Inside the cabin, Guding clearly felt the Eagle Chicks slightly tremble.
"What we're feeling now is just the aftershock, and it's still quite far from us. The current impact isn't significant," Sea Emperor's voice still sounded far from optimistic. "I've already changed the Eagle Chicks' course, but calculating with its maximum speed, we still can't escape being impacted. We can only try to avoid the center of the storm."
"What will happen if we're impacted?" Guding had taken some interstellar study courses at the military academy, describing an encounter with an interstellar storm as very serious. For example, ships breaking apart, and most life forms being torn to pieces.
"The instruments on the ship will definitely all fail. If we're lucky, the ship might only suffer minor damage, though the course is bound to deviate. If we're unlucky, the ship might get hit by a meteor shower and be completely destroyed." Sea Emperor continued, "I'll try to control the ship to avoid those meteors, but you should be mentally prepared for the possibility of the ship being destroyed."
"What can I do?" Although Guding had also taken a flight course at the military academy, he had only flown in a simulator three times in a year of classes, and the rest were theoretical courses. It was something he had learned in his first year at the academy, two years ago. He also knew that if he were to control the ship himself, he wouldn't be as good as Sea Emperor.
"Get into the escape pod. Fortunately, the one I helped you choose was a relatively high-quality Class D pod, considering such a situation. Even if the ship is destroyed, there shouldn't be too much of a problem." Sea Emperor had at that time chosen this escape pod, which had short-distance flight capabilities and was controllable, costing about half a million Star Coins. Guding had thought the price was too high and unnecessary to buy such a good one.
Sea Emperor had said then, "People who frequently engage in interstellar travel know that an escape pod is more important than the craft itself. If the craft is destroyed, you can buy another one. If the escape pod is destroyed, you might not live to buy anything else."
Only after hearing this did Guding decide to compromise and let the seller equip this escape pod.
As Guding experienced the aftershocks of the interstellar storm, almost every broadcasting program on all the planets within the Tianhe Star Domain simultaneously aired this news.
"In the Tianhe Star Domain, a collision occurred between Gulan Star and Jumang Star, triggering a large-scale interstellar storm. Residents on nearby planets, please do not panic and follow local government instructions to evacuate to designated safe areas. Ships on nearby routes are also advised to change course quickly to escape the affected area. The storm is expected to end in twenty days. Please stay safe during this period. We will issue corresponding notifications as soon as the storm ends..."
This brief broadcast caused widespread panic. The Gulan Star was an ancient Constant Star that had been around for tens of billions of years and was one of the largest stars in the entire Tianhe Star Domain. Jumang Star, although only over two billion years old, was the largest star in the Tianhe Star Domain, with none larger. Scientists had long predicted the collision between these two stars, but at that time, the calculated probability of collision was relatively small, less than one percent. However, such low-probability events frequently occur in scientific history. The scientific community even has a saying, "Many times, talking about probability is unreliable."
The collision of the stars would also lead to the destruction of two different small star systems. Fortunately, the temperatures of the two massive stars were so high that the surface temperatures of various planetary crusts within the small star systems were thousands of degrees, making them uninhabitable and thus unpopulated.
"The position of Gulan Star and Jumang Star..." Pama was initially startled upon hearing the news, then quickly realized, "Guding's route has to pass through here. Since a day has passed, his current location should be..."
The watch on Pama's wrist was not an ordinary civilian model but a high-end one worth millions of Star Coins, boasting many functions unavailable in civilian watches. In just a brief moment, she had calculated the probable location the Eagle Chicks could currently reach. The red dot marked on the watch's projection overlapped somewhat with the area affected by the interstellar storm broadcast earlier. Her heart skipped a beat, and she hastily called Guding's number.
"The person you are trying to reach is temporarily unavailable...," the voice came through the communication earpiece of the watch.
Unwilling to give up, she called several more times, receiving the same reply each time. Left with no choice, she instead dialed Madico's number.
"Pama, what's wrong?" Pama rarely called him under normal circumstances. Even when encountering issues in potion crafting, she mostly left a message for him to respond to. Only in emergencies would she initiate a voice call.
"Teacher, a video just broadcast news of a collision between Gulan Star and Jumang Star, causing a large-scale interstellar storm in the nearby region."
"I saw that too. Although Sea Blue Star will be slightly affected by the aftershock, the atmosphere will mostly isolate it, so you don't need to worry." Madico thought Pama was panicking upon hearing the news, so he immediately reassured her. He chuckled inwardly, thinking how women tend to be timid.
"That's not what I'm talking about. When I saw the video, I just remembered that Guding's route has to go through there, so I did a quick calculation of his current location. The result shows he is now in the area affected by the interstellar storm's aftershock. I just tried calling his number, but couldn't get through. Isn't it only when the Heavenly Net signal is unreachable that this message appears?" Pama explained anxiously.
"That can't be right, wait a moment. What model is he flying?" Madico's heart also tightened. The promising apprentice he'd finally found had encountered such an incident, making him anxious. However, he still hoped Pama's calculations were wrong, so he wanted to recalculate and confirm.
"It's the Eagle Chicks." With Pama's words, Madico had already pulled up the data on the Eagle Chicks, inputting it into the calculation tool. In less than two seconds, the results appeared, a red dot showing up on the Star Map projection. It matched Pama's calculation and was within the range of the interstellar storm's aftershock.
"How can this be?" Madico couldn't believe it and recalculated, only to find the red dot's position unchanged.
"Guding won't be in trouble, will he?" Pama cautiously asked after a moment of silence from the other end.
After a brief pause, Madico finally accepted the reality, "We'll have to wait until the storm subsides and ask people from nearby planets to help search. There's no use worrying now."
After ending the call with Pama, Madico clenched his fist. "A genius Pharmacist from the Tianhe Star Domain, please don't perish early!"
Meanwhile, on the other side, Guding had long hidden inside the escape pod. The Eagle Chicks faced the first wave of the storm aftershock's onslaught...