Chapter 425 425: A Starbeast Nation
Time passed bit by bit, and the massive, unending interstellar war continued to rage in this solar system.
With the intention of making good use of resources, Tom treated this "war" as an exercise. Of course, it was a live-fire exercise.
In the past, various combat tactics, coordination methods, and usage methods for various warships, which only existed in computer simulations, were now being showcased in rotation during the "war" with the Moraise civilization.
This was also extremely beneficial for improving the Moraise civilization's war science and cultivating war-related talents.
Both sides thus went back and forth, quietly waiting for their target to arrive.
Meanwhile, the hundreds of trillions of detectors manufactured by Tom were gradually deployed, occupying a space with a radius of over 20 light-years centered around this solar system.
Tom could guarantee that even if the Grey Worm Civilization fleet did not directly come to this solar system, as long as they approached within 30 light-years, they would definitely be discovered by him.
In a blink of an eye, over three hundred years passed. Tom, like a seasoned hunter, remained patient and unhurriedly continued to wait.
On this day, just like before, Tom once again deployed over thirty thousand newly manufactured warships into the battlefield, intending to test a new combat tactic recently simulated by Primal.
But at this moment, a peculiar change occurred without any warning or preamble.
Tom suddenly saw that in the vast universe, the countless stars were disappearing one by one, as if swallowed by something.
What's going on!
"Stop!"
Ignoring the possibility of exposure, Tom directly sent a ceasefire message to the Moraise civilization, his voice filled with gravity: "Did you see those changes?"
"We did! The stars, the stars are disappearing…"
It seemed as if a massive curtain, measured in light-years, was rapidly drawing in, intending to completely envelop the solar system they were in.
Tom immediately connected to the detectors three light-years away using super-distance communication. After some attempts, he found that he had lost contact with those detectors.
Super-distance communication based on quantum entanglement also lost contact?!
But within the scope of science known to Tom, there was no means that could interfere with or block super-distance communication!
A sense of crisis subtly emerged in Tom's heart. Turning his head to look in another direction, he was suddenly startled to realize that in just a few minutes, that "curtain" seemed to have completed the encirclement of the entire solar system.
All the stars in the universe had disappeared.
No, a few still remained and could be seen by Tom. But Tom instantly discerned that those remaining stars were not actual stars, but rather planets orbiting the star within their own solar system!
What on earth is going on!
Various thoughts rapidly spun in Tom's mind. But before he could come to a conclusion, the completely dark universe changed again.
One by one, stars slowly reappeared, dense and brilliant with starlight, as if the universe had returned to normal.
But after a brief discernment, Tom suddenly realized that the stars now appearing… were not the same as the normal stars in the previous cosmic sky!
Not only had their positions changed, but further detection showed that their mass, size, elemental composition, and so on, were all vastly different from before.
And somewhat strangely, Tom saw that many of these stars, besides differing in distance, were otherwise completely identical.
For example, this yellow dwarf star, with an age of approximately 2.2 billion years, a radius of 720,000 kilometers, and brightness, elemental composition, etc., as data number one, was about 4 light-years away from him.
But at a distance of 9 light-years, Tom actually discovered another star identical to it. Subsequently, at distances of 19 light-years and 29 light-years, he found two more identical stars.
Not only this star, but other stars were also like this.
After a rough calculation, Tom realized that although the stars in this universe were vast and countless, they seemed to be identical copies, based on a fixed set of only 125 stars!
At this moment, although Tom didn't quite understand, he was greatly shocked.
What on earth is going on!
The Cloud Civilization once said that when technology reached the space level, one could cut out a small universe independent of the current universe as a dwelling place, calling it a "Nation," such as the Red Star Nation, the Demonic Eye Nation, etc.
It is precisely because a "Nation" is essentially a small universe, with a limited radius, and according to existing theories, the universe is finite yet boundless, forming a "hypersphere" in the four-dimensional plane, much like a seemingly boundless and flat two-dimensional land is a sphere in the three-dimensional plane.
Perhaps this is why he could see so many "replica" stars? Are these actually the phantom images of those stars, their light having traveled around the entire universe before reaching his eyes again?
It seems only this can explain what he encountered. So…
Is the place he is currently in a… Nation? A Nation belonging to some space-level entity?
Which space-level entity is it?
The Red Star Nation?
That's unlikely. Since the war with the Destroyer Civilization, the Red Star Nation is suspected to have fled the current universe to avoid the Destroyer Civilization and has long been nowhere to be found. Besides, if it were the Red Star Nation, they would likely have informed him beforehand.
But among the space-level entities he knows, the only one benevolent towards him is the Red Star Alliance! If it's not the Red Star Alliance, then is the master of this Nation he is currently in hostile towards him?
The Destroyer Civilization's Destroyer Nation?
Could it be that after fleeing for so long, he still couldn't escape the Destroyer Civilization's pursuit? But why wouldn't they just destroy him, instead choosing to include him in their Nation? What are their intentions?
Tom's heart was filled with gravity, doubt, and confusion.
"Regardless of who it is, or what their purpose is for bringing me into this Nation, as long as they didn't destroy me at the outset, it means the situation isn't completely hopeless; there's still a glimmer of hope. In that case, let's first figure out whose Nation this is!"
In rapid thought, Tom quickly made a decision.