“What should the Dwarf Race do? If it were the Dwarf Race… what should they do?”
It was still the small lake in the grassland pasture. On a small boat drifting slowly through this picturesque world sat Senya and Feili. The scenery was beautiful, and Feili was as stunning as ever, but none of it drew Senya’s attention. Right now, Senya seemed distracted, muttering those two sentences under his breath repeatedly. Feili caught the sound of something but couldn’t quite make it out. So she focused her attention, blocking out all distractions, and finally made out what Senya was saying.
What she heard were precisely those two sentences. Senya kept repeating them softly, as if asking someone else, or perhaps asking himself.
“What’s going on with the Dwarf Race?” Feili asked curiously.
Senya remained dazed and unresponsive to his lover’s question. Feili grew unhappy, letting out a displeased humph. Senya snapped out of it, confused, and asked, “Feili, what’s wrong?”
“I won’t allow you to ignore me.” Feili pouted.
“I’m sorry.” Senya said apologetically. “I’m thinking about something… something very important to us. If I can’t figure it out, I’m afraid we’ll be in danger.”
“What kind of thing is it? I kept hearing you mention the Dwarf Race, what does the Dwarf Race have to do with us?” Feili’s curiosity was piqued, and she forgot her irritation, leaning in with interest.
“I… I’m sorry. Because of confidentiality rules, I can’t tell you right now.” Senya said awkwardly, shaking his head.
“Then go think about it by yourself, humph.” Feili huffed again and deliberately turned her head away, refusing to look at Senya. But even though she turned her head, she continued watching him out of the corner of her eye, waiting for him to coax her. But she was disappointed, her peripheral vision showed that Senya had once again sunk into deep thought.This time, Feili was truly angry. She huffed even louder in frustration, trying to get Senya’s attention, but he remained unresponsive.
In Senya’s mind, the question swirled endlessly, consuming all of his thoughts.
“What should the Dwarf Race do? What should the Dwarf Race do!?”
Senya knew he wasn’t the only one who had thought of this issue. Luka Two, wise as it was, even if it wasn’t particularly versed in scientific technology, would certainly have realized that the method Xiao Yu was currently using wouldn’t be suitable for the Dwarf Race. So Luka Two must have noticed the problem as well.
Luka Three, intelligent as ever, surely had realized it too. In fact, Senya believed that all the scientists who had attended the meeting must have thought of this issue. Xiao Yu certainly had.
“Will we… really succeed?” Senya wondered silently, his thoughts drifting far away.
Senya knew the problem, Xiao Yu knew the problem, and all the scientists knew it too, but none of them had voiced it. It was a strange kind of psychology, like that of someone bewitched by a painted-skin beauty, even when they know a ghastly skeleton lies beneath the skin, they can’t help but be drawn to the beautiful facade. Over the past year, Xiao Yu and these scientists had endured too many blows. Now, the plan proposed jointly by Luka Three and Senya was so perfect, so rational, and so feasible that at this moment, no one wanted to rain on the parade.
Who knows… maybe this plan really will succeed? Maybe the Trolor Civilization left behind another solution for the Dwarf Race?
At that very same moment, Xiao Yu was also thinking about this question.
“Will we… really succeed? Why… does something still feel wrong?”
The question troubling Xiao Yu, Senya, and even all the scientists was, in fact, quite simple when stated clearly, if using the method of ejecting spatial fragments and large quantities of matter to decelerate the small universe and eventually merge it back into the main universe was truly the only method left behind by the Trolor Civilization, then what was the Dwarf Race supposed to do? It must be remembered that this relic was specifically left for the Dwarf Race by the Trolor Civilization. And clearly, the Dwarf Race could never possess Xiao Yu’s immense construction capability or execution power. Most likely, those arriving at this relic would be a scientific expedition team from the Dwarf Race. Just a single research team, how could they possibly have the means to dismantle an entire planet and eject it into space? They probably couldn’t even construct a single spatial weapon, let alone carry out such a grand task.
So then… what was the Dwarf Race supposed to do?
“There are a few possible explanations.” Xiao Yu quickly concluded. “First, the method left behind by the Trolor Civilization isn’t actually the one I’m using now. There may be another, simpler method even the Dwarf Race could utilize to leave this small universe. Second, there may be something suspicious about Intelligent Program One, perhaps it secretly tampered with the plan. Third, it could simply be that I was wrong, and this method won’t actually allow us to escape the small universe.”
“The answer… will be revealed soon.” Xiao Yu thought quietly.
Aboard the China, Space One was continuously launching spatial attacks, creating spatial rifts within the small universe. By analyzing the strength of these rifts, Xiao Yu gained a clear understanding of his current situation.
At this moment, the small universe he was in was overlapping with the main universe. The main universe’s space was rapidly assimilating the small universe’s space. At the current rate, the small universe would completely vanish within one month.
This period of overlap with the main universe had already lasted longer than any previous occurrence, thirty full minutes had passed since it began. According to Xiao Yu’s calculations, as long as the overlap lasted more than an hour, there would be no risk of the small universe separating again. In other words, if the duration exceeded one hour, the small universe would never again depart from the main universe. That would mean he had succeeded.
In other words, the answer to the mystery hidden in the background would be revealed in just one more hour.
One hour from now, Xiao Yu would know whether he had succeeded or failed.
This one hour was agonizing for Xiao Yu. The feeling of awaiting a final judgment was deeply unpleasant. Xiao Yu began to understand why, back in Earth’s era, prisoners became extremely agitated before hearing a death sentence, and why, once it was officially declared, they would instead return to calm.
Nearly every few seconds, Xiao Yu would check the time, trying to see whether the hour had passed. Even though he felt like more than ten minutes had gone by, the clock told him that not even ten seconds had passed since his last glance.
Senya knew the result would be revealed today. Luka Two, Three, Four, all the scientists who had attended the meeting knew it as well. At this moment, they were all experiencing the same intense anxiety as Xiao Yu.
Fifty-nine minutes had passed, but to Xiao Yu, it felt like an eternity. Just one more minute, if the small universe still hadn’t separated from the main universe after that minute, then it never would.
Thirty seconds remained.
Ten seconds.
Senya closed his eyes and pressed his palms together in silent prayer. He knew very well, this was it. If this operation failed, then the fleet still trapped inside the small universe would have less than a year and a half before their inevitable destruction. What could be done in a year and a half? More importantly, that dwarf planet had already been entirely ejected by Xiao Yu. In other words, within this small universe, Xiao Yu had lost his supply source.
It was either success or death. Senya didn’t want to die, because if he died, he would never see Feili again.
Xiao Yu didn’t want to die either. He felt there were still so many things left to do. The mystery of humanity’s extinction remained unsolved, Chen Mo had not yet been resurrected, and even the Earth girl Zhang Shengya’s corpse still lay quietly in the China’s cabin, waiting for Xiao Yu’s salvation.
There were still too many secrets in the universe waiting for Xiao Yu to explore, too many unknowns for him to uncover, too many magnificent and thrilling events he had yet to experience…
Time had reached the final second. In that moment, Xiao Yu felt his mind had frozen. He was rarely afraid, but now he was. He feared that the spatial rift caused by Space One would suddenly expand. If the power remained constant but the rift grew in size, it would clearly indicate a decrease in spatial stability. A drop in spatial stability meant the small universe had separated from the main universe, which indirectly meant Xiao Yu’s death.
That final second passed, and the latest spatial rift strength data had already reached Xiao Yu’s mind, waiting for processing. In truth, if he could, Xiao Yu would rather not look at the result. Because the result might be failure, and if it was, then before he saw it, he could at least still hold onto hope. But once he saw it, he would have no hope left.
But cold, unfeeling programs didn’t care about Xiao Yu’s emotions. The latest detection reports continued stacking up without pause, and the warning protocol Xiao Yu had programmed began to trigger an alert, because his behavior was too unusual. A task that should’ve been processed instantly had now gone over ten seconds without a response. In the eyes of the warning system, this was a severe anomaly.
“All right then. It’s a blade whether I stretch my neck or pull it back, let’s just get it over with.” Xiao Yu muttered to himself and drew the data directly into his mind.