Chapter 193: A t.i.tan!
“I found the wreckage of an ancient yet extremely shocking wars.h.i.+p in the second location. It measures well over fifteen billion cubic meters in volume, and from the state of the wars.h.i.+p, I’m guessing that it’s an unfinished super wars.h.i.+p. As that s.h.i.+p’s still in the docks, its attacker must be a fleet similarly having a super wars.h.i.+p,” Xia Fei said.
Old Porter nodded. “That is indeed true. Accurate a.n.a.lysis and keen observation skills.”
Porter sighed. “Many years ago, I was once the chief logistics officer of the Alliance’s task force. Actually, that was the position I held for appearance. In fact, in addition to the role, I was the deputy commander of the secret task force, specifically in charge of investigating the surroundings and the military deployment of the Death Trio Star Region.
“The Death Trio Star Region has already succ.u.mbed to warlord separatism by then, and the higher-ups in the Alliance were worried there would come a day when they banded together and rebelled. That’s why they sent us to lead a task force and secretly conduct an environmental and military reconnaissance of the star regions so that the Alliance could get first-hand information.”
Xia Fei nodded. Though the Alliance had always been adopting a laissez-faire policy regarding the Death Trio Star Region, they would most definitely not allow an attempt at independence, so secretly sending men to investigate was more than reasonable.
“Since a third of the supergravity zone is situated in the Black Abyss Star Region, it became one of the destinations we reconnoitered. Trump and I brought the task force and started our survey. Trump was my superior and best friend; he was in charge of all the fighting, while I oversaw logistics and maintenance. That naval-issued Hookbill frigate was his s.h.i.+p back then,” Old Porter said.
Xia Fei scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. It turned out that Old Porter was someone from the Alliance’s secret task force; no wonder he was able to get his hands on that naval-issued Hookbill frigate. It was just that Xia Fei had abandoned the same s.h.i.+p in the Wild Star Region, so Xia Fei was feeling quite embarra.s.sed.
“Sorry, I ended up ruining that precious wars.h.i.+p of your friend,” Xia Fei very apologetically admitted.
Old Porter furrowed his brows and sighed. “Forget it. You had no choice, either. I believe that you have had your reasons. Seeing how even your hair has turned white, I doubt your past two years have been easy, either.”
Xia Fei was silent. It was clear that Uncle Porter still cared deeply about that naval-issued Hookbill frigate, especially since it had once belonged to his good friend.
“The supergravity zone was complex and dangerous. We originally planned to just take a casual read of the surface and leave, but none of us expected that there would actually be fairly well-preserved ancient human relics here in this zone.
“We began to explore these ruins, and what we learned was shocking. It seemed that the ancients had once performed a dragnet-style secret exploration into this star region and the goal was to find the blueprints for a super wars.h.i.+p called ‘t.i.tan’.”
“t.i.tan!” Xia Fei was flabbergasted. It was such an impressive name, and for it to be placed with much importance by the ancient civilization and to merit such a thorough exploration of the area under these severe conditions, no doubt that the wars.h.i.+p was extraordinary.
“Could it have been that supergiant that I saw in the second location?” Xia Fei asked, excited. That gargantuan wars.h.i.+p had left an indelible impression on him. Even the powerful ancient human civilization had yet to achieve such a technological standard, creating such a deadly, apex killing machine.
“That’s right! That superwars.h.i.+p of gargantuan size is called t.i.tan,” Old Porter said somberly.
Xia Fei let out a long sigh before urgently asking, “That wars.h.i.+p is simply too astonis.h.i.+ng; I wonder who could have designed it? Did the ancients manage to find its blueprints?”
Porter responded after a moment of pause, “We did not manage to collate all the information. All we knew was that a war had broken out here in this supergravity zone in a time further past when the ancient humans were alive, and the parties involved in that war were some sentient races unknown to humans like us and that t.i.tan was their ultimate weapon.
“Trump and I were very excited, immediately reporting what we found to the headquarters, but those top-level bureaucrats of the Alliance were uninterested in the ancient relics. Preventing the Death Trio Star Region from gaining independence was the most important task in their eyes then.
“Trump was a born risk-taker, very similar to yourself.” Old Porter threw a meaningful glance at Xia Fei via the corner of his eyes. “Both us decided that even if the Alliance did not care to attach importance to this, we’d still do our best to give a thorough investigation of the matter.”
“The task force would escort supplies to the Death Trio Star Region every year and monitor the movement of the local warlords at the same time. Each time we’re back here, we would spend plenty of time and effort exploring the supergravity zone. Part of that starmap you saw before had been left behind by the ancients and another portion was the result of our investigation.
“Unfortunately, the good times did not last. Just as Trump and I were getting closer to the truth, a sudden electromagnetic storm overwhelmed the team led by my friend. I got so disheartened that I left the military and became a common repairman in some far-flung star region.”
Old Porter appeared to be rather despondent upon mentioning this, that single eye of his s.h.i.+ning slightly.
“Later, I met you. You’re very similar to Trump when he was your age, full of verve while also being slightly paranoid and crazy. Since then, I’ve been reminiscing about my past; being unable to fulfill Trump’s wish has always been the greatest regret in my life, so I returned to the Death Trio Star Region to continue what I ought to have done so many years ago.
“In the beginning, my exploration went along very smoothly; that’s why I sent you a message. I was hoping that you’d come and witness the truth of this matter, but once I began my research of the third purple location, those unmanned combat drones swarming around back there have prevented me from getting anywhere near it.
“I used over a month’s time before I got a clear idea of the drones’ positioning, then I handed my signal generator to Windchime, preparing to gamble with my own life. Who would’ve thought that Windchime would ignore my wishes and seek you still? I spent a really long time on the outskirts of this supergravity zone, slowly exploring as I made it into the core area, but you had it easy, immediately jumping right into the core.”
Porter did not say anything about what happened after, but Xia Fei could already guess that it’s because that was when he unknowingly jumped right to the third location, which allowed him to run into Old Porter who was being surrounded by the combat drones, and subsequently rescued him.
Old Porter lightly brushed that spatial ring he was wearing, retrieved a memory drive about the size of a coin, and handed it to Xia Fei. “This is what Trump and I have been searching for the entire time. Had it not been for your influence, I doubt I would have achieved this dream of mine. I’m giving it to you right now for you to deal with it however you like.”
Xia Fei’s palm shuddered ever so slightly. Old Porter had been searching for the blueprints for the t.i.tan-cla.s.s super wars.h.i.+p… Could the blueprints be what was inside this memory drive?
Anyone who had seen the t.i.tan’s wreckage would be shocked by its gargantuan size. Xia Fei had even used all his brain cells and still failed to imagine just what could compete against that apex existence in all of the universe. To be precise, t.i.tan was already pus.h.i.+ng the very limit of a wars.h.i.+p. It was most likely the ultimate annihilator of the universe!
Old Porter had actually so casually handed such priceless blueprints to him, which was well beyond what he had expected.
“Uncle Porter, this is far too precious; I can’t accept it,” Xia Fei solemnly rejected.
Porter chuckled. “Don’t give me that. You’re the one who just saved my life. In any case, I’ve initially planned on giving this to you, and it’s definitely not some last-minute decision of mine.
“Speaking of which, I do have some regrets. What I have here isn’t t.i.tan’s complete blueprints but just a part of it, especifically its radar system. I wonder whether Trump would scold me for not being satisfied or not if he were still alive.” Old Porter chuckled bitterly.
Xia Fei thought about this and went over to the mainframe to connect the memory drive. He retrieved the data within and gave it a thorough examination, while Phantom and Old Porter stood behind Xia Fei, both somewhat interested.
The images inside the memory drive were extremely complex. Just t.i.tan’s radar system contained a 300,000-point data model and design blueprints. Such an amount of data was comparable to that of an entire battles.h.i.+p.
The images were all immensely complex and profound. Xia Fei lit a cigarette and silently inspected them; Phantom and Old Porter were both unable to understand these strange blueprints, so they walked away, bored, after a while.
Xia Fei relied on the scientific foundation that he had built as his hard work and studying once again played a vital role in comprehending what he was seeing. Xia Fei slowly began to make sense of the designer’s intention and became even more astounded and impressed the more he looked.
“Amazing! What fantastic designs!” Xia Fei could not help but gush in praise.
Porter curiously made his way to Xia Fei’s side. “You’re able to understand all this?”
Xia Fei nodded, still transfixed as Old Porter heaved a sigh. As an expert in one aspect of mechanics, as well as the decades of professional education he had gotten from the academy, all he could make out was that it was a radar system, yet Xia Fei, a young man from a 0.5-civilization-level planet, was actually able to understand what was being depicted well?
Old Porter was extremely surprised. It must be said that the Xia Fei he had first met two years ago was merely a barely grown youngster, someone whom he had personally taught to repair machinery, imparting him some simple knowledge toward machine tinkering, but in the two years that they had been apart, this same young man was actually able to grasp a design diagram of such complexity, and from the expression Xia Fei was showing, the young man had even grasped more than what he had!
This was truly a case of becoming a completely new person after a period of separation. Old Porter immediately knew that giving these blueprints to Xia Fei was no doubt the right decision.
“Is there any part of this radar system that can be considered extraordinary?” Old Porter asked.
“Oh, yes.” Xia Fei nodded deeply. “This is more than just extraordinary. This radar system is simply miraculous; it has a kind of super-frequency sending and receiving device, using ultrasonic waves to completely negate even the most complicated environmental interference. Even a blackhole won’t be able to block or impede such signals!”
Old Porter was quite taken aback. “A communication system that can’t experience any interference at all?”
Xia Fei smirked. “This super-communication capability is just but one of the many functions of this radar system. Do you know what’re the most wondrous aspects it possesses?”
“What?”
“The precision-positioning system and composition differentiator!” Xia Fei excitedly declared.