The Highest Bounty

Inside the spacecraft, Gu Ding had already hidden in the escape cabin. Under the influence of the hypnotic gas, he quickly fell asleep. He knew he would only cause more trouble for Neptune in a situation like this, so he decided to leave the rest in Neptune’s hands.

 Neptune had entered a state of high-speed computing. Because of the restrictions of Gu Ding’s gene level, there were many limits of authority that he had not yet removed as even the basic detection function could only extend to about 100 meters. In addition to this, the network had been affected by the electromagnetic waves caused by the interstellar storm. Therefore, there was no way they could obtain real-time information about the interstellar storm from external sources. Now, he could only navigate based on the spacecraft’s radar and going off some of his earlier predictions.

 He launched the Kittyhawk Model into hyper-speed flight mode, intending to get as far away from the storm’s center as possible. Due to the high speed at which the spacecraft was traveling at, it started to show signs of instability, but this was all within Neptune’s expectations. The Kittyhawk Model was a cheap modified model, and its performance was limited, so it was already pretty impressive that it could be pushed like this. However, it was unlikely that it could go any faster than this.

 Half an hour passed, and there was finally a blip on the radar. It was the group of meteorites that had been brought over by the interstellar storm. Neptune calmly calculated the trajectory of each meteorite, and then slightly lowered the speed of the Kittyhawk Model. In its hyper-speed state, it would be easy to make errors with regards to the Kittyhawk Model’s trajectory. Neptune did not wish to see the spacecraft being torn apart by the meteorites because of such errors, so decided to sacrifice its speed so that they could safely pass through this wave of meteorites safely before reevaluating their situation.

 Within a few minutes, the meteorites began drawing close. Meteorite fragments of various sizes were densely packed together, with the data from Neptune’s statistics showing that there were a total of 11281 pieces of meteorite fragments. The trajectory of each fragment had been accurately calculated, as the Kittyhawk Model’s optimum path was simultaneously calculated as well.

 Even though the spacecraft was not very big, because of how densely-packed the meteorite fragments were, it was impossible to totally avoid the onslaught of meteorites. Neptune activated the spacecraft’s energy shield, and carefully controlled the movement of the Kittyhawk Model, thus evading the impact of hundreds of large-sized meteorites.

 

“Bang!” The spacecraft’s shield was soon hit by a meteorite fragment, and the energy shield dampened slightly. Neptune immediately adjusted the spacecraft’s course as, after being hit, the spacecraft’s operation needed to be fine-tuned again.

 The energy shield consumed a lot of energy just by being kept up and running. Every time it was hit, the amount of energy it consumed increased a few times over. According to Neptune’s estimations, the Kittyhawk Model’s shield could only withstand twelve more hits like the one before. After this, it would run out of energy.

 Even though this was the best trajectory that Neptune could calculate, it was still inevitable for them to have to endure eight more hits like the previous one as they charged through the wave of meteorites. Twenty minutes passed by very quickly, and the Kittyhawk Model managed to survive as they passed through the wave of meteorite fragments. At this point, there was only a thin layer of energy shield left.

 Neptune deactivated the energy shield and pulled up the star map of the district nearby. He knew that he had to find a planet to land the spacecraft as soon as possible, preferably one with oxygen. This was because the Kittyhawk Model needed a sufficient amount of energy to create oxygen. If the energy was depleted, the oxygen within the Kittyhawk Model would only last Gu Ding three more days, and this was if the spacecraft was in perfect condition. If the spacecraft was damaged and oxygen was leaking out, Gu Ding might not even last another 24 hours.

 Neptune prayed silently, “Don’t let there be a second wave of meteorites.”

 1If a second wave of meteorites appeared, the spacecraft’s energy might be totally depleted. If that happened, Gu Ding would be in grave danger.

 However, things rarely went according to people’s wishes. Neptune’s prayers were not answered—very soon the second wave of meteorites appeared on the spacecraft’s radar.

 The size of this wave of meteorites was more than three times the size of the previous one. Neptune began to frantically calculate his escape strategy.

 “If we force our way through, the spacecraft will be destroyed…” Neptune analyzed all the possible outcomes in detail. “If that happens, all I can do is to reduce the escape cabin’s temperature and allow Gu Ding to enter a temporary comatose state, reducing his oxygen consumption as I direct the escape cabin to a nearby planet. If the power of the escape cabin is insufficient, or it encounters more meteorites, there will be no chance that Gu Ding survives.

 

“Right now, the spacecraft has less than 30% energy left, and I can’t find a habitable planet to land on in such a short amount of time. A suitable landing spot would not only need to have oxygen, but ideally, it should also have the same gravity as Cerule. The surface temperature cannot exceed what a human can handle either. Humans are such fragile life forms…” Neptune could not help but sigh at the thought of all these conditions.

 “There’s no other way, the most energy-efficient option will be to float along with the meteorites. But I’m afraid Gu Ding might not be able to reach Fengyuan at this point.” When Neptune thought about this, he could not help but swear out loud, “Oh, to hell with Fengyuan, survival is more important than anything else!”

 Recently, he had learned quite a lot of human terms, with most of them being impolite words. This proved that it was not just humans who learned these kinds of terms faster, but artificial super-intelligence like Neptune did as well. However, it was funny to hear Neptune swear in his child-like voice. If Gu Ding had heard it, he definitely would have rolled over laughing.

 After picking what he thought was the best decision, Neptune directed the Kittyhawk Model to evade the impact of several meteorites. He found a larger meteorite on the Kittyhawk Model’s detection radar which was located nearby and changed the spacecraft’s course. He directed the Kittyhawk Model to land on the large meteorite, then turned off the Kittyhawk Model’s engine.

  He did not wake Gu Ding, as Gu Ding in his active state would consume more oxygen and would require food to sustain himself. In his sleeping state, not only could he reduce his oxygen consumption, he could save on food as well. Neptune did not know where Gu Ding’s final landing point would be, so when faced with an unknown situation such as this, it was best to conserve oxygen and food to maximize the length of time which Gu Ding could stay alive.

 Within the Kittyhawk Model, almost all the hardware had stopped working except for the oxygen being supplied into the escape cabin where Gu Ding was located, as well as the radar on which the densely packed red dots remained.

 The radar was left on because Neptune had to use the feedback from the radar to determine their position by comparing it with the star map. Because the Skynet’s network was blocked by the electromagnetic waves, Neptune could only use this crude method to determine their location.

 If they were in the channel of the previous star map, then Neptune could use the various information marked on the previous star map to find a planet that was suitable for them to land on.

 However, Neptune’s idea soon fell through. The Kittyhawk Model stayed on the meteorite for three days as the trajectory of this wave of meteorites looked to break away from the channel of the previous star map very soon. Not only were these meteorites breaking away from the Skyriver Sector, they were about to plunge into the Dark District which was infected by various viruses.

 Along the way, Neptune could not find a single planet where the spacecraft could land, so he had no choice but to follow the meteorites into the Dark District…