Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones.

Chapter 369 Ballast

Time passed quietly, and Li Qingsong continued to dedicate himself to this project.

However, the progress of this project has not been smooth. For complex binary systems like red giant-white dwarf stars, the movement of matter is extremely chaotic, with a complexity that is almost millions of times greater than that of Earth's atmosphere.

If making weather forecasts based on atmospheric motion for Earth is already this difficult, predicting the gas motion and magnetic field changes of stars in such a chaotic state is almost impossible.

Even though Li Qingsong has launched tens of thousands of scientific research satellites to collect stellar data, he can only make short-term "weather" forecasts within 48 hours. If the time is slightly longer, the accuracy of the forecast drops sharply.

This means that Li Qingsong's industrial spaceships, gravity life forms, electromagnetic life forms, and so on are all constantly threatened by the "weather" from the stars.

Sudden changes in magnetic fields, mass ejections, and radiation bursts frequently occur, catching Li Qingsong off guard and resulting in the loss of a large number of spaceships.

Even life forms based on gravity and electromagnetism suffered some casualties as a result.

But that wasn't what Li Qingsong was most worried about. What worried him most was still that white dwarf star.

There's still some time before the supernova explodes, so there's no need to worry for now. However, the other type of explosion—the nova explosion—is something Li Qingsong must keep a close eye on.

To this end, he even resorted to suicidal probes, launching a probe spacecraft to the white dwarf every hour to keep a close eye on the state of the white dwarf within the accretion disk.

This probe spacecraft was specially designed to be highly resistant to external environmental influences. However, even so, after passing through the thick accretion disk, under the violent radiation and gravity of the white dwarf, it can only conduct effective detection for no more than 3 seconds before crashing heavily into the white dwarf and being completely assimilated.

Time slipped away quietly amidst the cautious pace, the constant casualties, and Li Qingsong's all-out efforts.

Decades later, something unexpected happened to Li Qingsong.

He never expected that the nova explosion he had been worried about would not occur. Instead, another equally violent phenomenon was rapidly brewing and was expected to erupt within two days at most.

Thermal pulse!
When a medium-mass star like G76 enters the final stages of its life and expands to an extreme degree, a layered structure appears inside it.

The outermost layer is the convective envelope, rich in elements such as hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. This layer is rapidly lost along with the stellar wind.

Inside is a hydrogen shell, then a helium shell, all the way to the innermost carbon-oxygen degenerate core.

This phenomenon, known as thermal pulses, occurs in the helium shell near the core.

Due to changes inside stars, helium can sometimes be accidentally ignited, entering a fusion state. Similarly, due to the extremely high temperatures and pressures inside stars, this helium fusion can lead to a runaway chain reaction, releasing a large amount of energy.

This manifests on the exterior of a star as its expansion becomes increasingly violent, with mass ejections, radiation bursts, and magnetic field activity also becoming more intense.

According to Li Qingsong's estimate, the 10 billion spaceships he deployed around the star would likely be destroyed by this heat pulse burst if they couldn't find cover in advance.

However... this time, from the appearance of signs to the complete outbreak of the calculated heat pulse, only two short days had passed. It was far too fast, leaving Li Qingsong no time to make any response.

In haste, Li Qingsong could only order the electromagnetic and gravity creatures to evacuate immediately and quickly retreat to G76d and G76e, two large planets that were far from the star and were also Li Qingsong's industrial base, for refuge. As for the spaceships that were originally scattered in the outer atmosphere of the star, there was really no way to care about them.

The heat pulse finally erupted 45 hours later. In an instant, the star's brightness increased again, and the violent radiation was like a torrential downpour. Li Qingsong's spaceships were swept away like tiny flying insects in an instant.

A billion spaceships of all sizes and types were all reduced to ashes.

"Sigh... If I hadn't turned this star upside down all these years, this heat pulse probably wouldn't have erupted so quickly. I guess I brought this on myself."

Li Qingsong sighed softly.

Although the losses were heavy, Li Qingsong felt little regret.

The reason is simple: Li Qingsong had long been prepared for various unexpected outbursts in the star-white dwarf binary system.

He had already built all the spaceships and industrial machinery needed for the second supernova project and stored them at the planetary base, all in preparation for today's situation!

After patiently waiting for several months, until the peak of the heat pulse bursts passed and the star returned to some calm and the working environment was restored, Li Qingsong did not hesitate to immediately take control of the billions of clones, and then manipulate the Primordial AI, which in turn directly controlled the more than one billion spaceships, and together with the gravity and electromagnetic life forms, set off for the star again.

The massive supernova project has begun again, and the stellar bridge, which had shrunk slightly, has become robust once more.

Despite the frequent minor mishaps, Li Qingsong persevered for over a hundred years.

At this moment, the Supernova Project is more than 80% complete.

The mass equivalent to tens of thousands of Earths has already been thrown into that white dwarf star by Li Qingsong.

Even if Li Qingsong were to withdraw all engineering efforts at this moment, relying solely on natural accretion, this white dwarf would reach the Chandrasekhar limit in 20±10 years and then violently explode as a supernova.

With the current level of technology, Li Qingsong can only achieve this level of precision in predicting supernova explosions.

At this moment, there are still more than 40 years left until the time point given by the Crimson Star Alliance.

So... we should evacuate from this star system in advance, no, we should escape.

But before that, there is one more thing to do.

The north and south poles of that white dwarf star were about one-thousandth of the way Li Qingsong had predicted.

Li Qingsong had already devised an engineering plan to adjust these deviations: simply dispatch high-speed spaceships with sufficient mass to collide with the accretion disk of the white dwarf at predetermined speeds and angles, thus agitating it. The subsequent adjustment of the white dwarf's angle would then be automatically achieved through the changes in the accretion disk.

The most important factor in this process is the mass of the spacecraft.

Every spacecraft that is designed to impact an accretion disk must have a mass of at least 1000 million tons. However, there are no requirements regarding what contributes to this mass.

Soil, sand, rocks, ice, and so on—it doesn't matter; anything can be used.

This task was extremely simple for Li Qingsong; in fact, compared to the massive projects he had undertaken before, it was unbelievably easy.

He only needs to mobilize 10 heavy transport ships, load them with any kind of ballast as long as it reaches the predetermined mass, and then ram them directly.

However, Li Qingsong does not intend to use conventional substances as ballast.

His attention once again focused on the hundreds of residential ships that he had transformed into execution grounds for the Purple Moon people.

For hundreds of years, Li Qingsong has never stopped or relaxed for a moment, constantly tormenting the Ziyue people with the most excruciating tortures.

Even research into the physical structure of the Purple Moon people and new forms of punishment is underway. Over the past few centuries, they have been constantly innovating and developing new methods to use on the Purple Moon people.

These habitable spaceships are still filled with all sorts of shrill screams day and night.

"If it were an ordinary intelligent life form, let alone being tortured so cruelly for hundreds of years, it would probably go insane and become a complete madman or idiot in just one month."

These demonic creatures are truly formidable. After being tortured by me for so long, they've managed to remain conscious and show no signs of going insane..."

At this moment, even Li Qingsong sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"However, it's good that you haven't gone mad and have remained conscious. The upcoming torture will be most effective if you stay conscious..."

With Li Qingsong's command, all the tortures stopped at the same time.

Bound to the execution bed, her body extremely weak but out of danger and still conscious, the Purple Moon leader screamed wildly: "Kill me! Kill me!"

A robot controlled by Li Qingsong approached him. His voice was also broadcast to the ears of a billion Purple Moon prisoners.

"My supernova project has been progressing smoothly over the years. Now it's just one last step away from completion."

Li Qingsong calmly and methodically gave a detailed overview of the entire project's progress.

The Purple Moon leader stared intently at the robot, her eyes filled with venomous resentment and hatred.

"The great Demon Eye will destroy you one day, it will definitely destroy you..."

Li Qingsong ignored his rambling and continued to introduce the progress of the project, emphasizing the last point: "...Now, the spaceship that will collide with the white dwarf's accretion disk needs some ballast. Your Excellency, Head of the Purple Moon, do you know what material I intend to use as ballast?"

The Purple Moon leader trembled, her eyes filled with disbelief, which was quickly replaced by fear and shock.

Although he had not been subjected to any punishment, his body and voice trembled uncontrollably, and his words even contained a hint of pleading.

"No, Lantuk people, you can't do this, you can't, you can't..." Li Qingsong suddenly burst into laughter, his voice clearly reaching the ears of every Purple Moon person: "That's right! Just as you think, I will use the bodies of a full billion Purple Moon people as ballast!"
Weren't you willing to die for the Space-level Demon Eye? Would you endure any hardship or torment if it weren't for it?

Now, I will make you destroy your Demon Eye Lord with your own hands!
Remember this! It was because your bodies collided at high speed with the accretion disk of the white dwarf that the accretion disk was deflected, which in turn affected the orientation of the white dwarf's north and south poles. This caused the Crimson Star Kingdom to escape the blockade of the Destroyer Civilization, leaving only your Demon Eye Lord's Demon Eye Kingdom behind. This is why your Demon Eye Lord was destroyed by the Destroyer Civilization!
You yourselves destroyed the Demon Eye Lord's hope of escape; the Demon Eye Lord died by your hand!

"no no!"

The Purple Moon leader struggled desperately, tears of blood streaming from her eyes: "No, no! Please, Blueprint people, please, no! Don't make us the sinners who destroyed the Lord's civilization! No!"

Hundreds of large habitation spaceships, carrying a total of one billion Purple Moon people, howled, pleaded, and wept together, their cries as mournful as the wails of ghosts.

"Beg me? It's no use! You should have foreseen this situation when you infected those human prisoners!"

I have kept your lives alive, and I have kept them alive until today, all for this moment!

Now, let's hit the road!

Under Li Qingsong's control, billions of robots filed in, untying each Purple Moon person bound to the execution bed, then forcibly binding them until they were tied up like dumplings and unable to move at all. Only then were they thrown one by one into the heavy transport ship that had been prepared in advance, while they were still in a conscious state.

Under normal circumstances, the internal space of a heavy transport ship can only accommodate a maximum of 20,000 intelligent beings.

But now, Li Qingsong has crammed 100 million Purple Moon people into every transport ship.

How did you manage to stuff it in?

It's very simple. Just treat them like cargo and stuff them into the warehouse, layer upon layer.

A small warehouse with a volume of only 1000 cubic meters and dimensions of 10*10*10 can be crammed with tens of thousands of people using this method, and a heavy transport ship can carry 100 million Purple Moon people without any pressure.

To prevent these Purple Moon people from dying prematurely, Li Qingsong thoughtfully modified the life support systems of these heavy transport ships in advance to ensure that every Purple Moon person could breathe fresh air and survive until the last moment of the impact.

At that moment, every heavy transport ship was filled with deafening cries, wails, pleas, and curses.

Li Qingsong didn't seem to care at all, his voice still full of laughter: "Very good, very good. The average weight of a Purple Moon person is 80KG, and one billion Purple Moon people would be 8000 million tons, which is more than enough to serve as ballast. Very good indeed."

"Set off! Go and use your bodies to personally annihilate your beloved Demon Eye Lord! Let's go!"

With Li Qingsong's command, ten heavy transport ships started simultaneously, accelerating towards the white dwarf star from hundreds of billions of kilometers away at an acceleration that would not cause the death of the Purple Moon people.

When these heavy transport ships crashed into the accretion disk of the white dwarf, their speed reached exactly 55% of the speed of light, which was exactly the speed Li Qingsong had predicted.

The next moment, the accretion disk, which was spinning wildly under the gravity of the white dwarf, rippled like stones thrown into water, creating ten waves before disappearing instantly.

At the same time, the wails, pleas, and curses that had filled Li Qingsong's ears also disappeared.

The accretion disk was still spinning wildly, but Li Qingsong knew that he had achieved the effect he wanted.

The stellar matter, spinning wildly under the gravity of the white dwarf, was like abrasive in a grinder. In just an instant, it could grind Li Qingsong's ten heavy transport ships, from the outer core materials to the bodies of the Purple Moon people inside, until nothing was left.

Only one thing will remain.

Angular velocity.

Because angular velocity is conserved, it will only transfer and will not disappear no matter how harsh the environment is.

With this externally added angular velocity, the path of the accretion disk material flowing into the white dwarf has changed. Over the next two years, the white dwarf's north and south poles will align within a predetermined range, and then, within 20 ± 10 years, it will accumulate enough mass to explode with a bang.

I should escape from here as soon as possible.

Li Qingsong's gaze fell upon his massive fleet.

"set sail!"

At this moment, a fleet consisting of 2 million manned warships of various types, more than 10 million unmanned warships and numerous unmanned combat facilities, more than 60,000 large residential spacecraft, thousands of giant space carriers, more than 100,000 non-combat spacecraft such as heavy transport ships, industrial ships, passenger ships, and experimental ships, as well as a giant flying star with a radius of 200 kilometers, slowly moved forward, with countless engines simultaneously spewing out intense exhaust flames.

From this moment on, Li Qingsong's fleet will continue to accelerate at a speed of 1.2 meters per second squared until it reaches 87% of the speed of light.

Yes, over the years, Li Qingsong's technology has improved again, and the fleet's economic speed has increased by 2% of the speed of light.

If Li Qingsong were willing to calm down and carefully analyze the technological data from the Purple Moon Civilization again, and digest and absorb it, combined with his own technological reserves, his fleet's speed could even break through to 91.6% of the speed of light.

But clearly, he doesn't have that time right now.

Let these tasks be carried out during the fleet's voyage.

The fleet's speed increased rapidly. In the second month after the acceleration began, the fleet's speed reached approximately 1.86 kilometers per second, and the distance traveled reached approximately 1500 billion kilometers.

Whether it was the extremely expanding red giant or the white dwarf that was frantically devouring the mass of stars, accreting an average of two hundred trillion tons of mass per second—a mass roughly equivalent to the combined mass of 7.5 Mount Tai—at this moment, they all appeared dim and insignificant due to the distance between them.

Recalling the hundreds of years spent in the G76 system, Li Qingsong sighed softly and turned his gaze back to the fleet itself.

"It's time to prepare for impacting gravitational civilizations."

The so-called preparatory work is actually quite simple. It is nothing more than fully digesting and absorbing the technological data of the Purple Moon Civilization, integrating it into its own technological system, and then further consolidating the physical theories and application technologies at the strong core level.

With that flying star present, the resources and energy required for this process are more than sufficient.

"With the end of the war between the Destroyer Civilization and the Space-level Demon Eye and the Crimson Star Alliance, and with the dramatic changes in the situation of the Milky Way, the Milky Way will probably become even more chaotic in the future."

To survive in this river system, achieve my goals—rescue my fellow humans, and uncover the truth behind their disappearances—I must become as strong as possible. Time is of the essence…

With this sense of urgency, Li Qingsong mobilized his intelligent life scientists to work with his clones, once again throwing themselves into seemingly endless scientific research.

Time slipped by quietly, and in the blink of an eye, about seven years had passed.

Through this persistent acceleration, Li Qingsong's fleet finally reached its predetermined maximum speed: 87% of the speed of light.

Once he reached this speed, Li Qingsong stopped accelerating and entered a state of inertial navigation.

Three years have passed in a flash. According to my previous predictions, from this moment on, every minute and every second, that white dwarf star could explode.

However, due to the great distance, even though the white dwarf has already exploded, the radiation carrying the light and energy of the explosion has not yet reached him.

They can only travel at the speed of light.

As for whether the supernova explosion also implies some faster-than-light effects—after all, the battlefield between the Destroyer Civilization and the Space-level Demon Eye and Red Star Alliance is at least hundreds or even thousands of light-years away. If energy is only transmitted at the speed of light, it would take hundreds or thousands of years for the effects of the supernova explosion to reach the battlefield. This seems somewhat unbelievable for the Space-level Demon Eye and Red Star Alliance, which have already confirmed that the supernova explosion can save their side.

Li Qingsong has every reason to believe that some of the effects may be faster than light-speed, and could potentially impact the course of the battle even in the early stages of the outbreak.

But another obvious thing is that even if such faster-than-light effects exist, they have nothing to do with him and will not cause any interference to his fleet.

Even though the supernova explosion might have already occurred, Li Qingsong continued his inertial navigation methodically, without any concern that the supernova explosion would affect him.

After 16 years of inertial navigation and a distance of about 14 light-years, Li Qingsong turned the fleet around and began to decelerate. It took another 7 years to finally bring his fleet to rest in a quiet and desolate star system.

According to Li Qingsong's calculations, considering the acceleration and deceleration capabilities and maximum speed of his fleet, if the white dwarf explodes 10 years after he leaves, then the light and radiation carrying its energy will reach the star system and catch up with his fleet in about a year.

We need to find a barrier and take cover in advance.

After some investigation, Li Qingsong finally selected 100 dwarf planets.

These dwarf planets generally have radii of less than 800 kilometers. The one with the greatest gravity has a surface gravity of only 5% of that of Earth, which is more than enough for small and medium-sized spacecraft to take off and land directly on its surface.

Li Qingsong then launched a large-scale operation.

The task was quite simple; the first step was to level the ground.

The towering mountains, rugged canyons, and uneven surfaces of these dwarf planets were rapidly smoothed out by countless machines, just like the paved surfaces on Earth.

(End of this chapter)