The zither music passed through the empty space and the alloy body of the battleship, reaching everybody's ears, including Jing Jiu's.
The zither music was very moving, but it was not a music of this world. The rhythm was comfortable and bright, revealing a joyous feeling of a rainy night in spring; it was as mild as water and as precious as oil.
"I don't know what the song 'Leading the Romantic Night' is like, so I wrote one myself. Do you think it's similar?"
Shen Yunmai lifted his head and asked Jing Jiu.
There was no air in the universe, but his voice was like the music of the zither. It could be heard by the listener or the other party's awareness, regardless of the medium.
"I'm not sure," replied Jing Jiu.
The Young Master Li had played 'Leading the Romantic Night' many times at the Three-Thousand Nunnery in Chaotian. Lian Sanyue listened to it attentively, but Jing Jiu didn't pay much attention to it.
"Lian Sanyue's zither music at the Plum Meeting was probably like this. She's really unromantic."
Shen Yunmai went on sentimentally, "The Young Master Li is pitiful, and so is Lian Sanyue."
Jing Jiu retorted after a moment of silence, "You know nothing."
Shen Yunmai was neither angry nor mad. He said leisurely while stroking his temples, "I've read 'The Path Toward Heaven' a few times. The story is not new, but it's interesting. It's because your world is interesting to begin with."
Many people in the upper echelons, including Ran Handong, were well aware that this young master of an honorable status liked the old-fashioned stuff the most. His way of doing things was also quite old-fashioned, except that he was more crazy, casual, messy, decisive, and shameless. It was natural for him to be interested in Chaotian.
"It's because of the geological structure," said Jing Jiu.
What he meant was that Chaotian and the Federation of the Milky Way were similar in nature, except for the difference in the scenery and the people.
Shen Yunmai said with raised eyebrows, "Your primitive imagination and fear of the outside world are a bit stupid; but the sense of security brought by the self-enclosed world is something we don't have here."
Jing Jiu didn't like talking, save for a few people such as Zhao Layue. But he liked Shen Yunmai a lot, so he was willing to talk to him.
"There's Aoyama over there, and there's also Aoyama over here. As long as we don't look beyond the boundary, it feels about the same."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yunmai was intrigued. He asked with a gleam in his eyes, "The old guys said that there are at least two or three sects in Chaotian that are as powerful as Aoyama, like Cloud-Dream Mountain and Guocheng Temple. But according to your book, have you dealt with all of them?"
Jing Jiu uttered "hmm".
Shen Yunmai sighed with emotion and said, "You have done what the old guys couldn't. You are indeed much stronger than them."
Jing Jiu said, "Yes, I am the strongest."
Even the coldest universe could not be colder than this sentence. If it were someone else, he might have opened his mouth and did not know how to react. However, Shen Yunmai seemed to take it for granted. He was completely suppressed by Jing Jiu during the battle in the building of the Military Headquarters, and he did not have any chance to take advantage of the situation. Of course, Jing Jiu was the strongest in the universe.
"That's why the old guys decided to hand over this world to you. However, you should be aware that they gave you the right of authority because they hoped that you could do something for them. The future leader of the humans has to do something for the humans; it's no different from doing business. "
Shen Yunmai's hand left the zither, but the strings of the zither were still bouncing, giving off a pleasant sound.
The dim light of the distant permanent star fell on the strings of the zither, turning into fainter broken glows.
"I'm just going there to take a look," said Jing Jiu.
"The Jiali Star Region is not the destination. The Sea of Dark Matter is where you are needed. It's very dangerous there … and you might die there."
Shen Yunmai laughed heartily.
His smile was a bit strange, like that of a clown with lipstick. However, it was not a curse, but a joyful and expectant smile.
Jing Jiu knew that Shen Yunmai had heard the conversation between him and Hua Xi. Jing Jiu recalled what the young priest had said by the hot spring a few days ago. Shen Yunmai had been thinking about life and death since he was five years old, but he hadn't found the solution. As a result, he had become like this.
Jing Jiu looked at Shen Yunmai and said earnestly, "I won't."
Shen Yunmai said more earnestly, "Everybody will die."
Jing Jiu didn't want to repeat the meaningless discussion, so he asked, "What's the matter?"
The remaining heavenly demons in the Jiali Star Region had been wiped out; but why didn't the Central Star Fleet return to the Main Planet Region but wait for Jing Jiu here?
"The fleet will take you to carry out a new mission. I have to give you some information about the Sea of Dark Matter in advance."
Shen Yunmai took out an object and handed it to Jing Jiu, saying, "Less than five people in the Federation of the Milky Way are qualified to read this information. You have to be careful."
…
…
The Scorching-Sun Battleship sped up. It didn't take long before it joined the Central Star Fleet along with a few other battleships.
It was impossible to see the landscape of the mountains in the mountains. As they came to the fleet, the tens of thousands of burning flying swords turned into tens of thousands of bright stars, and the universe became the moving background.
The peaceful and stable sea of stars was boring. Jing Jiu stopped looking at the scenery outside the window and started reading the object given to him by Shen Yunmai.
A large amount of data poured down on the light screen like a waterfall. Innumerable complicated three-dimensional diagrams and microscopic images flashed incessantly, all of which were related to the Sea of Dark Matter.
The Federation of the Milky Way kept the information about the Sea of Dark Matter strictly. Even the hidden network didn't have too much of it. This was the first time Jing Jiu had seen it.
The Sea of Dark Matter was the ocean of dark matter, which had existed in the universe for more than one hundred thousand years.
The dark energy swallowed the galaxy slowly and turned all the lifeforms it encountered into monsters.
The distant ancient civilization had been destroyed in this catastrophe.
Now that the civilization had recovered, this was the most urgent problem to be solved.
It was ridiculous and despairing that the humans knew very little about the dark matter even though they had studied it for many years.
There were two guesses about the dark matter.
One of them was that the dark matter was a kind of weak force particle or a slow neutrino. The problem was that neither the distant ancient civilization nor the current Federation of the Milky Way had been able to capture or observe these tiny particles. The Federation of the Milky Way had spent a great deal of resources to build the strong magnetic binding accelerator around the nebula more than ten years ago, but it hadn't discovered anything yet, much to the disappointment of the scientists and the populace.
The other theory was that the dark matter or the dark energy was an existence that had nothing to do with the physical rules of the main universe. The human brain structure and logic were based on the physical rules of the main universe, so they had no way to understand the dark matter or the dark energy. However, this theory was like a theme that often appeared in the science fiction. It seemed sensible, but it was utterly meaningless.
As such, the humans could only learn about the Sea of Dark Matter indirectly through those living beings and monsters that had been infected by the dark matter.
The materials given to him by Shen Yunmai included the history of the Sea of Dark Matter and the relevant research results of the scientific circle, including those monsters.
Those grotesque, dark and gloomy monsters had some interesting names, which seemed to be words taken from the classics.
It didn't take long for Jing Jiu to finish reading these materials.
His line of sight fell on the encrypted file at the end of the materials, remaining silent.
Only five people in the Federation of the Milky Way were qualified to know this secret.
That secret was a city.
…
…
Jing Jiu walked to the window and looked at the stars in the sky.
The Central Star Fleet had already arrived at the edge of the galaxy and was on its way to a farther place.
There was no twisting passage here, so it would take seventeen days to accelerate.
The speed of the battleships grew faster and faster. The stars that could be seen clearly at the moment were the lights at the end of the battleships; the real stars had already disappeared behind them.
The alarm suddenly rang out and then disappeared. The scene in front of the fleet and a few lines of words appeared on the light screen.
Three mining ships had appeared in front of the fleet.
Hundreds of laser guns shot out at the same time, emitting a bright light beam.
It was unclear which mining company the three mining ships belonged to, but they turned into green smoke and dissipated in the vast space.
The people on the mining ships were all dead.
The route of the fleet was broadcasted to the whole galaxy. For some reason, those mining ships didn't evade the fleet in advance. As such, they had no choice but to suffer such a fate.
Tens of thousands of battleships were accelerating. It was impossible to change the course or decelerate; in other words, it would be a waste of a great deal of resources.
Everything in front of the passage of the Central Star Fleet would be destroyed.
The civilization as a whole was moving forward, and any individual blocking its way would be crushed.
Faced with tens of thousands of battleships, even the swordsmen in the Inherited Night State and Jing Jiu in the Federation of the Milky Way had no choice but to evade them, to say nothing of those few mining ships.
Jing Jiu was well aware of this, but he thought of Zong Lizi's father.
The mining ships invested in by that professor had probably disappeared for the same reason.
This was a trivial matter for the universe, but it was different for the girl with a terminal illness.
…
…
Twenty-seven standard days later, the Central Star Fleet arrived at the edge of the galaxy.
It was said that this place was the place where the distant ancient civilization had started. It was an empty graveyard at the moment, so dark that it made people feel depressed.
Tens of thousands of battleships were waiting in the dark space. They were the Star Chain Fleet.
The two fleets joined together and turned into countless stars, representing the human civilization glowing in the universe.
The Federation of the Milky Way had no intention of fighting the Sea of Dark Matter; it was merely a rehearsal for the plan to seal off the Sea of Dark Matter.
The Scorching-Sun Battleship slowed down along with the Star Fleet. It became stationary four hours and thirty-seven minutes later.
A dark permanent star hung in the distant space in Silence, on which some flames could be vaguely seen. The surface of the star was covered with a layer of solidified ash, as if it would be extinguished at any moment.
This place was the edge of the galaxy and the edge of the Sea of Dark Matter. The permanent star was the evidence.
There was a planet on the dark permanent star, on which was a city of the distant ancient civilization.
It was the place Jing Jiu intended to go to.
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