章 57: Chapter 57: Hydra V, 100 Years of Dominance
Hydra Constellation.
Kuka and his team finally reach the battlefield where the Spirit Fleet once fought, and some remnants of destroyed warships still float in space.
Years ago, he witnessed the collapse of Barnard's Star, and they have no way of knowing the situation in Proxima Centauri or the Hundred-Eyed Star.
However, they dare not return. If the purple thornbush-like civilization is victorious, returning would be like walking into a trap.
If the Federation wins, then returning would mean they failed their mission.
So, they can only continue exploring...
Here, they have discovered the existence of the Wall.
Within a string of asteroids, there is a small, spinning platform with a diameter of about 5 kilometers.
This platform is neither a warship nor a command center; it seems more like a large device.
Currently, the device is empty, with no signs of life.
"This is a coordinate anchor!"
After investigation, Kuka finally determines the function of this device.
Investigation!
It constantly emits a wave to probe the surroundings, and this wave is composed of entangled qubits. Another entangled qubit, stored in the anchor, can detect objects within a 1-light-year radius without delay.
Although quantum entanglement is truly random, this probing method is not as sophisticated as quantum communication.
It detects changes in quantum degrees of freedom. If a civilization observes and measures the qubits transmitted by the anchor, it will disrupt the entanglement between the qubits and the anchor, allowing the anchor to physically detect the presence of other civilizations' warships in the area.
This quantum anchor is like a boundary marker.
Upon detecting enemy warships, it quickly spreads the message throughout the territory, and then continues to probe and report using light.
It doesn't seem to have any offensive capabilities.
Nor does it emit the Wall.
Kuka leads the other ships and fighters to approach, but they don't get too close, maintaining a distance of 3 light-minutes.
But just then, they find that their ships and fighters are no longer under their control.
They fly towards the coordinate anchor and begin investigating.
Then, a message is transmitted towards the Hundred-Eyed Star.
"Could it be...?"
Kuka has a thought.
...
A few months later.
Yan Xia and Ella receive a message.
"Coordinate anchor?"
"This indicates that the enemy is not a rootless wandering civilization; they must control a starfield."
"The coordinate anchor's range is 0.5 light-years in radius, which means they control numerous star systems."
A civilization spanning multiple, or even dozens, of star systems.
This is easy to understand.
A Level 2 civilization can already utilize all the resources within its star system and must expand to develop further.
So, every Level 2 civilization controls multiple star systems.
The purple thornbush-like civilization, as a newly advanced Level 2 civilization, is likely in this expansion phase, passing through the Hydra Constellation to reach Proxima Centauri.
In other words, their original target was the civilization in the Proxima Centauri system.
This also explains why they didn't immediately destroy the Proxima Centauri civilization after blocking it.
Once they control Proxima Centauri, their next target would likely be the Solar System!
If Earth hadn't been destroyed, humans would have faced the formidable purple thornbush-like civilization.
Ella adds, "According to our probes, the coordinate anchor's message is directed towards a nearby star, Hydra V!"
Yan Xia has also studied some knowledge of the Hydra language.
Hydra V is a star similar to the Sun, with 70% of its mass, a stable star system, and only 12 light-years away from the Sun. Aside from having slightly less heavy metals and a larger debris disk, it is almost indistinguishable from the Solar System.
One of its planets, Te in the constellation Cetus, was once considered a candidate for human habitation, a potentially habitable planet.
Te has a mass of 4 to 6 times that of Earth, slightly smaller than Proxima Centauri c.
This planet is likely the purple thornbush-like civilization's homeworld.
"Let's send a probe ship to Hydra V," Yan Xia decides, wanting to investigate the remaining strength of the purple thornbush-like civilization.
They are currently 14 light-years away from Hydra V, and with their current small ship's maximum speed, it will take 337 years to reach it.
If Hydra V doesn't have an unexpectedly large number of warships, Yan Xia's next plan is to counterattack the purple thornbush-like civilization!
This is a significant challenge, as 1000 10,000-meter-long warships are a formidable force for a Level 2 civilization.
The purple thornbush-like civilization likely wouldn't leave many warships in its territory.
This is a long-term plan.
They will have to wait over 300 years for the probe's results to make a judgment and decision.
During these 300 years, they need to rebuild the Federation.
...
And so, another 100 years pass.
Yan Xia asks Ella to gather the surviving Kate tribe and bring them to the Hundred-Eyed Star.
With its current size and development, the Hundred-Eyed Star can easily accommodate 1 billion intelligent beings.
The Hundred-Eyed Star flourishes again.
Kuka and the Hundred-Eyed tribe, who have been in space for over 100 years, return to the Hundred-Eyed Star, still in disbelief that the purple thornbush-like civilization's fleet has been destroyed.
100 years later, under Yan Xia's guidance, the Hundred-Eyed tribe, the Kate tribe, and humans begin to merge, although they haven't reached the point of interbreeding. Still, they are becoming closer.
During this time, Yan Xia also establishes absolute control over the Hundred-Eyed tribe and the Kate tribe.
The Kate tribe was previously a Level 1.9 civilization, on par with Yan Xia.
So, while there was cultural invasion, it wasn't a hierarchical relationship but a fair cooperation.
After the devastating blow, the current Kate tribe is no longer a Level 1.9 civilization, and its overall strength is even weaker than the Hundred-Eyed tribe.
Yan Xia seizes this opportunity.
One could even say that he engineered this opportunity.
With Ella's help, before the purple thornbush-like civilization blocked Proxima Centauri, he had already foreseen this outcome and formulated a comprehensive development plan.
In 100 years, the Hundred-Eyed tribe has recovered to 500 million, the Kate tribe to 3.1 billion, the first wave of humans was destroyed with Proxima Centauri c, and the second wave numbers only 20,000.
The human population is slowly recovering, and Yan Xia also sends ships to collect resources from the remains of Proxima Centauri.
With these resources, he builds a massive interstellar fleet.
The regular fleet has been rebuilt to 187 ships in 100 years, restoring their initial combat strength.
With the discovery of 'strings,' Ella also begins to utilize them.
Controlling 'strings' is like controlling the foundation of the world, allowing the creation of elements that don't exist in nature.
Through this, Ella defines that civilizations from Level 2 onwards diversify, like a hundred flowers blooming.
Any civilization can use 'strings' to develop an entirely new path and reach its peak, like a martial arts master creating their unique style.
The merging of civilizations can lead to the extension of technology in different directions.
Ella's definition of a Level 2 civilization further solidifies Yan Xia's determination to develop the Federation.
He founded the Federation like the trunk of a tree, and now he will grow branches, connecting countless technologies to form a vast technological tree, making his future development even broader.
Upon reaching Level 2 civilization status.
He will embark on a path of conquest, just like the purple thornbush-like civilization.
But this won't take too long; Yan Xia aims to achieve it within 1000 years!
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