Chapter 497: Changes V
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gray Valley's star chart was brought up before the surprised ship captains. Ye Chong stood in front of the star chart, facing his audience. He spoke solemnly, "This is Gray Valley. The red zones mark where red-tailed beasts were sighted. This is our current location." He pointed to the S.S. Iron Scorpion on the star chart. He then traced his finger towards the region with the most intense red color and said, "This is the front line, where we came from."
Everyone watched in silent gloom.
"Let me tell you something. The Gateway that leads from Gray Valley to He Yue Galaxy is already invaded by the red-tailed beasts. It's still unclear where these red-tailed beasts came from."
"Ah!" The people were shocked. A few even stood up. Xi Qing and Shu exchanged a look of despair. The news was a horrible blow to them all, shattering their hopes of escaping to the He Yue Galaxy.
However, Sir Jay seemed to think his audience was not shocked enough. He continued, "Have a look over here, and here." He pointed to the two flanking red-tailed beast armies that were racing along the edges of Gray Valley.
"Shang, run the simulation," Ye Chong spoke quietly to Shang.
"Sigh, so I'm just your grunt, yeah?" Shang sulked with a face.
The red zones on the star chart began to change. The two flanking armies pushed forward at an astounding speed to form to a red enclosure.
The two armies finally converged!
After that, the red-tailed beasts spread out and formed a red barrier, splitting Gray Valley into two. The main army of red-tailed beasts in the center began to push their way forward.
In just a few short moments, the region within the surround formation turned red through and through.
The meeting room was dead silent. Everyone looked pale.
They may not be war tacticians, but this straightforward simulation was easy to understand.
Was this their ultimate fate?
In the end, they would never escape the terror of the red-tailed beasts. Could it be that all their efforts so far were for naught?
The tension in the air was suffocating. The star chart that was dyed red reflected in the eyes of the audience.
For 10 minutes, no one in the meeting room spoke. Everyone felt a chilling sense of despair.
What a bunch of motley crew! Ye Chong shook his head inside. In the end, the fleet was made up of random amateurs who would be devastated when facing truly challenging odds. If it was the Sang Tribe, they would never react so passively.
Ye Chong could not appreciate what the red-tailed beasts meant for these normal people. He had killed countless red-tailed beasts himself, so the creatures did not scare him. Normal people, however, thought of the red-tailed beasts as invincible adversaries. Before Ye Chong carved his first victory, Gray Valley had never won against the red-tailed beasts in any large scale battles.
While their last victory was encouraging, this obstacle once again reawakened their perception of the invincibility of the red-tailed beasts.
Ye Chong thought that he should not let the silence continue. He spoke up then, "However, we are not entirely hopeless." Everyone looked up at that, turning their intense gaze to Ye Chong. That's right, didn't they still have Sir Jay?
"As you can see, the two flanking red-tailed beast armies will converge near Planet Kasent. Our only chance is to go beyond Kasent before they converge," Ye Chong described the situation calmly.
As Ye Chong finished, a few of the captains expressed their disappointment, "How's that possible?"
"That's right, it's just impossible! We're too slow compared to the red-tailed beasts."
"How is that a solution?" Someone mumbled in complaint.
…
Ye Chong looked at the noisy captains. His gaze turned cold. Without further indications of his mood, he tapped his index finger lightly on the desk.
Someone noticed that Sir Jay did not look happy, and quickly reigned in the complaining captains. A few of grumbling captains saw Ye Chong's expression and realized what they had done. Their faces paled, and they shut their mouths immediately. Gradually, the grumbling sounds quieted down.
This time, only the sound of Sir Jay's index finger tapping on the desk could be heard. Each tap hammered down on their hearts. No one dared to speak. Sir Jay's authority in the fleet was absolute. No one dared to defy him. All the captains here had seen plenty of people in their lives. They could tell exactly what kind of man Sir Jay was. This man can kill without blinking!
Xi Qing and Shu were still too young to understand these things.
Ye Chong ignored the captains and turned to the very quiet Xi Qing and Shu, "Next time, if anyone causes a ruckus in the meeting room, escort them out immediately."
Xi Qing and Shu could read Ye Chong's dissatisfaction in his voice. They were terrified by this, and quickly stood up and saluted, "Yes sir!"
All the captains were still shocked, but none of them dared to voice their opinion. They knew that they had behaved disgracefully.
Ye Chong looked around him, his gaze turning colder still. All the captains lowered their head, unable to meet his eyes.
"We are not discussing the possibility of achieving this. This is our only chance, for me and for all of you!" Ye Chong emphasized every word, then resumed speaking normally, "Of course, I face a very difficult problem, or I would not have gathered everyone here. It's impossible to go so far using conventional flight routes. I call all of you here to ask, does anyone know of any warp jump points that can bring us to the vicinity of Kasent?"
The ship captains looked to each other speechlessly. They felt that Sir Jay was being naive in this matter. If there was such a warp jump point, people would have noticed it and used it frequently.
Gray Valley was shaped like a hourglass, and Kasent was at the waist of this hourglass. Besides, there was simply no warp jump point nearby that could bring them past Planet Kasent.
This was common knowledge. Surely Sir Jay would know about it?
Just then, one of the captains raised his hand hesitantly, "Sir Jay, I - I know of a place, maybe - maybe we can …"
The captain was a large man, about 50 years of age. There was a noticeable scar at the corner of his right eye. His eyes twinkled like he was hoping to share something.
"Alright, think about this problem for now, let me know if you have a solution. You may return to your stations. Remember, we're running out of time. Hmm, I will also not have rumors spreading around." Ye Chong pointed to the captain who raised his hand and said, "You, stay!"
All the other captains took their leave. There was now only Ye Chong, Xi Qing, Shu and the captain who raised his hand.
"Alright, you can speak now," Ye Chong said.
The captain looked relieved. "Sir Jay, I know of a place. It's a warp jump point. From there, we can reach the vicinity of Planet Spectre."
"Where is it?" The rest of the people in the room were encouraged by the news.
The captain was hesitant, he shared his information, "It's in the Calamitous Asteroid Belt."
Xi Qing and Shu both looked taken aback. They looked at the captain with wary eyes. If he tried anything funny, they will react immediately! The Calamitous Asteroid Belt, he said. This place was named so because of the numerous dangerous that laid within. Unpredictable asteroid whirlpools found inside could destroy even the strongest starship ever built. The chances of them surviving the Calamitous Asteroid Belt was no higher than when fighting against the red-tailed beasts head on.
This captain must be planning something behind their backs!
Was he trying to destroy the entire fleet? Xi Qing's eyes burned with rage, while Shu's eyes turned cold.
"The Calamitous Asteroid Belt? Where do we enter, what is the general location of the jump point? And how did you know about it?" To the duo's surprise, Sir Jay did not seemed angered, but was instead asking curiously.
With that, the captain continued without delay, "If we proceed at 33 degrees to the radius vector, it will take about 15 days for us to reach the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Once we're in, it will be about another three days before we get to the warp jump point. I remember it's location clearly, at (79, 23, -661, Y). As for how I found out about it …"
He smiled wryly, "Truth is, I was a space pirate."
Ye Chong still looked calm when Xi Qing and Shu expressed their surprise.
"Haha, this was more than 20 years ago. Back then, we were pursued by one of the Research Consortium's tracking squads. We nearly lost everything, with 16 of us still alive. However, the tracking squad did not stop pursuing us. We were desperate enough to enter the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. It was then that we discovered the warp jump point. We didn't know where it led to back then. However, anywhere was better than the Calamitous Asteroid Belt. Haha, we were also growing desperate. Food and water were running out, and our energy's almost exhausted. It was a gamble we had to take. In the end, we won."
The man seemed to age further as he recounted his memories with a bit of nostalgia and self-mockery.
Shang suddenly spoke up, "Isn't it said that no one could ever leave Spectre? How did you escape?"
The captain shook his head. 'We didn't approach the planet, but simply fly along the edges of the asteroid belt. No pirate dared to go near Spectre, it's an unwritten rule."
The Calamitous Asteroid Belt …
Ye Chong tapped his finger lightly on the desk, deep in thought.