Chapter 399: Space Pirates?

——The Sun.

As the absolute center of the Solar System, this star accounts for 99.86% of the total mass of the entire Xing Xi.

Like the absolute protagonist on the Stage of the Universe, it leads the Eight Major Planets, Asteroids, Meteors, Comets, trans-Neptunian Celestial Bodies, and interstellar Dust, together performing the grandest dance across the entire Xing Xi.

And this nearly ideal sphere woven of hot plasma and Magnetic Field has, as of now, endured approximately 4.6 billion years of vast time——

This is a fact known to the Gem Old Man.

At least, it is depicted as such within his Cognition system.

And according to the precise observations and rigorous statements of science, the Sun is classified as a Yellow Dwarf, its spectral type G2V……

Most importantly, the main sequence lifespan of a Yellow Dwarf is roughly 10 billion years.

In this vast stretch of time, the Sun, through internal nuclear fusion reactions, fuses hydrogen atoms into helium atoms, releasing endless energy and light.

When the hydrogen elements inside the star are gradually exhausted, it will depart from that Stable main sequence phase, embarking on a brand new journey of Evolution.

When the time comes, the star itself will begin to expand, its volume gradually increasing to many times its original size, ultimately becoming a Red Giant, and beginning to burn helium.

——This process will occur approximately 5 billion years from now.

——Even further in the future, occurring 6 billion years from now, is also a very probable event.

Therefore……

Upon seeing the Sun in its Red Giant phase, the Gem Old Man was directly left completely at a loss.

In that one Instant, an Inexplicable Shock surged in his heart, and he also fell into a state of doubting himself, doubting life, doubting the World.

Could it be…… Could it be……

Is it because the deviation in time is this enormous, on an Astronomical scale of vastness and length……

That it caused me to be unable to easily cross over to the Higan of this World before? Falling into a bitter and prolonged struggle with myself?

Yes, it is a struggle with oneself.

Among thousands upon thousands of continuous Attempts, switching maps again and again, yearning to find the path to that Unknown land, attempting to reach the "Opposite Side" World.

At the beginning, the Gem Old Man Subconsciously believed that the Unknown Existence on the "Opposite Side" had Perceived his Qin Ru, and thus exerted power to Interfere.

That power, similar in Function to the Second Magic he himself wielded, could always Disturb his World Line jump at the Critical Moment, causing him to fail at the last moment time and again……

Having such a thought is very normal.

Such Speculation is also within reason.

However, as Magic and Spacetime laws fiercely collided, in the continuous contention, in repeated deadlocks, the Gem Old Man was not slow either, gradually Coming To Senses.

It seems not to be so.

It is not that some Exact Will is blocking him, but that the vortex of the Counter Force on the "Opposite Side" has activated.

In other words, it is the "World" itself blocking his steps.

This discovery made the Gem Old Man even more unable to understand, and did not make him feel that the strong sense of frustration he felt earlier was thereby weakened.

But for what he has to do, this is ultimately a piece of Good News.

Because this means the obstacle he faces does not come from the obstruction of some Great Will, but is merely a manifestation of the World Mechanism, a part of natural Phenomena, World laws.

It does not know how to adapt, to act flexibly; it will only be Triggered like a mousetrap.

Which means there are laws to follow, there are Loopholes to exploit.

Thus——

After changing his approach, and undergoing another round of long and agonizing exhaustive trial and error, the Gem Old Man finally found the train of thought to solve the problem.

He realized that confronting an irresistible force head-on is undoubtedly a futile endeavor.

So, settling for the next best thing, the Mage Adopted a new Strategy.

Mainly, the Gem Old Man Discovered that if he attempted to manipulate only minute changes in spatial Coordinates, while loosening the Variable on the time scale, no longer Strongly Requesting maximum precision.

Then——

The Resistance encountered would drastically plummet, as if heavy shackles were Instantly unlocked.

This made his previous confusion suddenly clear; he had fussed for Half a Day, and it turned out to be because the time deviation was too large, unable to be assigned a value.

The old man himself also felt quite Helpless; after all, the Second Magic is called "Parallel World Interference", but Mors Actually also includes the concept of Time Travel.

——Record tampering, Phenomenon rewriting, etc., are all within it.

Only this allows the Mage, in World Line traversal, to precisely grasp the historical period he wishes to reach, like a helmsman sailing the boundless Sea, adjusting course at any time.

Rather than saying that once an event on a World Line is missed, the possibility of Interference is lost forever.

Precisely because of this, when the Mage moves, they habitually perform time axis Positioning, pursuing the minimization of time error to within the allowable range as much as possible.

Finally realizing where the problem lay, he Decisively abandoned this habit that had become second nature, nearly turning into instinct.

Continuously loosening the time Variable, ultimately completely giving up, placing absolutely no Restriction on this aspect——

Through another round of arduous practice, relying on powerful Magic power and incomparably rich smuggling experience, the Mage finally, on who knows which Attempt……

Reached the Spacetime shore of this side of the World.

Anyway, get over here first; the time deviation part can be Considered later…… that was his thought.

But——

………………

………………

"How could the deviation be this outrageous……"

With an Expression of Shock so great he couldn't Accept it, completely unable to believe it, the Gem Old Man Subconsciously blurted out.

But in Space, sound cannot travel out either.

A stretch of Dead Silent.

The Mage also Came To Senses; the Earth seemed to have Disappeared, completely Not Exist, so naturally, appearing in Orbit, there was nothing to rely on.

Although survival wasn't a concern, space wasn't an absolutely forbidden deadly zone for him.

Surviving adrift in space is a simple matter, but the problem lies in...

He didn't come here simply to film a few episodes of "Kischur's Space Drifting Record"...

What to do next — that is the true key!

Originally, no matter how adverse the situation, he was mentally prepared and felt he could handle it, but now the entire Earth is gone.

There are no missions that can be done, no NPCs that can issue missions, and even more so no maps that can trigger missions...

How can this be done?!

Anyone's mindset would crack a bit; the Jewel Old Man could only forcibly suppress his restless emotions, carefully observing his surroundings, relying on powerful eyesight to find planets on orbits within the Solar System...

Precisely speaking, they are their charred wreckage.

On those former orbits, only floating rocks remain.

Because the distance is too distant, he cannot see details clearly, can only barely distinguish general outlines, naturally also cannot speculate what exactly created all this.

But the more it is like this, the more room there is for brain supplementing.

He imagined various possible causes and scenes, trying to find a thread of clue and hope from them.

— Time passes second by second.

— There is no progress to speak of.

The Jewel Old Man did not find the Moon's wreckage, doesn't know if it also disappeared together with Earth, this lets him hold a bit of hope.

Because since it's not leaving wreckage but directly disappearing without a trace, that also means there is still room.

Holding hope, the Mage spared no expense consuming large amounts of magical energy to fly aimlessly in space, attempting to find any possible clues on Earth's original orbit.

After a period of searching without result...

The old man also had to temporarily give up, because unable to catch any spider silk horse tracks, there is fundamentally no entry point.

Spent some time, arrived at the nearest rock drifting in space.

Calling it a rock, actually it has to be larger than an entire Japan...

Possibly Mars's wreckage, after that celestial body was destroyed, a fragment drifted to a relatively closer position...

Sitting on the wreckage, the old man also couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

Even with his extensive knowledge and experience, having weathered great storms, this time he also couldn't help feeling mentally and physically exhausted, doubly aware of spiritual fatigue.

Magical energy supply is not a problem.

After coming to this side's World, the Second Magic's operation once again became free and smooth.

He can easily peek into those parallel spacetimes, extract Pangea's power thread by thread from neighboring worlds...

Just one point is different, the parallel spacetimes observed by Magic, all seem to take the current spacetime as base point, extending countless "if" lines of possibility.

And that parallel world group he came from before, at this moment has instead become like phantoms in morning mist, appearing and disappearing, blurred and impossible to grasp...

— What situation is this again?

In the field that should be his greatest expertise, the Jewel Old Man encountered one inexplicable phenomenon after another, this is probably also the reason causing him to feel increasingly fatigued.

Closed eyes for a short rest.

Recover physical strength and magical energy.

Adjust, settle, the old man weighed every possible solution in his heart repeatedly, however facing this tricky situation, it seems only that most clumsy yet most direct road is available for him to choose.

— That is in the ruined Solar System, carefully investigate those destroyed celestial bodies one by one...

— Take this opportunity to see if any useful clues can be found...

Just this choice's workload is visibly huge, for an old man advanced in years, truly not very humane.

"Hm?"

Just as he was immersed in thoughts, an inexplicable perception suddenly struck, the Jewel Old Man abruptly opened his eyes.

Those eyes not made turbid by years' erosion, at this moment flashed with sharp light.

And right under his gaze —

In that deep pitch-black cold space not far away, a bizarre fluctuation suddenly rose, surrounding space rippled in response, strange gravitational lensing phenomena rose and fell in succession.

In a turn of an instant, a colossal thing emerged without warning before his eyes.

It seemed to have traversed spacetime's boundaries, suddenly rushing out from another dimension.

Or seemed a kind of faster-than-light information oscillation, the moment it reached this specific coordinate, "printed" its entity shape.

That is a starship.

It quietly stood among celestial body wreckage's front, directly facing the Jewel Old Man.

Although length only a thousand meters, relatively speaking it seems small and exquisite, but it is indeed also a relative colossal thing.

"..."

"..."

The Jewel Old Man held his breath (although it had been a while), slightly frowned, he rapidly and meticulously examined the starship's water-smooth lines and cold hard alloy shell.

In his heart waves also simultaneously rose —

Aliens?

Or surviving Earth remnants?

In a turn of an instant, his doubt was resolved on a certain subtle level.

The starship abruptly released a short-range tractor beam, like a magnet tightly adsorbing his body, firmly locking the target.

Subsequently, a technology beyond common sense transmitted sound or vibration directly into his consciousness, letting him receive this information:

"Hahaha, actually caught just like that... this is too simple, right!"

That was a hearty and excited man's laughter, voice reverberating in the Jewel Old Man's brain, carrying an inexplicable intimacy and self-familiarity —

"Look, look, I told you so, I indeed have the talent to be a Space Pirate, first voyage and I've already caught a prisoner..."

That laughter was filled with smugness and pride.

"Anyway, next we just need to make this old man obediently prepare the ransom, right?"

(Chapter End)