The stars, but they become the gray wind

"But the existence of this component at least represents a possibility... that faster-than-light technology is feasible, but our technological level is not advanced enough for us to understand it."

"That lord must have left this thing behind for a reason. Perhaps it's a gift, a gift that can lead our entire civilization to truly break through the threshold of lightspeed."

"But that master never explained that component at all, right? If it was for us, why didn't he tell us how it works and how to use it from the beginning?"

"I think there may be some deeper reasons. Maybe our technical level and development scale are not enough, so... we can't use this component. Or maybe there are some other reasons that made that adult deliberately not tell us about this component." Chi Chengsan guessed.

Just as Chi Chengsan and Hong Muqi were discussing the mysterious star-control components installed on the [Lieyang Star Network] on the ice field on the surface of Tangyuan Star, a small shuttle cut through the thick atmosphere of Zenglan, a gas giant planet also in the Xiangque Galaxy.

"Woo-hoo!" Inside the shuttle's cockpit, the glass eel named Zao Chiqi shouted happily.

"Wow, this is so exciting!! Surfing on a gas giant like Zenglan is definitely my favorite extreme sport!"

Riding on the wind speed of more than 1500 kilometers per hour in the upper atmosphere of Zenglan Star, the shuttle operated by Zao Chiqi performed various fancy and highly spectacular stunts. In the strong wind of Zenglan Star that was strong enough to tear the surface of the rocky solid planet, Zao Chiqi's shuttle was like a fish in water, flexibly moving against the wind. The integrated fuselage made of ultra-high strength subatomic materials allowed the shuttle to protect the crew inside even in the strong wind that was strong enough to tear the earth apart. This was why Zao Chiqi dared to perform various seemingly dangerous stunts in the storm of the gas giant planet.

"It feels so good! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Zao Chiqi in the cockpit yelled with unbridled excitement, experiencing the thrill brought by extreme sports. The nanomachines in his body secreted a large amount of chemicals, allowing him to further experience this joyful and exciting emotion.

Zao Chiqi was so overjoyed that he had completely forgotten Chi Chengsan's warning to him to be careful with his manners when playing. He was almost completely focused on having fun. For glass eels, which reproduce asexually like cell division, there is no gender difference between individuals. The way they reproduce is to separate a part of their body's stem cell-like tissue and inject it into an artificial culture chamber or eggs. The new glass eel baby will complete its development in the warm artificial culture chamber outside the body and grow into a new individual. For glass eels that have now entered the stage of interstellar civilization, the newly born child does not need to receive long-term learning and education. Through brain-computer interfaces and nanomachines, a newborn child can have knowledge and cognition equivalent to that of the entire civilization.

Although the glass eel's cognition of the entire civilization and the universe, as well as a series of necessary knowledge, all come from the rapid digital knowledge input and infusion of the brain-computer interface, the acquired personality of each glass eel is completely different due to the differences in its living environment. From the perspective of the glass eel's values ​​and social concepts, this method not only respects the individual's self-awareness and personality, but also greatly reduces the unpleasant process brought about by each individual's long-term learning and education, as well as the uncertainty and time cost in the process.

As a glass eel named Zao Chiqi, who has lived until today since the beginning of this change more than 500 years ago, he has naturally witnessed the changes in his own civilization over the past 500 years. In fact, this change was originally promoted by eels such as Zao Chiqi and Chi Chengsan with the help of the alien. Both Zao Chiqi and the general public in the glass eel society are very happy to see these changes that have brought about leaps and bounds in progress for the glass eel civilization.

After the operation of glass eel society was gradually taken over by super artificial intelligence, forcing all glass eels into a semi-retirement state, Zao Chiqi was the one who adapted the fastest. After no longer needing to serve as Chi Chengsan's bodyguard, he devoted all his energy to his hobby, which is the extreme sport of flying a shuttle in the atmosphere of a gas giant and surfing in the strong winds.

The first time it came into contact with this sport was when several planetary celestial projects of the Glass Eel civilization in the Xiangque galaxy were not yet completed.

At that time, the glass eels were planning to build a gas giant centrifuge device above the giant planet Zenglan. By increasing the rotation speed of the entire gas giant planet, they could separate, screen and extract resources such as helium-3 and hydrogen isotopes from the atmosphere of Zenglan.

During the survey of Zenglan and the construction of a gas giant centrifuge, the glass eels from Tangyuan Star and Limai Star, another rocky planet in the galaxy, made an unexpected discovery on Zenglan Star. Some branch tribes that survived from the old glass eel calendar era, relying on a floating platform built in the upper atmosphere of Zenglan in the old calendar period, live on this gas giant. These floating platforms in the upper atmosphere of Zenglan were once theme parks in the old era, and this group named "Qimei" are the descendants of the tourists who were stranded here when the catastrophe that destroyed the entire galaxy occurred.

Due to the discontinuity of the scientific and technological system, the social level of the "eels" living on the upper layer of this giant planet has regressed to the agricultural age. Zao Chiqi was a member of the team that participated in the construction of the Zenglan giant planet centrifuge. It was also during that period that it came into contact with the extreme sport of surfing on the gas giant planet.

Due to the lack of advanced technology, the eels had to rely on simple tools and materials at hand to create airship-like vehicles that could transport people and cargo between different floating platforms on the gas giants for a long time. It was also on this basis that after the eels returned as a branch and integrated into the main body of the glass eel society, it developed into a very popular special extreme sport. Nowadays, many glass eels like to come to the gas giant Zenglan to participate in this exciting and extreme sport. Zao Chiqi, as a promoter and senior enthusiast of this sport, is a leader in flying skills.

The flexible and compact shuttle flew up and down, and from time to time it suddenly dived down and plunged into the clouds composed of hydrogen and helium below. The strong magnetic field of the gas giant planet caused dazzling lightning to light up in the clouds from time to time. Watching the lightning passing over the gas clouds below and above him, Zao Chiqi suddenly pulled up the aerodynamic control surfaces, and with the help of the powerful thrust of the engine, broke through the clouds above at a right angle of 90 degrees.

"Woohoo!!!!" Zao Chiqi was flying freely in the clouds of the gas giant planet, enjoying the unrestrained pleasure.

…………

Just as Zao Chiqi was indulging in surfing on the gas giant planet, a thousand-kilometer-sized mirror-shaped spherical cavity quietly appeared on the outskirts of the Xiangque Galaxy...

Chapter 160 Four Stars Surrounding the Sun

“5…4…3…2…1，跃迁引擎关闭，脱离跃迁！”

As the countdown on the screen ended, the distorted starry sky on the crystal wall of the jump bubble outside the ship suddenly returned to normal. The small fleet returned to the three-dimensional universe. What appeared before them was a birdcage composed of a series of curved artificial structures, and in the center of this huge birdcage was the neutron star Xiangque.

"Is this... the full picture of the [Hunting Yang Star Network]?" Yuki stood up holding the handles on both sides of the seat, walked to the central control holographic display console in the center of the bridge, and carefully observed the holographic image of the Xiangque Galaxy.

The [Hunting Sun Star Network] located in the center of the galaxy is like a strangely shaped birdcage. The neutron star Xiang Que is bound in the center of the birdcage. The spiral structure climbing along the direction of the neutron star's rotation constantly cuts the magnetic field of the high-speed rotating neutron star. This huge stellar structure relies on the strong magnetic field of the neutron star to generate electricity. At the same time, it turns the entire neutron star into a huge star-sized flywheel, and uses the gravitational potential energy of the neutron star to obtain additional energy. At the same time, the [Hunting Sun Star Network] also plays the role of a Dyson cloud. The neutron star Xiang Que, which is 1000 million times brighter than a normal yellow dwarf star, is used by the Hunting Sun Star Network with extremely high efficiency. Under the action of the Hunting Sun Star Network, a considerable portion of the light emitted by the neutron star is blocked.

"It feels like... it's taking a completely different path from our neutron star spherical energy collection coil." The pink-haired elf girl standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window on the Salem was gazing at the neutron star Xiangque in the distance.

"And... a stellar project of this shape does look quite artistic." Kylias rested his hands on the glass and stared intently at the giant star-sized structure in the distance.

Chi Chengsan was awakened from his sleep by an emergency communication alert. Inside the spherical water tank for hibernation, Chi Chengsan pressed a button on the wall to connect the communication and start the drainage procedure of the spherical water tank. As an aquatic amphibian intelligent life, glass eels can move and survive in a waterless environment in their natural state, but most glass eels prefer to live in a moist environment full of water. The water tank used by Chi Chengsan for sleeping is such a product designed to improve the comfort of glass eels during their daily sleep.

Chi Chengsan raised a tentacle, rubbed his eyes, opened the holographic communication interface in the water tank, and saw Hongmuqi's tense face.

"Ah...Hongmu Qi? What's wrong?" Chi Chengsan, who was woken up from his sleep, yawned first, then asked his old friend.

"30 seconds ago, a strange spherical mirror-shaped bubble suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the Xiangque Galaxy. It completely reflected light of all wavelengths. Then, this bubble disappeared within just a few seconds. Afterwards, we observed this at the location of that bubble..."

A picture that seemed to be taken from a distance was displayed in front of Chi Chengsan. In the dark space outside the Xiangque galaxy, where there was nothing originally, a mirror sphere with a diameter of thousands of kilometers suddenly appeared. Then the sphere disappeared, revealing the things wrapped inside - hundreds of slender spaceships with a long axis of more than 20 kilometers.

"What the hell is this?!!" Chi Chengsan, who had just felt a little sleepy, suddenly lost all sleepiness. He widened his eyes and stared at the screen.

"These spaceships suddenly appeared there without any warning. Before they appeared, all our sensors and monitoring equipment in the galaxy did not have any early warning." Hongmu Qi added to Chi Chengsan.

"No warning? Our system-wide surveillance network didn't detect anything before they appeared?"

"Hmm... at the location where the bubble appeared, no gravitational waves or abnormal electromagnetic radiation were detected. No X-rays or gamma rays, and no blue shift of light that might occur at superluminal speeds."

"Judging from this point, the builders of these spacecraft may be far more technologically advanced than us."

"Assistant!" Chi Chengsan shouted to the air around him.

"Here, what can I do for you?" A small pyramid-shaped holographic image appeared next to Chi Chengsan.

"Help me prepare the spaceship! I also need a diplomatic and scientific research team. Notify Zao Chiqi and have it return as soon as possible!"

"Understood... Wait a moment... Dear Chi Chengsan, you have another message... It is recommended that you put this message at the top priority." said the personal strong artificial intelligence assistance program that Chi Chengsan called assistant.

"Disinfection? What news could be more important than first contact with another alien civilization?"

"The superluminal communication device left behind by Master [Yanzhe] suddenly made a sound, and a message was sent!"

"What! Is it news about that adult? Could it be related to those spaceships that suddenly appeared?" Chi Chengsan's eyes widened suddenly.

"Please wait... Dear Chi Chengsan, I am confirming..."

"It has been confirmed... The source of this message is that fleet, and the identification code is [琞者]."

"What?! Are you sure?" Chi Chengsan was so excited that he rushed in front of the holographic display, grabbed the frame of the holographic display with two tentacles, and asked with wide eyes.

"It has been confirmed... the identity code of this information matches that of the [琞者]. They are sending us follow-up information."

A series of modulated neutrino signals were sent from the fleet to Tangyuan Star, located at the outermost part of the galaxy, using the encryption method commonly used by glass eels. Just tens of seconds later, a series of equally encrypted messages were sent from Tangyuan Star's synchronous orbital space station to the fleet. This message was a message expressing friendly greetings, and its content was: [Welcome back, great Lord Yanzhe].

.........

"It went unexpectedly smoothly." On the Gray Wind mothership named Fantasia Light, Yuki exclaimed happily after checking the message sent by the other party.

"After all, if we reveal our identities right from the start, it will also facilitate subsequent communication between our two civilizations. And speaking of this..."

"The communication process I went through... seems to be because this Cabot girl didn't tell me about the identity she used before. Otherwise, our communication would not have been so dragged out." As she spoke, the purple-haired girl from the future rolled her eyes at her boss behind her.

"You can't blame me for this, right? After all, when I helped them hundreds of years ago, it was just an unintentional act. To me, it was at most a small favor not worth mentioning. Who would have thought that after hundreds of years, they would remember me so clearly? I thought it wouldn't matter if I didn't reveal my identity."

"Alas...you have completely overlooked a key issue, haven't you?" The purple-haired girl from the future helplessly touched her forehead at her boss and mother.

"You are both our superior and our biological mother. For a civilization like the Glass Eel that has benefited from your kindness, aside from being your benefactor, you are also, in a sense, the overlord of both our civilizations. You've completely overlooked this point."

"If you had made your identity clear from the beginning when I was there, our two civilizations would have known about the origins of each other sooner, and communication and integration wouldn't have been dragged out for so long."

"What's more... a considerable portion of this star system, all the giant structures we can see with our naked eyes, are your work. As the sect leader and my biological mother, you often leave me speechless."

"Um... I just wanted to find a friend for my daughters... As for when my daughters make friends, isn't it normal for me to hide in the distance and watch?" Cabot argued with a guilty conscience.

"Forget it... I won't pursue this aspect. Anyway, in a closed-type situation, under the influence of the curve computer, the result is fixed, but the process will be easier."

"Next, I'll have to trouble you to use your shell to serve as a bridge of communication between the two parties."

"Using my shell is too troublesome. This time, I'll go with you in my real body. Those kids have never had the chance to see my real body, so let's just have a candid conversation this time."

"Ah, you're not going to use a vest this time?"

"Anyway, the Shell of the Corrector is just a tool. Since we want you two to become friends this time, it would be more appropriate for me to go in my real form." Cabot stretched and stood up from his seat.

Chi Chengsan led a large group of glass eels and stood in the spaceport. He tidied up his appearance again, feeling a little nervous and expectant.

"We haven't seen each other for more than 500 years... I wonder how Lord Yanzhe is doing?" Chi Chengsan muttered nervously, and the glass eels around him were whispering to each other.

At this time... a two-dimensional portal with green hexagonal patterns suddenly appeared in the air not far in front of the glass eels. A creature that looked very strange to the glass eels walked out of the portal. She had flaxen hair on her head, and her eyes were slightly covered by the flaxen hair on her forehead, emitting a deep blue light.

Following that creature, there were several other creatures that looked very similar to her. The flaxen-haired creature that led the way out of the portal, when she saw Chi Chengsan not far away, her expression changed in a way that the glass eels didn't understand. She walked forward, squatted slightly, and looked into Chi Chengsan's eyes with her dark blue eyes.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Chi Chengsan felt inexplicably familiar with the creature in front of him.

"Long time no see... Chi Chengsan... You look just like when I first met you, haven't changed at all?"

"But... my appearance has changed a lot. You should still be able to recognize me, right?"

"Are you... Lord Yanzhe?" Chi Chengsan opened his mouth in surprise when he heard Cabot open his mouth and speak in a familiar voice.

"But...what is your current form?"

"My real form... When I was with you more than 500 years ago, I always used this..." Cabot snapped his fingers, and a translucent prism lost its invisibility and floated in the air beside Cabot.

"If we use this method... I think you should be more familiar with it, Chi Chengsan?" Cabot's cold and pleasant female voice came from the translucent prismatic octahedron.

"So... you really are Lord [Yanzhe]!!" Chi Chengsan couldn't hide his excitement and his voice was trembling.

"Yes... I'm back... and by the way, I brought you a friend, another of my creations."

While Cabot and Chi Chengsan were reminiscing about the past, Carlisle and the others took the opportunity to observe the glass eels gathered in front.

From the perspective of Calisi and others, the shape of individual glass eels is like an enlarged version of a jellyfish with a pair of eyes and a mouth. They float in the air with the help of a magnetic levitation device. Their bodies have many complex tentacles and limbs that are obviously used for movement and operating tools. They have ripples on their bodies that constantly change in light and dark. Their smooth and streamlined bodies are obviously more suitable for quick and convenient movement in aquatic environments.

While Kalisi was paying attention to the glass eel, more than a dozen pairs of curious eyes were also looking at Kalisi.

"Is the person who is talking to Chi Chengsan the real body of Master Yanzhe?"

"It seems so."

"So this is what Master Yanzhe's true form looks like?"

"Then are those who followed Master Yanzhe the same kind as Master Yanzhe?"

"No... Listening to the conversation between Master Yanzhe and Chi Chengsan, it seems these creatures that look very similar to Master Yanzhe are not his kind. It seems they are species created by Master Yanzhe using advanced technology, using his own appearance as a template?"

"Eh? Is this a species created directly by the Lord? It sounds really powerful. "

"But... Master Yanzhe's true form actually looks like this. In my memory, when he was with us over 500 years ago, he was always a prismatic, eight-sided cube that seemed completely emotionless. But now, in this Master Yanzhe's true form, I seem to be able to see some very obvious emotional movements and expressions."

"So... Lord Yanzhe also has emotions. Just looking at the information in the past, I thought Lord Yanzhe was some kind of artificial intelligence program that has no emotional expression at all." A young glass eel said a little nonsensically.

"You are a newly born individual in the last 100 years, right? It's normal for you to have this kind of cognition. I was a member of the research team under Chi Chengsan back then. I was fortunate to get along with the then Lord Yanzhe for some time. At that time, I felt that Lord Yanzhe should be a more rational and intelligent existence than us, and he also has the same emotions and feelings as intelligent life. He is not a rigid weak artificial intelligence program. Now that I see it, I was right in my guess." Another glass eel that looked very mature next to the young glass eel said with a very positive and happy mood.

"Oh... So that's how it is?" The young glass eel raised a tentacle and touched its head as if it suddenly understood something.

The communication between the two sides went smoothly. With the help of Cabot, their former benefactor, the glass eels very friendly and enthusiastically invited Calisi and others to visit the orbital ring of Tangyuan Star.

Unlike the traditional ring-shaped structure built around the planet's equator in the Sky Star Orbital Ring, the special planetary orbital ring [Repulsive Energy Grid] built by the Glass Eels around the two solid rocky planets Tangyuan and Limai is composed of two independent huge grid-like hollow structures that orbit the planet's equator. Through a special space elevator based on tractor beams, the resources on the surface of the two planets are continuously lifted into orbit and eventually become part of the orbital ring.

At the same time, the orbital rings of these two planets are also one of the main space habitats and energy facilities of the eels. The long-distance laser transmission and intra-stellar energy broadcasting system equipped on the two [Repulsion Grids] can wirelessly transmit the energy collected and generated by the [Repulsion Grids] during operation to the entire galaxy over long distances.

During their visit to the [Repulsive Energy Grid] on Tangyuan Star, both Calisi and Elena and others who came with her often saw glass eels moving around in the structure of the hollow area of ​​the star ring, as well as many glass eels relying on the jet packs on their bodies to move freely in the vacuum environment outside the pressurized area of ​​the star ring without any protection or insulation measures.

In this regard, Chi Chengsan explained that since the popularization of the ascension technology, almost every glass eel has a strong body that can adapt to any extreme environment, whether it is lethal radiation, high temperature and high pressure, and can even survive in a vacuum without air. The sky people including Elena and Kylias expressed their deep agreement. As sky people, they can adapt to various extreme environments at will because of the naturally existing nanomachines in their bodies. They also have the talent to survive in space without protection of their physical body.

For example, Chi Chengsan, who had already become a demon, demonstrated to everyone how a homeless person could step into space and move freely in a weightless vacuum environment.

The Sky Star people, including Elena and Kylias, also became interested after Chi Chengsan's demonstration. They followed Chi Chengsan through the airtight shield of the airlock and floated directly in the vacuum. However, since neither side carried any communication equipment other than voice translation tools, a large group of Sky Star people and Chi Chengsan, who was also floating in a vacuum and weightless environment, could only communicate with each other through gestures. A large group of Sky Star people made all kinds of gestures to Chi Chengsan, who had attached himself to a cabin wall not far away, which made Chi Chengsan, who had hung himself on the cabin wall with two tentacles, stunned. He couldn't figure out what they wanted to express to him?

After this little misunderstanding, everyone learned a lesson: even if both sides have the ability to survive without protection in a vacuum, communication between different species in a vacuum without atmosphere is a troublesome matter. It is better to bring a communication device that can be used for communication in a vacuum and silent environment.

…………

The surface of Tangyuan Star is a barren, vast ice field. As an aquatic amphibian species, most of the buildings and cities of glass eels are built in the ocean under the ice. There are only some scattered buildings and infrastructure on the ice layer that is a kilometer thick on the entire surface of the planet. The overall environment of this planet is no different from the surface of Europa and is not suitable for the survival of life. Most glass eels prefer to live in underwater cities in the ocean under the ice, and come to the surface only for a short stop on their way to space. However, there are indeed some glass eels who like to sightsee around on the surface. Now, a group of "aliens" visiting the Xiangque Galaxy are experiencing this sightseeing project.

Several vehicles powered by deuterium-deuterium fuel cells sped across the flat ice field. Luo Ying, wearing sunglasses, leaned against the window and looked curiously at the endless ice field outside the car. In the distance, several glass eels who were also visiting here passed by and waved to the convoy.

"Elena... This ice field reminds me of a planet called Europa."

"Looking at the planet's topography and geological structure... Tangyuan is indeed very similar to Europa. Both are far from the sun, have a surface ice layer thousands of meters thick, and a subsurface ocean beneath it."

"But an interesting point is that, due to the influence of the kilometer-thick ice layer covering the entire planet's surface, and the fact that they live in the ocean, the most common communication device used by glass eels isn't electromagnetic waves, but neutrinos. In order to penetrate the thousands of meters of ice and water for unimpeded long-distance communication, the glass eels' personal communication devices also transmit information by emitting targeted neutrinos."

"In their view, methods and equipment that transmit information using electromagnetic waves are a minority. The majority of communication technologies they understand are based on neutrino communication."

"Whether it's communication infrastructure on the surface of a planet or underwater, or communication equipment in space, glass eels prefer to use various modulated neutrinos to communicate."

…………

After sightseeing on the ice field, the Sky Star delegation and Kalisi and others came to the entrance of an underwater city of glass eels - a circular gap artificially dug on the ice field.

This circle appears to be very regular, and the well wall has obviously been reinforced with some artificial materials for structural stability. Dozens of open elevators are waiting here at the top of the circular gap.

"Right below these elevators is our underwater city," the young glass eel who served as a free tour guide for everyone introduced enthusiastically.

"It's just... I heard that you guys are terrestrial creatures... I wonder if you can adapt to the underwater environment? If you need it, I can prepare enough underwater protective suits and other things."

"Thank you, but no... If it's just the high-pressure environment underwater, it's nothing to us. As nanomechanical aggregates, we can't adapt to such a harsh environment." Yuki politely declined the young glass eel.

"And... we also have several branches of the mermaid clan, amphibians that can adapt to underwater environments." Yuki said as he looked at the sky aliens with scales on their bodies, led by Luoying.

Note 1: Glass eels usually like to refer to themselves as "ou".

Chapter 161: Black Mist and Future Crisis (5000 words)

The glass eels' underwater vehicles were almost all filled with liquid. Luo Ying stretched out her hand to feel the wonderful touch of the liquid soaking her skin.

"It's slimy and slippery, which reminds me of something bad..."

"Lubricant, right?" Yuuki complained.