The stars, but they become the gray wind

"But don't be too disappointed. As long as we're willing to invest some time, I believe that by pooling the research power of the entire Sky Star civilization, there's a certain chance we can figure out why you're here. If we can figure that out, it might even bring about new opportunities for explosive development for Sky Star civilization."

"And even if we still haven't found any evidence of extraterrestrial life in this universe, after completing our exploration of the Local Bubble, most of the probes, with the exception of a handful that continued to travel beyond the Local Bubble, self-destructed according to their original programming. Of those still functioning, the furthest one we sent out should have flown over 20,000 light-years beyond its home galaxy. Even that distance is a drop in the bucket compared to the vastness of the Milky Way, and it's nothing compared to the entire universe, which has a diameter of 93 billion light-years."

"Given the incredibly large number of stars and planets in the universe, the existence of multiple intelligent life forms is inevitable. We just haven't found them yet."

"So what happened to those probes you launched outside the local bubble space?"

"One of the probes, traveling toward the center of the Milky Way, has been intermittently sending back observational data on the star systems it passed along the way for thousands of years. Around 30,000 years ago, we received the last message from that probe before its energy was completely exhausted. If we calculate the time it took for this message to travel at the speed of light, it must have been sent by the probe at least 30,000 years ago. This means that the energy source of the probe heading toward the center of the Milky Way should have been completely exhausted at least 30,000 years ago. Since then, we have completely lost contact with this probe."

"The other probe that flew out of the Local Bubble was heading towards another arm of the Milky Way. That's the probe that's traveled over 20,000 light-years. It's the oldest probe still in operation. We received a signal from it about 10,000 years ago, proving it was still operational until at least that time. All other probes launched during the same period have either completely lost contact or self-destructed."

"This probe is the only one left from the same batch. The information we received over 10,000 years ago indicates that this probe is heading towards a star system with a yellow dwarf star."

"If nothing unexpected happens, the probe should have arrived at the yellow dwarf galaxy by now and begun observing and mapping the entire galaxy."

"Unfortunately, that yellow dwarf galaxy is over 22000 light-years away from Sky Star. Even if it were to send a signal back now, it wouldn't be received by Sky Star for at least 20,000 years. However, for the people of Sky Star... the one thing they have the most is time. We have plenty of time to wait for the day we receive the signal."

"A yellow dwarf star...Come to think of it, the star that my home planet in another world revolves around is also a yellow dwarf star." Luo Ying took a sip of the bitter coffee.

"Ah... the spaceship has been manufactured, and it's time for us to go pick it up." At this time, a holographic image prompt popped up in front of Elena's eyes, indicating that the spaceship manufacturing and debugging work in the dock had been completed, and asked Elena to move as soon as possible to pick up her newly built spaceship.

"That's fast... But by the way, what kind of propulsion method does this classical spaceship you built use?"

"It's a normal antimatter engine with a large amount of metallic hydrogen as the propellant. It can be considered a classical propulsion device. It can maintain an exhaust velocity close to 0.7 times the speed of light while still providing decent thrust. To compensate for the acceleration issues, I even added two additional nuclear saltwater engines on either side for auxiliary power. Although installing three different engines on the same ship will cause the spacecraft's dry mass to soar and put enormous pressure on the cooling system, considering the outrageous level of the classical performance artists participating in the event, I think this is already very conservative."

"Considering their style, I guess... it will be very abstract, right?"

"Ah?" Luo Ying was a little confused.

"But don't underestimate the level of abstraction in the designs of these retro-style spacecraft enthusiasts. I bet that compared to those abstract spacecraft they designed, my antimatter engine plus nuclear salt water thing is definitely normal." Elena shrugged.

The process of retrieving the spacecraft went smoothly. It took almost no effort for Elena to transfer the spacecraft to the port. At this time, there was less than an hour left before the event started.

In the cabin, Elena connected Xiao You to the spacecraft's computer system. As a strong artificial intelligence assistant, Xiao You was indeed one of the more unique ones. A considerable number of strong artificial intelligences in the Sky Star civilization often possessed a physical body. Some of these bodies were von Neumann self-replicator aggregates composed entirely of nanomachines, some were highly bionic synthetic human bodies, and some artificial intelligences and the Sky Star people they served would even directly choose a highly modified biological body as their material carrier. Xiao You was a relatively unique one among them. Compared with the strong artificial intelligences that hoped for an actual material carrier, even if the worst came to it, they would prepare a spare humanoid material carrier for themselves that could be used at any time. Xiao You had always stayed with Elena and Anna in the form of a holographic projection. Although the artificial intelligences of other Sky Star civilizations did not mind existing in the form of holographic projections for a long time, they preferred to be a physical life and live more closely with the Sky Star people they served on the physical level.

"Access has been completed to take over all systems on the spacecraft. The spacecraft is ready to start."

"By the way, Xiao You, there's one thing I haven't asked you."

"what's up?"

"Although you have been in this state since I was born, why have you never been willing to prepare a physical body for yourself that you can use at any time?"

"Although there are other artificial intelligences on Sky Star who like to exist in the form of holographic projections for a long time like you, they will at least prepare a physical body for themselves that can be used at any time. But I have never seen you prepare or create any material carrier for yourself, right?" After connecting Xiao You to the system of this new spaceship, Elena suddenly remembered a problem that had troubled her for a long time.

"This... is a long story. Let me give you a hint. Anna, your mother, and your mother... think carefully, what do they like to do?"

"Rolling around on the bed together without clothes on?"

"Hmm..." Xiao You's holographic projection nodded silently.

"Think about Anna again... Elena, don't forget, every girl around Anna, including you, has been attacked by her. Of course, this also includes the physical bodies of the artificial intelligences of those good friends of Anna. Anna is the kind of person who doesn't care about beautiful girls... If I have a physical body that is exactly the same as this holographic projection, what do you think Anna will do to me?" Xiao You, who has long silver hair, asked Elena.

"As an artificial intelligence, I don't mind giving my physical first time to your sister, but I still like you more, Elena. Compared to Anna, who is a pervert who likes to indiscriminately attack girls around her, Elena, you are the good girl that I really like." Xiao You stretched out his holographic hand, stroked Elena's hair and said.

"Oh, I'm so sad when you say that, my dear Xiao You. How can it be considered perverted to give a gentle chest to all the girls around you?" Anna's voice suddenly sounded, which ruined the atmosphere.

"Besides, when it comes to things like assaulting my sister, aren't mom and the others just as bad as me?"

"And my love for Elena and other girls is fair. They are all my wings." Anna made a very lesbian statement without any shame.

(A reminder to everyone: the time point on Luoying's side is actually very different from that of the four-member group, and the plots on both sides do not happen at the same time.)

Chapter 134: The chaotic spaceship race and the lecherous Anna (5000 words)

Luo Ying dared to bet that this was definitely the most bizarre scene she had ever seen in her life. Although, before the event started, Luo Ying had been mentally prepared for some unimaginable scenes that might appear in this event under Elena's reminder, but even she did not expect that this racing event would reach such a chaotic level.

"What the hell is all this... stuff around here?" Outside Alpha 7, thousands of spaceships of completely different shapes, sizes, and interiors were neatly arranged in a vertical, dense array in the vacuum outside Alpha 7. Luo Ying looked at the holographic images displayed by the sensors on the spaceship's exterior, and suddenly felt that his brain was not enough.

"Why do I feel like... I'm watching a flashy green version of the history of human spaceflight?" Luo Ying was very confused as he looked at the various flashy spaceships and spacecraft on the screen.

"This is really... quite... a riot of demons." Elena, who was sitting in the driver's seat, was also looking at the picture on the holographic display. After thinking it over, she made this comment.

"I know those retro enthusiasts like to do things a bit fancy, but this scene... I didn't expect them to come up with so many fancy things."

"Hmm... I agree... It feels like we are now in a museum exhibition that brings together all kinds of strange and bizarre spacecraft throughout the history of the Sky Star civilization." Looking at the scene outside the spacecraft, Anna couldn't hold it in any longer.

"These ships' propulsion modes and power sources rarely overlap... The guy on our left uses an antiproton-catalyzed critical microfission propulsion engine. The guy on our right uses a fission-fusion hybrid reaction dust thruster. The ship on the upper right uses a plasma gas nuclear thermal thruster, and the hull is also stuffed with hundreds of electric thrusters. The fourth ship from the left to our left clearly has a liquid nuclear continuous pulse thruster based on its nozzle structure. The third ship diagonally to the right, judging by its propulsion system and reactor, is likely a plasma beam magnetized target engine."

"The sixth ship from the bottom seems to be powered by an electric field inertial confinement fusion engine. The two ships at the edge are likely powered by magnetic field spin neutron drives and kinetic energy gradient field implosion thrusters. The ship at the top of the array is powered by magnetic-gravity coherence confinement propulsion. The seventh ship from the bottom right is likely powered by a tandem magnetic mirror Z-pinch fusion direct injection engine. The fifteenth ship from the top right is most likely powered by a particle beam impact vacuum drive."

"That weird-looking reactor structure on the 23rd ship on the left is probably a fusion-reburning, afterburning dual-mode reactor. The one next to it is probably using a positron-ignited fusion engine. Uh... wait, why is there a light sail ship next to it? Using light sails for speed racing? Is this a joke?"

"Compared to these, I think the one equipped with light-flip propulsion... is actually quite normal." Elena, sitting in the driver's seat, pulled a face and sent the images of several ships to Anna on the holographic display.

"What's this? Why do these ships appear to have no reactors?"

"It's not just looks...these ships don't have any kind of reactors at all."

"Wait, no reactor? Then how are they going to propel themselves?"

"Uh... it looks like... these ships are powered purely by chemical energy. Looking at the fuel tanks on their hulls... they seem to be powered by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen?"

"Pfft! Using the chemical energy of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen for propulsion?! Are these guys trying to make fun of me?"

"Maybe he's the same as us, the kind that doesn't matter if you win or lose, what matters is participation?"

"The important thing is to participate, but that's not the way to make it funny, right?"

"Forget about the light sails... What's the deal with these purely chemically propelled ships?"

"Uh... it seems there are even more bizarre ones. I seem to have seen a spaceship covered with at least a thousand electric thrusters. It made me feel like I have claustrophobia... and it seems that this thing is not nuclear-powered... it is just pure electric propulsion... To add, it is a spaceship driven by thousands of pure electric thrusters. There are at least a dozen xenon-filled fuel tanks hanging on the back of the ship." Elena looked at one of the spaceships on the screen whose surface was covered with densely packed ion thrusters, and she couldn't help but want to wash her eyes.

"Elena..." Luoying called softly.

"What happened to Qi Siba?"

"Let me confirm. I'm on Sky Star now, right? Not some magical space agency run by the little green men on Kan Star?"

"I'm quite sure... you're discovering the VIIIth fin anomaly..."

"But this is a bunch of stuff... what the hell?"

"I admit... my compatriots do have a talent for making people lose their minds... in all senses of the word. And this talent definitely existed a long time ago."

"Although I was somewhat prepared before coming here, seeing them come up with something so... abstract... I find that I seem to have underestimated the somewhat abstract creativity of my compatriots."

"No, this isn't an abstract question anymore, is it?"

"With so many spaceships painted in the style of a complete history of human spaceflight, I'm afraid these fellows of yours are just some green-skinned people disguised as pretty girls, right?"

"Considering their incredible artistic abilities, and the style of their creations, they do resemble the greenskins you remember."

"If I have to describe it, these compatriots of ours are actually wearing the appearance of beautiful girls, but inside they are little green men of Kerbal and 40k green skins filled with the power of my thoughts?" Anna looked at the spaceships that made the eyes of the various wanderers go black, spread her hands, and almost fainted.

"Is there reason to suspect... that our compatriots may actually have some creativity and artistic talent like the greenskins?" Elena commented with a stern face.

"I don't think you can call this the Retro Space Association. It would be more appropriate to change it to the Kan Star Little Green Man Magic Space Association."

"Um... if you think about it, in terms of the degree of magic, our materials science is much more magical than Kan Star's mindless reinforcement of rockets?"

"It seems so..." Thinking of this, Luoying wiped the non-existent sweat from his head.

"But... why do I feel... that these spaceships are more than they appear?"

"what?"

"For example, that plasma-gas nuclear thermal propulsion thing with hundreds of electric thrusters... including this one, the details of their reactors and spacecraft configurations all look a bit strange."

"What's weird?"

"It's like...some modifications have been made to some of the details and equipment of the spacecraft."

"Magic reform?"

"You know... just like how some people in your civilization add strange features and extra equipment to their cars, this also happens in Sky Star civilization. However, due to the level of technology on Sky Star, these additional features often appear even more special."

"In some cases, these additional features can even seem quite weird."

"Ghost?"

"For example, making the ship's performance in certain aspects become outrageous, such as instantly generating accelerations exceeding tens of thousands of Gs, or creating a giant holographic projection and bizarre flashing effects like a disco ball with an impact range of over ten thousand kilometers, or even making the pulse pattern and frequency of the ship's engine become like farting and diarrhea, as well as some even more outrageous and abstract functions."

"Pfft! What the hell is this? Do you have so much free time to add so many weird functions to the spacecraft?" Luo Ying was about to burst out laughing when she heard about the additional functions brought by these weird modifications.

"Well...after all, the design of Sky Star spaceships often doesn't pursue pure functionality. Besides pursuing comfort, many Sky Star people like to create some very unique spaceships, which has led to a series of rather bizarre additional functional components."

"Um... I thought your style of spaceship design was at least normal, right?"

"Actually... most of the spaceships designed by the Sky Star people are very beautiful, but some spaceships have more unique functions." Elena defended weakly.

"Well... such an abstract function... is indeed... quite unique." Looking at the series of spaceships outside whose shapes, styles, and functional principles are abstract to the extreme, Luo Ying was almost speechless.

…………

Dozens of minutes later, Elena and the other two, as well as the pilots of other spaceships, were all nervously watching the countdown on the screen in front of them. The moment the countdown reached zero, all the spaceships started their engines and thrusters at the same time.

Suddenly, a large number of small suns of varying brightness appeared in the space next to Alpha 7. For a moment, there were neutron radiation, gamma ray jets, X-rays, alpha rays, plasma wakes that were discharged at high speed through reactor heating, or small nuclear fuel target pellets that were thrown out at high speed toward the rear of the spacecraft, or huge nuclear bombs shot backwards by nuclear pulse propulsion devices, ion thrusters ejected xenon gas with extremely high exhaust speed but negligible thrust, liquid hydrogen and methane working fluids heated by solid, liquid, and gas core fission nuclear thermal reactors, and methane and liquid hydrogen propellants with relatively low combustion temperatures ejected by chemical energy thrusters, and even several spacecraft ejecting pressure-stable metallic hydrogen working fluid backwards.

Spaceships of all sizes, fancy designs, and with almost no duplicate propulsion methods, were advancing through space at the same vastly different cruising accelerations. The first few spaceships to be left behind were those that used electric propulsion, which had extremely low thrust and acceleration. The average acceleration of the electric propulsion spaceships was less than 0.001g, which put them far behind the other spaceships in the initial stages. However, these electric propulsion spaceships were not the most lagging behind in progress. The most lagging behind was the spaceship that used light sail propulsion. When the other spaceships had already begun to accelerate forward, the light sail spaceship slowly unfolded its retracted light sail. When the other leading spaceships had already rushed out for more than tens of thousands of kilometers, this spaceship finally completed the unfolding of its light sail. Then, immediately afterwards, a certain area on the Alpha VII in the distance lit up with a bright light invisible to the naked eye. A laser beam spanning several light seconds accurately hit the laser sail of this spaceship. Under the propulsion provided by the laser, the spaceship finally began to slowly accelerate.

"This thing uses laser sails for propulsion. Is it really not a joke? Anyone who is not a fool should know how inefficient laser propulsion is. With that acceleration, it is not even as good as electric propulsion." Under the strong push back feeling brought by the nuclear salt water engine with an acceleration of up to 3G at full power, Elena looked at the laser sail spacecraft on the screen that was moving at a snail's pace and complained.

"I think this thing is just here to join in the fun, right? Even if the laser irradiation power is very high, it can't be faster than the torch ships like Nuclear Salt Water and Nuclear Melon Seeds?"

"And those electric and chemical propulsion vessels, judging by the fuel consumption rates of your ships, they likely won't even cover a third of the distance before running out of propulsion fluid and fuel."

"So what kind of weird thing is this? Why would someone think of participating in the competition with a purely chemically propelled and electric propulsion spacecraft?" Luo Ying has already given up on the design ideas of these weird spacecraft.

"And that weird thing with thousands of ion thrusters installed on the surface of the spacecraft, is the acceleration of that thing serious? 0.00001g? It will take forever to accelerate at that rate."

"Hmm...wait a minute...what does this ship seem to be doing?"

Elena noticed that an area on the surface of the electric-propelled spacecraft was opening, and some equipment was slowly rising from under the hull of the spacecraft.

"What is this?"

Then, the device that slowly rose from the shell of the electric-propelled spacecraft, which was moving at a snail's pace, projected a huge holographic text towards the direction of the spacecraft where Elena and others were.

【Don’t stop! ! ! !】

【Ah ...

“????” Luo Ying’s face turned black when he saw this string of words that were obviously meant for him.

"Poof!!!! Hahahahahahahahahaha... burp..." Anna, who was sitting on the side of the spaceship, couldn't help but burst out laughing after seeing the string of words.

"Is this... is this guy playing a meme?" Luo Ying pointed at the screen with a frown on his face, turned around and asked Anna.

"Hahaha... maybe that's right... After all, we're not the only ones who've seen your memories. Almost all of the Sky Star people, including the Tree of Life and the artificial intelligence, have studied and examined your memories."

"And... they're specifically sending this string of text in the direction of our spaceship. It's probably a joke, right?"

"Uh... now that you mention it... why do I feel like all my dark history has been exposed?"

"It's okay... We're all girls anyway, so it's okay if our dark history is exposed. Besides, everyone in the Sky Star knows that your XP is a gentle, kind, wife-like older sister, right?"

"Don't say it so casually!" Miss Luoying blushed when Anna mentioned her privacy and XP.

"Don't be shy... Although I'm not the type of wife-type big sister you like, I am still a relatively gentle type. If you need it, I can also give you a gentle hug and kiss."

"Let's just forget it... I don't want to be toyed with by some lesbian scumbag, emotionally and physically. Besides, you can even lay your hands on your own sister. If I throw myself into your arms, I'm afraid I'll be eaten alive."

"Don't worry, I'm very gentle. If this is your first time, you'll definitely feel comfortable." Anna said, her hand restlessly reaching towards Luoying's chest.

"No, I want to give my first time to the older sister I really like. I don't want to be taken away by a lesbian scumbag like Aquaman for no reason." Luo Ying calmly dodged the dirty hand that was stretched out from behind Anna.

"Don't be afraid. I really like inexperienced girls like you. Besides, it's not good to give the first blood to a gentle sister like me?" Elena still didn't give up. Relying on the strong physical functions of the Sky Star people, she stood up easily despite the gravity acceleration of more than 3g, and stepped closer to Miss Luoying who was sitting on the chair.

"Anna...wait a minute...what are you doing...don't come over here!"

Looking at Anna approaching him with a lewd expression on her face, the inexperienced Luo Ying was a little panicked. Although Anna was indeed a beautiful girl, Luo Ying did not want to lose her life inexplicably. What's more, according to Elena, Xiao You and others, Anna was a scumbag even by the standards of the Sky Star people. He absolutely could not give his first time to a lesbian scumbag who liked to play with girls, their feelings and bodies.

Luo Ying subconsciously stood up suddenly and shrank behind the chair, using the chair as a cover to try to avoid Anna.

"Don't hide from me like that... my dear sister Luoying." Anna licked her lips and looked at me with greedy eyes, with only my head showing behind the chair.

"Elena, help!" Luoying called for help to Elena who was in the driver's seat not far away.

"Uh..." Elena, who was driving the spaceship, glanced speechlessly at the two people who were making a fuss behind her.

"Anna...can you please stop making trouble? Taking away sister Luoying's virginity in front of me is too much, isn't it?" Elena admonished Anna.

"Didn't you see Luo Ying was unwilling?"

"Don't worry, Elena, I won't force her if she doesn't want to."