The stars, but they become the gray wind

"His muscle reaction speed is 1000 times faster than a human's... This guy is a monster."

"Even ordinary cameras couldn't clearly capture her sword-wielding movements. I guarantee that if we, the Rose Knights, were to face her, even if there were 100 of us against one, we probably wouldn't have the upper hand. In fact, our own lives would be in danger."

"I have no doubt about it." Sinkob nodded, then put his arm around Julian's shoulders and said jokingly.

"Julian, if you were to face an assassin who could kill you with one blow, could you protect Admiral Yang?" Senkob pointed at the purple-haired girl in the video who was moving so fast that she was blurred.

"Huh? Me?"

"Yes, if there is an assassin who wants to assassinate Admiral Yang, who I, your instructor in close combat, can't even defeat, what countermeasures will you take?"

"In that case, I will protect the Admiral even if it costs me my life!"

"Not bad! If you really encounter that situation, you must protect the admiral." Senkob patted Julian, who had a determined look on his face, and praised him.

In the Kara Kuga star system, Klar noticed that there seemed to be some extra things near the sun recently. They were the Dyson cloud energy components that the goddesses mentioned.

At first, Klar, who was on the planetary synchronous orbit space station, saw a spaceship belonging to the goddesses. After leaving the space station, it flew towards the sun in the star system. Klar observed by operating the large-aperture survey telescope on the orbital elevator space station that the spaceship heading near the sun had dropped two folding giant reflector assemblies with a diameter of hundreds of kilometers near the low orbit of the sun. Then, the two reflectors began to replicate themselves in the low orbit of the sun. Klar discovered that the self-replication cycle of these giant reflector-type Dyson cloud components seemed to be 12 hours. According to the female adults, this is the slowest rate after the self-replication speed of the Dyson cloud components has been artificially slowed down to the limit. If these Dyson cloud components are really allowed to replicate themselves at a relatively high cycle of 5 minutes, then in less than a day, all the light emitted by the entire sun will be completely blocked.

From Klar's perspective, the total number and scale of these self-replicating Dyson cloud components distributed near stars have reached the level of 2 to the power of 60 in just over a month.

After these Dyson clouds grew to a number of 2 to the power of 60 in just one month, they stopped self-replication and proliferation under the command of the goddesses. Klar also witnessed the horror of exponential explosion for the first time. The Dyson cloud components that replicated themselves through exponential explosions reached 1% of the output power of the star within a month. Of course, Klar was also very curious, why didn't the goddesses let the Dyson clouds continue to proliferate?

"We've helped you complete part of it. As for the rest, we hope that you can complete it yourself after you've developed to a sufficient level with our help."

"The energy and material production capacity provided by a Dyson Cloud with an energy output power of 1% of that of a star is more than enough for you to complete the rest. I hope that you can complete more than 90% of the remaining part of this Dyson Cloud by yourselves."

"By then, you too will be part of the Type II civilization family."

Chapter 252 The World on the Other Side of the Wormhole (6000 words)

Jessica stared blankly at the photo on the corner of her desk. In the photo, herself, Lap, and Yang all had smiles on their faces. At that time, they had just graduated from college and had bright futures. She planned to become a teacher, while Yang and Lap joined the Allied Forces.

On Jessica's desk computer was a file and list of names. It contained the actual controllers of several large allied corporations, the names of the government officials who provided them with shelter, and thousands of pages of spreadsheets and simple figures. Jessica tried not to think about the filthy, shameful transactions and profit chains behind these figures. After simply glancing at a few pages, she felt completely exhausted and collapsed in her chair.

Although Jessica had been prepared for a long time, the reality still hit her hard. The tumor called decay had penetrated into the bone marrow of the alliance. If the alliance wanted to eliminate this tumor that had almost spread throughout the body, it would require more than just a major blood transfusion and an operation. If these alliance termites and malignant tumors were to be eradicated, it would no longer be called a heroic act of self-sacrifice. Instead, it would be like cutting off one's own head and limbs, turning the alliance into a complete cripple. There was almost no other way except to burn all the current alliance's social, political and economic systems to ashes, and then rebuild a new alliance from scratch from the ashes and ruins.

Jessica was speechless because of despair. She was not the only one who was silent. There were also two other people sitting in her office. They were Rebelo and Hewang, whose faces had dark circles under their eyes due to days of hard work. There was steaming coffee on the coffee table in front of them, but the two silent people just stared blankly at

"Alas..." He Wang, whose hair was already gray, sighed silently.

"This is the situation. The current alliance... is already..." He Wang did not say those four words, but Jessica and Lebelo both knew in their hearts how heavy the four words "hopeless" were.

Of course, Lebelo and Hewang also received the document in the computer on Jessica's desk. The three of them were shocked by the intricate chain of interests and the incurable corruption within the alliance revealed behind this document of thousands of pages. Hewang, the most experienced and senior among the three, knew that there might be serious problems within the alliance before this, but he did not expect that the rot and tumor had already spread throughout the body. A considerable part of the records in this document could even be traced back to before he entered politics. As early as that time, the terrible tumor of corruption caused by power and money had already spread throughout the alliance.

The leaders of the Alliance sent one young man after another to the battlefield filled with death and destruction, while they themselves hid in the rear and enjoyed the luxurious and decadent life brought by power and money. How much of the taxes paid by the people of the Alliance over the past few decades was actually used to build the army was clearly shown in this document.

Inflated purchase prices in military equipment procurement, "mysterious fires" in military material supply warehouses, large amounts of funds and transfer records of unknown origin in the personal accounts of senior executives of military-industrial enterprises and military procurement personnel, and the fact that "there is a shortage of supplies at the front and back" is the mildest description of these problems.

"If these things are made public, the alliance will probably be plunged into a civil war started by angry citizens to overthrow the corrupt alliance government. What should we do?" Lebelo asked at a loss.

"Let's take it one step at a time. Even if it only makes the situation a little less severe, it's better than doing nothing."

"I think I'm starting to understand why that alien lady suddenly invited Yang."

"If the alliance has become so rotten, no matter what the future holds, it won't necessarily be worse than the current situation."

In the end, the Alliance Provisional Council and Yang's direct superiors, Biguk and Sittler, approved Yang Wenli's request to temporarily leave Iserlohn Fortress. They approved the request out of desperation, hoping that Yang could seek solutions to improve the current situation from the alien civilization that was rumored to have advanced technology and the ability to observe the future.

"Alas... My old bones have to be tortured like this, Yang, Yang, you really threw a hot potato to me." Biguk sighed as Jessica did at the same document.

…………

Just as Yang had anticipated when he wrote the application, the Alliance approved his request, though the response came much faster than he'd anticipated. Furthermore, along with the approval came another item: a formal letter of appointment from the Alliance government, appointing Yang as ambassador with full responsibility for this informal diplomatic activity with the alien civilization. This surprised Yang somewhat. He had thought that given the complex interplay of interests within the Alliance, it was already a good thing that they would agree to his request to leave Iserlohn as one of the representatives. However, to be directly appointed as the person in charge of an informal visit to that still mysterious alien nation was something he had never experienced before.

While this appointment was rather strange, upon closer inspection, the document revealed the utter corruption within the Alliance, leaving even the current Alliance Provisional Council, which was hoping for reform, feeling overwhelmed. Perhaps they were simply desperate, hoping to find some golden solution or idea from that alien nation? Even if it could only improve the current situation.

Half a month later, at the edge of the Void Gate Galaxy, two extremely small fleets appeared in the subspace channel exit area at the edge of the galaxy. Unlike the last confrontation in the Void Gate Galaxy, when both sides had more than 3000 warships, this time, there were only a dozen warships following the flagships of the two famous generals on both sides. After entering the Void Gate Galaxy, both sides did not advance rashly, but first sent friendly greeting messages to the planetary fortress in the galaxy.

The greeting message they sent was quickly responded to. Two ships that looked almost identical appeared in the blue light of a short warp flight around the Alliance and Imperial fleets in the galaxy.

"As agreed, I will provide you with answers, but the answer isn't here. It's on the other side of the door. Follow me. The wormhole created by the strange ring will have greater tension when passing through it. Only we can lead you through safely."

Along with the space distortion caused by the warp bubble generated by the warp engine, the two Time-like Infinites from different time nodes allowed the Empire and Alliance fleets still on the edge of the galaxy to experience a short-distance jump within the galaxy.

"Is this... a short-distance jump within the galaxy? And it comes with a fleet? What an interesting technology." Reinhardt calmly expressed his envy of the other party's advanced technology on the Empire's flagship, Brunhill.

A few brief seconds later, the Alliance and Imperial fleets, brought to the entrance of the naked singularity wormhole at once by two Time-like Infinities, observed for the first time at a very close distance this naked singularity (singularity) produced by the peeling Kerr black hole event, which is also a wormhole leading to another universe. Before this, no human ship had ever been so close to this naked singularity wormhole because of the fear of the giant planet-sized celestial fortress orbiting the wormhole.

"A large number of unknown high-energy particles were observed!"

"The waveform doesn't match any of the records!"

"The spatial readings are abnormal!"

Reinhardt and Yang Wei-li's crew were busy observing bizarre cosmic phenomena they had never seen before. Around the naked singularity wormhole, space-time seemed to have fallen into an abnormal state. Large amounts of matter and high-energy particles that could not be produced under normal circumstances were constantly generated around the naked singularity. The gravity and space parameters around the naked singularity also showed inexplicable distortions and changes. As conventional carbon-based creatures, humans were unable to perceive that the flow of time had undergone strange changes. The time they perceived was gradually slowing down, and on the microscopic Planck scale, the law of causality was reversed. The future position and state of a particle appeared at the same moment. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle had even briefly failed. As three-dimensional carbon-based life, humans were obviously unable to feel this.

"Don't move. We're going to take over your spacecraft. If you don't want to be torn apart by the surface tension of the naked singularity wormhole, don't move." Yeah. Yeah.

At this time, Reinhardt on the Brunhilde and Yang Weili on the Hyperion both received reports from their officers and soldiers in charge of operating the ships that had lost control of the ships in the fleet. Both fleets were being quickly taken over and heading towards the wormhole.

From the bridge of their own ship, Yang and Reinhardt gazed at the wormhole now so close they were about to pass through, their faces strained with anxiety. This was an experience they had never experienced before. No one knew what lay beyond the wormhole. Would it be a beautiful or hideous alien realm, or perhaps a universe governed by laws completely different from their own? No one on the scene knew what Yang and Reinhardt were thinking the moment their ship passed through the wormhole's interface. In truth, at that moment, neither Yang and Reinhardt, nor anyone else in the Alliance and Imperial fleets, thought at all, or was unable to think. At that moment, time froze for them. To their perception, it was as if one moment they were on the other side of the naked singularity wormhole, and the next, they were in a completely new universe.

"What... is that?" The officers and soldiers of both fleets first noticed a giant ring-shaped structure with a diameter of 0.3 outside the wormhole exit on this side. Countless fibrous smooth objects made up this ring-shaped structure orbiting the wormhole. What surprised them even more was the detection results of these ring-shaped structures.

"This... thing is rotating at a speed close to the speed of light!" Although Yang Weili remained calm on the outside, even he was shocked by the huge structure.

"What on earth are these..."

"Macroscopic cosmic strings are also one of the necessary foundations for maintaining the existence of this wormhole." Carlisle's familiar voice sounded from the communication channel.

"The process of building it requires destroying stars, dismantling entire galaxies, and continuously weaving a ring wall of cosmic strings around a central point. Huge amounts of matter and energy are used to make the cosmic strings grow, and then weaving them together one by one around the Kerr black hole at the center."

"And then turn it," Kaleese went on to explain.

"If this ring of macroscopic cosmic string matter rotates too slowly, the Kerr metric will behave quite well, as it does in its natural state, and the singularity will be hidden within the Kerr black hole's two event horizons—the one-way brane entering the center—and beyond them, the ergosphere: a region where inertial drag is so strong that no spacecraft traveling slower than the speed of light can escape it. If a spacecraft were in the ergosphere, we would have no choice but to spin along with the singularity, which has been pulled into a ring at high speed. In fact, if it didn't rotate at all, the Kerr black hole would collapse into a simple Schwarzschild black hole, with a singularity, a single event horizon, and no ergosphere."

"When the ring of macroscopic cosmic strings begins to rotate, and the speed is fast enough, it is too fast to form an event horizon or ergosphere. So... when the ring's rotation speed is extremely close to the speed of light, the singularity that has been torn into a ring will be directly exposed, becoming a channel connecting the two universes."

"Well, since you've all come here on your own initiative, let me just say, welcome to our universe..."

…………

Spectacular fibrous cosmic strings swirl around the exposed singularity, and an inconspicuous fleet is moving away from the wormhole at the center of the ring-shaped cosmic strings.

Unlike the two Time-Like Infinity ships that were swaggering forward on their own territory and leading the fleet behind them, the Alliance and Imperial fleets in the rear were like illiterate old farmers who had never seen the world and lived in remote mountain valleys all their lives, following the Time-Like Infinity ships cautiously.

"Lord Reinhardt, have you ever thought you could see such a sight before?" Gilfias asked his best friend on the Brunhilde.

"To be honest... no. Although I knew before that the technology of this alien country might be very advanced, something like this is simply unheard of." Reinhardt stared at the circular cosmic string outside the window that was rotating at a speed close to the speed of light. The cosmic string itself was generating a huge gravitational force. Under the influence of this gravity, the surrounding particles and matter were moving towards the galaxy where the cosmic string was located. If it weren't for the two Time-Like Infinities providing protection for the Alliance and Imperial fleets that came to this end of the universe, their spacecraft would most likely have crashed into it due to the gravitational influence of the cosmic string.

This is not the only facility in the entire star system. Several astronomical units away, the fleets of the Alliance and the Empire also observed a giant ring-shaped structure with a diameter of 1500 kilometers. Its inner side seems to have a wormhole boundary like a water wave.

Now, the fleets of both the Empire and the Alliance have lost their ability to travel faster than light the moment they entered this universe. Reinhardt and Yang Weili have received reports from their technicians responsible for engine maintenance and debugging. After entering this universe, the jump engines on all ships have inexplicably failed and seem to have become completely unusable. The damage control team is still trying to restore the jump engines on the spacecraft, but it is still ineffective.

In a universe without subspace, the subspace jump engines developed by the Alliance and the Empire based on subspace are obviously impossible to operate normally. Now, the fleets of both sides are heading towards the huge artificial star gate in the distance under the guidance of ships similar to Infinity.

"Could this be the reason why their superluminal travel technology is so advanced?" Yang Weili had some vague guesses in his mind.

After entering this universe, they could no longer detect the existence of subspace, and the ship's jump engine failed. The star gate in the distance hinted that this mysterious alien nation, under the constraints of different cosmic laws and environments, had developed one or more completely different faster-than-light travel technology systems.

[Prepare to cross the door, 3, 2, 1]

Limited by the technological level of the Alliance and the Empire, the ship's low acceleration capability forced the Time-Like Infinity to once again activate its virtual engine and take the entire fleet on a short warp voyage, arriving at a star gate several astronomical units away, and passing through the star gate that seemed extremely large to both the Alliance and the Empire.

"Where is this place?" Siegfried asked the pilot of the spaceship while looking at the unfamiliar starry sky outside.

"Sorry, we don't have a star map, so we can't confirm our current location, but the arrangement and spectrum of the stars here seem completely different from the starry sky we saw before we passed through the giant star gate."

"We must have just crossed an extremely large distance. There are no stars within at least 1000 light-years whose spectral characteristics and relative positions can be compared with those before, and the stars in this galaxy seem to be a bit strange."

"The total amount of heat and light radiated by the star is too low. It seems like something is blocking the star?"

"Enlarge the image from the star observation device and project it onto the big screen."

"Is this... a Dyson sphere?" Several sharp-eyed officers on the bridge recognized the giant device that wrapped around the star.

"We call it a stellar energy cluster assembly or a Dyson cloud. It's not impossible to build a rigid Dyson sphere, but it's not practical for us."

"This is the Fortuna galaxy, 63725 light-years away from our starting point. This is where you might find the answer."

Yuki's voice sounded in the communication at the right time, and the space around the Time-Like Infinity began to distort again. In the blue light of Cherenkov radiation, warp bubbles formed from around the hull, enveloping the two small fleets of the Empire and the Alliance.

This warp-speed voyage took less than five seconds for the entire fleet to reach the gravitational equilibrium point of Fortuna IV. This position allowed the officers and soldiers of the two small fleets of the Alliance and the Empire to directly see the planetary orbital ring built around Fortuna IV - the Tianyan Ring. The officers and soldiers of both the Alliance and the Empire were completely stunned by the man-made giants the size of celestial bodies that they saw after arriving in another universe. This mysterious alien country displayed its advanced technology in an unscrupulous and unconcealed manner.

…………

A few hours later, Reinhard, Yang Weili and others stepped onto this planetary giant structure from the spaceship docked at the Tianyan Star Ring Spaceport. While marveling at it, they were also observing the interior of this huge facility. It seemed that the other party deliberately arranged the berths of their own ship Hyperion and the ship Bo of Reinhard, the imperial military and political genius whom they had almost never met, in adjacent berths.

On the other side, Reinhardt maintained a calm expression without being shocked, but in his heart he was already amazed at the powerful technical strength and engineering strength represented by this series of miraculous projects spanning the galaxy scale. At this moment, he truly understood the meaning of why humans were no different from wild animals in the eyes of others.

Just after getting off the spaceship and walking a few steps, Yang and Reinhardt stopped at the same time, because the ground not far ahead suddenly deformed. A stream of silver sand-like substance gushed out from the deformed ground, forming a circular door frame with a diameter of only a few meters on the ground in front, just like a smaller version of the giant star gate with a diameter of 1500 kilometers that Yang and others had visited before.

A girl with long red hair, a halo on her head and wings on her back suddenly appeared in front of everyone through the portal. Based on the girl's appearance, Reinhardt judged that this should be the other individual from this alien country who appeared in the Vulture City Fortress reported to him by Kemp's adjutant.

"The intelligent life forms that come here are often looking for answers and possibilities for the future of themselves or their civilization, but many times, they are simply not prepared to face the answers."

"This facility is called the Tianyan Xinghuan. It's a world-sized super quantum computer. The overall movement of a civilization composed of intelligent beings is the change of cosmic matter itself, and the behavior of individual beings is the irregular movement of molecules within it."

"Through ultra-large-scale computing, it can forcibly deduce a civilization's future with high accuracy. It is a 'world predictor' that can accurately predict the future of a civilization or a subset of individuals or groups within it."

"So... do you want to know about the future of yourself or your civilization?"

With a deep and profound gaze, Aze, who looked like an angel, extended an inviting hand to Yang Weili and Reinha.

"Calculate the future? Is such a thing really possible?" Louis Mason, who was serving as Yang's escort, whispered to Julian, who was traveling with him.

"Of course you can. You think the future is unpredictable because you believe the universe itself is an unpredictable chaotic structure, where even the position of every elementary particle cannot be determined. But for us, who should be infinite to some extent, the movement of every elementary particle in the universe can be determined by human intervention."

"Your technology has limited your vision, so that the vision and lives of most individuals in your civilization can only remain on a very short time scale. This is why your society is so chaotic."

"There's no doubt that your civilization is still at a very low level, as you're still fighting over such a small profit."

"Come with me, before you go observe and decide your own future, I want to show you something."

"One of them you may have heard of, and the other is a historical record from a civilization in another universe and time that you are not familiar with."

"They were once trapped in a vicious cycle similar to yours. Their society was utterly inefficient, rife with corruption, and endless internal friction and profiteering among various interest groups. Their civilization stagnated, and their entire society was on the brink of collapse. With the help of an outsider, they found a way out—a path to eternal survival in the universe."

"After reading these two things, it's not too late to check your own future."

Chapter 253 The question of the future of civilization?

In a trance, Yang Weili saw a planet, a planet teeming with water and green vegetation. This planet hosted a civilization ancient and highly developed. He witnessed how, in the blink of an eye, this civilization had progressed from the earliest days of toolmaking to the information age. Nations of all sizes dotted the planet, each with its own vastly varying levels of development. Some relied on patents controlling vital sea routes, key resources, and high-tech products to maintain their supremacy. Other governments had been replaced by giant corporations, while others lacked even the most basic food self-sufficiency, their people living in constant hunger. Diverging ideologies between these powerful nations led to constant conflict. Each nation, driven by its own interests, was on the brink of war, its countless nuclear weapons constantly aimed at each other's key cities and facilities. A global nuclear war was imminent.

At this time, Yang saw something appear in the sky above the planet. It was a smooth, transparent cube with an indescribable shape. It was incompatible with the civilization and technology on this planet.

…………

"?" Yang covered his head and stood up, looking around.

"Admiral?"

"Julian?"

"exist……"

"I just... this?"

"You just froze in place for a few seconds. Is there something wrong?"

"How many seconds? How long exactly?"

"Uh, maybe less than three seconds?"

"Three seconds?" Yang raised his right hand in some surprise and pinched his face. The pain on his face made him sure that he was not dreaming. He had accepted the invitation of the alien lady before and came here through a strange portal. It looked like a lounge or a reception room. Yang saw many peculiarly shaped oval chairs here. The alien lady said that there was something she wanted them to see and asked them to rest here for a while. He picked one at random and sat on it. After sitting on the strange oval chair, Yang felt a strange sense of sleepiness and his mind was in a trance. Then he saw the whole process of a civilization from just climbing down the tree to entering the industrial civilization era. His last memory stayed at a certain perspective from the surface of the planet to looking up at the sky. Something seemed to appear in the sky. It was something that was completely different from the civilization on that planet in terms of style and shape.

It was obvious that Yang Weili was not the only one who suddenly showed this strange behavior. Reinhardt, who also found a chair to sit down not far away, also had a confused look on his face. This reaction clearly indicated that something seemed to have happened to him just now?

"Strange, I seemed to have hallucinated just now? In a very short period of time, I saw a group of monkeys and apes who had just climbed down the tree evolve into industrial civilization." Yang Zaizai deliberately spoke loudly when he said this so that Reinhardt, who was not far away, could hear it. Sure enough, after hearing what Yang said, Reinhard immediately walked forward.

"Admiral Yang, did you just have the same hallucination?"

"Yeah, but Julian said I was just sitting in the chair in a daze for less than three seconds, but it felt like several years had passed." Yang took off his hat and scratched his hair.

"I also had a similar hallucination, Admiral Yang. Could you please describe to me the specific details of your hallucination?"

"That's not a problem... It's about a group of species that look very similar to humans. They just climbed down from the trees and learned to make tools. Then, like hitting the fast-forward button on a video, they rapidly developed into the Industrial Age, and then the Information Age. Various countries are scattered across the planet. These countries have very different ideologies and development levels. They are simultaneously hostile to each other, but temporarily cooperate for common interests. They constantly aim their nuclear warheads at hostile countries. The entire planet seems to be on the brink of war. Finally, I seemed to see something in the sky above my head. It was a strange cube that looked transparent and smooth. It didn't seem like a satellite or spacecraft."

"So... the hallucinations I saw seem to be exactly the same as yours."

"Did you also see such hallucinations?"

"Yes, just as I sat down."