Chapter 21: Rise – Section 6

The vast universe was dotted with twinkling stars.
If anyone were to observe this area, they would notice that hidden in the pitch-black starfield were a group of massive, dark figures. Linked end to end, they formed a huge ring. Waves of blue light flowed along their bodies toward the front.
Undoubtedly, this was what Hei Fa referred to as energy replenishment.
To complete multiple short-distance jumps, Li Feng needed an astronomical amount of energy—even a super-large energy reactor wouldn’t suffice. Thus, sufficient temporary reserves were necessary. For this purpose, over 7,000 energy storage units were brought in, filling all the storage spaces to capacity.
Time passed swiftly, and half an hour had already gone by. On Li Feng’s large screen, the energy indicator had turned a bright green, and below it, more than thirty other indicators showed the same color.
“Captain, the energy has been adjusted. Li Feng is ready to set off at any time,” Baroka’s voice rang out, pulling Hei Fa out of his thoughts.
“Set off,” Hei Fa replied curtly, his gaze fixed on the central screen. Now, instead of the magnificent starfield, the screen displayed a dense pattern of countless curves.
An energy flow distribution map.
Through actual scanning, they had confirmed that this so-called vortex was actually a pure energy aggregate similar to a cosmic storm. But unlike violent cosmic storms, the energy flow in the vortex moved according to a fascinating pattern. If the warship entered at the right angle, it could significantly reduce the damage inflicted upon it.
Of course, to reach the core within ten minutes, radical measures like hyperspace jumps were required.
The pirates moved with great speed. In just a moment, only Hei Fa and Monkey remained in the control room. Glancing at his companion, Hei Fa was slightly surprised.
“Monkey, don’t you need to enter hibernation?”
“Of course not, boss. Have you forgotten that I was once considered the core of a warship? This level of hyperspace interference can’t disrupt my mental frequency. Don’t worry, I’m fine.” With a laugh, Monkey staggered to the controller’s seat and started fiddling with the operating system.
Seeing him like this, Hei Fa relaxed considerably.

To be honest, although this transition seemed easy, it actually involved many difficulties. The biggest challenge was ship control. After all, the time was too short, and continuous transitions were required. Human hibernation modes could hardly keep up with such a frequency. So in most cases, the entire warship had to be operated by Black Hair alone.

Of course, with Black Hair’s skills, even if the intensity of the transition increased several times, there wouldn’t be any problem operating it. But that would require a huge amount of biological energy—something Black Hair really didn’t like.

Now, with Monkey’s help, his workload would be reduced by at least half, naturally increasing the success rate as well.

A disturbance appeared in the starry sky. Right in front of nearly a hundred warships, the engine at the rear of Li Feng suddenly emitted a dazzling plume of exhaust. In just an instant, it shot far away. Then, a visible spatial disturbance spread out like ripples on a lake’s surface. Along with a strong burst of white light, Li Feng disappeared without a trace.

The distorted scene lasted only a moment. The next instant, darkness unique to anti-space appeared before Black Hair’s eyes. In such darkness, no light could exist; the windows seemed coated with a thick layer of ink. At the same time, Black Hair clearly felt a brief delay in his movements, with increased errors.

This was due to the environment of anti-space. In fact, only abnormal individuals like Black Hair and Monkey could experience this. Ordinary humans would have fainted long ago—distorted spacetime wasn’t so merciful.

But since it was a short-distance transition, before Black Hair could fully experience anti-space, the scene before them changed again. Intense purple light suddenly burst outside the windows.

“Damn!! No way!!!” Monkey exclaimed in shock.

Not only him—when they saw what was outside, even the usually calm Black Hair’s expression changed drastically.

Was this… the core of the vortex?

Purple crystals!! Purple crystals everywhere!! Through the windows, Black Hair saw that the so-called vortex core was actually a huge, hollow sphere rotating slowly. Li Feng was located inside this hollow part. Looking around, up, down, left, and right, there were these purple, gem-like crystals scattered everywhere, arranged unevenly like sharp swords!

“Boss, we’re rich! All these crystals are highly compressed energy. We’re rich!!!” Monkey couldn’t contain his joy upon seeing the results just scanned on his screen.

Compressed energy!? Black Hair was also stunned for a moment before bursting into joy. Truly worthy of being at the core of an energy vortex—here, the energy had been compressed into a material form. In that case, wouldn’t each crystal here be countless times more valuable than gold? After all, energy has always been the source of all conflicts, and it is also the driving force behind humanity’s progress. Energy compressed into matter alone shows just how pure and concentrated it is. Compared to this, even the purest energy ores are trash!!

“Is it possible to mine them!?” Black Hair asked eagerly, his face filled with excitement.

“No problem! But it will take time!! The molecular structures of these energy crystals are very stable, making them easy to preserve. Boss, shall we start now?” Monkey replied loudly, smiling happily.

But in an instant, both of their smiles froze. They exclaimed in unison, “That’s not right!!”

This was the core of the vortex, yet the ship’s sensors detected no abnormalities in pressure or temperature. So how could these energies have crystallized!?

“Something’s wrong—there must be energy tides here! That’s why they can turn into crystals,” Black Hair and Monkey concluded in unison, their faces turning pale.

Energy tides were a terrifying phenomenon in the universe, somewhat similar to cosmic storms. But instead of wildly splitting and dispersing energy, it was the opposite process—free-floating energy in space was gathered and compressed and fused at terrifying speeds. Anything within its range would be compressed into crystalline forms.

Back on Earth, Black Hair’s team had heard of such phenomena before. It was something encountered by an outer space exploration ship, though they only managed to send back a brief video before turning into miniature sculptures the size of dust particles.

Could this core of the vortex also possess such a terrifying phenomenon?

Without further hesitation, Black Hair stood up abruptly and rushed to Monkey’s side.

“Have you found any life crystals?”

“No, boss. There are energy fluctuations everywhere in this area. Li Feng needs time to analyze them,” Monkey replied urgently, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

Black Hair glanced at the time. It had been only about a minute since the transition was successful. By that calculation, his subordinates should have left their hibernation pods by now. The gauge representing the energy shield was still green, which made him breathe a slight sigh of relief.

“Hurry up and analyze it. We need to act before the energy tide.”

“I know,” Monkey replied without looking up, his fingers flying across the control panel at lightning speed—faster even than Black Hair’s.

That was one of the advantages of those who came from the Earth era. When it came to typing, they were all top-notch experts. After all, the skills needed for online chatting and courting girls couldn’t be mastered overnight.

More than three minutes passed, and the pirates had returned to their posts. Yet they couldn’t do anything. Watching the time gauge decrease bit by bit, each drop sending shivers through their hearts, they saw a hint of yellow appear on the defense shield icon.

“Don’t rush, Monkey. We still have time,” Black Hair said, frowning slightly but keeping a calm expression. “Besides the energy shield, Li Feng’s physical armor is also very strong. We definitely have more than ten minutes. Monkey, be more careful. It must be nearby.”

As a leader, Black Hair knew well what everyone needed. The current situation posed immense psychological pressure on everyone. He didn’t want Monkey to make any mistakes because of it.

But obviously, his efforts were futile. Monkey didn’t even hear him. He was completely focused on the screen in front of him, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he muttered to himself.

“High-frequency scan… nothing…”

“Node scan… nothing…”

“Wave layer scan… still nothing…”

“Nothing… nothing… nothing… How is it possible there’s nothing!!!?”

With every word from Monkey, everyone’s heart sank a little more. Their faces turned pale, and as they watched the time gauge shrink rapidly, they grew increasingly anxious.

Everyone knew that when that gauge disappeared, it would mean their mission had failed!!

Just then, Monkey suddenly burst into laughter.

“Ha, kid, where the hell are you running to!!”