In the Black Domain, which should have been completely empty, a Giant Sound Whale even larger than their orbital ship slowly swished its tail. Star fragments peeled off its wrinkled skin like scales.
The vacuum swallowed its long cry, but it still made the orbital ship tremble and vibrate in resonance.
Wherever it swam, small meteorites silently crumbled apart.
Lin Xiaohe looked into those eyeballs, each one bigger than her entire body. She opened her mouth, then lowered her voice, afraid of disturbing the creature.
“Teacher Wan, what’s that outside the window?”
Wan Tianming came over to the porthole, looked for a long time, then shook his head in confusion. “I don’t see anything. This is the Black Domain, basically a vacuum zone in space. No life or civilization can survive in the Black Domain.”
Even their orbital ship was only skirting along the edge of the Black Domain, not daring to venture deep inside.
Wan Tianming turned to look at Lin Xiaohe. Her lips were pressed tightly together, the side of her face forming a tense, rigid line, and her brows were knitted in a tight knot.
Wan Tianming’s heart skipped a beat. He stared intently at Lin Xiaohe and asked softly, “What did you see?”
Lin Xiaohe’s gaze stayed fixed on the Giant Sound Whale. She had this feeling that ever since she and the whale locked eyes, it was swimming faster.
“A Giant Sound Whale. I see a Giant Sound Whale that’s almost completely merged with the darkness.”
Wan Tianming was stunned for a moment, then let out a short, spasmodic breath. “I’m going to the cockpit.”
Inside the cockpit, the head captain and the vice-captains were drinking coffee – a perk for the drivers of military space vessels.
They had traveled this space route back and forth many times.
With the assistance of the orbital ship’s AI, they could remember every single meteorite on this route and could navigate the Black Domain’s edge with their eyes closed.
Wan Tianming walked over and said urgently, “Any signs of something unusual?”
The head captain was startled. He looked at the control panel – everything seemed fine. “No.”
A deep sense of doubt showed in Wan Tianming’s eyes. “Check everything again, carefully.”
Lin Xiaohe was definitely not the type to cry wolf without reason.
If she said she saw a Giant Sound Whale, then she definitely saw one!
The pilots exchanged glances, put away their relaxed demeanor, and began verifying the information repeatedly.
“Report! There’s something wrong with the gravitational waves.”
Normally, gravitational wave fluctuations in the universe are incredibly complex, making minor waves very hard to detect.
Most of the time, they’re inferred through other detection methods, like the bending of light, and so on.
But the Patriot, the orbital ship they were on, was equipped with the latest model of gravitational isolation gear, which quickly picked up this abnormal gravitational wave fluctuation.
Wan Tianming cursed under his breath – those Giant Sound Whales just wouldn’t let go. He ordered the pilots to speed up the analysis of these gravitational waves.
The vice-captain looked completely baffled. “How strange. The appearance of gravitational waves means there must be a massive celestial body or object present. But we don’t see any suddenly appearing celestial bodies anywhere.”
On the display, the location of the abnormal gravitational waves kept changing.
Moreover, the change wasn’t a simple, steady increase or decrease. It was a very strange, wavering change – sometimes strengthening, sometimes weakening – like a fish swimming through space.
Wan Tianming immediately called Lin Xiaohe. “Xiaohe, is the Giant Sound Whale still there?”
Lin Xiaohe: “Yes, it’s chasing us. Getting closer.”
Wan Tianming gave the order decisively: “Change course. Get us out of the Black Domain.”
The head captain knew about the uproar the Giant Sound Whales had caused in the Fourth Star Ring. Guessing this one was probably here for revenge, he quickly altered their route.
The shuttle-shaped orbital ship carved an arc through space, taking a longer detour to avoid the Black Domain.
But unexpectedly, the Giant Sound Whale followed right behind them.
Once it left the Black Domain, the Giant Sound Whale revealed its true form. Its outline alone seemed to tear the starlight apart.
“Hiss!”
Everyone’s backs went cold. The Giant Sound Whale was that close to the orbital ship!
If they had kept traveling through the Black Domain and the whale launched a surprise attack, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Wan Tianming felt extremely grateful that he hadn’t doubted Lin Xiaohe and had firmly chosen to trust her.
The Giant Sound Whale seemed to sense the orbital ship trying to escape. It sped up, closing in with overwhelming force.
It opened its enormous mouth wide and let out a silent, long cry.
The bridge was suddenly filled with a stretched, buzzing whine. Everyone felt as if every single bone in their bodies was resonating with it.
Aboard the orbital ship, the other federal soldiers sensed something wrong. Looking out their portholes, they could also see that incredibly oppressive figure.
“So, this is a Stardust Giant Sound Whale?!”
“It’s way more powerful than I imagined.”
The Federation’s think tank had previously analyzed that the reason the Stardust Giant Sound Whales chose to attack the StarNet instead of launching a physical assault was probably because they weren’t good at physical attacks.
But judging by the performance of this Stardust Giant Sound Whale, their offensive power wasn’t weak at all.
Inside the cockpit, everyone was in a panic.
All the screens were frantically flickering with garbled code. It was as if the universe itself was having a seizure.
The AI had become an artificial idiot, only able to repeatedly utter a hoarse, plaintive call: “Lin Xiaohe, Lin… Xiao… he…”
Wan Tianming’s eyes darkened. So, this definitely was the Stardust Giant Sound Whale getting its revenge!
When Lin Xiaohe had been questioned by the Federation, she said the Giant Sound Whales had led them out of the Blue Sea. Back then, everyone had been skeptical.
But looking at the situation now, this Stardust Giant Sound Whale was chasing Lin Xiaohe relentlessly. It seemed Lin Xiaohe and the others had just gotten lucky and stumbled their way to safety – it had nothing to do with the whales!
“Report! The engines are overloading! The gravitational vortex from its tail fin is dragging us back!”
The pilot screamed frantically, struggling to keep the orbital ship from being pulled into the vortex.
The head captain shoved Wan Tianming aside and took his place at the manual control panel. “Disable all smart piloting modes. Hard left rudder! Cut into its flank blind spot!”
The Stardust Giant Sound Whale’s sky-blue giant eyes burned like stars, always locked onto the orbital ship. Their pupils reflected the humans’ futile struggles.
Lin Xiaohe had been watching it the whole time. Those azure blue eyes reminded her of someone she’d met in the examination hall.
She tapped lightly on the porthole window. “Is that you? The fake Imperial Marshal?”
The Stardust Giant Sound Whale suddenly accelerated.
The orbital ship’s alarms exploded into a sea of blood-red warnings.
The head captain was losing his mind. Are you kidding me?! Another speed boost?! Are we playing a game of cat and mouse out here?!
What made things even more terrifying was that the whale opened its abyssal mouth again.
Every single panel, every single screw on the entire orbital ship screamed in protest. The shield energy dropped like an avalanche.
With just a tiny move, the Stardust Giant Sound Whale displayed the absolute dominance of a stardust creature.
Wan Tianming’s eyes turned bloodshot. There was no way he was going to let anything happen to Lin Xiaohe. “Get the jump drive ready, now!”
The pilot’s voice cracked as he replied, “Ten seconds left to charge the jump engine.”
The Stardust Giant Sound Whale was right on top of them. Ten seconds was more than enough time for it to hit the orbital ship again!
Lin Xiaohe looked into those blue eyes. To her surprise, she actually saw a flicker of delight in them.
Are Giant Sound Whales this vindictive?!
A spectacular aurora vortex erupted from the top of its forehead, about to envelop the orbital ship…
