249: Chapter 249 Heaven or Hell

The Ideal Star continued to fly forward.

Following the technology provided by Cangming No. 1, Gao Yuan used Gravitational Lensing to scout the path ahead.

Gao Yuan had used this technology before, but back then, the technology was insufficient and he had to rely on Gao Hei's keen perception.

But now, it was no longer necessary.

Gravitational Lensing could detect all large celestial bodies ahead.

Gao Yuan did his best to avoid these celestial bodies.

The long journey was unexpectedly peaceful.

Decades passed in a flash.

According to Gao Yuan's estimates, the other boundary of the Spiral Arm Membrane was just ahead.

Once they passed through, they would truly enter the Spiral Arm Core.

When they first entered, Gao Yuan had relied on his own blood to let humanity cross the boundary, and they had lost all their metal.

This time, Gao Yuan was also apprehensive, not knowing what situation they would encounter.

He had even prepared himself to lose metal once again.

However, the Ideal Star whistled along, meeting no resistance at all...

Suddenly, Gao Yuan felt his body grow heavy.

The Ideal Star began to sink...

This was a situation they had never encountered before.

In space, how could a planet sink?

There had to be a reason for the sudden sinking; likely, there was a massive celestial body below, and the Ideal Star had entered its gravitational field...

Gao Yuan's heart sank; it was over.

If his guess was correct, the Ideal Star would be torn apart as soon as it breached the Roche Limit. Furthermore, the Ideal Star had many internal passages, making its medium extremely uneven, which meant its ability to resist gravitational waves was even worse.

Although there were many aircraft on the Ideal Star, by the time they mobilized humanity to board and then mobilized for takeoff, it would be far too late.

Was it really over...

Not only did Gao Yuan feel this way, but other human scientists thought so too, and panic began to spread...

Probes began to scan below the Ideal Star to see what was there, but after the detection rays were sent out, they never returned...

This made Gao Yuan's heart sink even further to rock bottom...

If nothing could be detected, could there be a black hole below?

Just then...

Suddenly, the Ideal Star came to a halt.

It was as if everything before had been an illusion.

Gao Yuan was stunned; what had happened?

The shaken human scientists finally had a chance to observe the surrounding environment...

But before they could start their observations, a violent Stellar Storm suddenly swept past the Ideal Star, blowing away a third of its thick atmosphere...

The high-power lighting and heating satellites in the Ideal Star's orbit were directly destroyed by the raging Stellar Wind...

The surface of the Ideal Star plunged into darkness!

However, light continued to pass through the atmosphere and reach the surface.

Looking at the sky from the surface of the Ideal Star, spots of various colors constantly appeared in the dim sky...

This strange sight was actually quite beautiful.

But Gao Yuan instinctively felt danger.

That Stellar Storm just now had cost the Ideal Star all its orbital satellites and a third of its atmosphere.

Humanity's ability to perceive the outside world had instantly plummeted...

This Stellar Wind lasted for three days. Just as Gao Yuan thought the storm had passed and began to mobilize ships to enter space to observe the surroundings...

But just as the ships were ready for takeoff...

A second Stellar Storm followed immediately!

This one was even stronger than the previous one!

The Ideal Star's atmosphere bore the brunt of it; this time it was almost completely blown away, and many surface facilities were damaged.

Gao Yuan was dumbfounded.

What was going on? Why were there so many storms?

However...

Over the next two months, Gao Yuan came to understand.

Here, Stellar Storms were the norm. In two months, they encountered 12 Stellar Storms; the longest lasted half a month, and the shortest was three days!

By now, the Ideal Star's atmosphere was gone and the surface was completely destroyed. Fortunately, the Ideal Star had been built by humans themselves, so the Underground Cities were already in place. Humanity had now moved entirely into the Underground Cities, relying on the thick planetary crust to withstand the storms...

Gao Yuan recalled Cangming No. 1 saying that the Spiral Arm Core was a blessed land for civilizations, where energy and resources were inexhaustible! Furthermore, expansion was limitless, and faster-than-light travel could be achieved within it...

But now, as soon as Gao Yuan entered, he was given a harsh wake-up call.

If not for the Ideal Star, humanity would likely be extinct by now.

These continuous Stellar Storms would destroy any facility or aircraft.

Gao Yuan felt lost...

Where exactly was a stable home? Thinking back, since he got the Space-Time Gate, his happiest time was still in the Meteor City Cluster!

He didn't understand why Cangming No. 1 would think this place was a happy paradise.

Now humanity was huddled in the Underground Cities, trembling with fear.

They didn't dare to come out at all.

Gao Yuan was also in despair. He sat in Gao Gan's office and poured a cup of tea.

"Gao Gan, I don't want to do this anymore. I just want to give up!"

"Is your pride hurt? The things that will hurt your pride even more are actually yet to come... Do you know why Cangming No. 1 said this place is heaven?"

"Why?"

"For a civilization that can exist in a nebula core, coming here means having inexhaustible Stellar Storms—those are all energy... There are White Dwarfs everywhere; what are those? They are resources! But what about us? The storms destroy our instruments and our cities! We don't even dare to approach a White Dwarf... we'd be torn apart if we did! We think it's too harsh here, but ultimately, it's because humans are too weak..."

Uh...

Gao Yuan began to reflect.

It was true; if he had the technological level of Cangming No. 1, then this place would indeed be heaven.

"Is there a solution in the technology Cangming No. 1 gave us?"

"Yes... creating a new type of Solar Sail that can absorb the Stellar Storms in space. We just need to build a Solar Sail layer around the Ideal Star to absorb the Stellar Storms and convert them into electrical energy. It would become a miniature version of a dyson sphere! Then we would never have to worry about energy again. We wouldn't need nuclear power plants or Antimatter power plants... we could focus all our efforts on manufacturing weapons!"

"Is the manufacturing difficulty... high?"

"It's alright! Not too high!"

Gao Gan said.

"Even with a Solar Sail layer, it's not enough. We still need to go out and scout, but current aircraft and probes can't withstand the Stellar Storms! Wait, I have an idea. Could Superconductor Battleships work? superconductors can transfer the high-energy rays from these Stellar Storms into a magnetic field behind them and then convert them into electricity..."

"Gao Gan, we only need to make simple modifications to our Superconductor Battleships to turn them into super battleships! These ships could use Plasma Ion Engines and wouldn't even need to carry fuel; as long as there are Stellar Storms, they'd have infinite range!"

Gao Gan nodded...

"Yes, exactly! If we can utilize them, then the Stellar Storms are an endless source of energy!"