Compared to the negative matter cannon, Space One was undoubtedly far superior, its offensive power was greater, and it consumed less energy. However, Xiao Yu had no intention of abandoning the development of the negative matter cannon. After all, compared to his current conventional weapons, like gravitational bombs, antimatter bombs, and so on, the negative matter cannon still offered significant advantages. Most importantly, it could be used during curvature flight, a benefit Xiao Yu could not ignore.
In Xiao Yu’s plans, the negative matter cannon would be miniaturized into a weapon akin to the death ray cannon, becoming his primary mass-produced conventional armament. In contrast, Space One would serve as his strategic weapon, rarely used, but decisive when deployed, akin to nuclear weapons in the Earth era.
The negative matter cannon and space weapon each had their roles. Only by working together could they allow Xiao Yu to reach his maximum combat potential.
Now that he had obtained the space weapon, the next step was to find a way to leave this small universe.
Xiao Yu was not particularly worried about being trapped here. The Trolor Civilization had made it clear that even a Level 4 Civilization, with the help of a space weapon, could absolutely find a way out, let alone Xiao Yu. This meant that a method to escape the small universe did exist. And as long as the method existed, Xiao Yu was confident he could uncover it.
In the message left behind by the Trolor Civilization, space weapons were repeatedly emphasized. So it was certain that the space weapon was the key factor in leaving the small universe. Now, Xiao Yu intended to test the power of this space weapon, collecting data for his future operations.
The first target for firing Space One was set to be the dwarf planet itself. All ships had already retreated to a safe distance. The China ship hovered quietly at a distance of one million kilometers from the dwarf planet.
“Energy supply modules nominal. Engines One, Nine, Thirty Six operating at Thirty Eight percent load. Engines Three, Fifteen, Sixty Seven at Forty Five percent load. Engines Fifty Eight, Sixty Two at…”
One stream of data after another flowed into Xiao Yu’s mind. Once all the engines had reached their expected load levels and the energy supply had stabilized, Xiao Yu issued the next command.
There were over a million engines aboard the China ship. These engines provided the energy necessary to power all of the vessel’s internal systems. Now, beyond maintaining regular operations, they had taken on a new responsibility.The installation of Space One hadn’t just affected the equipment near the mounting point. In truth, the entire ship had undergone numerous adjustments. The most obvious were the energy transfer pipelines hidden within the walls.
Over five hundred thousand engines had been tasked with supplying power to Space One. At this moment, an endless stream of energy flowed through those pipelines into the internal mechanisms of the weapon.
“Compression system operating normally. Transmission equipment functioning properly…” More and more data continued to flood into Xiao Yu’s mind.
“Excellent. Very good,” Xiao Yu said. “All scientists, begin data collection. Monitor the condition of Space One closely.”
“Understood. Please rest assured, Master.” Aboard the China, more than ten thousand scientists from the Science and Technology Division were hard at work. Whether from the physics branch, materials science, or mathematics, any scientist remotely connected to Space One had gathered here.
“Good. Targeting system has acquired the objective. Lock-on complete. Commencing launch countdown… ten, nine…”
The countdown signaled that all preparations had been completed. Since this stellar system was too empty, Xiao Yu had no choice but to use the dwarf planet as the target.
The countdown quickly reached zero. The enormous reservoir of energy, already prepped and ready, surged into action. After being processed by various internal systems, it flowed along the laid-out circuits, reaching the firing port.
Satellites pre-deployed at the test range captured a shocking image. Xiao Yu saw that at the long, narrow rift on the hull of the China ship, a pitch-black line suddenly appeared. This black line wasn’t anchored to anything, it simply existed in mid-air, and the moment it emerged from the firing port, it instantly arrived at the target.
That’s right, the ‘projectile’ fired by the Fractured Space weapon travels at faster-than-light speeds, because it is not a physical object. It is simply a rift in space, and space itself is not constrained by relativity.
That black line instantly embedded itself into the dwarf planet and disappeared without a trace.
Space remained silent, utterly still, as if the black line had not impacted the target range at all.
But Xiao Yu was in no rush, and none of the scientists were surprised. They all remained focused on the monitoring equipment, waiting for Space One’s power to take effect.
Roughly ten seconds later, a satellite in synchronous orbit around the dwarf planet captured an image.
Due to its small mass, the dwarf planet lacked a liquid core and tectonic activity. That meant there were no volcanoes and no earthquakes. But this changed after the attack from Space One.
Xiao Yu saw that on the planet’s relatively smooth surface, a tiny crack had appeared, barely noticeable. But in the next instant, the crack rapidly expanded, countless mountains began to collapse, and the ground shook violently. The shockwave sensors deployed on the planet registered tremors many times stronger than a magnitude 12 earthquake on Earth.
The planet’s once-stable geological structure had been completely severed by that single black line.
The now-disconnected rock layers, under their own internal pressure, began to collapse. The ground trembled furiously, and the devastation spread across the entire planet. That black line was like a razor-sharp blade slicing a deep gash across the surface of an orange.
The result was a terrifying scar over 2,000 kilometers deep and nearly 10,000 kilometers long.
The dwarf planet had paid a catastrophic price to fully absorb the energy of that single spatial rift.
On the conference table aboard the China, a massive three-dimensional holographic display simulated the current condition of the planet. Countless data points shifted continuously within the projection.
The scientists who saw this scene all let out gasps of amazement.
“So this… this is the power of a Level 6 Civilization weapon? Even after being stripped down, it’s still capable of such destruction… terrifying. Truly terrifying.” one scientist muttered to himself, eyes burning with fervor.
“Even a Province-Class ship would probably be cleaved in two under this kind of attack. Though our Province-Class ships are equipped with Four-Dimensional Shields, they might provide some defense against space weapons…”
“With a weapon like this, what do we have to fear from other Level 5 Civilizations? I refuse to believe they also have both Four-Dimensional Shields and space weapons!”
The conference room buzzed with discussion, and bursts of hearty laughter rang out.
“The power of a space weapon really is overwhelming. Excellent. Very good.” Xiao Yu nodded in satisfaction after seeing the state of the planet and issued the next order.
“Proceed to the next stage of testing.”
In this testing phase, Xiao Yu would evaluate the reactions of various defensive systems, including Gravitational Shields, Tachyon Shields, Energy Shields, and Four-Dimensional Shields, under attacks from the space weapon.
Xiao Yu spent several months completing these tests. By now, he had fully mastered all data related to the space weapon: its offensive power, characteristics, countermeasures, and more.
The results showed that the Tachyon Shield had no effect on the space weapon at all. Gravitational and Energy Shields offered some degree of weakening, apparently, the higher the energy density within a unit of space, the more stable that space became, and correspondingly, the weaker the space weapon’s effect. But this outcome didn’t disappoint Xiao Yu, because the defensive capabilities of those shields were still very limited, and did nothing to shake the status of the space weapon as his ultimate weapon.
It was the Four-Dimensional Shield that yielded unexpected results. The tests indicated that the Four-Dimensional Shield significantly weakened the space weapon’s effects. And that made sense: the Four-Dimensional Shield existed within Four-Dimensional space, while the space weapon was severing three-dimensional space. The difference in dimensions meant the space weapon was unlikely to be effective against a Four-Dimensional structure.
From this, Xiao Yu once again sensed the formidable nature of the Taihao, who had given him the Four-Dimensional Shield. He had obtained only a fragment of Taihao’s body, and yet it already offered such powerful defense against a space weapon. Then how powerful must the Taihao, who possessed a semi-Four-Dimensional structure, have been in full? And how terrifying was the Sweeper Civilization, which had managed to kill the Taihao?
Xiao Yu reminded himself that even though he had only acquired a stripped-down version of the space weapon, something that could allow him to dominate civilizations below Level 6, his path was still long. He must not become arrogant. Cautiously, he warned himself, discarding any lingering overconfidence.
“I’ve now gathered all data related to Fractured Space. It’s time to think about how to leave this small universe… The Trolor Civilization said a Level 4 Civilization, with a space weapon, could find a way out. As a Level 5 Civilization, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to.”
“All scientists, rest for one day. After one day, return to work. We must find a way out of here. The vast, boundless universe is our true stage. A place like this small universe… is not worthy of being our long-term home.”