Star Empire

"The detection results are similar to the world barrier information representation... This appears to be a fragment of the world."

"World fragments? Can they cross the void and target us accurately? Is there still that kind of pollution of unknown origin and unknown nature in the world fragments??" Upon hearing the news, Victorville's face instantly darkened, " Are you sure?"

"One hundred percent sure... We don't know how it does it. Maybe our several enhancement standards attracted something, maybe we ourselves have forgotten something... We can't analyze it yet."

Zhai Cahir shook off the purple arcane light that had mutated in his hand. Under the burning of these lights, the faint patterns were disappearing along with the "activation and fragmentation" of the body tissue. He looked at Vidoville with lingering fear: "Your Excellency, I will never be wrong about this feeling in my life. To be honest, I don't recommend that the fleet has any more interactions with that contaminated world fragment..."

"Objects that are highly likely to be considered fragments of the world continue to close the distance with the fleet... The navigation system begins to try to capture the object's specific void coordinates and characteristic information representation parameters."

Ikarim operates the fleet's information flow to the flagship and temporarily increases the output power of the math rate core to provide greater network processing power for the navigation system.

When all the dispatchable sights of the fleet were focused on the unknown object, a crackling explosion erupted in the main control hall of the flagship, and the operation of the mathematical rate core seemed to be hit by an invisible external force. Locked.

After the environment finally stabilized, several light screens unfolded along the arc of the dome, displaying the obtained data in everyone's field of vision. The moment the results appeared, everyone was stunned.

"These frequencies, these data officers, the team has concluded that this fragment of the world comes from the mother universe!"

"What?! Where are the conclusions drawn by other groups?"

"The confidence weight exceeds 0.96. It can be confirmed that this target comes from the Federation's mother universe!" In the Ark Fleet's military network, similar reports are being compiled one by one and summarized on the flagship. I don’t know if the look of horror on the faces of the calibrators was because the confidence in these reports was too high, or because of something else.

A lot of data is missing, but more information features are still retained. Everyone knows what those values ​​mean - they are part of the world barrier parameters of their former home, the Star Federation's hometown universe!

"Hometown universe?" Vidoville's brows seemed to be locked, "Didn't the hometown universe almost collapse when we left the world barrier? According to the performance of the world fragments after the target universe was shattered during the first void detection , how could the remaining fragments of the universe persist for so long? After we set sail, shouldn’t that world have completely disappeared? From the beginning, we have not detected the follow-up of that world..."

"Wait a minute, the world collapsed... Judging from the current situation, its aftermath should be considerable."

Everyone in the fleet knew the scene inside the universe when the Ark fleet finally evacuated. The world barrier was already crumbling, the space was torn into pieces, restored to the primordial energy of the Big Bang, and the magnificent warped world wall collapsed. , black and red patterns raged among the celestial bodies, and the malicious torrent of death carried theoretically impossible storms and earthquakes to tear the planet into pieces, and then submerged it in the space storm.

Under the combined strangulation of lightning, energy and flames, dimensional axes and weird and special space properties were unfolded out of control. A virtual space as large as several galaxies may have contributed to the speed of space annihilation.

Under the combined attack of the crystal energy vortex and the energy storm, the laws of physics completely collapsed, and the stars were torn apart, turning into one-dimensional lines or two-dimensional planes across the sky. Those terrifying figures in the background were covered in pale white. It was twisting and howling in the cosmic space, and was gradually submerged into the blazing white vacuum zero-point energy ocean.

Such a world has not only persisted for such a long time, but it even seems that its connection with the star civilization that has been exiled in the void has not been cut off, and it can even be pursued across the void all the way? ! What's more, after the Ark fleet withdrew from the world barrier, the mother world also erupted from an unknown area with an extremely strong and highly directed information burst - could it be said that these phenomena were not enough to completely destroy it? !

"To be honest, I think it's understandable that that world can persist for a while longer." Wei Ruifan added, "In that space station that serves as the general headquarters of the blockade area, when Zhai Cahir was accidentally infected , both crystal energy and arcane magic can play a cleaning role. After we leave, the Warp World Wall will definitely collapse and disintegrate, although we are not yet sure how high the weird pollution, which is characterized by black and red two-dimensional patterns, is. rank."

"But from this point of view, its level will not be higher than the first level of downward decay in the void where crystal energy and arcana are located. After the long wall of the warped world collapses and disintegrates, it is very likely that the crystal energy vortex will be disturbed. An explosion occurs, and large-scale crystal energy sweeps through the contaminated area. It is not impossible to neutralize the pollution and allow the universe to survive for a while. The most incomprehensible thing is that after the world is broken, the fragments should be quickly broken down by the void. , this fragment has not only been preserved, but is even tracking our fleet. Judging from the current situation, we seem to have missed quite a lot."

"...We have missed the possibility it contains - the destruction of the world plus this time, it is the second time we have seen it - the rolling noise like a bell and a big river in the first time and the constant noise in the second time Tranquility... Damn it, I should pay more attention when conjectures arise!" Vidoville was a little nervous, but in the end, reason finally defeated sensibility.

"Then what should we do? Should we break up the formation?" Vidoville looked at Vesrivan, "If the fragment of the world containing unknown contamination catches up with us, then our fleet will be in an extremely dangerous environment. Among them, if the fleet is still gathered together, it should be said that it is not a wise move."

"That's true, but I'm afraid it's too late to separate now." Wei Ruifan shook his head, "Now the entire fleet has been led by the flagship, and all the surviving scientific and technological talents are currently stationed on the flagship. ——Part of our ancient knowledge is still useful, and the large number of information models that have been preserved enable them to continue research with the assistance of the almost universal equipment of the mathematical rate core."

"Up to now, not long ago, they have brought a considerable amount of new equipment to the flagship, including a void navigation system and a new combined information wave communication method. We can't guarantee whether this fragile system will survive or not. It can afford to be dismantled - besides, we don’t have a transport boat that meets the specifications now, and the conditions hardly allow us to build items of that specification on site, and we are even less sure whether the order field outside the spacecraft is safe.”

".As a result, we cannot allow such high-level or large-capacity exchanges of personnel and materials, especially for the most senior scientists like Isendel. Any accident will cause irreparable losses. If the fleet is split, those Ships without void navigation auxiliary facilities will sail randomly like headless flies. Without the help of highly skilled personnel, the possibility that they can develop similar facilities themselves...is very low."

"Although we anticipated the worst situation, we were really unable to prepare for the worst situation. As you can see, all civilization leaders and those who have the ability to interfere with the civilization network are inside the flagship, and we This is the only team that can influence the progress of civilization to some extent."

"Is this... is this also a loophole caused by insufficient judgment of the actual situation after rigid thinking...?" A look of pain appeared on Vidoville's face. After a period of terrible silence, he struggled to ask this question. question.

"Don't! Think too much!"

"……clear!"

A slight vibration was heard, and amidst the gradually decreasing buzz of the mathematical rate core, Ikarim's nervous voice broke into the minds of everyone in the first bridge.

"The void vision detection is completed. The flying speed of the world fragments in the void is accelerating, and they are rapidly approaching the order field of our fleet!" In the holographic projection that suddenly popped up, the huge black shadow can be captured by all current detection methods. Even the rough translation model currently used by the fleet can roughly outline its overall appearance based on some of its subtle void coordinate differences.

This broken model has even begun to take on the properties of the inner zone that order creatures are familiar with!

"Contact all ships! The mathematical rate core is fully activated. Don't worry about the loss of crystal energy. The flagship does not need to calculate the coordinates. It can directly force a virtual point jump to any place it can move!"

Following Vidoville's command, the Mathematical Rate Core instantly erupted with a dazzling golden light. The "light" of crystal energy was not produced by photons, but a small part of it after it decayed from the void. It is directly expressed by "information endowment". If it is forced to be described in physical units, the degree of illumination of Vidoville just now by the "light explosion" may even exceed hundreds of thousands of lumens.

"Virtual point jump?" Icarim immediately became anxious. He seemed to have never lost his calmness. "Your Excellency, Archon, the risk involved in virtual point jumping is very high! Our technology is also far behind! Calculated based on the last jump, the virtual point jump will probably tear us all into pieces!"

"It's better than dying inexplicably! Facing unknown events in the void, this is the only thing we can do now. Listen up, it's the only one!"

As the locking of the information compensation correction lock was completed, the ship itself erupted with a sharp and crisp sound as the glass body was torn apart by a strong gravitational source. The impact of this void point jump was close to the limit of the ship's own carrying capacity. While the brightness of the "chain" continues to increase, the ship itself is also being stretched like ordinary matter that is about to fall into a black hole.

"Damn... We didn't consider all the activation and retention of redundant structures in the design..."

A shrill alarm began to appear in the information broadcast. Ikarim, who was on standby next to the mathematical rate core, forcibly disconnected himself from the spacecraft as the "information reference point" and endured the pain as if he was being torn apart. He gained the ability to freely change and took over all mechanical control of the spacecraft as much as possible.

Before things got out of control, he lifted the safety locks of all redundant equipment and forced all equipment into a near-self-destructive operational overload. Only then did he finally stop the "information distortion" of the spacecraft itself and make the spacecraft Start reset.

"...I'm afraid, this can actually be considered a major accident..."

The sense of distortion continued for an unknown amount of time before quietly weakening in a blur. The overall structure of the spacecraft should still be intact. The holographic projection corresponding to the situation of the entire ship and the autonomous system of the spacecraft have not detected any unbearable distortion or loss in the spacecraft.

As the jump ends, the information structure gradually stabilizes. All the facilities with ghost images in the hall have also returned to their original appearance - looking directly at it, these devices themselves do not seem to have suffered structural damage like the creations after experiencing space distortion. However, with the mathematical rate core as the midpoint , the surrounding basic equipment, the track connecting the physical screen and the holographic screen, and the delivery equipment itself suddenly appeared large flashing light spots - the erosion products left after being overly impacted by high-intensity crystal energy!

Ikarim's approach saved the fleet, but it also frightened those who knew the details.

After a period of time that was more difficult than swimming among the stars, the fleet finally came to a complete stop. At this time, the flagship was already in a miserable state. A considerable number of equipment had been eroded and mutated. Parts of the protective shell around the math core had begun to have a crystal-like texture that should not have appeared. The crystal rails on the floor also appeared. Slight deformation and displacement. Fortunately, the navigation equipment is still in good condition and the power furnace is basically undamaged, which means that at least the fleet's progress will not be too seriously affected.

"Ikarim, this is..."

"This is only half a step away from complete dissipation..."

"I have never conducted similar deductions and calculations..."

"No, if we follow the previous logic and ideas for design, this cannot be ignored. How can it be like this now..."

During the struggle, many figures tried to rescue Ikarim who fell on the ground. However, the huge pressure brought by the virtual point jump made the body seem to have been shattered and reorganized. After the weak resistance, only whispers and some indescribable things were left. doubts.

"Other Arks, report the damage!" Weisruifan forced himself to wake up and remotely synchronized the information center of the second bridge through his own authority.

"Fifteen percent of Second Ark's redundant modules were damaged, and the mathematical rate core was overloaded and damaged. There are currently no fatalities reported."

"Twenty-three percent of the third Ark's redundant modules were damaged, the ship's bow was slightly displaced toward the crystalline guide rail, and the mathematical rate core was overloaded and damaged. No deaths have been reported so far."

"The death toll in the Fourth Ark is fifty-nine..."

…

"Twelve people in the Seventeenth Ark died due to distortion... The body processing encountered major difficulties, 16% of the redundant modules were damaged, the crystalline guide rails experienced first-level displacement, and the mathematical rate core was overloaded and damaged."

"Revised report on the situation of the third ark, the hull has experienced serious repair fluctuations..."

"The total number of deaths is 2,113...the loss is not too great." Looking at the results compiled one by one, Weisruifan let out a long sigh, "But the condition of all the spaceships... It can’t be said to be optimistic. Even the least damaged ship has at least more than 10% redundant module damage and mathematical rate core overload damage. By the way, Ikarim, how are you?"

"I may not feel very good." Icarim lay on the ground with a wry smile. "At present, it seems that this is worth it, but I may need to rest for a long time."

"Wait a minute, Ikarim, the problem is very serious." Zhai Cahir pushed away Cavinriel and others and stepped forward, "After rashly unbinding the steady state, the invisible impact took away the strength of your body. Integrity and stability - I'm afraid if you look back and try it again, you will know that part of your body has become an empty shell missing the inner part. In this regard, you may be our first patient - Patient Zero."

"Mr. Chief Engineer, I beg you, can you please pay attention to your words?!" I'm afraid many people will still complain about Zhai Cahill's way of speaking in private communications - including Cavin Rui. you. During the inspection, Cavinrel's face did not look good.

"We can't restore the missing parts, at least not yet. We can only hope that this invisible injury will not continue to wear out and will not drag him down."

"How do you say that?" After hearing this shocking conclusion, ordinary Vidoville and Weisrifan were shocked at the same time. The injury to the chief scientist was the last thing they wanted to see, let alone such an inexplicable injury. There is no way to treat the damage.

"To explain, I'm afraid...it's caused by stacked paradoxes and deficiencies. We all know that any model can actually be divided into certain "parts", and there are still differences between these model blocks and the entire model. The degree of immunity to disturbance that these correlations allow all models to run stably is called the self-consistent coefficient.”

"When Ikarim forcibly separated the information base anchor point just now, the impact prevented some of the information groups that made up him from getting enough offset at that moment. Some parts may have been stripped off, and they... have It may have escaped into the void, and the "body tissue" left behind now... is just a combination of remnants of information that is not missing, and it relies on the self-consistent coefficient that still exists to maintain stability."

"In other words, this kind of imperfection is conceptual at present. At present, we have no way to repair it, or in other words, there is no reliable way to really solve the problem."

"We don't take the void seriously. It is far more severe than the constellation void. We don't have enough knowledge about the void. This..."

"Forget it, look on the bright side. At least our fleet escaped from death." Ikarim weakly leaned on Cavinriel's shoulder, forcing a wry smile to appear on his face.

"After the truth that the essence of the world is an information model was determined, our cognition has been brought back to the original point. This... I can feel it. We haven't fully understood the world with new knowledge, so why To the level that you have come to understand the events in the void..."

"According to predictions, we may all become a void noise made up of paradoxes. It's good to survive this way. We may experience more and more bizarre things in the future. Maybe they can show us Some, maybe even the theories and logic that have continued to develop are in the palm of our hands. Who knows how long it will take for us to-"

"Emergency! We have entered the interior of the suspected world of order. The order field is about to be forcibly closed! The impact has arrived!" The emergency prompt of the shipboard AI suddenly exploded in the spacecraft. Along with the alarm, there was a sound that could be clearly felt. The shock arrived.

"What's going on? Essendel, find out immediately!" Vidoville was startled and silently began to make the worst plan in his heart.

"...Detection...completed." Eisendel turned off the floating screen he had just opened, looked up at the two nervous consuls, his face was pale: "The world order information was sensed, and the information represented the height of the home world. Similar, the direction seems?! This... comes from all directions!"