Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Chapter 485: War of a Level 4 Civilization

Across the vast Milky Way and the endless journey, Xiao Yu’s enormous fleet, compared to the boundless galaxy, was like a humble ant striving to explore the stretch of land before it.

This yellow dwarf star was unsurprisingly ruled out by Xiao Yu. There was only one planet in this stellar system, and it was too close to the primary star. Its dense atmosphere kept the star’s heat on the planetary surface as much as possible, making the planet’s environment resemble a legendary hell of molten lava. Here, Xiao Yu found no trace of life.

Xiao Yu’s fleet remained in curvature flight at thirty-five times lightspeed. After reaching a destination, probes would be dispatched to survey the target stellar system, while the main fleet refused to stop, as that would waste too much time.

The course of Xiao Yu’s fleet did not maintain a straight line either, but traveled some distance here and some distance there. The distribution of stars is three dimensional, and how to design the shortest route among so many targets is itself a field of study.

A distance of several hundred light years did not count for much to Xiao Yu. In fact, over the more than ten thousand years of travel since leaving Earth, Xiao Yu had already journeyed nearly twenty thousand light years. Now, Xiao Yu was less than ten thousand light years from the Galactic Center.

The distance was still far, but the types of stars slowly showed a change. Xiao Yu detected that the closer one got to the Galactic Center, the more numerous the aged stars became. It was obvious that the surroundings of an aging star are not suitable for life. Thus Xiao Yu decisively changed the direction of exploration, beginning to search laterally instead of continuing to approach the Galactic Center.

The environment of the Galactic Center is far harsher than that of the outskirts. Here the density of stars is extremely high, and multiple star systems are everywhere. Two, three, or even more stars can be seen mutually orbiting and moving chaotically. From time to time, aging stars end their lives in violent explosions.

That was not the most frightening part. Here, Xiao Yu was even fortunate enough to witness some of what could be called the most violent energy release phenomena in the universe, pair-instability supernova.

A pair-instability supernova is a very special kind of supernova explosion. Before this type of supernova explodes, its progenitor star is a gigantic star of at least one hundred twenty times the mass of the Sun. Its mode of explosion is peculiar. After the supernova occurs, nothing is left in its core, no neutron star and no black hole. All the matter that made it up is completely blasted to pieces in the tremendous explosion. All the material with a mass exceeding a hundred times that of the Sun is entirely ejected into space. One can imagine how violent such an event is.

Fortunately, the pair-instability supernova Xiao Yu observed this time was more than five thousand light years away, so it did not have too severe an impact on Xiao Yu.“Just as heavy things sink and light things rise, neutron stars, white dwarfs, and black holes, these heavy objects, under the influence of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center, will show a slow trend of sinking and will ultimately gather at the Galactic Center. It is foreseeable that the Galactic Center region is a paradise for all kinds of extreme celestial bodies. Stars or planets are merely insignificant things to be devoured and toyed with here. Before I reach a Level 6 Civilization, I had better not approach such a place.” Xiao Yu thought and made this decision.

It is foreseeable that places like the Galactic Center are absolutely high incidence regions for all kinds of extreme events. In the outskirts of the Milky Way, neutron stars and black holes are relatively rare, but here they are everywhere. If conditions are unfavorable, under the influence of various environments, collisions may occur. Previously, in that Level 5 danger zone left by the Silicon-Based Civilization, a collision between a white dwarf and a neutron star released such formidable energy, to say nothing of extreme events like neutron star collisions or a black hole devouring a neutron star.

After changing direction, Xiao Yu’s exploration continued.

So far, Xiao Yu’s exploration had lasted more than three hundred years, covering a distance of at least eight thousand light years. What he saw and heard along the way gave Xiao Yu a feeling of having his horizons greatly broadened. Such a long journey was very beneficial to Xiao Yu in perfecting his theory of astrophysical evolution.

Over these three hundred years, some things also happened within the Divine Ark Civilization. Under Xiao Yu’s strict surveillance, Xu Junpo finally grew up, entered the Central Research Academy of Science, and began engaging in various scientific research activities under the personal guidance of Luka Three. He was like a shining star, slowly rising within the Divine Ark Civilization.

His performance did not disappoint Xiao Yu. In these few hundred short years, the achievements and string of honors he obtained proved his excellence.

The total number of intelligent beings had now reached more than one hundred thirty billion, and the number of scientists had finally surpassed one million. These more than one million scientists, according to different specialties and research directions, were assigned to the various sub-academies and research institutes under the Central Research Academy of Science, like components on a vast machine, contributing their strength to the Divine Ark Civilization.

During this more than three hundred year journey, Xiao Yu’s vast fleet also underwent a brief ten-year rest and resupply. Curvature flight demands an enormous amount of energy. Even though Xiao Yu had stockpiled resources as much as possible when leaving that stellar system, it was still impossible to sustain for too long. Fortunately this was travel within the galaxy, with all kinds of celestial bodies everywhere around, allowing Xiao Yu to replenish resources at any time.

“Has the existence of life really become so rare?” Xiao Yu thought with some emotion. “I have searched for such a long time, yet have not found even a single planet possessing the most basic life forms.”

For this, Xiao Yu had long been mentally prepared. The long journey still continued, and after another more than eighty years following this rest, a turning point finally appeared.

It happened at a place about eleven thousand plus light years in a straight line from the Galactic Center and about eighteen thousand light years in a straight line from the Solar System. Xiao Yu’s fleet exited curvature flight, abruptly appearing in the visible universe, silently observing a red dwarf roughly three light years away.

This red dwarf clearly displayed the characteristics of a life-bearing star system. Moreover, it was definitely the residence of at least a Level 4 Civilization. Through high-precision optical telescopes, Xiao Yu discovered beside that red dwarf a very bright ring-shaped object. This ring had a diameter of only about fifty meters, with an extremely smooth and even surface, yet it was more than two hundred million kilometers in length. It lay on the ecliptic plane of this stellar system, slowly orbiting the red dwarf.

Xiao Yu knew very clearly what this was. This was obviously a star-encircling large particle collider. A civilization capable of constructing such a thing would be at least a Level 4 Civilization. Although a Level 3 Civilization also has the ability to travel within a star system, Xiao Yu did not believe a Level 3 Civilization would have the capability to build such a grand structure.

“Still a continuous structure rather than a segmented structure? This civilization is clearly behind me. For large particle colliders I use segmented structures, then construct the body with Energy Shields. Whether in construction difficulty or in efficiency, it is far better than a continuous structure. This is very likely a Level 4 Civilization. But a Level 4 Civilization is fine. After wandering the universe for so long, encountering a Level 4 Civilization is also good.”

The fact that this civilization was not a Level 5 Civilization made Xiao Yu slightly disappointed. However, Xiao Yu still did not intend to let it go. One must know that even a Level 4 Civilization may have branches of the technology tree that Xiao Yu had not mastered. Although these things cannot compare to the special technologies of a Level 5 Civilization, they still hold certain enlightening value for Xiao Yu.

After a brief pause, Xiao Yu’s fleet once again entered curvature flight and began approaching this stellar system.

“At present, a Level 4 Civilization is something I can easily destroy. Then, shall I also incorporate the intelligent beings of this civilization into the Divine Ark Civilization? There are twenty Continent-Class Home spaceships in total, fully capable of carrying as many as six hundred billion intelligent beings. Letting so many Continent-Class Home spaceships sit idle is also a waste. Yes, intelligent beings are the more the better. No matter how many come, I will not mind. Very well, it is decided.”

Xiao Yu quickly made this decision. Conquering a Level 4 Civilization was not difficult for Xiao Yu now, but the difficulty lay in completely and thoroughly subduing them. That required a certain finesse. It did not matter. Xiao Yu had absolute strength to rely on. Under the suppression of a vast fleet, after employing some small measures, Xiao Yu could achieve his goal.

However, when he closed to within less than one light year, Xiao Yu discovered something strange. At this distance, Xiao Yu could observe more details within this stellar system and acquire more intelligence. Thus Xiao Yu discovered something that greatly interested him.

It was a vast fleet composed of no fewer than one million spaceships. Through analysis of optical signals and data from architectural engineering and shipbuilding, it could be determined that these ships were clearly warships.

These spaceships were arrayed neatly in the system, as if waiting for some enemy.

“This… can they be waiting for me?” Such a thought rose in Xiao Yu’s heart, but he dismissed it at once. “They absolutely cannot be waiting for me. It seems they are facing a war. Very good, then I will watch the show first.”