Chapter 164: Leap Through the Quantum Window

If he had any other choice, Sadik would rather die than bow down and become someone’s lapdog.

But right now, does he really have a choice?

Because even if he had solid evidence proving there was an outside civilization using Tuoba to invade the kingdom, maybe even planning to swallow up the whole Wasteland Alliance—

So what?

At most, all the Level Two civilizations within the Alliance would send their fleets, banding together to fight off the outside invaders.

What about striking back?

Don’t even dream about it. Their warships are lightyears ahead of anything in the Wasteland Alliance.

All they’d have to do is toss two or three thousand ships into Alpha Centauri. Even if every single warship from across the Alliance gathered together, they still wouldn’t stand a chance.

At worst, those outsiders would just lose the chance to gobble up the Wasteland Alliance for now. Outside of that, nothing changes for them.

Sure, the Alliance might scramble huge fleets to guard the border for a few years—but can they keep that up for decades? For centuries?

In the end, things won’t turn out much better no matter what.

Thinking it through to this point, Sadik realized—being someone’s dog…

Maybe it’s not as bad as he thought.

At least the whole civilization would survive, and who knows? Their future might even be better than just limping along as part of the Wasteland Alliance.

But there was one thing he hadn’t figured out.

Lin Yu was willing to use Tuoba precisely because that guy was easy to control and not exactly a genius. But if the one in question was someone like Sadik, someone who always had a hundred schemes running in the background…

You really think Lin Yu would ever agree to that?

——

Year 231 of the Human Federation.

Proxima VIII.

This was the outermost planet in the Proxima system.

But at the same time, it was also the planet closest to the Solar Flow leading toward the Solar System.

That’s why Proxima’s starship industry was set up here. Now, it boasted over 500 warship production lines and 2,000 more for various civilian vessels.

There actually weren’t that many workers, just over 30,000 in total.

Most were there to fine-tune and repair the equipment. The real heavy lifting? That was done by robots, working around the clock.

After all, it’s Federation year 231—more than 600 years since humans launched their first satellite.

Basic productivity had long since been fully liberated.

Over in the warship assembly zone, a brand new, massive outdoor production line now held the giant Houyi quietly in place.

The hyperspace engine wasn’t actually all that big—its core was no larger than a ping-pong ball. But—

Even though the core was tiny, it weighed more than a hundred tons. Pretty terrifying stuff.

Of course, that’s nothing compared to neutron-degenerate matter. A ping-pong ball’s worth of that stuff would tip the scales at over ten billion tons. Still, this was a hundred times denser than electron-degenerate matter.

Humans still couldn’t manufacture material like that.

And even if they could, right now there’s no way to create such a complex structure inside a chunk of degenerate matter, not like that unknown civilization managed.

As for the engine’s outer parts, those were nowhere near as demanding. No impossible materials to worry about. According to that mysterious civilization’s blueprints, they’d just need some time to put it all together, but it was completely doable.

When all was said and done, the hyperspace engine as a whole was about the same size as a Bai Ze Mech. So, it didn’t take up much space. No major overhaul was needed for the Houyi’s interior.

Truth was, most of those three months had gone into rewiring the internals and installing all sorts of new subsystems.

Now, everything was ready.

Just waiting for the test run!

“Report: All systems are operating normally. We’re ready to launch.”

“Issue the order. Release all drydock clamps.”

“Order sent. All clamps retracting…and done.”

“Bai Jun, take us out of the dock.”

“Aye, Commander!”

The next moment, under Bai Jun’s control, the 5.7-kilometer-long Houyi smoothly slid free of the dock. The whole process was textbook-perfect—not a single flaw.

No wonder Bai Jun was Lin Yu’s top helmsman.

Of course, that’s assuming—

Lin Yu himself doesn’t count.

“Lu Bo, you set on your end?”

“Ready here. Let’s get started!”

“Good!”

Lin Yu nodded and stood up.

“Bai Jun, you’ve memorized the new procedures, right?”

“No worries, Commander. In the past three months, I’ve run thousands of virtual simulations. I’ve got it down cold.”

“Great. Set course for Proxima V orbit. Begin!”

“Aye, Commander!”

Now, the control console in front of Bai Jun had several new virtual panels.

One was for inputting coordinates, another displayed the real-time status of a critical device.

First, Bai Jun confirmed the target location, quickly calculated the precise coordinates, and keyed them in.

“Coordinates entered. Lock acquired!”

“Charging hyperspace engine—thirty-second countdown…”

“Charge complete. Hyperspace engine activating. Opening the quantum window!”

The next moment, everyone on the bridge watched in awe through the forward viewport.

Right in front of the Houyi, the empty void suddenly tore open, a brilliant blue rift blooming into view.

They barely had time to react—

When Bai Jun’s voice came again.

“Quantum window is open. Houyi, entering hyperspace!”

“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…jump!”

From the outside, the Houyi seemed to accelerate in an instant, plunging straight into the rift.

Then the rift snapped shut, and the void returned to normal—as if—

As if nothing had happened at all.

At that very moment, Lin Yu looked out the viewport, clicking his tongue in amazement.

“So this is hyperspace, huh?”

All around the ship, colorful streams of light flashed by, giving the whole scene a surreal and dreamlike feel.

But before Lin Yu could get an answer, he was interrupted—

“Quantum window open…successfully exited hyperspace.”

“Confirming location.”

“Location confirmed. We’ve arrived at the destination coordinates, exactly as planned. Total elapsed time: 7.73 seconds.”

Damn, that was fast.

How far is it from Proxima VIII to Proxima V?

The answer: 1.17 billion kilometers, or 7.82 AU. (One AU is the average distance from Earth to the Sun. So 7.82 AU equals 1.17 billion kilometers.)

“505 times the speed of light?”

“You got it. Roughly 505 times light speed!”

Lin Yu crunched the numbers in his head and immediately came up with the answer.

Beside him, Lu Bo nodded too—

Confirming it.