Rebirth of the Super Battleship

Chapter 804: Andromeda and the Guardians

After receiving this message, Xiao Yu’s first reaction was, “Who is this guy, and how does he know I have arrived here? Could he be the owner of this Star Gate, monitoring my actions in real time?”

His second reaction was to immediately analyze the message he had just received. Xiao Yu tried to determine where it had been sent from, by what means it had been transmitted, who the sender was, and what technological level they possessed. Unfortunately, he found nothing at all. The message had simply appeared abruptly in Xiao Yu’s mind.

Xiao Yu quietly waited for a follow-up. But he was disappointed. He waited for several hours and received nothing more. Whoever this person was, whoever had that unknown identity, had sent a short, contextless message at the very first moment Xiao Yu arrived in this unfamiliar galaxy, then disappeared without a trace.

Many thoughts churned in Xiao Yu’s mind. Vast quantities of logical information tangled with one another, trying to uncover the secret hidden behind that message.

“It seems the name ‘Sweepers’ is not the proper name of a single civilization, but rather a generic term for a type of civilization, similar to the Taihao Civilization.” Xiao Yu thought in disbelief. “Could it be that every galaxy has a Sweepers Civilization? Then what about the Guardian Civilization? If I have become the Sweepers Civilization, where did this galaxy’s original Sweepers Civilization go?”

Xiao Yu began to consider one question: what did the term Sweepers Civilization truly mean?

“Clearly, from the literal meaning alone one can see that a Sweepers Civilization is responsible for sweeping away the intelligent beings within a galaxy. Together with what I know about the Guardian Civilization, the Guardian Civilization destroys civilizations by stripping away their potential for development, while the Sweepers Civilization destroys civilizations through violent annihilation. Working together, the two lock off all paths forward for any civilizations within a galaxy. If I had not had certain fortuitous encounters, if I were not standing on the shoulders of at least seven powerful beings, I would have long since been wiped out by the Sweepers Civilization.”

“However, if the so-called luck value does not exist at all, then why do the Sweepers Civilization and the Guardian Civilization do this? Is wiping out other civilizations really so entertaining?”

Xiao Yu began to ponder some rather profound questions. After realizing that other galaxies very likely had their own Sweepers Civilizations and Guardian Civilizations, he understood that some problems were not as simple as he had imagined.

“That inexplicable fellow said I had already become the Sweepers Civilization of this galaxy. It seems ‘Sweepers Civilization’ is a title, not something a civilization is born as. It is a designation specially assigned by some existence that selects one from many candidate civilizations. It is highly likely that the Sweepers Civilization of the Milky Way Galaxy came into being through such a process. In that case, what responsibilities and obligations come with becoming a Sweepers Civilization, and what rewards and restrictions?”“Obviously, the responsibility and obligation of a Sweepers Civilization is to exterminate low-level civilizations. Then what are the rewards and restrictions? Could it be that the reward is the qualification to become a Level 7 Civilization? In that light, could that inexplicable fellow be the invigilator? If so, then the fact that the Sweepers Civilization possessed the Neutron War Star and the Guardian Civilization possessed four-dimensional jump becomes easier to understand, because the existence that designated the natures of these two civilizations must ensure their absolute superiority within the galaxy. The facts do match this. The Sweepers Civilization dominated the Milky Way Galaxy for tens of millions of years, with the Guardian Civilization close behind.”

Xiao Yu was sketching a terrifying blueprint of the universe in his heart. In this model, every galaxy that possessed intelligent civilizations would have two special types of civilization designated by some terrifying existence, one Sweepers Civilization and one Guardian Civilization. These two civilizations, with these two types of roles, were like gatekeepers standing at the exit of the galaxy. Any civilization that wished to become a Level 7 Civilization, that wished to pass through that gate, would be harshly struck by these two civilizations.

Throughout this process there were countless lies and countless conspiracies. Weak civilizations that had only just stepped into interstellar space, knowing nothing of the universe, would very easily be deceived by the sweet lies of the Guardian Civilization. Even if they had good luck and by chance avoided being deceived, later on they would still face violent annihilation at the hands of the powerful Sweepers Civilization.

It was a picture of utter despair. The road for low-level intelligent civilizations to rise to high-level intelligent civilizations was almost completely blocked. The whole meaning of their birth was to be destroyed. What awaited them ahead was a road covered in thorns, with not a single ray of hope in sight.

“So these are the methods of the invigilators. Not only do they set up so many obstacles at the very birth of a civilization, when a civilization has grown to the peak of Level 6 and has gained the qualification to assault Level 7, they will personally step in to conduct an examination. Only civilizations that pass their examination have a chance to become Level 7. What an incredibly dark universe this is.” Xiao Yu muttered. “It has truly not been easy for me to make it this far, not easy at all.”

In that moment, even Xiao Yu himself felt a trace of gratitude at his own ability to have reached his current level.

“Was that sudden message really sent by the invigilator? Why is it so certain that I will definitely follow its instructions? Is it not worried I will deliberately neglect my duties? What if I intentionally go easy on others? Or is it that it is already confident I will certainly obey?”

The message sent to Xiao Yu contained only one short sentence. There was no preface, and no subsequent elaboration.

“What leverage does it have over me? Is it the qualification to become a Level 7 Civilization? I have not yet truly reached Level 7, but I believe there are no longer any obstacles on my path to that level. Could it be that if I do not fulfill my duties, it will set more obstacles for me? Yet from what we know, I was rescued by the Rebel Alliance, and now it is the one stepping out to assign me a task. Could this be a compromise? Has the invigilator reached some sort of agreement with the Rebel Alliance, and I am the piece used in the exchange?”

At this time, Xiao Yu thought about many things.

“So what should I do? Do I obey the orders of this inexplicable fellow, or do I ignore them?” Xiao Yu pondered silently. “There will be some risks if I refuse to obey, yet if I do obey, I do not feel entirely willing.”

He thought for a long while but still could not make up his mind. Since he could not figure it out, Xiao Yu simply set the problem aside for the moment and turned to observe his current surroundings.

Xiao Yu needed to determine where he was and how far he was from the Milky Way Galaxy.

The first things he measured were this galaxy’s volume and mass. Using high-precision telescopes, Xiao Yu determined the distances between a few satellite galaxies and this galaxy by observing Cepheid variables in those satellites. Then, using the orbits and velocities with which those satellite galaxies revolved around this galaxy, he calculated the galaxy’s mass. The conclusion was that this galaxy had about twice the mass of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Through another series of complex calculations, Xiao Yu derived this galaxy’s volume. The conclusion was that this galaxy had a diameter of about two hundred and twenty thousand light years. This diameter was a bit more than twice that of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Within this galaxy, Xiao Yu had already identified a few stars that were suspected to be ones he had observed in the past, but he still could not be certain. The data was still being verified. After completing a series of observational tasks, Xiao Yu turned his gaze toward the core of this galaxy.

What he observed was an astonishing sight.

This galaxy had two cores.

Normally a galaxy only has a single core, and its other stars orbit that core, as in the Milky Way. That core is usually a massive black hole, as is common in most galaxies. This one was different.

Of its two cores, one was larger in size and brighter, but had a relatively small mass. The other was dimmer, but its mass was enormous. According to calculations, it had about one hundred million times the mass of the Sun. The gas around this more massive core was not very dense, so its reactions were relatively gentle and it appeared dimmer.

It was a sight Xiao Yu knew very well. Back when he was still in the Milky Way Galaxy, he had seen this scene countless times.

This was the Andromeda Galaxy. Xiao Yu fully confirmed this after turning his telescope, searching the celestial sphere for the Milky Way Galaxy, and then identifying hundreds of distinctive celestial bodies within the Milky Way.

On Earth, on a clear night, people with good eyesight could see the Andromeda Galaxy. Yet here in the Andromeda Galaxy, one could not see the Milky Way with the naked eye because compared to Andromeda, the Milky Way was too small, too distant, and too dim.

“I really did not expect this. After traveling through the Star Gate for two years, I was already prepared to arrive in a completely unfamiliar galaxy, yet I ended up here.” Xiao Yu murmured, feeling it quite unbelievable.

“The Andromeda Galaxy… two million five hundred thousand light years from the Milky Way. I spent two years crossing that distance, which means that inside the Star Gate, the effective speed reached one million two hundred fifty thousand times the speed of light. That is truly an astonishing speed.”

While Xiao Yu was still marveling at this, another message arrived. The method of transmission was spatial broadcast, which he knew very well, so it was easy for him to determine where this message had originated.

“Low-level civilizations within the galaxy, the Sweepers Civilization has increased its cleansing efforts in the following related regions. Your situation may be very dangerous. We are the Guardian Alliance, and we can provide you with a safe refuge. Please import the following program into your computers; it will guide you to our alliance…”