Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 550: Level 7 Civilization and a Necktie

This spatial fluctuation was indeed extremely strange. Generally speaking, something must first exist to trigger a spatial fluctuation, whether it be a planet or a spaceship. In any case, there had to be something. Yet within this spatial fluctuation, Xiao Yu did not observe anything at all.

It was empty there, nothing but cosmic void.

There was clearly nothing there, yet Xiao Yu received this message. That seemingly completely invisible existence sent Xiao Yu such a message, “I have come to hand you an item.”

“What kind of item is this?” Xiao Yu was greatly astonished in his heart. “Something completely invisible in the optical band, electromagnetic band, and tachyon detection band? Such a thing is truly unbelievable.”

Xiao Yu had once come into contact with the Radiance, the flagship of the Guardian Civilization, as well as the Technology Taihao’s Meson ship. That was in that peculiar binary star system. It was in that star system that Xiao Yu obtained the Sphere of Death, a doomsday weapon targeted at carbon-based intelligent beings. Yet whether it was the Guardian Civilization’s Radiance or Technology Taihao’s Meson, Xiao Yu could detect them with a tachyon detector. But the tachyon detector failed entirely before this unknown existence.

The Guardian Civilization and the Taihao Civilization were both Level 6 Civilizations. Did that mean the unknown existence that had arrived this time already possessed strength surpassing Level 6?

This made a faint worry rise in Xiao Yu’s heart.

“Hand me an item? Who entrusted you? What are you delivering to me?” After thinking a moment, Xiao Yu cautiously sent back a reply. “Also, how did you know I was here?”

That completely invisible existence quickly responded. Yet in just that short interval, the spatial fluctuation signal representing the location of this unknown existence drew closer by several hundred million kilometers. However, when it reached a distance of thirty billion kilometers from the primary star of this star system, it stopped approaching, seemingly to avoid provoking Xiao Yu.

“The one who entrusted this to me did not tell me any other relevant information. It only told me that once I hand this item to you, you will understand.” the unknown existence replied. “I am a spatial lifeform and am extremely sensitive to any spatial fluctuation. I found your position by tracking your spatial fluctuations.”

“Spatial lifeform?” Xiao Yu felt slightly puzzled. But he did not have time to delve into it. Because after the unknown being sent that message, an object had already begun approaching Xiao Yu’s position.

Xiao Yu still maintained full vigilance. To prevent this object from being some kind of weapon of mass destruction that might explode after approaching his fleet’s gathering area and bring danger to him, Xiao Yu piloted a small spaceship and rapidly closed in on the object.

Xiao Yu planned to use a small spaceship to conduct a simple study of this object first. After confirming that it posed no danger, he would then bring it back into his gathering area.

That item seemed to possess some kind of sensing ability. After Xiao Yu’s small spaceship approached, the object halted and let Xiao Yu’s spaceship draw nearer without moving again.

Only when he got close did Xiao Yu clearly see what the object looked like.

It was a small rectangular box, roughly half a decimeter high, three decimeters long, and one decimeter wide. Under the illumination of a high-intensity searchlight, the small box displayed a black luster intermingled with silvery gleams. On it were some strange symbols, seemingly some kind of writing. Some of these characters were larger, others smaller. They appeared to be arranged according to some aesthetic principle, and the arrangement of several lines of writing seemed very harmonious.

“What is this?” Xiao Yu’s curiosity rose again. He maneuvered the small spaceship to draw even closer, then dispatched a powered robot to approach the small box, intending to capture it into the spaceship’s cabin.

Inside the cabin of this small spaceship, Xiao Yu had equipped a few simple detection instruments. These simple instruments would conduct some preliminary analysis of the object.

But when he got close enough and the optical detection devices on the robot could clearly see those characters, Xiao Yu froze.

At a glance Xiao Yu recognized them. Those peculiar symbols were actually English letters from the Earth era.

Xiao Yu was very familiar with English. In the Earth era, he often had to study scientific files or documents written in English, and the most authoritative scientific journals were also written in English. One could say that in the Earth era, to understand the forefront of science and the latest developments, it was impossible without mastering English.

So Xiao Yu very quickly identified those lines of letters.

“This, this is actually a necktie? This small box is a packaging box for a necktie?” In that instant, Xiao Yu felt a sense of absurdity taken to the extreme.

A miraculous existence, invisible even to tachyon detectors and inferred to possess power no less than that of a Taihao or the Guardians, had tracked him for who knew how long and come here only to hand him this thing. And most crucially, according to this unknown existence, it had come here ‘entrusted by another.’ Then who, exactly, would do such a thing? 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Many thoughts flashed through Xiao Yu’s mind like lightning.

“An item like a necktie is unique to Earth Civilization. At the very least, among the intelligent species under my command, which already exceed one hundred kinds, I have not found any race that has the habit of wearing neckties. Could it be that this item was sent by a human from Earth, or by someone closely connected to Earth?”

“And to be able to compel such a powerful existence and have it deliver something on its behalf, what kind of formidable strength would it take to do that?”

This might imply many, many things. Some of them were so astonishing that Xiao Yu scarcely dared to speculate.

“Let me first take a look at this item.” Xiao Yu thought silently.

“In fact, I am curious as well.” that unknown existence said. “When it handed this to me, I felt very strange, because I could not imagine what exactly it was. This thing is merely a mixture of some simple elements, primarily carbon. Its strength is very low. An impact from a single grain of interstellar dust could pierce it. Its ignition point is low. A mere few hundred degrees Celsius could destroy it. It has no advantages at all, at least none that I can think of. So what, exactly, is such an item for, that would make that individual entrust me to cross several million light-years to deliver it here?”

Xiao Yu was directing the robot to capture the small box. After hearing this, his heart jolted violently. A sense of shock, even terror, instantly filled his mind.

“You, what did you say? Crossing several million light-years? Where did you come from? You came from beyond the galaxy. You are not a native lifeform of the Milky Way. You are a Level 7 Civilization?”

This was quite evident. Xiao Yu could already be sure that even a Level 6 Civilization did not have the capability for intergalactic travel between galaxies due to energy constraints. This had nothing to do with how much energy reserves one carried. Even if a Level 6 Civilization carried a star as an energy reserve for an intergalactic voyage, the star would be entirely consumed before reaching the destination. The reason was simple. The greater the mass being driven for curvature flight, the more energy it consumed. The two were in direct proportion.

Xiao Yu had once made a simple calculation regarding the energy consumption required for traveling one million five hundred thousand light-years using curvature flight. The result showed that the amount of energy consumed in such a voyage would be 1.7 times the total mass of the fleet. In other words, if a certain fleet carried as much as seventy million tons of supplies, and with the mass of the spaceships the total fleet mass was one hundred million tons, then the total energy required for a voyage of one million five hundred thousand light-years, when converted into mass, would be one hundred seventy million tons. Even if every bit of matter in the fleet, including stored energy, spaceship hulls, and all beings aboard, were added up, it would still be insufficient. How then could such a voyage be undertaken?

Indeed, if a star’s mass were one hundred trillion trillion tons, then for that star to undertake a voyage of one million five hundred thousand light-years, the total mass it would consume would be one hundred trillion trillion multiplied by 1.7, which is one hundred seventy trillion trillion tons.

Therefore, an intergalactic voyage of such a route has nothing to do with how much material a fleet can carry. Even if it put the entire Milky Way into its pocket as reserves, it would still be insufficient for the voyage.

Before breaking through the technological shackles of a Level 6 Civilization, it is impossible to undertake intergalactic travel between galaxies. This was one of Xiao Yu’s basic understandings. Of course, there was an extreme method that might circumvent this limitation, but Xiao Yu believed no civilization would be so mad.

That would be to forego curvature flight and use conventional flight alone for an intergalactic voyage between galaxies. One must know that after the initial acceleration stage in conventional flight, one can rely continuously on inertia, and inertial flight does not consume energy.

But conventional flight implies an unimaginably long time. For example, using conventional flight at two hundred thousand kilometers per second to traverse one million five hundred thousand light-years would require two million two hundred fifty thousand years. This is a number so vast as to make one despair.

Yet the existence before him claimed it came from several million light-years away. Then there was only one explanation. This entity was a Level 7 Civilization, or if not, at least an existence surpassing Level 6.

“No, I am not a Level 7 Civilization.” this entity answered.