Chapter 227 : Chapter 227 You Will Get Better
"..."
Qi Zhimu's expression turned grim. Without a second thought, he switched to slow autopilot, unbuckled his seatbelt, and stumbled toward the aft of the cabin.
As the designer of the space-time ship, Herta's heart sank to the bottom the moment she saw the state of the power bay.
It was possible to mend the fold after the sheep were lost, but a significant amount of energy had leaked in that short time.
Everyone who took on the mission had undergone technical training to handle various crises, including dealing with energy leaks.
Qi Zhimu plugged the holes gnawed by the Stingbugs in the shortest time possible, but more than half of the energy reserves were still lost.
Besides that, there was another fatal crisis: insect eggs.
The reproductive capacity of the Stingbugs of The Propagation was terrifying; some species spent the vast majority of their lives laying eggs.
Unfortunately, the Stingbugs had left behind many eggs while damaging the ship.
If they couldn't be thoroughly cleaned out before hatching, given the ship's current state, the people inside would have no chance of survival.
Qi Zhimu's current condition was too poor; he didn't have enough energy to search every dead corner.
Fortunately, the ship had a powerful self-cleaning purge system.
It was a safety measure designed to deal with poisonous gas; the Memory-Substance World's fog of remembrance was often filled with toxic fumes.
Once the system started, anyone not securely buckled in would be instantly ejected.
The ship functions Herta used when dealing with the three deserters included this self-cleaning purge system.
At this moment, she had already reached the console and was frantically pressing the start button, but to no avail.
She did not belong to this timeline and could do nothing.
Fortunately, Qi Zhimu knew of the system's existence. He returned to the pilot's seat immediately, and after securing himself, he activated it.
The air pressure inside the cabin fluctuated violently. A powerful self-cleaning airflow swept through the corners, flinging out all the hidden threats that had yet to hatch.
Having resolved the hatching crisis, Qi Zhimu immediately checked the remaining energy reserves, his face darkening.
[32%.]
Herta's expression looked as if she were suffocating.
Their current spatial coordinates were still far from the Azure Star; a 32% energy reserve would likely be insufficient.
Qi Zhimu suppressed the turmoil in his heart and began addressing the other alarms.
Misfortunes never come singly.
External hull damage, power conversion unit failure—one troublesome issue after another followed.
Internal damage might still be repairable, but external damage was impossible to fix from within.
This meant the ship would suffer massive additional losses during flight, and the already meager energy would deplete even faster.
Herta instinctively looked at the coordinate transmitter; it was their last lifeline.
A single glance made her feel as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
...The icon showed it was damaged and unavailable.
Without their only lifeline for energy, the impending dead end was plain to see.
Unless a miracle occurred, returning to the Azure Star was nothing but a pipe dream.
What to do?
It seemed only the coordinate signal dockers carried by each person remained.
However, the effective range of these devices was very small; they had to at least reach the outer edge of the Azure Star's gravitational field.
The remaining energy wouldn't support getting there. Currently, the ship was still on autopilot, and its speed wasn't fast.
Qi Zhimu's bloodshot single eye stared intently at the dashboard, his gaze scanning between core data and warning pop-ups.
Finally, his gaze landed on the unconscious girl in the co-pilot seat.
After a moment of silence, his hand on the throttle lever gradually applied force, pushing it to the highest setting.
[Forward Seven.]
The space-time ship, like a meteor flying in reverse, accelerated frantically within the fog of remembrance.
The corners of Qi Zhimu's bloodless, parched mouth slowly curled upward.
"You will get better, Little Ta..."
"But what about you?!"
Hearing his hoarse and exhausted voice, Herta couldn't help but shout back in question.
Unfortunately, the Qi Zhimu of the past could not possibly hear her.
She didn't understand what Qi Zhimu intended to do and could only guess.
With the external hull damaged, it absolutely could not withstand the sustained pressure of maximum speed.
She feared that before the 32% energy reserve ran out, the ship would fall into an irreversible disintegration.
The longer it flew at maximum speed, the sooner disintegration would arrive.
As time passed, various alarms blared one after another. The right side of the outer hull was visibly warping and peeling off.
Watching the red lights flashing frequently on the dashboard, Herta's eyelids twitched violently, and her heart tightened.
Still not slowing down...?
From outside the ship came another scalp-numbing sound of tearing metal.
Through the monitor, Herta clearly saw signs of the hull starting to break apart.
Just then, Qi Zhimu suddenly pulled the throttle lever back to its original position, cutting off the engine's power supply.
He tapped out a series of commands on the console, pre-setting an auto-hover program for when the ship eventually stopped.
The power quickly dropped to zero. Relying on its accumulated kinetic energy, the ship continued to glide through the fog of remembrance.
Before long, the ship's speed dropped to a safe range where the human body would not be affected by inertia.
Qi Zhimu immediately unbuckled his seatbelt.
Weakness made his movements stumble as he stood. He staggered away from the pilot's seat and walked quickly toward the tool storage in the rear cabin.
He opened the lockers and dragged out all the spare parts that could be of use.
Then, he pulled out a spare protective suit and began modifying it on the spot.
Herta watched all of this intently.
She didn't yet understand Qi Zhimu's specific intention for modifying the protective suit.
However, she fully understood the suicidal, extreme maneuver he had just performed.
By overdrawing the ship's structural lifespan, Qi Zhimu had accelerated to peak power within a certain timeframe.
As long as the ship could endure that powerful thrust for a sufficient duration, it would build up a massive peak of inertial force.
Then, by cutting the power and using inertia for a long-distance glide, he could achieve energy savings.
As the designer of the space-time ship, she naturally understood this method of piloting.
The problem was that it had to be based on the premise that the ship's overall structure was intact.
Now that the ship had been damaged by the Stingbugs of The Propagation, the external hull was compromised, and its structural strength was greatly reduced.
Forcing a push to peak speed meant it could suddenly disintegrate under the immense pressure at any moment.
Did Qi Zhimu decelerate precisely before the limit because he understood the ship's current state to the absolute extreme, or was he purely gambling?
Herta's eyes flickered; she was more inclined to believe Qi Zhimu was gambling.
His other self, the Magician, had said that his luck had always been good.
Staring at the blood-stained Original Human Qi Zhimu as he bowed his head to modify the protective suit, Herta's gaze became increasingly complex.
Regarding the truth about Magician Qi Zhimu, she actually already had a few uncertain conjectures in her heart.
Due to a subconscious avoidance and a lack of key substantive evidence, she had been unwilling to look too deeply into it.
But no matter which possibility it was, it had to be highly related to the Original Human Qi Zhimu.
The greatest possibility was none other than—
The invincible Magician, who was always at ease in desperate situations and kept her safe... perhaps only existed in her dreams and fantasies.
He had never truly been born in the dimension of reality.