Chapter 48: First Attempt

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Blue Star Interstellar Command Center, the "Dome Hall."

The massive circular space seemed boundless. The dome was a seamless, dynamic star-curry, projecting real-time orbital trajectories of celestial bodies and energy flow data from deep space.

In the center of the hall, a giant holographic star map over twenty meters in diameter rotated slowly. It was marked with dense coordinates, navigational routes, and newly detected space anomaly zones—the most striking of which were the highlighted "Echo Valley" and a constantly blinking spot of light nearby, representing the scheduled coordinates for the first live-fire test of the "Stargate Project."

Countless microscopic, firefly-like nanobot repair lights floated in the air, weaving silently to maintain this command hub that concentrated the pinnacle of Blue Star's technological crystallization.

In the distance, a scaled hologram of the "Explorer 7" wreckage floated quietly, its shocking battle scars silently telling the tale of the harrowing danger not long ago.

Xu Yan stood before the main console, wearing a brand-new interstellar strike team combat uniform. On his sleeve was a unique new insignia—a key encircled by a star ring, symbolizing his status as the chief technical advisor of the Stargate Project.

The wound on his left arm had been completely healed by advanced biogel, leaving only a faint white scar. However, his brow was tightly furrowed, his sharp gaze fixed on a floating screen continuously refreshing with complex data.

On the screen, the light column representing the stability of the spatial fold was fluctuating violently within the dangerous yellow zone, with the deviation value reaching 0.3%.

"The energy injection rate has increased by 5%, and the frequency synchronization module has a four-thousandths delay, causing a 0.3% deviation in the spatial fold parameters." Xu Yan's voice was calm, his fingers tapping rapidly on the virtual keyboard in an attempt to perform manual compensation, but with very little effect.

'Conventional Blue Star compensation algorithms are inefficient, and errors are accumulating. Recommendation: Enable... symbiotic mindset for calibration.' Covet's stream of consciousness poured into Xu Yan's mind like cold stream water, carrying an unquestionable precision.

Xu Yan's movements paused slightly.

Since reaching that fragile "ROI consensus" with Covet last time, this was the first time it had actively proposed deep coordination in actual combat.

Without hesitation, Xu Yan took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The next moment, his consciousness seemed to be pulled away and infinitely expanded.

The dazzling data streams on the main console were no longer abstract numbers and curves, but transformed into countless flashing threads of energy with different "temperatures" and "textures."

He could "see" the four-thousandths delay causing the deviation, wriggling like a slender yet stubborn red viper at a certain node of the energy network, interfering with the overall harmony.

Almost simultaneously, a completely different mathematical model and solution path, carrying the characteristic cold rhythm of the Lamu star system, presented itself clearly in his mind.

With his eyes closed, the corners of Xu Yan's mouth moved slightly as he repeated the solution provided by Covet: "Enable backup energy channel B7 to bypass the delay node. Synchronously inject the Lamu quantum error-correction algorithm to re-weave the energy field topology... and strictly control the additional energy loss rate within 15%."

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His hands seemed to possess a life of their own, inputting a series of extremely complex, even somewhat counter-intuitive commands on the console with a precision and speed that transcended visual dependence.

Duan Peng, standing on guard slightly behind and to the side of Xu Yan, watched in dumbfounded amazement.

He only saw Xu Yan close his eyes for a moment, and then the movements of his hands became so fast they almost left afterimages. The fluidity and confidence stood in stark contrast to his previous state of deep contemplation.

Hum—!

On the central holographic star map, the spatial fold model representing the target area suddenly flared with brilliant light!

The yellow light column that had been fluctuating violently stabilized at a speed visible to the naked eye, slowly receding back into the green zone representing safety.

The deviation was swiftly corrected!

Throughout the Dome Hall, the technical officers in charge of various modules breathed simultaneous sighs of relief, and then cast gazes filled with incredulous admiration toward Xu Yan.

Even General Mu Chengzhu, who had been sitting quietly in the commander's seat with a steady expression, caught a flash of extremely subtle appreciation in his eyes.

However, right at this moment of initial success—

"Captain!" Duan Peng's encrypted communication suddenly broke in, his voice carrying a trace of urgency. While maintaining his alert posture with his weapon raised, his gaze swept toward the ground support coordination area on the side of the hall. "Ground Third Support Group reports intercepting an extremely faint, unknown signal source at the edge of the K-77 asteroid belt adjacent to 'Echo Valley'! Signal characteristics... non-standard format, with strong concealment and hopping properties!"

Xu Yan snapped his eyes open, the inhumanly calm light in his eyes not yet fully fading.

Without needing orders, Ouyang Nan, who was also in charge of data monitoring on the other side of the main console, had already sprung into action.

Her hands danced across the console, retrieving the raw signal data transmitted by the ground support group while plugging into the space station's powerful central database for cross-referencing and tracing.

"Signal strength is extremely low, background noise interference is severe... performing multi-layer filtering and feature enhancement..." Ouyang Nan spoke at a rapid pace, sweat beading on her temple. "Encryption method... does not belong to any known interstellar fleet, colony, or even commercial conglomerate... the pattern is ancient, but the core algorithm... carries strong destructive and anti-tracking characteristics..."

Her voice abruptly stopped. She jerked her head up to look at Xu Yan, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes: "It's Redeem! It's a signal variant they used during their early activities! They really are still operating nearby!"

This news instantly tightened the atmosphere that had just relaxed.

"Try to trace the ultimate destination of the signal source!" Xu Yan immediately ordered.

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"Already on it! The signal path has made multiple anonymous node jumps... it will take time..." Ouyang Nan operated at full capacity, attempting to peel away layer after layer of camouflage.

At that exact moment, a dramatic mutation occurred within the central holographic star map!

Due to the precise calibration completed through the collaboration between Xu Yan and Covet, the spatial fold was successfully stabilized. A miniature yet extraordinarily stable wormhole channel prototype was successfully stimulated at the target coordinates and maintained for over three seconds!

Although the channel was as tiny as a needle's eye and fleeting, the spatial rule resonance triggered by its formation and stabilization was like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake!

Hum—!!!

An invisible spatial resonance wave propagated faster than light!

The entire Dome Hall seemed to shudder slightly, and all the lights dimmed for a fraction of a second!

Even more shockingly, the massive holographic star map in the center of the hall seemed imbued with life as every single starlight point upon it began to flash, brighten, and dim frantically at an unprecedented frequency!

The previously clear boundaries of the stelar region blurred. Countless tiny, previously undetected dark matter streams and spatial turbulence belts were briefly "revealed" under this intense resonance, transforming into twisting, flashing ribbons of light that coiled around the entire star map.

It formed a cosmic spectacle that was both overwhelmingly magnificent and awe-inspiring!

Everyone was struck speechless by the sudden scene.

This was both proof of the Stargate Project's initial success and a harbinger of the unfathomable power and risks inherent in spatial technology.

The resonance slowly subsided, and the star map gradually returned to its normal state.

However, a fragment of related data that had gone unnoticed—shaken loose from the deep redundant areas of the database by this abnormal resonance—was precisely captured by Ouyang Nan's tracking program.

She stared at the associated prompt box that automatically popped up on her secondary screen, her pupils sharply contracting.

"Xu Yan..." Ouyang Nan's voice carried a trace of incredulous trembling. She whipped her head around to look at Xu Yan. "The final jump node of that unknown signal source... one of its extremely covert relay station coordinates... it... it completely overlaps with the coordinates of an unverified 'abnormal energy sensing point' mentioned in the last routine log before your parents' 'Pioneer' survey team went missing back then!"

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