Chapter 32: Black Holes – Section 4

Whether it’s the black-haired man or not doesn’t matter, but the impact of this black hole…
The old marshal shook his head with a bitter smile. Compared to the Moors’ invasion, this probably wasn’t much better.
After all, no matter how strong the Moors were, there was still hope of dealing with them. But this black hole could not be confronted in any way. Its appearance in the Seventh Star Region was tantamount to declaring its destruction. No, not just the Seventh Star Region—several surrounding star regions would likely be severely affected as well. At the very least, the difficulty of anti-space jumps would increase by three levels. Small ships would no longer be able to enter or exit.
Although the Seventh Star Region wasn’t very important, it was still human territory. And coincidentally, it was also a crucial transportation hub! Bypassing it would take an enormous amount of time. This black-haired man was nothing but trouble!
For a moment, the old marshal gritted his teeth in hatred toward him.
But it was too late to say anything now. Even if he didn’t know how the black-haired man created that black hole, it already existed in the Seventh Star Region and was growing stronger by the day. Now, he could only let the black-haired man deal with the mess.
After some thought, the old marshal slowly spoke, “Get in touch with that brat. Tell him I’d like to have dinner with him. Let him pick a time.”
“Well…” Saka looked troubled. “I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“Hm? Why? Does that brat think he deserves special treatment after causing such a huge mess?” The old marshal raised his eyebrows, anger showing on his face.
“It’s not about special treatment… it’s just that…” Adjutant Saka hesitated for a moment. Seeing the old marshal’s imposing demeanor, he finally gritted his teeth.
“It’s just that we can no longer reach him. According to Baroka, who’s staying behind on the Death Star, their leader has lost contact with them. In other words, the black-haired man is missing!”
“What!? Missing? At this time!?” The old marshal was shocked. “Isn’t this nonsense?”
“Causing such a big problem and now telling me he’s missing. Does this guy expect me to take all the responsibility? What am I supposed to tell the public? ‘Oh, sorry. It was our strategic mistake.’ Oh, damn it! I’m going to be drowned in tomatoes!!”

“Yes, Marshal.” Hearing the old marshal’s fury, his adjutant, Saka, could only nod in response, a wry smile appearing on his handsome face. “I’m afraid it really does have to be you to step in now. By this time, news of the black hole appearing in the Seventh Star Region and the complete destruction of the Moore fleet must have spread throughout the universe. People urgently need an explanation. And according to intelligence, many nobles are on their way to headquarters—probably to demand answers.”
“Damn those who demand answers!” The old marshal flew into a rage the moment his adjutant said those words.
“What were they doing when the Moors invaded? Now that they’ve been wiped out and things are ‘safe,’ those noisy bastards come to bother me!? Dream on!! I’d rather take all the blame myself than give them even the slightest advantage. Saka, remember this—from now on, not a single noble is allowed on Taraton Planet. Anyone who dares to come must be driven away! I want to see what these good-for-nothing guys can do other than talk big!”
“Yes, Marshal. As you wish.” The adjutant bowed respectfully.
“Ah, one more thing!” The old marshal called out as his adjutant turned to leave. He rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. “Go announce a press conference. I’ll go explain things to the public. That brat may have been a bit harsh, but he did solve our problem after all. Let’s share some of the blame.”
“Understood, Marshal!” The adjutant saluted again respectfully. This time, however, his eyes showed respect.
Responsibility… a term only a true man can understand.
Though old, the old marshal showed no intention of shirking his duties. In that regard, he had never failed to live up to his position. The supreme commander of the interstellar fleet needed precisely such a person who dared to take responsibility.
So where was Blackhair? After causing such a huge mess, where was he?
The image of that young man flashed through Saka’s mind. Shaking his head, he finally left the room…
………………
Blackhair was, of course, in the universe.
Unnoticed, the Thunder God Fortress had been stationary for over thirty hours. The staff inside had long returned to their posts. But no matter what methods they used, they still couldn’t determine their location. So, up to this point, Blackhair could only stay put obediently.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with the fortress itself. Despite having been hit by a storm, Thor’s Fortress had sturdy armor and hadn’t suffered much damage. Its power system was completely intact as well. Even so, Kuroha didn’t dare to order the fortress to move at will.
After all, the universe was vast beyond what human effort could measure. While moving the fortress randomly might bring it closer to home, who knew it might not drive it further away instead?
Standing by the window and gazing at the endless starry sky, Kuroha suddenly felt that every star was a face—a face covered in mocking smiles.
“Leader, the scanning system has been fully repaired. We can now conduct wide-scale active scans. But…” A voice came from behind Kuroha. He turned around and saw it was the engineer sent by the Black Prison.
“But what?”
“Thor’s Fortress has extremely high active scanning power. With the situation in this region unknown, such high power could likely cause unnecessary trouble.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Seeing the engineer hesitate, Kuroha cut him off impatiently. “What you should be thinking about now isn’t safety. It’s how to find our coordinates. Other than active scanning and star maps, you must come up with other solutions. We don’t have much time left.”
“Yes, Leader.” The engineer nodded quickly. “Perhaps we could use the Bifrost calculation method. Use excessive computing power to determine our location. But this will take some time, and the results may not be precise.”
“That’s your job. Don’t ask me.” Kuroha frowned. He suddenly thought the engineer was rather wordy. But then he remembered that he was just an engineer after all. Though bearing the great reputation of the Black Prison’s members, he probably wasn’t omnipotent. In such a situation, it was indeed difficult for him to determine coordinates. With that thought, Kuroha’s expression softened. He waved his hand.
“Go.”
“Yes, Leader.” Seeing that Kuroha wouldn’t press further, the engineer’s face showed gratitude for a moment before he respectfully stepped back. But just as he reached the door, it suddenly swung open from the outside with a bang. The engineer was caught off guard and was hit in the face by the door, falling to the ground with a cry.
A figure rushed in like a whirlwind.

“Boss, you’re so lucky! Guess what I found? Huh? Why are you lying on the ground? Looking so worried—did Boss hit you?” Bloodpupil shouted excitedly, then suddenly spotted the engineer on the ground, utterly surprised.
“It was you who hit me!” The black-haired man replied irritably, helping the unlucky guy up and handing him a handkerchief. “Wipe yourself properly. Go back to work.”
“Y-yes…” The poor engineer, with tears and snot streaming down, couldn’t say anything in front of Bloodpupil. He took the handkerchief from the black-haired man and fled in a hurry, looking as if he wished he had two extra legs.
It wasn’t until his embarrassed figure disappeared from sight that the black-haired man turned to Bloodpupil and said irritably, “You kid, you’ve caused me trouble again. Tell me, what’s so urgent?”
“Hehe, of course it’s good news,” Bloodpupil sneered, but didn’t bother keeping it a secret. “Boss, we just discovered the energy emission trail.”
“Oh!?” The black-haired man’s eyes lit up, and a hint of joy appeared on his face.
Bloodpupil was indeed right. Given his current situation, this was indeed great news.
An energy emission trail, as the name suggests, could only be left behind after a large amount of energy was released. And in the universe, there were only two possibilities for such a trail: either large-scale meteorite migration or the wake of warships.
Since there were no scattered meteorite fragments around Thor’s Fortress, the first possibility was ruled out. The only remaining option was the second.
“You mean a fleet passed by here recently? Then, based on the energy emission, do you know when the trail was left? And what’s their speed?”
“About two days ago. Their speed isn’t very fast. Judging from the rate and range of energy emission, it’s probably a medium-sized transport fleet,” Bloodpupil replied confidently.
“Two days ago…” The black-haired man pondered Bloodpupil’s words before suddenly laughing. “If they don’t enter warp drive, maybe we can catch up to them?”
“Absolutely,” Bloodpupil replied with a smile. “If we’re fast enough, we might even get ahead of them. Boss, I just hope it’s a fleet we’re familiar with, or at least one we can communicate with. Thor’s Fortress has plenty of supplies, so a trade should be possible.”
“Let’s hope so,” the black-haired man nodded, feeling much better. He stood up and walked to the door.
“Then, shall we set off now?”

“As you wish, my respected leader!” Blood-eyed laughed heartily as he followed.