The pure white torrent of energy, moving at a speed defying the laws of physics, traversed the universe and precisely **bombarded** the center of the massive sunspot group on the surface of star G-173!
Like a spark falling into a powder keg!
Time seemed to freeze for a second.
Then—
On the surface of star G-173, centered on the point of impact, a **terrifying spot of light** **millions of times brighter than the star itself** suddenly blazed forth! The light was so intense that even with the Nightingale's sensors immediately activating maximum filtering, the image on the screen still turned a deathly white!
An indescribable, immense energy, containing the wrath of a star, was instantly detonated!
A massive **coronal mass ejection (CME)** had occurred!
Billions of tons of scorching plasma, accelerated to astonishing speed by the star's magnetic field, formed a massive, ever-expanding **scorching cloud**, like a fiery whip lashed by God, violently breaking free from the star's surface, its trajectory... **straight ahead of planet G-173c**!
"CME confirmed trigger! Scale...exceeds expectations! Level X28+!" Leah's voice was almost drowned out by the blaring system alarms. "Pulley velocity...1200 kilometers per second! Estimated arrival time...revised to **41 minutes**!"
Six minutes faster than calculated! This meant their evacuation window was shorter!
"Main gun...completely destroyed! Energy core overload! Multiple systems paralyzed!" Leah continued reporting the bad news. The Nightingale's lights were dim, barely surviving on backup power, like a severely wounded soldier exhausted, drifting backward under inertia.
"Engine! Can it still move?" Kane asked urgently, enduring the discomfort of the overload. If they couldn't move, in 41 minutes, they would be swallowed by the stellar storm along with the planet!
"Main engine damaged! Propulsion efficiency reduced to 8%! Attempting to activate auxiliary thrusters and attitude control engines!" Leah's fingers frantically tapped the virtual control panel.
The Nightingale spewed a few weak, unstable blue flames from its tail, struggling to adjust its course, attempting to move towards the designated safe zone—outside the planet's shadow cone.
The speed was despairingly slow.
Kane looked at the planet targeted by the CME, about to face its final judgment, on the main screen, then at his own crippled ship.
The verdict had been delivered.
Now, they had to race against death, escape this space about to become a purgatory before the stellar wrath descended.
The Nightingale, like a bird with broken wings, moved laboriously and slowly through the silent space. The failure of its main engines rendered it powerless, relying solely on a few limited auxiliary thrusters and attitude control engines for propulsion. Its acceleration was negligible, a snail's pace compared to the destructive stellar storm hurtling towards it at 1200 kilometers per second.
Inside the bridge, the atmosphere was suffocatingly oppressive. The dim red emergency lights illuminated the grim faces of the three men. On the main screen, two countdowns pulsed coldly like the Grim Reaper's scythe:
**CME Arrival Countdown: 40 minutes 17 seconds…16 seconds…15 seconds…**
**Estimated Time to Escape Danger Zone: 53 minutes (recalculated based on current thrust)**
A desperate time difference. Nearly thirteen minutes meant that when the stellar storm swept through, the Nightingale would still be within its destructive energy range. At that moment, the high-energy particle stream would peel away the ship's hull like sandpaper, and the intense radiation would destroy all the delicate electronic equipment. There would be no chance of survival for the three men.