Chapter 319: Brother Li Will Examine Your Body

A gravitational acceleration fifty times that of Earth was nearly the limit for a main-sequence star.

Main-sequence stars are those in the primary phase of their life cycle—ordinary stars that generate light and heat through nuclear fusion.

The Milky Way Galaxy certainly has many extremely massive stars, with the largest reaching millions of times the mass of Earth.

But these celestial bodies all had one thing in common: great mass, but even greater volume.

Take the Sun, for example. Its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, while its volume is 1.3 million times greater. As a result, even a colossal star like the Sun has a surface gravitational acceleration of only about twenty-eight times that of Earth.

There were, of course, many stars larger than the Sun, but since their volume was even greater, their surface gravitational acceleration was actually lower than the Sun’s.

A surface gravitational acceleration exceeding fifty times that of Earth… This meant the Warm Star that Qing Lan spoke of could almost certainly not be a main-sequence star.

Combined with a surface temperature of about 10,000 K, it became obvious what kind of celestial body the Warm Star was.

A White Dwarf Star.

A White Dwarf Star is the final evolutionary state of a medium-mass star—one with a total mass of less than about eight times that of the Sun.

As the fusion fuel in the core of such a star dwindles, it can no longer withstand its own immense pressure. The core material is ultimately compressed to an extremely high density while the outer layers are gradually blown away, leaving only the core behind.

This core would be roughly the size of Earth, but its mass could be anywhere from one hundred thousand to several hundred thousand times greater.

Its surface temperature would be extremely high, a remnant of the heat from the original star’s core. Due to its incredible mass and small size, its surface gravitational acceleration would be immense, capable of reaching tens of thousands to a hundred thousand times that of Earth.

Only such an extreme celestial body could match the characteristics of the Warm Star described by Qing Lan.

‘So this strange Gravity Life form actually comes from a White Dwarf Star… The creations of this Cosmos are truly wondrous…’

Surveying the surrounding space, Li Qingsong quickly located a White Dwarf Star approximately 19.6 light-years away. In his star charts, it was designated Draco WT.

The next closest one was over fifty light-years away.

In that case… it was almost certain that the home Qing Lan spoke of was Draco WT.

‘Well now, a Gravity Life form is truly something else. To sneak away from home and wander off, you ran nearly twenty light-years. No wonder you can’t find your way back.’

‘But then again, this thing can keep up with my fleet at eighty percent the speed of light, so covering twenty light-years seems reasonable enough.’

Glancing at the docile Qing Lan hiding in the gravity chamber, an idea formed in Li Qingsong’s mind.

This peculiar Gravity Life form possessed some kind of anti-gravity ability and had immense scientific value. It could be crucial for his goal of unifying the forces of gravity and ascending to a Gravity Civilization.

His ship’s armor and Energy Shield were completely useless against it, meaning he had no way to restrain it. If it decided to flee, he couldn’t stop it.

This Gravity Life form calling itself Qing Lan was unworldly—very foolish and naive.

That being the case…

A smile spread across Li Qingsong’s face. He operated the electromagnetic communication device and sent another message. “Qing Lan, I am Li Qingsong, the Supreme Leader of the Blutuk Civilization. According to the customs of my people, you may call me Brother Li.”

“Brother Li would like to discuss something with you.”

“You see, you snuck away from home and have been gone for so long, traveling so far. Your seven fathers, six mothers, and many other relatives must be very worried about you.”

“Deep Space is cold, there’s no energy to replenish yourself, and that ‘pulling force’ is so strong. It’s really not a good place to be.”

A sorrowful message came from Qing Lan. “Sob… I miss my fathers and mothers so much… I want to go home…”

“Take a look. Is this your home?”

Li Qingsong converted some data on Draco WT, gathered by the Deep Space telescope array, into an electromagnetic message and sent it to Qing Lan.

Qing Lan’s mood suddenly became ecstatic. “Yes, yes, that’s it! That’s my home! My fathers and mothers are all there!”

Li Qingsong said, “We of the Blutuk Civilization are a benevolent people. We’d like to do a good deed and take you home.”

“It’s just… your home isn’t on our fleet’s current course. Taking you back would cost us a great deal of energy and time. Sigh. The losses would be significant… Tsk, tsk. It’s a difficult situation, truly difficult.”

Li Qingsong put on a troubled expression, and Qing Lan’s tone filled with hope and desperation. “Brother Li, please, will you take me home? I… I’ll repay you! I see your fleet has a lot of transport missions. I can help you carry things! I’m very strong! I can do anything.”

“Just moving things… that’s not very useful to us. Sigh, it’s a dilemma, a real dilemma.”

Qing Lan sounded like it was about to cry. “Brother Li, please, I’m begging you. As long as you agree to take me home, I’ll do anything you ask.”

“Sigh… How about this.”

Li Qingsong’s tone suddenly shifted. “For a technological civilization like ours, your very form of existence is rather interesting. If you’d let Brother Li here give you a thorough physical examination to gather some scientific data, that might just be enough to compensate for our losses.”

“Okay! Okay! No problem! I’ll cooperate completely!”

“It’s just… this physical exam will be different from what happened before.”

“To examine and study your body’s structure, we’ll need to use a lot of lasers. Those laser beams will be very high-energy, very thick, and very large. Can you endure it?”

“Ah?”

Inside the gravity chamber, Qing Lan’s body of green light and shadow suddenly trembled, as if terrified.

Clearly, the earlier experience of being bombarded with Laser Guns, Laser Cannons, and high-energy particle radiation beams had left it with some very bad memories.

It fell silent for a long time and did not reply.

Li Qingsong was in no hurry at all. He said calmly, “Brother Li can promise you this: after each research session, I’ll create a special environment that suits your needs. The temperature will be just like your homeworld. As for the grav… I mean, the ‘pulling force,’ well, Brother Li can’t make it too low, but I’ll do my best to reduce it so you can rest and recover properly.”

“How low can the ‘pulling force’ get?”

“Like this.”

Li Qingsong cranked the high-gravity simulator to its maximum setting, reaching about a thousand times Earth’s gravity. “Brother Li will build a new device just for you. The ‘pulling force’ on that one will be about half of what it is now.”

“Ah, Qing Lan, it’s not that Brother Li doesn’t want to help you. It’s just that this is difficult for Brother Li, too.”

“Sigh. Just think about it carefully.”

After a long while, Qing Lan finally replied, “Brother Li, I can endure it. I agree.”