196: Chapter 196 Arctic Galaxy

Where did Gao Qiu go?

Gao Yuan contacted Gao Qiu via Brain-Link.

But Gao Qiu's Brain-Link AI assistant told him that Gao Qiu had gone to Mercury!

Mercury's environment was too harsh; with Gao Yuan's battleship, he was afraid he wouldn't even be able to land on Venus! Even trying to contact him through Brain-Link was difficult; the distance was too great, and the signal was intermittent and unstable, making it impossible to discuss anything. Just as he was preparing to head back, Gao Gan took the initiative to contact him.

Gao Yuan returned to Earth and met Gao Gan, who was now in charge of equipment R&D for Earth's Heavenly Army.

He was also very busy, and it was already quite difficult for him to find time to meet Gao Yuan.

"We meet again, my brother!"

"Don't emphasize that I'm your brother every time you speak... Gao Gan, I have something important to see Gao Qiu about!"

"It's the same as telling me. Most of what Gao Qiu knows, I know now too, and I also control the most advanced weapon technology in the Solar System. Are you sure you don't want to talk to me?"

Gao Yuan hesitated for a moment.

Actually, there wasn't much difference between Gao Qiu and Gao Gan.

One old fox, one little fox... No, by bloodline, he himself was the little fox, so Gao Gan would be the big fox.

"Then let's talk! Can you guess what I want to ask?"

"It's been several months. Father mentioned before that you found a wormhole entrance. You must have gone in to explore it and surely learned about high-level civilizations!"

Gao Yuan was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"What exactly do the high-level civilizations want to do? You've been there, so you definitely know more than we do!"

"Harvesting!"

"Oh? Harvesting what?"

"civilization factors!"

Gao Gan frowned, deep in thought.

"Tell me specifically, what is this civilization factor?"

"civilization factors, also known as life factors, are a type of massless microscopic particle emitted by stars!"

Gao Yuan said.

Gao Gan paused: "I think I have an idea of what you're talking about! We've also studied why some inorganic matter can combine to become life, and why that same matter results in death! It's because of a fundamental particle. As long as the particle exists, life continues; when the particle dissipates, life ends! Throughout existence, entropy is constantly increasing. Once entropy reaches a critical value, the life particles will disperse, and life will end!"

Gao Yuan looked up: "You've studied this?"

"Of course, this is the origin of life; we had to study it!"

"By destroying a civilization, one can plunder its civilization factors and integrate some of its traits into oneself! If a high-level civilization destroys humanity, they can not only plunder our civilization factors to accelerate their own development but also gain the opportunity to improve their genes and absorb oxygen!"

Gao Gan pondered: "They are all anaerobic life forms. They went to such great lengths to create humans just to have the chance to improve their own genes! That means adapting to oxygen is very important to them, right?"

Gao Yuan nodded...

"Yes, to enter the core of the Milky Way, one must adapt to oxygen!"

"I see! So they haven't made a move yet because we haven't met their requirements?"

Gao Yuan shook his head.

"You've reached the critical value, but they want something even better!"

Gao Gan remained silent, then suddenly looked horrified.

"This is bad, Project Shell-break!"

Gao Yuan was stunned. He remembered that before he went to Polaris, Gao Qiu had said he planned Project Shell-break to test the limits of the high-level civilizations. The core of the plan was to build Antimatter Engines to push Mercury toward the sun...

Gao Qiu was betting that the high-level civilizations needed them, so they wouldn't destroy them.

But now Gao Yuan knew that the Future World had already stepped onto the threshold of a Level 2 civilization. Although it wasn't the best, it was barely usable. If they behaved, the high-level civilizations might tolerate their continued development for several hundred years, but now Gao Qiu's Project Shell-break seemed like a death wish...

Once Mercury fell into the sun, the entire Solar System would be destroyed, and the high-level civilizations would likely exterminate humanity ahead of schedule.

Gao Gan obviously thought of this as well.

"No, I need to go to Mercury immediately. Project Shell-break must be stopped!"

Gao Yuan was also anxious. "Is there enough time? Contact Gao Qiu right now!"

"The signal is poor. We must use quantum communication, and to ensure Father receives the message, we must go there in person! Gao Yuan, come with me!"

Gao Yuan still had things to ask Gao Qiu and Gao Gan.

So he nodded.

"Alright!"

Soon, Gao Gan commissioned a super-sun class battleship and flew toward Mercury.

The temperature difference on Mercury's surface is extreme, reaching as high as 400 to 500 degrees Celsius during the day and dropping to minus 173 degrees Celsius at night—a difference of 500 to 600 degrees!

There are also occasional thunderstorms on the surface. Under such conditions, construction is extremely difficult. If it were on Earth, several thousand Antimatter Engines would likely have been built in three or four months.

However, Gao Qiu was personally supervising on Mercury, utilizing various advanced technologies and tens of millions of robots, but so far, only a few hundred Antimatter Engines had been built.

Gao Qiu looked worried. At this rate, it would likely take another five or six years to complete.

It seemed the technology was still insufficient; they still needed to improve their ability to construct under various extreme conditions.

...

On the super-sun class battleship, Gao Yuan looked at Mercury, which was growing larger before his eyes, feeling somewhat emotional.

Mercury and Earth looked like twin planets, but their environments were worlds apart.

"Gao Gan, do you think we have a chance to break this deadlock?"

Gao Gan looked grave: "I don't know! We can only do our best and leave the rest to fate!"

"You still believe in fate? Isn't fate just waiting for death?"

"You can't say that. There's always a way when things come to a head."

"By the way, haven't the high-level civilizations used any means to improve your level of technology over all these years?"

Gao Yuan asked.

"What kind of means?"

"For example, integrating several civilizations within the Solar System to fight and annex each other—eventually, one civilization would stand out and develop rapidly!"

"How... how is that possible?"

"Why not? Do you know which star system the high-level civilization is in?"

"Which one?"

"Polaris!"

Gao Yuan said.

Gao Gan was shocked: "Right in Polaris?"

As he spoke, Gao Gan pulled up data on Polaris from the battleship's system.

"Polaris: one primary star, a second-magnitude blue giant; one secondary star, a third-magnitude brown dwarf; and one companion star, a fifth-magnitude White Dwarf! It's a complex triple-star system with 56 planets, including 36 terrestrial planets, 20 gas giants, and 1,062 moons with a diameter exceeding five hundred kilometers!"

Gao Yuan clicked his tongue in secret. So many?

The Serpent-man Civilization has this many planets?

Then how many of them are there?

"According to previous speculations, the North Star System shouldn't have any planets suitable for life! Even anaerobic organisms need water!"