Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Chapter 790: Guardian of the Way, the Invigilator

A bullet, under normal conditions, might not even be able to pierce a layer of steel plate. But if you accelerate that bullet to an extremely high speed, it can destroy a star. This is the power of speed. Inside the particle accelerator, energy was continuously being converted into speed. In this moment, these microscopic particles possessed unimaginable energy.

At such high speeds, many wondrous physical phenomena occurred. Xiao Yu observed that at such high speed, some particles were actually melted away. In near-perfect vacuum, they ended their lives in a relatively violent manner, like meteors plunging into an atmosphere.

Xiao Yu’s mind immediately tightened. Xiao Yu knew that the mutual reaction between microscopic particles and space had already occurred. It was just that because these particles themselves were not ‘tough’ enough, they did not manage to break space. Instead, space melted them away.

Among several thousand kinds of fundamental particles, different types of particles kept being destroyed because they could not withstand this enormous energy. Neutrons vanished. Protons vanished. Electrons also vanished… By this point, only a handful of microscopic particle types were still holding on.

The Higgs boson was among them. Together with the remaining particles, it passed through the second-to-last acceleration device and charged toward the final acceleration device.

The distance between the second-to-last and the final acceleration device was several million kilometers. At the particles’ current speed, they needed only tens of seconds to cross this stretch.

A dozen seconds quickly passed. The final acceleration device, before the particles arrived, was already filled with energy. If converted into mass, this vast energy would weigh as much as a moon. The purpose of this immense energy, now, was simply to give these microscopic particles one last push.

The immense energy was released in an instant, and these microscopic particles were accelerated to an extreme. Xiao Yu observed that in this very instant, W bosons and pi mesons also disappeared. In the gigantic particle accelerator, only the final microscopic particle remained, the Higgs boson.

The Higgs boson had occupied an important position in Xiao Yu’s technological development. Back then, it was precisely because Xiao Yu discovered the Higgs boson, perfected the Standard Model, and verified the Higgs field that Xiao Yu’s technology was able to make a tremendous leap forward. Now, at the moment when Xiao Yu had become a Level 6 peak civilization and was about to charge toward Level 7, the Higgs boson once again displayed its mysterious power.

These microscopic particles had already passed the final accelerator. After that would be a free-glide stage of tens of millions of kilometers. Here there were no longer any particle acceleration devices, only dense arrays of observation instruments. Any tiny spatial fluctuation would be observed by Xiao Yu.The super acceleration experiment that had lasted more than thirty days had entered its final stage. Now was the moment results would appear. Xiao Yu’s mind was taut. All of his immense computing power extended into the particle acceleration apparatus.

“Success or failure hinges on this.” Xiao Yu thought silently.

Space, as expected, produced a strange fluctuation. Xiao Yu began observing extremely subtle spatial rifts flashing and vanishing continuously. This was clearly a precursor of space being broken and about to begin transforming into energy.

A faint flash appeared in the pitch-black particle accelerator. Xiao Yu’s mind jolted. A flash meant photons had appeared. Photons were also a form of energy, and earlier, there had been no photons inside the particle accelerator at all.

Xiao Yu understood instantly.

“This is energy converted from space! Under the power of ultra-high-speed particles, space has been broken, and part of space has been converted into energy!”

At this moment, immense experimental data surged into Xiao Yu’s mind like a tide. It was reported by countless detectors installed inside the particle acceleration apparatus. Xiao Yu immediately began rapid analysis. This experimental data was crucial for Xiao Yu to break through to a Level 7 Civilization.

The massive stream of experimental data continued to pour in. If nothing unexpected happened, this stage would last at least more than three minutes. The experimental data of these three minutes would push Xiao Yu to break through the bottleneck he currently faced.

With every second that passed, Xiao Yu’s technological theory was refined a bit more. The space energy formula, a milestone fruit of physics, was growing rapidly. It would soon mature and be picked by Xiao Yu.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened. In Xiao Yu’s heart, a strange feeling suddenly arose, as if in broad daylight, all his clothes had been stripped away, and countless eyes had focused on him at the same time.

Xiao Yu felt that a strange consciousness had noticed him. This consciousness seemed omniscient and omnipotent. Before it, Xiao Yu had no secrets. Everything Xiao Yu had experienced in the past, everything he was experiencing now, and everything he would encounter in the future, were all within this strange consciousness’s grasp. The moment it placed its gaze on Xiao Yu, it knew everything about Xiao Yu.

In this instant, Xiao Yu sensed many things, about the truth of the universe, about the origin and rules of the universe.

One question had always troubled Xiao Yu, why was the universe we inhabited the way it was? Why were so many constants set to their current values? For example, the speed of light, the gravitational constant. These countless constants were fixed at the birth of the universe. They participated in every minute evolution of the universe, ultimately casting the universe into its present form. At the birth of the universe, if any constant had been changed even slightly, the universe now would be completely different.

Then these constants, who fixed them in the beginning? Who decided that the speed of light must be this number? Who decided the gravitational constant? Who stipulated that the speed of light could not be surpassed?

Technology had the mighty power to change heaven and earth. The speed of light could not be surpassed, yet technology found a path to bypass the light-speed limit through curvature flight. Energy was insufficient, and technology found paths such as nuclear fusion, matter decay, antimatter, space energy, and so on.

This was the most fundamental mystery of the universe. Xiao Yu still did not know where these rules came from, but Xiao Yu felt that this strange consciousness currently staring at him was a Guardian of the Way.

These constants, rules, and laws were the ‘Way’ of this universe. This consciousness was responsible for protecting this ‘Way’ from being altered by intelligent beings. The higher a civilization’s level, the greater the power it possessed, and the greater the impact it could have on the universe. The other side of guarding the Way was preventing intelligent beings from advancing.

That was why the Level 7 barrier existed. The Level 7 barrier was created by this strange consciousness. At the first glance it cast at Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu understood this.

Right now, he was attempting to break through the Level 7 barrier and enter Level 7. He was attempting to gain greater power and a greater influence over this universe. Therefore, this strange consciousness, the Guardian of the Way, the invigilator, had noticed him.

What exactly the Guardian of the Way was, Xiao Yu did not know. But one thing was certain, it was not the universe itself. It seemed more like a powerful civilization, a civilization that had gone farther than any other. After it became the Guardian of the Way, it assumed the duty of watching over the entire universe. Any existence that attempted to become a Level 7 Civilization, attempting to gain greater influence over the universe, would be detected by it. According to certain judgment rules, it would decide whether that civilization could be allowed to advance.

Xiao Yu knew he had failed. This failure would determine his future. Because afterward, he would never again be able to attempt becoming a Level 7 Civilization. At this moment, Xiao Yu finally understood why the Taihao Civilization could not become Level 7.

First warning, second elimination.

He had already been noticed by the invigilator. If he attempted to become a Level 7 Civilization again, he would be eliminated by this Guardian of the Way of the universe.

Xiao Yu knew he had no ability to resist. This strange consciousness existed in a peculiar form. It seemed the entire universe was within its vision. As long as Xiao Yu remained within this universe, there was absolutely no way to escape its surveillance.

“My body will be branded with the label ‘Taihao.’ If there is no accident, I will never be able to become a Level 7 Civilization. My path to advancing to Level 7 has been blocked.” Xiao Yu thought in despair.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened again.

Inside the particle accelerator, the microscopic particle in the free-glide stage suddenly vanished. The microscopic particle traveling forward at infinitely close to light speed vanished for no reason at all.

Xiao Yu’s heart jolted in alarm. “What is going on? Hm? The speed of light was altered? It dropped by five hundred and twenty-one micrometers?”

Xiao Yu detected this instantly. These microscopic particles were moving at an extremely close-to-light speed. At this moment, the speed of light suddenly dropped, even dropping to the point where it became slower than the particles’ forward speed. What would happen?

Do not forget, even if the speed of light dropped, it was still the upper limit of all conventional motion. No matter could surpass it.

This phenomenon that would not appear even in theory or speculation now appeared alive before Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu suddenly sensed, from the strange consciousness that had been watching him all along, an emotion that seemed like anger.