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

Chapter 308 Second Fleet: No (4k)

The Devouring Ring has been stationary in its orbit in the asteroid belt for three years, and this massive ring structure has gradually stabilized.

But just now, Luo Qing proposed the "rotating ring" to the Devouring Civilization.

The direction of the telescope is adjusted by rotating the large ring.

But for some reason, this was met with fierce opposition from the dinosaurs.

Luo Qing had no choice but to give up.

That array of light cone telescopes, which spans 10,000 kilometers in length, consists of more than one million adaptive mirrors. Even a slight angular shift requires a massive number of mirrors to coordinate and correct over a long period of time.

A simple way is to directly rotate the large ring, but that would cause the already stabilized ring track to fluctuate again, and rotating it too fast could easily throw the dinosaur off.

Luo Qing had no choice but to settle for second best and directly refine the entire light cone observation system.

At the center of the ring, the array of light cone telescopes, which spans 10,000 kilometers in length, is trembling slightly at a constant frequency, with millions of adaptive mirrors being connected to Luo Qing's control.

Immortal Cultivation Techniques - Object Manipulation!

At this moment, Luo Qing was under the dome of the light cone control room. A phantom image of a hand with a diameter of 20,000 kilometers appeared in the center of the ring. The giant hand held the entire telescope in its grasp as if it were playing with Lego bricks.

The light cone observation system is rotating as he wishes, without requiring the large ring to output any energy.

"Cultivating immortality is truly amazing."

Dinosaur scientists and human scientists stood side by side, watching the telescope rotate, and sighed with emotion.

The floor of the light cone control room is made of the same transparent deck as the lenses. Through the 100-meter-thick isolation layer, you can see the array of lenses hanging like an inverted galaxy below.

The diameter of the primary lens is one thousand kilometers, and the area of ​​this lens is larger than the area of ​​France. Its parabolic arc curves in the observer's field of vision. Tens of thousands of sub-lenses are gathered near the primary lens, and there are more than one hundred similar primary lenses in total.

Each primary mirror is separated by 100 kilometers, locked in place by the gravitational pull of a large ring, and each is equipped with a small thruster. In this way, a super telescope with a length of 10,000 kilometers was built.

Human scientists were busy at the circular control console. Because the console was built according to the size of a dinosaur, one of the buttons was the size of a tire, so much so that the scientists had to jump on it to operate it.

Fortunately, human scientists have plenty of energy.

On the display screen, the telescope's data gradually intertwined with Luo Qing's divine sense. With the final stage of the artifact fusion, Luo Qing had transformed the entire light cone system into his temporary magical artifact.

"Mr. Luo, according to the pre-set parameters, the field of view of the light cone telescope is locked in the direction of the three-body galaxy, and the focal length is calibrated to the edge of 200 light-years. How would you like to adjust it? From which direction should you start?"

Before the technician could finish speaking, a buzzing sound came from the control room, and the data on the console began to fluctuate rapidly. The star markers at the edge of the star map shifted to one side at a visible speed, like beads on an abacus being moved by an invisible hand.

"Look up, is this a spinning top?" the technician exclaimed in amazement.

Countless humans and dragons watching this scene gasped in astonishment.

But this shift didn't last long and soon stopped.

Even the Trisolaran system did not escape the edge of the displayed star map.

"Eh?"

Luo Qing let out a soft exclamation. He had discovered more than 400 dim stars at a distance of less than 10000 astronomical units from the Trisolaran star system.

I counted them carefully, and there were 415 of them.

These 415 stars are hidden behind a cloud of interstellar dust. With the observation capabilities of the Fitzroy-Ringer telescope, it would be almost impossible for humans to detect them. Even with a light cone telescope, only about 400 gray dots that are slightly brighter than interstellar dust can be seen.

The opponent is extremely well hidden and is not even on the straight line between the Trisolaran system and the solar system.

"This is... the Second Fleet of the Three-Body Problem?"

Luo Qing arrived at this answer by observing the orderly array of 415 dark stars and the distance of less than 0.2 light-years from the Trisolaran system.

Humanity has known about the existence of the Trisolaran Second Fleet for a long time. More than a hundred years ago, the Trisolaran world, which was undergoing a Renaissance and Enlightenment, gave rise to the Trisolaran Earth Organization, which sent a letter to human civilization during the Great Depression.

The letter warned humanity against futile struggles and urged people to flee and wander.

The letter also mentioned that the Trisolaran Second Fleet was about to set sail. The intelligence on the Second Fleet raised the vigilance of the Joint Space Force at the time, and strengthened the reconnaissance near the Trisolaran system, especially near the snowfield. Unfortunately, until the Devouring War, humanity did not detect any information about the Second Fleet.

But now, the Second Fleet has suddenly appeared in Luo Qing's field of vision.

"So that's where it is." Luo Qing looked at the more than four hundred gray dots thoughtfully.

A year ago, he twisted his four-dimensional divine sense into a thread and flung it toward the Trisolaran star system at 10 times the speed of light.

Five months later, the four-dimensional divine sense completely enveloped the entire Trisolaran star system.

At this point, the entire Three-Body world was officially transparent to Luo's list.

Through electromagnetic waves transmitted via four-dimensional divine thought, Luo Qing successfully established contact with the [Trisolaran Earth Organization] on Trisolaris. Interestingly, the leader of the Trisolaran Earth Organization was none other than Trisolaran Listener No. 1379, who had sent Ye Wenjie the message, "Do not answer, do not answer, do not answer."

This organization had already taken shape in the early stages of the Crisis Era. At that time, its main members were members of the Sophon Analysis Society, who were responsible for analyzing proton intelligence. Later, as images of Earth spread, a considerable number of Trisolarans were amazed by this beautiful planet.

Naturally, influenced by Earth's culture, the Trisolaran Organization began to take shape. During the Great Depression of Humanity, the Trisolaran world also officially entered the Renaissance period, and the organization was formally established during this period.

After its establishment, the Trisolaran government launched several armed attacks against the "Trisolaran Traitors" organization, but the [TEO], led by Listener 1379, survived. Furthermore, the Trisolaran Earth Organization successfully seized a spaceship, escaped the Trisolaran world, and became a drifting spaceship in the Trisolaran system.

This spaceship, which has been evading the Trisolaran defense fleet, is the only human-friendly force in the Trisolaran world.

Since Luo Qing made contact with Listener 1379, the Trisolaran Earth organization has finally welcomed the "master" they have been longing for.

According to No. 1379, there are still some 'comrades' of the Trisolaran Earth Organization on Trisolaris, but because of the Sophon's surveillance, they dare not rashly contact their headquarters, which has escaped to space.

During his seclusion, Luo Qing frequently chatted with Listener 1379. Through these conversations, Luo Qing's understanding of the customs and culture of the Trisolaran world surpassed that of any human expert specializing in the Trisolaran world. Therefore, Luo Qing had already confirmed the existence of the Second Fleet through Listener 1379 long ago; however, because his four-dimensional divine sense only had a single line and its detection range was limited, he hadn't been able to locate the Second Fleet until now.

"They didn't even fly towards Earth. Even if they started their journey 100 years ago, it's been over a hundred years, and they've only traveled about 0.2 light-years?"

Luo Qing naturally did not believe that the Second Fleet, with its superior technology, could fly so slowly. During the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, the First Fleet of the Trisolaran Empire set sail. The Second Fleet was 100 years ahead of the First Fleet, so its speed would only be faster.

Even though the speed exceeded the maximum value of 0.2c for a human star-class warship, Luo Qing was not surprised at all.

As the light cone lens zoomed in layer by layer, the 415 dim gray dots became more distinct, almost taking on blurry shapes. Their size was far smaller than that of the First Fleet.

The Trisolaran First Fleet has 1000 warships. Based on the snow tracks, it is inferred that they are typical giant warships. The size of the warships is likely larger than the largest human-class warship, the Paradox Engine (2.4km), and about the same as the Brachiosaurus-class mothership of the dinosaurs (10km).

The size of the Second Fleet has shrunk considerably, to about the same size as the human medium-sized star-class warship Infinite Frontier (1.2km), nearly ten times smaller.

This is not a good thing. Spaceships are not necessarily more powerful just because they are bigger. The war between humans and dinosaurs has shown that speed is the decisive weapon in space warfare.

Interstellar warfare is a war where offense outweighs defense; even a massive entrapment that withstands a stellar hydrogen bomb will be damaged.

Luo Qing couldn't help but begin to carefully observe the Trisolaran Second Fleet.

He knew that what he was seeing was actually what it looked like four years ago. The Second Fleet might have already left, but at least at this moment, the 415 warships of the Second Fleet were still hiding behind a dense cloud of interstellar dust and were not emitting any light, which meant that the other side was likely not starting its engines.

For a spaceship, the light from its engines is hard to conceal. After all, there is no air in space, and the engine can only dissipate heat through thermal radiation, emitting infrared rays or light.

When viewing the First Fleet through the light cone telescope, one can clearly see the light emitted by the engines of the 1000 warships of the First Fleet as they operate.

This is why the Second Fleet almost blends into the darkness, making it even harder to spot.

It wasn't that he didn't want to observe through his four-dimensional divine sense, but rather that his four-dimensional divine sense was currently a straight line extending from Earth to the Trisolaran planet, and controlling his four-dimensional divine sense to swing it toward the Second Fleet would mean that the four-dimensional divine sense would be thrown out in an arc in space.

It will take at least another 5 months for the other end of the four-dimensional divine sense to reach the Second Fleet.

Very troublesome.

This principle is similar to how a person shines a laser pointer into space and then waves it around; the laser beam will appear in an arc in space.

The speed of light is still insurmountable. Although the four-dimensional divine thought is 10 times the speed of light, it is only stuck at the upper limit of the speed of light in three-dimensional space, which is 10 times that in four-dimensional space. In fact, it does not exceed the speed of light in the four-dimensional space it is in.

Luo Qing wanted to see more clearly.

His fingertips touched the air, and spiritual energy enveloped the entire light cone telescope array. Inside the steering shafts of the millions of giant spliced ​​lenses, the superconducting bearings, which originally required hydraulic devices to drive, were now emitting a faint spiritual light, and the angle of each sub-lens was being finely adjusted with nanometer-level precision.

If this adjustment were to be carried out by the Devouring Empire, it would require coordinating millions of thrusters, and the gravitational lensing test alone would consume three days' worth of computing power from the Great Ring Computer.

Soon, however, under the guidance of his divine sense, the image of the Second Fleet became completely clear.

"Hmm... a fully reflective hull, zero propulsion... only 1/10 the size of the First Fleet, with a strange ring-shaped device on the bow of the warship... what is that? A new type of engine?"

Luo Qing became interested. He really hoped to see the Second Fleet activate this unknown ring structure, but he knew that this was a scene from four years ago and he couldn't expect it.

I really want to see the Second Fleet in action right now...

I really want to.

Soon, as Luo Qing's line of sight extended, the image displayed in the light cone telescope also changed. The 415 warships suddenly emitted a relatively obvious light at their sterns, and then the 415 warships began to accelerate in a certain direction.

"I happened to be part of the project that started four years ago? What a coincidence!"

Luo Qing was shocked. He immediately began to adjust the light cone telescope again. The parabolic surfaces of the hundreds of primary mirrors began to rotate slightly to ensure that the field of view was always locked on the Second Fleet.

The Second Fleet began to accelerate continuously, and this acceleration was indeed heading towards Earth. In less than ten minutes, the warship's acceleration increased from 0 to 1% of the speed of light. During this acceleration, the Trisolaran Second Fleet even made a large arc, changing its original direction to the direction of Earth.

This acceleration power far exceeds that of human stellar-class warships. It would take human stellar-class warships at least half an hour to accelerate at full power from 0 speed to 1% of the speed of light, and the other side is accelerating while turning.

In contrast, human starships are almost unable to turn during acceleration.

Moreover, the Second Fleet's acceleration shows no signs of stopping.

Luo Qing took out his phone, pointed it at the screen, and took a picture of the scene, intending to send it to the commanders of the three fleets later.

But as Luo Qing continued filming, she realized something was wrong.

This doesn't seem to be footage from four years ago...

In the phone's camera lens, the 415 warships still lay quietly in the dark corner of the observation screen, a completely different scene from what Luo Qing saw with his eyes.

Luo Qing blinked, and the display on the light cone telescope instantly returned to 'normal'.

The 415 warships remained unchanged, still quietly moored 0.2 light-years away from Trisolaris, neither emitting light nor activating.

Luo Qing refused to believe it and stared intently at the telescope's display screen again. Soon, the 415 warships that had been anchored in a corner of the universe suddenly disappeared from their original positions.

The next moment, the 415 warships appeared in another location, right after the large arc acceleration turn phase had just ended. At this moment, the Second Fleet was flying towards Earth at a continuous acceleration state from 0.01c to 0.02c.

"..."

Luo Qing remained silent for a moment, then put his phone back in his pocket.

He brought in two observers, a dinosaur and a human, and had them observe the scene through the telescope. The feedback from both the human and the dinosaur was that the 415 observed targets remained stationary on the display screen without any change in position.

Luo Qing dismissed the two observers, found a sofa and sat down slowly, gently pressing his temples with his fingers, seemingly lost in thought.

(End of this chapter)