Most of the time I'm in a cycle of timelines. Only when I cycle to a rift in the timeline can I transmit information. I feel that my Consciousness Field has weakened a lot and will probably completely dissipate in a few tens of millions of years. Over the years, I've also figured out some things. If Academician Gao still can't lead everyone out of here, I will use all the energy of my Consciousness Field to open up a timeline at the next rift.
This timeline might be able to get everyone out of here, but I can't guarantee whether we can return to the normal timeline of the universe. I can only say there's a sliver of hope, which is better than everyone disappearing here due to energy depletion.
Minister, comrades, over these billions of years I have often thought back to the days when we struggled and fought together. These experiences are the driving force behind my solitary existence. Do not grieve for me; perhaps this is the true liberation. This kind of existence is indeed not pleasant, but as long as everyone can leave this world alive, it is all worthwhile.
If you're willing to take the risk, please anchor your fleet near the Closed Spacetime Curve. When I return to the timeline rift next time, I will take you away.
"Well done, well done, Xie Jinqiao, you're awesome!" Luo Zhigao roared, slamming his fist on the table.
"Tighten the fleet. Apart from housing civilians, dismantle all equipment on the warships. Convert anything that can be converted into energy as soon as possible, and discard anything that cannot. Reduce the number of warships, keeping only essential engineering ships for development. Discard the rest. Position all warships near the Closed Spacetime Curve and await Captain Xie's instructions."
"Yes, Minister."
Of the original 30 million warships, after continuous reduction and this latest abandonment, only one million remained. Each warship could accommodate 10,000 people, resulting in a fleet with a population of just over 9 billion. There were also tens of thousands of engineering ships as the foundation for future development.
These warships were all concentrated near the Closed Spacetime Curve of each message sent back by Captain Xie Jinqiao, waiting for the next message from Captain Xie.
"Minister, I've arrived. Good luck, goodbye."
After waiting for more than 20 days, Xie Jinqiao sent a message, and then his Consciousness Field, carrying a special energy, spread throughout the entire fleet.
When Luo Zhigao came to his senses, the familiar starlight reappeared before his eyes, like someone who had been away from home for a long time returning to their hometown. Now, these starlight were like every blade of grass, every tree, every mountain, and every river in his hometown, so dear to him.
The fleet cheered with joy; they had finally escaped. If it had been decades later, the fleet would have suffered various incidents due to insufficient energy. Now, everything was back to normal. The only thing that saddened everyone was that Captain Xie Jinqiao was forever trapped inside the black hole.
"Minister, don't be sad. Captain Xie is not beyond saving; it's just that our current technology is insufficient."
" Old Gao, is it really going to work?"
"That's Closed Spacetime Curve. Although Captain Xie's Consciousness Field has gradually weakened over the years, it should only be a small-scale time loop. Theoretically, anything there would exist forever, so Captain Xie still has a chance to survive. We can go back and take a look when our technology advances."
"I hope Captain Xie is really as you say."
"Minister, Captain Xie said that a new timeline has been opened up. Do you know what this means?"
"How would I know? All I know is that we've escaped, the people are safe, and we need to find a place to settle down as soon as possible and start developing our fleet immediately."
"Minister, look, what's that?" Gao Zhengyang pointed to the star map on the screen.
"Could this be the binary star system we saw before?"
"Exactly."
"How is this possible! Weren't they destroyed by us? How can they still exist?"
"This is time. We are not on the same timeline as the greater universe. Captain Xie must have been afraid that we would fall into the bizarre place of the binary star system again, so he teleported us to this time before, but this is not the normal timeline of the greater universe."
"Are we in danger now? Will we have to go back to the original path?"
"We certainly won't fall into the same danger as before, but a major problem we face now is that we're behind the timeline of the larger universe. If we don't integrate into the timeline of the larger universe, nothing here will mean anything to us."
"What do you mean by meaningless? Isn't our existence itself meaningful? If we existed in the past, wouldn't we have time-traveled and been able to change history?"
"Theoretically, that's true, but the prerequisite is having the energy to contend with the entire universe. Otherwise, anything we do now will have no impact on the universe. For example, if we build a warship, although it's very powerful, it can't even kill an ant in the vast universe. Even if it does kill an ant, it only kills its past and won't affect its future. That's meaningless."
"Wouldn't that put us in a huge problem? If it's pointless, then what's the point of us being here?"
"At least we're still alive. Although we're meaningless to the universe right now, we can live meaninglessly. But we mustn't let ants step on us and kill us. If they do, we'll truly be meaningless."
"By the way, Old Gao, where is that black hole? Mark it. When we become powerful, we must return to the center of the black hole and rescue Captain Xie."
"We don't know yet, but it's not too far from here. There are only so many black holes in the entire galaxy; we can find them one by one later. Minister, I'm going back to the lab now to study how to return to the timeline of the greater universe."
After Gao Zhengyang finished speaking, he hurriedly returned to the experiment. Jiang Moyan was thinking about the data sent by Captain Xie. The supercomputer had already issued a high temperature alarm, which shows how complex and profound the calculations it had just undergone were.
" Old Jiang, any progress?"
"I have an idea, but I haven't found a way to implement it yet."
"Tell me quickly, let's think about it together."
"I'm thinking that if we slow down time in the universe, or speed up our time to synchronize with the universe, maybe we can merge into the universe's timeline."
"Is there any basis for this?" Gao Zhengyang asked.
"Yes, we often use conventional engines for near-light-speed flight. According to the time dilation formula, each action takes a little longer than the timeline of the universe. However, when the warship stops moving, it doesn't remain in the past timeline like we do. This shows that the universe has a very strong capacity to encompass different times."