"No way, no way, I'd rather die than go..."
"Haha, Zhuge Xiong, is that all you've got?"
"Hey comrade, let's make a bet. If you can stay staring at Academician Xiao for a whole day without throwing up, I'll give you the Space Force 150th Anniversary Commemorative Sword. How about it? You dare?"
"Forget it, a gentleman doesn't take what others love. You should keep it for yourself."
" Little Zhuge, you're really willing to spend money! The Space Force 150th Anniversary Commemorative Sword —there are probably fewer than ten left in the entire fleet now."
"Academician, as far as I know, there should be no more than five. Back in the war against the Zerg, we lost too many valuable things. This sword was one I managed to save with my life."
"Then you must keep it safe. This is a testament to our army's history, the 150th anniversary of the Space Force. That should be in 2185, which is also our last year in the Solar System. In the blink of an eye, the weak Space Force of that time has grown into what it is today. Time flies."
"Academician, don't worry. Zhuge Xiong values this thing more than his own life. I've been his comrade for tens of thousands of years, and he's only let me see it three times in total, and he won't even let me touch it."
"You should be content. Since leaving Earth, no more than ten people besides me have seen this sword, and you've seen it three times. I've already been extra kind to you."
"It would be an honor, an honor indeed."
"Haha, Little Zhuge, I wonder if I'll have a chance to see it after we return to base? I've long admired this sword."
"If the academician wants to see it, of course he can. As long as we return to the fleet, he can see it anytime."
"Don't worry, I'll just look, I won't touch it," Academician Zeng said with a smile.
"Hahahaha, hahahaha." Chen Peng was laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight.
" Chen Peng, if you laugh again, I promise you'll never see me again!"
"Okay, okay, I won't laugh anymore, I won't laugh anymore, ouch."
"Alright, now that Li Shun, that fly, isn't showing up, let's prepare to explore the danger zone."
"Academician, please give us your instructions regarding the research; Zhuge Xiong and I will certainly cooperate."
"First, have the Bee mark the area of danger."
"Alright, release the Bee spaceship again immediately."
Large swarms of Bee flew out of the Reaper again, quickly spreading out in the air, hundreds of kilometers apart, heading towards the danger zone.
As soon as the Bee in front disappear, the Bee behind will immediately stop flying. At the cost of losing Bee, the danger zone is marked, and the size and edges of the danger zone are drawn.
In just one month, the Bee marked out the exact edge of the entire danger zone, which resembled a giant human hand with its five fingers spread out, some long and some short, before becoming normal space at the wrist.
The Bee have now formed the shape of this giant hand in the air, and they will disappear as soon as Bee fly another kilometer.
Whether viewed with the naked eye or measured with optical instruments, everything here appears normal. What's even stranger is that countless meteorites show no abnormalities in this space. After multiple investigations by the Bee, it was confirmed that the meteorites were indeed in this space.
"Academician, what do we do now?" Chen Peng asked.
"Send a Reaper in to check first. The Reaper has high computer autonomy; send it in and then return the way it came to see if there's anything wrong."
"Good."
A Reaper received orders and slowly sailed towards the danger zone. Just as it reached the edge of the danger zone, the Reaper's bow disappeared.
"Make it back out!" Academician Zeng shouted.
The Reaper's forward speed was extremely slow, and given its length of over 20 kilometers, the Reaper, upon receiving the command, immediately changed the direction of its engines, and soon the bow of the Reaper reappeared in everyone's sight.
"Go check on the Reaper."
Several robots quickly flew out from another Reaper's cabin to inspect the Reaper had ventured into the danger zone. Although the information from this Reaper indicated that everything was normal, the robots still conducted a thorough inspection of the Reaper's bow as a precaution.
"Academician, everything is normal."
" Little Liu, what are your thoughts?" Academician Zeng asked Academician Liu Bo was deep in thought.
"Academician, I do have an idea, but we can't use spatial attacks here. There aren't even any spatial fluctuations, so we can't verify it."
What are your thoughts?
"Academician, I suspect this might be the entrance to another dimension. Due to the special nature of this space, the entrance is still occupied by the vast universe. Otherwise, there might be a huge spatial curvature here, similar to a spatial vortex. To put it another way, it's a bit like a glass of water filled to the brink of collapse. We can gently place a piece of iron on it without it sinking, but the surface of that water is two-dimensional, while this space is three-dimensional. These meteorites are like the pieces of iron we placed on the surface of the water."
"Because our spaceship has kinetic energy, it will fall into another space as soon as it enters, just like if we put a stone on the surface of water, the stone will sink into the cup quickly. If we can use spatial attacks, it's like stirring the water in this cup. If these meteorites disappear, it would probably confirm my conjecture."
"Is this other space the fourth dimension?"
"It doesn't seem like it. The images the Reaper just sent didn't show any signs of the fourth dimension. We've been in the four-dimensional space bubble left by Mr. Daozi before, so we have a general understanding of some of the characteristics of the fourth dimension. I think the space the Reaper just entered is still the third dimension. It's a bit like a folded space. Academician, let's try again. Let the Reaper stay inside for a while longer and release a small spaceship inside to see if it can return to normal space on its own."
The Reaper continued towards the danger zone. When half of the ship disappeared, several Wildcat small ships were released. The space inside seemed more normal than the Matter River, but there were no stars or any light; it was truly pitch black. To be on the safe side, the Wildcat continued to use conventional engines to slowly explore the slightly more distant areas.
"Academician, all three Wildcat have lost contact!" Li Zhixiong shouted.
"What? We've only traveled less than 10,000 kilometers, and the Wildcat are still within the searchlight's range. We can still see Wildcat flying."
"Yes, Academician, I saw it too, but they have indeed lost contact; we can't reach them by radio no matter what we do."
"That's strange. Where did the radio go over such a short distance?! Let's wait and see if Wildcat's computer can return on its own."
Everyone stared intently at the small spaceship in the distance. According to the program, the Wildcat would return autonomously after flying 50,000 kilometers. The Reaper's powerful searchlights were enough to illuminate places 300,000 kilometers away. The Wildcat were still within the observation range of the optical equipment, and they had already traveled more than 50,000 kilometers.
At this moment, the Wildcat seemed to have lost their way, flying around wildly, trying to find a way back. The autonomous program of one of the spaceships seemed to have completely failed, and it sped off in the opposite direction of the Reaper, disappearing from the sight of the optical equipment.