Neither the void storm nor the particle storm had any effect on the nebula. Ziye inwardly wailed; this was a situation where both sides would suffer.

She had managed to maneuver Bai Lanxue to the coordinates, but she herself could not escape. Escape was impossible, yet she still had to try.

Ziye piloted her mecha and fled desperately in one direction. The vicinity was entirely shrouded in the nebula; she had no sense of north, south, east, or west, nor could she predict which direction the terrifying storm might erupt from.

She couldn't spare any thought for where Bai Lanxue was fleeing. Ziye understood one thing clearly: the coordinates were in the central region of the galaxy.

No matter which direction she chose, escaping in a short time would not be easy. Xiao Douya peered out the viewport with its two round eyes and suddenly chirped, "Ziye the little blockhead, that wicked woman's battleship is still following us!" Ziye felt a chill run down her spine, a shiver of dread.

"This woman isn't trying to take me down with her, is she?" Xiao Douya eyed her sideways. "The wicked woman doesn't care about you.

If she wants a body to pull down, she’ll take Red Hair." Ziye readily agreed: "Does she think I know the route out?" Xiao Douya remained silent, its eyes blinking innocently, projecting an air of complete ignorance. Ziye desperately wanted to slap it, but before her hand could move, the system alarm blared.

She checked the readout and could only utter three syllables: "Damn it!" The operating system had crashed! She switched the automatic controls to manual, shutting down all non-essential systems, leaving only the warp drive active.

Warping continuously, the nebula visible through the viewport thinned out. Ziye let out a breath of relief, then immediately felt something was wrong.

She had traversed this sector of the galaxy more than twice while on Red Hair’s battleship; there should have been no stars, so why were so many golden stars suddenly appearing? Where there is abnormality, there is mischief.

The stars seemed to be conspiring against her, twinkling more frequently, growing denser until they formed luminous halos. Ziye was suddenly seized by a jolt of horror.

Could this be the prelude to the legendary Stellar Core Explosion? The Stellar Core Explosion was a space cataclysm that held the maximum number of superlatives in the universe.

Firstly, it was the natural disaster with the lowest probability of occurrence in interstellar history. Period.

Secondly, it was the most beautiful natural disaster. Thirdly, it was one of the most destructive natural disasters.

... Ziye had only read about it in the archives of the Tang Wen Library, but as the stars in space flickered and coalesced into countless halos of varying sizes, reaching out as if to touch her, she shivered uncontrollably and asked Xiao Douya, "Do we still have a chance to get out?" Xiao Douya’s two eyes were fixed, seemingly calculating the probability of survival.

Before Ziye could receive an answer, the mecha alarm sounded again. She turned her head and cursed once more: "Damn it!" Bai Lanxue’s battleship had actually arrived beside her.

Compared to the escort ship, Renwei Mecha was like a cat next to a rhinoceros; it could be crushed into mud with one careless stomp. The distance was too close; escape seemed difficult.

Compounded by the bizarre space environment, there was truly nowhere to flee. Ziye manually brought up the optical screen.

She manually scanned for the battleship's signal; their proximity made the scan easy. As soon as the connection established, Bai Lanxue's face, which Ziye loathed so intensely, appeared on the screen.

Ziye glared at her, unwilling to speak first. Whoever spoke first would lose.

Bai Lanxue gave her a cursory glance and said coldly, "I won't kill you for now, but you must lead me out of here." Ziye felt a momentary easing of tension in her chest. So, she needed a guide.

Once outside, Ziye wasn't afraid of her. Never mind Red Hair, there was also the meticulous deployment of the Wolf’s Den outside; Bai Lanxue wouldn't be able to escape anywhere.

Still, having to save this person made her feel utterly vexed. Without waiting for a reply, Bai Lanxue sent a party request.

Ziye hesitated for half a second before accepting. If it truly was a Stellar Core Explosion, neither of them would escape.

Together, the odds of their corpses being found were higher... Regardless of Ziye’s thoughts, the two were now bound together like grasshoppers on the same stalk.

In the blink of an eye, the density of the stars had doubled. Through the viewport, the original expanse of space was obscured; all that remained were twinkling stars, even the nebula had vanished.

Amidst the sea of stars, Ziye felt dizzy and disoriented. Ziye hadn't suffered from trypophobia before, but this forced it upon her.

She desperately wished the stars would dissipate, yet logic told her that if the stars vanished, so would her chance of survival. Bai Lanxue was also gripped by terror.

Bai Lanxue was a constant victor in human conflict, but in the face of a natural catastrophe, she was equally terrifyingly small. Unable to suppress the fear etched on her face, she shrieked at Ziye through the optical screen with bravado masking her panic: "Hurry up and lead the way out!" Ziye disliked that look on her face and was about to cut the connection when the screen dissolved into static, and the signal broke.

Ziye checked the warp engine data: warp had exceeded ninety percent. After warping so long continuously, they still couldn't break free of the stars.

With a decisive impulse, she poured all remaining energy into the warp drive unit, pushing the warp parameters to their absolute limit. Ninety-five percent, ninety-six percent, ninety-seven percent...

Ninety-nine percent! Just as it was about to hit one hundred percent, a sharp crack echoed from beneath the pilot's seat.

Ziye’s expression changed, and Xiao Douya suddenly leaped up, shouting, "Little blockhead, close your eyes!" She instinctively shut her eyes. In that instant, she felt an overwhelming surge of power.

The Renwei Mecha shot forward, and even with her eyes closed, she could sense a speed more than three times that of maximum warp. In a flash, she felt the pull of gravity downwards.

Ziye opened her eyes. The stars had receded significantly from her field of vision.

A smile started to form, but before it reached her lips, the situation abruptly changed. CRASH— The spherical Renwei Mecha slammed onto Bai Lanxue’s battleship, bounced off, fell again, and finally tumbled over the top of the ship.

Ziye curled up in the cockpit, clutching Xiao Douya. The mecha’s cockpit protection system automatically deployed, minimizing harm to the occupants.

By the time the Renwei Mecha finally rolled to a stop on the ground, Ziye had already passed out. Xiao Douya wriggled out of her embrace and unceremoniously zapped her wrist with a low-voltage current.

Ziye woke up in a state of dizziness and looked blankly at Xiao Douya. Xiao Douya flapped its wings proudly.

"Am I amazing or what? I tossed you from one side of space directly onto this planet!" Ziye struggled to sit up and saw the ground outside the viewport.

Her eyes widened. "Does that mean we're safe?" Xiao Douya poked out the small sprout on its head.

"I dragged that wicked woman here too." Ziye: "..." Without another word, she settled back into the pilot’s seat and activated the cockpit's medical system. —She had to recover before Bai Lanxue regained mobility.

Otherwise, if that terrifying woman approached, Ziye still wouldn't stand a chance. Seeing that she was ignoring it, Xiao Douya flapped its wings urgently to explain, "I didn't mean to bring her over!

It was because the planet's gravity was too high; if there hadn't been something to cushion the fall, the Renwei Mecha would have been smashed into a puddle of jellyfish!" Ziye kept her eyes closed. "So you used her battleship as a cushion?"