Chapter 32: Black Holes, Section 5

The Thor Fortress was huge, making it extremely cumbersome. Yet, thanks to its numerous thrusters, it could achieve high straight-line speeds—so long as it had enough time to accelerate—making it not much inferior to a Moth giant ship.
Black Hair saw no problem in chasing a transport fleet at such speeds.
But in reality, even after the Thor Fortress traveled at full speed for two days, they still saw no sign of the fleet. Apart from the still-visible traces of energy emissions, they found no other signs left behind.
This situation clearly surprised both Black Hair and Blood Eyes. The two discussed it thoroughly, but the conclusion remained the same: it was a transport fleet, and its ability to make the Thor Fortress struggle to chase it likely stemmed from the installation of special engine components. Still, it was just a transport fleet after all.
Any transport fleet couldn’t be too fast—this was a universally accepted fact in the universe. So Black Hair and Blood Eyes could only grit their teeth and keep chasing, hoping the enemy wouldn’t suddenly enter warp drive.
A long pursuit could easily wear down a person’s patience, and Black Hair and Blood Eyes were no exception. Though they had speculated whether this might be a trap, for the Thor Fortress, loaded with Blood Moon and Sunset, that wasn’t a top priority.
If the highest-tier armed forces of the Death Star could be destroyed so easily, then Black Hair and Blood Eyes wouldn’t even think of fighting the Moth race—they’d just prefer to crash into something instead.
With such an attitude, they treated the pursuit like a game. And the invisible target seemed unwilling to enter warp drive either. Thus, the two engaged in a unique speed race across the universe. Six days passed before Black Hair finally spotted a dense array of light points on the Thor Fortress’s scanning screen.
“How could there be so many…” Everyone in the command cabin was astonished at the sudden display.
Though they already knew they were chasing a transport fleet, they never imagined it would be on such a massive scale. The light points on the screen were so dense that even those with poor eyesight could tell there were at least three thousand of them!
Three thousand transport ships!? A large fleet of the human forces barely numbered a thousand. Where could such a huge transport fleet come from?

No one knows. But just as they scanned the other party’s figures, it was obvious that the other side had also noticed them. The dense clusters of dots on the screen suddenly slowed down before moving rapidly in intersecting patterns, quickly forming a huge ring. There was a gap in the ring, directly facing the direction of Thor’s Fortress.

“Such a quick reaction. This is definitely not an ordinary transport fleet.” Blood-Pupil snorted coldly, excitement flashing in his eyes. But Black-Hair remained indifferent to his words.

Isn’t that obvious? A fleet that could carry Thor’s Fortress for eight days couldn’t possibly be just an ordinary transport fleet. Black-Hair doubted that Blood-Pupil said that on purpose to hide his curiosity.

The dots on the screen rapidly enlarged and soon turned into huge spaceships. From the outside, they all had a prismatic shape, resembling arrows used in ancient wars—very primitive in appearance. The ship bodies were located where the arrow shafts would be, with rough surfaces covered in protrusions. Each of these ships was about 2,000 meters long, and their tails were equipped with massive thrusters resembling arrow feathers. The thrusters looked like dozens of tubes tied together; though simple, they made everyone understand why they had been unable to catch up to them.

“Oh, my God. Is this still a transport fleet? It’s like a beast armed to the teeth!” The Black Prison Engineer was the first to exclaim, voicing the thoughts of all the crew members.

Indeed, although these transport ships had a simple appearance, they gave off such an impression. Especially their arrow-like shape, which carried an unprecedented sense of impact, as if each charge could crush their enemies to pieces. And with those special tail thrusters, no one doubted their speed.

“Blood-Pupil, are you sure they’re a transport fleet?” Black-Hair’s voice suddenly rang out in the silent command cabin.

“Well… maybe… perhaps… or so?” Staring at the appearance of the ships on the screen, Blood-Pupil’s words became uncertain. His hesitant tone lacked any conviction.

With synchronized scowls, everyone in the command cabin gave Blood-Pupil a look of distrust.

What they didn’t know, however, was that while they were carefully observing each other, the other side was also watching them. The massive size and terrifying appearance of the Thor’s Fortress undoubtedly exuded more pressure than any warship. So, as the two sides got close enough to see each other clearly, the enemy fleet suddenly turned as one, abandoning its original formation and fleeing at an unprecedented speed.

“Chase!” The black-haired man and the blood-eyed man exchanged a glance before giving the same order.

Though they couldn’t figure out why the enemy had suddenly fled, since they had been chasing them for so long, how could they give up? Moreover, due to the pursuit, Thor’s Fortress had even deviated from its coordinates in the anti-space realm. If they didn’t obtain enough information from these guys, they would be adrift in the universe.

The universe was fascinating, but the black-haired man and the blood-eyed man believed no one wanted to face this endless space forever. So, they had only one choice left.

The sight of such a vast fleet flying together was astonishing, especially those arrow-shaped ships ahead. It was unclear what kind of civilization they came from. Whether in appearance or mode of flight, these ships undeniably evoked words like primitive, backward, and crude. Yet their peculiar bundled propulsion systems were truly remarkable.

Dozens of tubes tied together emitted long, fiery red exhaust streams, propelling these ships forward. In just a few minutes, they reached the cruising speed of Moth giant ships! And those thick, long exhaust streams combined together looked like fireworks—3,000 ships forming a wide, bright energy band!!

Unfortunately, Thor’s Fortress wasn’t slow either. Despite these ships using all their strength, escaping its pursuit remained a luxury. If not for the black-haired man and the blood-eyed man constantly being cautious that the enemy’s strength might exceed expectations, Thor’s Fortress would have already reached them.

Unlike the previous chase, this time it was clearly a full-scale confrontation. Both the strange arrow-shaped ships and the black-haired man’s Thor’s Fortress were giving it their all. As the distance between the two sides grew smaller, the black-haired man still had one question: “Why aren’t they making a jump?”

“What? Boss, don’t joke around. Transiting in front of the enemy—isn’t that asking for death? No commander, no matter how stupid, would transit in front of Thor’s Fortress, right?” Blood Eyes retorted with a smirk at Black Hair’s question, a hint of amusement in his eyes, seemingly surprised by such an idiotic question.

But Black Hair didn’t think so. “As long as a portion of the ships stays behind to block Thor’s Fortress, the rest will have enough time to transit. It’s not some brilliant theory, and the enemy commander surely understands it. Besides, we’ve been chasing them for eight days—have you seen any signs of them transiting? And as a transport fleet, transit is the fastest way to travel long distances. Why wouldn’t they use it? Unless…”

“Unless they can’t transit at all!” Blood Eyes loudly finished Black Hair’s sentence, his smile growing wider.

“But do you think that’s possible, Boss? What era is this? Are there still ships that can travel in space but can’t transit? If that’s the case, how could these guys expand their influence? The vastness of space alone is enough to crush anyone’s dreams.”

“That’s the only explanation.” Black Hair ignored Blood Eyes’ doubts and focused even more on the fleet on the screen. “I’m afraid that’s also why they haven’t been discovered yet.”

If they can’t transit, they can’t travel long distances. If they can’t travel long distances, they can’t reach more civilizations. If they can’t reach them, they won’t be discovered… Black Hair’s explanation was simple—so simple it seemed like child’s play. But Blood Eyes wanted to argue, only to find no evidence.

Because this strange fleet never showed any remarkable performance from start to finish. Its primitive and rudimentary ship designs only served to support Black Hair’s theory.

“Maybe their civilization is really that primitive?” Staring at the oddly shaped fleet accelerating on the screen, Blood Eyes suddenly felt that there might be some truth to Black Hair’s doubts.

That doubt persisted for another thirty minutes. By then, the pursuit between the two sides was nearing its end, and Black Hair and Blood Eyes’ patience had run out. Just as they were about to order the fortress to fire at the fleet ahead, something unexpected happened.

Visibly, a portion of the dots on the screen disappeared—about three hundred of them.

“What? Did the scanner break down? What are you doing?” Blood Eyes snapped angrily, openly expressing his dissatisfaction.

“No, Boss Blood Pupil. It’s not a device malfunction,” the Black Prison engineer hurriedly explained, his face twisted with anxiety. “Everything is working normally; they really disappeared!”
“What? Damn it, is it another mirage?” Blood Pupil was instantly shocked.
At that moment, the screen flickered again—the light dot representing their enemy ship suddenly decreased by nearly half! On the long-distance monitoring screen, something utterly unexpected also appeared.
In the silent universe, a thick tube lay there motionless. One end was wide open, with arrow-shaped ships continuously entering it, while the other end simply vanished into emptiness…