170: Warp drive manufacturing and installation

When Lu Chen's ultimate self-mockery—a "poor child" filled with the rules of the "dark forest" and "tragic resolve"—clearly echoed in the main control room of the Kunlun Mountain Underground Base, the super brain of heavenly craft, composed of infinite data, once again fell into a long silence.

She stared blankly at her young master, who clearly possessed god-like power yet maintained the humility and reverence of a mortal; her brilliant, intelligent eyes were filled with incomparable admiration and love!

She knew she had followed the right person.

This youth, who seemed a bit scheming, somewhat indifferent, and even a little greedy for money, carried the future of the entire civilization in his heart.

One month later.

On the Moon, the silver-white "Heavenly Court" Interstellar Spaceport, filled with violent aesthetics.

The atmosphere was so oppressive you could wring water out of it!

Long Weiguo, Ye Qingcang, and all the top-level big shots of the Xia Country were gathered here! There was no trace of fatigue on their faces, only the fervor and pride of witnessing history.

Right in front of them, a massive silver-white, teardrop-shaped interstellar spaceship, full of sci-fi flair and futuristic atmosphere, large enough to rival an aircraft carrier, was quietly suspended in the cold, silent, dark space!

It was the expedition!

Humanity's first true interstellar exploration spaceship!

And today, it would welcome its core power unit—the final

installation and ignition of the "Warp Engine," which was enough to drive the entire human civilization mad!

"Distinguished leaders."

Lu Chen was still wearing his simple white research uniform, his face still bearing that harmless, innocent smile, as if this "God's creation," which was enough to drive the whole world crazy, was merely an interesting large object in his eyes.

"I know everyone is very concerned about how the heart of our 'new friend' beats."

"So, without further ado."

"Let's begin right away."

He stretched out his finger and lightly tapped the sci-fi personal terminal on his wrist, which heavenly craft had custom-made for him.

The next second!

"Rumble—"

A terrifying, muffled roar, like an ancient behemoth awakening, suddenly came from the deepest part of the Heavenly Court Spaceport!

What appeared was a massive, spindle-shaped core, comparable to a small mountain, full of streamlined beauty, composed of countless mysterious energy coils and force field generators, complex and filled with violent aesthetics—

The engine core!

It was being slowly hoisted out of the massive underground dock by hundreds of huge anti-gravity engineering robots!

It was the heart of the "expedition"!

And the only hope for human civilization to march toward the starry sea—

The Warp Engine!

"G-God!"

"I-Is this the physical form of the Warp Engine?!"

Even those who had long been accustomed to major events couldn't help but gasp in astonishment like children!

As they looked at this massive, sci-fi and mysterious God's creation before them, their hearts, which had been tempered into rock-solid fortitude by various black technologies, began to pound wildly and uncontrollably at this moment!

Meanwhile, Lu Chen, like the most professional engineer, calmly introduced his latest "masterpiece" to them.

"Please look, distinguished leaders."

He pointed at the massive spindle-shaped engine.

"The core of the entire engine is the 'Space-Time Curvature' Generator, 3D printed and integrated using 'Keel' Alloy."

"Its function is simple: by consuming massive amounts of energy, it creates a 'Space Compression' zone in front of the spaceship and a 'Space Expansion' zone behind the spaceship."

"In this way, the spaceship itself does not move, but the space it occupies 'moves' forward at superluminal speed."

"Thus theoretically achieving 'superluminal' travel!"

Listening to Lu Chen's Versailles-esque introduction, all the big shots present were mesmerized, as if listening to heavenly scripture! They were ecstatic and deeply moved!

They knew! A brand new, great Cosmic Era, led by their Xia Country, had quietly arrived!

Yet, in the eyes of all the Western media and politicians around the world who were secretly spying on this place through various channels, this scene, which could be called a "miracle," became the greatest irony and joke.

"Hahahaha! See?! The Xia people are playing their bluffing tricks again!"

"It's just a gaudy piece of scrap metal! Warp Engine? I bet it's a Fire Poker engine!"

"Just wait! I bet that thing will explode the moment it starts up! It will blow their ridiculous 'Heavenly Court' sky high!"

However, just as they were still frantically shouting and gloating, a cold voice that froze their souls suddenly and slowly sounded through their so-called "top secret" military channel.

"Oh? Is that so?"

It was Lu Chen!

"Then please open your dog eyes wide and look closely."

The moment his voice fell! He was seen issuing the final command to his personal terminal!

"expedition!"

"Warp Engine, ignition!"

"We are..."

"Departing!"

The next second!

"Wooooosh—!!!"

A dull yet solemn roar, filled with a sense of future technology, resonated throughout the silent space!

The Warp Engine in the center of the hull of the expedition, which was quietly suspended in mid-air, instantly lit up with a brilliant circle of colorful halos!

An invisible, powerful, terrifying force field capable of distorting space and time instantly enveloped the entire spaceship!

Immediately after!

"Whoosh—!!!"

A terrifying, sharp shriek that seemed to tear space apart!

That silver-white, teardrop-shaped phantom instantly transformed into a stream of colorful light that was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye! In a terrifying manner that surpassed the speed of light and was incomprehensible to any human, it vanished into the endless, deep, dark universe!

"T-t-this..."

In the White House, Burns pointed at the empty, dark starry sky on the screen! His lips trembled, unable to utter a complete sentence!

He knew that from this moment on, the light speed barrier that had restricted human civilization for millions of years had been completely shattered by that Eastern young deity in the most arrogant and unreasonable way possible!

At this moment, the technician responsible for monitoring spatial fluctuations screamed again, filled with shock and fear!

"N-no good!"

"Moon orbit!"

"An unprecedented, terrifying superluminal energy reaction has been detected!"

"Its speed..."

"Has already reached..."

He took a deep breath and said, word by word, in a voice bordering on a trance:

"Ten times the speed of light!"