The research ship was anchored at the edge of the air mass in outer space, several thousand kilometers away from the obvious material concentration zone. From here, the air mass looked like a mountain range of clouds and fog, quietly stretching across your entire field of vision. Inside the air mass, in the deepest part of the darkness, you could see continuous flashes of light, illuminating the uneven valleys and cracks in the air mass like veins. I stared in one direction for several minutes. Although it was impossible to determine the center of the air mass with the naked eye due to its enormous size, my intuition told me to focus my gaze in one direction.
"It should be there. It … might be looking for me."
Sandora glanced at me suspiciously. When she spoke, there was a hint of worry in her voice, "Ah Jun, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." I immediately smiled and patted Sandora's arm to reassure her. "I can be sure that I'm not affected in any way, but you also know that I sometimes have a special intuition. There's something there that keeps sending out signals. It looks like it wants to communicate with us, but … did the radar respond? "
I said the last sentence to the busy information control panel below. A senior assistant technician was monitoring the feedback from the universal radar. When he heard me, he immediately reported loudly, "Your Majesty, the radar didn't find anything! We didn't find any matter other than the normal air mass, nor did we find any energy reaction beyond the air mass itself! "
"In other words, the information it sent out was only received by me, and it was received through a vague intuition." I shrugged at Sandora. "What Tawil said is correct. Perhaps it's a kind of extraordinary matter that doesn't belong to the Empire's knowledge of matter and information."
"What did you find inside?" Elson looked at his God Servant, a tall and sturdy male Protoss with fiery red hair, dressed in red armor. Judging from these characteristics, he should be a soldier of a subsidiary god system outside of the four major god systems, perhaps a Fire God. When the tall and sturdy red-haired man heard Elson's question, he immediately stood up and replied loudly, "Yes, Master! We have explored the core of the gas cloud and found an abnormal spatial phenomenon as well as a suspected material block with a diameter of one kilometer. However, the target is highly active and may be in a certain critical state. We are worried about destroying its stability, so we did not act rashly. Now, we can confirm that the target is moving randomly within a radius of 200 kilometers from the center of the air mass, but we can't confirm whether it is under external control or has the ability to control itself. "
"It's a complete mystery. Even God can't see through it …" The elder sister mumbled. At that moment, a report came from the communicator. "Your Majesty! Task Force One had already met up with the Protoss Task Force! We saw that thing! "
After the research ship docked, Tawil sent an experienced team to contact the Protoss staff inside the gas cloud. Because they were not sure what the environment inside was like, and whether the hyperspace jump operation of the spacecraft would affect the "foreign objects", the team's work ship was driven by conventional power, and they had just arrived at their destination.
"Connect the image," Sandora said immediately.
The control hall of the research ship was the same as the control hall of most spaceships in the Empire. There was a set of super-large holographic equipment in the center of the research ship. Soon, the assistant technician transmitted the image of the field work team to us, and the situation inside the gas cloud appeared in front of us. In the image, dozens of autonomous robots and a few assistant technician wearing special protective light armor were carefully moving forward in the turbid fog. A team of Divine Servants was leading the way, and their target was a huge … ball in the distance.
Yes, a ball. We have been looking for it for many days, and we only found it today. It was actually a huge ball. According to the report of the Divine Servant, it was about one kilometer in diameter. Compared to the team that was carefully moving forward, it was already huge. From the image, the ball was not as manic as people had imagined, rushing around everywhere. On the contrary, it was quiet and … beautiful? Magnificent? Gorgeous? I couldn't tell. The shell of the ball seemed to be alive. Large clusters of colorful colors floated on the ball, fused, gradually changed, separated, and entered the next cycle. Such bright and constantly changing colors were very different from the cosmic dark spore that I had imagined. Speaking of which, I didn't know what a cosmic dark spore was, but the word suddenly popped out, and I felt it was very interesting, so I used it.
"We are very close. The shell of this thing is highly active, but the non-contact scanning device can't read any useful data, and all other non-contact devices can't affect the target. It is like a shadow, only visible, but not any information other than the spectrum. We still don't know whether it has a physical body or not," the assistant technician leading the team reported. At the same time, a staff wearing protective armor in the middle of the image waved his hand. It seemed that he was talking. "Your Majesty, the way the color changes on it follows a pattern, indicating that it is a logical man-made product. According to experience, this highly active and man-made shell will most likely react to physical 'contact.' Also, the staff of the Protoss used other methods to determine that the shell is in a certain critical state. Rashly touching it might result in unknown consequences. "
"How did you determine that this thing is in a critical state?"
I looked at 123's Servant curiously. Although I knew that the Protoss was stronger than the Xiling Empire in terms of overall strength, the Empire's scanning technology shouldn't be any weaker than the Protoss', maybe even slightly stronger. After all, both sides had their own specialties, and the Shiring Apostles were more proficient in scanning technology. But this time, how did the Protoss determine that the thing that could even hide from the most advanced radar of the Empire was in a critical state?
The red-haired Servant thought for a moment, then replied loudly, "Vice-captain's intuition!"
Me: "…"
Everyone: "…"
Ellson: "Cough cough, this squadron's vice-captain's intuition is indeed amazing. I know her. She has always relied on her intuition, and her accuracy rate is about eighty to ninety percent … When the radar is ineffective, only a woman's sixth sense can still be used, right?"
I couldn't help but turn my gaze to Miss Lin, who was lying on the table napping. "Sixth sense, it's your turn to speak."
"Use your hand to poke it. That thing is immune to any non-contact effects, right?" Miss Lin rolled her eyes. "If you can't drag it away with the gravitational field, and if you can't store it in the storage space, won't you have to use your hand to poke it sooner or later?"
Me: "…" Although what she said made sense, I felt that such a saying was more or less worth ridiculing.
In the end, we decided to directly touch the ball that possessed all sorts of strange properties. Even the Empire's scanning equipment and the Protoss's senses were unable to penetrate it. But considering the possible dangers, this task was handed over to the autonomous robots that were working together with the working group. The working group retreated several kilometers away and activated the protective shield of the working ship. They were also prepared to jump into the spatial folds at any moment to avoid any possible explosions. This wasn't because we were overly cautious or worrying for nothing. The main problem was that the ball was too unsettling. Would you just randomly pick up something from the roadside and eat it?
Alright, Sandora dares to …
The autonomous robots carefully approached the huge ball and touched it under the watchful eyes of hundreds of people. At this moment, many people's hearts were in their throats. The next second, the huge ball didn't let everyone down. The gorgeous colors on its surface that were constantly changing suddenly stopped. But just when many people thought that it was going to be a big explosion or a spatial collapse, or the ball breaking, or a bunch of little monsters and tentacles jumping out of the ball …
In the end, the thing didn't even let out a fart. It continued to pretend to be a chameleon.
The working group sent over the situation they had detected at the scene. "Confirmed that the target is responding to direct contact, but there are no further changes. The ball doesn't have any energy, gravitational, thermal, or magnetic properties detected. Apart from visual effects, we didn't find any properties generated by the target. Oh, there is one property. The detector has sent over a hardness report. It has confirmed that the shell of the ball is solid, and the surface material is probably equivalent to some kind of crystal. "
Sandora glanced at me. "Ah Jun, can you feel anything?"
I was the only one at the scene who could possibly be connected to the big sphere. That was why Shadora had asked me that question. However, when the color on the surface of the sphere had stopped, I hadn't felt anything, so I shook my head.
"Continue the test. If necessary, sacrifice a few autonomous robots to try," Sandora ordered concisely. So, the working group in front began a series of tests.
They began to let the autonomous robots directly collide with the ball. They released electromagnetic pulses at the ball at close range, tried to use gravity to affect the target, and shot various energy beams. Finally, they even used psionic energy and holy light. It wasn't completely ineffective. After being hit by psionic energy and holy light, which were high-level energies that were close to the origin of the ball, the shell of the ball showed signs of collapsing. This meant that the target could be destroyed, and it wasn't as strong as we thought. But other than knowing that the target could be destroyed, we didn't get any valuable information from the other tests.
The ball was a stubborn mute. It would rather die than tell us about its internal secrets.
"According to the collected data, the target's shell is solid. It has hardness and structural strength. It can be seen with the naked eye, and it can reflect light normally. But other than that, it has no mass, no radiation, and we can't scan its internal structure or identify its material composition. Because its mass is zero, it isn't even affected by gravity. It's a product that challenges common sense and violates the rules of the world." Sandora looked at the report sent by the working group. "It actually exists, but it lacks too many key attributes, like …"
"Like a damaged data package. It takes up space on the hard disk for no reason, but it can't be deleted or moved away. There's an icon, but we can't read the content," I said casually.
Sandora nodded. "Either it was' born 'like this, or it was damaged for some reason. I'm not talking about the physical damage, but the damage at the origin of the information level. After the damage, it didn't collapse, but survived in the real world."
"Both are possible." Sis nodded.
I thought about it and suddenly connected it to a point of knowledge that I had come into contact with before. "Why did I think of a black sun?"
"You mean a black celestial body caused by the missing key laws?" Sandora nodded slightly. "It's only slightly similar on the surface, but a black celestial body can't be observed by conventional methods, and it won't exchange information with anything in the current world. But the thing in front of us … we can see it with the naked eye, and we can feel its hardness through physical contact. So, it's not a black celestial body."
While we and Tarver's team of experts were still trying to figure out what was going on, the team at the front had already completed all the tests they could think of, including an autonomous robot flying at hundreds of times the speed of sound, crashing into the outer shell of the sphere. The impact left a huge gaping wound on the sphere's outer shell, which clearly showed that the material used by the target was not very advanced. But strangely, the object, which had no mass at all, did not move in the slightest after being hit by such a force. Well, after a series of tests, we learned more mysteries: the target could selectively ignore certain physical phenomena in the current world, such as the law of kinetic energy … In fact, there was nothing strange about it. The existence of the target itself was already challenging the world view.
"What the hell is this thing?" Looking at the messy data sent back by the working group, Sandora and I fell into deep thought. After a long while, I looked up to the sky and sighed. "What the hell is this thing?"
"You said it just now." Lin Xue rolled her eyes and looked at me.
"I want to go and see for myself." Realizing that the working group couldn't think of a better way to test it other than to blast the target into pieces, I finally couldn't sit still and stood up. "You guys wait here. I'll go over in my Void Form."
Sandora didn't say much this time. She knew that under the circumstances, there was no way to persuade me otherwise. Of course, she also knew that if I went over in my Void Form, I wouldn't be in any danger. But before I left, Icetis suddenly stood up and said, "Wait, I'll go with you."
"You? Why are you going with me? " Sandora looked at her bad friend, and then I didn't know what she was thinking. She tugged at my sleeve nervously. "You can't touch the food that has an owner."
"… You've really fallen …" The rogue goddess looked at Sandora, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "I'm the Protoss with the highest title here. This is the territory of the Gods. Now that your country's leader wants to explore in person, how can I not follow him?"
Sandora was speechless. In the end, she shrugged and said, "I can't help it. Recently, I suddenly feel that you are becoming more and more threatening."
Icetis originally wanted to drag me along with her, but Sandora's words made her stop. She blinked her eyes and looked at me as though she had discovered an interesting new continent. She even nodded and said, "You suddenly reminded me. My criteria for choosing a partner is to be able to fight, fight, and support the family. Based on the current situation, there aren't many who can beat me up head-on. Among them, I have to choose someone who can support the family, fight, and most importantly, be a man. Also …" As she said that, Icetis started to size me up. Her gaze was filled with an unbridled aura that only Sister Bing could have. It was as though she was choosing something in the market. "Also, in the long run, other than Father God and King Huron, I'm afraid that you are the best fighter in the entire Void … Congratulations, you've entered my shortlist!"
I: "…"
Everyone: "…"
Anyway, the scene was silent. Sister Bing's ability to say shocking things was on par with Shallow Shallow's. The difference was that Shallow Shallow's ability to say shocking things was because her brain was often unreliable. On the other hand, Sister Bing's ability to say shocking things was because although there was nothing wrong with her brain, there was something wrong with her worldview. She dared to say anything and disregarded normal morals. She casually said that in front of Sandora and the others. She even rolled her eyes as though the world had nothing to do with her. However, it made the people around her unable to react.
I was stunned. I thought about Sis Bing's words for a long time and realized that from a sociological point of view, it was half a confession. However, I observed her expression. She still looked as if she didn't care at all. I was a little stunned. I didn't know if she was joking or just saying it casually or if she didn't know what she was saying. Either way, she didn't seem to be serious.
"Wow, is my charm that great?" Icetis waved her hand in front of my eyes. "Are you shocked? Fine, fine, I was just saying it casually. Furthermore, even if I was serious, you are just a contestant who just got selected. There is no need to be so anxious … Hey, Sandora, I'll take your food away first? "
Then, before we could react, Sis Bing had already grabbed my arm and teleported us thousands of miles away (that's an adjective). We were right in front of the humongous round ball that couldn't be penetrated by anything.
"You are killing me." I looked at Icetis with a bitter face and complained through the mental connection. She said that she was just saying it casually. However, I have sufficient reason to believe that many people didn't just hear it casually. "If I'm optimistic, Sandora will kill me. If I'm not optimistic, she will team up with Shallow Shallow and Lin Xue to kill me …"
Icetis even whistled through the mental connection, "Well, life needs some passion. I haven't had a partner for tens of millions of years. Can't I just say it in front of that girl?"
"…"
I realized that I was speechless a lot today.
In order to quickly get out of this awkward speechlessness, I focused my attention on the stubborn and silent gigantic ball that was as colorful as a chameleon.
In the end, the biggest question in front of me was: What the hell is this!
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