For a month, the two of them had stayed in the lab without ever leaving. When they were hungry, there were meals available 24 hours a day; when they were tired, there were simple beds they could lie on 24 hours a day. They just kept going, working on various formulas, deducing various theories, and even re-calculating space theories from the Earth era.
Until Hu Yu arrived at the laboratory.
"You two..." Looking at the two people in front of him, Hu Yu almost didn't recognize them. However, Hu Yu quickly realized that Hu Yu had seen this image once decades ago. Disheveled, with a full beard, and hair so thick it could produce two ounces of oil.
Academician Zeng and Academician Liu exchanged a glance. This time, they didn't show the disappointment they had shown before; instead, they smiled at each other.
"General, you flatter me. Alas, it's a pity we still haven't found the reason."
"You lot, this isn't an emergency, so why are you acting like this?"
"We don't want a second tragedy to happen. If we work harder now, we'll be safer later," Academician Liu Bo said.
"Alright, you can't work today. If you keep working, your health will collapse. I'm ordering you all to take three days off and not work. Guards, you guard this gate. They won't be allowed in until the fourth day."
"Yes!"
The two had no choice but to leave the lab and get their hair cut, beards trimmed, and faces shaved, which made them look somewhat human again. However, their sunken eye sockets still showed how tired they were.
"Academician, how about we go for a soak together?"
Academician Liu Bo's parents are from the North. Although he was born in the fleet, he still follows the habits of Northerners. Moreover, there are many Northern scientists in the Earth era. The best thing for Northerners is to take a nice soak in a public bathhouse when they are tired. In order to take care of these Northern scientists, the fleet prepared a super large public bathhouse for them. They can take a bath, swim, and relax well. This has attracted many Southern scientists from the Earth era to come here often.
"No, no, I'm too tired. Since the General is so kind, let's go to sleep."
"Academician, we need to wash up before we go to sleep, come on, come with me."
Without waiting for Academician Zeng to finish speaking, she pulled Academician Zeng into the large public bathhouse. The two were indeed exhausted. They had just lay down in the hot water pool and had fallen asleep in a daze. The staff members, seeing how tired the academicians were from working for the fleet, couldn't help but have tears welling up in their eyes. They couldn't bear to wake them up, so they could only quietly stay by their side to prevent them from drowning.
Forty minutes later, the staff had to gently wake the two academicians. If they soaked in the water any longer, their skin would wrinkle. They groggily opened their eyes and realized that they had fallen asleep.
"Two academicians, you've been sleeping for forty minutes now. Why don't you just sleep in the lounge here? You're both exhausted."
"No, I'd better go back. Little Liu, go back too, you haven't been home in a long time."
"No rush, I'm going for a swim to relax."
After sleeping for forty minutes, the two of them had regained some energy.
"Okay, I'll swim for ten minutes too. To be honest, it's been ages since I last swam. I don't know if I still can."
The two entered the deep end and began swimming in the several-hundred-meter-long pool. When they reached the middle, they both felt somewhat exhausted, so they switched to backstroke to conserve their energy.
" Little Liu, let's go back, I can't swim anymore."
"Academician, you still lack exercise. Once our fleet is more well-equipped, I'll have the general prepare a seawater pool for you so you can swim more comfortably."
"Haha, okay."
"Wait! Wait!" they both called out at the same time.
"I understand, it's density," the two said loudly in unison again.
"Ha ha ha ha."
The two academicians laughed, laughed heartily, but then, they both burst into tears. This left the staff accompanying them completely bewildered, utterly confused, almost ready to report it immediately. What was wrong with the two academicians? Could they have overworked and suffered a nervous breakdown?
Those who haven't experienced the agony of struggling with a puzzle can't understand their feelings right now. Ordinary people are extremely happy to spend several hours solving a math problem or a technical issue, let alone academicians solving such a crucial problem that determines the fate of a fleet.
"Let's go, Little Liu, back to the lab right away." Academician Zeng seemed to have been injected with stimulants; his eyes shone brightly, and his entire demeanor and aura changed.
"Sigh, Academician, let's not go. Can we even go back now? You know the general's temper better than I do."
"Sigh, well, since that's the case, let's get some rest and recharge. Although we now know why the Wind Master' speed has decreased, the work ahead will be even more demanding. Perhaps this is a crucial opportunity for us to enter the Small Star Sector Civilization."
"Okay, don't worry, Academician."
"I really have to thank you this time. If you hadn't dragged me here to take a bath, we might have been stuck here for hundreds of years."
"Academician, I told you long ago that the public bathhouses in northern China are pretty good, right?"
"Are you even from the North? Come on, come on, go to sleep."
The first batch of small spaceships traveling at 0.1 times the speed of light have already traveled one light-year. In this not-so-distant place, one of the small spaceships finally discovered a suitable asteroid. This asteroid is only a few hundred kilometers in diameter and its mass is not enough to form a sphere. It looks like an ordinary, irregularly shaped rock. This asteroid is almost entirely composed of metallic elements, and it is obviously a new star formed from supernova material. Its age is likely only a few thousand years.
The discovery of this asteroid finally alleviated the fleet's urgent need for metals. With the addition of this asteroid, not only could they sustain the fleet with enough metal elements, but they could also replenish the metal elements of Earth Two for unforeseen circumstances.
100,000 Wind Master quickly arrived at the asteroid's location. 50,000 Wind Master would have been enough to transport such an asteroid, but considering the special circumstances within the nebula, Hu Yu still dispatched twice the number of Wind Master fleets.
The transport went smoothly. Two groups of Wind Master worked in shifts, and in less than a week, they moved the asteroid to the vicinity of Earth Two. They gave the asteroid an initial velocity, allowing it to orbit Earth Two like the moon. However, the starlight was mostly blocked here, so even though the asteroid was only a little over 10,000 kilometers away from Earth, people could not see the starlight it reflected at night.
The research team landed on the asteroid and discovered that its metals were of extremely high purity, so much so that they could be used directly without smelting; only the proportions of the various metals needed to be adjusted. This undoubtedly greatly reduced the burden on the fleet. Personnel in white spacesuits were already busy on the asteroid. Although the asteroid lacked sufficient gravity, the soles of the spacesuits had a miniature gravitational field that could firmly hold a person to the asteroid's surface. This gravitational field had a range of less than two meters, just enough to ensure normal gravity for a single person.