Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones-Chapter 402: Warp Space

In the vastness of space, at the edge of a solitary dwarf planet approximately 800 kilometers in diameter, numerous large spacecraft began to converge.

Under Tom’s control, one after another, pipe-shaped devices, with numerous nuclear fusion power stations, control equipment, and acceleration equipment attached, gradually appeared.

They were like giant dragons, freely stretching their bodies in space, each thousands of kilometers long.

In addition, Tom also deployed numerous other devices; some resembled space fortresses, some resembled interstellar missiles, some resembled spacecraft, and so on, a wide variety of shapes and forms.

This was Tom’s newly upgraded strategic weapon after advancing to the gravity stage: the Universal Force Field!

Those pipe-like structures resembling giant dragons were the accelerators Tom used to accelerate helium nuclei. Upon colliding with other objects, these extremely high-speed helium nuclei, based on their immense energy, would instantaneously generate the universe’s most extreme celestial bodies: black holes!

From this perspective, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call these accelerators black hole factories.

The remaining devices were the standard equipment from the previous Unified Force Field. Naturally, now that the technological level had reached the gravity stage, their performance had also significantly improved.

In front of these devices, large-scale industrial construction was also underway on the dwarf planet designated as the target for this weapon test.

Tom built one power plant after another and one energy shield generator after another on this planet. After construction was completed and everything was finally activated, the planet instantly seemed to transform.

The entire surface of the planet, totaling over 2 million square kilometers, was completely covered by a layer of pale yellow energy shield.

Under the glow of this energy shield, the entire surface of the planet was illuminated by a shimmering light. Viewed from space, the planet took on an inexplicable sense of sanctity.

This was a super-strong energy shield deployed using Strong Nuclear stage technology, built with the technological level of a Gravity Civilization! It also incorporated the variable energy shield technology from the Havilah Civilization, capable of unleashing three times its normal protective power in a short period.

Tom dared to guarantee that this type of energy shield, if gravity factors were ignored, could play a significant role even on the battlefield of a Gravity Civilization.

In fact, besides the gravity protection devices, the shields currently used by Tom’s warships were of this type. Furthermore, because one is equipped on a spacecraft and the other on a planet with virtually infinite energy sources, the shields equipped on Tom’s warships at this moment had inferior performance compared to them.

With all preparations complete, Tom somewhat expectantly issued the command.

"Universal Force Field, activate!"

Because the target of this test was a planet that could be considered stationary, not a constantly maneuvering fleet, activating the Universal Force Field this time did not require Tom to provide additional biological intelligence, meaning the clones did not need to sacrifice their lives; only multiple supercomputers were needed.

The moment Tom’s command was issued, Primal, relying on over 1,000 supercomputers, instantaneously calculated the responsibilities each Universal Force Field component needed to undertake and the modes of cooperation among them.

The first to activate were the particle accelerators. These accelerator units, resembling giant dragons, immediately received surging energy from multiple nuclear fusion power stations and began to brew the earth-shattering power within them.

When this energy brewed to its peak, like a giant dragon breathing fire, countless helium nuclei possessing extremely high energy and moving at speeds very close to light speed suddenly burst from the exits, flying ferociously towards the dwarf planet enveloped in the shimmering yellow light.

To maximize the acceleration effect of these particle accelerators and to endow the helium nuclei with the highest possible energy, Tom adopted the same design approach as the previous Unified Force Field components when designing these accelerators.

Designing them with a single-use mindset, and during actual use, overloading them directly, sacrificing themselves to grant the helium nuclei higher speed and energy!

The moment after launching the helium nuclei, these particle accelerators, which had consumed Tom’s immense effort and numerous resources, exploded violently, turning into dust and vanishing.

With the helium nuclei accelerated, the standard Unified Force Field components also activated, generating countless X and Y particles carrying the unified force.

Two different types of particles, or rather, radiation, struck the energy shield one after another with a very short interval.

The next moment, Tom saw that layer of energy shield suddenly brighten, its protective power abruptly increasing, forcefully blocking the extremely high-energy helium nuclei.

But it didn’t matter; this layer of energy shield could also be used as a target for the helium nuclei to collide with.

The next moment, massive quantities of miniature black holes were generated and then annihilated. Under the energy level comparable to the early moments of the Big Bang, although the energy shield did not collapse, it instantly became like a broken net, riddled with countless holes.

The subsequent helium nuclei then rushed in like a tide, directly impacting the planet’s surface, generating miniature black holes while also temporarily lowering the binding energy of microscopic particles.

A sumptuous feast was ready, just waiting for the subsequent arrival of the X and Y particles to begin this grand meal.

The next moment, those particles arrived as expected, and with greater ease than before, forcefully released the energy contained within the particles, triggering a continuous series of explosions.

Tom saw that at this moment, the dwarf planet seemed to transform into a Sun.

On the side it was attacked, infinite light and heat were released, a cloud of dust suddenly broke free from the planet’s gravity, erupting into space like a fountain, the entire planet was violently shaking, and due to the extreme intensity, even the factories and energy shield generators deployed on the far side of the planet were directly destroyed, and the shimmering yellow light enveloping the planet instantly vanished.

After a long time, the light of the explosion slowly dispersed.

Tom clearly saw that on the side that was attacked, a massive crater, a thousand kilometers in diameter and hundreds of kilometers deep, had been blasted into the dwarf planet.

All matter within the crater had been vaporized, entering space as dust.

Just this single attack reduced the overall mass of the dwarf planet by over 10%!

Seeing this scene, Tom nodded in satisfaction.

The Universal Force Field’s attack method has a natural disadvantage against massive targets like planets. The reason is simple: they are too thick; both Universal Force particles and unified force particles would be blocked by the thick rock layers and unable to affect their interior.

But this disadvantage was acceptable to Tom. The reason was simple: the true targets of the Universal Force Field, warships, could not possibly have such thickness.

At most, they might have a thickness of ten kilometers, which would be remarkable. Besides, destroying a warship doesn’t require penetrating that deeply.

If its outer shell can be destroyed, a warship can already be considered rendered useless.

"Even a planet suffers such heavy losses under the attack of the Universal Force Field. How much damage would the Universal Force Field inflict on warships, which have significantly lower mass and weaker defenses?

It’s quite exciting to think about..."

Tom sighed, satisfied, and withdrew his gaze from the scene.

At this moment, the goal of advancing to a Gravity Civilization had been accomplished. The initial assimilation and utilization of the universal theory, as well as the conversion of combat power and productivity, were also complete.

What he needed to do next was to research and improve little by little, as before. Achieving rapid development in a short period, like now, would no longer be possible.

The rapid progress before was thanks to the bonus of achieving major breakthroughs in fundamental theories. Subsequent development was destined to be time-consuming and could not be rushed.

In addition, the warship fleet, industrial and living sectors, scientific research fleet, etc., had also completed comprehensive upgrades and replacements.

So... it was time to leave here and undertake his first large-scale faster-than-light voyage ever, to pursue the spacecraft launched into space by the Purple Moon Civilization, filled with his fellow Humans.

One spacecraft after another converged towards the main fleet; the endless lights gathered together, twinkling like an ocean of stars.

Giant aerospace carriers capable of loading hundreds of millions of tons of supplies, giant motherships capable of carrying tens of millions of people, industrial spacecraft capable of supporting an entire subdivided industrial chain, scientific research spacecraft capable of conducting large-scale scientific experiments, and for Tom, the most important 200 Jupiter-class battleships, along with millions of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury-class battleships, and over a hundred million small unmanned warships...

Even excluding unmanned warships, the total number of spacecraft in this fleet reached over 5 million!

But even with such a massive scale, Tom still felt a slight regret in his heart.

"It’s just a pity that I can no longer bring the Flying Star on this long voyage."

The Flying Star’s mass was too great; it couldn’t undertake faster-than-light warp travel, so it couldn’t be carried.

For the supplies needed for this long voyage, Tom could only load them into the aerospace carriers.

"Fortunately, my industrial capability is strong enough to build ultra-large aerospace carriers capable of carrying 10 billion tons of supplies each, and I can build 10,000 of them at once. Including heavy transport ships, I brought about 200 trillion tons of supplies on this long voyage, which is basically equivalent to a smaller Flying Star.

Furthermore, a Gravity Civilization has a higher utilization rate for resources. With these supplies, conducting large-scale fundamental physics research during the voyage isn’t feasible, but conducting applied physics research in some specific areas shouldn’t be a problem, so technological development won’t be significantly affected."

Comforting himself in this way, Tom once again issued the command to erase all traces.

One high-yield hydrogen bomb after another exploded on different planets, obliterating all traces he had left in the solar system over the years.

The continuous flashes of light seemed as if they were seeing off Tom’s massive fleet.

Countless engines simultaneously spewed powerful flames backward, propelling every spacecraft in the fleet forward rapidly at an acceleration of up to 4.6 m/s^2.

Upon reaching the gravity stage, high-speed ion thrusters have higher propellant utilization efficiency and energy utilization efficiency. Compared to the previous Strong Nuclear stage, they can save over 70% of energy and resources for the same propulsion power. Furthermore, with gravity technology, Tom could simultaneously completely shield against the overload caused by acceleration; no matter how fast the acceleration, the interior of the spacecraft would not be affected.

Inside the giant habitat spacecraft, the shimmering vast oceans remained calm, without any ripples caused by the acceleration, let alone tsunamis or similar events.

Time quietly flowed by, and in the blink of an eye, Tom’s fleet accelerated to a speed of approximately 276,000 kilometers per second, traveling just under 1 light-year.

Entering faster-than-light travel at this distance would still be too risky, as it was still too close to the star.

Upon reaching this speed, the effects of relativity were quite significant, and further acceleration wouldn’t make much difference. Tom simply entered inertial travel mode and journeyed for another month before finally increasing the distance from the star to over 1 light-year.

"This star is just a red dwarf, with less than half the mass of the Sun, yet it’s enough to severely affect the space curvature within a 1 light-year radius, preventing me from entering faster-than-light travel status.

If it were the Sun, or even larger stars like white subgiants, blue giants, or even extreme celestial bodies like neutron stars or black holes, faster-than-light travel might not be possible within several light-years, or even hundreds of light-years around them. That’s truly troublesome.

However, fortunately, as technology continues to advance and the control over space curvature becomes more refined and profound, it might be possible to shorten this distance in the future."

Taking a faint glance at the now extremely dim star in the distance, Tom calmly issued a new command.

"Warp travel... activate!"

Instantly, the space where this massive fleet was located rippled gently, like the surface of water struck by a stone, and also as if a mist appeared out of thin air around them, making everything hazy and indistinct.

When the ripples subsided and the mist dispersed, the massive fleet with a total mass of several hundred trillion tons had vanished.

The clone where Tom’s primary consciousness resided still stood before the viewport, calmly gazing at the scenery outside.

The sky full of stars had vanished; what now met the eye was a scene of pure blackness.

Enveloped in endless darkness, millions of massive spacecraft hung silently, completely still.

"So this is warp space..."

Tom couldn’t help but let out a sigh in his heart.

He knew that although his fleet appeared stationary at this moment, it was actually advancing rapidly at a speed of 2.7 times the speed of light.

Not only that, but the inertia gained from the fleet’s previous acceleration had not disappeared. Once they exited warp space, under the effect of inertia, his fleet would still move forward at the speed of 276,000 kilometers per second, the speed it had before entering warp space.

"My fellow Humans, wait for me, I’m coming..."

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