Inside the ship's cabin, Guding had already hidden in the escape pod and, under the effect of the hypnosis gas, quickly fell asleep. He knew that in this situation, he would only create more trouble for the Sea Emperor, so he could only leave everything else to the Sea Emperor to handle.
Sea Emperor also entered a state of high-speed computation. Due to the restrictions of Guding's genetic level, many of his permissions were not open; even the basic detection function could only extend to about a hundred meters. Coupled with the network already affected by the electromagnetic oscillation caused by the interstellar storm, there was no way to obtain real-time information about this interstellar storm from the external network. He could only rely on the spaceship's own detection radar and his initial predictions to carry out operations.
He urged the Eagle chicks into a high-speed flight mode, wanting to stay as far away from the storm's center as possible. The spacecraft, due to high-speed operation, began to show some instability, but everything was within Sea Emperor's expectations. The Eagle chicks were merely a cheap modified model with very limited performance, and the fact that it could operate to this extent was already quite good. Asking for anything more was likely impossible.
Half an hour passed, and there was finally a response on the detection radar; it was a meteoroid swarm brought by the interstellar storm. Sea Emperor calmly calculated the trajectory of each meteoroid, then slightly reduced the Eagle chicks' speed. In high-speed status, the running path of the Eagle chicks would show slight deviations, and being hit by the meteoroid swarm due to such deviations was something Sea Emperor did not want to see. Thus, he chose to sacrifice speed to first withstand this wave of meteoroid swarm.
In a few minutes, the meteoroid swarm had approached, with the large and small meteoroid fragments densely packed together. According to the data compiled by Sea Emperor, there were a total of 11,281 meteoroid fragments, and he had already precisely calculated the trajectory of every single one, as well as the best trajectory for the Eagle chicks.
Given the density of the meteoroid fragments, even though the spaceship was not big in size, it was impossible to completely avoid all meteoroid attacks. Sea Emperor activated the spaceship's energy shield and carefully controlled the Eagle chicks' trajectory, avoiding collisions with hundreds of large meteoroids.
With a "Boom!", the spaceship's protective shield soon got hit by a meteoroid fragment, and the energy shield noticeably dimmed a little. Sea Emperor immediately adjusted the trajectory, as after being impacted, the spaceship's course required recalibration.
Just setting up the energy shield consumed a large amount of energy, and whenever it was hit, the energy consumption would multiply. According to Sea Emperor's estimate, the energy shield of the Eagle chicks could withstand at most twelve impacts of that degree before the energy would be completely exhausted.
Even though the best trajectory calculated by Sea Emperor meant enduring at least eight impacts of that degree, twenty minutes had passed quickly and the Eagle chicks managed to hold out, finally getting through this wave of meteoroid swarm; only a thin layer of the energy shield remained.
After canceling the energy shield, Sea Emperor pulled up the star map of the nearby area from before. He knew he must quickly find a planet where the spaceship could temporarily rest. Preferably one with oxygen, as the Eagle chicks would need enough energy to generate oxygen. If the energy depleted, the oxygen inside the Eagle chicks would only last Guding three days, considering the ship stayed intact. If the ship was damaged and oxygen leaked, Guding might not last even twenty-four hours.
Sea Emperor also secretly prayed, "Please, let there not be a second wave of meteoroid swarm."
If a second wave of meteoroid swarm came, it was very likely that the spaceship's energy would be completely depleted, and by then, Guding's situation would be dangerous.
But things often unfolded in the opposite direction of people's expectations, and Sea Emperor's prayers did not receive a response from the divine. The second wave of meteoroid swarm soon appeared on the spaceship's radar.
This wave of meteoroid swarm was more than three times the scale of the previous one, and Sea Emperor began frantically computing escape strategies.
"If we take it head-on, the spaceship will definitely be destroyed..." Sea Emperor carefully analyzed the likelihood of each possibility, "At that time, the only option would be to lower the temperature of the escape pod, letting Guding enter a state of suspended animation, reducing oxygen consumption, then have the escape pod head for the nearest planet. The escape pod's power isn't strong enough; encountering a meteoroid swarm means a one hundred percent death rate for Guding."
"Currently, the spaceship's energy is less than thirty percent, and we can't find a suitable landing planet in a short time. A suitable landing requires not just oxygen, but also gravity on the same order as Sea Blue Star, and the temperature cannot exceed the extreme point humans can endure. Humans truly are a fragile species..." Thinking of these conditions, Sea Emperor couldn't help but sigh.
"It can't be helped; the most energy-saving method is to drift along with the meteoroid swarm. But I'm afraid Guding won't make it to Fengyuan Star." At this thought, Sea Emperor couldn't help but curse, "To hell with Fengyuan Star, surviving is more important than anything!"
These past days, he had learned many human colloquialisms, most of them not particularly nice. Facts proved that these phrases were not only learned quickly by humans but by super intelligence like Sea Emperor as well. Though, how he cursed in that childish voice always sounded somewhat comical. If Guding heard it, he would surely laugh till his stomach hurt.
Having made what he considered the most correct decision, Sea Emperor controlled the Eagle chicks to avoid a few meteoroid collisions and, on the ship's radar, found a relatively close and larger meteoroid. He changed the ship's course and landed the Eagle chicks on that massive meteoroid, then shut off the Eagle chicks' engines.
He did not wake Guding because a moving Guding would consume more oxygen and would also need enough food supplements. In a sleep state, not only could oxygen consumption be reduced, but food could also be preserved a bit longer. Sea Emperor did not know where Guding would ultimately end up, and in facing such an unknown situation, conserving more oxygen and food would allow Guding to live a little longer.
Inside the Little Eagle, almost all equipment had stopped functioning. Only in the escape pod where Guding was, was there still an oxygen supply, and the radar had a dense array of red dots.
Keeping the radar on at all times was necessary because Sea Emperor needed radar feedback to compare with the star map from before departure to determine his and Guding's position. Since the Heavenly Net's network was blocked by electromagnetic interference, Sea Emperor could only use this stupid method to determine his location.
If they were on the course from the previous star map, Sea Emperor could utilize the information marked on that star map to find a suitable planet for the spaceship to land on.
But Sea Emperor's hope quickly vanished; the Eagle chicks lingered on the meteoroid for three days, and this wave of meteoroid trajectory quickly diverged from the course on that previous star map. Not only that, this wave of meteoroid swarm also deviated from the Tianhe Star Domain, plunging into the virus-infected Gray Star Domain.
Along the way, Sea Emperor didn't find a single planet suitable for the spaceship to land on and could only follow the meteoroid swarm into the Gray Star Domain...