248: Chapter 248 Goodbye, Humanity

Thirty years later, the Ideal Star was 5 light-years away from the nebula!

The Working Group, one year after separating the meteorites, issued the ignition command to the robots!

Over a dozen meteorites were driven toward the core of the nebula.

Satellites here would broadcast the situation in real-time to the Ideal Star via quantum communication.

Gao Yuan could now see the footage of the meteorite cluster through the communication satellites.

They whistled as they flew toward the glowing nebula core, their silhouettes resembling spacecraft flying toward the sun.

Three months later, the meteorites grew smaller and smaller until they became black dots; Gao Yuan knew they had entered the gravitational range of the nebula core...

Another three days passed, and Gao Yuan suddenly saw the light of the meteorites flash...

Immediately afterward, over a dozen black spots appeared on the nebula core.

Ten minutes later, violent beams of light began to pour out, and the nebula core grew brighter and brighter, reminding Gao Yuan of the scene when he used the moon to strike Jupiter, though the nebula was much larger than Jupiter.

Consequently, the nebula core began to expand violently...

Even Gao Yuan, two light-years away, could see a massive bright spot erupting in the sky ahead without needing the relay satellites!

It was easy to imagine that countless high-energy rays were being thrown out.

The nebula core expanded larger and larger, its volume eventually exceeding one light-year...

The people on the Ideal Star could see a giant ball of light appear in the distant sky.

At its largest, it could occupy a third of the sky.

Gao Yuan began to worry if the Working Group's starship could outrun the speed of the nebula's expansion.

He immediately contacted the Working Group's starship...

Soon, the images from the starship were transmitted over.

Behind the starship was a massive ball of light; looking from the ship, the entire rear sky was blocked by the sphere of light.

The light illuminated the surroundings like broad daylight.

Fortunately, even though the nebula core was expanding rapidly, its mass was continuously decreasing, so the gravity did not increase much...

The further to the periphery, the weaker the gravity.

The starship was not pulled back by the nebula's gravitational waves and successfully escaped.

Gao Yuan breathed a sigh of relief!

Everything was going smoothly.

Now they just had to wait for the nebula to extinguish and for Cangming No. 1 to awaken.

...

The Ideal Star continued forward; they were heading for the Spiral Arm Core passage.

Whether or not they had the help of Cangming No. 1, this was where they had to go.

Ten years later...

Gao Yuan received a familiar message.

"Gao Yuan, we are out! Thank you for the help of humanity!"

"Cangming No. 1?"

"Yes, it is us. We have broken free from the shackles of the nebula, but we cannot continue forward, or we will be bound by the next nebula!"

"Where are you going?"

"We are leaving the Spiral Arm. But before we go, I have a gift for you! Humans, once you emerge from the Galactic Center, please come find us at Canopus in the constellation Carina in the southern sky. We are about to return!"

"You're leaving?"

"Yes, the Spiral Arm is not suitable for us. Continuing would only lead to extinction. Perhaps our strength is insufficient; once we have researched the neutron star, we will come again! Now I am sending you some data and technical diagrams! I hope they will be of help for your upcoming journey!"

Gao Yuan felt some regret...

Cangming No. 1 was actually leaving.

But thinking about it, it was normal. They were restricted at every turn here and could face extinction at any moment, so they certainly couldn't keep going!

If it were him, he would probably leave too.

Gao Yuan found the position of Canopus on the star map.

It is 200 light-years away from the original Solar System, a supergiant that is the second brightest star in the night sky after Sirius. Its luminosity is 16,000 times that of the sun!

There is also a brown dwarf companion star near Canopus.

To be able to stand out in such a stellar system, it was conceivable that the civilization of Cangming No. 1's home planet was bound to be superior to the Polaris Civilization.

After all, they had entered the Spiral Arm long ago, while the Polaris Civilization still lacks the ability to enter the Spiral Arm!

"Cangming No. 1, goodbye!"

"Humanity, goodbye!"

After bidding farewell to each other, Gao Yuan received many point-to-point transmitted files and data.

Cangming No. 1 was also very thoughtful, translating everything into the Xia language.

When Gao Yuan opened them, they were mainly divided into two parts.

One part was data on the Spiral Arm and the Galactic Center!

The other part was black technology.

Gao Yuan handed the black technology to the Academy of Sciences; he did not release the data regarding the Spiral Arm and the Galactic Center, restricting it to the human high command only.

Afterward, Gao Yuan and Gao Gan reviewed this information.

Before reviewing it, Gao Yuan knew very little about the Spiral Arm; even entering it had been forced upon them.

He knew even less about the Galactic Center.

Only now did he realize why so many civilizations wanted to enter the Spiral Arm.

With the level of civilization of Cangming No. 1 and their kind, they had long been invincible in the surrounding star regions. They had once fantasized about ruling the Milky Way, but facts proved that the true core of the Milky Way is actually the Galactic Center and the Spiral Arm; the regions where other peripheral stars are located are all barren zones...

Conventional flight cannot exceed the speed of light, resulting in an upper limit to their development. Once they touched this limit, they could no longer progress further...

The expansion capability of space wormholes is extremely limited. If one wanted to go to an unfamiliar galaxy over a thousand light-years away, even with the strength of the Cangming No. 1 civilization, it became unrealistic. Thus, the only way was to create space wormholes for space traversal.

However, traversing space requires determining accurate coordinates. Yet at a distance of a thousand light-years, even if one could use black technology to determine the angle and distance of the target star...

You might traverse over and still be unable to find that star...

Because the location you observed was from a thousand years ago... The universe is changing every moment, making accurate positioning extremely difficult...

This is for stars that can emit light; if it were a brown dwarf, a White Dwarf, or a planet, positioning would be even harder.

Without stepping out, it is almost impossible.

There is a legend in the Milky Way that the secret to faster-than-light travel is hidden within the Spiral Arms!

Only by entering the Spiral Arm can the restriction that the speed of light cannot be exceeded be unlocked.

Therefore, almost all civilizations that develop to a certain point want to enter the Spiral Arm to reach the Galactic Center.

In the data from Cangming No. 1, it was shown that the Spiral Arms of the Milky Way are channels for transporting materials and forming supernovae, and are the channels communicating between the Galactic Center and the peripheral regions.

The Spiral Arm is actually divided into the Spiral Arm Membrane and the Spiral Arm Core!

The thickness of the Spiral Arm Membrane reaches 10 light-years. Within the membrane, there are various nebulae, black holes, and neutron stars. Once these celestial bodies encounter a civilization, they will bring destruction!

Only by passing through the Spiral Arm Membrane and entering the Spiral Arm Core can one move unimpeded! Furthermore, there is no upper limit to development in the Spiral Arm Core; resources are infinite and energy is dense. It is a place that all civilizations yearn for.

To cross the Spiral Arm Membrane, there is an important condition...

That is, one must be attached to a celestial body; a spacecraft alone cannot penetrate the Spiral Arm Membrane!

Seeing this, Gao Yuan suddenly felt that, by a strange stroke of luck, humanity actually completely met this condition!