Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 51: Trap

Let’s talk about wormholes, black holes, and white holes. According to Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, all three theoretically exist. However, of the three, humanity has only confirmed the existence of black holes with physical evidence.

Wormholes and white holes, on the other hand, remain theoretical—more science fiction than fact. But in hindsight, that’s to be expected.

The theory suggests that black holes and white holes are connected via a wormhole, forming a bridge through spacetime. Matter falling into a black hole would theoretically pass through the wormhole’s "throat" and emerge from a corresponding white hole.

The issue? To confirm the existence of a wormhole, we would have to send something through a black hole, make observations—and survive the journey.

This raises another important question:

"Why haven’t we found white holes?"

The answer is surprisingly simple. White holes appear "white" because they expel energy and matter. However, if a white hole runs out of material to eject—essentially "running out of stock"—it would remain dormant, blending seamlessly into the darkness of space.

Unlike black holes, which actively pull in surrounding matter, white holes repel everything, making it nearly impossible for them to accumulate enough material to become detectable. Only when their paired black hole absorbs a significant amount of matter would they likely become active again.

After all, how can astronomers observe something that has nothing to observe?

"Captain Arthur..."

Enough running away from reality. I tore my gaze away from the flickering black-and-white singularity outside the window and turned to the source of the voice—the blonde-haired beauty, the so-called Crazy Princess, Cassandra. Anxiety filled her eyes as she looked at me with a pleading gaze.

"You don’t need to tell me..." I sighed, running a hand through my hair before glancing at the door again. "They’re taking way too long for comfort..."

It had been over three hours since we docked at the small space station—the supposed control center of the fluctuating anomaly outside. After being guided to this cramped waiting room, we were left alone. No greetings, no refreshments. Just silence.

It didn’t feel like hospitality—it felt like quarantine.

"But don’t worry," I reassured her, patting her head. It was an instinctive gesture at this point. "With Eva on standby at the Range Falcon, she’ll come for us if things go south."

As a precaution, I’d left Eva in the ship, monitoring the station’s radar and intercepting every signal that came in or out. Hacking? Illegal signal tapping? Who cared? Our lives were worth more than a slap on the wrist for violating regulations.

Anyway, this ridiculous delay was already getting on my nerves. I was just about to suggest we return to the ship and try a different wormhole when footsteps echoed down the corridor.

I turned to Cassandra and gave her a slight nod—a silent confirmation. We’d proceed as planned.

"Ah, sorry for the delay… Ah, we were performing maintenance on the wormhole controller… Ah, princess…"

The door eased open, revealing two figures.

The first was a short, green-skinned alien with eight chaotically arranged eyes wriggling across his face. His four slimy appendages squirmed restlessly, giving off an unsettling, almost insectoid impression.

The second was a tall human—well, humanoid, at least. He towered over two meters, his brown eyes shadowed by a deep frown. His thick orange space suit looked closer to a powered exoskeleton with how bulky it was.

I immediately felt wary of the man, but before I could act on it, Cassandra tapped my thigh—a prearranged signal. Everything was "as discussed."

"It’s fine, Mister Operator Kobo, Mister Head Guard Alban," she said with her usual pleasant smile. "We arrived unannounced, so a minor delay is understandable."

"Ah, thank you, princess…" The green-skinned one, Kobo, bowed deeply, his entire body undulating in a way that made my skin crawl. "Ah, then, may I ask… Ah, what brings you here today…?"

Cassandra nodded lightly. "Actually, we’d like to use the wormhole to reach the Kariki Star System. Would that be possible?"

"Oh!" Kobo gasped. "Ah, if it’s that, then of course, princess. Ah, Alban, go and prepare for the wormhole’s usage!"

Without a word, the armored man turned and left, not even acknowledging the order. Stoic? No, arrogant. His entire presence exuded that holier-than-thou attitude I couldn’t stand.

’Reminds me of that bastard in first place on the open-world ranking…’ I scowled at the bitter memory.

"Ah, the wormhole will be ready in fifteen minutes," Kobo continued. "Ah, would you prefer to wait here or…?"

"Ah, we’ll return to our ship," I cut in, unintentionally mimicking his odd speech pattern. "We need to make our own preparations too."

The moment I spoke, Kobo’s eight eyes locked onto me simultaneously, scrutinizing every inch of my being. Unnerving.

"Ah… And you are?" His tone was polite, but the underlying suspicion was clear.

"Just a nameless mercenary the princess hired for protection," I replied smoothly, offering no further details.

Without missing a beat, I helped Cassandra to her feet and guided her toward the exit. I could feel his gaze burning into the back of my skull as we walked away.

"I’m sorry, Captain Arthur…" Cassandra’s voice was low, trembling slightly. "It seems I’ve brought trouble your way again… We should hurry."

"Don’t worry about it." I shrugged, my expression calm as I kept my eyes fixed ahead. "It’s not like we weren’t expecting this."

Her earlier signal—the tap on my thigh—hadn’t just meant everything was normal. It also meant everything was going exactly as predicted. Which meant one thing—this station was already compromised.

---

As soon as we reached the Range Falcon, we sprinted down the corridor at full speed, heading straight for the bridge. Before we even made it to the cockpit, the ship had already begun undocking—Eva wasn’t wasting any time.

Less than a minute later, the automatic doors slid open, and we were greeted by an enraged yell.

"Bastard! How dare you ignore my calls!"

Visit ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience.

I wasn’t ignoring her—I simply hadn’t received anything. Which meant that the waiting room had been completely signal-blocked. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I threw myself into the captain’s seat.

"Eva! What’s the situation?!" I barked, scanning the array of radar displays and holographic readouts in front of me.

"You…!" Eva looked furious but clenched her jaw, forcing herself to focus. "It’s the worst! We’re already surrounded! What the hell were you doing in there for three goddamn hours?!"

"It’s a long story! About three hours long!" I shot back, my hands flying over the controls. "Percy! Shields to maximum output! Stealth module online! We’re slipping through!"

The radar displayed the enemy formation—a tight encirclement blocking every exit route. Whoever set this trap had been meticulous. Even with the stealth module, breaking through without getting caught would be next to impossible.

I turned to Cassandra. Her face was pale, but she remained silent, likely realizing she’d only be a distraction if she spoke now.

"Full speed ahead!" I commanded, gripping the manual controls.

The ship roared to life, accelerating with a brutal force that pinned us to our seats. 10G. Not enough to knock us out, but enough to make our bodies scream in protest. No time to care. If we hesitated, we’d lose our only shot at escape.

The Range Falcon pushed past cruising speed, reaching 500 m/s and climbing. Eva had already calculated the optimal trajectory for the ship to follow. If all went well, we’d be out of the Ghorst Galaxy before they could lock us down.

"Incoming!"

But as expected, things wouldn’t go that smoothly. The VBA Module projected an incoming barrage—dozens of laser paths converging toward our thrusters. They weren’t trying to destroy us outright. No, they were aiming to cripple us!

’Like hell I’d let that happen.’

I twisted the control stick and threw the Falcon into a violent barrel roll, dodging the first wave. But that was only the start.

"Hang tight…!"

A complex web of crisscrossing laser fire followed. No matter how well I maneuvered, some of them were bound to land. A quarter, at minimum. Our shields wouldn’t be depleted immediately, but this wasn’t sustainable.

’What the fuck? Are they actually trying to kill the princess?!’

At this rate, we were just sitting ducks, waiting for the inevitable. We had to fight back. I snapped my gaze to Eva. "Eva! Take offense! I’ll handle defense!"

"I was fucking waiting for that!" Eva growled, her scowl transforming into a wicked grin.

With a flick of her hand, every weapon system on the Range Falcon armed simultaneously, like a magician revealing a trick.

"Targeting high-powered laser vessels! Locked on! FIRE!"

The Justice MK3 Beam Turrets hummed as they tracked their designated target. After a brief charge, eleven beams of searing blue energy ripped through space at light speed.

The enemy’s shield flickered violently before shattering. But Eva wasn’t done.

"DIE, BASTARDS…!"

With ruthless efficiency, she unleashed the Brionac—a prismatic laser capable of obliterating ships in one strike.

The already-exposed enemy vessel didn’t stand a chance. The beam carved through its hull, and a heartbeat later, it detonated in a violent explosion.

"One down!" Eva cackled, her laughter sending a chill down my spine.

It was overkill. The Brionac alone could’ve done the job.

But there was no time to analyze her intentions. Right now, we have a battle to win. I focused on piloting while Eva handled the guns—a perfect division of labor. If we kept this up, we’d break free soon enough.

But then—

*BOOM!*

The ship lurched violently. Sirens blared. Red warning signals flashed across the cockpit.

My breath caught. "W-What happened?!"