The extraction of virtual particles was quickly carried out in the factory, and after several optimizations and upgrades, the extraction speed was greatly accelerated. The factory is not busy now. In addition to the normal production of Grim Slayer and Stinger, other factories are only operating in small quantities to manufacture daily necessities for humans.
The other seven civilizations do not need these things. With the help of humans, the population and technology of the other six civilizations have grown rapidly. After reaching the Star System-Level Civilization, they have also taken on their own production tasks. Now, these production tasks no longer have any impact on the development of their civilizations.
The needs of living beings are both incredibly high—so high that even the entire Milky Way wouldn't satisfy them—and incredibly low—so low that they only need a tiny amount of matter to survive.
Hu Yu immediately activated all the relevant factories' equipment for extracting virtual particles, extracting as many virtual particles as possible. After testing, it was found that no positive matter could defend against the virtual particles. When a cluster of virtual particles came into contact with the fleet's strongest alloy, the alloy vanished as quickly as foam encountering fire.
In the year 11000 AD, the fleet's population exceeded 100 billion, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. The Treefolk finally couldn't help but seek out Academician Li Youwei, but the answer he received was still negative. The Third Reversed State was still impossible to achieve. When energy is converted into the Reversed State, the volume will shrink, which means that it is temporarily impossible to create a closed spherical space to trap the Far Watcher Civilization.
Basic Energy is like a balloon. Once it reaches Perfect Structure, like being pricked by a needle or having its opening opened, the balloon will immediately shrink.
However, Academician Li is still working hard to experiment. The Reversed State is transformed from energy, and energy is transformed from matter. A million tons of matter ultimately only yields a square block of one centimeter. Academician Li believes that there must be a way to make the Reversed State not so small, but he just hasn't found the method yet.
The Tree Race chief could only return dejectedly. If Academician Li could not find a way to achieve the Third Reversed State, the rescue of his people would become a distant prospect.
The number of Grim Slayer and Stinger continues to rise steadily, and the extraction rate of virtual particles has reached 100 kilograms per day. The fleet now has more than 30,000 tons of virtual particles stored, or more accurately, more than -30,000 tons, which is a small achievement. Extraction equipment is still being manufactured continuously from the factory. As long as enough virtual particles are accumulated, there is no need to even deploy the fleet on a large scale; a transport fleet can be sent directly into the territory of the Far Watcher Civilization.
However, the amount of virtual particles needed might take millions or even tens of millions of years to extract. Currently, the virtual particles extracted by the fleet can only be used sparingly, perhaps increasing the chances of a successful rescue operation at a critical moment.
In 13680 AD, the miniature spaceship returned to Epsilon Eridani. Epsilon Eridani was the same as before, except that the matter cloud was more dispersed. In the matter cloud, Hu Yu discovered several sparse tracks, which were very likely caused by the warp drive spaceship passing by and absorbing the matter. It seemed that it was caused by the spaceship a thousand years ago, and it was unlikely to be Luo Zhigao's spaceship.
The miniature spaceship quickly transformed into a meteorite after traversing the cloud of matter, then waited quietly for news from Luo Zhigao. The organic sample from last time had been analyzed and confirmed to be indeed from the Insect Race.
Several other miniature spaceships also arrived at Upsilon1 Hydrae at the same time. In 13690, the second agreed time arrived, but Luo Zhigao's spaceship still did not appear. It seemed that Luo Zhigao must have encountered something, otherwise he would not have broken the promise twice. Hu Yu had no choice but to leave a message and wait for the next agreed time. The miniature spaceships had limited energy and could not sustain themselves for long, and large spaceships could not be sent over. This place had now become a sensitive area and it was not advisable to stay for long.
In 13700, Hu Yu found the chieftain of the Tree Race.
"Clan leader, how many elders do you have now?"
"General, over the past 5,000 years, you have provided the Tree Race with nearly three hundred massive stars. Now, many of our people have grown into elders, numbering over approximately one billion."
"So many? I didn't expect your Tree Race to develop so quickly! If there were even more stars, wouldn't you have tens of billions of elders within ten thousand years!"
"Of course not, General. The reason we have a large number of Elder Trees in such a short time is not because we have more energy, but because we have been consuming our previous accumulation. As you know, not every member of our Tree Race can grow into an Elder. Only a portion of our clan members have an internal space. This space appears randomly. In the past, we didn't have much energy, so the internal spaces of these clan leaders did not grow. However, over the past 2 million years, we have accumulated more than 3 billion clan members with internal spaces."
"I see."
"Yes, our Tree Race has been prey since birth. It wasn't until we developed the method of cutting through space to hide that we slowly accumulated enough elders. The wars between the Insect Race and the Far Watcher Civilization almost wiped us out. These 3 billion people with internal spaces are the result of our 2 million years of accumulation."
"It is indeed a bit slow."
" Academician Xiao said he would help us when he had time, but we've waited for thousands of years and there's still no sign of him. Maybe he's forgotten."
"Chieftain, please don't take offense. Academician Xiao is one of humanity's top academicians. He has a lot of work to do and it's difficult for him to find the time. Even I find it hard to see him. I believe Academician Xiao must be very interested in your internal spaces. He must have more important research work to do, otherwise he wouldn't have left you standing there."
"I see. Then we can only continue to wait. By the way, General, what did you need us for?"
"Oh, I came to tell you that Academician Li has made a breakthrough; the problem of the Third Reversed State has been solved."
"Real!!!"
"Does the clan leader think I would come all this way just to joke with you?"
"No, no, of course not, our people are saved."
"Clan leader, please be patient and wait a little longer. Although you now have 1 billion elders, you are still some distance from your target."
"General, since we learned of Academician Li's plan, we have been desperately absorbing energy to grow, but our Tree Race's growth is too slow. Only a portion of our clansmen who originally stored some energy have grown into elders."
"Yes, this time we need all your elders to assist us. We will do our best to ensure the safety of the elders, but casualties are inevitable. We hope the clan leader will carefully consider whether a rescue is necessary. Of course, even if you don't rescue them, we humans will still go and confront this Far Watcher Civilization. We humans always keep our word to our friends. You have given us the method to cut through space, so we will carry out this operation even if it costs us our entire fleet. However, without the cooperation of the elders, the success rate of the rescue will be much lower. Academician Li has basically been working for nothing all these years."
"General, why do you say that? If our Treefolk were to retreat now, wouldn't we be true cowards? Rest assured, General, all the clansmen who have grown into elders will be mobilized, without exception."
"Alright, absorb the energy as soon as possible. I will discuss with Academician Li whether we can move forward. If we can, I will notify you again when it's time to depart."
"General, regardless of the success or failure of this operation, you humans will always be our Tree Race's benefactors, and we will forever remember this kindness."
"Get ready, we're friends."