Everyone's playing Red Giant? I, Black Hole, devour everything!

"Major! The Fourth Squadron has lost contact! All twelve Quark Stars have lost contact!"

"We've lost contact with the seventh squadron too! They're trapped by the black hole's gravitational field!"

"Eleventh Squadron—Major! The Eleventh Squadron is being dragged! They can't break free!"

On the communication channel, panicked reports came one after another.

Jason's face turned ashen.

The time-space freezer has failed, and Quark Star is completely powerless against the black hole.

If we don't run now, we really won't be able to escape.

"Full speed retreat! Forget about formation! Run as fast as you can!"

The speed of Quark Star is the greatest pride of the Beacon Nation's military.

Because of its high mass and small size, its maneuverability far exceeds that of red giants and neutron stars.

Especially when escaping at full speed, Quark Star can accelerate to more than 50% of the speed of light in a very short time.

This speed might not seem like much on a cosmic scale.

But for those companions who are still struggling, it is a line between life and death that they can never cross.

Thus, an extremely absurd scene unfolded on the battlefield.

The Quark Stars targeted by Wang Heming desperately cried for help from their teammates.

Their teammates, however, ran further and further away without looking back.

It's not that I don't want to save them.

It's beyond saving.

Faced with a black hole, the only thing Quark Star can do is run faster than its teammates.

……

A few minutes later.

The fighting on the battlefield gradually subsided.

Wang Heming's black hole silently floated in the void, with a large number of quark star debris floating in the surrounding starry sky.

The debris was slowly drawn into the accretion disk by the black hole's gravitational field, releasing rings of dark red light.

[Mass increase: +3800 solar masses]

Current mass: approximately 4300 solar masses

A system notification popped up in front of me.

Looking at the numbers, Wang Heming felt both excited and disappointed.

Although the mass has increased significantly, he has only consumed less than one-tenth of the three thousand Quark Stars.

"That's fucking fast..."

Wang Heming couldn't help but curse inwardly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to swallow more; it was just that Quark Star's escape speed was too fast.

Although his black hole has superior mass, it is still only a micro black hole.

The gravitational field has a limited range, and the gravitational pull is far less intense than that of Kerr black holes.

"If I had a larger mass, if my spacetime curvature were a bit higher... none of those quark stars would be able to escape!"

Just then, a hurried voice came through the communication channel.

"Wang Heming! Wang Heming! How's it going on your end?!"

It was Luo Yuanzheng's voice.

"Commander Luo, I'm alright."

"It's alright?!" Luo Yuanzheng's voice suddenly rose several octaves. "You fucking scared me to death, you know that?! What's the situation now? Where's the Quark Star formation?!"

"I swallowed more than a hundred, but the rest escaped... I wasn't strong enough to keep them all."

Luo Yuanzheng paused for a second: "It's best that you can get out of trouble! As for the rest, don't worry about it! I'll come to meet you right away."

……

Shortly after Luo Yuanzheng hung up the call, news of Wang Heming's escape reached Lin Tian.

The message was forwarded by Chen Wang.

This includes Wang Heming's battle report against Quark Star.

After reading it, Lin Tian casually replied "Received" and then turned his attention back to the data stream in front of him.

The relay station's database still had one last part to be parsed, and he didn't want to give up halfway.

However, I did feel a sense of relief.

He remembered the student, Wang Heming.

The last student in the Black Hole crash course to complete the transfer program wasn't exceptionally talented, but he was willing to put in the hard work. People with this kind of personality often go further.

Being targeted by the United States this time can be seen as a blessing in disguise.

……

Before long, news of Wang Heming's escape spread within the Black Hole Legion.

"Three thousand Quark Stars, a time-space freezer, just to capture Wang Heming alone? The Beacon of Light thinks too highly of us!"

"Hilarious! And what was the result? All that effort, and Wang Heming still managed to swallow over a hundred of them?"

"Wang Heming is a quiet guy who doesn't show off usually, but he's really reliable when it matters."

"However, to be honest, the time-space freezer is really scary. If it weren't for Teacher Lin finding a solution in time, Wang Heming would have been in real trouble this time."

"Yes, I heard that Wang Heming had already been dragged to the edge of the star sector. A few minutes later, he would have been dragged across the border."

"Damn, just thinking about it makes me shudder."

Discussions on the channel came one after another, ranging from感慨 (feelings of emotion), 候畏惧 (lingering fear), to 嘲讽 (mocking the beacon of democracy).

But as the conversation went on, the topic gradually shifted to another direction.

"But to be honest, the US really has some skills to have managed to implement this."

"A time-space freezer! It can even suppress time-space quantum fluctuations. We wouldn't have dared to imagine such a thing before."

"Of course, the world's number one superpower isn't called that for nothing. They've been cultivating the Quark Star route for over a decade, so their foundation is truly solid."

"But it's no use now. Teacher Lin has already found a way to break it. Their trump card is just a piece of waste paper in front of us."

"Hahaha, you're right. I want to see what kind of expressions those people in the United States will have when they find out that the time freezer has been broken."

"What kind of expression could it be? It's definitely green with envy."

"Ha ha ha ha--"

The channel was filled with laughter and cheerful chatter.

However, despite the conversation, everyone knows one thing: even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.

After all, the United States has been the dominant power on Earth for decades, and no one knows how many more cards they have up their sleeve.

The Black Hole Legion cannot afford to be complacent, nor can they underestimate their enemy.

……

The United States, the White Eagle Secret Service's underground command center.

"The time-space freezer... has malfunctioned?"

William Harrison's voice was calm, so calm it was chilling.

The officers standing in front of him all lowered their heads, not daring to breathe.

"Yes...yes, sir," the intelligence chief replied, forcing a smile. "The main frequency signal was canceled out by an extremely precise gravitational wave antiphase frequency. The technical department...is unable to analyze any further results at the moment."

The atmosphere in the meeting room was as oppressive as a solid iron plate.

William did not continue speaking and remained silent for a long time.

He was thinking about something.

Since the Battle of the Seventh Star Sector, the Beacon Nation's operations against the Great Xia Nation have been consistently unsuccessful.

This is no longer a tactical failure.

This is a strategically passive situation.

The Quark Star route system, which the United States built with countless resources, was as fragile as a thin sheet of paper in the face of Lin Tian's black hole.

This can't go on any longer.

William took a deep breath and then slowly spoke.

"Call the president's hotline!"

Everyone around looked up at the same time.

"Sir, you want to—"

"I want to propose to the president, in a deep and firm voice, 'To launch our own Black Hole Project at all costs.'"