Time

On the central screen of the Combat Command Center, images transmitted back by the probe were displayed, attracting the attention of everyone present.

The lunar surface in the image is covered with craters, and the tracked probe moves silently through this environment, creating an eerie atmosphere.

A single launch will naturally carry more than one probe.

In fact, the military's approach to dealing with the Mona people is to conduct saturation probes only when conditions permit.

Ten of these tracked detectors were transported.

The technician waiting next to Lu Bai promptly reminded him, "Probe No. 1 is about to reach the edge of the shadow."

The entire process went so smoothly it was chilling, so when the probe was about to touch the shadow but suddenly stopped, some of the technicians actually breathed a sigh of relief.

They lost control of the first detector, but the video transmission was not interrupted.

"Identify the cause of the malfunction as soon as possible."

"Activate detectors two and three to investigate the shadow."

No useful information has been obtained yet, but fortunately they have prepared enough detectors, which provides some margin of error.

Soon, two new tracked probes drove into the shadows.

Without a doubt, these two probes, like the first one, broke down just as they were about to touch the shadow.

No matter how I try to reconnect, I can't regain control. It doesn't seem like a disconnection; it's more like the core control unit has been damaged.

However, with these repeated samples, the technical personnel in the Combat Command Center were able to deduce some information.

"It can be basically concluded that it was affected by the gravitational pull of the area surrounding the shadow."

Although the area of this shadow is large, no energy reaction was detected. Logically speaking, only the special gravitational layer that always remains at the edge of the shadow could cause this result.

Listening to the technicians' report, the elderly man in military uniform did not question why he had previously judged that this layer of gravity posed no threat.

After all, the technology possessed by the Mona people was something that, while not entirely unknown to humans, was close at best.

Making mistakes in judgment is perfectly normal.

"Don't panic. All departments should stay at their posts. So what if the technology is unknown? Didn't we already know this when we decided to confront the Mona people?"

The elderly man in military uniform turned and scanned the room, then said in a deep voice, "What you all need to do now is analyze the underlying principles as quickly as possible and come up with corresponding countermeasures. You don't need to worry about anything else."

Although this pep talk failed to boost morale, as he said, everyone present, whether technicians or high-ranking military officials, had long been prepared to use stone axes to counter electromagnetic guns.

While feelings of surprise and panic were present, they weren't so intense as to lead to despair and a complete surrender.

Lu Bai sensed the overall atmosphere of the Combat Command Center and stopped talking, focusing on observing the images transmitted back by the detectors on the large screen.

If that shadow is merely spreading, it will take a very long time to cover the entire Earth at the current rate of spread.

He figured the Mona people's actions wouldn't be that simple.

Unfortunately, it is still unclear what the Mona people's next move will be.

However, this doubt did not last.

Lu Bai quickly noticed that the shadows displayed on the screen were gradually changing.

Simply put, it's the color of the shadow that has been deepened.

So deep that the lunar surface can no longer be observed.

The key point is that it wasn't just simple black; even with the naked eye, you could clearly tell that it was more like a deep darkness, as if it had absorbed all the surrounding light sources.

It's not something like a black hole.

Strangely, this change gave Lu Bai a strange sense of familiarity.

Thanks to the detectors that were previously positioned at the edge of the shadow, the shadow spread and included them, allowing other detectors to observe the effects of this change on the detectors up close.

A high-ranking military officer watched in astonishment as the detector gradually regained its pristine shine, exclaiming, "That's... time reversal?"

The word "time" made Lu Bai realize why this change felt somewhat familiar.

First, we must clarify one fact: time itself is a concept invented by humankind to facilitate understanding the world.

One rotation of the Earth is defined as one day. The time that the transition between the two hyperfine structure energy levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom lasts for a period of 9,192,631,770 times the corresponding radiation period is defined as one second.

Have you noticed? Essentially, time is actually the change of the state of matter; humans simply define the periodic changes of a particular substance as time.

Therefore, even Lu Bai's [Flash Time], this seemingly unscientific and supernatural power, in principle, is only a temporary halt to the movement of atoms in a certain area.

This is already quite outrageous.

However, the changes in this shadowy area on the lunar surface are reversing the changes in the state of these substances.

Why is a time machine impossible?

Because traveling to the past essentially involves precisely reverting every atom in the entire universe to a certain state, the level of precision and energy required for this process would be impossible even if all the matter in the universe were put into it.

Fortunately, the Mona people didn't go to that extent either.

Even if it's just reversing the state of matter in this shadow, this technology is almost absurd to the point of being fantastical.

The more you understand the technology, the more you realize just how incredible this method truly is.

One technician even dejectedly lifted his hands from the control panel, his voice almost a murmur, "Is this kind of civilization really something we can contend with?"

"Mona civilization?"

In the newly built area of Forward Base, a young man stood amidst a crowd of anxious people, gazing up at the moon, which was mostly covered by shadows in the night sky.

"This world is really interesting."

The young man lowered his head, concealing the surprise in his eyes.

In the cultivation world he lived in, the human race held an absolute advantage and had never experienced being threatened by another civilization.

If it were a more upright person, they might think, "Those who are not of our kind must have different intentions," and see if they could help.

Unfortunately, a powerful figure like him, who came from the demonic path, wouldn't care about such things.

On the contrary, he thought the chaos was good, as it made it easier for him to move around.

The young man smiled and pushed through the crowd, heading towards the Combat Command Center.

Faced with the possibility of attacks from the Mona people at any time, the armed forces responsible for maintaining order had little interest in dealing with these ordinary civilians.

Therefore, the young man made his way quite smoothly and arrived at the entrance of the building where the Combat Command Center was located in a short time.