Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 459 - 103: Old Buddy

Chapter 459: Chapter 103: Old Buddy

Although Yuki muttered to himself about wanting to know who the King of Godspeed was, when Xiang Shan concluded that "the King of Godspeed is moving away from the Solar System," he still breathed a sigh of relief.

According to the information given by TX-0, Godspeed Court would first accelerate along Venus Orbit for several months, and then gradually change direction, flying away from the Zodiac Plane at a relatively large angle.

The Zodiac Plane refers to the orbital plane in which Earth revolves around the Sun, which intersects with the Earth’s equatorial plane at an angle of 23°26’. The Eight Planets of the Solar System, as well as a large number of smaller celestial bodies, are mainly concentrated on the Zodiac Plane.

In ancient times, when the Solar System was still a spiral nebula, it rotated in the universe in a flat manner. Under the effect of gravitational force, a large amount of matter spontaneously converged in the middle, ignited the fire of nuclear fusion, and formed a star. The remaining material from that "disc" then formed the other celestial bodies.

Therefore, all large celestial bodies in the Solar System and most of the smaller ones are located on this plane. This plane has a denser concentration of material than other areas of the universe.

Although the Zodiac Plane has dense materials that can obstruct small celestial bodies along the route, the vast majority of conventional spacecraft will also proceed on the Zodiac Plane.

That’s because flying along the Zodiac Plane allows for better use of the gravitational pull of celestial bodies, saving fuel.

This is of crucial importance for "interstellar voyages."

The acceleration of Godspeed Court is the same.

According to existing records, the initial acceleration of Godspeed Court is generally completed around the orbit of Mercury or Venus.

Celestial bodies that can be called "planets" have the capability to clear small celestial bodies near their orbits. Small celestial bodies on planetary orbits will fall towards the larger celestial bodies under the influence of gravity.

Unless intelligent creatures turn minerals from the ground into satellites and relaunch them, the space near the planet remains "clean."

Here, acceleration becomes very easy.

Godspeed Court will undergo acceleration lasting several months on the planetary orbit, accelerating until it reaches ten percent of the Speed of Light.

According to Newton’s second law, the function of a force is not to "maintain movement" but to "change the state of motion of an object." A force applied to a static object will change its state of motion from "static" to "moving," and an object will stop because the surrounding matter applies a force to it—or rather, the kinetic energy of the object is transferred to the object it comes into contact with.

In the sparseness of space, "friction" can be negligible, and there is no need to counteract Earth’s gravitational acceleration. Therefore, by simply continuing to accelerate an object, it is possible to easily reach very high speeds—just with more time spent.

This is exactly what the Reactionless Engine excels at.

If Godspeed Court were to start from Earth’s surface in a stationary position, it would be nearly impossible to overcome Earth’s gravitational acceleration and fly out of Earth’s gravity well.

However, Godspeed Court’s emergency speed changes and directional adjustments still require propellant support.

Although conventional engines consume a substantial mass, their instantaneous output is considerable.

After accelerating to this speed, Godspeed Court would leave the Zodiac Plane to carry out a mission on the edge of Knight Tian Yangxi’s territory.

And the return and deceleration of Godspeed Court would also require the same amount of time.

This means that the King of Godspeed would not be able to come to Earth for one to two years.

But... we shouldn’t be too negligent.

The King of Godspeed still has a move up his sleeve.

He can lead an elite squad to detach from Godspeed Court, accelerating to a higher level, and arrive at the destination first.

Inertia and the speed of an object’s motion are only related to the object’s mass.

Compared with Godspeed Court, it is much easier to accelerate or decelerate the King of Godspeed himself.

After detaching from Godspeed Court, the King of Godspeed can arrive at the target planet first and then quickly decelerate. After eliminating the target, it can accelerate again and ultimately catch up with Godspeed Court, which is patrolling certain areas according to the plan.

Moreover, the King of Godspeed’s craft is certainly better camouflaged than Godspeed Court.

This is also the reason why Tao Enhai could not evade the King of Godspeed in the past.

"We still need to wait a few more months. Wait for him to make a move one or two months later."

Xiang Shan thought so, leading his squad and continuing to advance towards the Secluded Crane Knight Order’s location.

The garrison of the Secluded Crane Knight Order relies on the northern section of the Rocky Mountains, on the east side of the north section, separated by a mountain range from the direction of the ocean.

The destination for Xiang Shan and his group, on the other hand, is on the west side of the Rocky Mountains.

They need to overpower the cooling system out in the Wilderness.

If they overpower it near the hinterland of the Knight Order, the risk would be too great.

After eradicating two small but careful Green Forest gangs, Xiang Shan and his party entered this great plain.

All along the way, Xiang Shan felt a strange sense of discomfort.

This feeling was not too noticeable at first, but after passing through the Rocky Mountains, it dawned on him.

Many areas of the Rocky Mountains appeared as if "someone had scooped out a meter of turf from them."

This included some notable long-lived plants, some scenic spots that could serve as geological specimens, and so on.

"I wasn’t too sure when I was in the Federation because after all, two hundred years had passed," Xiang Shan whispered, "But this is clearly not a natural change in the landscape, nor is it the result of bombing by weapons."

If there had been a large-scale explosion, such traces would not have completely disappeared after two hundred years.

Besides, no sensible person would think of targeting these kinds of primitive forests that don’t have much strategic value with nuclear weapons.

From an efficiency standpoint, the most suitable targets for nuclear weapons are always metropolitan areas.

"This is really strange..."

Xiang Shan whispered as such.

The Rocky Mountains looked as pitiful as a cake that had been haphazardly scooped with a spoon.

Past this stretch of mountains was an area that was... uh, relatively "prosperous"?

It’s hard to call it prosperous.

Yuki’s hometown, Recycling Station Town, is located in the middle of North America, deep inland with little rainfall and large desert areas. But at least in this region, water is relatively abundant.

Xiang Shan could even see some unfamiliar fungi colonies and clusters on the ground.

Both the quantity and diversity of species here far surpassed those around Old Jia’s home in Yuki.

Although there are no remains of another Emperor Shitian-class Battleship to excavate, compared to the surroundings of Pine Eagle City, there are actually more independent settlements in this area.

As Xiang Shan quietly approached a settlement, he noticed that the plants being cultivated here were a few varieties more than those around Pine Eagle City.

On the edge of a settlement, Xiang Shan met up with those he had agreed to see.

Solo Kill King greeted Xiang Shan with delight, "Nameless Hero, we are going to fight side by side again this time!"