Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 317 Zhang Beihai, Come and Fight! (3k)

Is this the right thing to do?

Dongfang Yanxu stared at Zhang Beihai.

"Right and wrong are meaningless, Dongfang. Now is not the time to discuss right and wrong."

Behind Zhang Beihai, the deputy captain Levin, deputy captain Inoue Akira, first officer Li Yang, first officer Luo Gefanfan, first officer Wang Keke, first officer North, and all 2994 officers and soldiers of the ship stood neatly behind Zhang Beihai, like a dense pine forest, quiet and upright.

Behind Dongfang Yanxu, only the last seven lowest-ranking space force soldiers remained, staring at Zhang Beihai with an angry look.

Zhang Beihai was not surprised that there were still seven soldiers on the Natural Selection who insisted on their own position. Humans are contradictory creatures, and it is impossible to gain the support of everyone.

In fact, whether these eight people, including Dongfang Yanxu, supported his actions was of little significance to him.

Zhang Beihai has completely taken control of the warship.

Of the ten warships that entered full-power acceleration, the Natural Selection was the first to enter the [Forward IV] state.

The warship had locked onto a star system on the star map as its target. Zhang Beihai used his authority as the executive captain to bypass the preparations for each level of acceleration, allowing the warship to directly enter the full-power activation state of [Forward IV] from a gliding state at one-thousandth the speed of light.

Currently, the warship has increased its speed from one-thousandth of the speed of light to four-thousandths of the speed of light. It is expected that it will reach its standard speed of forward three, or one-hundredth of the speed of light, in one hour.

However, to reach 10% of the speed of light, the warship would need to accelerate for at least a whole day, and to reach its maximum speed of 20% of the speed of light, it would take a full month.

The acceleration time was too long, which was Zhang Beihai's biggest concern. Fortunately, he had already prepared a backup plan.

The exterior module area of ​​the Natural Selection, which should have been the module area for the [Iron Curtain Device], has been replaced with an old-fashioned [Chemical Powered Burst Thruster] at some point in the spaceport. As for the so-called advanced [Iron Curtain Device], it has been completely abandoned.

This chemical propulsion system, which Zhang Beihai had actively criticized two hundred years ago and even went so far as to kill veteran astronauts to slow down its research, has now become the key power source for the Natural Selection spacecraft's ultra-high acceleration.

The four chemical blast thrusters, like ancient hydrogen thrusters mounted on trucks, unleashed an ancient yet violent roar, and their propulsive force completely overwhelmed the warship's star-class main engine in a short time.

Inside the warship, whether it was the three thousand Innate Realm warriors or the bewildered glowing sprites in the nuclear fusion engine bay, they immediately felt an extremely strong thrust.

The acceleration of Natural Selection increased from 120G in forward phase 4 to 600G in just a few seconds, a fivefold increase!
The entire orbit around Jupiter was completely illuminated by the four chemical propulsion thrusters. At least in the eyes of the crew of the Blue Shadow, the golden light that represented a star-class warship had transformed into a mad, recklessly burning fireball!

As the first fireball was born, the remaining nine golden rays also transformed into rolling fireballs! All ten star-class warships completely abandoned their advanced Iron Curtain devices and installed these disposable chemical fuel propulsion systems, which were originally intended for use in the steering and braking of interstellar freighters!

While chemical fuel propulsion systems cannot operate indefinitely like controlled nuclear fusion, they are sufficient to support combustion for nearly ninety minutes. Given the warship's current ultra-high acceleration of nearly 600G, accelerating to 10% of the speed of light would only take 79.42 minutes!

Moreover, these four disposable thrusters can save a significant amount of nuclear fusion fuel reserves for warships.

Zhang Beihai did not expect the heavens to favor him for long; he only needed 79.42 minutes.

Once they reach a speed exceeding 10% of the speed of light, even the Wallfacer Luo Qing will be unable to stop them.

The Wallfacer was still in the Great Ring, which was at least three astronomical units away from Jupiter's orbit. Even if he immediately noticed the anomaly and got up to intercept it, it would still take him at least 6 hours to reach Jupiter's orbit. By then, the warships would have already exceeded 10% of the speed of light.

Zhang Beihai was unsure of the Wallfacer's attitude toward "escapism." In fact, he had neither the time nor the ability to have a one-on-one conversation with the Wallfacer to probe his attitude.

He had considered using Luo Qing's message board to ask questions, but that would only hasten the exposure of his true intentions.

Therefore, prepare for the worst and leave first. Explain everything after you've left.

The mental imprint facility that Hines secretly left 180 years ago has already done enough for him. Ms. Keiko Yamasugi's act of breaking through the barrier has also completely misled Fleet International.

The Solar System Joint Conference has consistently misjudged the target of its investigation. The first people to be investigated should not be the captains of those innocent starships, but the thousands upon thousands of inconspicuous space dock workers in the dozens of docks around Jupiter's orbit.

Without the help of these workers, it wouldn't be so easy to remove the iron curtain device, this turtle shell, and replace it with a booster.

In addition to the boosters, the electromagnetic gun projectile compartments, which occupy a large portion of the star-class warship, have also been converted into nuclear fusion fuel compartments.

In Zhang Beihai's eyes, this advanced human weapon, the electromagnetic railgun, was no different from an ancient catapult, so he requisitioned the magazine without hesitation.

In addition to these reserves, which far exceed those of normal warships, the Natural Selection also has two additional fuel storage tanks, two hibernation resource storage tanks, and two living supplies storage tanks installed in the blank module area on the outside.

At this moment, the Natural Selection warship didn't look like a warship at all; instead, it resembled a passenger about to embark on a long journey, its entire body bulging and stuffed.

'Dr. Hines, you have fulfilled your responsibility to humanity. Thank you.'

Zhang Beihai stared at the display screen showing all reserve data at MAX, silently reciting to himself. In fact, Zhang Beihai's planned departure should have been later than now, after all, there were still four accompanying warships that hadn't broken free from that foolish parade formation, and rashly entering the forward four-stage state would inevitably lead to damage to the warships.

He had assumed that the two newly appointed fleet commanders, especially the NATO commander from the Common Era, would call off the parade ahead of schedule. However, he still placed too much hope in Commander Qian. This Common Era commander was also blinded by the power of the solar system warships. He had been a captain for too many years and was immersed in the glory of the so-called Paradox Engine.

Of course, this is not necessarily an individual's mistake. High-level decision-making requires too many considerations, which inevitably slows down the decision-making process, as Zhang Beihai understands.

As for the four warships in the parade formation, potential damage was unavoidable. He had made preparations immediately after learning that all the probes had disappeared.

He had not informed the nine captains in advance, and it seems they all made the same choice as him in a short period of time.

Hopefully it's not too late.

Less than five minutes after the four chemical explosive thrusters were activated, the warship had already reached one percent of the speed of light and began to rapidly climb toward two percent of the speed of light.

This initial streak of fireballs had already attracted the attention of the entire fleet.

The warship is currently under an unprecedented 600G high acceleration. The warship itself is designed to withstand a redundancy of three times the acceleration, which has obviously exceeded the redundancy design of 200%.

Fortunately, thanks to the vicious tradition of human technocrats adding layers of redundancy, the warship's own redundancy load has actually increased to about 6 to 7 times, which is just enough to withstand it.

At an acceleration of 600G, even a martial artist with innate talent would find it extremely difficult to sustain for an extended period. In comparison, the dozen or so Puji in the engine compartments had already been crushed, but fortunately, the Puji were structurally robust and were still alive in a daze.

Under such acceleration, even someone at the peak of the Innate Realm would find it extremely difficult to speak, but Dongfang Yanxu still managed to speak through his pale lips.

"I am the captain of the Natural Selection."

“Dongfang, the source of power is not the rules, but what lies behind the rules. I’ve told you this many times, but most of the time you’re unwilling to listen carefully. In this respect, you and your great-grandmother have the same problem.”

Zhang Beihai seemed unaffected by the 600G ultra-high acceleration; he walked slowly to Dongfang Yanxu as if on flat ground.

Zhang Beihai stared into Dongfang Yanxu's eyes and said, "Even according to the rules, I am currently the executive captain. According to the international law of the fleet, I temporarily have the highest command authority over the entire ship."

“The executive captain is just a firewall against escapism, but now, the real escapism is self-evident. Zhang Beihai, you are the one hiding in the fleet with the steel stamp!” A soldier behind Dongfang Yanxu almost bit his teeth until they bled.

Zhang Beihai chuckled: "When I was in hibernation, the technology of imprinting thoughts had not yet appeared. After I woke up, I did some intensive training in Antarctica and then came to the Natural Selection."

But the warriors were clearly unwilling to surrender so easily. The leader, an innate warrior, let out a low shout and forced his way out under the pressure of 600G.

Seven Grand Perfection Innate Realm experts simultaneously attacked Zhang Beihai.

Three seconds later.

Seven people were sent flying backwards.

Zhang Beihai clapped his hands, his expression unchanged.

"You're not from the Steel Seal Clan, so why did you do this?" Dongfang Yanxu struggled to help the defeated warriors up. As a fellow innate cultivator, she hadn't even seen how Zhang Beihai had made his move.

“As I said, these are the only two paths to survival, and Luo Qing is one of them. But I can’t put all my hopes on a god. As a soldier, I have a responsibility to civilization.”

"Is this your responsibility? I need an explanation." Dongfang Yanxu's eyes were bloodshot, not from grief or indignation, but purely from the ultra-high pressure load.

Zhang Beihai took an anti-G suit, which was originally intended for reporters or scientists who might appear on the warship, but now it was draped over Dongfang Yanxu's body.

As the anti-gravity fluid was replenished, Dongfang Yanxu's condition improved significantly. Zhang Beihai then helped up the seven pale-faced soldiers and dressed them in anti-gravity suits.

He looked back at the solemn warriors behind him and found that most of them could hold on, so he gave up the idea of ​​releasing the deep-sea acceleration fluid.

The deep-sea acceleration fluid would force everyone into a temporary state of hibernation, which he didn't want for the time being.

At this moment, outside the porthole, Io's orange-red volcano stretched out as a blurry band of light. As the atmosphere of confrontation eased, Dongfang Yanxu's tone finally calmed down: "I know you must have a reason for doing this. Tell me, I need that reason to convince myself."

"I'll explain after the acceleration is complete. If the acceleration fails, then there's no need to explain." Zhang Beihai's voice was light and cheerful.

"Why does acceleration fail?"

"I can't say, I have to consider the possibility that Zhizi is here." Zhang Beihai revealed a familiar smile.

(End of this chapter)