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

Chapter 262 Stellar Frog Leap (5k)

The bewildered Evil witnessed the entire process of the Milky Way's carbon-based Federation fleet completing its "stellar leap."

At this moment, in the unknown star system region of the second spiral arm, more and more carbon-based Federation fleets are gathering. Compared to these silver, moon-sized behemoths, humanity's star-class warships are as insignificant as fireflies.

E Qing had no doubt that any single warship from this hypercube fleet could single-handedly annihilate the combined forces of humanity's solar system fleet, the Devouring Giant Ring, and the Trisolaran First Fleet.

Even the real body would have to do a somersault if it came!
Over the next few hours, similar black square-shaped unknown spaces continued to spread across the starry sky, with more and more carbon-based Federation fleets emerging from them. The resulting hypercube array, after emerging from the black horizon, spread out over an area of ​​about one hundred astronomical units in the distance.

Eh Qing knew that these were scenes from fifteen years ago. The graveyard fragments beside him seemed to 'see' the magnificent scene outside, just like him, and the graveyard fragments also projected a projection of the Lord of the Rings directly into the four-dimensional space.

An old, rustic metal ring, resembling a tombstone, appeared in front of E Qing. The metal ring also gazed at the scene of interstellar warships emerging in the distance. On its top, there were even a few broken vines and flowers, like a wreath in front of a grave.

Looking at the Lord of the Rings and then at the distant fleet, E Qing saw the remnants of a once-powerful civilization from the four-dimensional universe era on one side, and the true overlords of the Milky Way on the other. The stark contrast between the two evoked a sense of melancholy, like the line "A thousand sails pass by the sunken ship, ten thousand trees bloom before the withered tree."

"So, this is the true power of this cosmic civilization?"

E Qing had no doubt that this interstellar fleet from the Carbon-Based Federation of the Milky Way could easily wipe out any cultivation world outside of Kyushu!

The three-dimensional projection of the Lord of the Rings quickly shrank back into four-dimensional fragments. However, Evil noticed that the hypercube fleet he had seen earlier was only one of many. As more and more warships appeared, a thousand similar fleets emerged! And all of them were in the space of a hypercube.

Therefore, the four-dimensional space formed by these three-dimensional warships, as seen by a three-dimensional universe observer, appears as a silver warship fleet that constantly rolls outward and contracts inward, like silver waves intertwined inside and out!

These thousand silver waves bloomed in this dark cosmic space, and within each silver flower, there were at least several thousand interstellar warships overlapping. On average, every 120 silver warships could form a cube array, and every eight cube arrays overlapped to form a hypercube.

This is why, in total, a thousand silver flowers with hypercube features actually only occupied a small amount of cosmic space, yet they bloomed in this star system, forming a very dense array.

1000×1000... This is a fleet of one million interstellar warships!
These thousand silver waves began to tremble in this eternal void. These hypercube spaces composed of silver warships entered a near-light speed cruising state, almost without any pre-motion, from a static state!
Instantly accelerated to near the speed of light!
Moreover, this near-light-speed cruising state is driven by a pure power engine, not by spatial curvature or any other trickery.

The hyperspace silver waves began to surge forward at sub-light speed, and a thousand silver waves and a million silver shuttles flew towards the supermassive star at a sub-light speed that was infinitely close to the speed of light!

The reason why E Qing could see so clearly from 15 light-years away was simply because these silver wave fleets possessed certain four-dimensional spatial characteristics. Therefore, the principle of perspective did not apply to this fleet of millions in size. E Qing only felt that these silver warships were close to his line of sight, sometimes near and sometimes far. When they were far away, they seemed like silver dots, and when they were close, they seemed to be right in front of him. The distance of 15 light-years did not limit E Qing's observation.

"What are they trying to do? Collide with the sun?" E Qing pondered as he watched this scene.

In the silent depths of the sky, no one answered him.

All the stars in the Milky Way seemed to be watching the fleet's voyage. In the sub-light-speed trajectory of these million interstellar warships, the vast distance seemed to become a silver ocean. The universe was filled with neat, uniform silver tracks, and these warships were traveling along these silver tracks at a dazzling speed.

Six minutes later, the closest silver wave to the star—the hypercube fleet—plunged into the supermassive star at sub-light speed.

The stellar explosion that E Qing had imagined did not occur. The supermassive star did exhibit a clear supernova-like explosion, but the explosion abruptly stopped.

Just before the intense brilliance was about to fully erupt, it seemed to be affected by some force field and quickly rolled back into the star's interior, leaving only the infrared light waves, which, due to their longer wavelength and stronger penetrating power, successfully escaped.

This caused a noticeable redshift in the electromagnetic waves (light) emitted by the star, shifting them towards the longer wavelengths of the red end. However, the redshift quickly returned to normal, imperceptible to the naked eye, but E Qing could clearly perceive the star's redshift phenomenon.

—This blue-white giant star is constantly flashing 'red,' like a broken light bulb.

This giant star also experienced violent gravitational changes during its redshift flicker, producing spatial fluctuations comparable to those experienced when graveyard debris shatters the three-dimensional spacetime fabric. In this context, coupled with the relativistic kinetic energy boost from the near-light-speed hypercube fleet, the moment of their 'collision' resulted in an energy level comparable to that of a black hole.

Under the superposition of various forces, a "space wormhole" was forcibly opened in the three-dimensional universe.

This energy, which should have destroyed everything, contracted into a spatial wormhole, which swallowed the fleet. In E Qing's eyes, the hypercube fleet silently disappeared from the surface of this supermassive star.

Shortly after the first silver wave disappeared, the second hypercube fleet crashed into the wormhole.

Then came the third, the fourth, the fifth...

Thousands of silver waves are orderly disappearing into the surface of the star, and the fleet is using this "stellar leap" to travel towards the first spiral arm of the Milky Way (Orion Arm). Because the spatial wormholes formed by the "stellar leap" have limited depth, the "stellar leap" can only jump a maximum distance of two hundred light-years at a time. To reach the first spiral arm of the Milky Way from the second spiral arm (Perseus Arm), the carbon-based Federation fleet will need to undergo at least ten more stellar leaps.

The scenery we just saw is only the first step in this great 'Great Wall' project.

The stellar leapfrog tactic just observed in Evil Qing is not a technology unique to the Galactic Carbon-based Federation fleet. While the Carbon-based fleet has improved upon using massive celestial bodies for high-intensity stellar leapfrogs, the tactic was invented by another civilization. Twenty thousand galactic years ago, the Silicon-based Empire, adhering to the Dark Forest Theory, launched a full-scale attack from the edge of the Milky Way against the Carbon-based Federation, which adhered to the Light Ocean Theory. At that time, the Galactic Carbon-based Federation had just taken over the task of defending the Milky Way from the God Civilization and was not yet firmly established. Therefore, it suffered repeated defeats under the fierce attack of the Silicon-based Empire, at one point losing more than half of the Milky Way's territory.

(Note: 1 galactic year ≈ 2.5 Earth years)

(Note: See the background of "The Rural Teacher")
In the initial invasion, the Silicon Empire deployed five million interstellar warships. Unlike the large fleet that used a single star to perform stellar leapfrogging, the Silicon Empire's five million interstellar warships simultaneously began stellar leapfrogging using five million stars at the edge of the Milky Way!
Neither the Silicon Empire nor the Carbon Federation used warp-speed spaceships, which would damage the cosmic environment, during the war. These 'slow' ships, based on the speed of light, were not valued by either of the two warring factions. The Silicon Empire's warships, propelled by conventional engines, traveled at 99.9999% of the speed of light. Subsequently, the Silicon Empire's fleet plunged into a star at near-light speed, using the star's energy to temporarily break through three-dimensional space, thus creating a three-dimensional cosmic wormhole and completing a stellar leap!

The principles behind stellar leaping and graveyard debris hyperspace jumps are the same. However, graveyard debris achieves a hyperspace jump by compressing the 'plane' of the three-dimensional universe with its massive 'four-dimensional mass,' while stellar leaping involves a warship accelerating to 99.9999% of its relative kinetic energy, triggering a brief spatial wormhole in a supermassive star to achieve a hyperspace jump.

There are still differences between the two. For example, the distance across space is different. Graveyard fragments fall through multiple layers of three-dimensional space paper by relying on the 'spatial weight' of four-dimensional space and fall directly to a distance of 3000 light-years away. However, stellar leaping is limited by the mass of the star and the relativistic kinetic energy of the fleet, and can only achieve a maximum of 200 light-years.

The limiting factors are easy to understand. Both the carbon-based Federation and the silicon-based Empire's interstellar warships are essentially three-dimensional vessels, lacking the weight of four-dimensional space, even if they mimic a four-dimensional spatial structure. Therefore, both fleets can only resort to utilizing the mass and energy of stars to achieve hyperspace jumps.

Twenty thousand galactic years ago, the silicon-based empire used stellar leapfrogging tactics to complete its initial invasion. Five million interstellar warships simultaneously made hyperspace jumps through five million stars, completing a jump spanning 200 light-years. Afterward, the silicon-based empire's fleet would use the energy of the next star to open a second wormhole and continue leaping. During stellar leapfrogging, due to the massive energy consumption of the stars, a large amount of long-wave electromagnetic waves would be released, causing the spectra of all stars to temporarily shift towards the red end.

After the spaceships finish their stellar leapfrogging, the star's spectrum will gradually return to normal, and the redshift effect will disappear. However, a new redshift effect will begin with the next star. When the silicon-based empire's five million warships simultaneously perform stellar leapfrogging, the redshift of five million stars will also begin rapidly.

After the invasion began, a red band of light, ten thousand light-years long, appeared at the end of the first spiral arm of the Milky Way. This redshifted band, formed by five million stars, drifted from the first spiral arm toward the center of the Milky Way, like the scythe of death.

Since the redshift process itself is a movement at the speed of light, this spectacular sight is not visible in the light-speed horizon, but it can be clearly seen in the hyperspace monitor of quantum entanglement or in the higher-dimensional universe. The red band composed of the redshift of stars is a blood tide ten thousand light-years long, surging towards the territory of the carbon-based federation.

The Milky Way's carbon-based federation has been subjected to a full-scale invasion by a silicon-based empire.

This silicon-based empire, which accomplished the feat of invasion, was not a native civilization of the Milky Way; it was a complete outsider.

Even earlier, around 60,000 galactic years ago (approximately 15 billion years ago), during the Galactic Era 1857, a much larger galactic war broke out in the Milky Way.

Using the Dark Forest attack as a pretext, the Andromeda and Large Magellanic Clouds launched a joint invasion of the Milky Way.

(Note: See the background of "The Support of God".)
At that time, the carbon-based federation covering the entire Milky Way had not yet been established. The super carbon-based civilization in the Milky Way was called the "God Civilization." The God Civilization had a very long history, dating back to 20 galactic years ago (about 60 billion years ago), even before the birth of Earth. It possessed extremely advanced technology.

They existed long before the formation of the solar system, and through a long history of development, they became extremely powerful and glorious. Faced with the joint attack of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud, the God Civilization crossed hundreds of thousands of light-years to confront the combined forces of the Andromeda Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. They destroyed the invaders by causing the God Civilization's warships to collapse into stars and then annihilating them with a supernova explosion.

The God-like civilization has protected the Milky Way galaxy on numerous occasions, with its defeats of the Andromeda and Large Magellanic Clouds being just a minor achievement. For instance, it constructed a 10000-light-year-diameter nebula shield around the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center, preventing it from consuming vast amounts of stars and generating radiation powerful enough to destroy all planets and life in the galaxy. This protection of the Milky Way's native civilization demonstrates its unwavering commitment to the laws of the Light Ocean.

Of course, it was precisely this adherence to the laws of the Bright Ocean that prevented the God Civilization from completely annihilating the invaders from the Andromeda Galaxy. The Silicon-based Empire, a remnant of the galactic war 60,000 galactic years (about 15 billion years ago), belonged to the Andromeda Galaxy. It resurfaced 40,000 galactic years later (about 1 billion years ago) and launched a new invasion of the Carbon-based Life Federation, the precious legacy left by the God Civilization after its demise.

Fortunately, the united galactic carbon-based federation finally repelled the invasion of the silicon-based empire. This galactic defense war lasted a total of 20,000 galactic years (about 500 million years), and now, the long war is finally coming to an end.

About 500 galactic years (about 1250 million years ago), the largest war in history broke out between the carbon-based Federation and the silicon-based Empire in the Milky Way. This super battle took place in the middle of the second spiral arm, and is therefore also known as the Second Spiral Arm Battle.

In the Second Helical Arm War, the Carbon-based Federation and the Silicon-based Empire deployed tens of millions of interstellar warships. More than two thousand supernovae were detonated during the battle, turning the battlefield into a sea of ​​intense radiation, with only black holes drifting through it. Ultimately, both interstellar fleets were almost entirely destroyed, and the three-dimensional spatial structure of the battlefield was riddled with holes. The overuse of weapons such as two-dimensional foils, death lines, and slow fog rendered the entire Second Helical Arm virtually a no-man's land, where the intrusion of low-tech civilizations would face dire consequences.

At the end of the war, 200 galactic years ago (approximately 5 million years ago), the silicon-based empire assembled its last 1.5 million interstellar warships in the desolate space between the first and second spiral arms of the Milky Way, constructing an antimatter cloud barrier with a radius of 1,000 light-years to halt the advance of the carbon-based federation, fueled by the flames of vengeance. Faced with the antimatter cloud barrier, a large fleet of the carbon-based federation disregarded orders to stop it and voluntarily jumped into the antimatter cloud.

The silicon-based empire's antimatter cloud was extremely thin, but it was extremely lethal to matter warships. This large fleet of warships was enveloped and entangled by the antimatter cloud, turning into a shower of 300,000 meteors in the second spiral arm battlefield. Even as they turned into fireballs, these 300,000 carbon-based warships still launched a final, relentless charge at the speed of light against the silicon-based empire until the meteors were completely obliterated by the antimatter cloud. Only then did these heroes of the carbon-based federation finally complete their mission.

This massive fleet sacrificed itself to pave the way for subsequent fleets. Ultimately, the last fleet of the silicon-based empire was driven to the top of the first spiral arm of the galaxy.

However, the Galactic Carbon Federation also lost the power to completely destroy the Silicon Empire. After the war, in order to prevent the Silicon Empire from invading again, the Carbon Federation decided to build a 500-light-year-wide dead zone in the middle of the first spiral arm and use a super-powerful warp drive to destroy most of the stars in it, in order to prevent the Silicon Empire from experiencing a possible stellar leap in the future.

The Galactic Carbon-Based Federation fleet, which is currently en route from the Second Arm to the First Arm, is the main force carrying out this mission. One million interstellar warships will form a thousand interstellar 'engineering teams' to simultaneously activate high-power warp engines from a thousand different directions to create a dead end and complete the blockade of the remnants of the silicon-based Empire at the top of the First Arm.

Once the dead zone is established and all stars are destroyed, the silicon-based empire's fleet will lose its stellar leapfrog tactics and will be forced to fly slowly at conventional sub-light speed or warp light speed. This will give the carbon-based federation ample warning time to prevent defense and counterattack.

The only problem is that establishing the starless isolation zone will inevitably destroy a large number of stars. This 500-light-year-wide and tens of thousands-light-year-long starless isolation zone will destroy a terrifying number of stars—at least tens of millions. And among these stars, there will certainly be a large number of intelligent life forms.

The Carbon-Based Federation, which believes in the Law of the Bright Ocean, conducts civilization level tests on star systems before destroying them to demonstrate respect for life. Stars with civilizations of level 3C or higher will be protected, and even if the isolation zone is damaged as a result, the Carbon-Based Federation will make up for it in other ways.

In this dark universe, every civilization has the right to survive. This was the final instruction the God-like civilization gave to its successor, the Carbon-Based Life Federation, before it gave up on becoming a god-like civilization and gradually perished.

(End of this chapter)