Among the sixty idle Home ships, a vast amount of supplies had been loaded, entirely sufficient, according to the technical documentation, to manufacture the weapon known as Fractured Space.
In Xiao Yu’s estimation, the principle behind Fractured Space might rely on extraordinarily dense and ultra-high energy to temporarily tear open space itself, a principle not too different from that of a black hole.
After so many years of development, Xiao Yu had also gained some deep understanding of extreme celestial bodies like black holes. In his theory, a black hole was essentially a ‘gap’ in three-dimensional universe. For example, if a sheet of paper represents a two-dimensional world, then piercing a hole through it would be equivalent to a black hole in that two-dimensional world. Similarly, a black hole was a hole punctured into the three-dimensional world.
In a two-dimensional world, one could use a black hole to reach other two-dimensional realms. In the three-dimensional world, one could, theoretically, travel to other three-dimensional realms through a black hole. But of course, all this remained Xiao Yu’s conjecture and could not yet be verified. And even if the theory were correct, Xiao Yu lacked the courage to attempt it. Black holes, due to their overwhelmingly powerful tidal forces, would shred anything that dared approach them. With his current technology, Xiao Yu didn’t even have the means to get close to a black hole, much less carry out the legendary feat of space-time traversal.
The Fractured Space weapon was similar to a black hole in certain aspects, but also markedly different in others. For instance, the spatial rifts created by Fractured Space did not generate any gravitational pull.
All matter relies on space to exist. If space is severed, then matter naturally collapses along with it. This weapon disregarded the properties of matter itself. Whether it was a typical asteroid or a material forged with the most advanced technology of a Level 5 Civilization by Xiao Yu himself, it would be instantly cleaved apart.
However, the Fractured Space weapon also had a significant limitation, its energy requirement was simply colossal. Perhaps a Level 6 Civilization could miniaturize and regularize it, but Xiao Yu could not. For now, he could only deploy it as a primary weapon, equipping one on each Nation-Class starship.
“Intelligent Program One possesses no intelligence. It has already completed its mission by delivering the manufacturing documentation for Fractured Space to me. That means this dwarf planet should now be safe,” Xiao Yu mused slowly. “Building a base on this dwarf planet might not be a bad idea. Moreover, there might still be remnants of the Trolor Civilization here. Those thirty thousand starships are still out there. If I can get my hands on them, perhaps I might glimpse some secrets of a Level 6 Civilization.”
With that thought, Xiao Yu maneuvered the vast fleet, gradually bringing it to the vicinity of the dwarf planet, entering its orbital path. He then deployed a large number of landing-type robots, which descended aboard Town-Class light warships to the planet’s surface.
The surface environment of this dwarf planet closely resembled that of the Moon, with one key difference, there weren’t nearly as many impact craters. This indicated that the planet had either experienced very few meteorite impacts, or, more likely, had been artificially modified in some way. Xiao Yu considered the latter explanation to be more probable.However, something unexpected occurred. On this dwarf planet, Xiao Yu found no traces whatsoever of ruins left by the Trolor Civilization. He even checked the site where those thirty thousand ships had once appeared, but uncovered nothing of value, only traces left behind by tachyon bombardment.
Tachyons have negative mass. When they encounter positive matter, they mutually annihilate into nothingness. Clearly, those thirty thousand ships, along with any remaining ruins, had all been obliterated by negative-mass tachyons.
“No way… everything’s just gone like that?” Xiao Yu thought helplessly. “It would’ve been nice if Intelligent Program One had stayed behind, maybe I could’ve uncovered the mysteries of photon computers. The Trolor Civilization really knew how to clean up after themselves.”
At present, within the small universe, the Level 4 Alien Beast was dead, and Intelligent Program One had decisively self-destructed, leaving only Xiao Yu behind.
Reflecting on everything that had happened during this period, Xiao Yu felt as if it had all been a dream.
The night sky above this dwarf planet was beautiful. No, he shouldn’t call it night sky, but rather day. However, the ‘daytime’ here looked almost identical to nighttime on Earth.
On the long-peaceful planetary surface, a robot stood motionless in the thick dust, lifting its head to gaze at the sky.
High above was a round, full white dwarf, even larger than the Moon seen from Earth. It emitted a faint, silvery-white glow, delicate and beautiful.
Although a white dwarf is the remnant of a dead star, it still has the ability to emit radiation, albeit much dimmer than a living star. In fact, it will maintain this level of luminosity for at least hundreds of billions of years, gradually dimming over the ages until it becomes a black dwarf.
But the universe itself is only 13.7 billion years old, far too young for any black dwarf to have yet formed. Therefore, there is not a single black dwarf in the universe. A black dwarf is merely a theoretically predicted celestial object.
There were no stars in the sky, only that round white dwarf. Because this dwarf planet lacked an atmosphere, there was no scattering of light. As a result, even during the day, its sky was pitch black. On the opposite side of the planet, the scene was entirely different.
There, one could truly describe it as ‘pitch-dark to the point you can’t see your hand in front of your face.’ There was not a single light source, not even the faint glow of a tiny star. The dwarf planet had been gravitationally locked by the white dwarf, meaning this side would never, for all eternity, be exposed to light. A place like this resembled the abyssal depths of demonic legends.
Yet, Xiao Yu did not discover any demons here. Instead, he found a number of useful mineral deposits, perfect for constructing space weapons. As a result, large-scale mining bases sprang up, and artificial suns began to appear in the sky. For the first time, this lonely land was bathed in light.
The first space weapon, Xiao Yu planned to mount aboard the China as his trump card. After all, space weapons consumed immense amounts of energy, even a Province-Class ship couldn’t sustain them. Due to their special properties, space weapons could only serve as strategic weapons, not as tactical or regular ones.
Xiao Yu speculated that although Level 4 Civilizations who had mastered elemental decay technology could use this modified space weapon inherited from the Trolor Civilization, the level of technology required to mount it on a ship was still far beyond them. So he believed that this weapon had originally been left by the Trolor Civilization for the Dwarf Race Civilization to defend their planet, but now, it had ended up in his hands.
Even in its stripped-down form, the projected destructive power of this space weapon was enough to make Xiao Yu feel a surge of excitement. Just imagine, in the midst of a massive space war, when at a disadvantage, he activates this space weapon, and in a single shot, cripples an enemy Nation-Class ship. The very thought stirred him deeply.
Xiao Yu was certain that even at its peak, back when the All Nations Pay Tribute was still serving under the Molian Civilization, his China ship, though unlikely to destroy it in one blast, could still render it combat-ineffective. That level of shock and threat? The devastating blow to enemy morale? It would be massive.
“If I can leave this place, maybe I can go in search of the Molian Civilization’s homeworld and properly deal with them,” Xiao Yu thought to himself. “The Molian Civilization undoubtedly possesses a complete Level 5 technological system, and apart from military technology, I’m still lagging behind in all other areas. By destroying the Molian Civilization and acquiring their tech, I could complete my technology tree, and truly step into the realm of a Level 5 Civilization.”
The experience of being hunted by the Molian Civilization and fleeing thousands of light-years had long been a stain on Xiao Yu’s heart. Now that he had the power, not seeking revenge would be unacceptable.
“That settles it, then. The Molian Civilization has surely been looking for me all this time. Once I leave here, I’ll return to the Azure Market Sector. The Molian Civilization will definitely detect my presence. After that, things will be easy to manage…” With that thought, Xiao Yu made up his mind.
As time passed, three months later, under Xiao Yu’s immense drive and execution, the first space weapon was finally completed and installed. Xiao Yu made slight modifications to the China ship’s internal layout and instrumentation to clear space for the installation of the weapon.
This space weapon, Xiao Yu named Space One. Today was the day Space One would undergo its first power test.
From the outside, Space One didn’t look like a weapon at all. It lacked any traditional features like barrels or launch platforms. From the exterior of the ship, it simply appeared as a long, narrow rift stretching across the China ship’s hull. But this rift was far from ordinary. Behind it were countless instruments working in unison, consuming ten percent of the ship’s total energy.
In other words, each time Space One was fired, it would consume ten percent of the China ship’s entire energy reserves. To maintain regular operations of instruments, weapon systems, defensive systems, and essential energy storage, the China ship, when fully resupplied, could fire Space One three times, launching three space-based attacks.
To achieve that much, Xiao Yu was already very satisfied. After all, the most likely next heavy strategic weapon he might develop was the negative matter cannon, which, though powerful, would never surpass Space One in destructive capability, and would consume far more energy.