89: Chapter 89 Climax: Thunder in Silence
The grand blueprint for the "network" quantum fusion network had already been laid out. Massive infrastructure projects had quietly begun across Dragon Country and at the "Guanghan Palace" Moon Base. The entire nation was like a precision machine wound tight, operating efficiently in an orderly state of tension, racing against time to deal with unknown threats.
Meanwhile, inside the "Candle Dragon" safe house, Lin Mo's mind was completely immersed in another even more urgent task—the prototype of the "Quantum Long-Distance Sensor" he had independently designed was about to undergo its first full-power operational test.
This device, which condensed all the heart and wisdom he had gained since transforming from a learner to a designer, had its final assembly and debugging completed several days ago in a highly shielded specialized experimental chamber at the "Guanghan Palace" base, with the remote assistance of "Fuxi" and the cooperation of a top-tier engineering team dispatched by Long Zhantian. It was not a traditional dish antenna or an array of optical lenses; its core was a macro-quantum entanglement state generation core made of special crystals that constantly pulsed with a faint blue light, surrounded by extremely precise measurement and cooling systems.
At this moment, the quantum link between the Earth and the Moon was maintained with the highest priority. Lin Mo was in the safe house, while Elder Chen, Academician Zhao, and others were in the Capital Command Center, and Wang Yan and others were in the Moon Base control room. Everyone's eyes were focused on the real-time data streams appearing on their respective screens.
"Power interface stable, output power has reached the critical value!"
"Quantum entanglement core status normal, entanglement degree 99.97%, matching theoretical expectations!"
"Measurement system self-check complete, sensitivity calibrated to the highest level!"
"Target bearing locked: Oort Cloud, 'beacon' signal source area!"
A series of reports indicating readiness came through clearly via quantum communication without any delay.
"Engineer Lin, everything is ready. Please give the final command." At the Moon Base, Wang Yan's voice carried a hint of uncontrollable excitement and tension.
Lin Mo took a deep breath, his gaze as calm as water. This was no longer about verifying the known, but exploring the truly unknown. He spoke two words clearly into the microphone:
"Activate."
The command instantly crossed the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Inside the lunar experimental chamber, that strangely shaped sensor emitted a low hum. The faint blue light at its core suddenly became blinding, as if a miniature nebula was being born and rotating within it. An invisible "web of perception" based on quantum entanglement effects spread out in an unprecedented way, through quantum correlations that surpassed the speed of light, toward the distant Oort Cloud.
This was not the transmission of electromagnetic waves, but a deeper, more fundamental "touch" of space-time.
In the command center and Lin Mo's safe house, the previously steady baseline environmental readings on the main screens began to show violent fluctuations, completely different from any previous detection mode. It wasn't chaotic noise, but a series of extremely faint yet real "ripples" containing specific patterns and structures.
The computing power of the "Fuxi" computer was instantly mobilized to its limit, performing real-time analysis and inverse deduction on this unprecedented volume of high-dimensional data.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Time passed in a suffocating silence. Suddenly—
On the main screen, in the void that previously only marked the direction and strength of the "beacon" signal, a new, clearer, and more specific outline that all previous observation methods had failed to find was being constructed and rendered by "Fuxi" at an astonishing speed!
It was... the outline of a blurry but massive object!
Its form was difficult to describe using any spacecraft or natural celestial body known to mankind. Its structure was complex and bizarre, as if forcibly pieced together from countless distorted geometric shapes, exuding a cold, unnatural texture. According to the preliminary estimate by "fuxi," its volume far exceeded any space station humans had ever built, and was even comparable to a small celestial body!
Even more heart-pounding was a new line of constantly refreshing data that "Fuxi" labeled next to this massive outline:
[Relative Velocity: Continuing to accelerate... currently equivalent to 0.15c... 0.16c...]
[Estimated Time Window for Arrival at Kuiper Belt Revised: Based on current acceleration, re-estimated at... three to eight years!]
Three to eight years! Compared to the time previously calculated based on the signal, it had been significantly moved forward again!
This entity captured by the "Quantum Eye" was undoubtedly the "reaper"! It was no longer just an ethereal signal or a cold code name, but a real, massive object that was accelerating toward them with unknown malice!
"Confirmed... it really exists..." Elder Chen's voice trembled slightly, not out of fear, but because of the impact of the immense truth.
In the Capital Command Center and the Moon Base control room, everyone who saw this scene felt a chill run from the soles of their feet to the crown of their heads. A silent thunderclap exploded in their minds.
Inside the "Candle Dragon" safe house, Lin Mo watched the hideous, accelerating outline on the screen, his pupils contracting slightly. Behind the veil he had personally lifted was a threat more concrete and more imminent than imagined.
He didn't speak, but slowly clenched his fist, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
In the silence, the thunder had already sounded.
The crisis was no longer just a prophecy. It had a shape, a speed, and a countdown.