"You're here alone? How can that be?" Academician Zhou objected, "I'll stay with you. I have considerable knowledge of space, and besides, this is 3.5-dimensional space. Studying this Universe Membrane is also part of my work."
"I also want to stay here and use the time difference to study the Fifth Reversed State," Academician Li Youwei said.
Everyone expressed that they couldn't let Academician Liu stay alone, except for Academician Zeng.
"Listen to me, everyone. What Academician Liu Bo said makes sense. We have been away from the fleet for far too long. We originally thought we could acquire a defense system for the fleet that even the Great Star Region Civilization envied, but it turned out to be a hoax. Now we must return to the fleet and provide it with the necessary technological support."
"Us..."
"Enough said. Academician Liu Bo, stay. General Chen Peng, arrange for a few logistics personnel and guards to volunteer to stay. The rest of you, return to the Great Universe immediately."
"Don't worry, Academician, I'll stay here with Academician Liu. Zhuge Xiong will lead you back to the vast universe."
"What? I'm going back, and you're staying? Why can't you go back and I stay to keep Academician Liu? Are you a higher-ranking officer than me to order me around like this!"
"Stop talking nonsense! When Laozi was fighting alongside the general across the Solar System, you were probably still playing in the mud somewhere. Now you're giving me orders, so what?!"
"So what? You have no right to order me around."
"Alright, alright, you two, stop arguing. General Chen Peng, please stay. Academician Zhou Xiaohua has conducted extensive research on the fourth dimension over the years, and we've already mastered the method for entering it. The only problem we lack is navigation. We can't verify anything here without the fourth dimension. We'll conduct various verifications as soon as we return to the three-dimensional universe. I believe it won't be long before we're able to travel through the fourth dimension. Then you can switch places. These past years have indeed been tough on you and all the logistics personnel, enduring the time with us."
" Academician Zeng..."
"Alright, Little Zhuge, I know you all want the other side to go back. There's a reason for General Chen Peng to stay. He may not be as clever as you, but he's better at managing the overall situation. Now that we've all gone back, and Academician Liu is a bookworm with poor problem-solving skills, it's more reasonable for General Chen Peng to stay."
"Okay, I'll listen to the academician."
" Little Liu, don't push yourself too hard. If it doesn't work out, we'll notify the fleet to bring you back."
"I know, don't worry. I can persevere and discover the secrets of this place. It's not easy to come out here, so we have to bring something back with us, otherwise it would be a wasted trip."
"Sigh, this effort has outweighed the reward. Apart from Academician Li Youwei's success, the others have made almost no progress. The rules here are abnormal and not suitable for normal research. Alright, everyone, get ready, we're heading back to the fleet."
Apart from Academician Liu Bo, Chen Peng, and dozens of logistics personnel who volunteered to stay behind, everyone else boarded another Reaper. This Reaper, along with the other 9,999 Reaper, slowly penetrated the Universe Membrane, and the familiar meteorite fragments reappeared before everyone's eyes.
The Matter River Matter River unchanged; nothing had changed. Once the fleet emerged, the space immediately returned to normal. As expected, it was a place where one could only exit, not enter. The other warships and equipment remained in the Mirror Universe. The Reception Plan was not designed to allow large warships like the Reaper to pass through; the ten thousand Reaper were only there to prevent them from encountering Li Shun or the insects in the Matter River.
The Matter River remained perfectly calm, without Li Shun's disc-shaped spaceship or the rampaging insects. After confirming the fleet's coordinates, Li Zhixiong carefully maneuvered the fleet towards the previous entrance. The place they had emerged from was only about one light-year away from the entrance, a distance the fleet could reach in three years.
The closer they got to the entrance, the more cautious the fleet became. However, apart from the traces of battle, it was still a peaceful place. Li Zhixiong launched a special frequency electromagnetic wave signal near the entrance to activate the four-dimensional communication device hidden in the meteorite. These preparations had been made long before entering the danger zone.
The four-dimensional communication device was well hidden. Some of it was destroyed during the battle with Li Shun, but a large part of it is still functioning normally.
After comparing the timelines, it was found that tens of thousands of years had passed in the Mirror Universe, but only about 3,000 years had passed in the larger universe. It seems that the fleet did not get caught in the vastly different time turbulence zones like the Reaper were circumnavigating the universe. 3,000 years outside is 5 billion years inside. But this is for the best. If the fleet had really entered a region with extremely fast currents, Li Shun's fleet might still be waiting here when they came out, but more than 3,000 years would have passed, and Li Shun would not have the patience to wait.
A four-dimensional communication device was captured and placed inside the Reaper's cabin, connected to the Reaper's power supply system. As energy was injected, a message was also transmitted tens of thousands of light-years away to a location ten thousand light-years away on the outer edge of the galaxy.
" Old Hu, Old Hu, the academicians are out! They've emerged from the Matter River! They just sent word."
"Quickly, activate the reception system immediately."
"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
The guiding system was originally located 13,000 light-years from the edge of the galaxy. Later, in order to deal with the Mechanical Civilization, the fleet moved 20,000 light-years to the edge above the galactic disk. So now the fleet's location is still nearly 20,000 light-years away from the guiding system.
More than two hundred stars once gathered here. In order to transport these stars, more than ten stars were consumed along the way. If they were to be transported further, the number of stars consumed would increase exponentially.
More than two hundred stars are fixed in a giant sphere, constantly releasing powerful energy and illuminating everything around them.
At the center of a sphere of stars lies a fleet of Reaper, motionless under the scorching sun. Not even a stellar explosion could budge them, let alone this heat.
"Mr. Dongdong, we can begin," Wen Zhonghua said.
"Yes, Chief of the General Staff, we will coordinate our actions and open the four-dimensional channel immediately," the Argo Navis Messenger Dongdong.
The Reception Plan is a joint effort between Human Civilization Carina Civilization. After the departure of key academicians such as Academician Zeng, only a few academicians, including Qin Yin, remain in charge of space and dimension for the fleet. Moreover, although the fleet has mastered the space technology involved in the Reception Plan, it is still immature and lacks experience, requiring technological support from the Carina Civilization.
The operation began, and the Reversed State instruments around the stars started working. The energy of more than two hundred stars intertwined, and the energy density here no longer needed to be increased by the spatial compression of the Tree Race elders; it could be directly transformed into the Third Reversed State.