"It hasn't been easy. It's been almost 200,000 years since we started preparing to attack the Far Watcher Civilization."
"Well, there are just too many ways to combine Basic Energy, like searching for a single, ordinary grain of sand in the Sahara Desert. But I was lucky; I found a combination after completing a quarter of the possible arrangements."
" Academician Li, congratulations!" The other academicians, hearing Li Youwei's shout, also rushed over to check.
"Congratulations, congratulations! Look at this." Academician Li Youwei gently held a small cube, one cubic centimeter in his hand. "Can you believe it? This thing was transformed from 180 million tons of matter, reaching the mass of a neutron star, yet it weighs less than one gram."
" Academician Li, how effective is its defense?" Academician Liu Bo asked with a smile. Everyone was genuinely happy that someone had finally succeeded.
"A cube of the same size in the Second Reversed State requires a million tons of matter to convert, while the Fourth Reversed State consumes more than 180 times that Second Reversed State. Its defensive capabilities will be at least ten times greater. I believe that in the three-dimensional universe, there should be no force that can destroy it, except for our own magnetic field lines. I'm even a little confident that its level reaches the early stage of Great Star Region Civilization. It's just a pity that we no longer have effective testing methods."
"Really?! If our fleet were equipped with the armor of the Fourth Reversed State, wouldn't we be able to roam freely in the galaxy? We'll definitely find that despicable Fish Horse Star Civilization and take our revenge. Academician Li, you're truly amazing; you've created the strongest shield for our fleet."
"I am absolutely confident in defending against the warships of the Fish Horse Star Civilization. We have the strongest shield, but we still need you to form the strongest spear. I'm at my wit's end..."
" Academician Li, this is going to be a disaster for stars. I just estimated that if an entire star the size of the Sun were to transform into the Fourth Reversed State, and laid a one-meter-thick layer on top of the Reaper, it would only be enough for less than 20,000 Reaper. If we were to build 100 billion warships, it would require 5 million stars, which is no small number. If you were to create a Fifth Reversed State or Sixth Reversed State state in the future, the entire galaxy would be doomed, haha."
" Academician Liu, you're right. I also considered this problem during my research. Although there are many stars in the Milky Way, the conversion of such a large number of stars will inevitably cause galactic turbulence. Therefore, I designed a Basic Energy harvesting system to directly collect energy from the universe and convert it into the Fourth Reversed State. Although the speed is a bit slow, as long as we build more equipment, we can completely make up for the energy scarcity problem. If we can enter the fourth dimension, we won't have to worry about the energy problem anymore; it's an ocean of energy."
"That's very thoughtful. I was worried that after we rebuild the Solar System, all I'd see when I look up is an empty sky, haha."
" Youwei," Academician Zeng said, "I think you shouldn't think about the Fifth Reversed State right now. The Fourth Reversed State was due to your good luck, plus the time advantage we had from entering the Mirror Universe this time. In the larger universe, what does 200,000 years mean? Now you have samples of the first, second, third, and fourth Reversed State. Although it's not a lot, it's not insignificant either. With your experience over the years, you should study the Fifth Reversed State or Sixth Reversed State from a technical and theoretical perspective, instead of relying on a few experiments to try your luck. You can't afford to waste that kind of time. It breaks my heart to see you go through this over the years."
"Yes, I also feel very tired, and even want to give up. If it weren't for our people, I wouldn't be able to keep going. Even if I had to Fifth Reversed State this again, I would protest."
"Haha, Academician Li, protest overruled."
" Academician Liu, any recent progress? I'm finally on vacation, and I'm just waiting for you all."
"There's a tiny bit of progress, I'm ashamed to say."
"Could you tell me what's wrong? My mind is completely clear right now; maybe I can help you think of something."
"Very good. We have virtually no control over the flow of time in this space; it's a rule of the universe. We already know the reason for the loss of contact: it's due to the overall movement of direction and space. The defense system doesn't exist, so we don't need to search for it. What does Ancestor hope we discover?"
"I know you're still stuck on your Basic Space Theory, but it's clear that Basic Space can't be found here."
" Youwei said makes sense, Little Liu. You're too fixated on your Basic Space Theory. According to your estimation, the size of Basic Space is a hundred orders of magnitude smaller than Basic Energy. This isn't something that can be achieved with just a little technological progress. Have you noticed that what we should be most suspicious of is the connection point between these two universes?"
"Academician, are you saying there's a problem with these spaces?"
"Over the years, I have also demonstrated countless physical rules. Although the physical rules here are different from those in the larger universe, apart from the rules concerning time, I have not found any obvious anomalies. And we obviously cannot control time, so what Zu hopes we will discover is not time, but more likely space. Then the connection between these two universes is very suspicious. I call it the Universe Membrane."
"Academician, have you discovered anything in your research on this Universe Membrane?"
"No, this place seems like an empty space, yet it perfectly separates two universes. I've thought of many reasons, but I just can't figure it out."
"Academician, this location is not the exit, but another part of the Matter River. Why can we go out from here, but not come in from the other side?" Academician Li Youwei asked.
" Academician Zhou, what do you think?" Academician Zeng asked with a smile to Academician Zhou Xiaohua, who was in charge of dimensional technology research.
"There are two possibilities. First, the space here is like the infinite redshift surface inside a black hole, where you can only enter but not exit, and the curvature of the space reaches infinity. The second possibility is that there is a problem with the spatial structure here."
"Hmm," Academician Zeng nodded, "The curvature of the space here is definitely normal, so the problem lies in the spatial structure here."
"Academician, do you really think there's a problem with the spatial structure here?" Academician Liu Bo asked excitedly.
"I can't think of any other reason besides this possibility."
"Academicians, you should all go back. I'll stay here alone. The flow of time here is not much different from that in the universe. Since the defense system doesn't exist, there's no need for you to waste time here. Apart from Academician Zeng, I have the deepest understanding of space. Academician Zeng and all of you must go back. The general needs you, and the people need you," Academician Liu Bo said firmly.