252: Chapter 252 Gravity Slingshot

"This planet is 90% iron, nickel, and other heavy metals; it's not of much use to you, is it? You need a large amount of hydrogen to leave the White Dwarf, right?"

"That's none of your business. We're making a deal..."

Gao Yuan heard this and understood that his guess was spot on.

The reason the Star-Eating Beast agreed to the deal was that hydrogen could allow it to leave the White Dwarf.

But would Gao Yuan actually go collect hydrogen? Of course not; that was just a stalling tactic to buy himself time.

And to figure out what abilities the Star-Eating Beast had and how big of a threat it was...

It seemed now that it indeed had the ability to affect celestial bodies two light-years away, but its effect was limited!

Seeing this, Gao Yuan felt a bit more at ease.

It was impossible for him to collect hydrogen.

He was certain that once the Star-Eating Beast broke free from the White Dwarf, it would immediately devour the Ideal Star and humanity.

To replenish its energy!

So, Gao Yuan was actually stalling for time.

"Fine, I agree. Can you reduce our planet's speed now?"

"Fine, the deal is struck. But your planet's speed won't change much for now; it will get slower and slower later!"

Gao Yuan understood; the distance was still great, so what the Star-Eating Beast could do was very limited.

...

With the time window changing from twenty years to fifty years, Gao Yuan's room to maneuver grew.

He sent out a large number of warships to start collecting heavy elements in the vicinity. If there weren't any, they would generate them through Nuclear Fusion; this method was something he had learned from devouring the nebula previously.

The warships carried intelligent manufacturing equipment. With sufficient matter and energy, they would build new warships, which would continue to unfurl solar sails to absorb matter.

Matter inside this Spiral Arm was extremely abundant, even denser than the outskirts of the nebula encountered in the Spiral Arm Membrane!

The only downside was the constant stellar storms! However, these superconductor warships navigated through the stellar storms with ease...

Thus, this fission-style collection would only get faster and faster!

This process continued for twenty years. After twenty years, the number of warships Gao Yuan sent out would reach one billion.

When these warships, fully loaded with various heavy elements, flew back to the White Dwarf...

It would be the moment to witness a miracle.

The Ideal Star was getting closer and closer to the White Dwarf.

To prevent the most extreme situation, Gao Yuan still prepared to leave the Ideal Star.

Forty years later...

Everything was ready.

Gao Yuan contacted the Star-Eating Beast.

"Our deal can be completed now!"

The Star-Eating Beast seemed very excited: "Did you collect the hydrogen for me?"

"Yes... a full billion tons!"

"Good, very good. Have your warships enter a high-altitude orbit around the White Dwarf. Don't crash; remember, I will devour them myself!"

Gao Yuan nodded!

"Fair enough. Can you release the lock on our planet now?"

"Let me see your warships, and then I will release it!"

Ten million warships quickly flew back.

Gao Yuan had already activated all power sources inside the Ideal Star and was turning at full strength...

The scientists had already calculated the trajectory.

The gravitational wave range of the White Dwarf was one billion kilometers, while the Ideal Star was currently five billion kilometers away. It was definitely too late to turn back, but changing direction was still possible!

This way, the Ideal Star would skim the outer edge of the White Dwarf's gravitational waves and then use them to complete an acceleration.

The entire process would take five years. This method of acceleration is called a Gravitational Slingshot.

After that, the Ideal Star's speed would increase to 10% of the speed of light, reaching its limit; currently, after decelerating, its speed was only 3% of the speed of light.

Using this opportunity, they could not only escape the White Dwarf but also regain their speed...

Afterward, the Ideal Star would slowly correct its course and continue flying toward the Galactic Center.

"I have released the lock. Now, give me the hydrogen you collected!"

"No, I don't trust you. Once our planet completes its turn, I'll give it to you..."

Seeing the hydrogen right in front of it but unable to eat it, the Star-Eating Beast was instantly enraged.

"Give it to me now, or I will immediately devour your planet!"

"If that's the case, then go ahead... I don't know how many years you've been here, but you must really want to leave. Even if you devour our planet, you still won't get out... And with such a large planet falling into the White Dwarf, aren't you afraid of triggering a Nova Explosion?"

Gao Yuan spoke while commanding the Ideal Star to turn; the lock had indeed been released.

"A reminder: if you lock onto our planet again, we will evacuate, and the hydrogen we collected will leave as well!"

"You can't escape. I will lock onto and devour every single one of you!"

"You can't do that. And once we find ourselves locked, we'll accelerate and crash into the White Dwarf... You won't get any hydrogen either... why bother?"

Gao Yuan negotiated with the Star-Eating Beast to stall it.

On the other side, the Ideal Star's turn was being accelerated...

"Our fleet is right above the White Dwarf. You can see it. As soon as we complete the turn, the fleet will enter the White Dwarf's orbit for you to devour!"

The Star-Eating Beast seemed to calm down...

Because now, the initiative was in the hands of the humans.

"Stupid Three-Dimensional Level 3 Civilization, once I get out, I will definitely devour you!"

The Star-Eating Beast was very angry but was unwilling to give up this opportunity.

It had been trapped here for two hundred thousand years...

During these long years, it received very little energy, so its body grew weaker and weaker. It had fled to this White Dwarf in a panic after being ambushed by a Level 5 Four-Dimensional Civilization...

It was easy to come, but hard to leave.

And it was getting harder and harder; any matter that reached the White Dwarf would disintegrate into an atomic state.

It couldn't absorb the matter of the White Dwarf; it could only devour things from space...

But it couldn't lock onto those gases, so it could only take a gulp the moment those materials entered the White Dwarf...

This energy wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth; it could only barely keep it alive. It could lock onto asteroids, but asteroids... had too little energy!

Who knew if it would ever have another chance if it missed this one!

So the Star-Eating Beast could only wait...

The Ideal Star made a wide turn within the White Dwarf's gravitational range. At the same time, the engines fired to accelerate, pushing the Ideal Star out of the White Dwarf's orbit and toward Yuanfang...

After the turn, the Ideal Star's speed increased again...

"Damned civilization, your planet has completed its turn. Now give me the collected hydrogen... otherwise, I will lock onto you again!"

"Alright, our fleet is setting off now! To repay you for sparing us, we specifically collected some extra hydrogen... please enjoy!"

A large number of unmanned warships flew toward the White Dwarf's orbit.

The Star-Eating Beast was full of greed; after two hundred thousand years, it finally had a chance to escape!