Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Chapter 787: The Altered C

In the vast emptiness of the universe, the Neutron War Star radiated all kinds of intense emissions. Like a ferocious ancient colossal beast, it suddenly charged straight toward the distorted space ahead. Behind it, tens of millions of warships split into several parts. Some stayed in place to carry out long-range strikes on the front, while others followed the Neutron War Star and charged into the distorted space ahead.

After crossing a certain boundary line, the Neutron War Star and the warships following it all vanished without warning. They disappeared for no reason at all from the visible universe. At the same time, waves of spatial fluctuation came from within that distorted space. The twisted region churned violently like mist boiling.

The rolling of space dragged light into refraction. For a time, this region became like a kaleidoscope, filled everywhere with fragmented, illusory light and shadow. No one knew what kind of fierce battle was unfolding inside that space.

Beside this scene that looked like computer special effects, a warship suddenly appeared several million kilometers away. It seemed to have been teleported here abruptly. At the instant it appeared, the weapons mounted on it were still firing furiously. One spatial rift after another opened, then flew off into the distant blackness and vanished without a trace.

A moment later, it noticed the change in the scene and immediately ceased fire. It adjusted its posture slightly, then charged once again toward the twisted space, disappearing again into that brilliant chaos.

The appearance of this warship seemed only a prelude. Moments later, another warship was teleported out, then a second, a third, ten thousand, one hundred thousand.

Some of these suddenly teleported ships were intact, while others had suffered damage, with varying degrees of severity. Some were only lightly damaged, while others had even lost the ability to conduct curvature flight. Whenever such ships appeared, the garrison ships would immediately come to receive them and tow them back for repairs.

Besides that, large amounts of warship debris were also teleported out. Among these teleported ships, some belonged to the Sweepers, and some to the Divine Ark Civilization. It seemed that which targets were teleported out was not entirely under the Divine Ark Civilization’s control.

The war continued in this eerie state. Warships were constantly teleported out, and these warships then continuously plunged back into that distorted space.

“Space distortion is the method this Level 7 travel-direction civilization built to protect the Star Gate. The Star Gate has been damaged. The space distortion apparatus has also been damaged to a certain extent, but it can barely still be used. We are the operators of the distorted space. By relying on the advantageous terrain of distorted space, we can obtain the qualifications to oppose the Sweepers Civilization.” Ares said. “Pay attention to the Neutron War Star.”Within this shattered, sky-inverting, illusory light and shadow, the Neutron War Star floated quietly in the void. No matter how the scenes changed, it could not be harmed. Warships appeared and vanished beside it. In every brief instant a warship appeared, it would unleash some attacks at it. Occasionally, some ships failed to evade fast enough. At the instant they appeared, the Neutron War Star would surge forward and smash them to pieces.

When no ships were appearing, the Neutron War Star spent most of its time floating in place, basically not moving. Even when it moved, it was extremely slow. It seemed that some existence was performing massive calculations about the distorted space. Each time a result was computed, the Neutron War Star would advance a little. And each time it advanced a little, the transformation of space would become even faster.

Like a shovel scraping at ten-thousand-year ice, each time the Neutron War Star advanced a little, some imperceptible fragments would spatter off the Neutron War Star. Compared to the Neutron War Star, these fragments were not noticeable at all. After leaving the Neutron War Star, these things would undergo explosive expansion, transforming into hydrogen in the shortest time. Then, with the shifting of space and the chaotic motions of space, this hydrogen would quickly vanish, no one knew where it went.

This was an extremely strange battle. The clash did not hinge on whose warships were more advanced or whose warships were more powerful. It hinged on calculation.

The Divine Ark Civilization was desperately calculating, manipulating space distortion to lay more traps, trying to strip the Neutron War Star out of this universe or simply destroy it. The Sweepers Civilization was also desperately calculating, trying to find a clear path, ultimately to break into the Divine Ark Civilization’s interior, or to break through this barrier so its fleet could pass smoothly.

The space distortion apparatus was undoubtedly a Level 7 Civilization creation, but it was damaged. The Neutron War Star was undoubtedly also a Level 7 Civilization creation, but it was in the hands of a Level 6 Civilization, and a Level 6 Civilization could not bring out its full power.

The Divine Ark Civilization used the space distortion apparatus. The Sweepers Civilization controlled the Neutron War Star. This was a war that blurred the boundary between Level 6 Civilizations and Level 7 Civilizations.

If this battlefield were reduced by one dimension, then to an observer, it would look like this.

Tear a sheet of paper into fragments, then lay all the fragments flat on a plane, tightly adjacent. Then the Neutron War Star would be on one fragment, and the Divine Ark Civilization would be on another. The Neutron War Star would try to approach the fragment where the Divine Ark Civilization was, while the Divine Ark Civilization, through control, moved these fragments and tried to send the Neutron War Star outward.

Yes, these fragments representing space could all be moved. The path leading to the Divine Ark Civilization changed every moment. What the Neutron War Star needed to do was find that road.

But it failed. The next moment, the space where the Neutron War Star was suddenly shifted. The kaleidoscope-like scene vanished, and the quiet starry sky once again appeared in the Neutron War Star’s view. It had been teleported out.

The Neutron War Star did not pause at all. It immediately charged back into the distorted space. With the Neutron War Star’s entry, spatial transformations became even more rapid. But within these transformations, there seemed to be some discordant parts, as if space had been smashed apart.

Three years later, the Neutron War Star was teleported out again, but it quickly charged back into the distorted space once more. Eight years later, another such cycle. Nineteen years, thirty-eight years, fifty-three years… this kept happening.

The time the Neutron War Star stayed inside the distorted space grew longer and longer. The first time, it stayed only three years before being teleported out. The second time, it stayed five years. The third time, eleven years.

Each time the Neutron War Star re-entered the distorted space, the scene transitions inside became faster and faster. This was a very bad sign, because it meant the space distortion apparatus needed higher power to keep the Neutron War Star outside.

From the outside, the volume of the distorted space was also continuously shrinking. By now, six hundred years had passed, and the volume of the distorted space had shrunk by one quarter. This meant the functions of the space distortion apparatus were continuously declining.

The long war continued until now. If no accident occurred, it would still continue. But at this moment, an unexpected event temporarily interrupted the progress of the war.

Precision observation instruments told Divine Ark Civilization scientists that in the instant just now, the Neutron War Star’s radius had expanded by one ten-billionth, but it lasted only an instant. After that instant, it returned to normal again.

The Divine Ark Civilization scientists were puzzled. Some speculated it might be some new type of attack by the Neutron War Star. But the Neutron War Star made an unexpected move. The scientists saw that after the Neutron War Star’s radius grew strangely and then returned to normal, it suddenly vanished.

It ran outside the distorted space. It moved so fast it was like a frog startled by lightning.

“What is going on?” The Divine Ark Civilization scientists were completely baffled. Just then, another scientist rushed in, shouting as he ran, “This is bad, this is bad!”

Ares frowned and scolded, “Calm down! What happened?”

This scientist’s face was flushed. His words tumbled out chaotically, “We, we observed that just half a minute ago, c’s speed decreased by five hundred and twelve micrometers, but it only lasted an instant, maybe only a few hundred-thousandths of a second, and then it returned to normal…”

“What?” Many scientists stood up in shock. “Is it an instrument malfunction? How could such a thing happen?”

c was the speed of light. As everyone knew, c was a constant, and a constant was not supposed to change. But just now, this scientist said its value changed. A short time ago, its value decreased by five hundred and twelve micrometers.

“No, it’s not a malfunction. We had nine hundred and thirty thousand instruments measuring light speed at that moment, and all nine hundred and thirty thousand instruments reported this to us…” the scientist murmured. “The probability that nine hundred and thirty thousand machines would fail at the same time is… infinitely close to zero.”

“I believe it’s true.” another scientist said. “I believe it was precisely because the speed of light was suddenly altered that the Neutron War Star’s radius suddenly expanded by one ten-billionth. Then the speed of light returned to normal, and the Neutron War Star also returned to normal. That expansion and contraction was enough to cause a vibration effect on the Neutron War Star. They also didn’t know what was going on, so the Neutron War Star fled so quickly.”

Another scientist asked, “Then… why was the speed of light altered? What exactly is going on?”