[Year 3024, Edge of the Chaotic Starfield]
[Coordinates: Twin-Star System, Gravitational Death Well]
The most magnificent sights in the universe are often the deadliest graves.
Outside the porthole, two massive stars are engaged in a death waltz lasting billions of years.
One is a aging red giant, enormous and bloated, radiating a suffocating dark red halo, like a bloodshot giant eye.
The other is a young, volatile blue dwarf, spinning wildly, like a sharp scalpel, greedily tearing at the red giant's surface, dragging out a dazzling plasma accretion disk stretching for light-years.
In the crevice where the gravitational pull between these two stars is most intense and spacetime is most distorted, a lone, crimson-painted warship—the Vermilion Bird—hoveres.
And on its outer perimeter, in a relatively safe orbit.
A **"silver wall"** is slowly pressing in.
Those were three thousand **Consul-class** interstellar destroyers of the Silver Empire. They were arranged in an impenetrable matrix, the eerie blue light emanating from their engines stretching as far as the eye could see, brighter and colder than the blue dwarf star itself.
"It's over… utterly over!" The desperate roar of the first mate of the "Hound" (formerly a pirate ship) echoed through the Suzaku's communications channel.
"That's the Empire's Third Full Fleet! There's even a Titan-class mothership! We're surrounded! There's no escape!" Fear spread like a virus through the hastily assembled fleet. Those once-fierce pirates, faced with the absolute overwhelming power of the regular army, were instantly reduced to their pitiful state.
…Suzaku, bridge command room.
There was no panic here.
Only a melodious and soothing classical piece—the Moonlight Sonata—flowed like mercury.
Shen Qingqiu sat in the conductor's chair covered in red velvet.
She had just washed away the smoke and exhaustion of battle, changing into a deep burgundy silk haute couture gown. The skirt had a very high slit, revealing a section of her pale, delicate calves as she crossed her legs.
At this moment, she was facing a floating holographic mirror, slowly and deliberately applying lipstick.
It was a red known as the "man-slaying red," vibrant, resolute, and carrying an almost demonic, almost madness.
"Commander!" Several pirate leaders' faces flashed on the communication screen, each one sweating profusely.
"We're about to die! And you still have the mind to put on makeup?!" Shen Qingqiu pursed her lips, making the lipstick color even fuller.
She closed the mirror, slowly raising her eyelids, her golden eyes completely calm.
"What's the rush?" Her voice was languid, clearly carrying across every pirate ship via the full-frequency broadcast.
"It's precisely because we're going to the battlefield that we need to dress up nicely."
"This is…last-minute care for the enemy."
She stood up, her red dress trailing on the silver floor like a flowing river of blood.
She walked to the huge porthole, looking at the three thousand silver ships pressing in.
"Truly magnificent." Shen Qingqiu sighed softly, "That old fogey Zera, just to capture two of us 'primitives,' actually mobilized enough forces to destroy a star system."
"This display, I'm quite satisfied." Seventeen stood half a step behind her in the shadows.
He wore that black high-collar trench coat, his posture as upright as a pine tree. His newly donned "Starry Sky · Xing Tian" right arm was currently in standby mode, its surface flowing with starlight like breathing.
In his hand, he tightly gripped an unsharpened alloy longsword he had just retrieved from the armory.
"Qingqiu." Seventeen spoke softly, his purple eyes reflecting only her image.
"They outnumber us. I can rush out first and tear an opening."
"You can use the Vermilion Bird in your star core for warp jumps, you can get there."
This was the optimal solution he had calculated.
Sacrificing himself to protect her. This was an instinct etched into his core code.
Shen Qingqiu didn't turn around.
She simply reached back and accurately grabbed his collar, pulling the 1.9-meter-tall man down.
"Here we go again."
She turned her head, her nose almost touching his, her tone carrying a dangerous warning.
"Seventeen, what did I say at the pawnshop?"
"You are my non-saleable item, and also my… non-renewable resource."
"This kind of suicidal charge, you are not allowed to think about it again, nor are you allowed to mention it."
Seventeen looked at her so close to him.
Those vibrant red lips, those burning golden eyes, were so beautiful they overloaded his core.
"But… if we don't do this, we will die."
"Who said we will die?"
Shen Qingqiu released his collar and instead stroked his cold, hard face. "Seventeen, you are a fine knife. But sometimes, you don't need a knife to kill."
She pointed to the two wildly spinning stars outside the window.
"Use the heavens."
… [Full-band broadcast access.]
"I am Zera, the Grand Observer of the Silver Empire."
That familiar, cold electronic voice rang out again, echoing throughout the entire star system.
"Shen Qingqiu, your 'lie of immortality' is over. Hand over the star core, hand over that bio-weapon. The Empire may consider preserving your complete corpse as a specimen for display in a museum."
As Zera's voice fell, the main cannons of three thousand warships simultaneously charged.
Buzz— Countless blue lights lit up in space, a prelude to death.
"A specimen?" Shen Qingqiu chuckled lightly.
She sat back in her command chair, legs crossed, chin resting on one hand, her posture arrogant to the extreme.
"Seventeen, turn on my microphone."
"I'm going to give this Grand Observer a… lesson in astrophysics."
[Communication established.] "Mr. Zera." Shen Qingqiu's voice, amplified by the electricity, became slightly hoarse and magnetic, carrying a casual, teasing tone.
"Do you know what the **Roche limit** is?" The other person was clearly taken aback.
"It's basic physics. When the distance between two celestial bodies is less than the Roche limit, tidal forces will tear them apart."
"Correct." Shen Qingqiu snapped her fingers.
Her golden eyes suddenly lit up, and the [Civilization Library] in her mind operated at full power, countless complex gravitational models constructing and deducing before her eyes.
In her vision.
The two stars were no longer burning fireballs, but two enormous, mutually pulling gravitational vortices.
And between those two vortices, there was an extremely thin, extremely unstable, but real **"gravitational corridor**.
It was a dead end.
And the only way out.
"All ships, heed my command!" Shen Qingqiu's voice suddenly turned cold and murderous, carrying an unquestionable imperial authority.
"Full engine speed! Target—the Binary Gap!"
"We're not escaping."
"We...charge into the sun!"
"What?!" The pirates went mad.
"That's suicide! The temperature and gravity there will crush us into mincemeat!"
"The commander's gone mad! Run!"
"Who dares to run?" Seventeen suddenly drew his sword.
Clang— A clear, resonant sound of a blade echoed throughout the entire fleet via the communication channel.
He didn't speak, but the terrifying killing intent emanating from this top-tier biological weapon, palpable even through the screen, froze all the fleeing pirates instantly.
"Trust her." Seventeen's voice was low, yet heavy as a thousand pounds.
"She is the only beacon in this galaxy."
Perhaps intimidated by Seventeen's killing intent, or perhaps infected by Shen Qingqiu's madness in the face of death,
Those dozen or so dilapidated pirate ships actually turned around.
Boom—!!!
The Vermilion Bird took the lead.
The newly installed miniature neutron star core unleashed terrifying energy, propelling the red warship like a moth drawn to a flame, relentlessly hurtling towards the space between the two burning stars.
"Madmen… all madmen!" Zera stared at the radar data, a flicker of emotion appearing on her silver, mirrored face for the first time.
"They want to use the binary star system's gravitational slingshot effect to accelerate their escape? Impossible! The calculations for that trajectory are astronomical! Even the Empire's central supercomputer would need three hours to calculate! They'd disintegrate instantly if they went in!"
"Ignore them! Keep firing!"
"Throw them into the stars!" A barrage of beams of light chased after the Suzaku's exhaust.
The Suzaku shuddered violently.
Alarms blared across the bridge.
[Shield Value: 30%…20%…]
[Warning: Surface temperature exceeds 5000 degrees Celsius!]
[Gravity Tear: Ship structure is deforming!]] Inside the bridge, the temperature soared.
The red warning lights illuminated Shen Qingqiu's face; fine beads of sweat glistened on her forehead, yet her makeup remained flawless.
Her eyes were closed, her hands resting lightly on the control panel.
She wasn't piloting.
She was **"playing the piano."
She was playing the most dangerous string in the universe—the gravitational field.
In her mind, countless data points surged.
To the left, the red giant was devouring everything; to the right, the blue dwarf was tearing everything apart.
Even a deviation of 0.001 degrees would mean annihilation for the Suzaku.
"Left rudder three degrees… Engine output reduced by 2%…"
"Seventeen, activate right-side thrust reverser!"
Shen Qingqiu's commands came in rapid succession.
Seventeen stood in the co-pilot's seat, his hands moving like blurs across the control panel.
He didn't need to think.
He was her hands, her feet, the extension of her will.
Rumble— The Suzaku danced like a red leaf in a hurricane.
It grazed the red giant's corona, its intense heat licking the shield and sending sparks flying.
Using the blue dwarf's gravity, it accelerated wildly, instantly exceeding the limits of conventional engines.
Behind them,
the Silver Empire warships attempting to pursue weren't so lucky.
They didn't possess Shen Qingqiu's golden eyes that could see through gravitational lines.
"Ahhh! Gravity out of control!"
"We can't pull back! We're going to crash!"
Dozens of the most aggressive destroyers were captured by the terrifying tidal forces the moment they entered the binary star's gravitational field.
It was as if they were grabbed by two invisible hands and torn in two.
The explosions, against the backdrop of the star, were as tiny as fleeting fireworks.
"Stop! Stop!!" Zera screamed in terror.
He watched helplessly as his fleet crumbled before that deadly trap, while the red Vermilion Bird, like an elegant dancer, twirled and leaped on a knife's edge.
Finally.
The Vermilion Bird broke through the most dangerous gap.
Using the immense propulsive force of the binary stars' gravity, its speed reached a terrifying value.
[Current speed: 0.99 times the speed of light.]
[Entering the relativistic effect region.]
The starry sky outside the window became elongated rays of light.
Everything was receding.
Shen Qingqiu opened her eyes.
She looked at the two increasingly distant yet still magnificent stars behind her, and the enemy ships struggling and exploding in the gravitational pull.
She smiled.
At that moment, her red dress billowed, her sweat-dampened hair clung to her cheeks, breathtakingly beautiful.
"Seventeen."
She turned to look at the man beside her, equally drenched in sweat.
"How was that dance?"
Seventeen looked at her.
His purple eyes reflected the fleeting starlight outside the window, and also her face, a face that could bewitch gods and demons.
He stepped forward, ignoring the still-flashing alarms around them, and the cheers of the pirates on the channel.
He grabbed the back of her head and kissed her fiercely.
This kiss carried the relief of surviving a catastrophe, and the frenzy of an adrenaline rush.
It was a kiss mingled with the scents of sweat, gunpowder, and stardust.
"Perfect." Seventeen released her, his forehead pressed against hers, his voice hoarse.
"You are the best dancer in this galaxy…" Shen Qingqiu breathed heavily, her fingers tracing his burning cheek.
"It's not over yet."
She looked towards the unknown depths of space ahead.
"We not only escaped."
"We also turned ourselves into a… bullet."
Using this terrifying initial velocity.
The Vermilion Bird would shoot into the depths of the Milky Way with unstoppable force.
"Next stop." Shen Qingqiu straightened her skirt, regaining her commander's composure.
"We'll go and crush those civilizations that look down on us..."
"One by one, we'll trample them under our feet." Trapped by the twin stars, war raged.
That night, a red dress turned the tide.
The legend of the "Vermilion Bird Queen" officially ignited across the Milky Way from this moment on.