Hundreds of thousands of robots simultaneously drew nourishment from this ocean of data, transmitting it to Xiao Yu. The rate was already unimaginably fast, faster than anything humans of Earth’s era could have conceived. Compared to the throughput of an international gateway in a given unit of time, these hundreds of thousands of Superluminal communication channels were like mighty rivers compared to a trickling pipe. Yet even at such speed, when measured against the boundless sea of data, it still felt slow.
Every second, hundreds of zetabytes of data were being transmitted to the Heaven’s Kingdom ship. But the data awaiting Xiao Yu’s copying remained endless. To ensure he did not fall short at the final step, Xiao Yu decided to construct a transmitter directly on the Supercomputing Center’s array modules, linking straight to the Heaven’s Kingdom ship.
Once this transmitter was completed, the problem of insufficient transfer speed would be solved instantly. The difference between the current system and the new one would be like Earth’s half-megabit ADSL compared to gigabit fiber-optic internet.
The robots had not brought sufficient materials and tools with them when they descended, but that did not matter. The Supercomputing Center was filled with countless related components. With Xiao Yu’s deep understanding of the Molian Civilization’s technological system, he could quickly determine the function of each part, make slight modifications, and repurpose it for his own needs.
The time left to Xiao Yu was less than two hours. In two hours, the planet’s rotation would bring the Supercomputing Center to face the star directly, and all the precious data here would be destroyed.
“Half an hour. That’s enough to finish building the data transmitter.” Xiao Yu muttered to himself, splitting his focus into a million threads, tens of millions, working simultaneously in every direction.
The 200,000 robots raged within the very core of the Molian Civilization, the Supercomputing Center. Xiao Yu had already mapped out the general layout, so he directed them to dismantle countless irrelevant systems, slightly modify them, and piece them together. The linking of circuits, the arrangement of energy loops, Xiao Yu handled it all with practiced ease, as if tinkering with his own belongings.
Perhaps the surviving Molian ships could still observe what was happening inside the Supercomputing Center, but they were powerless to interfere. At that moment, they were fighting desperately alongside the biological army’s warships, struggling for survival. Their mood might have been terrible, but Xiao Yu could not care less.
Xiao Yu succeeded. Half an hour of work had produced a strange creation. From the perspective of engineering, computer science, or energy circuitry, it was an abomination. Yet its performance was formidable, and that was all that mattered.
Before Xiao Yu now lay a device sprawled across the ground, covering thousands of square meters, tangled with chaotic energy lines, with components arranged in a manner devoid of aesthetics or technical finesse.“Good. Very good. Then, let’s begin transmission.” Xiao Yu whispered, decisively issuing the command.
With his order, countless streams of data surged through the haphazard wiring, wildly transmitting before finally being launched by the device and sent directly to the Heaven’s Kingdom ship.
The performance of this machine was enough to make Xiao Yu ecstatic. The moment it activated, he immediately felt the torrent of data surging in. The transfer speed was worlds apart from before. That agonizing helplessness of seeing precious fruit before his eyes but being unable to pluck it vanished instantly.
“Materials technology… engineering technology… psychology, biotechnology, power systems, stellar evolution research, white dwarfs, neutron star-related technology, hull construction science… ah, excellent, truly excellent.”
At this moment, Xiao Yu’s heart was so excited that he could hardly restrain himself.
The lack of a complete technology tree had been affecting Xiao Yu’s progress day after day. In recent times, the speed of his technological development had slowed drastically. Obtaining a complete technology tree had already become a problem that Xiao Yu urgently needed to solve.
The development of science and technology was always something that advanced in parallel, each field influencing the others. Breakthroughs in field A could stimulate progress in field B, this was perfectly natural. For example, in Earth’s era, the development of computer technology had accelerated advancements across nearly every field. Conversely, the absence of a certain field could delay the progress of another, which was equally natural.
This was the importance of a complete technology tree. Now, Xiao Yu had finally achieved his wish. After sacrificing hundreds of thousands of starships, tens of millions of lives, and decades of time, he had finally obtained what he wanted. At this moment, he even felt the urge to burst into song.
“A complete technology tree! If I had to rely on myself and the scientists under my command to research it all, it would take thousands of years. But now, in just a few decades, I have obtained it all. This is of monumental importance to me. It means that from now on, I am a genuine Level 5 Civilization. In no aspect will I be inferior to any other Level 5 Civilization. It is foreseeable that in the coming centuries, even millennia, my technological level will usher in its next great period of explosive growth!”
Xiao Yu stared at the torrent of data surging toward him, overwhelmed with indescribable joy.
Every second, millions of zetabytes of data were being received by the Heaven’s Kingdom ship. Its array storage units were operating at full capacity, pushed to their limits, their performance maximized as they absorbed this treasure trove of resources. Every character, every piece of data, was being faithfully recorded for future study.
With the transmitter working at full power, Xiao Yu completed the entire task in just one hour. The crystallized wisdom of countless scientists of the Molian Civilization across tens of thousands of years was entirely copied into Xiao Yu’s storage systems. With time still remaining after the job was done, Xiao Yu even began copying additional Molian data, on society, commerce, finance, and the like. These were of little use to him, more dispensable than necessary. But since he had nothing else to do, copying them could at least provide references for Luka Two and the Social Committee in designing social systems for intelligent beings.
At this point, Xiao Yu’s objectives had been fulfilled completely, without compromise. He no longer had any need or interest in entangling himself with the Molian Civilization. Hatred? In this universe, was hatred even necessary? Even if it were, surely it should be the Molian Civilization that hated Xiao Yu, not Xiao Yu hating them.
To Xiao Yu, the Molian Civilization had lost all value. Even if their ships lined up in formation, waiting for him to slaughter them, he could not be bothered. The reason was simple, what benefit was there in killing them? None. So why waste energy, time, and computational power? Only a fool would do that.
For now, however, Xiao Yu could not yet leave this star system. The star was still in its final stage of violent eruption. Without the natural shield of the Molian capital planet, the fleet of the biological army would be annihilated without question. Therefore, Xiao Yu had to remain here, waiting for the star to calm down before he could depart.
This process might last for weeks, or even months. It was uncertain. But that did not matter. Even if it lasted for years, it was of no consequence.
The envoy of the Guardian Civilization, aboard its City-Class spaceship, had already retreated completely, and it was almost certain it would not return. It would not concern itself with the fate of the Molian Civilization. The name of the Taihao Civilization was enough to instill deep dread of the Divine Ark Civilization. At their peak, perhaps the Guardians would not have feared a Taihao Civilization, and might even have welcomed the chance to clash with them. But now, after suffering devastating losses, they were simply grateful not to be provoked by others, hardly in a state to stir trouble with other powerful beings.
The Molian remnants were not worth Xiao Yu’s concern either. A supernova explosion typically lasted weeks to months before settling down. This led to an interesting phenomenon. For instance, if it lasted one week, then in that week the star’s violent energy, traveling at light speed, would expand outward one-quarter of a light-month. Thus, one week after the explosion, centered on the star, a spherical band of violent energy one-quarter light-month thick would exist, and this band would continue to expand outward at light speed.
A point one light-month away, the supernova’s energy would not arrive until three weeks after the explosion had already ended. In other words, one month after the explosion, it was the area one light-month away that was dangerous, while the space close to the star was relatively less so.
This meant that any remaining Molian reinforcements would have to wait at least one light-year away if they wished to avoid the star’s fury. And for at least one full year, they could not approach.
With no external reinforcements able to arrive, and the internal remnants of the Molian fleet beneath his notice, Xiao Yu now had little left to worry about.