Five hundred years had passed since the discovery of the Level 2 light energy civilization's spacecraft.
During this period, Yan Xia had gone into hibernation several times, and the cumulative time he was awake did not exceed five years.
Most of the times he woke up were due to the Hundred-Eyed Race.
Colonizing a civilization thoroughly is not something that can be accomplished in a short time; it is a process that takes an extremely long time. According to Ella's calculations, it would take exactly 500 years for the Hundred-Eyed Race.
This time, Yan Xia's awakening was not related to the Hundred-Eyed Race.
Instead, it was because their civilization had entered a whole new level.
The controlled nuclear fusion device had been iterated, and after mastering the antimatter cannon, the development of the antimatter-matter annihilation energy source was next on the agenda.
This was an even longer process than controlled nuclear fusion, because the energy produced by antimatter-matter annihilation is higher, and it requires the upgrading of various other industrial chains to truly become a device capable of mass production.
Now, Ella had completed the technology.
The special metal on the surface of that spacecraft was used.
After Ella's research, it was found that this metal is an alloy combined at the quark level, and its nature is not entirely metallic but a combination of metal and stone.
Its half-life is 1.7 billion years, with a density of 24.10 g/cm³, a Mohs hardness of 15, a melting point of 87,000 degrees Celsius, and a terrifying strength of 14,127 MPa, meaning it can withstand 144 tons of force per square centimeter.
The only drawback is its high density, which affects the speed of the spacecraft.
However, all of this is just basic knowledge.
What truly shocked Yan Xia were four words.
No charge.
This Level 2 civilization had evidently been studying the influence of magnetism on objects, and by removing the charge, magnetism could no longer exert Lorentz force on the object.
This indicated that the wars of the Level 2 civilization involved the four fundamental forces.
They used the fundamental forces as weapons and also defended against them.
It took Ella 420 years to master the manufacturing of this metal, and then she applied it in various fields.
The Hope underwent a complete transformation.
After putting on his spacesuit, Yan Xia walked out of the Hope. From the outside, the originally black Hope had turned into a bright silver color, and the entire spacecraft seemed to be made of countless mirrors pieced together.
The entire rear part of the Hope had been dismantled and replaced due to the modifications.
A robot passing by Yan Xia suddenly turned around and said to him, "Yan Xia, I'll send a car to pick you up and take you to the factory. We're waiting for you there to witness the incredible progress we've made in the past 500 years."
The voice belonged to Ella.
Yan Xia nodded and then looked towards where the spacecraft was located.
It should have been a ruin buried in sand and dirt.
After 500 years of development, it had become a gigantic city with skyscrapers everywhere, neon lights, and bustling nightlife, making it seem no different from Earth in Yan Xia's eyes.
The difference was that this city had a more cyberpunk feel.
Not only were there roads on the ground, but some roads also crisscrossed between buildings 2,000 meters high, and even at altitudes of tens of thousands of meters, forming a complex network of roads.
These vehicles had no wheels and used magnetic levitation, hovering up to 300 meters above the ground.
The city was filled with light everywhere.
Huge billboards, holographic projections, vehicle lights, and the lights from countless homes all blended together, illuminating the entire city as if it were daylight.
The inhabitants of this city were not humans but the Hundred-Eyed Race and robots.
"No need, I'll just take the maglev train."
"I want to see this city."
Yan Xia wanted to experience the prosperity, perhaps because it had been too long, or perhaps because he was getting old. If he didn't watch the movies Ella made and so on, he would almost forget what Earth looked like.
Walking into the city, there were many semicircular domes where various Earth plants were grown.
The Hundred-Eyed Race was everywhere on the streets.
Wherever Yan Xia went, the Hundred-Eyed Race would disperse.
Through the real-time translation provided by Ella's system, Yan Xia could understand their emotions and language.
Fear.
Curiosity.
Admiration.
Just like humans, the Hundred-Eyed Race, as highly intelligent creatures, had complex emotions.
These viscous creatures weighing three tons sometimes expressed their emotions even more vividly than humans, perhaps due to their many eyes.
The Hundred-Eyed Race could see more colors than humans, and more colors allowed them to have richer artistic expressions. Art is one of the foundations of complex emotions.
The only thing missing in the entire city was noise.
The city was so quiet that it was a bit scary, after all, the planet had no atmosphere.
Walking through the busiest commercial street, there was a square with a lava pool in the center.
Yan Xia took a 1,200-meter-high elevator to the top of a skyscraper, where there was a giant platform.
A single layer of metal track connected one end of the platform to the other, and a 6-meter-tall and 8-meter-wide bullet-shaped train arrived silently, its large bulb at the front flashing briefly to indicate its arrival.
The train slowed down from a speed of 1,000 kilometers per hour to a stop.
The huge door opened, and Yan Xia walked inside.
There were no seats in the spacious cabin, which was filled with the Hundred-Eyed Race. Soon, the train started moving, leaving the city and entering a desolate area.
Here, Yan Xia could see the scenery of giant semicircular glass domes and artificial mountains, each dome covering at least 10 square kilometers and filled with Earth plants.
And around these artificial mountains were more alien plants, growing vigorously with mostly bright colors, some even emitting a faint glow.
Half an hour later, Yan Xia arrived at another city.
This city looked more like an industrial zone, with factories everywhere, no entertainment, no residences, just countless mechanical parts.
As soon as Yan Xia got off the train, a robot came over.
"Follow me, Yan Xia."
Yan Xia and the robot took a special elevator placed on a stone platform.
But this elevator didn't go up; it went down.
After passing through about 100 meters of soil, Yan Xia's eyes lit up.
This was a circular place like a giant stadium, but much larger, with a diameter of 15 kilometers, and the elevator was located in the center of the circle.
Yan Xia looked down and saw a primeval rainforest.
Only a real botanist would discover that these trees did not belong to any known species on Earth, as they were created by Ella through gene editing to be Earth-like plants.
After descending another 4,700 meters, they reached the ground level of the underground space, which was a white hall. In the hall, there were doors of various colors in all directions, with Chinese characters indicating the destinations.
Walking through the door, there was a long, pipe-like corridor.
There was no need to walk; instead, they were transported by a moving walkway. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the corridor were all screens, playing videos of various Earth animals.
After reaching the end, Yan Xia walked through another square door, 200 meters long and 40 meters high. Ten minutes later, when he reached the end, he suddenly looked up and saw the starry sky.
This place was inside a natural crater with a diameter of several kilometers.
The bottom was a metal platform filling the entire crater.
Almost all the rock walls of the crater were blocked, and there were numerous giant mechanical arms, each tens of meters long, distributed in various places.
Yan Xia was led into a huge floating room protruding from the rock wall.
Inside the room were already over a dozen members of the Hundred-Eyed Race.
They held extremely high positions in their race, including rulers, top scientists, and military leaders...
After Yan Xia sat down in the front, a section of the platform began to descend, revealing a deep and vast cave, and a giant wall rose up, blocking the view of the mechanical arms and even the entire hall.
Ella appeared.
The glass in front of Yan Xia turned into a display screen.
"Yan Xia, please watch my demonstration."