A Colossus rushes in at the start

Chapter 91 These Quarks Are Too Useful

Three months after the sanctions against the Kobikran Hegemony Group ended, Lu Shang assigned a group of planetary creatures to explore outwards from the Vorsotis star system as the center coordinates, leaving behind a billion atomic creatures every light-year.

The entire Babel bee swarm began to go into hibernation. Except for a few virtual images stationed in the star system where the swarm resided, all the creatures of the Babel bee swarm transferred into the microcosms of the planetary creatures. As long as they did not violate the rules of the Star Alliance or challenge authority in the Vorsotis system, the Babel bee swarm would most likely not interfere.

This does not mean that the Babel bee swarm is going to collectively recuperate and completely close itself off from the world; rather, they are building an information Great Wall and trying to hide themselves even deeper.

Although the Babel Tower swarm hasn't encountered any enemies yet, it's still best to be cautious. After all, the swarm is about to launch a large-scale exploration, and who knows what might exist in the unexplored universe? It's always better to be safe than sorry.

During this period, atomic organisms officially replaced the current scouts of the Babel Tower bee colony, becoming the third generation of scouts.

In the time that followed, Lu Shang obtained a large amount of research data on quark-level particles from the alien civilizations of the Star River Alliance, and then began to focus on developing more microscopic quark life forms.

The difficulty involved far surpasses that of atomic mechanics, because the existence of quark confinement means that a single quark particle cannot exist in the universe.

Forcibly separating protons and neutrons using psionic energy will cause the strong interaction torque of a single quark particle to directly 'dig' out a paired quark particle from the quantum sea, that is, from outer space.

This is the phenomenon of quark confinement in the microscopic world.

Of course, this is a more colloquial way of putting it. A more academic way of putting it is that the virtual quarks in the Dirac Sea are given enough energy that they can transition from the 'ground state' to the 'excited state' in an instant.

So, in the end, instead of figuring out the entropy of quark machinery, they discovered how to convert psionic energy into matter.

Using psionic energy, a set of quarks can be broken down into individual quarks. These quarks can then be paired with virtual particle quarks extracted directly from space, thus obtaining two sets of quarks.

The end result was that psionic energy was depleted, while matter increased.

So convenient!

When Lu Shang realized this, he couldn't help but recall a famous quote from a character in a book he had read before his transmigration: "Truth is simple. It's something that, once you hear it, makes you wonder why you couldn't have discovered it back then."

That's absolutely right. How come he never noticed it before?

With this technology, why bother dismantling planets anymore? Planetary life forms could simply multiply on the spot!

However, after several more tests, Lu Shang discovered that this technology did not seem to be like stocks, where one could build a skyscraper from scratch; the emergence of matter was inevitably accompanied by the shrinking of space.

When matter is disassembled in a microcosm, the space of the microcosm gradually shrinks as the amount of matter in the space increases. This should be related to the continuous excavation of virtual particle pairs in the space.

However, despite these drawbacks, the application of this technology will be of epoch-making significance for bee colonies.

Imagine this: the enemy uses various methods to restrict the swarm's access to resources, trying to prevent the swarm from increasing in number by restricting resources, while your side relies on a large amount of resources to expand its scale, and finally defeats the swarm in one wave with a human wave tactic.

Then, the swarm calmly excavated a large amount of material from the space...

This scene is absolutely amazing!

……

Karana Star, Mount Makadirs, the "World Spire".

Mount Macadils, the highest peak on the planet Karana and known as the "World Spire," is home to the observation station of the Mausu people.

This is an arduous task. The scholars at the observatory need to live in this high-altitude area year-round, facing the thin atmosphere and low temperatures of high altitude every day.

"Ouch... It's so cold, and I've run out of antifreeze again."

A creature resembling a catfish, dressed in thick foam fiber clothing, shivered as it walked from the living room to the observation deck.

People from Usu have skin that absorbs moisture. Even in normal atmospheric pressure, they need to bathe three times a day, otherwise they will develop skin diseases such as dryness and cracking.

The climate on Mount Makadirs is cold and the air is dry. To keep their skin moisturized, the Ussuri scholars at the observatory apply antifreeze to their bodies after showering every day, thus locking in skin moisture and reducing the impact of the dry air on their skin.

On the observation platform was a Ussuri scholar, also dressed in a foam fiber suit.

However, the Ussuri scholar had several small cracks in his skin and looked much older.

"You're always so wasteful; you should learn to be more frugal."

The younger man from Wusu ignored his companion's warning and asked, shivering, "Old Guan, where's your antifreeze?"

"It's in the box, take it yourself."

As he spoke, Lao Guan continued to focus his attention on the vast universe on the observatory.

A moment later, the young Ussuri man, who had applied antifreeze, came out of the living room.

However, he seemed unusually downcast, a stark contrast to his earlier demeanor, as if he had suffered a severe blow.

Old Guan noticed the younger man's unusual emotions, but he didn't see anything wrong with it. Based on his experience as an elder, he believed that the younger man would say what he wanted to say, and asking him wouldn't help if he didn't want to.

The young Ussuri man was silent for a moment before speaking: "I just heard on the radio that our Union of Equal Democracies is going to disintegrate."

Old Guan already knew about this matter. He has a wide network of connections, so he knows some things even before the broadcast.

"There's no need to worry too much. We've received a notice that the new country will take us down from Mount Macadir," Old Guan said.

Their lives are not in danger. These scholars, no matter what, have a higher status than those at the bottom. They are talents that every country desires. After all, without a certain amount of astronomical knowledge, it is very difficult to be competent in the work of the observatory.

But the news from Lao Guan did nothing to change the young man from Wusu's dejected mood. He said sadly, "What's the use of bringing it down the mountain? We can't stop the national flag from falling."

"Our dreams, everything we had, are over."

Equality, democracy, the future—all gone…

The young man from Wusu dared not imagine what would happen next; he felt as if the sky was about to fall.

Compared to the younger colleagues he worked with, the older Guan seemed quite calm.

"Your suffering stems from your overestimation of your abilities to take on a responsibility that you are completely unable to bear."

"If you can live a little more carefree... like me, take everything in stride, then it doesn't matter whether it disintegrates or not."

"Some things aren't as bad as you think, and the sky won't fall down."

(End of this chapter)