The second Wildcat wasn't much better off; it flew out of sight at a 90-degree angle to its return direction. Everyone's attention turned to the last Wildcat, Wildcat autonomous program began to circle in the air, round and round, and after flying tens of thousands of times, it gradually approached the Reaper.
"Academician, we've re-established contact."
"Guide it back to the Matter River."
Soon, guided by the signal, Wildcat returned to the normal space of the Matter River. After inspection, Wildcat showed no abnormalities; it was simply out of contact and experiencing navigational confusion.
"That's strange. How could the radio connection be lost when we're so close?" Academician Zeng muttered to himself.
"Academician, there are only two possible reasons for the radio communication failure: electromagnetic shielding or electromagnetic interference."
"Even with limited knowledge, spatial influences can cause radio communication failures. Academician, there must be a problem with the space here," Chen Peng said from the side.
"You're amazing; you even knew there was a problem with the space. Come, let's invite Academician Chen to explain the specifics."
"What are everyone's thoughts?" Academician Zeng asked.
The academicians were all deep in thought. The spacecraft could navigate normally inside, but the electromagnetic waves were ineffective. This was the first time they had seen such a situation. If the electromagnetic waves were effective, the disappearance of the spacecraft would be easier to explain.
Even more bizarrely, the spaceships were right in front of them, but their computers couldn't find the way back. Only one spaceship was lucky enough to re-establish contact with the Reaper and then return.
If the Wildcat flew any further, its chances of finding its way back would be even smaller. Could this be the reason why all the Small Star Sector Civilization and Great Star Region Civilization went in to explore disappeared?
"Alright, let's continue exploring. If the reason were so easy to figure out, the secrets here would have been uncovered by those civilizations long ago. There wouldn't be a chance for us to find out."
"Academician, there are too many secrets here. It seems we'll have to stay here for quite some time," Academician Liu Bo said.
"Yes, I'm afraid we'll have to stay for many years."
"Esteemed academicians, please feel free to conduct your research here. The resources here are abundant. Chen Peng and I are building a defense system, manufacturing weapons and equipment, and establishing a small base. Although I am an outsider, I know that even deciphering one of the secrets here would be of great help to our fleet. Thank you for your hard work, academicians."
Inside the Alliance base, 20 billion Reaper were randomly docked in the air. The academicians had been at the Matter River for 10,000 years, but still had no information. They could only know through a faint four-dimensional channel that the Reaper were all normal and that the Reception Plan had long been prepared.
Hu Yu has launched countless miniature spacecraft into the Insect Zone, hoping that some of them will successfully reach the Matter River to deliver the Reception Plan to the academicians.
The situation in the galaxy seems to be getting worse. In the past ten thousand years, the Alliance's 1,000 light-year sphere of influence has experienced two Zerg invasions. With the addition of planetary shipbuilders, the Reaper's construction speed has reached 6 million ships per year, and now there are 80 billion Reaper.
Besides the 20 billion ships that remain at the base to guard it, the remaining 60 billion ships have been patrolling an area tens of thousands of light-years away from the base, eliminating dozens of Zerg swarms that have descended.
The fleet has a population of 500 billion, and construction has begun on all of the tens of thousands of planets. Countless robots and various devices are busy on the planets, and occasionally one can see small human figures weaving among these machines.
The increase in population has brought not only increased productivity but also improved scientific research. Although the leading academicians in several important disciplines are no longer at the base, scientific research here continues as normal and has achieved considerable results in recent years. However, no figures like Academician Zeng or Academician Liu have emerged yet.
The advancement of a civilization's, or rather the entire galaxy's, technological capabilities is not achieved by the combined hundreds of billions or trillions of scientists from all civilizations. Rather, such advancements are often the result of the efforts of just a few key figures.
However, ordinary scientific and technological personnel must also be vigorously trained, because those rare talents emerge from these ordinary researchers. In addition, the fleet's scientific and technological branches are now incredibly large, and some common problems still need to be solved by these scientists.
With the help of human scientists, the North Star Civilization became the third Small Star Sector Civilization in the alliance after humanity Carina Civilization. It has been more than 7,000 years since then. This breakthrough of the North Star Civilization has made the eyes of several other Star System-Level Civilization green with envy, especially the Brilliant Star Civilization, which was originally a far superior civilization to the North Star Civilization.
Now that the North Star Civilization has reached the Small Star Sector Civilization ahead of others, how can the Radiant Star Brilliant Star Civilization not be envious? The Brilliant Star Civilization's dark-skinned leader has issued a strict order: a breakthrough must be achieved within 5,000 years, or all scientists will be punished. In fact, even without the Radiant Star Civilization's leader's order, the Radiant Star scientists had already put in their best efforts. They are already lagging behind the North Star Civilization. If other Star System-Level Civilization were to make a breakthrough, where would the Brilliant Star Civilization put its face? Where would they, the scientists, put their faces?
High pressure may not necessarily work for scientific research, but the Brilliant Star Civilization had already completed a solid foundation of basic technology. Squeezing it now still had an effect. With the help of human scientists, 3,000 years after the breakthrough of the North Star Civilization, the Brilliant Star Civilization finally became the fourth Small Star Sector Civilization of the Alliance.
There are now four civilizations remaining: South Star Civilization, Zhalong Star Civilization, Quaking Star Civilization, and Sand Star Civilization. If these civilizations are allowed to develop freely, their chances of reaching the Small Star Region are slim. However, with humanity as their teacher, even the most inept student can be taught to achieve good results. This is the benefit of the alliance.
These civilizations have all reached a critical point. Given the right opportunity, they could break through that small barrier at any time. Their independent development direction also allowed Hu Yu to see some strange and unusual spatial attack methods. For example, the North Star Civilization's spatial attack is like a long cone. Although the attack area is not large, the attack power can reach its limit in the Initial Stage of Small Star Sector.
The space attacks of the Brilliant Star Civilization are also quite good. Although their attack power is not as strong as the Cone of Space of the North Star Civilization, their attack range is very wide. Currently, both civilizations are trying to improve the power of their space attacks and have not started to build warships on a large scale. Hu Yu told them to start building warships on a large scale only after they have reached at least the Small Star Sector Intermediate Civilization.
At the end of the year 40000 AD, the Terminators of the Crystal Civilization, at the request of the Great Star Region Civilization, delivered a small box. Through this box, they could directly contact the Great Star Region Civilization. After multiple inspections confirmed that the box was normal, Hu Yu brought it to the Alliance Base.
While our current technological level still lags behind that of the Great Star Region Civilization, the gap in these common technologies is not significant, and determining whether an item is abnormal is absolutely feasible.