Hao Ren was stunned when he heard the MDT's report. "Drone cluster? What did they find? "
"A group of drones of the L-B-35 exploration sequence found traces suspected to be left by the primitive hyperdrive on the cruise route. Judging from the degree of dissipation, it was left decades ago."
Hao Ren suddenly became serious. "Decades ago? Are you sure? "
"All the information returned by the drone cluster is strictly calculated, it is unlikely to be wrong," the MDT said as it projected the detailed information of the drone cluster. "The drone cluster thinks that we may have found the surviving exiles — the kind that still retains a high level of civilization."
Hao Ren looked at the image the MDT projected with rapt attention. He saw a vast expanse of space, strange nebulae and cosmic landscapes shining in the distance, and between these stars was a dark, distorted discontinuity. The discontinuity itself had no color, but it was like a lens that changed the surrounding light, so it was observable. The MDT explained the phenomenon on the screen. "The primitive hyperdrive propels the spacecraft by changing the curvature of space, but the technology is not mature enough to restore the curvature of space near the beginning and end of the journey. So after they enter or leave hyperspace, they will leave distorted lenses like this. Usually, these lenses will only dissipate after tens to hundreds of years."
Hao Ren remembered that he had seen several advantages and disadvantages of the primitive hyperdrive in other technical materials, such as the "lens trail" mentioned by the MDT. He also knew that in many low-level civilizations, people would track the target spacecraft based on the distorted lenses that had just formed. Mercenaries and pirates were good at this. But the others at the scene probably did not know much about this.
Lily was surprised when she heard the MDT's explanation. "Wow, if these low-tech spaceships run around, won't the universe become a sieve?"
"The universe is big, and this primitive engine can't do anything," the MDT shook its body. "Isn't there a ring of space junk around the earth? Humans are still launching spaceships into the sky. As long as you can use more powerful technology to solve the mess left by the predecessors, all long-term problems will not be a problem. This is a short-sighted way of thinking, but many civilizations have come this far. However, the lens trail caused by primitive engines was indeed very troublesome. Therefore, civilizations that had just developed FTL navigation would usually set some rules. For example, no spaceship was allowed to enter hyperspace around their mother planet. They would only be allowed to accelerate after they had reached a certain safe distance using a sub-light speed engine. In any case, they have to find a way. "
Hao Ren was quite knowledgeable about this, so he was only concerned about the lens phenomenon that remained in space. This was exciting evidence. If these trails were really produced by artificial engines, it meant that at least a few decades ago, there were still relatively advanced surviving civilizations in this universe!
Unlike civilizations like Holletta and Zorm, which were in a state of extinction or extinction, these lenses were left behind by a race that could still travel at the speed of light and move in deep space!
Hao Ren suddenly felt a sense of excitement. He asked in a slightly urgent tone, "Did you only find these traces? Can you figure out where they went? "
"So far, only these traces have been found. The L-B-35 exploration sequence is a fleet that has just completed the construction of the outpost and is active millions of light-years away. They have not had time to carry out large-scale proliferation in the local area, so we can collect very little information. But more of the fleet has jumped from the nearest support node. After expanding the search range, we should be able to find some clues. Now we should hope that these lens trails are the traces of jumping out of hyperspace, not jumping in. "
Nangong Wuyue could not respond to such a profound question. "Why?"
Hao Ren explained, "If they are the trails left by jumping out of hyperspace, it means that those spaceships are currently traveling at sub-light speed or lower, which can be directly observed in the physical universe and is easy to track. But if they are the trails left by jumping into hyperspace, those spaceships are not sure where they are now. They may have been traveling at the speed of light for decades. The search range will be astronomical, and they may not be able to find them."
Nangong Wuyue thought for a moment and lowered her head to continue eating. "I'm just asking. You guys continue …"
Hao Ren snorted and turned to the MDT a little worriedly. "Which area is the L exploration sequence active in? Are there any traces left by the First Born or other guardians around it? "
The MDT floated up and down. "A star area that has just been included in the exploration plan. Originally, the drones were sent to find the original coordinates of Inferno. This time, it was an accidental discovery. There are no signs of First Born activity there, and there are no other ruins of destroyed civilization. It can be considered a safe desert. If the exiles escape in that direction, they have a high chance of survival — provided that they are not tracked by the black warships of the guardian giants. By the way, should we arrange for spaceships now? Let's go and see what's going on? "
Hao Ren stood up without saying a word. As he moved, he shouted, "Let's go, we can't delay this matter."
Lily looked up from the bowl of noodle soup, one hand still holding her noodle drumstick. She looked pitiful. "Can you wait for me to finish eating?"
Hao Ren said, "… Just eat your food. I'm not that desperate to stop you from eating."
The husky maiden's mood immediately brightened up. The girl's mood was really easy to read.
The MDT quickly prepared the spacecraft, so no one wasted any time. After eating, they set off for the drone frontier. This time, the people who came along were unprecedentedly neat. Because it happened when everyone was free, everyone present came along, including the fish and the cat, and even Nangong Wudi and his wife.
Hao Ren remembered that Nangong Wudi and his wife were still running the family restaurant. He asked, "I'm going to wait there for at least three days, whether there is any progress in the drone cluster or not. Is your restaurant okay?"
Ayesha smiled and shook her head. "Business will slow down after winter. Most of the people in the Southern Suburbs are old people. It's snowing these two days, so the restaurant sometimes has less than ten customers. Let's take a break for a few days."
Hao Ren thought it made sense. The Nangong family's restaurant was located in the middle of nowhere in the Southern Suburbs. Usually, it was like an old cadre activity center, and the people there were old men and women who could chat for a plate of peanuts for a long time. It was not a profitable business, so Nangong Wudi and his wife could take a break for a few days.
But they did not know if going out with Hao Ren was considered a 'break' …
Nangong Wudi smiled. "More importantly, we want to get some exercise too. We feel bad for staying at home all day and watching our children running around outside."
Vivian immediately said, "You can say that, but don't take me out of the group of children."
Lily looked at Vivian with a weird expression. "It's not easy for someone to say that you are young, and you still don't like it?"
The idle people began to chat on the bridge. Hao Ren saw that there was no topic that interested him, so he took the opportunity to connect to the database of the drone cluster, intending to check on the situation of the drone cluster at the destination.
He still remembered the scene when he released the first batch of drones two years ago. At that time, there were only a few dull, coffin-like primitive modules. They set off from the Petrachelys and plunged into the cold and vast universe like ignorant worker bees. They began to serve as Hao Ren's eyes and ears to understand the cold world after the disaster. At that time, the drone cluster was so weak and isolated that Hao Ren could hardly imagine how far they could develop in two years. He even wondered if the lonely drones would encounter danger at the beginning of the mission, and if they could not be deployed before they were consumed for various reasons. He had made a lot of backup plans and backup plans for this.
Like many new employees, he did not have much confidence in his ability at that time.
But today, those 'worker bees' had become an extremely powerful force in this universe. Hao Ren's arrangement that day had proved to be one of the wisest decisions he had made.
He opened the star map, only to discover that countless light spots that represented information nodes were glittering within the range of millions of lightyears. Different from the natural nebulae that were randomly distributed and chaotic, those light spots were neat, dense, and orderly, forming an enormous matrix with a subtle sense of symmetry and regularity.
This was an empire: the drone empire.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
