Voyage of the Stars.

Chapter 1434 Giant Rhomboid Crystal
When their research stalled, various civilizations also consulted the Star Guardian, since he was powered by zero-point vacuum energy and might know something.

The answer I received was disappointing.

The Star Guardian does indeed power itself with zero-point vacuum energy, but that energy is essentially part of its body, much like mitochondria in the human body. If you ask someone how their mitochondria produce and transport energy, the answer will most likely be: I don't know, I only know that I have energy after eating.

The Star Guardian also wanted to help the various Level 6 civilizations, but he really didn't have the knowledge in this area. If he could, he would even be willing to let each civilization study its internal workings, but unfortunately, none of the civilizations had the means to do so.

The situation inside the Star Guardian is invisible to both human civilization and the Awakener civilization in their third-person observation mode, let alone other civilizations.

The path to seeking help from the Star Guardians has also been cut off.

Research progress has stalled, but time never stops flowing.

The eighty-four civilizations continued their research as they drifted along at near-light speed, moving forward light-years for every year that passed, maintaining a distance from the expanding cosmic catastrophe zone behind them.

And so, another 750,000 years passed.

Adding these 500,000 years, the total time that the 84 civilizations have spent conducting research here is approximately one million years.

The great fleet also moved from the edge of the central region of the Great Hollow of Boötes to the central region, and finally away from the central region. From approaching to moving away, it means that the great long-distance fleet is about to leave the best and cleanest area.

This has caused great anxiety among scientific teams from various civilizations.

If you can't find the answer even when you're in the most suitable position, how can you find it when you leave the most suitable position?
While the fleet is still in the optimal area, it would be best to brake and stop. After all, the cosmic catastrophe zone behind us is still 300,000 light-years away, so we can stay here for another 300,000 years.

If we still haven't found the answer by then, we can set sail before the disaster zone arrives. After all, the disaster zone spreads at the speed of light, so we can still escape.

Of course, if that time really comes, one must leave in advance, since the cataclysmic zones do not actually spread at a stable speed of light. Sometimes they roll forward like ocean waves, exceeding the speed of light. According to years of exploration by various civilizations, the spread of cataclysmic zones sometimes exhibits jumps, somewhat similar to the splashing water from a dam after it crashes against it, which then automatically disperses.

This diffusion all exceeds the speed of light.

So the cataclysmic zone is actually faster than the speed of light.

It is precisely because of this phenomenon that when the eighty-four civilizations were traveling at near-light speed, they still had to send out many probes to explore the surrounding star systems in order to avoid being surrounded by the cataclysmic zones spread by those "fragments".

The closer you are to the disaster zone, the more careful you should be.

However, in addition to facing stagnant scientific research and being chased by cosmic catastrophe zones, civilizations now also have to consider resource issues.

When the research was conducted, each civilization was allocated one or two planets. In addition to the supplies carried by their own transport fleets and the supplies that could be obtained by dismantling the transport ships themselves, if it was only to supply the hibernation needs of people traveling by inertia and the operating needs of equipment, it could last for a very long time.

However, with the current large-scale scientific research, resources are not as durable.

Scientific research is not just about holding meetings, bragging, discussing technology, and writing research papers. It is an undertaking that includes all kinds of energy-intensive experiments, especially scientific research that advances to the level of a cosmic civilization, where the entire civilization revolves around it.

In addition to experiments, various supercomputers and the most powerful artificial intelligence systems in the civilization are working every moment.

Of course, no civilization has reached the point of dismantling its transport ships yet, but if they were truly driven to the brink of cosmic catastrophe, they would inevitably face resource issues. At that point, the question wouldn't be whether resources exist, but rather the question of survival resources.

Therefore, some civilizations have prepared for extinction. If they haven't succeeded in 300,000 years, they won't leave and will perish along with the cosmic catastrophe, since they would perish due to resource shortages anyway.

At the beginning, everyone thought that 1.3 million years was plenty of time, but now, no civilization thinks so anymore.

Some civilizations have even shown signs of decline, with some negative voices emerging among their inhabitants, and many pessimistic and hedonistic opinions have begun to surface.

From the perspective of the Awakener civilization, these civilizations showed signs of becoming decadent civilizations. But now the Awakener civilization has no time to care about that; all they care about is vacuum zero-point energy.

The two major expeditions, comprising eighty-four civilizations, have truly come to a halt. Although braking requires a great deal of energy, they simply cannot continue drifting forward; any further and they will drift out of the central region of the Boötes Great Hollow.

However, just as each civilization completed its deceleration, a message from a certain probe caused a huge uproar within all of them.

The source of the information remains the Silverheart Civilization.

They discovered something that was clearly a technological construct, located about 7 light-years to the side of the fleet's docking area.

The moment they saw the shape of the creation, Yue Yuan and all the leaders of human civilization were stunned, especially Yue Yuan, because he was all too familiar with this shape.

From the outside, it looks like a rhombus crystal, pointed at both ends and wide in the middle, very regular in shape.

This appearance is exactly the same as when I first encountered the creations of the pioneers.

In other words, this is something from the pioneers!

"They are pioneers, without a doubt, it must be them!"

The moment they saw the rhomboid crystal image, the members of the leadership of human civilization were all excited.

"Yes, they must be pioneers. We haven't heard from them since the second half of the Great Voyage, and I was worried. But it turns out we just went astray. Hmm, it must be because we followed the Divine Script star map that we haven't encountered any information they left behind!"

"Yes, that must be it. They truly deserve to be called pioneers; they did indeed complete the great voyage."

"Great!"

"Yes, since the pioneers have completed their great voyage and left behind such a huge rhomboid crystal, doesn't that mean they have succeeded?"

Upon hearing this, everyone became even more excited.

Yes, if it hadn't succeeded, where would we have gotten the resources to create such a large rhomboid crystal? You have to understand that in terms of impact, this rhomboid crystal is enormous, even larger than a star. If it were placed in the solar system, it could fill the entire orbit of Jupiter.

(End of this chapter)