heavy nuclei but the pressure continues to increase...

The atomic state can no longer be maintained, yet fusion cannot continue... At that moment, the atomic structure completely collapses, and the White Dwarf becomes a neutron star...

How terrifying is a neutron star? It is said that a single cubic centimeter of neutron star matter could smash through the Ideal Star.

Of course, the White Dwarf was still very far from becoming a neutron star.

Gao Yuan began to wonder: could he artificially accelerate the speed at which the White Dwarf absorbed matter, hasten a Nova Explosion, and use the energy from that explosion to kill that juvenile Star-Eating Beast?

Gao Yuan didn't know if it could actually be killed...

But one thing was certain: if a nova occurred, at the very least, the force field the Star-Eating Beast used to lock onto the Ideal Star would be broken. Then, the Ideal Star would have a chance to escape.

Now, only one question remained...

Exactly how much matter would it take for the White Dwarf to undergo a Nova Explosion?

When the time came, would the Ideal Star be able to escape the storm of the nova? If it was too close, the Nova Explosion would completely consume the Ideal Star.

Once again, he faced a choice...

Gao Yuan felt it was too difficult.

Why was it a choice between life and death every single time?

Reason told him that taking the fleet and fleeing was more in line with the current state of humanity.

But in the Spiral Arm Core, without the protection of a planet, how long could the Human Fleet hold out?

They had encountered a Star-Eating Beast just after entering; what about even more terrifying civilizations or cosmic behemoths?

Just as Gao Yuan was agonizing over the decision, he suddenly received a message.

It was easy to decipher.

But the content made things even harder for Gao Yuan.

"A level-three Three-Dimensional Civilization! You are too weak; you are only fit to be my food!"

Gao Yuan didn't even need to analyze it to know where this message came from.

There was only one possibility: it came from that Star-Eating Beast.

"If we continue to accelerate, our planet will eventually crash into the White Dwarf. You will definitely be able to eat us, but we can leave on our starships and find another planet to serve as our base!"

Gao Yuan responded.

"Or, we can go a step further and leave right now. Before we go, we'll blow up our planet, and you'll get nothing!"

Gao Yuan provoked it further.

The Star-Eating Beast on the other side seemed to be agitated.

"If you really do that, I will come out right now and devour all of you!"

"Then why don't you do it?"

Gao Yuan had a faint suspicion that this juvenile Star-Eating Beast was trapped on the White Dwarf.

Otherwise, it wouldn't need to go to such lengths to lock onto a planet.

Furthermore, matter was constantly falling into the White Dwarf from space; why would it need to lock onto the Ideal Star?

There was only one possibility: it didn't have time to absorb it before that matter became part of the White Dwarf!

"It's because you can't leave, right? So... let's make a deal. You release your lock, and we can do something for you!"

Being able to communicate was a good thing...

If it had a weakness, there was room for negotiation.

Gao Yuan suddenly felt a glimmer of hope.

"You are still unwilling to part with this planet, aren't you?"

"Yes, we are unwilling. But if you continue, you won't get anything either! At worst, we'll just keep gathering resources and build another planet. In two thousand years at most, we'll be right back where we are now. But what about you?"

In a negotiation, one must hold the initiative.

Gao Yuan now felt he had the upper hand over this Star-Eating Beast.

"I admit you have a point, and you indeed have the ability to destroy this planet. So... I agree to your terms. You do one thing for me, and I will let you leave!"

"No, you don't have a choice. You release the lock now, and only then will I do something for you!"

"Liar... If I release the lock, you'll leave immediately and won't help me at all! If that's the case, then so be it; you can destroy the planet. I'll just wait for another opportunity... There are plenty of nebulae and meteors here; I can absorb the meteors!"

Gao Yuan knew he had pushed just far enough.

Any further and the negotiations would collapse.

"Fine, tell me your conditions first. If it's too difficult, we'll be powerless to help!"

A moment passed on the other side...

...before a message came through.

"You can definitely do it; it will just take a little time!"

"Let's hear it!"

"At a distance of 1.5 light-years from the White Dwarf, there is a nebula. On the outskirts of that nebula, there is a large amount of Hydrogen. Help me collect one billion tons! Then I will release my lock!"

"That's impossible... At 1.5 light-years, it would take us thirty years just for the round trip. Add the time to collect the Hydrogen, and it would take at least fifty years. But given the current situation, our planet will enter the White Dwarf's gravitational range in twenty years..."

"I can... slow down your planet's speed!"

The Star-Eating Beast had that kind of power?

If it had that kind of power, it could completely devour the meteors itself!

If it could gain energy just by devouring meteors, why did it need them to collect Hydrogen?

Gao Yuan began to speculate...

The energy source for these Star-Eating Beasts was actually Nuclear Fusion. Meteors were generally made of iron and nickel, and it was very difficult to achieve fusion with such heavy atoms. Thus, for the Star-Eating Beast, they were almost useless.

But Hydrogen is the lightest element and can undergo several rounds of fusion reactions...

This would give the Star-Eating Beast the ability to break free from the White Dwarf.

Then how did it get stuck there in the first place?

"Can't you just make our planet stop?"

"No... I can only slow down your planet's speed. This will give you ample time to collect the Hydrogen. If you don't collect it, I will still devour this planet!"