Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 861
Li Yao took a long breath. He could totally imagine the dire consequences if Su Changfa and the other Immortal Cultivators occupied Kunlun.
'Kunlun' was just a weapons factory that the Pangu civilization established with the spiritual energy dispersing from the pulsar. However, since the mysterious Sector was considered an evacuation destination by so many members of the Pangu Clan, it was obvious that the place must have been an important stronghold for them or perhaps a local military center.
If such a world was involved with the expedition army of the Imperium, it would definitely not be good for the federation, which was trying the best to defend.
Did the extremely mysterious Sector still exist at all after hundreds of thousands of years?
What kind of species or civilization was living in the world?
The place was far away from the prosperous area at the center of the cosmos. Therefore, it was unlikely to be part of the Imperium or the Covenant Alliance. Then, who could the residents be? Were they demons or demonic Cultivators? Were they the heirs of the Pangu Clan or the Nuwa Clan? Or were they beings that were even more bizarre?
Also, why did they say hello to the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector? Was it friendly or malicious? Did they really mean to communicate, or did they set up a trap with ill intentions?
"I understand it now!" Li Yao narrowed his eyes and said, "Now that we've discovered the stranger, we cannot sit by and do nothing about it. We can only resort to the most primitive method by sending out an exploration team to the mysterious Sector in order to figure out the details of the unknown Sector, including their stance, their civilization level, if they are a threat to us, if they will be manipulated or even conquered by the expedition army of the Imperium, and so on!
"Otherwise, it will be hilarious if formidable enemies from a mysterious world march to our door together with the expedition army of the Imperium when we think that we are certain winners after a hundred years of construction!
"Your 'special mission' must refer to this job, right? It's not a big deal. Just let me go. There's no one more suitable for the task than me!"
Professor Mo Xuan and Si Koulie looked at each. The professor coughed and said, "Li Yao, don't rush into any decision. Let me finish first.
"The mysterious world deeply hidden in the black spot nebula is vastly different from the other space zones that are going to be explored according to the 'Heavenly Road Plan'.
"First of all, it is extremely far away. As you can see, the Sector is almost at the edge on the star map of the Pangu civilization. It will be extremely difficult to directly jump over!
"Secondly, dozens of galaxies are around the mysterious world, all of which are covered in the hazy mist. We don't know what is inside at all!
"To search for a Sector that has been hidden since hundreds of thousands of years ago from such an overwhelming black nebula is like fishing for a needle in an ocean. It is almost a hundred times more difficult to find than other Sectors!
"Therefore, the starship for the exploration mission must be capable of enduring hundreds of space jumps. It will also have to boast an extremely high regular cruise speed and preferably the ability to receive the signals released by the Pangu civilization. A hibernation system with full facilities is mandatory, too.
"In all three Sectors, such an exploration starship is nowhere to be found—our starship technology is still too underdeveloped. Even Sparkle, the multipurpose exploration ship of the Star Ocean Imperium, is still unqualified for the task.
"Only Spark, modified from the single escape capsule of the Pangu civilization and one size smaller than Sparkle, is good enough!
"As Fellow Cultivator Si said just now, Spark was transformed from the single escape capsule of the Pangu civilization. A lot of units from the Pangu civilization have been directly adopted, which means that the starship is a unique one. It's unlikely that we can build a second one in the decades to come!"
Li Yao finally understood it now. He gasped, "Professor, are you saying that, with our technology right now, we can only send 'Spark' to accommodate one explorer into the dark nebula to look for a long-lost, mysterious world?"
"Yes." Professor Mo Xuan nodded and said, "This will be a one-time deal. If the explorer is trapped deep inside the dark nebula, we will not even be able to rescue him. We can only abandon the mission completely and wait for him to come back one day by himself!
"That, however, is still not the most special part of the mission."
"Huh?" Li Yao was dumbfounded. "This is still not special enough? What more problems can there possibly be?"
"The problem is that Spark is too fast," Si Koulie said, stepping in when it came to his field. "Not only is it the fastest starship in the three Sectors, it is multiple times faster than the one in the second place. It is a real starship in the sub-light speed!
"It can accelerate to the 'sub-light speed' state immediately after a space jump, which is also the biggest reason why we have chosen it for the exploration mission in the dark nebula."
"Isn't that good?" Li Yao was puzzled. "Since Spark can perform space jumps repetitively, cruise at the sub-light speed, and has a good chance of receiving the stranger's signals because it is modified from an escape capsule of the Pangu Clan itself, it is almost a starship tailor-made for the exploration mission. What's wrong with a high speed?"
"Have you ever heard of the 'Time Dilation Effect' and the 'Length Contraction Effect'?" Si Koulie smiled bitterly. "To put it simply, when an object gradually approaches the speed of light, the time around the object will be slowed down, and the space will be narrowed. The closer the object's speed is to the speed of light, the more meaningless time and space will be. Once the object reaches the speed of light, time will stop, and the space will collapse into a singularity. The object will enter a state known as 'zero space-time'!
"Reaching and even surpassing the speed of light is something utterly unimaginable for us with our technology level. Therefore, the 'zero space-time' state is just our speculation.
"However, that time is relatively slowed when the speed approaches the speed of light is a fact that has been observed and verified.
"Our interstellar trips in the past often bypassed the barrier of 'lightspeed' through space jumps in most cases. During normal cruising, it is hardly possible for our starships to be kept at a sub-light state. We can only stay in the state for a few seconds at best!
"Therefore, even if the 'Time Dilation Effect' and the 'Length Contraction Effect' do exist, their influence on us is still little to none.
"But this mission in question is a different case.
"First of all, Spark, which is to perform the mission, is the fastest starship of the three Sectors, and it can break into the sub-light state and stay in that state for a long time. Second, it has to fly for quite a while in the sub-light state in order to possibly find the mysterious Sector that is hiding deep inside the dark nebula!
"With the two factors combined, the explorer on Spark will have a very different perception of time compared to the people in the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector!
"Perhaps, according to his senses, he has only conducted the exploration for a year and a half, while in the three Sectors, decades of years have passed quickly.
"Do you understand now, Li Yao?"
Professor Mo Xuan sighed and said, "If we are truly going to explore the mysterious Sector, we can only send one explorer. But for him, even if he completes the exploration, topography, and localization tasks smoothly without any trouble, it will still be very likely that decades if not hundreds of years will have passed when he returns to the Heaven's Origin Sector!
"This is the most special and the trickiest exploration mission in the 'Heavenly Road Plan'.
"The sailing routes of other Sectors are all relatively clean, and their locations are clear. There isn't too much interference. It will be best if we can find them, but if we can't, we will still be able to immediately jump to the next space zone. If absolutely nothing is found at the end, we can still return to the federation in a couple of years to reunite with our family or join other projects.
"But this mission here is too uncertain and can potentially take too long!"
Li Yao and Ding Lingdang both fell silent.
The 'Time Dilation Effect' and the 'Length Contraction Effect'?
The closer one was to the speed of light, the slower time would pass?
Decades for a single exploration mission?
It was something that the two of them had never thought of before they arrived.
"However difficult the mission is, however long it takes, and however huge the cost is, it will have to be carried out, won't it?" Li Yao said solemnly. "Because we cannot pretend that we don't see the mysterious new world after it jumps out of nowhere and even greets us blatantly, right?"
Chapter 1320: You Are the One |
"Yes," Professor Mo Xuan said. "After discovering that the cost of the mission is so high, the whole team of the 'Heavenly Road Plan' has evaluated whether or not it is necessary to carry out such a mission many times.
"If the mysterious world was not a local military center of the Pangu civilization hundreds of thousands of years ago, where the war relics and even the arsenal of the Pangu civilization can possibly be stored, if it is not covered in a weird 'black spot nebula', if it didn't suddenly 'wake up' and 'greet' us, if it doesn't happen to be on the route of the expedition army of the Imperium and will likely be scanned and detected by the Imperium…
"If any of the 'ifs' didn't exist, chances are that we would abandon the mission. After all, it is too complicated, dangerous, and lengthy. Should anything go wrong, we will lose a precious Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator!
"However, with the four factors combined, it's like a sting that has deeply pierced into our eyes, making us unable to ignore the mysterious world.
"If we do, just like you said just now, it is very possible that an army vastly different from what we have anticipated will be knocking on our door in a hundred years' time!"
Li Yao listened to the professor's introduction carefully while he measured the virtual star map, estimating the distance between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the mysterious 'black spot nebula' and the possible spiritual energy cost.
After calculating in silence for a long time, Li Yao tapped between his eyebrows softly and said, "If we are indeed performing such an exploration, it will be the longest space jump in the history of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Flying Star Sector, and the Blood Demon Sector. No wonder we can only send a super-tiny starship such as 'Spark', which is both light and fast!
"However, I do have a technological question.
"After receiving the space jump technology of the Pangu civilization and the Imperium of True Human Beings, our Heaven's Artillery, Eye of Blood Demon, and Cosmic Slingshot have all been upgraded into top-tier space jump platforms. After necessary modifications, it is indeed possible to launch Spark to the black spot nebula millions of lightyears away.
"But how is Spark coming back?
"Assuming that there is a vast and surging river between us and our destination, a strong, muscled man can definitely throw a pebble over the river.
"But the biggest issue is how to make the pebble fly back even though it is easy to be thrown away.
"However, our mission is exploration and topography. If we have indeed collected tremendous intelligence, we will have to bring it back one way or another. Won't it be a suicide mission if we can only jump over but can't jump back?"
"We all have considered the issue." Professor Mo Xuan turned on a second light beam. This time, it was the complicated 3D designs that were displayed in the virtual space.
The figures, spiritual stripes, and rune arrays were as small as the heads of flies, and they had taken up almost every corner. Normal refiners would feel dizzy when they read any of them.
Li Yao, however, craned his head and studied with great interest.
"This is what we have in mind right now." Professor Mo Xuan pointed at the design and said, "Look. This is Spark after being modified. There's a special super-compressed space in its rear. You may imagine it to be a Cosmos Ring with an extremely high capacity. We have stored the units that can be assembled into a star beacon in the space.
"After the explorer jumps to the black spot nebula, the first thing he needs to do is collect the local astronomical parameters, measure the appearance of the universe nearby, and look for the world that probably still exists and has 'greeted' us.
"After the explorer finds the Sector, he will find a safe and stable space nearby, where he will assemble and unfold the star beacon. That way, the precise coordinates of the Sector will be sent back to us."
"Wait a moment." Li Yao raised his hands. As a professional, he immediately noticed something wrong. "The black spot nebula and the three Sectors are so far away from each other. Only the specific coordinates information sent by the largest star beacons will be able to be successfully received by the three Sectors, right? Even if the message is received, it will be like a flickering firefly in a dark night. Obscure and incomplete, it will be far from enough to navigate the space jump of a fleet!
"To guide a collective jump of an enormous space fleet covering a distance of millions of lightyears, hundreds of star beacons are needed to be put together into a 'space gate'!
"So many star beacons are definitely beyond the capacity of a tiny Spark!"
"Li Yao, your concerns are very reasonable. The cases are different. Let's talk about them separately," Professor Mo Xuan explained unhurriedly. "After discovering the new Sector, the explorer will need to enter deep into the mysterious Sector. Without exposing his own identity, he will need to figure out their ethnography, their civilization level, the distribution of their Pangu relics, their attitude toward us; whether or not they are related to the Imperium, the Covenant Alliance, the demon race, the extraterrestrial devils, the Pangu Clan, the Nuwa Clan, or any other alien species… but most importantly of all, find out why exactly they 'greeted' us!
"The explorer will collect all the intelligence of value and run a preliminary analysis on the ground.
"In the best-case scenario, the creatures of this Sector boast a very developed civilization and are quite friendly to us. They are glad to communicate or even ally with us, like the relationship between the Flying Star Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector.
"Then, the explorer will send the result back through the star beacon.
"At that time, the federation will send more units of star beacons toward the coordinates where the explorer is at.
"You see. Although the flickering light millions of lightyears away may not be enough to guide an enormous fleet, it should be more than enough to guide a few lifeless units of star beacons.
"After the units are teleported over, the explorer will collect and assemble the units on Spark into a second, a third… and even a hundredth star beacon, until an intact 'space gate' is established so that our main force will be able to jump over to establish deeper communications with the stranger.
"After the main force arrives, they will bring larger carriers that accommodate magical equipment to dredge the space sailing routes. So, it will no longer be a problem to go home for the explorer.
"If the kindness of the creatures of this unknown world is unquestionable, it is very possible that they will have their own highly-developed space jump techniques. Maybe, the explorer can go home with their method.
"After all, the situation right now is utterly different from when we were wandering in the Flying Star Sector. At that time, we didn't know the specific coordinates of the Heaven's Origin Sector at all. Naturally, it was extremely troublesome for us to return home.
"But right now, we know everything about the specific coordinates and the astronomical parameters of the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Blood Demon Sector, and the Flying Star Sector. With a platform on the level of the Heaven's Artillery, it will be very easy for the explorer to return!"
Grinding his teeth for a long time, Li Yao shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid that we cannot be so optimistic. A friendly, highly-developed civilization? It doesn't sound very hopeful to me."
"Then, it will be the second case-scenario, which is relatively worse," Professor Mo Xuan said. "If the explorer discovers that a powerful civilization that is hostile to us and even deeply associated with the Imperium, the Covenant Alliance, the extraterrestrial devils, the Pangu Clan, or other forces is dominating the unknown Sector, and that they are planning to conquer or even destroy us, the explorer will still have to collect all the intelligence about them before he returns to the 'jump point' that he has deployed in space!
"By then, the explorer will send a different signal to the three Sectors. After receiving a message from him, the three Sectors will also teleport assets to him, not the units to assemble star beacons this time but the units to make 'thrusters'.
"You may think of a so-called 'thruster' as a super-mini 'Heaven's Artillery that is specially for Spark's use. It will kick Spark hard right in the bottom. Together with the space jump facilities installed on Spark, the starship will be able to be teleported back, too."
Li Yao thought for a moment and said, "The second case-scenario is 'worse'. So, there is still the 'worst'-case scenario?"
"In the worst-case scenario," Professor Mo Xuan said calmly, "the explorer will fall into the hands of the locals.
"It is a possibility that we can't ignore. After all, the fact that they 'greeted' us from millions of lightyears away is indicative enough of their civilization level. Now that our explorer is entering the dangerous land without knowing the first thing about them, we have to consider the possibility of the explorer being captured and studied by them.
"If that's the case, the explorer must be able to terminate his own life before he confesses any crucial intelligence about the three Sectors, especially our war potential and our specific coordinates!"
