Time ticked away, moment by moment. With each passing day, Xiao Yu was one day closer to death.
But the research on how to break through the Four-Dimensional Barrier still showed no signs of progress. During this period, all of Xiao Yu’s computational power was occupied by various data sets and models; every moment, he was searching for a solution. Within the Eternal Kingdom, every Luka scientist had plunged into tireless labor, drowning under mountains of files, their vitality gradually being drained. Yet still, they could not come up with an answer.
Every method had been tried. Every conceivable idea had been explored. Xiao Yu had even experimented with some rather unconventional means like bombarding the barrier with Faster-Than-Light kinetic weapons, using focused solar sails to scorch a specific point, or firing concentrated material-condensation beams.
The result was the same, the Four-Dimensional Barrier remained exactly where it was, completely undisturbed.
The temperature within this star system continued to rise without pause. At this moment, Xiao Yu recalled an old saying from the Earth era: a frog boiled in warm water.
How similar it was to his current situation.
“A method only I can master… or a method that other Level 4 Civilizations could master but cannot deploy on the battlefield… What would satisfy those two conditions? But even if I do find such a method, it will only work if Taihao holds goodwill toward me. Only then might the Four-Dimensional Barrier be broken.”
Over the years, the survey questionnaires had continued without pause, since new Luka infants were born every year and as they gained independent thinking ability, they were included. In order to fully mine the imaginative potential of the Luka people, Xiao Yu had repackaged the questionnaire many times, striving to tap into the depths of Luka creativity.
During this time, Xiao Yu received one answer that seemed rather promising. It came from an ordinary Luka housewife.
This prompted Xiao Yu to embark on a deep theoretical investigation and another round of collision experiments.
Xiao Yu now possessed the ability to create a hadronic-scale black hole. In other words, a black hole with the mass of a proton or neutron. Such a minuscule black hole would normally evaporate its mass in an instant. However, by accelerating it to near light speed using a particle collider, it would generate an extremely strong relativistic effect, thereby significantly extending its lifespan.
Then, by shortening the distance between it and the Four-Dimensional Barrier, Xiao Yu would theoretically have the ability to guide a proton-scale black hole to collide with the barrier.
Xiao Yu first commanded both ends of the large particle collider to fire particle beams simultaneously. One end immediately shifted alignment after launch, aiming its muzzle at the Four-Dimensional Barrier, while laser beams were fired to clear any potential obstructions for the incoming black hole.
Every step of this operation was identical to the procedure used in the Tianyuan IV system, when the particle collider was deployed to destroy the Droplet. The only difference was that the projectile this time was a black hole instead of a particle beam.
At the moment the two particle beams collided, an extremely high energy burst occurred, and a black hole was instantly formed. Once it was created, Xiao Yu began accelerating it using components of the particle collider.
Under normal timeflow, the existence of this black hole would be measured only in Planck time. But due to its high velocity, it experienced a very strong relativistic effect. Its time slowed dramatically, which made it possible for Xiao Yu to guide it to the barrier before it evaporated.
Xiao Yu and more than two thousand Luka scientists anxiously monitored every minute detail of this experiment.
Everything progressed smoothly. The black hole was successfully created and struck the Four-Dimensional Barrier.
But the result disappointed Xiao Yu.
The Four-Dimensional Barrier remained precisely where it was.
Xiao Yu gave a bitter smile and announced to the Luka scientists, “This attempt has failed. Let’s move on to the next idea.”
“No, Master,” Luka Three stood up and said. “Master, I noticed something: after we launched the proton black hole, we never detected any trace of its disappearance. There’s only one explanation, the black hole successfully pierced the Four-Dimensional Barrier and passed through to the outside world.”
“I thought of that too,” Xiao Yu replied. “But it still doesn’t help. At this point, we can basically confirm that a proton black hole can penetrate the Four-Dimensional Barrier. But the barrier doesn’t shatter like a Droplet probe would. It appears to have a self-healing ability. So unless we can create a sufficiently large black hole, we won’t be able to open a big enough breach for us to escape through.”
Hearing this, Luka Three fell silent.
As brilliant as he was, he understood what Xiao Yu meant.
Based on calculations, a black hole with a one-meter radius would have a mass of 17 quintillion tons. Even if Xiao Yu sacrificed his entire fleet, it wouldn’t come close to enough.
To put it in perspective, even if the entire Earth were turned into a black hole, its radius would only be nine millimeters. Even if Xiao Yu had a whole Earth, overcame all obstacles, and successfully turned it into a black hole to ram the Four-Dimensional Barrier, it would still only create a nine-millimeter-wide hole, not even large enough for the tiniest satellite to pass through.
When speaking of black holes, one must understand the concept of the Schwarzschild radius. The Schwarzschild radius refers to the critical radius below which an object, no matter whether it’s a speck of dust or an entire planet, becomes a black hole. Earth’s Schwarzschild radius is nine millimeters. The Sun’s is approximately three thousand meters. The red giant next to Xiao Yu had a mass around 1.8 times that of the Sun, so its Schwarzschild radius was roughly 5,300 meters.
In other words, even if that entire star were turned into a black hole, the resulting hole in the Four-Dimensional Barrier wouldn’t be enough for the Hebei to pass through. The Hebei was more than five kilometers long.
That was why Xiao Yu had said it was useless.
The meeting room fell silent once more.
“We still have twelve years left. Don’t worry, everyone. We’ll find a way,” Xiao Yu reassured them.
Luka Three sighed and said, “Master, I feel like we’ve already reached the limit of our intelligence. I’m wondering, if we really can’t break through the Four-Dimensional Barrier… I mean, if it truly comes to that… what should we do?”
“There will be a way,” Xiao Yu projected a virtual image of himself and forced a faint smile. “Alright, meeting adjourned. When you return, don’t rush to think, take a break. Rest first, then resume your research when you’re refreshed.”
Amidst a chorus of sighs, the Luka scientists left their seats one after another. Xiao Yu also shut down his projection.
“Relax a bit. If we keep thinking , it’s easy to get stuck in a mental dead end,” Xiao Yu thought. He decided to completely abandon his complex calculations and modeling work for now.
Inside the Four-Dimensional Barrier, all the light from the central star was reflected back by the barrier, making it very difficult to observe the starry sky beyond.
At this moment, Xiao Yu couldn’t help pondering a thought. ‘I wonder if the images of the battle between Taihao and the Sweepers have arrived. Their battlefield is only a few hundred light-years away. The light carrying the battle footage would take just a few centuries to reach here. Hmm… once I get out, maybe I’ll still be able to see it.’
But clearly, that was just wishful thinking. Xiao Yu dazed off for a while and then dismissed the thought from his mind.
Xiao Yu turned his attention to the Paradise and New Homeland. Through the ever-present cameras, he observed every move of the Luka people.
The feeling was strange, at this moment, Xiao Yu felt like he had become a god watching countless lives busy under his gaze, while he also held complete control over them. It was a perspective that easily induced a sense of divine detachment.
Xiao Yu saw that on the streets, the ordinary Luka people, still unaware of the truth were going about their daily routines. In shops, in parks, in plazas, they bustled around, the air full of laughter and joy. The schools were very quiet; only occasionally did a stern teacher’s voice break the calm.
In one school, directly facing a particular surveillance camera, sat a six-year-old Luka child. Holding a pen, it was carefully writing something in a notebook. Xiao Yu’s curiosity was piqued, and he focused his attention on it.
He saw the Luka child was writing in a somewhat immature hand, composing today’s journal entry.
“Today, the teacher taught us something very interesting. If you twist one end of a strip of paper by 180 degrees and then join both ends together, you get this thing. The teacher said it’s called a Möbius strip. It seems simple, doesn’t it? But it’s not. What’s most fascinating is that it has no inside or outside. If you walk along the inside, you unknowingly reach the outside. If you walk along the outside, you unknowingly reach the inside. This cycle goes on endlessly, without an end.”
“The teacher said this involves two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. It sounds really complicated. I don’t understand it at all. But that’s okay. I’m still small. One day, I’ll grow up, and I’ll master a wealth of knowledge.”