Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 689: One Quadrillion
Up to now, it had been just over one hundred years since Xiao Yu returned to the Milky Way Galaxy, and he had already solved the problem of the technology for invading the small universe that had remained unsolved for more than one thousand years before. From this point, Xiao Yu once again grasped the importance of acquiring external technology. If it could be obtained through peaceful trade, then obtain it through peaceful trade. If it could not be obtained through peaceful trade, then obtain it through war.
“No matter what, I must obtain the technological system of the Guardian Civilization. There is basically no possibility of acquiring these technologies through peaceful trade, so I will acquire them through war.”
Xiao Yu had already made comprehensive preparations for war. During this period, he had plundered stars everywhere. At this moment, within the small universe, Xiao Yu had stockpiled more than two hundred stars as fuel. If the space of the small universe were not too small and if an excessive star density would not cause many adverse effects, Xiao Yu would have wanted to bring in even more stars.
His reserve of warships had risen to 1.2 billion. Star-Class warships still numbered only two, but Planet-Class warships had for the first time exceeded five thousand. Xiao Yu believed this number was sufficient to deal with the Guardian Civilization.
“To deal with the Guardian Civilization, the Python Alien Beast is also a factor that must be taken into account. Based on previous combat power assessments, I judge that the Python Alien Beast possesses at least combat power on par with Alien Beast Taihao, and in intelligence it far surpasses Alien Beast Taihao. Therefore the overall strength of the Python Alien Beast exceeds that of Alien Beast Taihao. Moreover, there is another point. The Python Alien Beast and the Guardian Civilization have joined together, and the combined strength of these two may not be as simple as one plus one.”
“Although the performance of our spaceships has a considerable gap compared to those of the Guardian Civilization, we have the advantage of numbers. Even relying on human-wave tactics, we can bog them down. Also, I do not believe the Python Alien Beast will be a match for the Micron corpse. After the Micron corpse cripples the Python Alien Beast and then destroys the Radiance, the Guardian Civilization will have no reliance left. Overall, I do not think the Guardian Civilization can pose any threat to us. In fact, in the Milky Way now, the only thing that can threaten us is the Sweepers Civilization.”
“As an ancient civilization that has existed for tens of millions of years, the Guardian Civilization cannot be without trump cards. Even if we have so many warships and also the corpse of the Micron Civilization, we still must not take them lightly.”
“Well, we will see the specific situation when the time comes. We only have a general understanding of the Guardian Civilization’s strength. There is no way to make detailed war arrangements now. The most important goal at present is to locate the Guardian Civilization. The Guardian Civilization can hide themselves very well, but the star route they laid for their escape will not be easy to hide. Moreover, this star route must be on the side of the Milky Way that faces the Andromeda Galaxy. From here to here, this region is ten thousand light-years long and three thousand light-years wide. The star route laid by the Guardian Civilization must lie within this region.” Xiao Yu said. “During the long voyage beforehand and over the recent period, I have already manufactured one quadrillion highly sensitive probes. I will release all one quadrillion probes into this region to conduct a carpet search of this area.”
“One quadrillion.” This number shocked the other scientists. It was too astonishing, and the resources required were too great. Even if an ordinary Level 6 civilization devoted all its energy to this matter, it would likely find it strenuous.
The reason was very simple. Since the Guardian Civilization had undertaken a star route construction on such a vast scale, it was impossible that they would not have considered concealment and safety. Therefore, the stars serving as star route nodes would inevitably be disguised and hidden. Faced with intentional disguise and concealment, probes operated by artificial intelligence would be somewhat inadequate because they were too rigid. Therefore, this search project had to be operated manually, or at least in some respect rely on humans to distinguish suspicious targets. And for one quadrillion probes, how many personnel would be needed to operate them?
Such a task was probably something only Xiao Yu could undertake. First, it was not wartime, so Xiao Yu had a vast amount of idle computational power. Second, it was not a period of great technological development. Technological reserves had been almost expended, so not much computational power was needed in that regard. Third, it was not a period of large-scale construction. Star-Class ships had already been built, and conventional warships had been stockpiled to 1.2 billion, a number already sufficient.
Now, Xiao Yu’s idle computational power could be used precisely to search this vast region. Even if he had to dig three feet into the ground, he would find the Guardian Civilization.
There were still ten years before arriving at the predetermined region. During these ten years, Xiao Yu fully put Space Bridge technology into practical application. Xiao Yu developed an instrument dedicated to constructing Space Bridges. After obtaining the relevant positional information for the Guardian Civilization’s small universe, this instrument could build a Space Bridge by tearing a portion of space.
Xiao Yu also made many improvements to this instrument and conducted practical drills. For this purpose, Xiao Yu specially constructed a relatively tiny small universe and used this instrument to conduct several simulated wars. Practical application proved the instrument’s effectiveness, while also exposing its shortcomings. Just as ordinary bridges can be destroyed, the Space Bridge constructed by this instrument could also be destroyed. Once the Space Bridge was destroyed, all matter situated upon the bridge would randomly enter the shattered small universe and ultimately undergo rapid heat death.
The war games showed that during assaults on a small universe, both sides would focus on the Space Bridge. The attacking side would strive to protect the Space Bridge, while the defending side would do everything possible to destroy it. It could basically be said that wars of the small universe revolved around the Space Bridge.
For this, Xiao Yu made many arrangements, and scientists of the Military Academy of Science also proposed many war theories. Under such circumstances, Xiao Yu’s fleet arrived in the predetermined region.
One quadrillion probes, like a dense swarm of locusts, were released from the small universe. Although this number was immense, the deep universe was like a bottomless pit and easily swallowed up these numerous probes.
“Searching the entire region will take approximately one hundred years. Then we wait.” Xiao Yu thought silently.
The universe was too vast, too dark. If a Level 6 civilization wanted to hide, it would be extremely difficult for another Level 6 civilization to find it. If not for taking advantage of this opportunity of the Guardian Civilization building a star route and voyaging beyond the galaxy, Xiao Yu would have had no way to find the Guardian Civilization.
“A single star, no matter how it is hidden, even if a Dyson sphere is built to completely enshroud it so that no radiation escapes, and even if its gravity is screened out by a gravitational shielding device, it can only be hidden on a large-scale level. At a distance of one hundred light-years from such a star, my probes might not detect it, but I do not believe that at a distance of one light-year I still would not detect it. Facing a region of this size, one quadrillion probes are enough. As long as I can find a single star, I can trace the vine to the melon and find the Guardian Civilization.”
Conducting a carpet search of this region with one quadrillion probes was the most foolish method, yet also the most reliable method. This method was basically equivalent to draining all the oceans on Earth in order to search for a single gem. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
Under such circumstances, time passed bit by bit. To this point, fifty years had already elapsed. One quadrillion probes had diffused into a colossal region measuring six thousand light-years in length, one thousand light-years in width, and five hundred light-years in height. As of now, Xiao Yu still had no gains.
This was a quiet region, with sparse matter, no stars, no planets, no light, and no traces of activity by any intelligent life other than Xiao Yu. But the situation should not have been like this. If the Guardian Civilization truly intended to flee to the Andromeda Galaxy, then the a1 point of the star route must have been constructed in this region.
“There are fifty years left before the probes will completely survey this region. Then continue to wait.” Although things were somewhat abnormal, Xiao Yu still chose to continue waiting. He even dispatched about ten million warships to go out and assist the probes in their searches.
But the result disappointed Xiao Yu. After fifty years, the predetermined region had been completely surveyed by Xiao Yu, yet he had not found any traces left by the Guardian Civilization. Xiao Yu did not stop there, but doubled the search scope and spent another one hundred years conducting a carpet search.
Still, Xiao Yu found nothing.
Then there were probably only two possibilities left. One, the Guardian Civilization’s star route had not been constructed here at all. Or two, the Guardian Civilization’s concealment methods were so advanced that Xiao Yu could not find them.
“A star, after all. No matter how well concealed, it should not be impossible for me to detect it at a distance of one light-year. And what I carried out was a carpet search of this region. Could the initial estimate have been wrong? No, impossible. But then why have I not found any traces left by the Guardian Civilization? What on earth is going on?”
Gazing at the empty universe before him, Xiao Yu pondered silently, deeply perplexed.
At that very moment, however, a distant probe reported an anomaly to Xiao Yu.
There had originally been an ordinary star there, but now, that star had suddenly disappeared.
[T/N: I really hate the chinese numbering system ;( it always significantly slows my translations speed, but this time I think I might have figured out way to get accurate numbers in a shorter timeframe. Sorry rant over enjoy the next chapter!]
