Chapter 337: All the Audience Are Watching You

The momentum from the annual meeting gradually settled, transforming into a more pragmatic and efficient work drive within the New Era. The construction progress of the Deep Space Mothership "Hope" advanced daily; its massive hull, taking initial shape in the dedicated dry dock, resembled a slumbering steel behemoth, radiating a heart-stopping aura of pressure.

The exploration plan targeting the Guixu ruins, codenamed Star-Chasing, had entered its final refinement and final candidate selection phase. This was an unprecedented expedition, destined for an unknown Starfield even Qin Feng had said required "preparation," its risks and opportunities incalculable. Being selected for the Star-Chasing team meant not only recognition of one's strength and loyalty, but also a foot already stepped onto the very frontier of human stellar exploration.

Throughout the entire Base, a tension charged with excitement permeated the air. On training grounds, targeted simulation drills continued day and night; in laboratories, equipment testing for alien environments and unknown threats proceeded at full speed; in the Command Center, flight path planning and emergency protocols were repeatedly rehearsed.

As the absolute core of both the Tiankong Guardian and the Star-Chasing operation, Xia Wan's schedule had been compressed to its limit. Beyond consolidating and enhancing her own power, she needed to participate in nearly every key decision-making meeting, familiarize herself with every combat module of the Mother Ship, and synchronize with candidate team members from diverse fields and varied personalities.

That afternoon, in the Base's largest holographic tactical simulation center, a high-intensity multi-environment adaptability drill was underway. The participants were thirty candidates preliminarily selected for the Star-Chasing operation, covering combat, scientific research, engineering, medical, and other disciplines. Xia Wan, as one of the tactical core and final evaluators, was also inside the simulation field.

The simulation center could perfectly replicate extreme environments—from scorching lava fields to frigid ice plains, from high-gravity planets to oxygen-free vacuums. At this moment, the simulation depicted a shattered asteroid belt saturated with active energy currents; the team members needed to coordinate their combat efforts within this complex environment to seize a simulated signal source located at the belt's center.

The energy currents disrupted communication and perception; massive asteroids drifted slowly, occasionally colliding and sending shards flying. Team members split into several squads, relying on their refined individual skills and nascent mutual understanding to navigate through the currents and asteroids, winding their way forward toward the objective.

Xia Wan hovered on a relatively large asteroid at the battlefield's edge, eyes closed—not resting, but extending her Spirit and the Tiankong Guardian's perception outward, like an invisible radar covering the entire simulation zone. She needed to monitor the overall situation, evaluate each team member's performance, and make commands or interventions at critical moments.

The drill intensified fiercely. Team members were continuously "eliminated" by simulated "energy impacts" or "asteroid collisions"; the communication channels filled with brief commands, situation reports, and resigned sighs upon being "destroyed."

Just as a elite combat squad was about to breach the final energy current barrier and reach the signal source, an unexpected change erupted!

The simulation system appeared to have been disturbed by some unknown interference; the previously orderly energy currents suddenly turned violent and chaotic, their intensity surging several-fold! Worse still, several massive asteroids, whose trajectories had been stable, as if pushed by an invisible hand, hurtled toward that combat squad and several nearby squads at wildly unpredictable angles!

This sudden change came too fast, too violent—far exceeding the simulation's preset difficulty ceiling!

"Warning! Environmental parameters abnormal! Energy currents out of control! Asteroid trajectories altered!" came the urgent alarm from the Kongzhi Shi.

"Retreat! Immediate retreat!" the on-site commander bellowed over the comms.

But it was too late! The violent energy currents acted like invisible shackles, instantly disrupting the propulsion systems of the small craft; the massive asteroids blocked most escape routes!

With several squads on the verge of being "annihilated" in simulation—and potentially suffering real psychological trauma from system overload!

All senior officers observing the drill, including Lei Dong, held their breath!

At this critical moment—

Xia Wan, who had remained motionless, suddenly opened her eyes!

Within her pupils, countless stars seemed to be born and extinguished; a pale golden Guardian Power flowed from her body like a tangible current!

She did not attack the asteroids, nor did she attempt to calm the violent energy currents—that would demand too much power and risk irreversible damage to the simulation system.

Her choice was more precise—and demanded greater control.

She raised both hands, her ten fingers moving like playing invisible strings, rapidly tapping the air!

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Thin yet exquisitely concentrated beams of pale golden energy, as if alive, precisely struck the endangered team members and their vehicles!

These energy beams were not attacks; upon contact, they instantly formed layers of thin, gossamer-like yet unbreakable energy shields, tightly protecting every team member and their craft!

Meanwhile, several other energy beams acted like the most agile pole vaults, striking subtle force nodes on the sides of the approaching massive asteroids!

No violent explosions. No direct confrontation.

The menacing asteroids, the instant the energy beams touched them, underwent infinitesimal yet perfectly timed shifts in their trajectories!

They nearly grazed the edges of the team members and vehicles wrapped in golden shields, roaring past in a near-miss, then crashing into the empty void behind!

The team members seized this brief window, under Xia Wan's precise, millisecond-accurate commands (transmitted directly via Spirit), maneuvering their partially stabilized vehicles through the narrow gaps left by the passing asteroids, barely escaping the collision zone!

The entire sequence occurred in the blink of an eye!

When the surviving team members, still shaken, retreated to safety, and when the asteroids collided far off in the void, dissolving into simulated debris, the entire simulation center fell into absolute silence.

Everyone stared at Xia Wan, still hovering atop the asteroid, her golden aura slowly receding, their eyes filled with awe and disbelief.

In that instant, she hadn't just protected everyone—she had "diverted" the asteroids in a way no one could comprehend. What terrifying computational ability, control, and reaction speed did this require?!

The commander of the Star-Chasing operation, an elderly general with silver hair and hawk-like eyes, spoke through the comms, his voice trembling slightly:

"Xia Wan… no, Guardian."

"All the audience are watching you."

His "audience" referred not only to the senior officers in the Kongzhi Shi and observation gallery, but also to everyone within the Base monitoring the drill via internal channels.

Xia Wan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air; that moment of outburst had been a heavy burden even for her. She looked at the team members who had escaped danger, gazing at her with gratitude, reverence, and fervor, and nodded calmly.

She knew that after this, her authority within the Star-Chasing team would be unshakable.

She also understood the deeper meaning behind the general's words.

Not just during this drill.

In the coming, true deep-space expedition, before the unknown ruins of Guixu, in the face of any crisis that might arise…

All the audience—and the gaze of the entire civilization—would fix upon her.

She could afford not the slightest mistake.

She must become the most solid shield, the sharpest sword, and… the star that guides the way.

Pressure weighed like a mountain.

Yet her gaze remained resolute, fearless.

This was the destiny of the Tiankong Guardian.