Chapter 313 Draco YC

Through 400 years of continuous, all-out research, Li Qingsong finally finished completely digesting and absorbing the technological data that the Harville Civilization and Black Mountain Civilization had accumulated over thousands, even tens of thousands, of years.

Moreover, the collision and fusion of his own technological system with the two foreign ones allowed Li Qingsong to advance even further, reaching a level that surpassed any of the three on their own.

This even allowed Li Qingsong to catch a faint glimpse of the path toward the next major stage of civilizational advancement.

The unification of different fundamental forces is the sole criterion for measuring a civilization’s level.

Unifying electricity and magnetism results in an electromagnetic civilization.

Unifying the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces results in an Electroweak Civilization.

Unifying the Electroweak Force and the Strong Core Force results in a Strong Core Civilization.

And now, based on the collision and fusion of these three technological systems, a vague, high-level, and directional idea about how to unify Gravity had finally begun to form in Li Qingsong’s mind.

Gravity was the most unique of the four fundamental forces.

Even now, Li Qingsong could only describe Gravity using one dedicated theory, while the other three fundamental forces were described by a completely different one.

It was like having four cabbages in a patch. If you cultivated them using the standard methods, three of them would grow strong and healthy, but the last one would inexplicably wither and turn yellow.

‘We’re all cabbages here, so why are you so different? Why can’t you just grow properly?’

With no other choice, Li Qingsong had to develop an entirely different cultivation method just for this last cabbage to allow it to continue growing.

‘But why is this last cabbage so special? Why does it insist on being an exception?’

Originally, Li Qingsong had no idea. But now, he had a faint inkling of a guess.

‘Perhaps, compared to the other three fundamental forces, Gravity is more fundamental…’

If the other three fundamental forces were like stainless steel basins, bowls, and cups, then unifying them would be like discovering their raw material. It would be the realization that no matter their shape—basin, bowl, or cup—they are all essentially stainless steel. In that case, Gravity was perhaps the “iron.”

It was more fundamental, closer to the source, which was why it was so unique.

But for now, this was merely a conjecture. To actually implement this idea and achieve unification, Li Qingsong would first need to make significant advancements in both mathematics and fundamental physics.

He would need to discover more mathematical tools and develop more theories before it could become a possibility.

This was not a task that could be accomplished overnight, so he could take his time. For now, with the technological data of two civilizations fully absorbed, Li Qingsong had something else he could do right away.

It was time to apply this technology, to convert it into combat strength and industrial might!

Here in the vast emptiness of space, Li Qingsong decided to give his fleet a complete overhaul!

Every single ship—be it a Space-Air Carrier or a small Warship, a transport vessel or an industrial craft—every last one of them would be melted down and rebuilt. Not a single one would be spared!

All of them would be replaced with brand-new models!

These new ships would be equipped with Variable Energy Shields, ultra-high-speed ion thrusters, composite high-efficiency fusion engines, a new type of Strong Core Armor, a completely redesigned hull structure, and much more. They would be utterly different from their predecessors!

Supported by the vast material reserves of the Flying Star, and with a foundation of several hundred giant Space-Air Carriers and thousands of industrial vessels, a massive construction project began.

One after another, brand-new Warships—ships that most Strong Core Civilizations would consider priceless, ships that had never even seen a single battlefield—were unceremoniously dismantled by Li Qingsong.

Anything recyclable was tossed into the furnaces to be melted down. What couldn’t be recycled was loaded onto junk ships for temporary storage, waiting for the right moment to be jettisoned into a star, utterly destroying every last trace.

On one side, ships of all sizes were constantly being destroyed; on the other, a steady stream of new ones emerged.

After several more centuries of frenzied work, Li Qingsong finally completed the project.

By now, with the exception of a few junk ships, Li Qingsong had upgraded and replaced every single vessel, from Warships and civilian ships to even the massive residential habitats.

The massive Flying Star’s radius had now shrunk to a mere 80 kilometers, its mass reduced by over 80%.

After setting a course for the junk ships and letting them depart the fleet under automated control toward a nearby star, Li Qingsong finally gave the command he had been waiting for.

“Fleet… accelerate!”

And so, from its existing cruising speed of 55% the speed of light, Li Qingsong’s massive fleet once again began to accelerate.

Its acceleration reached 0.8 meters per second squared!

At this rate, the fleet accelerated for a full three years before ceasing its burn.

The fleet’s velocity had now reached 80% the speed of light—240,000 kilometers per second!

Not even the previous Intelligent Mechanical Calamity had achieved such a high velocity.

At such an immense velocity, aside from the color-shifting of stars caused by redshift and blueshift, Li Qingsong clearly perceived another change.

The effects of time dilation were becoming increasingly obvious.

After a quick calculation, Li Qingsong determined that the ratio between the flow of time inside the fleet and the flow of time in the outside universe had reached approximately one to one-point-six.

In other words, for every 100 minutes that passed in the outside universe, only 60 minutes went by for the fleet.

This profound law of physics presented itself to Li Qingsong in a directly observable way.

Looking back, star after star shone with a faint blue tint.

With the aid of a telescope, Li Qingsong finally located the star that was too faint to be seen with the naked eye.

It was the Sun.

Now, after this long voyage across an immense expanse of time, the distance between Li Qingsong and the Sun had reached over 900 light-years, and it continued to grow.

Ahead, another yellow-white star was already visible to the naked eye, its distance now only about 100 light-years.

In Li Qingsong’s star charts, that star was designated Draco YC.

It also had another identity.

A former testing ground of the Purple Moon Civilization.

It was there that the Purple Moon Civilization had conducted a series of experiments on the Electric Calamity’s companions—experiments the Electric Calamity described as humiliating and brutal. This was what led it to harbor such intense malice toward “orthodox” intelligent civilizations.

It was also at the edge of that star system that the Harville Civilization had secretly “stolen” the Electric Calamity, an act that triggered the entire chain of subsequent events.

And now, Li Qingsong had come here as well.

He hoped to find clues the Purple Moon Civilization might have left behind, which would help him determine their final destination.