Volume 3 Chapter 146: The Cleansed Remnants of Civilization
The voyage started in 11493.
After three years of continued sailing, the Skylark finally arrived at the target galaxy 40,000 light years away.
Although the area around the Skylark still seemed to be a pitch-black space, it was no different from the previous time in extragalactic space.
However, judging from the information fed back by detectors from all sides, various substances are increasing in this universe.
Meteorites appear more and more frequently, shooting stars are seen from a few light years away, and stars can be seen from hundreds of light years away.
All of this indicates that the Skylark has entered a new river system.
It’s just that because it is still at the edge of the river system, various substances are still relatively scarce.
But compared to the truly empty extragalactic space, this place is relatively rich.
Of course, compared to the interior of the real river system, this place is really barren.
Therefore, even if an intelligent race is born here, as long as it masters the technology of curvature navigation, it will basically choose to migrate to the more habitable area inside the river system.
The star systems there are denser, have more resources, and are more suitable for the development of civilization.
Therefore, in this outer area of the galaxy, there are generally no traces of intelligent life, unless there are some native low-level civilizations that have not yet developed curvature engine technology.
There will be no spacecraft passing by in curvature navigation.
However, strangely, the Skylark had just completed a jump of 100 light years and was preparing for the next jump.
The hyperspace radar, which relies on space folding to transmit signals, received a signal from a star more than ten light years ahead, where there were a large number of space bubble fluctuations generated by curvature navigation.
Further exploration confirmed that there were a large number of spaceships there, conducting curvature navigation.
Moreover, that star system is obviously the intersection point of curvature navigation. Countless spaceships performing curvature navigation either arrive there or depart from there.
It is obvious that the galaxy where that star is located is the base camp of a civilization that has mastered curvature navigation technology.
"Is this true? Looking at the number of curvature spaceships, they should not be ordinary strongholds, but one of the main bodies of civilization. But could an advanced civilization develop in such a remote place?" Nanzhu looked at the report of the detector and felt that all this was beyond common sense.
According to the standards of the Milky Way, if one masters the technology of curvature navigation, one can be called an advanced civilization.
One of the main reasons why a civilization that has mastered curvature navigation technology is considered an advanced civilization is that it is no longer restricted by its mother planet and can choose any location at will as the site for the development of its main body.
But Nanzhu had never seen any advanced civilization that would place the main body of civilization in such a remote place.
At least in the Milky Way, advanced civilizations are all flocking to the center of the galaxy.
The fight for territory was also about the area at the center of the Milky Way, until later the disorder and filth in the center of the Milky Way broke out.
However, the civilization before us has placed its main body in such a remote place.
To put it in a metaphor, it is probably equivalent to the ancient society building cities instead of choosing locations with lush vegetation and dense rivers, but instead building cities in the Gobi Desert. It is incomprehensible.
"Bai Xing, change the target, let's go over and take a look." Lin Xu thought for a moment and gave the order.
"Yes, human Lin Xu." Bai Xing replied and began to adjust the direction of the space jump.
The next jump point, which was originally planned to be a hundred light years away, was changed to this location more than ten light years away.
And because the distance is closer, the time required for preparation is also shortened.
In the space jump channel, the space was continuously folded. After about ten hours, the space folding spanning more than ten light years was completed.
Then the Skylark rushed into the jump channel.
When he appeared again, he was already very close to that galaxy.
At the same time, the condition of the galaxy where this star is located was also observed more clearly.
Lin Xu stood in front of the porthole. He didn't even need the data from hyperspace radar and quantum radar mapping. He could get a rough idea just by relying on his naked eyes that had been enhanced to the extreme.
"Have they turned the entire galaxy into a turtle shell?" Nanzhu hugged Lin Xu's arm, widened his round eyes, and looked at the situation of the galaxy in the distance, his eyes full of confusion.
"The planets are connected by iron chains, which is quite similar to Cao Cao's iron chains connecting boats." Lu Yao on the side exclaimed.
"You also know Cao Cao?" Nanzhu said in surprise.
"How new! I've played Dynasty Warriors up to the 108th level, and how could I not know Cao Cao?" Lu Yao felt that her past gaming career had been insulted.
"What is Dynasty Warriors? The wives of three countries?" Nanzhu asked puzzled.
"No, is there some deviation in your understanding of Cao Cao?" Lu Yao suddenly felt that her cognition might be different from Nanzhu's. Should she explain to her what the Three Kingdoms is?
"Okay, I've read Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I was just joking with you!" Nanzhu was a little depressed that Lu Yao didn't pick up on his joke.
In short, Lu Yao's description of the iron chain boat vividly depicts the situation of the galaxy in front of him.
In the entire galaxy, except for the star in the center, there are a total of seven planets, ranging from smaller planets close to the star to huge gas planets far away from the star.
The seven planets are connected by huge metal devices that look like chains from a distance.
These metal devices are interconnected one by one, spreading between the seven planets and connecting the seven planets together.
The diameter of each chain is about tens of thousands of meters, and various lights are flashing on it. It may be an energy transmission pipeline or a personnel transportation channel, and it is more likely that it has both functions.
At the same time, each planet is covered with an outer shell, just like the turtle shell that Nanzhu mentioned.
It's not like the dome of the earth, covering the sky above the earth.
Instead, it lies close to the ground and is covered with a shell.
If you only look at the appearance, you might think that these planets are metal war stars.
However, after magnifying the image through the telescope, various signs show that these planets are simply covered with a thick layer of metal on the surface.
It's like putting on a turtle shell.
However, the tortoise shells of seven planets, plus the iron chains connecting the seven planets, this amount of engineering is extremely huge, even if it is not as large as building a war star.
I just don't understand what the purpose of occupying this remote galaxy and spending so many resources to build a turtle shell is.
“Are they doing this to fight against the Cleansers?” Nanzhu suddenly realized.
"It's very likely." Lin Xu nodded. He also thought of this possibility.
These facilities, whether it is the tortoise shell or the pipes connecting the planets, do not seem to be designed for offense, but for ultimate defense.
A defense like a turtle hiding its head.
"So, are they hiding in this remote galaxy outside the Milky Way to avoid the Cleansers?" Nanzhu continued to speculate.
Indeed, generally no advanced civilization would establish the main body of its civilization in such a remote galaxy. If it is really to avoid the cleansers, then the previous doubts can be resolved.
But, is this really useful?
Think about the exile fleet of an entire civilization that they had encountered before. If it had been useful, they wouldn't have had to escape at such a risk of death.
"No, if hiding here can help them avoid the Cleansers, why would they build such defensive facilities? Therefore, they should have known that they can't escape, so they built such defensive facilities." Lu Yao shook her head and questioned.
"Since we can't escape, why bother coming here to build defense facilities? Wouldn't it be better to build them somewhere else with richer resources in the river system?" Nanzhu thought about it for a long time but couldn't come to a conclusion.
"Okay, since you can't figure it out, then don't think about it. Just go over and take a look and you'll know." Lin Xu interrupted their conversation and said.
So the Skylark prepared to enter the curvature navigation state and head to the nearby galaxy to check it out.
But at this moment, data from hyperspace radar and quantum radar came.
Looking at the scene of the not-so-distant galaxy transmitted in real time, Lin Xu was stunned for a moment.
Because at this moment, everything in Lin Xu's sight was still normal, with spacecraft taking off and landing from time to time, and seven turtle-shell-like planets connected by iron chains.
However, the real-time data transmitted by the hyperspace radar and quantum radar has been completely destroyed.
The iron chains between the planets broke, and the fragments floated everywhere in the universe.
There were wreckage of spacecraft everywhere, and the tortoise shell on the planet had been completely shattered.
There are even a few planets that have a huge gap as if they were bombarded by some weapon. The quantum radar can clearly see the burning magma and fire at the core of the planet.
A large amount of broken planetary tissue has formed more than one asteroid belt.
This advanced civilization hiding in a remote area outside the galaxy has completely died.
"Human Lin Xu, this is the current real-time image." Bai Xing annotated the holographic image drawn by the hyperspace radar and quantum radar.
What Lin Xu saw was a galaxy that was still intact, which was the scene of this galaxy seven days ago.
Yes, it would take seven days of walking to reach Lin Xu’s current location.
Therefore, what Lin Xu, Nanzhu, and Lu Yao discussed before was what the galaxy looked like seven days ago.
"This happened seven days ago?" Lin Xu asked.
"Not sure." Shirahoshi replied.
"Go forward to the place where you can see the images from six days ago." Lin Xu ordered.
So the Skylark moved forward rapidly at a thousand times the speed of light and soon stopped.
Observing again with the naked eye and an optical telescope, the galaxy not far away is still intact.
So the Skylark continued to move forward until the image it saw was the image from three days ago .
Finally, we saw the moment when this advanced civilization hiding on the edge of the galaxy was destroyed.
First, a large number of space channels appeared inside the galaxy.
Some space channels even appear directly on the turtle-shell-like planets.
Then a large number of warships of various types appeared inside the galaxy.
And various mecha robots appeared on the planet.
What followed was a one-sided massacre.
A massacre without any resistance.
Lin Xu frowned slightly as he watched the battle that took place three days ago.
Until the antimatter bomb was detonated and a black hole-like image swallowed up the light.
This made Lin Xu and the optical telescope unable to continue observing.
When everything returned to normal and he could observe again, what Lin Xu saw was a galaxy in ruins.
A shattered planet and a completely failed defense line.
There are also a lot of wreckage of spacecraft that failed to escape.
And, the suspected Cleansing Fleet that ended the massacre, opened the space channel, and was preparing to leave.
"Ten hours." Nanzhu, who was calculating the time nearby, said when the fleet evacuated and the space channel was closed.
"It only took ten hours to completely destroy an advanced civilization." Lin Xu sighed.
"They also have space jump technology." Lu Yao said with a serious expression.
"Yes." Lin Xu nodded.
Among the currently known civilizations, Lin Xu has not seen any civilization other than humans that has mastered the technology of space jump.
Could these cleansers who call themselves the second sons of humanity really be related to humans?
So what is their purpose in doing this?
"Lord Lin Xu, do you want to go over and take a look?" Nanzhu asked weakly.
"Go ahead, we need to confirm whether these are the so-called cleansers." Lin Xu said calmly.
So the Skylark continued on its way.
At a thousand times the speed of light, it quickly arrived at the interior of the galaxy, which was already in ruins.
The Skylark slowly slowed down, and the huge wreckage of a warship passing by passed by and passed outside the porthole of the Skylark.
The warship, decorated with patterns of different civilizations, looked very beautiful, but unfortunately only half of the wreckage is left now.
The wreckage includes not only battleships, but also planets.
The shattered gas planet raged in the universe, attracting the broken chains connecting the surrounding planets.
Various warship wreckages also fell towards the planet.
But this is only a corner of the battlefield.
On the battlefields throughout the galaxy, even after three days, various subsequent chain disasters are still continuing.
But above these ruins, the Skylark did not detect any electrical signals, quantum signals, or any signal responses at all.
This only shows that this civilization is indeed dead.
Not even a single living being remained .
"Is it so thorough? But didn't the previous exile fleet say that the cleansing would only regress the technological level back to the planetary era?" Nanzhu looked at the empty galaxy with only debris left, and felt a bone-chilling chill.
"What they said is that only by withstanding the cleansing can we regress back to the planetary era. If we can't withstand it, this will be the outcome." Lin Xu sighed.
"But why is this happening?" Mu Xiyue didn't understand.
Although the fairy ships had punished countless civilizations in the past, it was because those civilizations were chaotic, disorderly and filthy, so they were punished.
And the fairy ships will not kill them all.
Even compared to what these cleaners are doing now, the Immortal Ship is already merciful enough to be a saint.
"Who knows?" Lin Xu shook his head.
Immediately, the portable space opened, and a large number of autonomous mechanical aggregates poured out and began to search the entire galaxy.
Soon, several pieces of armor fragments suspected to be dropped by the Cleaners were found.
Bai Xing immediately sent it back to Earth for data analysis.
The result soon came out, it was the same thing as the Cleansing Armor that the Exile Fleet traded to Lin Xu.
They are all nanorobots that will not respond to human calls, or they can be said to be simplified versions of nanorobots that have lost their activity.
This also proves that the one who did all this three days ago was indeed the Cleanser, a being who claimed to be the Second Son of Humanity.
"Is that all?" Lin Xu looked at the battlefield of the entire galaxy that was collected by the autonomous mechanical aggregate, and only a small part of the armor fragments was collected. He didn't know what to say.
"Are there no destroyed Cleansing warships? Are there no killed Cleansing personnel? Or is the Cleansing fleet composed entirely of artificial intelligence?" Lin Xu continued to ask.
"There are only these armor fragments. No destroyed Cleaner battleship was found." Shirahoshi replied.
The destruction of an entire advanced civilization only resulted in slight damage to the enemy's armor, and not even a single warship of the Cleansing Fleet was destroyed.
Should we say that the Cleansers are too strong, or that this civilization is too weak?
Lin Xu could only sigh again.
"Look for the database of this civilization, whether it's on a battleship or on a planet, and try to piece together what information they know about the Cleansers." This was the only way Lin Xu could save the country in the end.
Since there is no way to directly obtain the wreckage of the Cleansers' warships, there should be a lot of information about the Cleansers in this civilization's database.
Next, it was time for the autonomous mechanical aggregate to search the entire galaxy.
It takes a little more time because we have to carefully search whether the database on each battleship wreckage is intact and whether there is a complete database on each planet.
During this time, Lin Xu stood in front of the porthole, staring at the ruined planet outside the window in a daze.
Mu Xiyue looked at Lin Xu, then at Nanzhu, and winked at Nanzhu.
Nanzhu immediately responded with a look and asked, "Why don't you go?"
Mu Xiyue hesitated for a moment, then glanced back, indicating that they should go together.
Nanzhu nodded and said, let’s go together.
So the two of them stepped forward and leaned on Lin Xu's shoulders, one on the left and one on the right.
"Lord Lin Xu, I think that the Cleanser must be pretending to be the second son of mankind. I am a member of the human clan, and I understand it best. How could humans allow such a thing to be done, right, Mu Xiyue?" Nanzhu blinked wildly at Mu Xiyue.
"Yes, although the fairy ship also kills a lot of people, it will not kill innocent people indiscriminately." Mu Xiyue nodded solemnly.
"You don't think I will take on what the Cleansers did, do you? Don't worry, I don't have that hobby. Besides, it's not certain yet that the Cleansers are really the second sons of humans as they call them. Maybe they are just impersonating humans." Lin Xu smiled and shook his head.
"Then what's wrong with you, Lord Lin Xu?" Nanzhu asked curiously.
"How should I put it? It's a bit sad to see a civilization disappear so easily." Lin Xu sighed again.
Lin Xu sighed more than once today.
"This is how the universe is, the strong prey on the weak, and that has never changed." Nanzhu also sighed.
Afterwards, Nanzhu pulled Lin Xu to lie down on the sofa, with his head resting on her thighs. She gently pressed his temples to help him rest.
It was also to prevent him from continuing to look at the scene outside the porthole to prevent him from continuing to feel uncomfortable.
Until Shirahoshi's report sounded again.
"Lord Lin Xu, we have found a relatively intact database of civilizations that have destroyed the current galaxy, and found some information about the Cleansers. Do you want to listen to it now?"
"Go ahead." Lin Xu opened his eyes immediately. Above his sight were hills and fox ears that blocked his vision, so he could not see Nanzhu's face.
"According to the data records of the current civilization, the current civilization learned about the existence of the Cleansers eight hundred years ago."
"At that time, although this civilization had not just emerged from civilization, it had just developed a curvature engine and became an advanced civilization that could truly navigate the universe. It was at this time that they encountered another advanced civilization. It was also during that encounter that they learned about the existence of the Cleansers from the other advanced civilization."
"The Cleansers will not cleanse civilizations that have not yet developed a curvature engine. Only civilizations that have developed a curvature engine and become truly capable of long-distance voyages in the universe will become the Cleansers' target."
"It was from that time that the current civilization began to prepare for the Cleansing Crisis."
"They knew that the Cleansers would cleanse the river system every thousand years, so they began preparations eight hundred years ago."
"First, they moved to a remote star system on the edge of this galaxy, and then built defense facilities here in an attempt to survive the cleansing of the Cleansers."
"Unfortunately, they failed, and everything now is the result."
Bai Xing reported to Lin Xu in an extremely steady voice.
Lin Xu kept nodding slowly.
According to intelligence from the previous exile fleet, they had been sailing outside the river system for eight hundred years at that time.
They began their voyage two hundred years after they had survived the last purge.
So a thousand years passed, and this cleansing came as expected.
However, Lin Xu did not expect that as soon as he arrived in the Hexi system, he would encounter a target of purge.
I don’t know whether it’s good luck or bad luck.
"Why did they choose to hide here to avoid the cleansing by the Cleansers?" Lin Xu asked.
"The database shows that they learned a piece of information during a transaction with an advanced civilization. Although the cleansers will not let go of remote galaxies, their attacks on remote galaxies are generally less severe. So they chose this place as a place to resist the cleansing, which would have a greater chance of withstanding the cleansing. Unfortunately, they still failed."
"Is this news true, or have they been deceived?" Lin Xu frowned.
If this level of cleansing intensity is only a low level of attack, then what level of attack intensity will the civilizations in the river system face?
In this situation, they were still able to withstand a cleansing. Lin Xu suddenly felt that the exile fleet they encountered before didn't seem so weak.
Before being cleansed, it must have been a very strong civilization.
