Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 169 Crystal Girl
Ganymede II spaceport.

Inside the 'Infinite Frontier' star-class warship.

Ding Yi met the first captain of the "Infinite Frontier" here. He was a rational and aloof soldier with strong characteristics of classical Chinese soldiers. It was the "Infinite Frontier" with this colonel who discovered and captured the crystal.

"How did you find it? It's so small, so light, and has such low reflectivity," Ding Yi asked, examining the almost completely transparent crystal.

The crystal is only about three meters long and two meters wide, and its shape is irregular. It does not conform to the golden ratio that Ding Yi imagined. Its volume is almost just a speck of dust in the vastness of space.

That is, the outline of the crystal can still be clearly seen under the light, but if it were placed in the pitch black universe, even if the human eye were close enough, it would probably not be able to see it.

The colonel said, "Old Ding, it was a coincidence that we were able to discover it."

According to the colonel, the crystal cut directly into the solar system from the ecliptic plane at a speed of approximately ten times the third cosmic velocity. When it entered the solar system, none of the solar system's early warning systems, including the Ringer-Fitzroy Telescope, detected it.

Expecting a solar system early warning system to detect a piece of almost completely transparent glass is indeed asking the impossible.

An unknown crystal cut straight into the ecliptic plane of the solar system, its destination being Earth. The Infinite Frontier happened to be on its path to Earth during a routine patrol. Because it was very light and reflected almost no radar waves, the Infinite Frontier did not detect it at first.

The main reason it was finally discovered was that during a shift handover communication with the stellar-class warship 'Foghorn', the 'Infinite Frontier' unexpectedly discovered that the electromagnetic signal channel used for communication had been 'swallowed'.

Both the electromagnetic signals sent by the Foghorn to the Infinite Frontier and the electromagnetic signals fed back from the Infinite Frontier to the Foghorn showed obvious omissions.

After some trial and error, the 'Infinite Frontier's' reflective radar finally detected a faint reaction. Taking advantage of the electromagnetic wave's 'swallowing' property, the colonel used the ship's high-power communication transmitter to continuously emit high-power electromagnetic waves and quickly locked onto the location of the transparent 'crystal'.

This transparent crystal is the culprit that caused the communication dead zone between the 'Infinite Frontier' and the 'Foghorn'.

Just as this transparent crystal was about to collide with the 'Infinite Frontier', it suddenly changed direction, bypassed the 'Infinite Frontier', and then continued flying towards Earth as if nothing had happened.

After consulting with the Space Force leadership, the colonel immediately ordered the 'Infinite Frontier' to give chase.

After a three-hour chase and encirclement by space fighters, humanity finally captured it using a small, released engineering airship.

After repeatedly confirming that the transparent, soft, and posing no danger was safe, the unmanned engineering airship towed it back into the interior of the 'Infinite Frontier'.

What followed was weeks of fruitless research. The Space Force didn't have any good solutions, so they contacted Starfire City and found Ding Yi.

The hope is that Ding Yi can unlock the secret of this transparent crystal.

"Is there a flight path for it?" Ding Yi asked.

“Yes.” The colonel stepped aside, and on the crystal electronic screen behind him, the simulated trajectory based on the shipborne quantum computer was displayed.

—Due to breakthroughs in quantum computing and the powerful computing capabilities demonstrated by the Digital Republic and MOSS, the Space Force Strategic Department believes that relying solely on humans to operate stellar-class warships is insufficient to unleash their full potential.

Shipborne quantum AI-assisted command systems will be essential in the future.

To prevent a repeat of the unexpected major setback, this shipborne quantum AI-assisted command system does not have any control over the various systems of the warship under normal circumstances.

Its sole responsibility is to provide tactical decisions and data analysis to the human commanders on board.

Of course, to prevent the most extreme situations from occurring, the shipborne quantum AI can also upload data to MOSS in a timely manner, and then authorize the entry into the AI-controlled shipwide command mode.

With the Digital Republic in control, MOSS is secure.

Of course, people don't know that the main reason MOSS became absolutely controllable and trustworthy is because of the existence of the Wallfacers.

During the Jupiter Exercise in Crisis Era 118, Luo Qing boarded the ship in a simulated operation and 'killed' all the human crew members on board, which directly led to the entire ship entering MOSS management mode.

The combat power of the star-class warships managed by MOSS increased dramatically, especially with all the 'human crew members' 'dead'. MOSS could play space drifting with impunity. The AI-controlled star-class warship fleet became a secondary reason for Luo Qing's rapid defeat.

Of course, under normal circumstances, the captain will not easily authorize the shipboard quantum computer to perform MOSS uploads.

In normal conditions, the shipboard AI is capable of fulfilling various roles in the human military system, such as "combat staff officer," "intelligence officer," and "communication officer," to complete all the preliminary work for the human commander.

The electronic screen in front of Ding Yi displayed this: the ship's AI provided very detailed crystal trajectory data, clearly showing the crystal's origin: it was flying precisely towards Earth along a steep, far from naturally formed trajectory. If the 'Infinite Frontier' hadn't happened to block it, the crystal's flight path would have been a perfect straight line.

Ding Yi asked, "Have you made any observations along the direction it came from?"

The colonel nodded: "We did this from the very beginning. The Solar System Early Warning System and the Pan-Solar System Observation System both conducted tracing observations in that direction, but we found nothing. The Trisolaran fleet is not in this direction, and there is no trace of that tire-shaped spaceship."

Because the background image of the tire-shaped spaceship, as shown by the risk avoiders, had no reference points or star systems, humanity has never been able to locate it.

All we know is that it is approaching Earth.

Ding Yi frowned and said, "I suggest you increase your observation efforts in this direction. I suspect that the large tire spaceship is very likely following behind this crystal."

“I will submit your suggestion to my superiors,” the colonel said.

"Believe me."

Colonel Ding Yi and his colleagues refocused their attention on the crystal, which was clear and slightly soft.

"What experiments have you conducted on this crystal so far?" Ding Yi asked the colonel.

The colonel said, "Basic physical tests were conducted, including its mass, volume, temperature, and radiation. The crystal has a volume of 2.47 cubic meters and a mass of approximately 1470 grams, but no radiation was detected. It is non-toxic, has no attached microorganisms, and its spectral analysis is normal. It is composed of common elements, but the specific molecular structure is unknown. It absorbs electromagnetic signals."

The most significant research finding to date is that the crystal contains obvious optical structures, such as multi-layered interference fringes and nanoscale markings. These are the main arguments for determining that the crystal is an artificial object rather than a naturally formed one.

This crystal exhibits excellent tolerance to low temperatures and shows almost no reaction with common atmospheric gas molecules and water. Therefore, we have adjusted the risk level of this crystal to 'inert, non-reactive substance'.

"Any further research?" Ding Yi looked at the series of test reports on the display screen and focused his attention on the optical structure inside the crystal.

Multi-layered interference fringes, nanoscale markings? Doesn't this mean that certain optical patterns can be formed inside a crystal?

"What do you mean?" the colonel asked, puzzled.

“Conduct high-intensity tests, try activating it with an electric current, or irradiate it with a high-energy laser, or even hit it with a hammer.”

The young researchers gasped at the comment, "What a violent old man!"

“No,” the colonel explained. “We are not allowed to do this, especially since the Wallfacer is in seclusion without his authorization. We are worried that excessive research will lead to its self-destruction.”

"What's there to be afraid of? If this is truly a creation of an unknown advanced civilization, then its activation method must be related to energy. In my name, prepare a high-power electromagnetic wave transmitter to input electromagnetic waves into it. Since it can absorb electromagnetic waves, it will definitely react."

"In addition to high-power electromagnetic wave transmitters, prepare high-energy lasers and high-voltage AC power. If the 'Infinite Frontier' doesn't have such equipment in its internal cargo hold, then directly connect the warship to the Ganymede II spaceport; the Ganymede base definitely has it."

"Won't this damage the crystal..." The young researcher near the colonel couldn't help but whisper.

"What are you afraid of?"

Ding Yi squeezed the soft, transparent crystal, then pulled out a geological hammer from somewhere. Even the accompanying officer who had brought it with him didn't notice that Ding Yi was hiding this thing on his person.

"Hey, Mr. Ding, wait a minute." The officers tried to stop him.

Ignoring everything else, Ding Yi mustered all his strength and swung the hammer down.

Ding!
The inside of the crystal instantly became bright, and a cartoon little girl appeared inside the crystal. She had long blue hair and big eyes.

The cartoon girl crouched down and hugged her head.

"Don't hit me! Don't hit me!"

Ding Yi then swung the hammer down on the experimental table where the crystals were placed.

"It's really interesting to intimidate others." Ding Yi smiled slightly as he looked at the little girl who had revealed her true form.

(End of this chapter)