As the instruments worked, a super Dyson sphere formed. The heat from the star could not dissipate and, after continuous reflection, eventually converged at the center of this super Dyson sphere, where a Reaper was already docked. Inside the Reaper were dozens of scientists from the Carina Civilization and human scientists.
They were busy around a strange instrument. In the center of the instrument was an empty area tens of meters in size. In the middle of the empty area, a photon was firmly fixed by magnetic field lines. At this moment, it was a solid particle and no longer had wave properties.
Energy is continuously collected by the Reaper and gathered onto this photon. As energy is injected, a dark area appears on the photon, which is the expanded four-dimensional channel. The four-dimensional communication system developed by Academician Zeng uses this principle to open up the fourth dimension, but it is very difficult to further expand the channel to achieve physical transmission.
Expanding a four-dimensional channel requires an enormous amount of energy. Academician Zeng calculated that opening a four-dimensional channel large enough for Bee -sized spaceship to pass through would require at least the energy released by a star the size of the Sun, and maintaining the existence of this channel also requires a massive amount of energy.
The larger the channel, the more energy is required, and the more unstable the channel becomes. The channel will collapse if there is even a slight fluctuation in the energy injection. Humans are not as good at this as the Carina Civilization. Although the secret of quantum entanglement is very valuable to Small Star Sector Civilization, it is not a top-level technology.
Although the long-distance communication method used by the Carina Civilization is not as fast as four-dimensional communication, they have been dealing with the Zerg swarm for a long time. After learning the secret of quantum entanglement, they only used it for research and not for communication. Therefore, their research in this area is superior to that of humans.
Every civilization has its weaknesses, and Human Civilization is no exception. However, any civilization that has grown to the Small Star Sector Civilization must have its strengths. Therefore, the success of this Reception Plan still requires the full assistance of scientists from the Carina Civilization, as only they can precisely control the energy to stably expand the four-dimensional channel.
Even without the help of scientists from the Carina Civilization, human technology alone could open this four-dimensional passage, but the unstable passage would pose a great danger to the academicians' travel.
Furthermore, the fourth dimension does not necessarily mean instantaneous teleportation. If space is normal, traveling between two points in three-dimensional space does not necessarily take more time than traveling in the fourth dimension.
However, the fourth dimension has a characteristic: the speed of light is no longer 300,000 kilometers per second. This was revealed to human scientists by Dongdong. Matter in the fourth dimension can easily break through the speed of light limit of the vast universe even without the use of a warp drive. Although the Carina Civilization is only Small Star Sector Intermediate Civilization, it has existed for a long time and knows far more information than humans.
The fleet had also suspected this when building the four-dimensional channel, but it was not confirmed. The entangled particle communication extracted by the fleet also had a delay. However, after the fleet extracted the entangled particles, they were generally tested at a distance of one or two hundred light-years. Some with serious delays were discarded. Those with a delay of less than ten seconds within 200 light-years were basically usable.
Some of the particles used for nodes are entangled particles with shorter delays. All the entangled particles used in this deep-into- Insect Zone are particles with a delay of less than one second over a distance of 200 light-years.
So, although the academicians had suspected that the speed of light in the fourth dimension was different from that in the three-dimensional universe, it was not confirmed. They simply attributed it to the distance between particles. It wasn't until Dongdong revealed the secret of the speed of light in the fourth dimension that everyone realized that four-dimensional communication was not just a matter of distance, but also involved the speed of light.
There is another important reason why scientists from the Carina Civilization participated in the rendezvous mission: Carina Civilization technology can shorten the distance between two points in three-dimensional space from the fourth dimension. In a sense, this is like a wormhole or a spatial slingshot, using powerful energy to directly transfer distant space. This can save the academicians time in the passage and make them safer.
Since the swarm operates in the fourth dimension, such a long energy channel is bound to attract their attention, so every second must be fought for. This is why the rendezvous point is chosen in a remote area far from the galaxy.
More than 200 stars were used to provide a powerful and continuous energy supply for this channel. With the injection of energy and the precise manipulation of scientists from the Carina Civilization, the channel on the photon grew larger and larger, and after a few minutes, a channel with a diameter of more than 50 meters was created.
Li Zhixiong had already arranged for the academicians and other logistics and guard personnel to board two small shuttles. Everyone inside was practically crammed together. The shuttles were specially made by Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong after they received the Reception Plan from the micro-spaceship via electromagnetic waves in the Insect Zone. All unnecessary parts were discarded, requiring only a reliable propulsion system and sturdy armor. Even the life support system was omitted because the Reception Plan would take the shuttles from the Matter River to the Reaper within one minute.
A massive passage appeared around the four-dimensional communication device outside the shuttle; this dark opening seemed bottomless, as if connecting to an endless Abyss.
"Depart!" Upon receiving the reception signal from the passage, Li Zhixiong immediately issued the departure order.
The two shuttles entered the tunnel one after the other, and the tunnel immediately began to disappear. The entire process, from the appearance of the tunnel to its disappearance, took only about ten seconds.
The warp drive cannot be used in the passage, otherwise it will cause the passage to collapse. Li Zhixiong directly turned the conventional power engine to maximum power. Under the extreme acceleration, the speed quickly soared to twice the speed of light, which is unimaginable in the three-dimensional universe. When the academicians saw this scene, they instantly understood the special nature of the fourth dimension, and their previous conjectures were completely confirmed.
The change in the speed of light is not just about increasing speed; a series of problems arise that need to be redesigned. The rules of the three-dimensional universe are completely altered in the fourth dimension. Entering the fourth dimension is not simply entering another space; otherwise, the advanced nature of Great Star Region Civilization would have little advantage.
Below the Great Star Region Civilization, from Planetary-Level Civilization to Small Star Sector Civilization, the distinction between high and low strength is based on the understanding of the three-dimensional universe. The same applies to the fourth dimension. Understanding and utilizing the rules of the fourth dimension is what makes a civilization stronger. Dimensional reduction attacks are just a very common attack method. If a fleet were to engage in combat in the fourth dimension, with the current level of Human Civilization's technology, there would be no need for a fight; just finding their own position would be a challenge.