Chapter 2999 Deep into the b.u.t.terfly
“s.p.a.ce jump, ten seconds to go.”
Li Yao didn’t know how many times he had heard such a cold and calm voice, but he was still as excited as when he first performed a s.p.a.ce jump.
Even though he had reached the Divinity Transformation Stage, he still felt insignificant when he was faced with the vast, unpredictable universe!
“Countdown. Five seconds to go. Five, four, three…”
The almost transparent buffer gel protected every inch of his body so that he would not be hurt by the s.p.a.ce-time ripples. Then again, if he was really engaged in a chaotic storm in the four-dimensional s.p.a.ce, the buffer gel would be of no help even if it was ten times thicker. Such a buffer gel would only relieve his discomfort after the safe jump and bring him some illusionary comfort.
The universe was never a gentle shelter. The warriors who dared to challenge it were destined to die.
With such considerations in mind, Li Yao, Ding Lingdang, and all the other experts boarded different stars.h.i.+ps. Almost every stars.h.i.+p had a complete exploration squad made of commanders, firepower experts, combat experts, doctors, and archeologists who could work independently.
In such a way, even if 90% of the stars.h.i.+ps were wrecked in the cosmic storm, there was still hope for the mission to be completed.
“Two, one… launch!”
The calm countdown suddenly turned high-pitched. Li Yao felt that somebody had kicked his soft brain brutally from the inside. Then, the deck and the cabins around him turned transparent, before they turned into stars again. The stars rushed forward at a high speed, leaving helical lines behind them. He seemed to have been spun thousands of times in one second and shot out brutally.
The feeling lasted for a minute or a million years.
He tried his best to release his telepathic thoughts in order to stabilize his soul in the four-dimensional s.p.a.ce and even explore the mysteries of the four-dimensional s.p.a.ce, but to no avail. He could not focus his attention at all. All he could see was one or a million s.h.i.+ning stars. Before he could count the number of stars, the brain matter that had been tossed far away crashed back into his skull. His internal organs, nerves, veins, and every cell returned to their place. He and the stars.h.i.+p returned to the three-dimensional universe again and landed neatly.
“This is…”
Li Yao immediately connected to the mainframe crystal processor of the stars.h.i.+p and the tactical network of the entire exploration fleet and determined his location through the scanning of almost a hundred stars.h.i.+ps.
They were only 0.1 lightyears away from the Gemini Nebula.
It was a marvelous long-distance jump. Judging from the vastness of the sea of stars, they reached the edge of the Gemini Nebula almost instantly. The distance of less than 0.1 lightyears was within the range of normal sailing. If they had enough time and patience, they could activate the power units and fly there slowly with the help of the crystal fuel. The good thing was that it was safe enough. They could also scan and a.n.a.lyze the astronomical environment of the Gemini Nebula. “So… beautiful!”
Looking at the view of the Gemini Nebula through the virtual window, Li Yao was somewhat dazed.
The supernova explosion of two neighboring stars almost took place at the same time, leaving a deep, colorful trace in the darkness of the universe. It was truly like an overwhelming b.u.t.terfly that was stretching its splendid wings. The endless colors and helixes on the wings were never seen in the deepest nightmares of the craziest artists. Looking at it, Li Yao even had a weird feeling that it seemed to be alive—not a life defined by the intelligent carbon-based creatures, but a life of a higher level.
Who said it was impossible?
Who said that stars, planets, and nebulae could not be the same life form, and carbon-based intelligent life forms were just fleas and specks of dust on the bodies of such cosmic life forms?
But even if they were just fleas and dust, since they existed for one day, they had to explore the meaning of their existence and see clearly how magnificent and beautiful the world they were in was!
“Stainless Steel Mouse has arrived at the designated coordinates safely!”
“Punching King has arrived at the designated coordinates safely!”
“Kunlun has arrived at the designated coordinates safely!”
“Wing of Glory has arrived at the designated coordinates safely!”
“Hunter has arrived at the designated coordinates safely!” All the stars.h.i.+ps of the exploration squad had completed their first long-distance s.p.a.ce jump. They were all safe and sound.
But the precise jump that followed was not so simple.
It was true that, if they had enough time, they could approach the s.p.a.ce zone where ‘Gemini’ was located in a safer, regular way.
But right now, Lu Qingchen had already risked going in. One more day of delay meant one more minute of delay, which meant that he would encounter the tomb of the Supreme Emperor and wake up the Pangu Clan and even the Flood Tide Legion. The situation would be beyond his control.
If they pushed forward slowly for a year, perhaps the Pangu Army or even the Flood Tide Legion would march out of the entrance of the ancient tomb unstoppably.
Therefore, there was no other choice. They had to perform a second, more precise, super-short-distance s.p.a.ce jump and jump out of the gravity field of the ancient giant on the fifth planet of the Twin Stars One!
It was a very risky gamble.
There were two things that a s.p.a.ce jump was most scared of. Firstly, the astronomical environment of the destination was unclear or too complicated, which was full of radiation, electromagnetic interference, and high-energy particle streams. Secondly, the astronomical objects that were too close to planets, stars, neutron stars, and even black holes.
The former would interfere with the ‘rea.s.sembling’ of a stars.h.i.+p after it pa.s.sed through the four-dimensional s.p.a.ce. Even a tiny speck of dust could lead to catastrophic consequences if it was accidentally ’embedded’ into the rea.s.sembled materials and triggered a collision reaction at the level of the nucleus.
It was needless to mention the latter. If one found themselves in the gravity field of a star or a planet after a jump and all the power units were destroyed, they could only watch their stars.h.i.+p being dragged into the swirl of super-high ma.s.s and density. It would be the most miserable way to die.
Generally speaking, the safety of a s.p.a.ce jump was guaranteed, because the matter in the universe was ten thousand times spa.r.s.er than one would expect. In a vacuum almost a hundred kilometers in diameter, it was not unusual for there to be fewer than five floating particles. The odds of a random s.p.a.ce jump leading to the interior of a star were less than one billionth.
It was a whole different thing to jump at the center of a furious nebula.
It was as risky, as stupid, and as crazy as a hundred-meter sprint against a high-speed heavy machine gun.
But it was their destiny.
The operation to capture and explore was a war that was hundreds of times more sacred than the defense of the capital city, the federal defense, and the civil war of the imperium. For the first time in almost ten thousand years, the elites of mankind were fighting side by side for the interests of mankind and for the future!
“Second jump, activate!”
Spiral lines of light appeared in front of Li Yao’s eyes again, which looked like a long, narrow tunnel. His body and soul had been dragged into a narrow, endless line and were rus.h.i.+ng along the tunnel.
But the feeling only lasted for 0.1 seconds before it was torn apart by the furious waves, chaotic storms, and sharp pain.
Li Yao seemed to see the tunnel of light crumbling. All kinds of colors, waves, and ripples invaded the internal structure of the stars.h.i.+p. Even his internal organs were biting his flesh and blood with earsplitting laughter like a bunch of bloodthirsty devils.
It appeared that the intensity of the interference and the amount of cosmic dust far exceeded their expectations. Their safe landing and reorganization had been greatly affected. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Li Yao seemed to have heard earsplitting explosions inside the stars.h.i.+p. Since he was still in between the three-dimensional world and the four-dimensional world, he could even ‘see’ the sealed units inside the stars.h.i.+p, which had been embedded with high-speed meteoroids. In such an unstable state, even materials the size of sand might destroy the units completely.
Li Yao had no other options except to stimulate the vitality magnetic field as much as possible so that the cosmic dust would not damage the crew members and the main structure of the stars.h.i.+p.
—
3,000 chapters completed!
For a moment, he was deeply moved and did not know where to start.
He remembered very clearly that three years ago, on March 1, 2015, he had officially started writing the three words ‘Stain Lake’. At that time, he had not even thought of the name ‘Forty Thousand Years of Cultivators’.
When it was uploaded on March 15, it was just for fun. He did not expect that it would take him three years to reach such a far away place.
For three years, for more than a thousand days and nights, on average, there were close to three chapters per day and at least two chapters per day. There was no rest throughout the year. Whether it was during the holidays or when the child and I were hospitalized, we never took a single day off. We really poured all our love and blood into it.
Was he tired? Of course, looking back at the past thousand days and nights, it was hard to imagine how he had persevered. Or as the saying goes, if he had known it would be so bitter and tiring, he might have given up on March 1, 2015.
But then again, what was the point of living one’s life if one did not burn their life away and exploit their limits?
At the very least, with the stories that were full of sincerity and enthusiasm despite their immaturity, with the support of so many brothers and sisters, and with a world that belonged to all of us, it was worth it no matter how hard and tiring it was. As for ‘Old Cow’, through the continuous improvement of the world of ‘Forty Thousand Years of Cultivation’, he had also received a ‘truth’.
After three years of hard training, he was exhausted both physically and mentally. But in the final phase, he could not be discouraged or careless. He hoped that his brothers and sisters would continue to support him and fight the battles of the Mausoleum of G.o.ds and Earth together in order to usher in a new future!