louisehourcade Chapter 427 The Relay!
Chapter 427 The Relay!
Zhang Yan's consciousness was like a string stretched to its limit.
35nd hour.
The reserves of the Heavenly Craftsman's Heart are at 81.6%.
The efficiency of the first gate remained stable at 71%.
The numbers looked safe, but he knew they weren't.
The intensity of the attack outside the door is increasing.
It's not a linear increase, it's a step-like increase—every four to five hours, the impact intensity jumps up a level.
For the first 30 hours, his consumption rate remained stable at 0.4% per hour, but starting from the 31st hour, the number changed.
0.45%. 0.48%. 0.52%.
35 hours, 0.6%.
Zhang Yan recalculated it in his mind.
With reserves at 81.6%, if the consumption rate remains at 0.6%, he can last for another 136 hours.
Suzaku will need another 41 hours to reach point L2.
It seems more than enough.
However, the consumption rate will not remain at 0.6%.
It's still rising.
Extrapolating from the growth curve of the past five hours, the consumption rate will reach 1.2% per hour in the 58th hour.
At that time, the reserves will be approximately 64% remaining, and the cumulative consumption over the 14 hours from the 58th to the 72nd hour will exceed the remaining reserves.
14 hours apart.
Zhang Yan pressed his hand on the surface of the door, continuously outputting energy.
He didn't move, but his brain was working at high speed.
Nie Qingcheng's voice came through the communication.
"The consumption rate has reached 0.6%."
She was calculating too.
"Um."
"At the current rate, you won't last until Suzaku arrives."
Zhang Yan did not deny it.
There was a two-second silence on Nie Qingcheng's end. It wasn't hesitation; she was making a decision.
"I'll contact a locksmith."
"He was too exhausted from the last collaboration—"
"I know," Nie Qingcheng interrupted him, "a complete lock-on isn't necessary."
Communication was cut off.
Zhang Yan continued to maintain energy output.
The churning on the surface of the door never stopped, each impact like a dull thud striking his consciousness.
He had gotten used to this rhythm.
Seven minutes later, Nie Qingcheng's voice came back.
"The locksmith said he couldn't do a complete locking protocol, but he could do micro-pulse interference, releasing it every two hours for three seconds each time, interrupting the attack rhythm and forcing the entity outside the door to recharge."
"And the results?"
He said he could reduce your consumption rate back to 0.4%.
Zhang Yan performed rapid calculations.
0.4% per hour, 41 hours, total consumption 16.4%.
Current reserves are at 81.6%.
enough.
"cost."
Nie Qingcheng did not answer immediately.
"Nie Qingcheng".
He said it was no problem.
Zhang Yan sensed something in her tone. "His physical condition."
"...There will be some loss after each pulse. He said it's tolerable."
Zhang Yan closed his eyes.
The locksmith is the seventeenth generation gatekeeper deacon, and he's not young anymore.
His recovery from the previous collaborative operation at the sixth gate has taken him nearly two weeks.
Now a pulse needs to be released every two hours.
"Let him begin," Zhang Yan said.
There was no other choice.
The first micropulse arrived fifteen minutes later.
Zhang Yan sensed it—the surging on the surface of the door suddenly paused, as if something had gently "bounced" away from the outside, interrupting the impact.
It recovers after three seconds, but the attack rhythm outside the door is disrupted, and it needs to recharge.
The consumption rate on the system panel jumped from 0.6% back to 0.38%.
Zhang Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
Over the next twelve hours, the locksmith executed six micro-pulses precisely on time.
Each time, the attack rhythm was precisely interrupted, and each time the rate of energy consumption was brought back to a safe range.
But in the 48th hour, the situation changed.
The interval between micropulses changed from two hours to two hours and twenty minutes.
Then it was two hours and forty-five minutes.
The seventh pulse was a full forty minutes later than scheduled.
Zhang Yan's consumption rate began to rise again.
0.42%, 0.47%, 0.51%.
Nie Qingcheng's voice came through the communication, very softly.
"The locksmith is coughing up blood."
Zhang Yan remained silent.
"He coughed after each pulse, and after the fifth pulse, he knelt for a minute before standing up."
"Make him stop."
"He refused." There was something complicated in Nie Qingcheng's tone. "He said it was the gatekeeper's duty."
Zhang Yan's fingers tightened on the door.
"But the intervals are getting longer."
Nie Qingcheng continued, "In a few hours, the effect of the micropulse will drop to a level that is insufficient to suppress the rate of consumption."
She paused.
"I have a second option."
Zhang Yan waited.
"The Sky Anchor," Nie Qingcheng said. "Two were used during the sealing war, and we have one left."
Zhang Yan remembers.
The time delay field of the Sky Anchor cannot prevent the existence of something outside the door, but it can create a local time deceleration zone on the surface of the door.
"Where is the stargazing spot?"
"I've already informed her about the situation in Shennongjia."
Zhang Yan did not ask, "When did you notify me?"
He knew that Nie Qingcheng had begun preparing her backup plan the moment his consumption rate first increased.
"How long does it take to activate the Sky Anchor?"
"Let's talk about stargazing for fifteen minutes."
"Let her begin."
In the 49th hour, the Sky Anchor was activated on the surface of Shennongjia.
The effect is immediate.
Zhang Yan felt the churning on the surface of the door suddenly slow down—not stop, but as if it had been slowed down.
Every impact outside the door was lengthened and diluted; an attack that used to take one second now took two and a half seconds.
System panel refresh, consumption rate: 0.25%/hour.
Zhang Yan recalculated it in his mind.
Current reserves are 74.1%, with 23 hours remaining and total consumption at 5.75%.
That's enough, more than enough.
"The data has stabilized," Nie Qingcheng's voice came through, carrying a hint of almost imperceptible relief.
"Um."
"I told the locksmith to stop."
"How is he?"
Nie Qingcheng was silent for a moment.
"Guanxing said he lay down, was conscious, but could not use the lock for a short period of time."
Zhang Yan nodded, even though she couldn't see it.
"Vermilion Bird's current location."
"There are still 52 kilometers to go to the L2 point, and it is estimated that it will take another 18 hours."
After 18 hours, with a consumption rate of 0.25%, the total consumption is 4.5%, and the remaining reserves will be over 69%.
Safe.
Zhang Yan's body finally allowed him to relax a little.
He wasn't completely relaxed; his hand was still on the door, and energy was still being output, but the tension that had been building for forty-nine hours had eased a little.
"Eat something," Nie Qingcheng said.
Zhang Yan then realized that he had not eaten for nearly twenty hours.
The supply pack that was placed next to me before stargazing has not been touched.
He tore open an energy bar with one hand and took a bite.
Eat slowly.
"Um."
The following time was long and peaceful.
The attack was still ongoing outside the door, but under the time deceleration field of the Sky-Gazing Anchor, each impact felt like it was through a thick curtain of water.
Zhang Yan's consumption rate stabilized at 0.25% and did not increase further.
55th hour, 60th hour, 65th hour.
Nie Qingcheng reports the location of the Vermilion Bird every hour, and the number is decreasing.
"12 kilometers away from the L2 point."
"7 kilometers to go."
"3 kilometers to go."
69nd hour.
Suzaku is 47 kilometers away from L2, which is about a 3-hour flight distance.
Zhang Yan has 67.3% reserves. Everything is under control.
Then the system displayed a yellow warning.
Zhang Yan's gaze fell on that line of text.
"Zhuque airborne sensor anomaly—abnormal rise in casing temperature. Current temperature: -87℃ → -41℃. Rate of rise: 2.3℃ per minute. Heat source direction: non-solar radiation. In progress..."
Zhang Yan's pupils contracted slightly.
In space, in a vacuum environment, there is no medium for heat transfer, so the temperature of the outer shell cannot rise spontaneously.
Unless something is approaching Suzaku from the outside.
"Nie Qingcheng".
"I saw it." Her voice tightened instantly. "The Vermilion Bird's outer shell is at an abnormal temperature."
Zhang Yan pulled up the footage from the Suzaku's onboard camera.
Against the dark backdrop of space, something is taking shape ahead of Suzaku's flight path.
Blurry, translucent, like a condensed mist, slowly gathering into some kind of outline.
Zhang Yan recognized the shape.
It shares the same origin as the finger that extends from the first door.