The system handed me over to the state.

It seems I need to be a bit more cautious for the next period of time, or... maybe I should just slack off.

"Captain, this is a communication from the Mermaid Queen."

"Bring them in!"

A holographic screen unfolded in front of Su Xi, and the Mermaid Queen appeared before them with a slightly worried expression. "Ah! Friends, I'm so glad to see you all safe and sound. I have something to share with you."

"Please speak, Your Majesty."

"Our spaceship has encountered severe interference. Nearly 70% of the magical runes and magical resonance field inside the spaceship have failed, 67% of the spaceship's power source has been lost, and 30% of the effectiveness of the outer magical protective shield has been lost. Fortunately, our magic technicians reacted in time and activated the backup system, which maintained the water temperature inside the spaceship. Otherwise, our spaceship would have frozen into a big block of ice."

"With our spaceship in such a state, it is very likely that we will no longer be able to continue our journey with you."

The mermaid queen looked very sad. Su Xi was stunned. This... there was no problem before, how did it become like this?

"Could you tell me the specific reason? Is there anything we can do to help?"

Su Xi still really liked her mermaid friends. Suddenly having to part ways like this, and the possibility that they themselves wouldn't be able to go back, surprised and saddened Su Xi. His Majesty had said that if he could help, he should do his best to help their allies, but now this has happened.

"The specific reason... we were interfered with by an unknown magical fluctuation. This interference directly caused our magical runes to stop and various systems to fall into chaos. We have temporarily stabilized our systems, but the only way to repair them is to destroy the source of the interference."

"We can leave this area by moving slowly, and once we're away from the source of the interference, we can warp away."

"I'm sorry, friends, we have failed this test again, but the mermaids will not give up. Our Mermaid Empire and the Earth Alliance are friends."

"I look forward to our next meeting."

Su Xi's expression was somewhat blank. Why... did they suddenly start saying goodbye? Are mermaids such a pessimistic race? Are they unwilling to even try?

"Your Majesty, are you... just giving up like this?"

The Mermaid Queen nodded helplessly. "Yes, we have failed this time. It's not that we are pessimistic or giving up easily. Our technicians have analyzed our next journey and the interference signals. If we want to drive to the blurry area where the interference signals are located, it will take at least three months as the crow flies. If it takes that long, then so be it, we can persevere."

"However, with so many meteorites, our weakened spaceship simply cannot pass through them. Therefore, we really cannot travel with you any further on this journey."

For a moment, the communication fell silent. Su Xi felt regretful; in this situation, there was probably really no way out... It was truly a pity.

"So I said, we should still destroy that source of interference, right?"

Bronya looked slightly helpless. Now it seemed that her choice was correct. Destroying the source of interference was beneficial to them and also to the mermaids.

So why not?

"I... okay, you're right, but how do you think we're going to find the source of the interference? The mermaids also said it's a vague area, and we can't pinpoint its exact location. How long do you think it will take us to find it, and how long will it take to get through here?"

Su Xi didn't not want to help them, but she couldn't help them right now. Besides, who could guarantee that there was only one source of interference in this area? There might be two, three, or even more!

"So... is giving up the only option?"

Bronya was very disappointed; it seemed that she really had no choice but to give up.

........

"Huh? What's going on?"

Suddenly, an alarm sounded in the previously quiet captain's cabin. Su Xi was startled, then jumped up and shouted, "What's going on!"

"Captain! We have detected an unidentified vessel warping into our area! Estimated arrival time... is now!"

The next moment, a massive ship twice the size of the Nuwa warp-in to them. This ship was T-shaped, similar in design to the Ningye and Nuwa, but it exuded a sense of iron-bloodedness.

Furthermore, its turrets and weapons were several times more numerous than those of the Ningye and Nuwa ships. The dense array of guns made Su Xi's scalp tingle. Had they truly encountered a multi-turret cult?

"It seems like this is a civilization skilled in overwhelming firepower. What do you think?"

No sooner had Bronya finished speaking than the communications officer shouted, "Captain! We've received a communication from an unknown ship! Do you wish to connect?"

"Connect! Let's see what they're trying to say."

As the communication was established, everyone was stunned when the other person's appearance was revealed to them, because they saw... a dragon.

The Western dragon-like beings have spiral horns on their heads and folded dragon wings on their backs, but no dragon tail is visible.

The other party was a man dressed in a pure black military uniform. He glanced at Su Xi and Bronya, his eyes filled with arrogance.

"The examiner?"

Who are you?

Su Xi questioned, "The person who said that must be one of the examiners for this assessment. Does that mean that the source of the interference in this assessment is being controlled by them?"

"It seems so. Now I will read out the rules of the assessment for you."

"There is only one rule for this assessment: you may use any means necessary to cross the meteorite belt in front of you. Once you do, you will pass the assessment, and we will show you the way to the next test location."

"Now, are there any other questions?"

Although the other party's words were full of arrogance, they did not show any disrespect or mockery towards them, so Su Xi simply nodded to indicate that she understood and asked a question.

"Our companions, the Mermaid Empire's warships, had to abandon their assessment due to signal interference. Their ships were severely affected, even disrupting their operations and bringing them to the brink of destruction."

"I wonder if this is also part of the assessment?"

The other person was visibly taken aback for a moment, then asked with great surprise, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, you can ask the parties involved relevant questions. They probably know more about it than we do."

The male dragonman turned his head and immediately began communicating with the Mermaid Queen. Because Su Xi was also communicating with the Mermaid Queen, she could hear their conversation very clearly.

The Mermaid Queen told the male dragonman about the problems with her ship and uploaded detailed data, as well as footage of some unfortunate mermaids being frozen into ice blocks before they could react.

It was truly... shocking to see.

After understanding everything, the arrogance on the male dragonman's face finally faded, and he expressed sincere apology, saying, "I'm sorry, we didn't consider that such a problem would occur. Please provide the frequency and characteristics of your magic so that we can take preventative measures."

"The purpose of magnetic interference is to disrupt your scanning and communication equipment during the assessment, not to weaken you."

"We apologize to you for this as the regulators."

Su Xi looked at Bronya and chuckled with some surprise, muttering, "Quite unexpected. I thought they would be a very arrogant race."

"Actually, I'm not arrogant at all. Let's continue."

Su Xi nodded, turned around, and continued to ask, "If something happens to us in the asteroid belt, will you rescue us? Or will you watch us die?"

"Of course we will provide rescue, but how many people we can rescue is beyond our control."

“There were once arrogant test takers who tried to force their way through, but they ended up losing their lives. I hope you will not follow in their footsteps.”

"The rules have been explained. Good luck, examiners."

The opposing spaceship warped away, and a few minutes later, the mermaids' spaceship returned to normal, without the previous problems. They were happy to be able to continue participating in the assessment and also thanked Su Xi. If Su Xi hadn't raised the issue, they might have given up on asking it because of the other party's arrogant attitude.

Therefore, the Mermaid Queen was deeply impressed by Su Xi's boldness as a man from China.

After solving the problem, the next step was to figure out how to get through the meteorite belt in front of them. According to the results obtained by the scanner under interference, the meteorite fragments in the vicinity of their location varied in size, and there were even semi-circular meteorites the size of half a planet.

However, they did find a passage that allowed them to get in, but they knew nothing about what was inside.

Su Xi was somewhat worried about this, because she didn't know the situation inside the asteroid belt, and the drone's communication and control could be affected by magnetic interference.

At this point, Bronya brought up her idea again.

"So I still think we should just blow up the source of the interference. Anyway, they said they don't restrict the means, as long as we can get through the asteroid belt, we'll consider it a success."

"If we blow up the source of the interference, wouldn't it be a very easy thing to get through without the interference?"

Su Xi stared at Bronya speechlessly. "Are you determined to destroy the interference source? You've been making this suggestion non-stop since the beginning..."

"That makes sense, let's use this plan."

However, Su Xi also felt that this was the best solution. Instead of wandering around like headless flies, they should deal with the source of the interference first. Maybe they would find the exit while they were bombing!

"Start trying to locate the source of the interference! Find the source of the interference! We'll blow them all up!"

Su Xi immediately gave the order: Bomb! Just bomb it! And if we can find them, we can capture one and analyze the relevant data, maybe even come up with a countermeasure.

Chapter 445: Entering the Meteorite Belt

Although the interference problem has been resolved, the mermaids still need to spend some time repairing the paralyzed magic system and magic runes on their warships. Therefore, they will need some time to adjust before they can enter the asteroid belt to find a way out.

Meanwhile, Bronya and her team were also busy. Su Xi and Gong Ning's communication team members gathered together and began to analyze the interference signal. With Bronya's help, they had initially determined the specific location and approximate area of ​​the interference signal.

If we're going to use a more violent approach, we can just get to the vicinity, activate the Iron Curtain, and charge through it. If we encounter anything that can't be broken through, we can just vaporize it with a Yamato cannon!

This is the simplest and most brutal method they have devised so far: just rush over. The advantage is that it takes less time and is fast.

But soon, their mermaid friends gave them a surprise: they pinpointed the exact locations of two nearby sources of interference.

They explained that this was a special anti-tracking magic, capable of detecting the presence of any nearby interference source. Through the research of the mermaids' skilled magicians, this magic, which covered a wide range and identified a diverse range of interference sources, was transformed into a magic that could pinpoint a single frequency interference source.

Furthermore, the powerful magic with no distance limitations, combined with the resonance of the ship's internal magic network, allowed them to quickly pinpoint the exact locations of the two nearby sources of interference.

So the plan was slightly modified, from the initial plan to open the Iron Curtain and ram through it, to finding a suitable position and then firing cannons to penetrate it!

Then find the source of interference, give one to each of them and the mermaid, and then have each of them develop a device to counter or resist interference.

While waiting for the mermaids' ships to be repaired, Su Xi and her companions learned more about their civilization from Alywendy and the other Ignos.

And news of the next few trials. This time, the first to the third trials were all handled by their human alliance. They also called themselves humans because, in their understanding, they were humans.

The Ignos represent fox-like beastmen, the Wenger are the half-dragons they just encountered, the leaders of the third level, and the El are werewolves.

Then, adding the Keponians they had encountered before, who represented cat people, Bronya felt that all the aliens they had met along the way were orcs. Weren't there any other kinds of aliens?

In response, Ari Wendy also provided an answer: the Human Alliance is just a small group within the entire organization. There are many groups within the Alliance, such as the Alliance composed of energy life forms in the form of pure energy.

An alliance composed of purely mechanical civilizations, and an ancient alliance composed of all sorts of bizarre and indescribable things.

There are many alliances of civilizations that they have not yet encountered. These are the civilizations they have met and communicated with for some time. Among them, the mechanical civilization is the most dangerous, while the civilization of the indescribable is the most friendly and benevolent, and the alliance of pure energy life forms is the most fond of watching from the sidelines.

Aly Wendy's explanation is that a purely mechanical civilization is dedicated to transforming all life forms into mechanical forms and turning every star system into a mechanical network surrounded by mechanical devices. All planets, whether habitable or uninhabitable, will be turned into purely mechanical steel planets.

Their energy comes from the Dyson Sphere, which can provide unlimited energy. Because they are dedicated to turning all life forms into machines, they are the most dangerous enemy to the Human Alliance.

Pure energy life forms, for them, life is endless as long as there is energy. So, in their long lives, the greatest skill they learn is to enjoy the gossip in all sorts of different ways, or to create gossip and then enjoy it.

To put it bluntly, they like to stir up trouble and then watch others scramble to deal with the aftermath, or they simply stand by and watch.

Although there is no danger, the Human Alliance has had relatively little contact with them because they like to cause trouble. However, some more friendly energy beings will make contact after the drama ends and then kindly share some knowledge about energy.

As for the indescribable things... they are the oldest and most terrifying beings in the universe. Their forms and spirits cannot be described in words. Wherever they go, the place becomes deathly silent in a very short time. Any living being that sees them will fall into endless madness.

They are quickly assimilated and transformed by any spiritual encounter, becoming a transit point for spreading their insane ideas.