The system handed me over to the state.

"Upon reaching the eye of the storm, we may not be able to leave immediately, but since that planet can survive at the eye of the storm, we might be able to find a way to leave on that planet."

"So we're now assuming we have to cross the storm, and that we'll definitely reach its center?"

Gong Ning, who hadn't spoken before, questioned why, after all the discussion, they suddenly decided on a plan that would definitely be implemented this way.

"This is basically the only road we can take..."

Su Xi hesitated for a moment, then said helplessly, and Gong Ning fell silent.

"Warning! Warning! Anomaly detected in gravity readings! An unknown vessel is warping in!"

Suddenly, Xiao Su's alarm on the ship broke everyone's silence, and everyone instantly entered a state of combat readiness.

"Calculating gravity readings! Captain! The enemy's warp ship is conservatively estimated to be twice the size of ours!"

"An unknown warship will arrive in our vicinity in three minutes, Captain!"

Su Xi remained calm and composed, putting down her coffee. Her tone was even as she said, "Red alert! Shield power increased to maximum! Warp-up engines! All weapon groups adjusted their positions, aiming at the warp location! Order the entire Chrono Commando team to stand by, ready to attack at any moment!"

"Understood, Captain!"

Three minutes later, as the terrifying spatial distortion visible to the naked eye unfolded before everyone's eyes, fear arose in everyone's hearts. Just how big of a ship would it be to... cause such a large spatial warp and distortion effect?

Suddenly, the brilliant universe before them burst into a blinding white light. After the light disappeared, a massive spherical warship appeared in front of them.

And this spherical warship... silenced the search crews on both ships.

Su Xi's hand froze in mid-air. "My goodness... am I seeing things?"

"That warship... was filled entirely with... water?!"

Yes, the huge spherical warship was filled with azure water, and its exterior was wrapped in a transparent metallic substance that resembled glass, and was also surrounded by an energy shield that shimmered with a faint light.

"Captain... if the readings are correct... that warship... is completely filled with... water..."

The crew member in charge of the scan stammered, this warship challenged his conventional understanding of ships—a warship filled with water? What kind of warship could be filled with water inside?

"Captain! We have received a communication request from an unknown signal, along with a corresponding communication code and a message... in Chinese."

The last three words made Su Xi's eye twitch involuntarily: Chinese? Could it be that Chinese is really the universal language of the entire universe?

Did their ancestors create Chinese characters and the Chinese language, or did the characters they used get them from aliens?

Don't... this directly overturns thousands of years of China's long and rich cultural history... this is unacceptable!

"What are you thinking?"

Bronya, noticing Su Xi's complicated expression, asked curiously. Su Xi didn't hide anything, "I'm curious whether our ancestors created Chinese characters, or whether we inherited them from aliens..."

"Personally, I tend to think it's our ancestors. After all, no one has ever said that it's possible that aliens came to Earth to explore and discovered the profoundness of Chinese characters, so they took them away and they became the universal language over thousands of years."

“That makes sense…”

Su Xi muttered a few words and connected to Gong Ning's communication. Both sides received the message sent by the other party, and the code and message were completely consistent.

[Friends, hello! It's a pleasure to meet fellow travelers in this vast sea of ​​stars. We are a warship from the Merfolk Empire in the Southern Star Sector, Ellos Star Region, and we hope to have a friendly exchange with you.]

"Mermaid...Empire..."

Su Xi's expression was strange, while Gong Ning seemed to be deep in thought.

"So...mermaids can go to space? Because they can't leave the water, their warships are completely filled with water, but how did they manage to waterproof them?!"

"None of this matters!"

Bronya suddenly spoke up, "They call us their companions, they know where we're going! And their destination is the same as ours!"

Su Xi exchanged a glance with Gong Ning on the screen, and Su Xi said without hesitation, "Connect the communication!"

"Understood! Communication is being established... Connection successful!"

On the bridge, a huge holographic projection screen unfolded, and then they saw... a fish tail with blue-colored scales...

The tail of the fish also has some glittering crystals and a golden ring that looks like... an earring.

Immediately afterwards, a faint sound came from the other side of the screen.

"Your Majesty? Your Majesty, the communication has been connected..."

The next moment, a clear female voice rang out, and a beautiful blue-haired merman appeared in front of them. The merman wore a light blue veil, an opaque veil that floated with the ripples of the water and concealed the upper body of the female mermaid.

"Ahem...sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

The Mermaid Queen coughed twice, looking somewhat embarrassed, then smiled and said to the people on the other end of the communication channel, "Hello, fellow travelers. It's a pleasure to meet fellow travelers in this vast sea of ​​stars, especially humanoid ones. It's truly a delightful surprise."

Bronya glanced at Su Xi, implying that everything from now on was up to her. Su Xi did not hesitate and took on this responsibility. "Hello, Your Majesty, I am Su Xi, the captain of the Nuwa ship from the Earth Alliance, and my companion, Gong Ning, is on the Ningye ship."

"What do you mean by 'fellow travelers'?"

"Hey! Don't you guys know?"

The Queen was quite surprised. The next moment, she heard whispers from the other side. Then, the Queen suddenly realized something. "Oh! I remember now. I'm sorry, we mermaids have poor memories and easily forget things."

"The term 'fellow travelers' refers to civilizations that embark on this trial together. Every so often, these civilizations send out their most elite ships and crews to travel to the Holy Land."

"The journey requires traversing energy storms in the galaxy and planetary rifts composed of tens of thousands of planetary debris before finally reaching the outer area of ​​the Holy Land. Only by passing the final test and entering the Holy Land can this trial be considered complete."

"The fact that you're here means you must be traveling with us, right?"

"Oh, by the way, this is the fifth expedition of our Mermaid Empire. We failed the previous four times. I hope we can succeed this time."

So, is it still possible to take on consecutive challenges? Then why are they in such a hurry to come over?

At this moment, not only Bronya, but also Su Xi, Gong Ning and others couldn't help but complain. However, when they thought that the one who issued the mission was His Majesty, they could only suppress their resentment. Bronya, on the other hand, was thinking about going back to confirm with Tong Xi whether it was true.

"So...where did you get to during your previous four expeditions?"

“We are indeed fellow travelers, but this is our first time embarking on such a journey. We would be very happy to have guidance from experienced people.”

Su Xi tried to get information out of the mermaid queen in front of her. After all, the other party was a civilization that had been on four expeditions, so she must have a lot of experience. Facing such an energy storm, she must be very experienced.

However, the other person scratched the back of their head awkwardly, "To be honest...we failed to get through this energy storm in our previous four expeditions..."

Silence fell on the bridge... Finally, Gong Ning broke the silence, "Hmm... We understand, Your Majesty. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We need to discuss this briefly... So... let's end the communication here?"

"Ah! Of course, we'll need about three days to rest and recuperate, then we can take on the challenge together."

After speaking, the Queen smiled and waved, ending the communication. Su Xi immediately complained, "Isn't this mermaid queen a little too adorable?"

"And why would an empress not stay at home and participate in an expedition?"

"Most importantly, they failed four times! Four times! That means even if we fail, at worst we'll just have to go home like them, we won't die!"

Now, they shouldn't need to discuss what risks they might take to enter the energy storm. Their predecessors have already tried four times, and even survived such a large and bizarre water-filled spaceship. With their iron curtain and anti-interference shields, how could they possibly not survive?

“I also think it’s silly…but that’s not the point. The point is our experience. Even if they failed four times, each time they went further than the last time. Maybe this time, we can use their experience to succeed.”

This was Bronya's idea. Although the appearance of the Mermaid Empire's ships was sudden, it undoubtedly helped them solve a problem.

Most importantly, it helped them determine the nature of this journey: a test, a test of civilization.

The best ships and the best crews, having passed the test, represent the entire civilization having passed the test.

But shouldn't they bring up the paradox?

You can simply create a time stop in the paradox and fly over it. In a time-stopped state, everything is static, including gravity, magnetism, and so on.

This is a cutting-edge weapon capable of breaking existing laws of physics.

"Gong Ning, what do you think?"

Su Xi turned her gaze to her best friend, the captain. Gong Ning's reply was simple: she could try to trust her and help her if necessary.

After all... the opponent is a sphere, and spherical warships... are not very outstanding in many aspects. Unless you can reach the level of a planetary fortress in the movie, a ship is not very appealing.

"That's exactly what I was thinking. Then it's decided, let's continue contacting each other!"

"Roger! Captain, communications established!"

The Empress reappeared before them, and Su Xi smiled. "Your Majesty, we have finished our discussion. We hope that we can work together to overcome the current difficulties. If possible, please share your experiences from the previous four times with us."

"Perhaps we can derive a better solution from this to help us pass the current assessment smoothly. What do you think?"

Chapter 435: Entering the Storm

"The calculations are complete. Based on the data provided by the Mermaid Empire, we have calculated the complete route through the storm in front of us."

"First, we enter the storm by following its flow. After a day, we will reach the planet at the storm's center. Then, every week, the storm changes its direction, and we can then simply follow its flow to get out."

"that's it?"

"Yes, Captain, that's it."

The researcher in front of me shrugged and said helplessly, "We have conducted extensive calculations for this operation. Our shields and iron curtain devices can protect us and allow us to move freely in both entry and exit scenarios. In other words, as long as the ships do not make any operational errors, we will not have any problems with this operation."

Su Xi rubbed the back of her head, looking troubled. "I feel like we were thinking about how to get through safely before, but now it feels like... a sightseeing tour?"

After speaking, Su Xi looked at Bronya beside her. Bronya turned her head away. Don't look at her, she didn't know what to say either. According to the Mermaid Empire's intelligence, most of the dangers of the so-called storm are just superficial, such as gravity, pulse interference, and even the wreckage of ships inside may collide with you as the storm moves.

Each one sounds terrifying, but there is a street-facing state that is just right to push each trial ship to its limit.

The Mermaid Empire's spaceships had made four attempts, and this was the fifth. Each time, they successfully entered the core of the planet, but failed to launch themselves because their spaceships couldn't keep up with the repair speed.

When they went in, the spaceship was already in a badly damaged state. If they went in again a week later, the spaceship simply couldn't withstand it. So each time, the spaceship was rescued by a spaceship from a higher civilization hidden behind the scenes when it was about to explode halfway through the flight.

Over these five trials, the mermaids progressed further and further in their research on how to quickly repair their spaceships, constantly growing stronger. However, the perfectly timed and controlled trials only increased the pressure on them.

This is my fifth test. Even though many of her advisors advised her to give up, the Mermaid Queen did not give up. She wanted to try her best to see what her race could do.

"She really is... a determined and powerful empress. Should we help them?"

Later, when faced with the most dangerous situation, as long as the Iron Curtain device is activated, they will not be harmed in any way. Not to mention pulses and gravity, even if a spaceship crashes directly into them, at most they will be knocked away, or they will simply push a hole in the other spaceship. There will be absolutely no damage.

So, is it possible that they helped the mermaid empire that had given them such great assistance?

Without much thought, Su Xi made a decision: she would help, she absolutely had to help.

This information might not be particularly important to the mermaids, but it is crucial information for them.

Therefore, they must now offer some assistance to their allies in the trials to come.

Otherwise... they would inevitably disappoint these friends who have good intentions towards their fellow travelers.

However, Hei hope remained somewhat wary, warning Bronya and Su Xi to be careful of the Mermaid Empire and never to trust them completely.